by Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces
Most of the
populations across the globe either live in cities or are headed there. It is
estimated that by the year 2050, more than two-third of the world’s population
will be settled in urban areas.
The trend is already in place, with more than a
million people shifting to cities every year. For countries like India,
migration to developed and developing cities is driven by job opportunities and
a better quality of life. However, rapid urbanization also brings its own
challenges.
The Challenges In
India
The relationship
between population migration, urbanization and economic growth is complex.
For
developed countries like the USA or the European nations, there is a positive
correlation between urbanization and per capita income.
However, the equation is
not as simple when we are talking of less developed countries like India. There
is a thin margin between urbanization and overpopulation, and in many large
Indian cities, the ‘carrying capacity’ has always been reached. Some relevant
examples are Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, where new migrants face a
scarcity of affordable accommodation.
It is important to
understand the changes that migration to urban centres brings along. Urban
growth or urbanization invariably feeds increasing industrialization and
commercialization, which impacts the environment as well as infrastructural
capabilities of a city.
Increasing population also leads to continually
expanding urban development and in case of India, local Governments are
continually challenged to deliver the necessary institutional, economic and
managerial capabilities that such expansion requires. With lack of proper
housing, most of the migrating population - especially those coming from the
rural areas - settle for slums and other unregulated/unorganized living
options.
Urban
Congestion..!
The rapid inward
migration in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Delhi has given rise to clogging and
other problems like faulty water management and unnatural changes to the
environment.
The rapid creation of settlements in the peripheries of these
saturated cities makes it impossible for the concerned city planning authorities
to gauge and counter the changes to the natural environment and implement
necessary sanitation and other necessary infrastructure.
Hijacked Environment
Major environmental
issues encountered around clogging settlements include land degradation,
resource depletion, decreased public health, loss of resilience in the ecosystem
and unsafe residential standards.
Health hazards are rampant as clogged
settlements encourage flooding, degradation of natural resources like water
table and air quality, faulty or non-existent drainage systems, inefficient or
non-existent sewage treatment facilities and transport
systems.
As a matter of fact,
India faces a major threat from water pollution. Untreated sewage water being
discharged into our existing water systems has been deemed the single-largest
cause of surface and ground water pollution.
The problems include lack of
sufficient water treatment facilities and faulty maintenance where they do
exist. Migration contributes to this problem, and the untreated waste water
leads to serious hygiene issues. As per the reports by the World Health
Organization, only 209 out of 3,119 cities have sewage treatment facilities, and
just 8 of them have a full-fledged wastewater treatment
facility.
Success Story – PCMC,
Pune..!
There are ways to
handle the mounting problems associated with heavy urbanization. The first and
foremost is the development of low-cost and affordable housing projects around
developing cities. The second is a proactive town-planning approach wherein
urbanization is anticipated rather than reacted to, and necessary infrastructure
to accommodate inward migration is put in place before it actually arrives.
Cities like the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) of Pune have
demonstrated that this forward-looking approach works brilliantly in India. In
PCMC, the town planning authorities identify areas of future urbanization, equip
them with proper drainage systems, water supply, waste management and transport
infrastructure and only then open them up to the migrating
population.
Along with
environmental and health issues, inward migration also affects the inherent
culture of the city – and at least in this case, the change is invariably a
positive one. With people flooding in from across the country, the host city is
exposed to a variety of cultures and eventually adopts new cultural norms.
This
is the essence of ‘cosmopolitanization’ – the process in which a city evolves
from its traditional cultural boundaries and becomes more and more accommodating
to new influences.
 |
| Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces |
This is a very
desirable process which ‘future proofs’ a city and ensures that urbanization is
progressive and not regressive.
A city’s cosmopolitan ethos is born out of
constituent cultural elements from various other cities and parts of the world,
resulting in an urban mindset which is able to embrace positive change in the
form of new economic opportunities and better lifestyle standards.
The process of
cosmopolitanization in PCMC has resulted in a rapid shedding of the previous
regional/industrial image and the emergence of a truly evolved global ethos.
The
‘Citizens First’ approach which has driven the rational and progressive
urbanization of cities like PCMC and other global cities must always be the
central focus if India is to tackle its mounting problems of inward
migration.
About
The Author..!
Mr. Anil Pharande is
Chairman of Pharande Spaces,
a leading construction and development firm that develops township properties in
Western Pune. Pharande Promoters & Builders, the flagship company
of Pharande Spaces and an ISO 9001-2000 certified company, is a
pioneer in the PCMC area offering a diverse range of real estate products
catering especially to the 42 sectors of Pradhikaran.
The luxury
township Puneville at
Punavale in West Pune is among the company's latest premium
offerings. Woodsville in Moshi is another highly successful PCMC-based township by
Pharande Spaces which is now in its 3rd
phase.
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