Answer:

Cities have been termed as pinnacles of human creation owing to their historic role and future potential as sites of human collaboration, engines of growth and vehicles of social mobility. The UN habitat estimates that by 2050 2/3rd of the global population would reside in cities. According to the World Bank 90 % of the urban growth would occur in the developing world. Thus, the inevitability of urbanization and concerns of sustainability call for greater attention to cities in the developing world.

In this context cities in India have largely grown organically and in an unplanned manner, this has led to pressure on the resources at disposal. Similarly the tier two cities would be expanding in the future. Thus, India requires strategies suited to both traditional urban centers as well as future ones:

♤ Megacities and Concentred Urbanisation: Cities like Mumbai or Delhi are examples of megacities (10 million or more population) and Concentred Urbanisation. They have attracted large number of immigrants and over the years have proven to be engines of growth. However, these cities have increasingly become dependent on resources from outside and face pressure of density over land resources, housing and public amenities. As such they would require strategies of urban renewal and rejuvenation.

♤ Smaller Cities and Distributed Urbanisation: The growth of a number of tier two cities is a future trend for India. This would require Distributed urbanization where a large number of cities are developed simultaneously. United States which has many medium-sized cities with population in the range 1.5-5 million. These are easily manageable, minus the problems of large cities, and provide services to surrounding countryside as well. By functioning in a typical ‘hub-and-spoke’ model

these cities can complement each other in terms of services and resources. With the right resources, they can provide better services and environment for its inhabitants. The 12th plan also leaned towards this trend which is reflective of India’s federal structure as well.

Learning from international experience, models such as Transport Oriented Development (TOD) with dense core district of high rises such as in Hong Kong can be adopted. Similarly, many argue that the Houston or Atlanta Models i.e. population spreading further away from the core should be avoided.

There are strategies suited for both small and large cities. A rapidly urbanising India needs cities that are planned and inclusive hubs with enough fiscal resources and institutional decentralisation.