Abstract
This issue is significantly important in the history of this journal. We, the academic fraternity, are celebrating the 10th anniversary of this esteemed space of academic and policy discourse. Starting with a modest existence a decade ago, the journal has trodden a chequered path to reach worldwide readership. It is important to acknowledge at this point the contribution of Professor O. P. Mathur and Dr David Satterthwaite. The journal would not have seen the light of the day without their foresight and vision. I acknowledge their contribution for initiating this journal as a sister journal to ‘Environment and Urbanization’, which is prepared by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, and published by SAGE Publications, London.
At this juncture, I would like to share with readers and subscribers how the idea of an Asian edition of ‘Environment and Urbanization’ came into being and what made it a reality, quoting excerpts from the first editorial authored by Professor O. P. Mathur, the first Editor of this journal.
It was a pleasant afternoon, 25 February 2008, when Dr David Satterthwaite, Editor of Environment and Urbanization, London; Sheela Patel, Director, SPARC, and member of the Advisory Board of Environment and Urbanization; and I were sipping tea at Hotel Taj Mahal, New Delhi, and reminiscing over developments and changes that had taken place in recent decades. We discussed the ways the global community was beginning to look at the phenomenon of urbanization, at the role of cities and the institutions that govern and manage them: decentralization, urban poverty, deprivation and exclusion, civil society and the like. The urban scene and paradigms, it appeared to us, had undergone a dramatic change within a short span of time, and more important, the change did not seem to be just a change in vocabulary. Sheela and I were trying to put it to David that even India—one of the most under-urbanized countries, and a country that prefers to continue with the notion that ‘India lived in villages’—was witnessing extremely important shifts in its urban policy framework, and was in the midst of setting aside its historical anti-urban bias in favour of a highly innovative urban mission. A question that arose during our discussion was: where do we find these shifts, experiences, innovations and learnings recorded, registered, chronicled, debated and analyzed. What was our knowledge base in this respect? Did these experiences vary between regions, countries and cities? Was there a need to record and debate the richness and nitty-gritty of these innovations on a regional basis, just like it was being done by the IIED-America Latina for countries in that region? In Asia, for example, as far as we knew, while there were a number of journals on urban-environmental issues in vernacular languages, especially in Chinese, there were just a few in English and none of them were aligned with the philosophy and aims espoused by Environment and Urbanization. Could an Asian edition of Environment and Urbanization fill in this void? An idea was born and we dispersed, assuring each other that we will scrutinize this idea further. After all, it was not going to be a one-year or two-year exercise; it was a long-term commitment.
Professor Mathur took the commitment forward. He faced two important issues in the beginning of this endeavour. The first was Asia’s urbanization (and its numerous facets) and if it is different or unique in any way to the rest of the world and the second was whether it was possible to establish and sustain a journal, similar to what Dr Satterthwaite was able to do, on a global scale? He probed into Asia-specific patterns of urbanization which indicated that Asia was dotted with several mega-urban regions and urban corridors: the Hong Kong–Shanghai–Guangdong corridor with a population of over 100 million, a phenomenal size with economic weight of extraordinarily large proportions; the Tokyo–Nagoya–Osaka–Kyoto–Kobe corridor with a population load of 60 million; East Asia’s cities and towns producing over 90 per cent of its wealth; the emergence of Singapore Growth Triangle; and so on. Also, existing literature suggested that Asian cities were likely to both experience demographic growth and produce more than half of the rise in greenhouse gases in the next few decades and that climate change would make these cities more vulnerable. This probe further established the need for an Asian version of the journal.
Another issue that arose was related to the establishment of the journal, similar in letter and spirit to that ‘Environment and Urbanization’ (London) displayed and one which could be sustained in the long run. It meant, first, the identification of an institution—an institution with a credible urban and human settlements background, which would agree to host it, own it and subscribe to its philosophy and scope, and, second, the manpower and financial resources to run it. Professor Mathur mentioned in the first editorial that these issues were resolved rather quickly with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), New Delhi, offering to host the journal and Dr Arcot Ramachandran, former Under-Secretary General of the UN-HABITAT, and then President of the NIUA, steering it through NIUA’s governing council and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) agreeing to provide a subsidy for 2 years to partly finance its printing costs. Professor Mathur further acknowledged that Dr Satterthwaite was far more swift in securing a commitment from the IIED for an Asian edition, offering to assist in both promoting the journal and advising on what it takes to mount a journal and run it. He also suggested that SAGE India could take the responsibility for its publication and distribution, just like it does for the parent journal. He also helped obtain financial support from the IIED for the initial 5 years. In consultation with the NIUA, Dr Satterthwaite also secured an agreement that Professor Mathur will assume the editorship of this journal for at least 2 years. The latter continued with this important responsibility until I took over in 2014. I have no words to adequately express my appreciation for his efforts to establish the journal. In the past 10 years, two special issues were brought out, one in September 2016 titled ‘Towards Habitat III’ followed by another in March 2017 titled ‘Understanding Migration Pattern and Migrant Experiences in Asia’. A section with the title ‘Perspective’ was introduced in March 2018. Till date, the journal has published 152 articles and 21 book reviews.
Over the years, we have strengthened the editorial board. The manifold increase in subscriptions has made the journal financially self-sustainable. I take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the journal. I am grateful to Professor Jagan Shah, Director, NIUA, for his constant support and encouragement. I would like to thank all the reviewers for painstakingly reviewing the articles and providing invaluable feedback. I am also thankful to Ms. Pragya Sharma, NIUA, for coordinating with the authors, reviewers and SAGE. Since I took over she has been a constant support, giving personal attention to each submission with great sincerity. Last but not the least, I thank the entire team from SAGE Publications, New Delhi, for providing editing assistance as well as looking into the timely publication and distribution of the journal. I look forward to working with all of you in the future and welcome your submissions, as well as feedback, as authors, readers and reviewers of the journal.