Megapolis

Cities have always been centers of excellence, knowledge, research, economics, power, culture and intellect. What does a magnificent city offer its country? From finance to trade to architecture to artistic grandeur, a city becomes a brand ambassador for marketing the image of the country across the world. A city drives its ambitious citizens to excel and leave their mark on the world stage. A city encapsulates all walks of life and attracts people from distant lands. Some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world are Athens, Beirut, Jerusalem, Varanasi and Damascus. Banaras (Varanasi) was a polestar of knowledge and education in ancient India.

So what should a megapolis consist of? Should India start planning new cities? Global cities…..

The concept of a global city means a city that has a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socioeconomic means. The Chinese have always believed that bigger is better, contrast this: Delhi is 1,480 sq km and Beijing is 16,807 sq km. It is characteristic of any economy that sustains fast pace of growth over a longish period that the share of population living off agriculture comes down and the share of population living off services and industry goes up. An increasing proportion of those engaged in services and industry would live in towns rather than in villages.

If India’s population grows at 1.3 % over the next one and a half decades, its size would be 136 crore. India was 28% urban, according to the 2001 census. It’s probably 32% urban by now. It is more than likely that more than half the population would be urban by mid-2020s. That would mean an additional 32 crore people living in towns rather than in the countryside. If we don’t want this multitude crowding the existing towns, we need to build a whole lot of new towns and improve infrastructure in the existing ones. If we assume a population density of 12,000 people per sq km, we would need to construct about 20,000 sq km-that would be a dozen new cities each the size of Delhi over the next 15 yrs.

Two key components of a well planned city are infrastructure and mass transit systems. Infrastructure is the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. Infrastructure constitutes roads, railways, water supply, sewers, power grids, airports, canals, seaports, bridges, telecommunications and so forth. It facilitates the production of goods and services. A large city requires a mass transit system to ease burden on various resources. Public transportation can consist of buses, subways, trolleys, trams, light rails, commuter trains, and monorails. The environmental impact of public transport is lower than private due to less use of land area and energy. A Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) should be formed for any urbanized area with a population greater than 500,000.

Global recession has lead to build-up of overcapacity or a demand slowdown. Addressing this perception is the key to counter a cyclical slowdown in economy. The government should announce plans to construct brand new cities, each spread out over at least 1,000 sq km, and work on at least one should begin to provide necessary fiscal stimulus. The government would have to spend only on the initial phase and private players would be only too happy to participate vigorously. Expenditure in the first phase would provide immediate stimulus, assured demand would sustain investment and the created output would add to India’s productivity.