Book excerpt | Urbanization and the role of Indian cities in the 21st century

India’s urbanization will change the world forever, whether for better or for worse only time will tell. (Image: AFP)

Public policy specialist Devashish Dhar explores some key concerns around urbanization in India's Blind Spot. These include: "governance deficit, infrastructure shortfall, mismanagement of land, lack of focus on growing city economies, improper access to potable water, incessant flooding, traffic congestion, insufficient urban green and public spaces, and the marginalization of the urban poor, migrants and vulnerable communities". The following excerpt from the book looks at urbanization in India and impact it will have on global trends.

Urbanization is a work in progress that continues to baffle, disappoint, encourage and inspire humankind. Cities are melting pots of innovation that are on constant boil to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants. Unarguably, the world’s greatest events have taken place in cities: the start of large-scale infrastructure projects, the birth of many new religions, the study of natural sciences, creation of the nation state system, sophistication in technology and commerce, onset of financial transactions, printing and dissemination of information, creation of colonial ambitions and colonies, new forms of travel and interaction, globalization leading to high specialization of the workforce, the advent of social media, advances in medicine, the journey to space, journeys to the depths of the seas and oceans—and much more. If it were not for cities and what they have given us, we would have progressed from nothing to even less. Much of what we see and live with is a function of urbanization and cities.

HarperCollins; 408 pages; Rs 899.

In understanding the world’s longest-running experiment—urbanization—we stumble across facts and themes that run contrary to the popular imagination on cities. Indians, for instance, have a romanticized view of rural areas, coupled with uninformed disdain. This romanticized view finds acceptance globally, even among the most evolved minds. It comes from a good place though—a longing for clean air and water, for greater prosperity (minus the forces of congestion, competition and housing and population density), and the need for being in harmony with nature. The fact is that cities—birthed out of villages—can also offer some hope and reconciliation to these desires. However, more than meeting some of these desires, we must realize that cities are our only hope for a broader and deeper prosperity given the ever-growing population globally—and more so in India.

City-dwellers do not welcome rural migrants. They look at slums (that house most migrants) as one would a wall with peeling paint and exposed bricks at home: an embarrassment. They want the rural population to stay home in the village and are willing to dole out subsidies and charities to make this happen. They want to continue to earn exorbitant incomes in the city, but want villagers to live on a pittance in rural hinterlands and deal with millennia-old social and gender roles. This apathy and selfishness of the urban elites—an apathy that masquerades as some ‘higher calling’ to preserve rural structures—is reason enough to explain why hundreds of millions in India remain stuck in a reality that can only be called archaic. This asymmetry needs to be corrected once and for all. India (and Indians) should encourage healthy urbanization, and must be supported in this by nations across the globe, because the impact of urbanization will have reverberations far beyond India’s own geographical boundaries. History is testament to the far-reaching impacts of urbanization.

As the world’s fastest-growing large economy (we hope Covid-19 recovery doesn’t change that), India, with its 1.3-billion population, has recognized that it is at the cusp of a major urbanization boom. It is time the world sat up and took notice. India’s urbanization will change the world forever, whether for better or for worse only time will tell. Globally, the impact of Indian cities will endure for decades. These cities will birth global trends, not just in growth or business opportunities, but in everything under the sun. With the sheer tyranny of numbers on India’s side, it is only natural that this country will influence global dialogue, development and the understanding of everything important. Besides this advantage of numbers, India also carries a millennium-Indian Cities: old legacy of institutions, skills, religions, culture, geopolitical position and scholarship, all of which accentuate the ability of Indian cities to dominate and steer global discourse to new and different heights. It is important for India and the world to notice how these cities will influence the discourse and, therefore, leverage them to gain the best possible advantage.

The world of snake charmers and elephants is a distant memory. To continue to stereotype India, reducing it to a country of the poor, the peasants, gaudy billionaires, political dynasties, religious revisionism, and as an outsourcing hub, is almost criminal. If India continues to carry this image, it has no one but itself to blame. The country has grown slowly and organically, but as it grows conscious of the power of its cities, this growth will be sustained and bolstered in unprecedented ways. In the process, India will evolve and leave an indelible impression on the world. For now, if the stereotypical image of India continues to prevail globally, it simply means that India has yet to learn to capitalize on its cities to project power and a positive image. In the last chapter, we saw how Europe’s cities provided the world with sea-based trade, modern urban planning, colonization, rail and postal networks. Likewise, cities in the US gave us skyscrapers, modern urban transport, a modern financial system, and even global governance structures. China’s urbanization, a more recent phenomenon, has provided a strong market for the last three decades, hyperactive clusters of modern industries and new-age infrastructure capabilities, among other things. Likewise, Indian cities too will make their presence felt worldwide. Let’s deep dive into the major themes in which we expect Indian cities to touch the lives of people living in far corners of the globe, as the cities and the nation morph into a force to reckon with.