2. URBANIZATION - CONTEXT
Compactness
High Population
Density
High Scale
of
Economy
Better
Healthcare
Better
Education
Better
Connectivity
Attractive
Market Place
Better
Standard of
Living
Employability
Cultural &
Recreational
Avenues
More
Opportunities
Better
Services
WhatCitiesProvide
WhatCitiesAre
Fulcrum of Economic Growth
Better Employment Opportunities
Defined by:
Cities will eventually compete with each other to attract talent and investments
According to a report by Mckinsey, by 2030, 70% of Indian GDP will come from cities
3. CHALLENGES
Most urban centers in India are Unplanned
• Lack of a coherent plan to Monitor and Implement Growth
• ‘Concretification’ of the Landscape
• Unhygienic Living Condition
Cities fail to provide even basic amenities like water and sanitation
Law and Order Challenges
Dismal Infrastructure
Urban Poverty is on rise – More Slums
Inadequate Resources – Not enough Financial Strength
Understaffed and Unprofessional Urban Administration
Rapid Urbanization is a global phenomenon – This transition, if not handled properly, may spell troubles
in countries like India. Already Indian cities are facing challenges – some of which are listed below:
Majority of Urban Migration in future will likely be to smaller cities and towns which are even more
handicapped in handling the situation
4. IDEAL OFFERINGS BY ANY CITY
Governance
Timely service
delivery
Creation and Maintenance of
public Infrastructure
Ensuring Financial
Viability
Growth Planning &
Monitoring
Facilitating Law &
Order and Social
Harmony
Engagement
Recreational and
Cultural Hot Spots
Public Parks and Lakes
(Water Bodies)
Sport Stadium(s) &
Auditoriums
Exhibition and
Convention Centers
Events
Enablers
Good Education Good Healthcare
Robust Public Transport
System
Employment
Opportunities
Vibrant Market Place
Basic Amenities
Sanitation Safety Shelter Connectivity Electricity
5. BASIC AMENITIES
Basic Amenities refers to a set of facilities which should be offered by any urban settlement, irrespective of its
size, to its citizens
Sanitation
Clean Roads
100% Drainage and Solid Waste Management
Ensures Health and Hygiene of residents
Safety
Proper Law & Order
Functional Streetlights and Street Vigil at Night
Enthuse confidence to carry out one’s
activities without fear
Shelter
Low Cost Housing for Poor
Affordable Housing for Other classes
Availability of adequate lodging facilities for visitors
Ensures that the opportunities exist for all
class of people
Connectivity
A wide network of all weather, motorable road ensuring
minimum travel time both intra city and inter city
Facilitates movement and economic
activities
Electricity
Availability of round the clock power supply to citizens
Promotion of use of alternative source of energy
Triggers economic activities and other
enablers
The approach to provide these facilities may differ from settlement to settlement depending upon the
availability of resources and funds – only those cities would have a potential to grow and sustain who
provides this first layer of facilities to its citizens
6. ENABLERS
Enablers are those criteria which equip the residents to reap the benefits of Urbanization and aids in the
attempt to have a better standard of living
Good Education
Availability of Good Educational Institutions – both
public and private in adequate numbers
Enhances Employability & aids in Skill
Development
Good Healthcare
Access to better medical care units equipped to deal with
all major illness
Ensures access to premium healthcare in
the vicinity invoking confidence
Robust Public
Transport
Rapid Mass Transport System crisscrossing the entire city
and neighborhood ensuring minimum possible time in
transit
Enhances productivity and leads to
better work life balance
Employment
Opportunities
Aggressive Employment creation policies by:
Focusing on comparative advantage & traditional strength
Attracting investments through policy initiatives
Skill Development & Infrastructure Creation
Job Creation and movement up the
economic ladder & even social mobility
Vibrant Market Place
Providing a market place to not only the residents (acting
both as a customer and producer) but also to the residents
of nearby places creating a regional economy
Creates regional economy – pass on the
benefits of market not only to residents
but also to those of neighbouring areas
Obviously Enablers would differ by the class of cities – generally bigger cities will have better enablers
However, by focusing on Enablers, an urban settlement can move up the preference ladder
7. ENGAGEMENTS
Engagements are the prime factors which attracts the talents to choose an urban settlement as the place of
work and possibly a choice for settlement
Recreational and
Cultural Hot Spots
Availability of adequate recreational places which would
allow the residents to relax and unwind
Culture would play a wider role in attracting and retaining
high end resources and talents
Place to unwind after a long week of
work with family/ friends
Public Parks and
Lakes (Water Bodies)
Well maintained public parks and water bodies at regular
interval (ideally not more than 15 minutes of walking
time)
Connect with nature
Engages health conscious
Sport Stadium(s) &
Auditoriums
A well equipped sports facility which guarantees coaching/
mentoring and membership
State of the art Auditoriums to host cultural events
Engages Sports and Arts enthusiasts
Exhibition and
Convention Centers
To hold exhibitions, seminars, fairs and talks Intellectual stimulation
Events
Yearly calendar splashed with periodic high profile events
in the urban settlement
Regular opportunities to move out of
the routine life
Cities would become economic hot spot on the basis of the quality of human capital they retain. Human
talents would need more than Enablers to prefer a city/ town for settling – they would need intellectual
and cultural stimulations. Thus, Engagement would be the key to the economic prosperity and sustenance
8. GOVERNANCE
Governance or Administration is probably the most important factor for a city for it would decide the course a
city would take in the near future
Timely service
delivery
City Administration to provide a plethora of easily
accessible services for the welfare and benefit of the
residents
As the population and expectation
would grow, wider range of services and
their timely delivery would be sought
Creation and
Maintenance of
public Infrastructure
Creating Public Infrastructure like Roads, Parks, street
lights, Recreation centers, parking lots etc. and ensuring
proper functioning of the same
Public Infrastructure is the asset of a
city and should not be ignored or the
city would start falling behind
Ensuring Financial
Viability
As stated earlier, fund would be very crucial for the
functioning of the city and implementation of various
projects
Funding and ensuring financial
feasibility of a project
Growth Planning &
Monitoring
To ensure that the expansion of the city is being done as
per the blueprint
To ensure proper growth
Facilitating Law &
Order and Social
Harmony
Provide an environment free of fear and social discord
To ensure that city retains its economic
clout
Governance can directly be equated with the ‘Vision’ for the city – Administration can ‘turnaround a city’
or ‘turn a city around’ in the matter of few years. It should be handled by well qualified and professional
people
9. FUNDING
Almost all the cities of the country are not economically self dependent. In order to scale up the cities to meet
the challenges of higher urbanization, funds would play a crucial role. Let us look at a few model of funding
city projects
Local Admin
(Internal Revenue)
Land & Asset Monetization
Property Taxes
User Charges
In most of the cases, as of now, would
be able to cover day to day activities and
small projects
Local Admin - State
(with State Assistance)
A part is contributed by the Local Admin Resources
while the rest is tapped from the State resources
Most important for smaller towns
Public Private Partnership
Can be of any form involving Private parties, Local
Admin, State Govt. & Central Govt.
Again Private investment is generally
restricted to larger towns & Cities
Public People Partnership
Local Admin, Govt. can create infrastructure while
the same can be maintained directly by the people or
bodies like Residents Welfare Association
Viable across all categories of cities and
can be very effective
Public People Private
Partnership
Local Admin, Govt. in partnership with Private
partners can create infrastructure while the same can
be maintained/ administered directly by the people
or bodies like Residents Welfare Association
Can be very potent where private
parties show interest and especially in
Engagement factors
Funding is critical to the development of any city. In India, the urban bodies have failed to tap on internal
resources. While state assistance is necessary for growth, systematic interventions should be made to
make urban bodies relatively more self reliant
10. WAY FORWARD: RISE OF NEW CITIES
Major Indian cities are bursting at seams unable to cope pressure of rapid urbanization as they fail
to upgrade infrastructure accordingly
1 Upgrade Infrastructure of all these cities
2
Develop second rung cities as attractive investment
destination and Employment center
3
Simultaneously develop satellite towns to relieve pressure
from existing towns
4
Create multiple Regional Economic Zones (Clusters) with an
Urban center catering the needs of areas in vicinity
This would entail huge and consistent investment from the government
Development of better and rapid transport system would reduce stress as the floating population
would increase multiple times thereby reducing the growth of residents
Would ensure wider urbanization and inclusive growth
11. WAY FORWARD: FUNDAMENTALS
1
Water Conservation:
Compulsory use of water conservation methods in all buildings to provide for non drinking supplies
2
Alternative Energy:
Use of alternative energy sources like Solar etc. especially in street lights
3
Clustering:
Clustering of residential, commercial and recreational areas to increase vibrancy
4
Transport:
Linking higher density mixed use centers to public transport hubs & networks to reduce travel time
5
Eco Friendly:
Approach growth in environmentally sustainable way giving enough consideration to the impact on
land use, green cover and water sources
12. City as an
Interconnected
System
Housing
Market
Areas
Work
Areas
Labor
Markets
Business
Supplier &
Consumers
Utility
Systems
Water
Catchment
Areas
Green
Networks
Ecological
Networks
Stock
• Intellectual Capacity
• Social Capital
• Biodiversity
• Nutrients
Outputs
• Commodities
• Wastes
Inputs
• Raw Materials
• Energy
WAY FORWARD: INTERCONNECTED SYSTEM
InterconnectedSystem
Source : http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/urban/sustainable-development/characteristics-areas.html
