Abstract
Urbanisation in South Asia, especially in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has shown remarkable similarities. History points towards a chaotic pattern of settlement anywhere and everywhere in the cities of these countries. Of course, there is typicality with a high-rise epicentre where all the development activities are taking place, and on the periphery are the squalor and the shanties where the poor migrants have managed a foothold through illegal settlements. As the city expands horizontally, some of these settlements come within the fold of the city. Since the 1990s, face of the cities has changed. They are all becoming global cities with similar kind of outlook. Somehow the intrinsic needs of each city are surpassed to fit the model of the global city. Lack of access and misgovernance of land; and lack of alternative opportunities has led to a livelihood crises in the rural areas. Also the smaller towns remain in the backseat of infrastructure development programme. Both these areas suffer from lack of education and health facilities. Hence to fend for the basic needs of human life, there is huge inflow of traffic from the rural areas to the urban cities. This creates pressure on the existing infrastructure and also other social systems in the cities as urbanisation has not been coordinated with provisioning of required services. Ecological imbalance is also created with sinking ground water levels.
Urbanisation and creation of modern infrastructure adaptive to the needs of the urban population is necessary. However, high rate of growth of urban slums and squatters does indicate the serious flaws in urban planning policies and implementation strategies. With this perspective in mind, an intense deliberation is required not just in making cities more sustainable but also inclusive whereby all classes of urban population has a meaningful and dignified existence. This edited volume draws a comparative scenario of urbanisation in nine megacities of the region: Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore in India; Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan; Dhaka in Bangladesh. It also covers five capital cities of Kabul (Afghanistan), Kathmandu (Nepal), Thimphu (Bhutan), Colombo (erstwhile capital of Sri Lanka) and Male (Maldives). In the introduction, Misra draws a trajectory from the Vedic civilisation to the present state of modernity in South Asia. His sketch traverses through the various influences which have made an impact on the geographical and cultural aspects of the region. He points towards the fundamental political issues in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives in deterring the growth of these countries. He follows it up with information on the land, people and economy of each of the countries covered in the book. A descriptive analysis of all the countries put together in the form of one chapter sets the background for the entire book. In the next chapter, he discusses the historical roots of South Asian Urbanisation; third chapter to sixteenth describe the various megacities in detail.
Mumbai, the financial capital of India, ranks sixth among the large cities of the world. Science, technology and entertainment (in the form of Bollywood) play an important role in enhancing Mumbai’s importance. Author of the third chapter explains the pressure, population growth has put on the physical structure of Mumbai as well as on the environment. Critical urbanisation issues in Mumbai are, first, shortage of housing, congestion and environmental degradation; second, unemployment as mechanisation of the production processes increase; third, inadequate water supply and no significant provision for solid and liquid waste disposal; fourth, inadequate transport facilities; and finally escalation in air pollution with rise in automobiles. The situation in Delhi, which is the seat of national politics, is no different from Mumbai. While shopping malls, flyovers, multiplexes, etc. are changing the skyline of Delhi, poor remain deprived of opportunities. So is the situation in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the megacity of the east. It also faces the pressures of growing population.
Madras, now Chennai, had often been referred to as a rural metropolis. The city had its beginning in coastal villages. In 1800, a municipality was formed and since then city’s development processes accelerated, feel the authors of the sixth chapter. Currently, Chennai is poised to become an information technology (IT) hub of the country. This would further pressurise the prevalent infrastructure and environment. Hyderabad, which has already registered a phenomenal change for the better in IT along with other sectors of economy, is facing migration into the city from the rural areas creating slums and squatter settlements. The growth of slums has been phenomenal after 1956. In the eighth chapter, author discusses at length the evolution of Bangalore from garden city to Silicon Valley of India. Bangalore city has also not been spared the burden of growing population affecting its road, drainage, power and water supply. The author raises some relevant questions in the beginning; whether this speed of growth is desirable or not, and whether this growth rate adversely impinges the quality of life. The IT boom contributes to the national and global economy but not to the city as such.
Karachi, a megacity of Pakistan is home to almost 15 million people. Much of the population lives in Katchi Abadis (slums and squatter settlement). Karachi is the financial capital of Pakistan. Much like Bangalore, this city generates revenues for the nation but its own residents fail to have a good quality of life. Like the other mega cities of India, this city also faces housing problems, environmental degradation along with other service delivery problems. Despite five master plans, lack of implementation has led to a chaotic urban growth in Karachi. Similar failure has been highlighted in Lahore. Some of the important points underlined by the authors are: overlapping jurisdiction of civic authorities; proposals bereft of real needs of the people, estimation of resources available; and deficient political commitment to implement the provisions of the plan.
While Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, faces similar challenges, it had a further setback when it was ravaged during the Taliban rule, writes the author Suresh Misra. Taliban ruled over Kabul from 1996 to 2001 and took the city 50 years behind. The land in and around Kabul is hilly; it lacks dependable sources of water. It is, therefore, neither fit for agriculture nor for urbanisation. Much of the economic base is dependent on opium cultivation (that too illegally). The author also mentions three main challenges (quite similar to other countries) in city planning: ‘redevelopment of widespread informal settlements; meeting the growing demand for service delivery; and management of ever growing traffic’ (p. 338).
Like the other cities, Dhaka also faces a huge demand for clean air, clean water, underground sewerage, effective drainage system and other service delivery systems. Interestingly it has very less motorised vehicles, as pointed out by the author. He has quoted from a source which ‘estimates that 74 per cent of all work trips are on foot or by cycle rickshaw’ (p. 359). Most people live near their workplaces. While the carbon dioxide emission rate is less, less of vehicles have their own limitations.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), the capital and main business hub of Nepal, is also the largest urban centre of the country. Authors have mentioned that Nepal has enough hydro power to meet its own demands as well as earn revenue through foreign exchange. Road networks are reportedly good compared to its other development parameters. Environmental problems include floods, landslides, fires and epidemics. Kathmandu is most vulnerable to earthquake (though rare) and steps need to be taken to avoid huge damage to buildings. Authors share the lessons learnt from the experience of Kathmandu in the concluding section. Some of them which would build the city are: (a) Commitment and will of the people and the local government; (b) Sound technical and financial resources; (c) potential of PPP.
Bhutan is a unique country. It stands first in gross domestic happiness (GDH) in South Asia and eighth in the world. Thimphu became the permanent capital of Bhutan in 1955. In this chapter, authors have sought to justify the need for Thimphu to remain seeped in tradition as well as move along the Thimphu Structural Plan. It is a city without traffic lights and parking lots, as well as without slums and squatter settlements. There is no dearth of either housing or open spaces. Authors feel it would be interesting to note the trajectory Thimphu takes in the future.
Located on the south-western coast of Sri Lanka, Colombo is the largest city and the most important financial and commercial centre of Sri Lanka. Transport situation is quite alarming as it is not only a commercial centre but also a major centre for education, health and other services, and therefore, it attracts people from all walks of life. Almost half the population of the city lives in slums occupying only 7 per cent of the total land of Colombo. Municipal services are quite hard pressed to provide for all the citizens. The section on planning and development discusses the development plans for the city since 1921. Concluding remarks engage in critically looking at the various points of failure of the plans; and some suggestions for improvement.
Male, the island city which is the capital of Maldives, is highly urbanised and it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Pace of population growth in Maldives is one of the highest in the world. Much of the economy is dependent on tourism and, therefore, Male is on the way to becoming a global resort and convention centre. The last section on development scenario talks of redistribution of population over the other atolls of Maldives and creating growth centres in these atolls to create equal opportunities and access to services.
Finally, the seventeenth chapter which is also the last chapter of this rather dense book, summarises the book, starting with a thematic introduction to South Asia’s economic policy and its relation to poverty. Development problems of South Asia have been categorised by the author within the backdrop of the political and economic situation in South Asia. The author has various suggestions for keeping a clean governance system running and also for creating a new approach to planning and development.
The effort to trace the historical roots of each city is laudable, as development plans for various cities are made without understanding much about its past. To design one’s present it is essential to know the past. The impact of the early invaders, the Sultanate, the Mughal, the East India Company and the Colonial regime has been multifarious and hence, fascinating to read in the context of urbanisation in different South Asian Countries. Transport and communication networks between the cities; and through the entire breadth of the nation emerged through different periods of time. Development of the ports helped in creating links with other nations. Emergence of these linkages helped in building trade networks and all of this led to the growth of the cities. To begin with, each city shows similar trajectories and later on bifurcates with local spasms and regional variances. But urbanisation as a process throws up similar challenges, almost everywhere, whether in India or Pakistan or Bangladesh or any other city. Growth in population density, housing crises, congestion on the roads, shortage of water and electricity, choked drains, heaps of solid waste, etc. are some of the common problems of unplanned growth. It seems from these case studies that despite best efforts made (Calcutta definitely is a case in point and also Karachi) at various points of time, matters have gone haywire. A holistic and humanistic approach is the need of the hour. This book covers this aspect amply.
Probably to maintain symmetry across the chapters, all of them have similar subsections. But many a times these subsections are too small and they end abruptly. It is essential to underline the problems and issues of urbanisation in each city covered in the book but some positive case (maybe of one particular service delivery in any of these cities) studies could have given reasons for hope. Politics of planning should have found more space in the book. Without understanding the political economy of any place/situation/country, it is very difficult to situate the problem of slum and squatter settlement or the rise of condominiums and malls in megacities. Also politics of each era has been significantly different and it would have been wonderful to knit these with historical detailing which is already there in the book. This book suffers from typographical errors which lead to unnecessary confusion. A fine comb is definitely needed to remove the excessive number of misspelt words and names; repeated words; extra prepositions; etc. Overall, the book makes for an interesting read, different in concept and fresh in presentation. This book would be extremely useful for planners; policy makers; students of geography, sociology, anthropology and urban studies.