Abstract
The unsustainable pattern of development around the world comprises growing urbanization that has posed a serious governance challenge. In the process of satisfying the greed of human “progress,” the resources of the earth are fast deteriorating. The city-centric model of development in the global south, particularly in rapidly growing economies like India and China, have caused unmanageable migration of people from rural to urban areas. At the same time, it cannot also be denied that cities have become a confined means to provide a better standard of life and means of livelihood. The responsibility rests on the approach of the governments, which instead of merging the distinction between rural and urban areas in terms of standard of life has tended to focus more on the growth of cities. The rapid process of urbanization and growth of cities in a country such as India has resulted in problems of sustainability as most of the expanding city spaces have sought to gobble up huge chunks of land, as well as try to grapple with varied problems of environment, health, inequality, urban chaos, and persistent poverty, notwithstanding recent efforts to imbibe ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targeted focus to turn select metropolitan areas to “smart cities.” The chapter seeks to throw light on some of the issues, with a focus on India, arising from the drive of urbanization leading to governance challenge, the working of international instruments, as well as domestic policies and institutional mechanisms in India designed to make cities more livable even as they explode with population migration driven by concentration of modern amenities, glitter, and better living standards.
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- 1.
McGranahan and Martine (2012), p. 2.
- 2.
O’Meara (1999), p. 5.
- 3.
Challenges and way forward in the urban sector Sustainable Development in the 21st century (SD21), p. xi.
- 4.
Ibid, p. iii.
- 5.
Ibid, p. xii.
- 6.
Ibid, p. xiii.
- 7.
World Bank (2013), p. 1.
- 8.
- 9.
Dao (2002), p. 86.
- 10.
Davis (1955), p. 429.
- 11.
Sudhira et al. (2003) at http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/paper/mapind/aecomn.htm.
- 12.
Chaudhuri (2015), p. 88.
- 13.
Desai (1992), p. 589.
- 14.
The Club of Rome set out in 1968 “to examine the complex of problems troubling men of all nations: poverty in the midst of plenty; degradation of the environment; loss of faith in institutions; uncontrolled urban spread; insecurity of employment; alienation of youth; rejection of traditional values; and inflation and other monetary and economic disruptions.” The Club of Rome described these seemingly divergent parts of the “world problematique,” as having three characteristics in common: (i) they occur to some degree in all societies; (ii) they contain technical, social, economic, and political elements; and, most important of all, (iii) they interact; see The Club of Rome’s report by Meadows et al. (1972), p. 10.
- 15.
Desai (1990), p. 1071.
- 16.
Desai (1992), p. 589.
- 17.
Desai (1986), p. 27.
- 18.
Ibid.
- 19.
Desai (2013b), p. 3.
- 20.
Desai (1992), p. 595.
- 21.
UN General Assembly Resolution 66/288, “Future we want”, 27 July 2012.
- 22.
World Bank, “Sustainable Development” available at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/sustainabledevelopment/overview#3.
- 23.
Ibid.
- 24.
See Opening Address of AIIB President Jin Liqun at the Meeting of the Board of Governors, Mumbai, 26 June 2018; available at: https://www.aiib.org/en/news-events/news/2018/20180626_001.html.
- 25.
See the World Bank initiative Global Partnership for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) at https://www.thegpsc.org/. Also see, Wang et al. (2018).
- 26.
- 27.
Desai (1992), p. 590.
- 28.
O’Meara (1999), p. 7.
- 29.
Lowe (1991), p. 6.
- 30.
See n. 29, p. 8.
- 31.
Ibid, p. 9.
- 32.
Ibid, p. 5.
- 33.
Ibid, p. 5.
- 34.
Ibid, p. 12.
- 35.
Ibid, p. 11.
- 36.
See n. 29, p. 5.
- 37.
Ibid.
- 38.
Ibid, p. 6.
- 39.
French (1990), p. 6.
- 40.
See the report entitled “In ‘Gas Chamber’ Delhi, Schools Shut, Parking Hiked To Cope With Smog”; available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/11/07/in-gas-chamber-delhi-schools-shut-parking-hiked-to-cope-with-smog_a_23269173/.
- 41.
It has added a new category of “Severe+ or Emergency” to the existing categories under Air Quality Index (AQI) namely, Moderate & Poor, Very Poor, and Severe as per National Air Quality Index. See Graded Response Action Plan for Delhi & NCR; available at: http://cpcb.nic.in/uploads/final_graded_table.pdf.
- 42.
See the notification no. S.O. 118(E) of 12 January 2017 issued by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change; available at: http://cpcb.nic.in/uploads/GRAP_Notification.pdf.
- 43.
Ibid, p. 5.
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
Ibid, p. 23.
- 46.
WHO (2016).
- 47.
See n. 58, pp. 12, 14 and 15.
- 48.
Ibid, p. 12.
- 49.
Poplak (2018).
- 50.
Desai (1992), p. 593.
- 51.
Flavin and Lenssen (1994), p. 5.
- 52.
Ibid, p. 6.
- 53.
Ibid.
- 54.
United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision; available at: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf. Also see editorial: “Growing cities: on Urban Governance”, The Hindu (18 May 2018); available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/growing-cities/article23918410.ece?homepage=true.
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
Fiorino, “Sustainable cities and governance: what are the connections?”, Center for Environmental Policy, Working Paper 2, American University; available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7bb7/9e828580a61a041b7ce6dbb36687682c9b75.pdf.
- 57.
Ibid, p. 591.
- 58.
On this issue, for a detailed analysis, see Desai et al. (2011), p. 39.
- 59.
See Challenges and way forward in the urban sector: Sustainable Development in the 21st century (SD21); available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/challenges_and_way_forward_in_the_urban_sector_web.pdf.
- 60.
See n. 29, p. 23.
- 61.
Ibid, p. 24.
- 62.
Ibid.
- 63.
Ibid, p. 15.
- 64.
Ibid.
- 65.
Ibid, p. 13.
- 66.
Ibid, pp. 24 and 26.
- 67.
Express News Service (2017).
- 68.
See n. 29, p. 24.
- 69.
Ibid, p. 7.
- 70.
Ibid, p. 39.
- 71.
Ibid, p. 6.
- 72.
See n. 43, p. 30.
- 73.
Ibid, p. 31.
- 74.
Ibid, p. 32.
- 75.
Ibid, p. 33.
- 76.
Ibid, p. 7.
- 77.
Ibid.
- 78.
See Emergency plan in force as air quality dips to ‘severe’, The Hindu, 08 November 2017; available at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/emergency-plan-in-force-as-air-quality-dips-to-severe/article20000675.ece.
- 79.
Ibid.
- 80.
Ibid, pp. 24 and 25.
- 81.
Ibid, p. 26.
- 82.
Ibid, p. 9.
- 83.
Ibid, p. 6.
- 84.
See n. 19, p. 8.
- 85.
Ibid.
- 86.
Press Information Bureau, Government of India, “Cabinet approves MoU between India and Israel on National Campaign for Water Conservation in India”; available at: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=166960.
- 87.
See n. 71.
- 88.
See n. 77, p. 7.
- 89.
Ibid, p. 24.
- 90.
Ibid, p. 10.
- 91.
Ibid, p. 12.
- 92.
Ibid, p. 13.
- 93.
Ibid, p. 13.
- 94.
The Framework Agreement on the establishment of the International Solar Alliance (Marrakesh, 15 November 2016). It entered into force on 6 December 2017 and registered with the UN vide no. 54949 on 06 February 2018. For the Framework Agreement see: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/No%20Volume/54949/Part/I-54949-08000002804ed824.pdf; See Certificate of Registration on 29 March 2018; available at: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/2018/02/20180209%2003-13%20PM/Other%20Documents/COR-Reg-54949-Sr-68303.pdf.
- 95.
Desai (2016), p. 11.
- 96.
The Founding Conference on 11 March 2018 witnessed quick ratification of the ISA instrument by 32 countries as well as signature by other 30 countries; see Delhi Solar Agenda at: http://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/29605.
- 97.
History of Urbanization; available at: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/30862/9/09_chapter%203.pdf.
- 98.
M.K. Gandhi, Indian Home Rule or Hind Swaraj; available at: https://www.jmu.edu/gandhicenter/wm_library/gandhiana-hindswaraj.pdf.
- 99.
Vakil and Roy (1965), p. 326.
- 100.
UNIDO, “Sustainable Cities Hubs of Innovation, Jobs, Industrialization, and Climate Action”, p. 3.
- 101.
Ravi et al. (2016), p. 4.
- 102.
Census of India classifies urban centers into six classes. Urban center with population of more than one lakh is called a city and less than one lakh is called a town. Cities accommodating population between 1 and 5 million are called metropolitan cities and more than five million are mega cities. The urban population by size classification is based on the following:
Class
=
Population
I
=
Greater than 100,000
II
=
50,000–100,000
III
=
20,000–50,000
IV
=
10,000–20,000
V
=
5000–10,000
VI
=
Less than 5000
- 103.
- 104.
Ibid.
- 105.
The list of core infrastructure elements is stated in para 2.4 of the document “Smart Cities Mission Statement & Guidelines”; available at: http://smartcities.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/SmartCityGuidelines(1).pdf.
- 106.
Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India (2015), “Smart Cities Mission Statement & Guidelines”; available at: http://smartcities.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/SmartCityGuidelines(1).pdf.
- 107.
For details see, http://smartcities.gov.in/content/innerpage/strategy.php.
- 108.
See n. 3, p. 13.
- 109.
Mohan and Dasgupta (2004), p. 2.
- 110.
See n. 5, p. 6.
- 111.
The criterion for qualification has been given in detail in ‘Smart Cities Mission Statement and Guidelines’, available at Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India Portal, http://smartcities.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/SmartCityGuidelines(1).pdf.
- 112.
India Today (2018).
- 113.
Roy (2016), p. 33.
- 114.
Ibid, p. 33.
- 115.
Ibid, p. 39.
- 116.
Ibid, p. 40.
- 117.
IpsitaPati (2017).
- 118.
Miklian et al. (2014), p. 13.
- 119.
See n. 14, p. 43.
- 120.
Aizaz (2016).
- 121.
Jha (2017).
- 122.
See n. 21, pp. 10–12.
- 123.
Shaw (2018).
- 124.
“Interview with ILO Director-General: India’s success vital for End of Poverty Initiative to succeed”, Indian Express, New Delhi, 12 July 2016.
- 125.
This was exactly the case in India prior to British colonization that villages in India were self-sufficient. It was underscored by Mahatma Gandhi in his seminal book “Hind Swaraj” written in 1908 during his voyage from the UK to South Africa; available at: https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/hind_swaraj.pdf.
- 126.
See note 3, p. 6.
- 127.
Lowe (1991), p. 6.
- 128.
Ibid.
- 129.
See n. 19, p. 7.
- 130.
Monzon (2015).
- 131.
World Bank (2018).
- 132.
Sustainable Development Solution Network (2016).
- 133.
Ibid, p. 11.
- 134.
Ibid, p. 10.
- 135.
Ibid, p. 11.
- 136.
Ibid, p. 12.
- 137.
See n. 104, p. 12.
- 138.
Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, “Target and Indicators for Sustainable Development Goal 11”; available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg11.
- 139.
UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/29/3327 (1974).
- 140.
UN HABITAT: For a better Urban Future, “History, mandate & role in the UN system”; available at: https://unhabitat.org/history-mandate-role-in-the-un-system/.
- 141.
Ibid.
- 142.
See n. 104, p. 19.
- 143.
UN HABITAT: For a better Urban Future, “UN HABITAT at a glance”; available at: https://unhabitat.org/un-habitat-at-a-glance/.
- 144.
UN HABITAT, “City Prosperity Initiative”; available at: https://unhabitat.org/urban-initiatives/initiatives-programmes/city-prosperity-initiative/.
- 145.
Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy (March 2018).
- 146.
Mahdavinejada (2011), p. 407.
- 147.
Puri (2014).
- 148.
Woods (2018).
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Desai, B.H., Sidhu, B.K., Kumari, N. (2019). Sustainable Cities in India: A Governance Challenge. In: Ginzky, H., Dooley, E., Heuser, I., Kasimbazi, E., Markus, T., Qin, T. (eds) International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2018. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, vol 2018. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00758-4_2
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