Q1: What are the main causes of urbanization? Discuss the key features of urbanization.

A:

Main causes of Urbanization are elaborated below:

1. Agricultural development

Development of agriculture due to farm mechanization has resulted in decreased demand for
labour force in agricultural sector. This surplus labour usually migrates to urban areas for
employment and livelihood. They are generally employed in sectors like construction and
logistics requiring low menial work or get engaged in self-employed activities (small
businesses / street vending).

2. ` Industrialization

i. Natural growth of industry

It has been a trend across the country that majority of the industrialization that has
taken place, has been in and around cities. Development of these industries requires
more workforce – skilled and unskilled. Skilled workforce generally contributes to the
development of urban infrastructure within with city as they demand better facilities,
whereas the unskilled workforce that usually comprises of immigrants from rural
areas and settles in unorganized settlements on outskirts – even if these areas are
deficient in civic amenities and infrastructure – leads to expansion of cities and hence
causes urbanization at an accelerated rate.

ii. Emergence of new industry-driven urban centres

As an integral part of programs of Government of India – like Delhi Mumbai Industrial

Corridor – and state-driven programs – like Mumbai Nagpur Smaruddhi Marg – many
new urban areas have been planned to house the workforce that will be employed at
the industries developed as part of these programs. Few examples of the upcoming
urban areas planned are Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), Shendra Bidkin Industrial
Area (SBIA), Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), and Manesar Bawal
Investment Region (MBIR).

Development of such new urban centres is a major cause of exponential urbanization

in India.

3. Market forces

i. Consumer Goods

Urban centres provide a readymade market for consumer goods across the consumer
spectrum. With an increase in the number new urban centres and expansion of
existing urban centres, demand of consumer goods has increased. This has led to
proliferation of consumer goods industry and service industry. Since set-up and
augmentation of manufacturing facilities requires additional skills, influx of workforce
is imperative and hence causes further urbanization.

ii. Services
 With the technological advancements, progress in the service industry – banking and
insurance, retail, entertainment, hospitality, communication, etc. – observed in
recent few decades, standards of living within cities has improved. To avail of this
better quality of life, majority of the skilled workforce from smaller urban centres and
unskilled workforce from rural areas is attracted towards larger urban centres. This
leads to further urbanization.

4. Emergence of towns and cities as socio-cultural centres

Recent trends reveal that urban areas have become the epicentre of socio-cultural activities
on account of availability of entertainment and recreation facilities – such as cinemas,
theatres, art galleries, parks, amusement parks, museums, etc. This makes urban areas the
focus of immense opportunity. Urban areas experience influx of not just people who want to
avail of the facilities, but also workforce that will support the operations of these facilities.

Moreover, on account of the socio-cultural focus, these urban areas innately tend to get
associated with glamour and hence gain more appeal, leading to additional influx of people
within the area causing further urbanization within the area.

5. Improvement in transport and infrastructure

On account of national focus on development of transport facilities, infrastructure and

connectivity between urban and rural areas to drive economic development, accessing urban
areas has become easier. As employment opportunities are enormous and diverse as
compared to rural areas, it has become easier for workforce to get engaged in an occupation
in the urban areas and still stay in touch with their families settled in rural areas. This type of
workforce comprises of two categories:

i. Workforce that travels between urban areas on daily or periodic basis – circular
migration

ii. Resident workforce – permanent immigrants who have settled in the urban areas but
have families in rural areas

Both categories of workforces, urban areas witness an increased influx of people contributing
to further urbanization of the area.

6. Availability of better civic amenities and infrastructure

Urban areas in India have always better civic amenities and infrastructure to its residents as
compared to rural areas – assured supply of utilities like water, electricity, gas; housing;
security; education, health; sanitation; in-city transport; ICT facilities; recreational facilities.

Further with the sponsorship of schemes like AMRUT, PMAY and Smart Cities Mission,
development of infrastructure within cities has witnessed an exponential growth and
improvement. In addition, improvement in methods of civic administration and employment
of technology-enabled tools for enhancing delivery of civic services has led to further
improvement in quality of life available within urban areas as compared to rural areas.

This has led to urban areas becoming a preference for settling for people over rural areas
causing more urbanization.

7. Natural increase in population

 Though fertility within the upper and middle classes residing in urban areas is lesser as
compared to rural areas and family planning is observed to be followed more meticulously in
urban areas, natural increase in population is an important factor causing increase in
urbanization – and this has been noted at a global level.

Key features of urbanization are:

1. Urbanization in developed countries tends to be higher as compared to developing countries:

Though economies of developing countries have begun witnessing an increasing share in GDP
contribution from industry, they still have majority population engaged in agriculture or rural
industries. In developed countries, since major employment is in industry and progress of
technology is attracting more people to the industries in cities, urbanization in developed
countries tends to be higher as compared to developing countries.

2. In India, there is lopsided urbanization and the growth of population in Class-I cities having
more than one lakh population is higher as compared to other cities:

On account of the economic development in Class-I cities in India being higher than other
cities, Class-I cities have a lot of employment to offer across occupations and levels of skill –
which is restricted in other cities. Further to support the industry and the immigrant
population, Class-I cities have developed better infrastructure and civic amenities. The
assurance of employment and better quality of life attracts more people to Class-I cities as
compared to other cities and hence urbanization in India is lopsided.

3. Urbanization can take place without much industrialization and strong economic base:

Certain cities like Nagpur develop on account of their regional importance in the areas of
education and health-care. In spite of being on the development road-map of Government of
India (GoI) and Government of Maharashtra (GoM) as being developed as India’s major dry
port, majority population that dwells in the city are either students or retired people. It is
major observation and even specified in the Smart City Proposal of Nagpur submitted as part
of GoI’s Smart City Mission Challenge that majority student population migrates to other cities
in search of employment on account of lack of industry. Immigrants comprise of those who
seek health-care. Hence we can conclude that urbanization can take place without much
industrialization and economic base.

4. Every one of three urban dwellers lives in slum:

Urban areas offer employment opportunities across professions and levels of skill. On account
of availability of employment there is a massive immigration of workforce in urban areas. Civic
administration; especially in developing countries, is falling short on efforts on building
infrastructure and civic amenities to keep up with the pace at which immigration is taking
place. Since availability of required infrastructure and civic amenities is in shortage, affordable
housing has become a major issue in the cities and promoted proliferation of slums. To avail
of cheaper living options and to continue to earn the assured remuneration on account of the
urban area’s economy, city dwellers have been forced to live in slums.

5. Urban areas are now witnessing a vertical growth of infrastructure:

The density of population is increasing rapidly and area of planned development is restricted
on account of government’s statutes. Hence, as the scope of horizontal extension in the urban
 areas is restricted and the civic administration is under the pressure of undertaking
development, urban areas have now started extending vertically to accommodate the influx
of population.

6. While urban areas witness a high income and social parity, social mobility is also a prevalent
aspect of life urban areas:

Since urban areas offer employment across skill levels and there is a surplus of workforce,
there is a high income parity amongst the urban area dwellers. Since spending capacity is
dependent on income, and parity in income is high, social class parity is observed to be high
in urban areas.

Along with employment opportunities, as part of other facilities that the urban areas provide
to its dwellers, urban areas provide education and skilling opportunities too. Further only a
very small part of the population in urban areas have their ancestral origins from that area.
This promotes a work ethic of allowing anyone who is better skilled and allows them an
opportunity to earn better, hence bringing in social mobility.

Q2: Why are urban ecosystem and climate changes not fully integrated into traditional urban
planning?

A:

After studying course material and conducting a thorough secondary research, I have concluded that
“traditional urban planning” is widely referred to as “conventional urban planning”, and hence I will
be answering the question “why are urban ecosystem and climate changes not fully integrated into
conventional urban planning”. And for the purpose of answering this question, I will be referring to
“traditional urban planning” as “conventional urban planning”.

Chapter 2 of PhD theses “Study of mining video databases based on semantic approach” of Pushpa
Ranjini, D. under the guidance of Manimegalai, D. (published at Sodhganga – these no. 141088)
elaborates the process of “Conventional Plan Formulation Process” with the example of Chennai City
and how development of new economic bases within the city are demanding a new approach from
the traditional master planning tools and techniques to enable sustainable and equitable growth of
Chennai City. The Chapter also identifies the following shortcomings of conventional plan making
process:

· Weak database for plan preparation

· Non-comprehensive and non-holistic nature of the plan
· Inadequate public participation
· Lack of monitoring and implementation mechanism.

As per course material, characteristics of a Master Plan are:

· It plans for the physical development of the downtown

· It is future oriented
· It is geographically inclusive and looks at the entire downtown or center city.

Course material also lists prominent deficiencies of the Master Plan Approach as:
 · It provides a long-term perspective of development, but neglects short-term actions and
objectives. Thus, it loses its effectiveness in fast-changing scenario.
· It is rigid and static because it is treated as an end product and not as a continuous process.
· It takes a very long time in its preparation and approval, making it an out-of-date document
even before its implementation. Consequently, there are frequent changes in land use – I can
vouch for this as I build Smart Cities and we use Master Plans only for identifying objective of
development for the city. We don’t refer the Master Plans even for base-line data, we collect
it from Municipalities at the time of Smart City Design.
· It lacks symbiosis of socio-economic dynamism and physical determination of a city.
· Public participation in the planning process is not effectively taken into consideration.
· Monitoring and review mechanisms are neither regular nor effective – I can vouch for this too.
Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) wakes up once every 4 to 6 months and gets all Urban
Development Departments (UDD) of States to review Smart City implementations – as they
have shelled out huge sums of money from people’s taxes. Until then there is NO review by
UDDs of States! A lot of Smart City Projects are in deep mess on account of this.
· It emphasises on control rather than promotion of development.
· Town planning and other related laws and regulations are not suitably amended to adjust to
changing socio-economic, techno-economic changes and development needs.
· It hardly caters to the demands of informal sector.

As per the chapter authored by Gibson, R.B., Alexander, D.H.M., & Tomalty, R. (1997), “Putting cities
in their place: Ecosystem-based planning for Canadian urban regions” which was published in “Eco-
city dimensions: Healthy communities, healthy planet” by M. Roseland (Ed.) at pages 25-39, key
challenges of conventional urban planning are:

· Conventional urban planning rests on a faith in growth. It assumes that expansion of economic
activity, population, infrastructure, etc. is inherently beneficial and that any negative aspects
can be minimized well enough through marginal adjustments.
· Conventional urban planning does not recognize human dependence on and responsibility for
nature. It does not identify ecological complexities, limits, and uncertainties, which in turn
requires an emphasis on setting long term goals, giving attention to the future effects of
planning decisions, and favouring planning mechanisms that are flexible enough to respond
to unanticipated problems and opportunities.
· Conventional urban planning does not recognize that urban ecosystem health and integrity
objectives are inter-dependent on objectives for social, economic, and political improvement
and that both influence land use planning.
· Conventional planning uses a hierarchy of smaller-to-larger planning units with boundaries
that rarely recognize ecological factors. Planning units utilized in conventional urban planning
do not take into consideration planning units that are defined with respect to ecological
functions and that follow natural boundaries.
· Traditionally, planners have seen "raw" land as a blank slate ready for human manipulation
and use. They have not hesitated to replace complex ecological processes with engineered,
often linear, systems Conventional urban planning fails to recognize human activity as part of
the environment, overall limits of resource availability and ecosystem resilience.
· Because it assumes that 'business as usual' will bring a generally benign future, conventional
urban planning focuses on short-term and local adjustments. Moreover, conventional urban
planning fails to recognize that local successes will not be secure without larger regional and
 global improvements – which call for consideration of off-site, cross-boundary,
intergenerational, and cumulative effects.
· Conventional urban planning exercises lack inputs from social learning. They fail to recognize
that there can be no final answers and that the urban planning process must be cyclical and
iterative, and must always under review and dedicated to learning from experience.
· Social, demographic, and economic information has been emphasized in conventional urban
planning, with few attempts to assess ecological capacity or to assess how efforts to satisfy
anticipated socio-economic demands may affect ecological functions.
· Conventional urban planning fails to recognize that information available at the time of
undertaking urban planning exercise will not eliminate uncertainty in urban planning and that
relevant information may only become available as the urban plan unfolds.

As per Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmitt (Chair of Information Architecture at ETH Zurich, Lead PI of the ETH
Future Cities Responsive Cities Scenario, Founding Director of the Singapore-ETH Centre, and ETH
Zurich Senior Vice President for ETH Global) in his MOOC course on “Future Cities” hosted at edx.org:

· A City is a living organism. Similar to a living organism it requires inflow of certain elements –
like food, water, energy sources – and generates an outflow of certain elements – like
sewerage, solid waste.
· He details to concept of stock and flows while referring to the concept of “a City is a living
organism”. He explains that a city has Stocks of resources within the city – like resident
population, housing, industry, infrastructure – and requires Flows of resources / produce to
sustain the functioning of the city – like food, water, energy sources, raw material, water,
sewerage, solid waste.
· He explains the inter-dependence of urban areas on adjoining hinterlands (rural as well as
semi-urban) and other adjoining urban centres.
· He defines information, architecture and information architecture and elaborates on how
modern tools are enabling monitoring of real-time data from various sources, and impacting
quick and informed decision making.

Hence, based on the study undertaken, I have understood that urban ecosystem is not fully integrated
into conventional urban planning on account of:

1. Conventional urban planning is based on current facts and predictions that are available at
the given point in time – time when the Master Plan is being prepared. Facts and predictions
are true for a given point in time. Further, predictions only specify a tentative timeline of
change – they do not specify the exact timelines and conditions under which the change will
present itself to an urban centre.

2. With the rapid economic and technological changes occurring globally:

i. Local economies are impacted drastically and informal sector of economy changes
rapidly. Conventional urban planning rarely refers to these changes – especially
informal sector changes.

ii. Rapid changes are occurring in the needs of basic civic amenities and infrastructure of
the urban population. Since conventional urban planning assumes growth and is rigid
and static, and has a comparatively long time-perspective, changing needs of urban
ecosystem are not effectively integrated into the urban development plan.
3. Conventional urban planning always refers to “conserving culture and heritage” but rarely
addresses the social dynamics. There is never an assessment of “religious” land use per unit
of population belonging a specific religion – there is a ubiquitous “religious” land use
specification in Master Plans.

4. Master Plans (ones I have read and that have been prepared recently) recognize requirements
of peri-urban, rural-urban, urban corridors, satellites and suburbs separately. But rarely do
they recognize and address their interdependence on each other – thus failing to address the
urban ecosystem comprehensively. (Not even Smart City Plans submitted by 100 Cities to
MoUD ad part of Smart City Challenge recognize and address this interdependence – Smart
City Plans were supposed to be based on Modern Planning techniques, but unfortunately
turned out to be a conventional planning exercise – Smart City Plans were majorly an
amalgamation of existing initiatives and schemes run by Government of India and respective
State Governments in the cities with a slight flavour of innovation in urban design and ICT-
enablement).

5. Urban ecosystem comprises of urban population, immigrant population, urban infrastructure

and civic amenities. Unless their voice is considered, a Master Plan can rarely be considered
complete. Master Plans prepared by conventional urban planning techniques provide very
little room for incorporating people’s opinion – esp. in India. (Even Smart City Plans that were
to be based on Participatory Planning – extensive Citizen and Stakeholder Engagement
exercises – the Citizen Surveys undertaken were very poorly administered – baring to 5%
cities. Survey Questionnaires were badly designed, data collected was collated very shabbily,
and conclusion derived were useless. One could have just look around the city and read
newspapers and derived the conclusions that were presented. Other stakeholder engagement
exercises were mere photo-sessions – no real discussions on urban issues and probable
methods of solving were undertaken and so nothing appeared in the basis of those Smart City
Plans).

6. While Master Plans assume optimistic growth along with reliable predictions, and specify the
exact changes required to be address together with projects to be undertaken, they rarely
specify the regulatory changes required for enabling the changes and projects, and the exact
nature of and timelines of effecting those regulatory changes. Exclusion of identification of
regulatory changes and the timelines for effecting them initially leads to prolonged
implementation cycles and leaves the implementation vulnerable to socio-economic-political
forces, thereby leading to poor integration of actual needs of the urban ecosystem into the
Master Plan.

7. Conventional urban planning rarely employs trend analysis to derive basis for preparation of
Master Plans. And majority Master Plans rarely address the requirement of monitoring
mechanism and specifications of monitoring tools that may be employed for enabling the
monitoring mechanism – even if for future use, thus leaving the real urban ecosystem
dynamics largely out of the urban planning exercise.

8. Current regulatory structure in India makes it very difficult to incorporate changes to the
Master Plans that have been prepared. So, even if civic administrators want to incorporate
changes into their Master Plans based on changes in current needs of the urban ecosystem,
they have no motivation of undertaking the exercise of changing the Master Plan. This again
leads to leaving out the requirements of urban ecosystem from conventional planning
exercise.
Further, based on the study undertaken, I have understood that climate changes are not fully
integrated into conventional urban planning on account of:

1. Urban Planners under the conventional urban planning method treat an urban area in
isolation. They rarely consider any inter-dependences at all. Climate is not an isolated
phenomenon – it is a regional phenomenon. This discrepancy leads to leaving out the impact
of real climate change majorly out from the conventional urban planning exercise.

2. Master Plans prepared under the conventional urban planning method refer to increase in
pollutants, decrease in green spaces and their inter-dependence on each other. These Master
Plans also refer to a drop in quality of water. But they never identify urban heat islands. Master
Plans prepared under the conventional urban planning method rarely do they address
environmental degradation of ecology within the urban area and its impact on the quality of
life of the population residing and visiting with the urban area comprehensively. This lack of
holistic approach leads to leaving out environmental degradation and hence resultant climate
change from conventional urban planning exercise.

3. Conventional urban planning focusses more on corrective methods for addressing

improvement of indicators of environmental and quality-of-life indicators. They never
consider the capacity of the ecology of the urban area to support development and
undertaking planning exercise based on natural limit of the ecology within the urban area. Not
considering ecological capacity requires major reactive course corrections. This lack of
preventive planning approach in conventional urban planning completely leaves out the
environmental and climate changes from the planning exercise.

Q3: What is urban management? Write five components and scope of urban management.

A:

Definition of Urban Management:

According to S.K. Sharma: Urban Management can be described as a set of activities which together
shape and guide the social, physical and economic development of urban areas. The main concern of
urban management, then, would be intervention in these areas to promote economic development
and well-being and to ensure necessary provision of essential services.

According to Amos: Urban Management is the responsibility of municipal government and uran
management is concerned with all aspects of urban development, both public and private. It is no way
confined to the services operated by the municipal authority. Good urban management depends on
power to coordinate the activities of a variety of agencies at national and local levels.

According to Davidson: Urban Management is about mobilizing resources in a way that can achieve
urban development.

According to Rakodi: urban Management aims to ensure that the components of the system are
managed so that they make possible the daily functioning of a city which will both facilitate and
encourage economic activity of all kinds and enable residents to meet their basic needs for shelter,
and access to utilities, services and income generating opportunities.
According to Cheema: Urban Management is a holistic concept. It aimed at strengthening the capacity
of government and non-government organizations (NGOs) to identify policy and programme
alternatives and to implement them with optimal results.

According to Ronald McGill: Urban Management seems to have twin objective: first to plan for,
provide and maintain a city’s infrastructure and services; and second to make sure that city’s
government is in a fit state, organizationally and financially to ensure that provisions and
maintenance.

According to Willian: Urban Management is a topic of study and is neither a theory nor an agreed
perspective. It instead is a framework of study.

According to Churchill: Urban Management no longer refers only to systems of control but rather, to
set of behavioural relationships, the process through which the myriad activities of inhabitants
interact with each other and with the governance of the city.

As per my understanding of Urban Management from practitioners in the country, senior bureaucrats,
and other stakeholders: Urban Management is identifying available resources (infrastructure, energy,
manpower, finances, technology, etc.) and relationships between various elements (including
ecological limits of the region in which the urban centre is located) interacting with each other in the
functioning of an urban centre and employing this understanding in real-time through interventions
and initiatives that may lead to development of infrastructure and civic amenities and / or effect
behavioural changes amongst the inhabitants of the urban centre to help address the requirements
of the urban centre.

Components of Urban Management include:

1. Urban land use:

Land use is the function or functions that humans apply to the land available to them.

The study of land use is the study of how the land is managed, including how the natural world
is adapted to human needs. It tells us a great deal about the governments making the
decisions for land use and the priorities they hold. Also, the better we understand the way the
world has been adapted to human needs, and in what patterns, the more we can predict
future trends. And, the better we can predict the future of land use, the more we can prepare
for negative impacts.

Major types of land uses identified by State Governemnets in India in their Building Codes are:

i. Residential – Plotted, Group Housing, Low-density Eco-friendly Colonies

ii. Commercial

iii. Industrial

iv. Recreational

v. Agricultural

vi. Institutional

vii. Educational

viii. Religious
 ix. Warehouse – for agro produce, for products other than agro produce

x. Inland Container Depots / Custom-bounded Areas

xi. Transport

Land-use planning is important to mitigate the negative effects of land use and to enhance
the efficient use of resources with minimal impact on future generations.

Equitable, efficient, effective and sustainable management of urban land use is essential for
development of a city and providing its inhabitants a decent quality of life while allowing them
to access opportunities for income generation. Efficiency in land use is achieved by matching
different land use with areas that will yield the greatest benefit at the least cost. Equity in land
use focuses on reducing inequalities in income, food security, and housing. Sustainable land
use meets the needs of the present while conserving resources for future generations.

Land-use planning helps in achieving a balance among the goals of equity, efficiency,
effectiveness and sustainability through the use of information on trade-offs, appropriate
technology, and consensus-based decision-making. Effective land-use planning often involves
local communities, scientific information on land resources, appropriate technologies, and
integrated evaluation of resource use.

2. Natural environment / Natural Resource Management:

Urban Natural Resource Management is the management, protection, and care of natural
resources in urban areas. A city's natural resources improve air and water quality and provide
a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife. Caring for the natural resources in cities and
towns helps to create livable places — places where people want to live, work, and play.

Like living organisms, cities require natural resources, energy, raw material, food and goods
to sustain the daily life of their inhabitants and their economic activities (Kennedy et al., 2007).
The urban system generally depends on its neighbourhoods, and often from afar, for both
supply and disposal of materials. The material and energy needs, as well the emissions,
congestion and waste production, of an urban area depend on the components of the urban
system.

One of the major challenges to overcome to achieve sustainable cities is minimising the use
of resources and developing a circular model that recovers local waste closely in line with the
needs of the local economy. Unless this challenge is addressed, pollution and environmental
degradation occurs.

If urban centres, esp. large cities with a very high density of population, are not properly,
serious irrecoverable depletion of essential resources will take place and:

i. Affect the safety of population

ii. Cause issues like water and power cuts, low quality of portable water

iii. Impact public health adversely

iv. Impact the capacity of natural environment to sustain development.

3. Urban Infrastructure:
 Urban infrastructure is the term for the basic physical systems of a business or nation —
transportation, communication, sewage, water and electric systems are all examples of
infrastructure. These systems tend to be high-cost investments and are vital to a country's
economic development and prosperity. In 1987, a panel of the U.S. National Research Council
adopted the term “public works infrastructure” to refer to functional modes including
highways, airports, water supply and resources, telecommunications, as well as the combined
systems that these elements comprise. The term is applicable to all large- and small-scale
organizational frameworks, and it can include a variety of systems and structures as long as
there are physical components required.

Infrastructure can be categorized into following types:

i. Soft infrastructure: This type of infrastructure comprises of institutions that help

maintain the economy. These usually require human capital and help deliver certain
services to the population. Examples include the healthcare system, financial
institutions, governmental systems, law enforcement and education systems.
ii. Hard Infrastructure: This type of infrastructure comprises of physical systems that
make it necessary to run a modern, industrialized nation. Examples include roads,
highways, bridges, as well as the capital/assets needed to make them operational
(transit buses, vehicles, oil rigs/refineries).
iii. Critical Infrastructure: This type of infrastructure comprises of assets defined by a
government as being essential to the functioning of a society and economy, such as
facilities for shelter and heating, telecommunication, public health, agriculture, etc.

Urban infrastructure is critical to urban development because it helps in allowing societies to

continue their progress and in improving living standards. Hence, urban infrastructure needs
to be planned, provisioned, operated and maintained properly.

The key areas of intervention for the improvement of urban infrastructure as identified by
FICCI in their Report on “Urban Infrastructure in India” published in 2014 are:

i. Improved planning at regional, city and area level

ii. Transportation Infrastructure for better mobility through public transport, improved
walkability and most importantly a policy on parking

iii. Urban services: Sewerage, drainage and water supply, Power distribution

iv. Solid waste management

v. Housing including affordable housing

vi. Social infrastructure such as parks, playgrounds and leisure spaces

vii. Preservation of heritage precincts

4. Urban Social Services:

Social services are a range of public services provided by the government, private, and non-
profit organizations. These public services aim to create more effective organizations, build
stronger communities, and promote equality and opportunity.
 Social services include the benefits and facilities such as education, food subsidies, health
care, police, fire service, public safety during disasters, welfare programs for physically
challenged and old, poverty alleviation, provision of recreational spaces, drug and alcohol
rehabilitation programs, etc.. Social services also include job training, affordable housing,
adoption, community management, policy research, and lobbying.

Social services are committed to maximising the wellbeing of individuals, communities and
society inhabiting an urban centre. They are considered important because individual,
community and societal wellbeing are underpinned by socially inclusive communities that
emphasise principles of social justice and respect for human dignity and human rights,
including the right to freedom from intimidation and exclusion. For holistic urban
development to take place, it is critical that wellbeing of individuals, communities and society
inhabiting an urban centre is considered a key component of development and hence Social
Services gain importance.

And so, judicious allocation of resources between various infrastructure development

initiatives and social services’ provisioning initiatives is elemental for causing comprehensive
urban development.

5. Urban economic development:

Urban centres are focal points for economic activities, and engines of economic growth. They
are epicentres of excellence for commerce, education, health care, culture, technological
innovation, entrepreneurship, social services, government administration, and
communications with the world. They create opportunities for jobs, employment and
livelihood. They are also focal points for rural hinterlands to alleviate rural poverty.

Urban economic development management is important because only a strong urban

economy accelerates urban development.

Local governments influence economic activities and development within urban centres
through:

i. Development and administration of policies and programmes, which have relation

with investment climate, distribution of goods and services, and other basic civic
amenities

ii. Provisioning of services through taxation and other mechanisms

These affect all sectors of the urban economy – primary, secondary and tertiary
sectors.

Urban economic development management ensures that enough employment opportunities

are generated to provide sustainable livelihood to all classes of workforce engaged in
economic activities within the urban centre. Employment generation is not usually seen as
significantly dependent upon urban management decisions because direct investments by the
private sector are more influenced by national policy than local, and because these decisions
are often taken in company offices outside the national boundary, as a consequence of the
global nature of economic activity. Nevertheless, urban management decisions can be
effective in locating new investment thrown up by expansion of the national or regional
economy. New investments in economic activities require building of new infrastructure not
just for development of the investment but also for the workforce coming into the urban
 centre for seeking employment offered by the investment, and providing required services –
thus accelerating urban development.

Scope of Urban Management includes:

1. Planning, implementation and monitoring of urban infrastructure and services.

2. Effective and efficient delivery of urban services to raise the quality to living of people residing
in urban areas.

3. Effective and efficient management of projects and programmes for achievement of urban
development goals.

4. Promotion of inter-sectoral coordination in the urban sector - between health, public health,
education, women and child welfare, etc. – for the holistic urban development.

5. Promote community participation and involve NGOs and civil society organizations in the
effective provision and management of urban services.

6. Enhance the capability of Urban Local Bodies and Urban Institution in carrying out the duties
and responsibilities entrusted to them under the 74th constitution amendment (India).

7. Strengthen urban administration and governance to deal with various problems associated to
urban development.

8. Defining structure, roles, tasks and functions of local governments and the way responsibilities
are assigned to different agencies and departments to improve quality and efficiency of urban
management.

9. Effectively implement urban policies for enhancing contribution of both formal and informal
sectors towards urban development.

10. Establishing strategic public-private-community partnerships particularly for the tasks which
local government does not possess all the means and resources.

11. Formulation policies and regulations for enabling urban management decisions

12. Ensure environmentally responsible urban development

13. Address socially-driven issues like slum upgradation, poverty alleviation, old age care,
adoption care, etc.

Q4: Discuss the main components of 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.

A:

Main components of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 are elaborated below:

1. Constitution of Municipalities – Article 243Q of Part IXA:

It provides for constitution of 3 types of municipalities depending upon the size and area
namely:

i. Nagar Panchayat for an area in transition from rural to urban area

 ii. Municipal Council for smaller urban area

iii. Municipal Corporation for larger urban area.

Demographic and other conditions, which are determining factors for constituting a particular
type of municipality differ a great deal from one State to another. It has, therefore, been left
to the State Legislatures to decide which specific type of municipality will be constituted for
particular urban area.

2. Composition of Municipalities – Article 243 R of Part IXA:

The seats shall be filled by direct elections. Besides the seats filled by direct elections, some
seats may be filled by nomination of persons having special knowledge and experience in
municipal administration. Persons so nominated shall not have the right to vote in the
meetings of the municipality. The Legislature of a State may, by law, also provide for the
representation in a municipality of members of the House of the People and the members of
the Legislative Assembly of the State representing constituencies which comprise wholly or
partly the Municipal area and also the Members of the Council of States and the members of
the Legislative Council of the State registered as electors within the municipal area. The
manner of election of Chairpersons of municipalities has been left to be specified by the State
Legislature.

3. Constitution of Wards Committees – Article 243S of Part IXA:

This provides for constitution of Ward Committees in all municipalities with a population of 3
lakhs or more.

4. Reservation of seats – Article 243T of Part IXA:

In order to provide for adequate representation of SC/ST and of women in the municipal
bodies, provisions have been made for reservation of seats. The proportion of seats to be
reserved for SC/ST to the total number of seats shall be same as the proportion of the
population of SC/ST in the municipal area. The reservation would be made in respect of seats
to be filled by direct elections only. Not less than one-third of the total number of seats
reserved for SC/ST shall be reserved for women belonging to SC/ST. This is a mandatory
provision.

In respect of women, the seats shall be reserved to the extent of not less than one-third of
the total number of seats. This includes seats reserved for women belonging to SC/ST. These
reservations will apply for direct elections only. This is also a mandatory provision. There will
be no bar on State Legislatures from making provisions for reservation of seats in any
municipality or office of Chairperson in the municipalities in favour of backward class of
citizens. This is an optional provision.

5. Duration of Municipalities – Article 243U of Part IXA:

The municipality has a fixed term of 5 years from the date appointed for its first meeting.
Elections to constitute a municipality are required to be completed before the expiration of
the duration of the municipality. If the municipality is dissolved before the expiry of 5 years,
the elections for constituting a new municipality are required to be completed within a period
of 6 months from the date of its dissolution.

6. Powers and Functions of the Municipalities – Article 243W of Part IXA;

 All municipalities would be empowered with such powers and responsibilities as may be
necessary to enable them to function as effective institutions of self-government. The State
Legislature may, by law, specify what powers and responsibilities would be given to the
municipalities in respect of preparation of plans for economic development and social justice
and for implementation of schemes as may be entrusted to them.

An illustrative list of functions that may be entrusted to the municipalities has been
incorporated as the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution – it is as follows:

i. Urban planning including town planning

ii. Regulation of land use and construction of buildings

iii. Planning for economic and social development

iv. Roads and bridges

v. Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes

vi. Public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management

vii. Fire services

viii. Urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological aspects

ix. Safeguarding the interests of weaker section of society, including the handicapped
and mentally retarded

x. Slum improvement and upgradation

xi. Urban poverty alleviation

xii. Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens, playgrounds

xiii. Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects

xiv. Burials and burial grounds, cremations, cremation grounds and electric crematoriums

xv. Cattle ponds, prevention of cruelty to animals

xvi. Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths

xvii. Public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public
conveniences

xviii. Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries

7. Finances of Municipalities – Article 243X of Part IXA:

It has been left to the Legislature of a State to specify by law matters relating to imposition of
taxes. Such law may specify:

· Taxes, duties, fees, etc. which could be levied and collected by the Municipalities, as
per the procedure to be laid down in the State law
· Taxes, duties, fees, etc. which would be levied and collected by the State Government
and a share passed on to the Municipalities
· Grant-in-aid that would be given to the Municipalities from the State
 · Constitution of funds for crediting and withdrawal of moneys by the Municipality.

8. Finance Commission – Article 243Y of Part IXA:

The Finance Commission constituted under Article 243-I to review the financial positions of
Panchayati Raj Institutions shall also review the financial position of the municipalities and will
make recommendations to the Governor.

The recommendations of the Finance Commission will cover the following:

· Distribution between the State Government and Municipalities of the net proceeds of
the taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviable by the State
· Allocation of share of such proceeds between the Municipalities at all levels in the
State
· Determination of taxes, duties, tolls and fees to be assigned or appropriated by the
Municipalities
· Grants-in-aid to Municipalities from the Consolidated Fund of the State
· Measures needed to improve the financial position of the Municipalities.

9. Elections to Municipalities – Article 243ZA of Part IX:

The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and
the conduct of, all elections to the panchayats and municipalities shall be vested in the State
Election Commissions.

10. Audit and Accounts – Article 243Z of Part IXA:

The maintenance of the accounts of the municipalities and other audit shall be done in
accordance with the provisions in the State law. The State Legislatures will be free to make
appropriate provisions in this regard depending upon the local needs and institutional
framework available for this purpose.

11. Committee for District Planning – Article 243ZD of Part IXA:

Planning and allocation of resources at the district level for the Panchayati Raj institutions are
normally to be done by the Zilla Parishad. With regard to urban areas, municipal bodies
discharge these functions within their respective jurisdictions. However, some important
questions may arise, which would concern the urban-rural interface, and it may be necessary
to take an overall view with regard to development of the district as a whole and decide on
allocation of investments between the rural and urban institutions.

Provision has, therefore, been made for the constitution of a Planning Committee at the
district level with a view to consolidating the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the
Municipalities and preparing a development plan for the district as a whole.

The District Planning Committee in preparing the Draft Development Plan shall have regard
to:

· Matter of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities including
spatial planning
· Sharing of water and other physical and natural resources
· Integrated development of infrastructure and environment conservation
· Extent and type of available resources, whether financial or otherwise.
 The Draft District Development Plan so prepared and recommended by the District Planning
Committee shall be forwarded by the Chairperson of the Committee to the State Government.

12. Metropolitan Planning Committees – Article 243ZD of Part IXA:

It is provided in the Act that in every Metropolitan area (with a population of 10 lakhs or
more), a Metropolitan Planning Committee shall be constituted for preparing a draft
development plan for the metropolitan area as a whole.

The Metropolitan Planning Committee shall take into account the following for preparation of
the Draft Development Plan:

· Plan prepared by the Municipalities and the Panchayats in the metropolitan area
· Matter of common interest between the Municipalities and Panchayats including
coordinated spatial plans of the area
· Sharing of water and other physical and natural resources
· Integrated development of infrastructure and environmental conservation
· Overall objectives and priorities set by the Government of India and the State
Government
· Extent and nature of investments likely to be made in the metropolitan area by
agencies of the Government
· Other available resources, financial and otherwise.

Q5: How governance and development are related and complementary. What are the impediments
in improved urban governance?

A:

Governance:

The World Bank defines governance as, ‘the exercise of political authority, and the use of institutional
resources to manage the society’s problems and affairs.’

The World Bank interprets governance as the institutional capacity of public organizations to provide
public and other goods demanded by a country’s citizens in an effective, transparent, impartial, and
accountable manner, subject to resource constraints.

The World Bank has further defined that ‘Governance’ in general, has three distinct aspects:

1. The form of a political regime

2. The processes by which authority is exercised in the management of a country’s economic

and social resources

3. The capacity of governments to design, formulate and implement policies, and, in general, to
discharge governmental functions

Development:

A general view on the concept of ‘development’ presents the definition of ‘development’ as an

encompassing continuous ‘change’ in a variety of aspects of human society.
The dimensions of development are extremely diverse, including economic, social, political, legal and
institutional structures, technology in various forms (including the physical or natural sciences,
engineering and communications), the environment, religion, the arts and culture.

Relation between Development and Governance:

· Every State in the world initiates a series of development activities in order to bring about a
positive change in the economy, society and the lives of its citizens. In the entire process of
development, the State has been playing a dominant role. However, it has been observed that
the benefits from the development initiatives have not produced desired effects and again it
has failed to bring about a positive change in the lives of the intended people. So, a basic
question regarding the role of the State and its efficiency has been raised.
· In establishing the relationship between development and governance, the central point that
both the concepts aim at is the benefits to the citizens. Both concepts have no meaning, if
they do not serve to the benefits of the citizens. Moreover, both the concepts are not
detached from each other, rather they complement each other.
· Development initiatives bear fruit with the presence of good governance. Again, the good
governance ensures participation of people in the decision making related to development
programmes. The participation of people in development initiatives is truly the reflection of
the empowerment of people.
· The quality of governance relates to a great extent to the practice of domestic politics and to
public action. Looking at the functioning of the various democratic countries, it can be said
that the role of the public is not confined to influencing or challenging the decisions of the
government, rather to play a constructive and definitive role in the socio-economic
development of the society and reducing social inequalities.
· Prof Amartya Sen argues that public action has the potential of making a government really
accountable and transparent (Dreze and Sen, 1996).
Accountability and transparency are the two key components of good governance. Thus,
governance can be ensured and strengthened by public action or more involvement of people
in the process of governance.
· The role of the government is to build institutions to help facilitate the involvement of people
in the entire process of governance. The Government of India’s initiative like 73rd and 74th
amendments which provided constitutional status to grass root institutions liken the
panchayat and nagarpalika has been a landmark achievement to ensure involvement of
people in the process of governance.
Moreover, another significant step taken by the Government of India to constitutionally
ensure 50% seats reserved in panchayats for women is yet another positive step to involve
women in the process of governance. Since, the people are directly involved with the
governance, they have a definitive say in the decision making process.
This has also involved the people in the development process also.
· Having a say in the decision making process at the grass root level, the people can themselves
decide what kind of development they want and not necessarily the development plan that
used to be imposed from the higher ups.
It has also validated the argument that development and good governance are mutually
complimentary. Good governance facilitates development and in turn development ensures
the furtherance of good governance. The display of budget allocation and how that amount
has been utilized are regularly being publicized by displaying at the public places and placing
it in regular panchayat meetings.
 · As the common people get a concrete idea about the progress of development initiatives at
the local level, it brings in transparency and a sense of increased accountability among the
government officials. The awareness among the people has brought a positive impact on the
implementation of the development initiatives.
· This can also be interpreted as public action as identified by Prof Amartya Sen. This process
has again gained strength with the enactment of the Right to Information Act which has
empowered the common citizen to ask for any information from the officials. The enactment
of Right to Information act, constitutional guarantee to the grass root organization have
resulted in bringing the governance to the door step of the people. The participation of people
has also brought about a qualitative and significant change in the development process and
its impacts on the larger section of the society.
· Hence, we can observe that Development and Governance are not only related, but are also
complementary to each other.

Impediments in improved urban governance:

1. Issues in decentralization:

· As part of implementation of the 74th Constitutional Amendment, states have incorporated

provisions in their Municipal Acts for transferring additional functions to the municipal body,
but the extent of functions transferred differs from state to state.
Further, the performance of Municipal Bodies in undertaking these functions varies from city
to city even in the same state.
· Discussions with stakeholders brought out that capacity and resource constraints of municipal
bodies are the major reasons for this difference in their performance. While the larger
municipal corporations still have access to funds, the smaller municipal councils are financially
very weak. Further, the devolution of functions to the municipal bodies is also affected by the
fact that in some cities, the parastatals, which traditionally delivered certain basic functions,
have not been dismantled.
· As a result, they continue to perform certain functions that may have legally been passed on
to the municipal bodies. The continued existence of the parastatals has led to overlaps and
often conflicts in the roles and responsibilities of each agency involved in municipal
governance.
· In such a scenario it becomes difficult for the citizens to hold any particular agency responsible
for inadequate service delivery.

2. Financial impediments:

· The ULBs are financially weak, and while there is provision to levy and collect adequate user,
charges, such provisions are not fully utilized.
· Many municipal bodies are running into deficits and are heavily dependent on government
grants.
· The state budgetary allocations have, however, been drying up for most states, and it is being
realized that the traditional system of funding based on plan and budgetary allocations will
only reduce in the future.

3. Operational capacity issues:

· Most ULBs face problems due to lack of capacity, improper staffing patterns, and lack of
standardization.
 · They do not have the institutional, operational, educational, and legal capability to develop
commercially viable infrastructure projects, mobilize resources for the projects, and
implement them.
· Lack of adequate training is the main impediment in introducing new technologies and
management styles in the working of the municipal corporations.

4. Insufficient public participation:

· The urban governance system lacks people’s involvement in the decision making process.
· While there is little effort on part of the municipal bodies to include people in the process, the
problem gets compounded by the fact that there is very little awareness amongst citizens
themselves on their role in the governance process.

5. Issues in transparency and accountability:

· The main impediment towards achieving transparency and accountability is not the lack of
understanding on the need for the same but the lack of means to achieve the same.
· Most ULBs are severely capacity constrained both in terms of funds and manpower.
In such a scenario, it becomes difficult to put in places systems that would enhance
accountability. In fact, the root cause of the problem of inefficient service delivery is the
capacity constraints of ULBs.