Opinion
This crisis is an opportunity to re-envision our cities
Summary
- The pandemic holds lessons that should spur us to reshape our urban agglomerations into spaces where everyone can thrive
Covid has overturned our economy and society—and cities and urbanization have taken a lot of the blame. Many have suggested that cities failed to provide for their most vulnerable residents during this period, especially millions of migrants. Some have even heralded the ‘end of cities’ altogether. Before covid, 25-30 Indians migrated to cities every minute. The pandemic has triggered an unprecedented reverse migration back to rural areas.
At a time like this, it is critical to remind ourselves why instead of reducing our focus on cities, we must make them central to India’s development agenda. Cities are engines of growth and prosperity. They are labour markets that attract a diverse group of workers and industries, spurring ‘knowledge spill-overs’ and innovation. This leads to higher productivity and wages, in turn attracting more talent. Globally, countries that prioritized and planned for urbanization have achieved higher growth and employment. Cities are, thus, critical to India’s mission of becoming a $5 trillion economy.
Moreover, in order to increase the quality of life for every Indian, and give everyone access to public services and social-protection schemes, we must serve people where they live and work. This is increasingly in our urban agglomerations. Satellite data and various estimates suggest that India’s urbanization rate is already anywhere between 50% and 65%. Getting urbanization right will also help address climate and environmental risks. Studies show that compact, connected and well- coordinated cities that design public spaces and transportation systems that suit pedestrians, rather than cars, are more productive and inclusive and also cleaner and safer than unplanned, sprawling and resource-intensive cities.
Lessons from covid: The pandemic had several lessons which underline the importance of urban planning and development that is integrated, inclusive and focuses on resilience.
So far, India has treated issues like public health, housing, transportation, water and sanitation as separate, compartmentalized challenges. The pandemic reminded us that all these are interlinked. During the first wave, the virus spread much faster in crowded slums with low access to water and sanitation. Therefore, we must look at a city as ‘a living whole’ and plan for urbanization in an integrated manner.
The pandemic also reminded us that different segments of urban residents inhabit widely different realities. While many of us transitioned to remote work relatively easily, the urban poor lost their livelihoods, were left stranded, and continued living in hazardous crowded spaces. Women faced the brunt of the pandemic’s socio-economic impact. Going forward, urban planning must put the most vulnerable and excluded populations at its heart, especially those belonging to the bottom 60% of our income distribution.
The past year has reinforced the importance of ‘city resilience’. Whether it is floods in Kerala or water shortages in Chennai, environmental and climate risks are only increasing. This is unlikely to be the last pandemic either. Therefore, urban planning must actively take into account medium-to-long term risks.
A holistic approach to investing in cities: Given our learnings from the pandemic, there are four key areas that we must invest in to build truly integrated, inclusive and resilient cities. These are: data, technology, engaging communities, and innovation.
Most municipalities in India lack reliable data to understand and diagnose problems. High-quality open-data and research can help policymakers take evidence-based decisions. For instance, the India Urban Data Exchange, developed in partnership by ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) and Indian Institute of Science, is a technology platform that enables the smooth discovery, exchange and use of public data for social good. Another example is the Property Rights Research Consortium, a group of leading think-tanks, which provides data and policy support on land administration and urban housing issues.
Technology and process innovations can increase transparency and state capacity to deliver basic urban services. For example, eGovernments Foundation is working with the MoHUA to deploy the National Urban Innovation Stack, an open-source platform that enables efficient municipal operations, improves transparency and enhances citizen access across 2,000 cities. Meanwhile, another organization, Transerve, is leveraging geo-spatial technology for city planning and improving service delivery.
The pandemic showed us that service delivery and disaster response cannot be the government’s responsibility alone; grassroot organizations and community leaders play a critical role as first responders and in delivering essential supplies. One such organisation, Reap Benefit, launched ‘Covid Hub’, a crowd-sourced citizens’ network that supports local citizens and governments in the last-mile delivery of healthcare, food and income relief.
Finally, we must cultivate an innovation ecosystem that fosters ‘top-of-the-funnel’ innovations in urban governance. For example, the MoHUA and Nudge Foundation launched an ‘Equal Cities Challenge’, a contest to encourage solutions that can improve living conditions for the urban poor. But it is important to remove innovation bottlenecks and promote entrepreneurship in emergent fields like civic-tech and property-tech.
Investing in the above-outlined four areas can bring a holistic lens to urban planning, development and governance. This would require civil society organizations, private sector, funders and governments to work together. Considering the hardships braved by our cities’ most vulnerable residents over the past year, and the uncertainty that still lies ahead, this has never been more important than it is now.
Roopa Kudva & Tariq Musthafa are, respectively, managing director and associate at Omidyar Network India
