Opinion How to build a better city

While it is true that urbanisation has spurred economic growth and opened up new avenues for employment,the existing urban infrastructure is unable to absorb the pressure of catering to ever-growing numbers and is visibly falling apart. Cities have exhausted their funds and slums have proliferated,leading to urban squalor,human misery and even social unrest. Due to urbanisation,existing cities are growing rapidly in all directions. In India,current estimates suggest the urban population is in excess of 300 million and likely to reach 600 million by 2030. Such an explosion would prove catastrophic in terms of unplanned urban growth causing poverty,environmental degradation and the collapse of basic civic facilities.

A key aspect of such a scenario,often overlooked,is that the bulk of migrant citizens end up living and working outside the formal sector. One of the biggest challenges is to bring the informal sector into the economic mainstream. This is particularly relevant to countries of the size,stage of development and political system as India. The majority of informal entrepreneurs languish on the brink of insecurity and the edge of poverty,and because their assets cannot be converted into legitimate wealth,they are compelled to create their own rules and evolve their own ad hoc business practices.

But,because these informal arrangements are full of shortcomings and not easily enforceable,they give rise to complex social,political and economic problems that affect society at large. The dangers of this parallel,informal economy are relevant to India,where large-scale unemployment and livelihood insecurity leads to human suffering and social unrest.

In the context of urbanisation,the concept of inclusive growth involves unlocking the potential of the informal sector by bringing it into the mainstream and achieving a slum-free society. Various governments have drawn up schemes to work towards this goal on mission mode. For instance,the Rajiv Awas Yojana aims at addressing the shortage of urban land and housing and enabling slum dwellers to enjoy the same basic civic amenities as other citizens.

But having been deeply involved in the field of urban development for several decades and having seen many governments come and go,and many earnest efforts to bring about reform go in vain,I have come to believe that there has never been an adequate perception of the ground realities prevailing in the urban development sector. No strategy to convert urban slums into decent human habitations can work unless we are willing to acknowledge the failures of past policies,learn from them and begin again. The spread of mass media is fuelling aspirations for a better life. The question is,can we deal with these rising aspirations? Can our cities cater to the demand for better urban infrastructure and civic amenities? The simple answer is,no,we have not been able to create adequate urban infrastructure over the past 60 years.

Look around and you will see that even in the most modern of our cities and towns,urban infrastructure is crumbling. Whether you talk of housing,power supply,roads or transportation — everything is in short supply. Clearly,our big cities are under great stress,unable to cope with the rising demand for better living and working conditions. Nearly one-third of our urban citizens are slum-dwellers,lacking even basic hygiene facilities. New data released by the Planning Commission based on Census 2011 reveals startling figures. There are 13.8 million households — about 64 million people — located in city slums nationwide. This means that 17.4 per cent of all urban households are slum dwellers. In other words,one in every six city residents lives in an urban slum in conditions that are “unfit for human habitation”. In Mumbai alone,41 per cent of households are located in overcrowded slums where most residents are squatting illegally and many have little access to basic sanitation; the percentage is even higher in Visakhapatnam (43 per cent of its 1.7 million inhabitants) and Jabalpur (42 per cent of its 1.3 million people).

We have to ask where we have gone wrong,particularly when other sectors of the economy have done exceptionally well,and what needs to be done to set things right. One reason is that since Independence,other sectors of economy have been well represented by various chambers of commerce to bring before the government the areas where policy reforms were required. Unfortunately,this did not happen in the case of urban development,since this sector consisted mostly of fly-by-night operators. The sector was blocked to the private sector,leaving the public sector alone to tackle this mammoth task. As a result,the sector remained unrepresented by the various chambers of commerce,leading to policies based on controlling fly-by-night building operators instead of ensuring an increased supply of housing.

There has to be a realisation at the highest levels that all is not well with the urban development scenario,and there is an urgent need for radical solutions. Urban development should be introduced as one of the subjects in the curriculum of our education system from higher secondary upto the university level. The present psychology of policymakers of thinking small and managing shortages needs to be replaced with policies based on the philosophy of thinking big and creating surpluses,because it will be only through increased supplies that market forces and prices can be brought under control.

Moreover,it should be recognised that it is only through active encouragement of the public-private partnership model that the task of urban development can be tackled and in that partnership,the role of public sector should be confined only to that of enabler,facilitator and regulator,leaving the conceptualisation and execution of development projects to the private sector. It also needs to be accepted that no private sector can work without profits,and it should be encouraged to earn profits while making a clear distinction between profits and profiteering.

Unfortunately,the present system,where the public sector plays the dominant role in formulating master plans and town planning regulations has not worked. All existing town planning and urban development laws and regulations that are based on the restriction of FAR and other town planning aspects should be repealed and replaced by liberal market economy regulations. Projects should be made time-bound,with in-built incentives for completion of projects within the prescribed time and disincentives for delays. New legislation should be introduced to encourage green technologies.

There has to be a complete break from past approaches. Urban renewal is possible — there is no reason why the problems that plague our towns and cities cannot be overcome. It would rescue millions of people from squalor and provide them with better living standards as well as property rights and legitimate titles to their dwelling units.

The writer is chairman of the DLF Group