Challenges associated with urbanization in India:
(1) Classification: The urban system of India consists of 7,933 settlements, comprising statutory and census towns. There are 3,892 census towns which are classified as urban in the census. However, they continue to be governed as villages and do not have urban local bodies. It is estimated that another 2,231 census towns have come up between 2011-2021 census. These census towns account for almost 72 million ‘urban’ population and remain under the ambit of ‘uncatered’ or ‘ignored’ urbanisation.
(2) Master Plans: Almost 50% of India’s statutory towns are expanding in an unplanned and unscientific manner. None of the census towns has a master plan to guide their growth. This is leading to haphazard growth with piecemeal interventions leading to urban sprawl;
(3) Low Floor Space Index (FSI): The maximum Floor Space Index (FSI) is 25 in Singapore, 20 in Tokyo and 15 in New York. In contrast, it is only 3.5 in Delhi, 2 in Ahmedabad, 1.33 in Mumbai and 1.25 in Pune. Low FSI has several negative impacts: (a) Distorts the land market; (b) Pushes development to the peri-urban areas; (c) Reduces availability of serviced land within cities, particularly for low-income groups; (d) Increases commuting distances and their environmental costs;
(4) Water Scarcity: Rapid urbanization has resulted in fast depletion of resources in these regions especially water. Water scarcity has become a perennial problem in Indian cities. It is expected to worsen in the coming times with depleting water tables and encroachment of lakes and other water bodies.
How can sustainable Urbanisation be ensured:
(1) Creating Master Plans: Scientific master plans must be developed for all statutory towns that should govern and regulate the urbanization process. Census towns should also have planning bodies to create the plans;
(2) Transit Oriented Development (TOD): Master Plans must focus on TOD. Planned development along the mode of a rapid transit network has multi-fold benefits: (a) Reduces the need for private vehicles for commutation; (b) Increases walkability and bike-ability; (c) Brings people and offices closer to each other through compact and vertical development. This leads to agglomeration and enhanced productivity. Urban planning must support Bus Rapid Transit (BRTS), Light Rapid Transit, Mass Rapid Transit (MRTS) and Non-motorised Transit Systems like cycling and walking;
(3) Increase FSI: There is a need to densify the cities and build them vertically. It will help reap agglomeration benefits of enhanced economic productivity and lower transaction costs. FSI should be corrected to global standards;
(4) Sustainable management of water: There is need for cities to collect, treat and reuse used water on a vast scale. Cities also need to be fully sewered to collect all used water. Thus there is a need to: (a) Construct separate drainage and sewerage systems to facilitate water reuse; (b) Rational and pragmatic policy for pricing water. The pricing mechanism should be based on ‘pay as you use’ with direct benefit transfer of a subsidy for those who cannot afford to pay;
(5) Strengthen urban governance: States need to build up a cadre of professional urban managers and create an ecosystem of optimal regulations, reform building bye-laws and use technologies like geospatial systems. Moreover, states need to provide greater financial autonomy and administrative freedom to cities.