Editorial

This issue marks five years of Environment and Urbanization Asia. From the first issue to the one you hold at this moment, the journal has traversed an evolutionary path in its quest for solutions to addressing the urbanization and environmental challenges of Asia. Each issue attempts to bring together a collection of research, both holistic and scientific in nature, that addresses common concerns regarding urbanisation and its effects on the ecological that can no longer be denied or neglected. The journal has engaged with themes ranging from sustainable urbanization and public policy, housing and sanitation, deforestation and problems of land acquisition in peri-urban areas. Each has a varying focus- some look at dynamic nations while others speak at length about specific towns and cities.

It is regrettable that most Asian nations have missed the deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The United Nations has embarked on a mission to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will build upon the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post 2015 development agenda. Thus, it is now the most opportune time to document critical areas where environment and urbanization can be further reconciled.

Remy Siechiping, Jackson Kago, Xing Quan Zhang, Clarissa Augustinus and Raf Tuts in their article on ‘Role of Urban–Rural Linkages in Promoting Sustainable Urbanization’ argue that the interconnection between rural and urban areas is growing. The authors posit that urbanization and the implications of this type of development on rural areas call for a renewed attention to fostering linkages between the urban, peri-urban and rural contexts. The limited land resources create intense competition for different uses, including urbanization and the protection of environment-related land uses. The article posits the effective interaction between urban and rural areas as imperative. Using selected case studies and learning from interventions by various organizations in the urban–rural continuum, the authors conclude that there is a need for strengthening partnerships, research and knowledge development on developing land and spatial planning systems and tools for balanced urban and rural development. The article presents the rationale for renewed interest in the issue of urban-rural linkages and suggests priority areas for improving such linkages.

Cities are home to agglomeration externalities, which interact with knowledge externalites to drive economic growth during structural transformation of nations. This is the essence of the article on ‘Cities and Agglomeration Externalities: Lessons for Urban Public Policy in Asian Countries’ by Dr Prasanna K. Mohanty and Dr Alok K. Mishra. The authors are of the view that policy-makers in several developing countries in the past seemed to have had an anti-urban bias primarily due to the lack of appreciation of the positive externalities of cities and their role in facilitating economic growth and generating resources for economic development, including urban and rural development. Recognizing the critical need of Asian countries to harness the power of agglomeration externalities in cities for growth, this article examines the nature and sources of agglomeration externalities and derives lessons for formulation of urban public policy in rapidly urbanising Asian countries such as India.

Christopher L. Atkinson in his article on ‘Deforestation and Transboundary Haze in Indonesia: Path Dependence and Elite Influences’ argues that Indonesia is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, primarily due to its large scale timber and forest activities. Timber-related fires are common in Indonesian peat forests, resulting in a noxious haze that has been the cause of periodic economic and public health crises. In this article, the phenomenon of trans-boundary haze is examined in light of path dependence, historical institutionalism and elite theory. An evaluation of Indonesia’s policy process with environmental legislation and enforcement, prospects for future policy development, and discussion of that country’s inability to deal effectively with haze and other environmental problems are addressed in light of theory. The article concludes that the haze problem has historically been a microcosm of what is wrong with environmental policy in Indonesia, and that leaving aside new incentive programmes like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) no significant change from the historical path may be reasonably expected unless Indonesia can seek to end or at least reduce the influence of crony relationships on regulatory structures and administration, and implement an independent programme of its own with appropriate oversight and resources for addressing environmental degradation and enforcement of regulations.

Rakesh Ranjan has contributed an article that focuses on the Swachh Bharat Mission of the Government of India. He argues that the launch of the ‘Mission Swachh Bharat’ – a time bound programme for making India clean by 2nd October 2019 – has been hailed as a much needed intervention, even though cleanliness of a city is a municipal subject. However, he argues, the cleanliness mission can succeed only if its strategy has three important elements: constant engagement with the citizenry; strategies for reduction of waste; and successful improvement of the processing of waste. The article argues that while the programme has been successfully launched as a mass movement with a great deal of visibility, much is required to be done towards reducing and processing of waste. Unless this is done, our cities and towns may give a semblance of cleanliness, but they would continue to inflict incalculable damages to their surroundings.

In their article titled ‘Diversity and Dynamics of Informal Rental Housing in a Mid-sized City in India’ Darshini Mahadevia and Renu Desai point out that informal housing predominates urban housing options in developing countries, including metro and mid-sized cities in India. Furthermore, two-fifths of urban housing, in India is for rental. This study is based on one mid-sized city (Guwahati) in one of the least developed and urbanized states (Assam) in India. The processes of supply of rental housing in the informal sector is linked with the processes of overall supply of housing identified in Guwahati as housing through: (i) informal occupation of public and private lands, (ii) alienation of land, and (iii) public-sector. Within that, land ownership, processes of land occupation/subdivision and development, and the behaviour role of various actors create housing submarkets. Submarket-specific, settlement-specific and owner-specific processes shape a diversity of informal rental housing with regards to extent, quality, level of basic services, rents and tenure security for the urban poor, posing challenges for pursuing a policy of ‘formalizing the informal’.

The article on ‘Home-based Workers and Multiple Uses of Dwellings in Urban India’ by S. Chandrasekhar complements the literature on self-employment by focusing on the issue of multiple use of dwelling and home-based workers in urban India. Using data from Census of India 2011, the article establishes the prevalence of multiple uses of houses. The descriptive analysis, based on unit level data from a unique and nationally representative data set on employment and unemployment for the year 2009–2010, establishes sufficient heterogeneity between the three types of home-based workers: own account workers, employers and unpaid family workers. The heterogeneity is along many dimensions: age, education, skill, industry and monthly per capita expenditure. There are also marked differences in operational characteristics. From a policy perspective, this article makes two contributions. It argues that recognition of multiple use of dwelling is the first step towards having a discussion on whether home-based enterprises can be visualized as a livelihood improvement strategy for low-income households. Second, despite the sizable number of houses in slums being used for purposes other than residence, this fact is often neglected while thinking of the potential adverse impacts of slum resettlement policies on livelihoods.

Indian mega cities are witnessing significant changes in land use in their peri-urban areas due to location of large infrastructure and development projects like airports, special economic zones, information technology parks, real estate ventures, ring roads and so on. In his article on ‘Urban Mega Projects and Land Conversion in Peri-Urban Areas and its impact on Vegetable Production due to Outer Ring Road in Hyderabad, India’, C. Ramachandraiah argues that the location of such projects and consequent land acquisition from rural farmers have serious impacts on vegetable cultivation and their livelihood security in the peri-urban areas. The article deals with land acquisition for the outer ring road, a 159-km 8 eight-lane express highway, around Hyderabad city and its relationship with the loss of vegetable cultivation. Based on secondary and primary data, the study reveals that the loss of land had an adverse impact on the extent of vegetable cultivation and the economic security of cultivators in the rural hinterland of Hyderabad. Though the incomes from vegetable cultivation were not very high, the villagers were earning regular incomes from this activity and were able to support their families including children’s education, clearing small debts and meeting household expenses. Loss of such regular income has adversely affected their livelihood security. With the loss of land, they have also lost income from cattle rearing and dairying. Many of them could not cultivate their remaining lands as the massive new road separated them from those lands with reduced access. A significant number have become poorer and sought unskilled jobs in the nearby factories or construction sites as they had no knowledge of any occupation other than agricultural work. The Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy for the Project Affected Families (PAFs) brought by the Government of Andhra Pradesh is not applicable to the outer ring road as it is not an irrigation project. The Master Plan for Hyderabad Metropolitan Region-2031 also does not mention the preservation of vegetable cultivation areas in the zoning regulations. As a consequence, the affected people in the villages did not qualify for R&R benefits under this policy except cash compensation for the lost lands.

This journal will continue to solicit articles that discuss contemporary environment and urbanization issues and the resulting challenges, with a special focus on Asia. The analysis could be at the local, regional and national levels. Original research with a focus on comparative analysis of different countries on specific issues is particularly welcome. At a time when Asian cities are increasingly exposed to environmental stresses due to unplanned or poorly planned urbanization, we hope that the papers in this volume will be of interest to researchers, academicians, practitioners, policy makers and students alike.