Chandigarh MP launches book of essays on ‘crisis of urbanisation’

Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari advocates for de-urbanisation to tackle India's urbanisation crisis, emphasizing infrastructure spread beyond cities.

Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari said on Tuesday that the challenge of urbanisation in India can only be combated through de-urbanisation and spreading infrastructure outside cities.

The book, which features essays by policy and urban development experts on the increased socioeconomic divide and decline in quality of life caused by unplanned urbanisation

“I say with great respect to urban planners and thinkers, we are really trying to solve a problem of the past and possibly not comprehending the problem of the future,” he said while addressing the launch of City Limits: The Crisis of Urbanisation, the latest anthology in Penguin’s Rethinking India series.

The book, which features essays by policy and urban development experts on the increased socioeconomic divide and decline in quality of life caused by unplanned urbanisation, was launched at Jawahar Bhawan in New Delhi. The book’s launch also featured a panel discussion among Samajwadi Party leader Abhishek Mishra, urban researchers Aravind Unni, Mukta Nair, and Sandeep Chachra and was moderated by Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty.

Speaking of his experience of representing three parliamentary constituencies with varied levels of urbanisation, Tewari said: “It has given me a perspective about the possibilities which are there and need to be energised. Because when I look at the problems of our cities... there is only an X amount that you can do in a brownfield setting.”

Tewari remarked that adding infrastructure to cities was no longer a viable option, considering that India occupies one-twentieth of the world’s landmass while hosting the largest population. “Therefore, the challenge really is not to spend money trying to put infrastructure into cities to cope with the influx, but to see how we can go backwards.”

He also said that India was no longer building new cities, with cities like Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Bhubhaneshwar being the last of their scale and size. Praising the book, Tewari added that it serves as a starting point for “a very serious conversation” as 40% of India’s population is projected to live in urban areas by 2030.

Kerala MP John Brittas, who also addressed the gathering, said that the norm in Delhi had changed since he first arrived as a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the 1980s. “The symbol of an average city in north India would be the bulldozer,” he said while criticising ghettoisation and the increasing difficulties faced by Muslims in finding housing in Delhi.

Brittas added that apart from solely the government, culture, history, geography and people’s attitude should also play a role in modernising cities. “The moment you decide it’s only the government which will decide how a city should be, the city will become monstrous like Delhi,” he remarked.

“We are living in an era when the most powerful person in the world said that climate change is a hoax,” he said while referring to US President Donald Trump. He added that his home state, Kerala, loses land every year as a result of climate change. “We are victims of it. So, I feel that we need to have meaningful debates about how urbanisation should be carried out,” said Brittas.