Assignment Code: MEDS-042/TMA/2021-22

Course Code: MEDS-042

Assignment Name: Issues and Challenges in Urban Planning and Development

Year: 2021-22

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Marks: 100

Q1) What do understand by “urban paradox”? Illustrate the concept from the perspective of urban crime and health problem?

Ans) Despite significant economic growth, India's urbanisation rate remains low, at less than 30%, compared to 40% in China. What are the reasons for this sluggish urbanisation? Is it the location, the institutions, or the unusual growth patterns that are to blame? Varying factors have different effects on the rate of spatial transformations. Countries that give substantial incentives for towns to be reclassified as urban may see higher levels of urbanisation than expected (e.g. Bangladesh). Geographically isolated and hilly places, on the other hand, are likely to have a lower level of urbanisation than would be expected based merely on per capita income.

Urban Crime

Crime and violence are more common in metropolitan areas, which are exacerbated by their rapid growth, particularly in emerging and transitional countries. According to estimates, 60% of all urban dwellers in developing and transitional nations have been victims of crime, with percentages as high as 70% in parts of Latin America and Africa. The following are some of the primary features of crime and violence that have overtaken urban regions in general and metropolitan cities in particular:

Fear of Crime and Violence

Both rich and developing countries have cultures of dread of crime and violence. People in numerous countries consistently identify crime as one of their top concerns in everyday life, according to public opinion surveys. In Nairobi, Kenya, more than half of the population is concerned about crime on a daily or weekly basis.

Robbery and Burglary

Robbery, which is primarily a contact crime, is frequently classed as a violent crime as well as a property crime in many countries. As a result, it is more likely to be reported to the police than minor offences. Between 1980 and 2000, global robbery rates climbed from around 40 to over 60 incidences per 100,000 people.

Intimate Partner Violence, Child Abuse and Street Children

Intimate partner violence (IPV), often known as domestic abuse, has a severe impact on many intimate relationships and families around the world. Many victims do not report crime to the authorities because it is sensitive and personal. In the year 2000, there were about 500,000 formal reports of domestic violence in the United Kingdom, according to surveys. IPV affects roughly 29% of women and 22% of men in the United States at some point in their lives. Women are far more likely than men to be victims of IPV around the world.

Corruption

Corruption is classified as a crime against public order in most jurisdictions. Although there is no commonly accepted definition of corruption, it has been defined as the misuse of public power for personal gain. The Corruption Perceptions Index, which produces a number based on perceived levels of corruption in a certain country, is one of the most extensively used metrics of corruption.

Urban Terrorism

Cities have become increasingly vulnerable to terrorist assaults in recent years. Cities do, in fact, constitute appealing targets for terrorist strikes for a variety of reasons. Terrorism is defined as intentional acts of violence against citizens and urban infrastructure. Major terrorist occurrences that have occurred in both developed and developing countries' cities. Serial bombings in Mumbai, terrorist attacks in Delhi, and bombings in Pakistan's main cities, such as Karachi and Islamabad, are just a few examples. Despite the fact that these acts of terrorism occurred on a local level, they have had international ramifications that have reverberated around the globe. It is important to note that, in comparison to everyday violence or regular crime, the frequency of terrorist attacks is quite low. Terrorism's influence on cities, however, has been considerable in recent years.

Health Problems

Housing and living conditions of high quality, social and economic possibilities, and access to services such as education and healthcare all contribute to city dwellers' health and well-being. Higher levels of social support and social cohesion are also associated with a number of favourable health outcomes in metropolitan locations. The implementation of these and other health determinants is dependent on good urban government.

Cities, on the other hand, provide a variety of health dangers, particularly when they are poorly administered or fail to emphasise health in all policies. Infectious diseases exacerbated by poor living conditions; non-communicable diseases and conditions (such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes) and conditions fuelled by tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and harmful use of alcohol; and injuries (including road traffic accidents) and violence are all threats to many people.

Infectious Diseases

Due to population density, congestion, a lack of good water and sanitation systems, international travel and commerce, and poor health-care access, infectious illnesses are a severe hazard in many cities, particularly in urban slums. The SARS outbreak in 2003 is a good example of this. In addition, infectious diseases such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), TB, pneumonia, and diarrhoeal illnesses are still prevalent in cities. The urban poor are frequently the ones who bear the brunt of the load. Slums are ideal breeding grounds for diseases including tuberculosis, hepatitis, dengue fever, pneumonia, cholera, and diarrhoea, which spread quickly in densely populated areas. Because of a combination of biological reasons and gender inequity, women are particularly vulnerable to HIV transmission. Female drug users and sex workers are especially vulnerable, and the stigma, prejudice, and punishing policies that surround them further add to their susceptibility.

Non-Communicable Diseases

In metropolitan areas, noncommunicable diseases and ailments such as asthma, heart disease, and diabetes are a major issue. The majority of this increased risk can be attributed to changes in nutrition and physical activity as a result of urbanisation, as well as exposure to air pollutants such as tobacco smoke. Urbanization has been linked to a move toward calorie-dense diets with high fat, sugar, and salt content. Obesity is on the rise in cities all around the world as a result. Furthermore, people in cities are more likely to work in physically sedentary jobs, and urban sprawl discourages physical activity even more. Overcrowding, high-volume traffic, overreliance on motorised transit, criminality, and poor air quality are all issues that limit regular physical activity. Asthma and other respiratory disorders are linked to air pollution, which includes cigarette smoke. Mental health is also at risk as a result of rapid urbanisation. Overcrowding, noise pollution, unemployment, poverty, and cultural displacement can all contribute to or exacerbate mental health issues like anxiety, depression, insomnia, and substance addiction.

Injuries and Violence

Every day, around 16 000 individuals die as a result of injuries, accounting for nearly 10% of all deaths. Road traffic accidents (22 percent), suicide (15 percent), and homicide (10 percent) are the leading causes of mortality from injury, with war accounting for another 3%. Every year, 1.3 million people die as a result of traffic-related injuries around the world. In many developing nations, urbanisation, and an increase in the number of motorised vehicles have not been supported by suitable transportation infrastructure, traffic control enforcement, or the adoption of road safety measures. Road traffic mortality rates are greater in low- and middle-income nations (20.1 and 22.1 per 100 000 population, respectively) than in high-income ones (11.9 per 100 000).

Furthermore, poor, and middle-income countries account for more than 90% of global road fatalities, despite having just 48% of the world's registered vehicles. Many more people are harmed and suffer a variety of physical, mental, and other effects for every person who dies as a result of violence. Although unlikely to result in death, child abuse, teenage violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse are all common kinds of violence that have major behavioural and physiological implications. Social exclusion, poverty, unemployment, and bad housing conditions are all major drivers to urban violence. The dread of such violence adds to the social, economic, and political dispersion of cities. Urban violence has an especially negative impact on youth. Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are the most violent perpetrators and victims of violence in urban settings.

Work –Related and Environment Hazards

Many women's health is jeopardised by the long hours and strenuous physical labour to which they are forced. Toxic chemicals, radiation, severe temperatures, excessive noise, violence, and sexual harassment and rape are also commonplace. Their unborn children are likewise affected when they are pregnant. Premature labour can be caused by heavy work during pregnancy, and when combined with inadequate nutrition, can result in low-birth-weight kids.

There is evidence that inhaling harmful gases while working at home has negative consequences, such as chronic bronchitis.

Q2) Discuss the role of urban industrialization on urban development. Explain role of FDI on urban industrialization.

Ans) Role of Urban Industrialisation on Urban Development

Economic growth is defined as an increase in output per capita through increased productivity and employment. Population expansion increases a country's labour force, which, if employed, uses other resources, and generates new production. However, adding labour demands additional resources for survival, and if the production generated is used up to support the work force, there will be no net increase in output or growth. In other words, growth entails a process of increasing productivity to the point where output produced per capita is at least equal to the quantity required to keep the labour force alive. On the other hand, if productivity grows at a much quicker rate than the work force, there will be more chances of unemployment.

The persistence of surplus labour, primarily engaged in agricultural or other low-productivity sectors, is a common concern in developing countries. Surplus labour refers to a circumstance in which the marginal product of labour is near to zero, yet people can't survive without subsistence production provided by others, therefore it's distributed among community members. This is why, in the agricultural sector, salaries are determined by the average product of labour, which fluctuates slightly over time. As a result, the challenge of growth entails a process in which a rising share of the population is assigned to occupations with higher returns. This basically means that people should be involved in activities that will result in a net increase in outputs. Agriculture is thought to be a part where avoiding diminishing returns tendencies is more challenging, despite the fact that agricultural productivities might be significantly boosted.

Kaldor (1966, 1967) coined the term "dynamic economies of scale" to describe the role of manufacturing as a "growth engine." The benefits of increasing manufacturing flow returns from both the demand and supply sides. Manufacturing, unlike agriculture and services, has a 'learning by doing' process that leads to a cumulative increase in productivity. On the other hand, the income elasticity of demand for manufacturing is larger than that of agriculture, but it is more or less comparable to that of services. The relationship between manufacturing and economic growth is not merely a correlation; it is a causative relationship, and Kaldor's first law holds that the quicker manufacturing grows, the faster the economy grows. In other words, the higher the pace of manufacturing growth compared to GDP growth, the higher the overall growth.

Of course, this accepts the fact that manufacturing expands at a considerably greater rate than GDP. Another essential feature of manufacturing is that productivity rises much more quickly than it does in services. As a result, manufacturing items prices are gradually rising. Beyond a certain level of income, the income elasticity of demand for services may be similar or even higher than that of manufacturing, but because prices for most services rise much faster than prices for manufactured goods, the increase in the elasticity of demand is partially offset by rising prices. According to certain studies, some services have characteristics that are quite comparable to manufacturing and might be regarded a new source of growth.

The relationship between growth and industrialization is also significant in terms of how the two interact. Incomes are generated as a result of growth, and these should be dispersed among the various social strata. Growth is allocated between labour and capital in terms of wages and profits if we take two broad groups for appropriate abstraction. The economy's growth trajectory produces a variety of distributional patterns that influence demand and commodity composition. Furthermore, because growth is dependent on profit revenue, the impact of income on consumption demand is reduced. This is due to the fact that capitalists preserve a higher proportion of their income than workers. If, on the other hand, growth raises the share of salaries, the impact on consumption demand is likely to be greater.

Of course, there is also an indirect aspect. The increase in profit incomes in the economy increases demand for luxury and imported goods, which have lower employment elasticities. To put it another way, an increase in the rich's share of income would necessitate a demand pattern that would necessitate better technology and a decrease in the usage of labour force. The issue is essentially one of linking growth to proper distribution, which would result in sufficient demand for industries. Otherwise, stronger growth with a lopsided income distribution and a greater reliance on imports could lead to de-industrialisation.

Finally, in the modern era, industrial growth represents a significant shift away from artisanal manufacturing and toward factories and manufactures. The expansion of huge enterprises necessitated a significant supply of factory workers, and as a result, people from rural areas were drawn to metropolitan centres. This is precisely why the trajectory of industrial growth parallels the growth of modern urban centres. To put it another way, the rise of manufacturing fuelled the growth of urban centres at the dawn of modern industry. This entails the building of new space that brings labour and capital together and defines the new industrial geography.

Role of FDI in Urban Industrialisation

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a financial phenomenon that occurs when a business purchases 10% or more of the voting stock of a commercial entity formed in a foreign country. However, this restrictive definition fails to grasp the significance of FDI in the current globalisation context, and it overlooks the fact that FDI is more closely linked to ownership and control of a corporation, as well as exerting long-term influence on the trajectory of a corporate entity's growth. However, the degree of influence does not always depend on the number of voting shares that a foreign investor acquires, and it can be manipulated in a variety of ways depending on the kind of interdependence between collaborating partners and the legal structure of the country. The definition of FDI employed by various countries varies greatly, with some defining it on the basis of equity share and others according to the power enjoyed by the foreign actor.

As a result, there is minimal consistency in defining FDI between nations, and there is no standard metric for cross-country empirical studies. Despite the uncertainty in arriving at a common definition of FDI, the rising influence of FDI in the path of industrial development over the previous decades is easy to understand. FDI has grown at a substantially greater rate than GDP during the last two decades. Between 1982 and 2004, the value added of overseas subsidiaries expanded sixfold globally, although global output only tripled during the same time period. Furthermore, FDI has emerged as the greatest single source of external money, despite the fact that foreign aid and worker remittances continue to be the most important sources for poorer countries.

Foreign subsidiary sales were over twice as large as global exports of goods and services, and nearly half the amount of global GDP. Foreign subsidiaries exported nearly one-third of global exports in 2004, and if we include exports from headquarters, this equals to two-thirds of global goods commerce. Multinational businesses' intra-firm trade accounts for one-third of all international trade, demonstrating the growing importance of FDI and MNCs in the global economy. The type and pattern of FDI has changed over time as the motivations of foreign investors have changed. In a quick review of such evolution, we might see the following FDI patterns: Strategy for locating resources: This was the dominating pattern of pre-World War II foreign investment, and it remained so throughout the neo-colonial regimes of the 1950s and 1960s.

The host country used to be a provider of raw materials to developed-north businesses, and the choice to allow such outflow was based mostly on political reliance and a cost-benefit analysis of the host country. The home country gained access to low-cost raw resources, and they had little to lose because the trade did not displace any current exports or jobs. Market-seeking approach: This strategy is founded on the belief that export-focused marketing strategies have reached their limit, and that establishing a firm abroad may both safeguard and expand existing markets. The justification for such a strategy was that setting up production sites outside of the host country would lower transaction costs, give greater knowledge of present and new markets, and help pacify nationalist sentiments because production takes place on the host country's territory.

This has been a key worry for international investors since the 1960s, and FDI inflows have been predominantly directed towards industrialised countries that can provide huge markets as well as skilled labour. FDI was later looking for host nations that could provide inputs at a lower cost and help boost the competitiveness of existing products as part of an efficiency-seeking strategy. The main concern was to gain access to the large pool of cheap labour available in developing countries, and even though large gaps in productivity exist, they can be bridged to a large extent by allowing extended working hours and other precarious forms of work that would be impossible in developed countries. Asset acquisition strategy:

The advent of an economy in which a firm's competitiveness is mainly determined by the speed with which it innovates has significantly altered FDI strategy. Because corporations are looking for assets that are seen to be capable of boosting the acquiring company's overall competitive position, lowering input costs, and gaining access to markets takes a back seat. Strategic asset acquisition could aid in better understanding and improving existing products, expanding their output portfolio, or upgrading the technologies contained in their products. The global production process is reorganised in both horizontal and vertical lines, and it can sometimes appear as a complicated network of interconnected production systems.

The horizontal process entails the transfer of a portion of jobs that were formerly performed by the parent company to host countries abroad. Global value chains, or a more holistic concept of global production networks, is a burgeoning topic that is rapidly attracting our attention. The scope of the research extends beyond specific sectors and geographic areas. This is a significant shift in the field of industrial research in that value chains now encompass all actions connected to the final act of profit creation, both within and outside of the specific sector. In place of linear relationships between inputs and outputs, the production and distribution of profits is understood as an ensemble of numerous components, which could include activities connected to agriculture or services mediated through a complex web of relational structures.

However, the division of labour and the spatial arrangement of the production chain have allowed less developed countries to participate in the global manufacturing process. This lowers the entry hurdle for developing economies since a high-skilled final product may contain a low-skilled component, allowing a location with low-skilled workers to contribute to the manufacture of a high-valued product (IDR, 2009). However, participation is not everything, and the distribution of value added as well as realised profit raises questions about power dynamics in the governance of such value chains.

Q3) What are the issues and challenges of urban law and order? What revitalization measures need to be taken to improve law and order?

Ans) Issues and Challenges of Urban Law

One of the most significant issues authorities face in maintaining peace and order is a lack of adequate knowledge of the urban area. Rapid and erratic urbanisation has resulted in the creation of entire zones within cities that are often unmapped and follow intricate and often disorganised street systems. Rapid construction projects can cut off previously passable routes and generate unstable buildings that may collapse and alter the area's layout. Natural and man-made calamities, such as floods and mudslides, have the potential to devastate entire neighbourhoods and reorganise urban space. Furthermore, infrastructure could be of poor quality.

The close proximity of buildings and the narrowness of streets may make it difficult for police to tactically appraise places, and strategic decision makers' ability to apply policies efficiently may be limited. It's especially difficult to operate in such regions because there are rarely reliable addresses or ways for authorities to access them without significant local assistance. Criminals operating in them are usually more familiar with the neighbourhoods and have deeper personal contacts with local residents than police attempting to suppress illegal activity. Furthermore, if the government is ineffective in maintaining high-quality infrastructure, it will not have a complete picture of criminal activity in a given area. Tracking crime is challenging due to the density of urban space and the range of criminal acts that may occur in a given region. When governments struggle to keep up with the structure of neighbourhoods, they will have a harder time determining where and how often crimes occur. All of this makes designing successful crime-fighting methods challenging, especially in areas where crime is most prevalent.

Police officers have additional problems in planned communities. Within gated neighbourhoods, police are increasingly confronted with significant issues in controlling urban area. Law enforcement can be particularly difficult due to the privatisation of space and the difficulty authorities have in gaining access to private property. Police may need to enlist the help of private security personnel if they don't have direct access to specific regions of the city. In the areas for which they are responsible, private security guards and corporations may abuse the law and crime suspects. The following are some of the challenges:

1. Few reliable maps are available; irregular and inconsistent streets; bad infrastructure Reluctance to collaborate with police and vice versa; lack of mutual trust are all factors that must be addressed in order to develop stronger public safety tactics.

2. In many areas, there is a scarcity of crime data.

3. Gated neighbourhoods and private security services exist, limiting law enforcement agencies' access.

4. Services of erratic transportation (informal collective transportation services)

5. Poverty, as well as economic and social marginalisation, affect vast segments of the population.

6. In a dysfunctional governing structure, the rich and poor are resorting to neighbourhood self-management.

Urban Revitalisation Measures to Improve Law and Order

Good design, which reduces individual hazards while increasing the movement of inhabitants through the city, is at the heart of a secure urban area. However, ensuring continuous collective observation will aid in crime control and, as a result, minimise law and order spending. The concepts that underpin this new approach to urbanism have been widely implemented in modern police in North America, Europe, and portions of Asia. Architects, landscape designers, and police have developed the notion of "defensive/ defensible space" in order to restructure towns and cities in order to generate a stronger sense of safety.

This method was developed by a city planner in the United States who noted that, during the 1960s period of escalating urban violence, districts that had managed space in specific ways had much lower crime rates than other regions. Individuals who have a sense of ownership over an area maintain basic order and security, according to this viewpoint. Individuals who feel alienated from a space are more likely to let it fall into ruin, which may lead to an increase in crime. However, at a certain point, if too many people have a say in what happens with a space, no one will invest in maintaining it. People believe they have a claim to and responsibility for a particular location if it is shared by many people, according to this perspective. As a result, guarding a location necessitates the commitment of the people who live there to keep it safe. Based on this basic principle, security in a residential neighbourhood can be provided by using certain organisational tactics.

To begin, each neighbourhood must have some type of access restriction. This is frequently taken as implying the construction of gated streets, even if the gates are unguarded. On a more basic level, it simply means that a street will be used by a small number of people. A busy roadway might draw more foot traffic, which can enhance crime in some cases while discouraging it in others. Controlling crime frequently necessitates a collaborative management of space that brings together local inhabitants and other users of that place, as well as municipal planners, elected officials, and police, to devise ways for effectively managing that space.

Second, promoting a protective area entails encouraging natural kinds of surveillance. In this strategy, police and planners consider how to structure space so that people can keep an eye on it during their daily routines, so deterring crime.

Third, reinforcing a space can include the employment of mechanical devices to reduce the likelihood of crime, as well as the establishment of organisational structures such as community oversight boards to coordinate efforts to suppress disorder. Space management or defensive space measures have also aided in the planning of parks and buildings to deter unlawful behaviour, such as planting hedges in such a way that thieves have less shelter or providing adequate street lighting to improve pedestrian safety.

The objective is to combine law enforcement and planning methods to gain a better understanding of how people use certain areas in their communities and then use that knowledge to design case-specific police strategies. Police should be involved in planning in partnership with communities, and planners should contribute to security talks aimed at building environmental security programmes that address the specific concerns. There is no simple formula for resolving the issues. Controlling crime through design, on the other hand, entails the effective integration of planning, law enforcement, and community representatives in the development of appropriate security and space regulations to preserve basic rights and reduce crime.

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

Crime prevention through environmental design has evolved over time from urban design concepts such as defensive space to a more complete planning strategy to utilise construction and design to control crime, known as crime prevention through environmental design. The technique is vast and includes numerous variations, but it adheres to six core principles derived from previous approaches.

Natural surveillance: Space must be designed in such a way that passive observation is encouraged. This includes providing possibilities for those who frequent the area to keep an eye on what's going on and removing covers that can encourage criminal activities.

Natural access control and access management: It is necessary to construct neighbourhoods and other urban spaces in order to manage access and reduce the probability of criminal entry. At its most basic level, this may include the installation of gates; more widely, it could imply the design of metropolitan districts so that criminals have difficulties accessing or exiting them after committing a crime.

Territorial reinforcement: This aspect of the strategy implies that fostering a sense of ownership in buildings and spaces can make them safer. As previously said, when people have no sense of responsibility for a location, they are more inclined to let it fall into disarray or simply ignore it. At the same hand, a location protected from the street by towering walls runs the risk of individuals focusing solely on themselves and failing to consider the larger community. Furthermore, large walls and barriers might pose extra concerns by separating and concealing public thoroughfares. Territorial reinforcement tries to promote ownership of areas by deliberately using porches, low fences, and sparse hedges to demarcate property while also linking it to the neighbourhood to prevent this and even foster a sense of ownership of public space.

Physical maintenance: Police and other stakeholders are working to protect the neighbourhood’s overall structure by minimising litter and other causes of disruption. This will motivate neighbourhood groups to maintain the quality of residences and other features that contribute to the area's safety and respect.

Target hardening: Individual households and business owners must take proactive measures to secure their homes and property in order to improve neighbourhood security. This necessitates a concerted effort, such as ensuring that doors have excellent locks and that windows cannot be entered from the outside.

Minimising disorder and establishing well-used space: To avoid opportunities for crime, law enforcement and stakeholders must lower the amount of perceived disturbance in the neighbourhood and ensure continued usage of the place. Of course, today, the concept of crime prevention through environmental design has been applied to the design, planning, and administration of public areas, far beyond the confines of law enforcement. The plan enables state authorities, police, and space managers to collaborate to efficiently integrate security into the environment.

Q4) Distinguish between urban informal sector and informal settlements. What are the causes of formation of informal settlements in urban areas?

Ans) Urban Informal Sector

Hart coined the phrase "informal sector" in the 1970s while conducting field research in Ghana's metropolitan districts. During his fieldwork among Ghana's urban workers, he discovered a sizable self-employed sector that provided a source of income for newcomers to the urban labour force who were unable to find job in the formal sector. Later, the ILO expanded the scope of the informal sector during its country mission in Kenya in 1972. The informal sector was defined by the features of the economic unit in a 1972 ILO report on Kenya. In 1993, the fifteenth International Conference of Labour Statistician issued a resolution on statistics of employment in the informal sector, which included a more detailed definition of the informal sector. The following is how it defined the informal sector:

The informal sector is defined as a collection of household businesses or unincorporated businesses held by a family, which includes:

1. Informal own-account enterprises, which may employ contributing family workers and employees on an occasional basis; and

2. Enterprises of informal employers, which employ one or more employees on a continuous basis.

Urban Informal Settlements

Heterogeneity in land management methods allows various patterns of development (on both public and private land) across areas of the urban landscape in many developing countries' cities. As a result, several portions of the city have underdeveloped or undeveloped property parcels. In the form of slum and squatter settlements, these pieces of land frequently become home to a large number of poor people with restricted access to public services. Natural risks (such as flooding), unfavourable environmental (such as illnesses from neighbouring sewerage sites), and transportation externalities (such as the repercussions of being positioned next to polluted and dangerous traffic) are all common occurrences in these settlements. According to the World Bank, more than 300 million urban poor people in developing nations live in slum and squatter settlements, the majority of which are filthy, hazardous places that pose health and security risks. Slums, squatters, and informal settlements are all terms that are used interchangeably to describe these areas.

Causes of Formation of Informal Settlements

Slums are not a recent occurrence. They've been a part of most cities' histories, especially during the early years of urbanisation and industrialisation, when populations exploded. In cities, where competition for property and profits is fierce, slums are sometimes the only sort of settlement cheap and accessible to the poor.

The following are some of the reasons for the emergence of informal settlements in metropolitan areas:

Population growth: As more people relocate from rural to urban regions and natural population growth continues, countries around the world are increasingly urbanising. More than half of the world's population now lives in cities. More than 90% of this urbanisation is taking place in underdeveloped countries. There are several reasons for urban migration, as listed below:

1. Migration's Pushing and Pulling Forces- Some people move because they are driven out of their homes by natural disasters or long-term environmental changes. Others are drawn to a new location by improved work opportunities, education, health care, or the independence from social or cultural constraints.

2. Low agricultural incomes- The agricultural sector, which is largely dependent on weather, employs the majority of people in rural areas. Rural land is also limited, with fertility sometimes low or declining, tiny land holdings, significant farm loans, and many households becoming landless. As a result, rural incomes are low in general.

3. Greater work opportunities- When compared to rural locations, urban places offer significantly more job options. Furthermore, because metropolitan cultures are frequently less limited than rural cultures, cities can provide more opportunities for upward social mobility.

4. People are aware of what cities have to offer, and most migrants make a conscious decision to stay or leave rural areas. Rural communities have become considerably more aware of the advantages and disadvantages of urban living, particularly in terms of job prospects and housing, thanks to improved transportation, communications, and linkages with earlier migrants.

5. Rural households sometimes break into many groups in different places—rural areas, small towns, and big cities—in order to diversify their sources of income and become less exposed to economic downturns.

Low earnings and limited household housing affordability are part of the problem, but slums and informal settlements are increasingly populated by people who are not poor. As a result, poverty isn't the only factor driving the expansion of slums. People with reasonably high salaries are increasingly seeking housing outside of the formal and official institutions. They discover that slums are the only housing option outside of the formal market, demonstrating that housing markets and policies have flaws that obstruct the delivery of cheap housing opportunities.

Poverty: The poor are forced into informal settlements when the conventional land delivery system fails to meet their needs for houses and other related facilities. Both irregular occupation and irregular rental tenancy are examples of informal settlements. While these informal settlements save the poor money in the short term, they do so at the expense of their already vulnerable economic situation in the long run. First and foremost, insecure tenure has a negative influence on the delivery of urban services and, as a result, on the economic status of the urban poor. Governments are often hesitant to offer basic amenities in informal settlements because they see such acts as a first step toward legal recognition and tenure regularisation for the settlements. Slum inhabitants have no choice but to rely on unofficial service providers at a far higher cost than other urban households, resulting in distorted land and service costs.

Most importantly, a lack of secure tenure deters household investments and investments in home-based activities. In other words, when people are unsure about their future prospects in a given settlement, they are much less likely to invest there. This has a negative impact on poverty reduction. It exacerbates the problem of irregular settlements by reducing much-needed household investment and failing to raise living standards. Insecure tenure has a detrimental influence on the rate of tax recovery through local taxation on property and economic activities from the perspective of governments. Furthermore, cost recovery for services and infrastructures is made difficult or impossible without accurate identification of urban service beneficiaries. Above all, squatters, particularly women and children, are subject to harassment because of their lack of security of tenure and the poverty that comes with it. Security of tenure, on the other hand, is one of the most important tools for poverty alleviation on the flip side of this vicious cycle of poverty. According to the World Bank, land is the principal source of income for the urban poor, as well as the key vehicle for investing, amassing wealth, and transferring money between generations.

Land is another important component of household wealth. Improving poor people's ability to make efficient use of the land they occupy is critical to eliminating poverty and empowering impoverished individuals and communities. Another factor to consider is the absence of infrastructure investment by local governments, which limits the supply of housing options and impedes economic activity. It is apparent that drafting city plans and implementing approved land-use planning procedures are insufficient to guide urban growth and create slum-free metropolitan areas. As land and housing prices rise at a breakneck pace, individuals trade land and property rights regardless of legal status to gain access to a place to live and legitimise their right to the city, resulting in an increase in informal settlements plagued by overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, poor housing conditions, and, in some cities, urban violence.

Q5) What is the nexus between energy and development? What measures need to be taken for sustainable energy promotion?

Ans) Nexus between Energy and Development

According to some historians, the link between energy and human evolution dates back to the taming of fire 500,000 years ago. They frequently examine the relationship between the progressive understanding of how to use various sources of energy and the development of civilisation, eclipsing the diversity of societies and civilisations in the past. From a more recent socio-epistemological and anthropological perspective, the nineteenth-century industrial revolution, or to be more precise, the 'thermo-industrial revolution', is the event that definitively seals the relationship between energy and modern economic development. By and large, political doctrines and economic theories of development have assumed that this haphazard Eurocentric paradigm represents a universal historical or evolutionary standard. It has received some criticism recently, although it is still in the minority.

Energy, in its modern sense, is a relatively new concept. It arose from the first half of the nineteenth century's change of physics in Europe, which was strongly linked to the new technology of heat and electrodynamic engines, as well as the engineer-savants' formulation of the conceptions of mechanical effort, efficiency, and power. With the development of the mechanical theory of heat and the 'Carnot principle' circa 1840–60, a new science of energy, thermodynamics, arose, which is founded on two essential principles: energy conservation and energy dissipation or degradation. 1 Energy is altered and assumes multiple forms, according to this new study, but its quantity remains constant in an isolated system. Its anthropomorphic definition necessitates distinguishing between two types of energy: usable energy, which is concentrated or has low entropy and allows mechanical work, and dissipated energy, or high-entropy energy, which has no value for human use and is frequently overlooked in analyses ('waste').

We can move away from the linear, evolutionary thesis of a 'economic history of world population' or of development by identifying the changes in Western civilisation from the eighteenth century onwards as the commencement of the modern relationship between energy and development. The anthropological and ecological rupture that is the thermo-industrial revolution, which marks the beginning of the current anthropogenic geological age, may then be pinpointed. The creation of the internal combustion engine, which allows vehicles and planes to be propelled, created many new technical methods of moving products and people, and accelerated the speed of movement in the modern world, is credited with the rapid development of the modern economy. The steam engine mounted on wheels and metal rails, whose heyday actually began between 1830 and 1850, is the first social invention of speed and acceleration.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the steam locomotive, which was fuelled by coal or wood, had become a symbol of modernity and development in the colonial empires. In Western culture, the railway revolutionised the space–time relationship in the same way that air travel does today. Despite the fact that industrialisation signifies a departure from a specific "state-of-nature civilization," it is rooted in a long-standing historical momentum. Europe, like China, was productive long before it was industrialised. This is exemplified by the long history of mediaeval and proto-industrial hydraulics. The revolution of 'fire-engines' and the increasingly rapid development of industrial use of fossil fuels, notably coal, oil, and natural gas, have blown the Vitruvian paradigm of hydraulic technology out of the water.

The technologically advanced civilisation of Europe owes its rapid development to a constant stream of inventions and innovations in the energy sphere: wind power (first for sailing, then for windmills), animal power (with the invention of stirrups and harnesses), water mills (an ancient invention, but a technical and social revolution in mediaeval times, the hydropower harnessed by monasticism), and so on. However, these biospheric and organic types of power are subject to significant geographical and meteorological limits, not to mention the reality that animals and humans are exhausted. They only allow for restricted rates of expansion, and certainly not the exponential growth that the golden age of oil provided over a lengthy period of time.

The art of harnessing mechanical energy was taught by artisans and technologists, many of whom had no scientific background. However, we must not overlook the critical relevance of the growth of the engineering profession, which was dedicated for many years to the military heritage and the formation of modern governments. Engineers began their careers building fortresses and inventing military engines, but by the conclusion of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, they had shifted their focus to civil engineering. They played a significant role in the industrial revolution and imperial expansion. They were responsible for developing the old machines into increasingly complicated technical systems by putting ever more powerful motors into them, as well as engaging in breakthroughs in physical–mathematical sciences.

Measures for Sustainable Energy Promotions

Sustainable development is an important development agenda of the 21st century and is one of the vital paradigm shifts in development. Countries have to take appropriate measures for the promotion of sustainable development. The United Nations has emphasised its institutional framework for sustainable development. It has mentioned for its attainment in its institutional framework for sustainable development, that good governance, sound economic policies, social democratic institutions responsible to the needs of the people and improved infrastructure is much needed. Moreover these are also the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication, and employment generation.

Some suggested measures for the promotion of sustainable development follows the conservation of land, water and energy resources is fundamental for the promotion of sustainable development. Appropriate action has to be taken for the conservation of scanty resources. Conservation of resources by the present generation will provide future generation with widest range of possibilities. The development of technologies and approaches which will minimise the environmental damages. Such development requires scientific knowledge and continuous investment. Political and public support is critical to implement environmental targets. Increasing the scope of public participation in environmental issues and, in particular, in planning processes.

Some countries have initiated good practices which are concomitant with the promotion of sustainable development:

1. In Brazil, the bio-fuels programme has saved the country $100 billion in external debt-a fact that makes such fuels attractive in many countries

2. In China, the promotion of vehicles that are more efficient.

3. In South Africa, the implementation of carbon capture and storage technology brings benefits in terms of technology transfer.

The United Nations has strengthened and integrated the three dimensions of sustainable development policies and programmes, and to promote the full integration of sustainable development objective with social development issues.

Sustainable development is an important development agenda of the 21st century and is one of the vital paradigm shifts in development. Countries have to take appropriate measures for the promotion of sustainable development. The United Nations has emphasised its institutional framework for sustainable development. It has mentioned for its attainment in its institutional framework for sustainable development, that good governance, sound economic policies, social democratic institutions responsible to the needs of the people and improved infrastructure is much needed. Moreover these are also the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication, and employment generation.

Some suggested measures for the promotion of sustainable development follows the conservation of land, water and energy resources is fundamental for the promotion of sustainable development. Appropriate action has to be taken for the conservation of scanty resources. Conservation of resources by the present generation will provide future generation with widest range of possibilities. The development of technologies and approaches which will minimise the environmental damages. Such development requires scientific knowledge and continuous investment. Political and public support is critical to implement environmental targets. Increasing the scope of public participation in environmental issues and, in particular, in planning processes.

Some countries have initiated good practices which are concomitant with the promotion of sustainable development:

1. i)                 In Brazil, the bio-fuels programme has saved the country $100 billion in external debt-a fact that makes such fuels attractive in many countries

2. ii)               In China, the promotion of vehicles that are more efficient.

3. iii)              In South Africa, the implementation of carbon capture and storage technology brings benefits in terms of technology transfer.

The United Nations has strengthened and integrated the three dimensions of sustainable development policies and programmes, and to promote the full integration of sustainable development objective with social development issues.