2005-07
1. Inclusive Mega Cities in Asia in a Globalizing World
Sponsoring Agency : IDPAD, ICSSR
Project Team : Prof. Darshini Mahadevia (Project Director) and Mr. Harpreet Singh
Collaboration with : Dr. Erhard, ISS, The Hague
The research is based on by now widely accepted assessment that the current form of globalization is excluding significant sections of the population in the cities of developing countries. Consequently, they are getting evicted from the economic, political and social space in the cities. Their quality and security of life is also drastically reduced. Thus, conscious pro-poor policies are necessary for making globalizing mega cities more inclusive and improving overall quality of life. The study scrutinizes positive and negative impacts of economic globalization on employment and quality of life in the mega cities of Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad in India; Dhaka in Bangladesh; and Manila in Philippines. Two aspects of quality of life would be looked into; housing and basic services such as water supply and sanitation. The main questions it answers are whether inclusive mega cities are possible under present conditions; and what steps are necessary to improve inclusiveness. Strategies have to be based not on just on token managerial participation of the poor in decentralized governance, but on their and their representatives’ participation in critical policy making itself. The research has employed a variety of methods, from macro level data analysis to participatory surveys in selected communities.