Elucidate the concerns of growing urban displacement dynamics in India. (UPSC CSE Mains 2019 - Sociology, Paper 2)
Urbanization is a process which has spatial dimensions. Urbanization is a natural part of development. The urban population is the function of both migration and natural increase of the existing population. Population shifts take place only when certain development is realized and human power is required for functioning. Therefore, urbanization and industrialization are closely associated and had strong relation in the earlier phase of urban growth. It was industrial development which showed a way for modernization both of society and economy.
Problems related growing urban displacement dynamics in India.
1. Uneven Urbanization and Growth of Slums
- Tisdale postulated that urbanization is a process of population concentration. It proceeds in two ways: the multiplication of points of concentration and the increase in size of individual concentrations. These are the results of shifts of population and spatial growth, changes in social, cultural, economic and demographic settings.
- Robert Park had expressed and conceptualized his understanding of the city and its life during 1930s. He had analysed the city growth and chaos following ecological approach which he termed as ‘human ecology’. By this he was trying to understand the apparent chaos of industrial metropolis. According to him nearly every large city has its central business district, residential areas, industrial districts, satellite cities, slums, immigrant colonies, and these are the natural areas.
2. Urban Restructuring – People, Planning and Uneven Development
Neoliberalization following the structural changes in India has swelled the existing urban challenges and has accelerated the spatial and economic transformation of cities and land use patterns to adapt to scale of growth.
- War and criminal violence in cities also generate large-scale displacement. Around 50 million people are estimated to suffer the effects of urban conflict in the world today.
- New infrastructure projects in hazard-prone areasnot only displace people during the construction phase in the form of evictions. They also increase disaster displacement risk. Examples include the construction of a new metro station on the Jamuna floodplain in central Delhi and the development of a special economic zone on Myanmar’s coast.
- Urban housing, public infrastructure including roads, public transport, drainage systems and electricity supplies, private investment in utilities, the creation of green spaces and environmental management all play a role in helping to determine the resilience of cities and their residents, as do urban governance arrangements.
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