Urbanization Others

Reasons for migration to urban areas

• Differential in rural and urban wages.
• Employment-related migration for males.
• For females it is marriage-migration.
• Proximity to workplace.
• In search of better employment for males.
• Education purpose.
• Movement with parents and family members.

Positive Impacts of Rural to Urban Migration

There is a general view that Rural to urban migration is not viewed positively in many countries including India. Policies are usually aimed at reducing rural to urban migration, for example MGNREGA. However, curbing migration is not a good idea as there are many opportunities which are offered by influx of people to urban areas.  Some of the fruits which migration offers to urban areas are summed up below:

• Labour Demand and Supply – Migration fills the gap in demand for and supply of labour. Further it also helps to allocate skilled and unskilled labour and provides cheap labour.
• Remittances – Migration helps to provide insurance against risks to households in the source areas, helps to increase consumer expenditure and investment in health, education and assets formation.
• Return Migration – Migration tends to bring with itself knowledge, skills and innovation.
• Skill Development – It can also be believed that migration is an informal process of skill development. It helps to enhance knowledge and skills of migrants through exposure and interaction with the outside world. New skills are learnt from co-workers and friends at the place of destination.

National Urban Information System (NUIS)

Planning Commission had recommended that all the components which relate to spatial and attribute data must be integrated into one scheme known as the National Urban Information Scheme. The National Urban Information System Scheme (NUIS) of the Ministry of Urban Development can be considered as a vital step to achieve the ambitious dream of achieving smart cities in India. The NUIS was developed in 2006. It enables mapping of the city and its surroundings and core areas with a number of add on layers and related attribute data. Other parameters such as housing and transport pattern, access to educational and commercial facilities, parks and playgrounds and other amenities are also given by it.

The National Urban Information System Scheme (NUIS) comprises of broadly two major components-

• Urban Spatial Information System Scheme (USIS): Seamless integration of databases in two scales- 1:10 000 & 1:2000 and Utility mapping at 1:1000 Scale.
• National Urban Databank and Indicators: Attribute Data on periodic basis.

Key Challenges to Provide Urban Services

The World Cities Report (WCR) 2016 by UN Habitat titled “Urbanization and

Development-Emerging Futures” has identified three key trends as challenges in the provision of urban services.

Slums are on high rise in Asia particularly India. Coupled with slums is the inadequacy in provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity, health and education.

The MDGs and the recently adopted SGDs have placed considerable emphasis on the improvement of basic services – in both urban and rural areas. But with increasing population, even provision of basic amenities remains a big question!

The trends of challenges observed include-

• With rapid increase in population cities have not been able to keep up with the demand for services.
• The second trend is that though cities are trying to find innovative ways to deal with the infrastructure challenge, they do not have the humanresources, large-scale capital and technical capabilities to keep up with rapid demand.
• The third general trend in the supply of basic urban services is that common public services are still very poor. Facilities like public toilets and running water to one’s premises are next to impossible for a huge lot. Also there is the challenge of well-funded public education, qualitative health services, transport facilities, leisure and open spaces.

Therefore, what is utmost needed is investment in infrastructure in order to tackle the challenge of providing basic services to urban areas.

Steps for Improvement of Slums in urban areas

Developing countries like India and Brazil are facing the slum challenge and it symbolises poverty, inequality and deprivation. The UN-Habitat has defined slums as a contiguous settlement that lacks one or more of the following five conditions: access to clean water; access to improved sanitation; sufficient living area that is not overcrowded; durable housing and /or secure tenure.

Slums are the products of failed policies, poor governance, corruption, inappropriate regulation, dysfunctional land markets, unresponsive financial systems, and a lack of political will.

Steps that can be taken for improvement of Slums

• Leadership and political will can go a long way in delivering change.
• Slum communities themselves are pivotal to improving their own living conditions
• Additional and affordable land and housing are made available for growing low-income communities.

The only lasting solution to the challenge of slums can be achieved through concerted efforts of all stakeholders which includes government, civil societies, NGOs and slum dwellers themselves. A conducive and inclusive environment must be created wherein the authorities can engage themselves in the slum challenge more directionally. Slum development must form an important part of public planning and urban management systems that govern cities and not mere piecemeal approach is adequate.

Rural-urban Fringe

In simple terms, rural-urban fringe is a transitional zone wherein rural and urban areas meet, mix and sometimes even clash.  Rural-urban fringe is also known as outskirts or urban hinterland. There is an emergence of this phenomenon in order to prevent urban sprawl.

Rural-Urban Fringe and India

In the Indian context, Rural-Urban Fringe is a recent phenomenon as India is seeing an influx of population in urban areas and there has been a dramatic change in transformation of urban space. Due to the rapid increase in the size of cities, there has been an encroachment by the urban areas in the rural areas.

Characteristics of Rural-Urban Fringe

1. Motorway-In the Indian context, we would call the motorways as express highways which are on surge of development. Such construction require huge piece of land. Therefore, this edge effect which is man-made is fulfilled by the arteries of express highways which connect areas.
2. Residential Development- Housing has encroached into the rural-urban fringe, and small villages have grown as more people move out of the cities to commute to work.
3. Recycling and landfill- Facilities such as recycling centers and landfill sites require large tracts of land near good transport links, both of which are characteristics of the rural-urban fringe.
4. Recreational-Golf courses and leisure centers have also grown in the urban-fringe, taking advantage of the good transport links as well as the well-populated nearby towns.
5. Business Parks / Industrial estates- The land is generally cheaper in the rural-urban fringe. Because of which many factories mushroom in these areas.
6. Out-of-town shopping- Large and open space is available in rural-urban fringe. This leads to development of factory outlets of major brands and malls.

Urbanization impact on Environment

Some of the major side effects of urbanization on environment are as follows:

The creation of heat island

There are materials like concrete, asphalt, bricks etc., which are used in the construction. These absorb and reflect energy differently than vegetation and soil. Therefore, cities remain warm in the night when the countryside has already cooled.

Changes in Air Quality

There is an increased emission of various gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, lead, and many other pollutants in the environment. This leads to a changed pattern in the quality of air which is inhaled and ultimately leads to respiratory issues.

Changes in Patterns of Precipitation

Cities often receive more rain than the surrounding countryside since dust can provoke the condensation of water vapour into rain droplets.

Erosion and other changes in land quality

The rate at which development is taking place in urban areas, it results into very high levels of erosion and sedimentation in river channels.

Pollution

Pollutants are often dispersed across cities or concentrated in industrial areas or waste sites. Lead- based paint used on roads and highways and on buildings is one such example of a widely dispersed pollutant that found its way into soil.

Degraded Water Quality

The water quality has degraded with time due to urbanization that ultimately leads to increased sedimentation and also can cause serious water borne diseases.

Therefore, the need of the hour is to pay serious attention to improving urban strategies, which would promote efficiency in resource use and stop environmental degradation. From an individual perspective, every individual can contribute by avoiding dumping of waste and controlling vehicular pollution.

Urbanization and Traffic Congestion

Urban growth occurs when there is a migration of the population from rural areas and there is relocation to urban areas. These changes influence the urban density. In developing countries like India, the rapid growth of urban area involves the use of private car, energy consumption, the deterioration of urban environment, particularly the number of injuries and deaths of people on road. India which is a fast developing country, transportation sector by motor vehicle plays a significant role to the economy and urban development.

With increasing number of vehicles be it two wheeler or four wheeler, there has be resultant traffic congestion in urban areas.

Traffic congestion prevents people from moving freely and it can also slow and disrupt the conduct of business activities.

It must be noted that cities and traffic have developed hand-in-hand since the earliest large human settlements. The same forces that draw inhabitants to congregate in large urban areas also lead to sometimes intolerable levels of traffic congestion in urban streets.

Therefore, there is a need for effective urban governance wherein there is balance between the benefits of agglomeration and the dis-benefits of excessive congestion

Impacts of Congestion

Congestion results in queuing, slower speeds, increased travel times, indirect impact on environment, impacts on quality of life, stress, safety  and impacts on non-vehicular road space users such as the users of sidewalks and road frontage properties

Probable Solution for traffic congestion

There is no readymade universally acceptable solution to the urban transport problem. Road traffic congestion poses a challenge for all large and growing urban areas. Keeping this in mind, following few steps can be implemented-

• Development of Additional Road Capacity- Herein, the additional roads can act as bypasses to divert the traffic when there is congestion.
• Effective Use of Bus Service
• Parking Restrictions- Herein, there must be banning of all-day parking by commuters or making it prohibi­tively expensive.
• Promoting the use of bicycle as in many western countries. It is not most environmental and traffic avoidance formulae as it is noiseless, non polluting and energy and efficient.
• Other measures such as Encouraging Walking; Car pooling; Public transport improvement; alternative transport such as Metro Rail and Monorail

AMRUT Mission

AMRUT is a flagship programme of Modi government to transform 500 cities. It was launched in the year 2015.

Purpose

• To ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and a sewerage connection.
• To increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces (e.g. parks).
• To reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling).

Thrust Areas-

• water supply
• sewerage facilities and septage management
• storm water drains to reduce flooding
• pedestrian, non-motorized and public transport facilities, parking space enhancing amenity value of cities by creating and upgrading green spaces, parks and recreation centers, especially for children.

Fund Allocation

The total outlay for AMRUT is Rs. 50,000 crore for five years from 2015-16 to 2019-20 and the Mission will be operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The AMRUT may be continued thereafter in the light of an evaluation done by the MoUD and incorporating learnings in the Mission.

AMRUT and JNNURM

AMRUT is actually a new avatar of the existing JNNURM and will extend support till 2017 to those projects that are at least 50% complete under the earlier JNNURM.