The problem

AS the global population touches seven billion in 2012, developing countries being the primary drivers of this growth, the imperatives of inescapable urbanization are playing an increasingly pivotal role in an unprecedented socioeconomic transformation. The influx of huge populations is already causing a visible strain on many, already fragile, urban ecosystems. However, by a strange paradox, the study of urbanization in these very developing countries which are becoming the theatre for this transformation, has hardly received much attention.

The pace of urban migration in India is unprecedented, and on a scale that, outside of China, has not been witnessed in any other part of the world. Currently, close to a third of the population lives in cities. The number of urban citizens, many of them young, is estimated to grow considerably over the next couple of decades. Economists and sociologists alike have often termed this as India’s great demographic dividend, an opportunity of the century in an otherwise aging world. However, in terms of real numbers, this translates into an estimated 180 million job seekers entering the workforce over the next two decades: a population size so huge that, if not managed properly, could well turn into our worst demographic nightmare. Be that as it may, the time has come for India to seriously engage with the reality of its urban future.

In order to study the challenges and solutions to the problems at hand, this issue of Seminar identifies certain concerns for greater evaluation through in-depth research. These themes more or less also formed the core of the Conference on Urbanization organized by the Observer Research Foundation and the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation in late 2011 out of which many of the articles presented in this issue emanate. While covering a broad spectrum of issues around urbanization, the chosen themes seek to engage with the very core of the overarching human security narrative that is likely to underlie the development and growth trajectories of emerging countries over the next few decades.

Amongst these, the notion of urban planning and design automatically becomes the first theme that catches the fancy of most policy makers. Yet, in practice, the very notion of planning remains the most daunting aspect of urban growth. The claim of ensuring managed and planned efficiency in the allocation of space in many urban agglomerations appears unstable, in part because the very act of ‘allocation’ runs counter-intuitive to the organic growth that most urban centres actually experience. Even granting that ‘efficient’ distribution and allocation of living space is critical for maintaining harmonious and stable support systems such as infrastructure and services, combining them with concerns of equity such that poorer areas or communities do not end up further marginalized, constitutes an even more vexing challenge.

No discussion of an equitable, sustainable city is possible without considering urban transport and mobility – which happens to be the second theme. Increasing populations in cities and towns require access and mobility to attain the gains in productivity that are expected to result from urbanization. With a rapidly proliferating network of roads and highways resulting from an unhealthy preference for personalized transport by road, enhanced mobility is usually accompanied by an unsustainable pattern of high carbon growth. Integrated transport models, and innovative technological solutions, thus become necessary for managing and sustaining the phenomenal pressure urban spaces place on resources and the environment.

This automatically leads to the sub-theme of patterns of energy consumption and a related issue, emissions. With resource scarcity becoming the defining framework for development in the 21st century, efficiency of resource deployment and its management are core end goals that need to be integrated in any model of urban development. How then do we encourage the organic growth of urban agglomerations in ways that encourage an automatic shift in patterns of energy use and consumption?

Sadly, even as the discourse of participation makes its way into most policy documents on governance, urban spaces remain the most glaring illustration of non-participative democracy at work. The third theme then, that of participation and urban governance, attempts to discuss the response mechanisms which must evolve to address the challenges of urbanization in developing countries. For the drive to innovate – both within existing governance structures and beyond – to be sustained, requires a conscious affirmation of the increasing role of civil society and private initiatives as an integral part of inclusive governance mechanisms. In countries such as India, private action must equally encompass the role of the informal sector, which needs to be acknowledged and factored in.

All of which brings us to the concluding, yet most significant theme dealing with urban exclusion – the question of ‘rights’, of access and entitlements. In essence, this theme runs like a common thread through all the others. Equity and the rights of the individual are central to any discussion on urbanization. Exploring inclusive policy options and governance mechanisms that ensure a democratic allocation of public infrastructure, services and support mechanisms, is the biggest challenge that needs to be addressed.

Urban centres in India represent veritable microcosms of the country – with a vibrant mix of communities, cultures and income classes from the marginalized classes to the ever expanding middle classes, together seen as the primary drivers of consumption and economic growth. Yet, the way in which various strata of society interact with each other, perceive and make allowances for each others spaces and priorities, the veritable crux of social harmony and security, represents the single most important challenge facing cities in developing nations across the world. The creation or rather facilitation and management of different areas and sections of the urban space, the prevention of ghettos and gated zones of exclusion, concern every city planner.

In mainstream thinking, the move towards urban settlements has often been understood as one driven by the inexorable logic of progress and growth. The move to cities and towns has commonly been associated with higher productivity and overall economic growth. Yet, we forget that cities are organic entities and have a life of their own. They rarely develop in a predetermined fashion at the behest of planners but rather grow much like organisms, where in many ways what goes before determines what must come forth.

Thus, even within the most modern city, legacy issues continue to intersect with the forces of technology and globalization. The unpredictable dynamics of demography invariably disrupts the best laid arrangements that planning and policy seek to foist upon an ever shifting canvas of needs and aspirations bound with the lives of individuals. The conflicts engendered can be strong or weak, manageable or disruptive, depending on the governance structures and response systems in place. Eventually, the very dynamic of this ‘growth’ mandates that planning and policy can never really be depoliticized. The obverse face of the same coin also indictates that no planning process can paper over the sociology of the individual, his needs and the processes whereby he lives and interacts with others.

This issue of Seminar documents modern experiences of urbanization in developing and developed countries. The articles have been authored by distinguished urban experts from Austria, China, Colombia, Germany, India, UK and USA, who have covered a wide range of issues and explored options and opportunities for the creation of habitable urban centres. It is hoped that the issue will draw the attention of policy makers and all stakeholders towards complicated urban issues, innovative practices in use and challenges to progress.

SUNJOY JOSHI