Mega City Regions in South Asia : Growth and Governance - Part 1 (11 October 2012)

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• published: 16 Oct 2012
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Abstract The phenomenon of mega cities is a reality in South Asia. There are several criteria by which mega city and regions can be identified. If a population size of five million or more is considered, there are at least seven in India in addition to Karachi and Dhaka city regions. In the past few decades, these city regions have acquired a primacy in their hinterland in economic, political and demographic terms. As engines of growth, they are also characterized by national and global connectivity. They are often viewed as mere collections of individual municipalities and treated as creatures of the provincial / national governments. However, the challenge of governing these multi-municipal, multi-jurisdictional city regions require a better understanding of the metropolitan level issues as distinct from what pertains to the constituent municipalities, big or small. The disconnect between the municipal entities on the one hand, and trans-municipal functional bodies such as water supply, drainage, transport, spatial planning etc as well as the disconnect between the political spectrum and the official machinery on the other, are becoming serious problems. The social diversity of these mega city regions is also an important aspect. An analysis of the issues and recent attempts to address the problems at the city- regional scale will be the substance of this presentation. About the Speaker After joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1958 and holding various assignments in West Bengal (including Chief Executive, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority 1970-76), Professor K C Sivaramakrishnan moved to Delhi in 1985 to the Ministry of Environment. In 1988, he became Secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development. In that capacity, Prof Sivaramakrishnan was personally involved in the legislation to amend the Constitution to provide a decentralized framework for urban local bodies. After retiring from the IAS in 1992, he joined the World Bank as Senior Advisor, Urban Management. Since his return to the country in 1996, Prof Sivaramakrishnan has been associated with the Centre for Policy Research where he is Research Professor and Chairman of the Governing Board. Prof Sivaramakrishnan was a Parvin Fellow at Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University in 1965, Visiting Professor and Homi Bhabha Fellow at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta in 1977 and Senior Lecturer at the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank from 1978 to 1982. Trained in economics, political science and law, he has authored several books and papers on urban management, decentralization, electoral reforms and environment. His latest book 'Revisioning Indian Cities: The Urban Renewal Mission' was published by Sage and released in August 2011.