City most densely populated

A UN  population eport says the thrust will be on smaller cities

The great urban wave is covering the globe. The poor people will be a significant part of this growth and more crucially, rather than migration it is going to natural increase (more births than deaths) which is pushing rapid urbanisation in the world, the biggest ever in mankind history.

The State of World Population 2007 report prepared by United Nations Population Fund (UNFA) which was published simultaneously in Mumbai tells the inevitable story. In the numbers game, however, the slice of the mega cities is declining as they will have more people moving outwards than inwards.

The thrust of growth is going to be smaller cities, especially those under 100,000 inhabitants. “Higher density in Greater Mumbai is forcing people to move into areas like Bhiwandi-Thane-Kalyan, which would witness stupendous growth in the coming years. We need adequate urban management to ensure climate related natural disasters like floods do not happen again,” said Anuja Gulati, senior programme officer, UNFA, Maharashtra.

The report mentions Mumbai as the most-densely populated city in the world with 29,650 people per square kilometre. The city is projected to be 2nd most populous city in the world by 2020 with over 25 million inhabitants. “The urban planning in Mumbai should not focus into peri-urban areas. Maharashtra has seven cities which have one million plus people and six cities with around half million inhabitants, which should be the focus,” she added.

“We need a public-private partnership between the state and private sector to improve health conditions in the slums,” she explained.

Manju Nichani, principal, K C College and professor of sociology felt that the state government must invest more in education. “Since the aided schools have stopped, higher fees of private schools have forced drop outs. We need to promote vocational degree courses to ensure jobs for the youth in slums,” she said.

Pointing out that urban poor play in dominant role in running many households, she called for recognition of many small-scale industries run by poor working women for better pay and support. “We need urban poor as much as they need us. As a society, we must strive to bring them out of circle of poverty,” she explained.

With 3.3 billion people expected to live in urban areas by next year, unprecedented growth would be visible in the next decade. In fact, Africa and Asia would double its population between 2000 to 2030.

Young people in poor areas often live in slums, never attend school or drop out fast and are found to be unemployed. Instead of being alarmist, the report states that urban wave can be effectively used for economic growth if cities are geared up to face the challenge. Women empowerment, for example, can be achieved by giving a voice to poor women in institutions and establish social and economic policies to improve their living conditions.

Government’s must adopt pro-active approach towards urban governance — regulation of land supply, recognise the interests and human rights of the poor. Since poor cities will be more prone to effects of climate change due to their reduced urban resilience to natural disasters, a long-term planning is needed here too.