Making Indian Cities Liveable: the Challenges of India’s Urban Transformation

India’s urbanisation is a paradox of sorts. The country’s urban population is undoubtedly vast at 377 million (2011 Census). In international terms, however, India’s urban growth can hardly be described as rapid. Despite the fact that the fastest urbanization rates are being witnessed in the developing world, India’s urban population increased from 17.3 per cent in 1971 to just 23.3 per cent in 1981, and 27.78 per cent in 2001. The 2011 Census figures reveal that just over 31 per cent of the country’s population is presently living in urban areas, lower than, for example, China, Indonesia, Mexico or Brazil (HPEC 2011). But there are over 80 million people living below the poverty line in India’s urban centres; a quarter of the total urban population lives in slums. Informal settlements, informal livelihoods, homelessness, insecurity, various types of pollution and declining green areas are the bane of most Indian cities. Combined with emerging concerns about climate change and the regular occurrence of natural disasters, Indian towns and cities seem to sitting on a ticking time bomb.