Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl is a looming issue in India, especially as the availability for economic growth decreases in the rural areas and increases in the cities.  With environmental issues affecting weather patterns and agriculture (ironically, much of it is due to the results of urbanization), the demand for jobs in the cities is rapidly growing.  India certainly has many issues nationwide when it comes to infrastructure, but these problems are most prominent in regards to urbanization.  The cities in India seem to be growing faster than the planning can keep up with, and this is leading to many environmental, social and economic issues. 

                 With more people moving to cities, expansion can either occur within the already existing city limits (thereby increasing population density) or the expansion can occur laterally, spreading out to the surrounding areas of the cities (Bartl).  While lateral expansion (which is what often occurs in Indian cities, as well as cities around the world) would seem to be the most practical, it introduces issues of creating more land space, increasing the availability of transportation to surrounding areas and extending the infrastructure of the city outwards.  One of the largest concerns when trying to implement these things is the effect that they have on the environment.  For example, increased transportation leads to a rise in pollution and therefore a decline in air quality.  Delhi is a perfect example of this. As the city continues to expand outwards in order to accommodate more people, the poor air quality becomes more and more noticeable throughout the entire area. Along with air quality, the surrounding land is being degraded as these cities expand.  Agricultural land is being destroyed and industrialized, cutting out economic opportunities in the area in regards to agriculture.  The destruction of these lands threatens India’s sustainability as a nation, not just the economic and environmental future of individual cities.  In Varanasi, for example, if the city follows their plan in the future then 40% of the surrounding agricultural land will be taken over by urbanization within the next few years (Bartl).  This pattern creates a vicious cycle because it puts farmers out of jobs and forces them into the urban areas, putting more stress on the cities and their expansion. 

                With urban sprawl also comes the issue of slums.  Since people are moving to the cities faster than the area can accommodate appropriately, many people find refuge in the slum areas. Slums have become more prominent in larger cities of India, for example Mumbai and Delhi.  A large concern regarding slums is the lack of infrastructure, especially when it comes to sanitation.  Often, there are open sewage systems and trash everywhere, with no plan or accommodations to clean such areas.  In fact, slums can spring up almost overnight, which allows for even less planning as far as maintenance and infrastructure go.  On top of that, the government does not wish to implement proper sanitation because it gives the slum dwellers incentive to stay in the illegal housing.  However, many of these people have been pushed out of their previous living areas and are forced to move to the city to try and survive.  As the director of Tata Institute of Social Services said, “new migrants have no place to settle down and hence we see sprawling slums. Look at the number of people who sleep and live on railway platforms, on pavements, under flyovers” (Chhapia and Rajadhyaksha).  If the cities do not supply these people with places to live or cease expanding into their already existing homes and survival, then they have no choice but to move to the city and do whatever it is they need to in order to get by, even if that means living in slums. 

                The issues that India currently faces, especially in regards to things like urban sprawl, are daunting and often hard to face optimistically.  However, if changes can be made to implement better infrastructure in the already existing cities, be it in the slums or the high-class areas, order will begin to materialize.  With things like better sanitation and more subsidized, affordable housing, there will be less of a demand to continually move outwards into the surrounding areas of the city.  This will decrease the villages and surrounding areas of the cities that are affected negatively, and in turn less people will feel the need to migrate to the cities in search of work.  On top of this, in order to help keep the population and migration of the cities down, governmental implementation must be enacted into the agricultural sector, to give the Indians who make their livings as farmers more incentive to stay where they are.  

Works Cited

Bartl, Hannes. Water & Megacities. 29 August 2011. 5 September 2011 <http://www.waterandmegacities.org/some-thoughts-on-urban-sprawl-in-indian-cities/>.

Chhapia, Hemali and Madhavi Rajadhyaksha. "Mumbai: Growth Lags in City Bursting at the Seams." The Times of India (2011).