11-11-2018, 06:01 AM
Causes of urban growth in India :
1. Population growth
2. Independence of decision
3. Economic growth
4. Industrialisation
5. Speculation
6. Expectations of land appreciation
7. Land hunger attitude
8. Physical geography
9. Lack of affordable housing
10. Demand of more living space
11. Transportation
12. Road width
13. Single-family home
14. Lack of proper planning policies
15. Failure to enforce planning policies
16. Housing investment
17. Large plot size
1. Population Growth
The first and foremost reason of urban growth is increase in urbanpopulation. Rapid growth of urban areas is the result of two population growth factors:
(1) natural increase in population,
(2) migration to urban areas.
Natural population growth results from excess of births over deaths. Migration is defined as the long-term relocation of an individual, household or group to a new location outside the community of origin. In the recent time, the movement of people from rural to urban areas within the country (internal migration) is most significant. Although very insignificant comparing the movement of people within the country; international migration is also increasing. International migration includes labour migration, refugees and undocumented migrants. Both internal and international migrations contribute to urban growth. Internal migration is often explained in terms of either push factors—conditions in the place of origin which are perceived by migrants as detrimental to their wellbeing or economic security, and pull factors—the circumstances in new places that attract individuals to move there. Examples of push factors include high unemployment and political persecution; examples of pull factors include job opportunities or better living facilities. Typically, a pull factor initiates migration that can be sustained by push and other factors that facilitate or make possible the change. For example, a farmer in rural area whose land has become unproductive because of drought (push factor) may decide to move to a nearby city where he perceives more job opportunities and possibilities for a better lifestyle (pull factor). In general, cities are perceived as places where one could have a better life; because of better opportunities, higher salaries, better services, and better lifestyles. The perceived better conditions attract poor people from rural areas. People move into urban areas mainly to seek economic opportunities. In rural areas, often on small family farms, it is difficult to improve one’s standard of living beyond basic sustenance. Farm living is dependent on unpredictable environmental conditions, and during of drought, flood or pestilence, survival becomes extremely problematic. Cities, in contrast, are known to be places where money, services and wealth are centralised. Cities are places where fortunes are made and where social mobility is possible. Businesses that generate jobs and capitals are usually located in urban areas. Whether the source is trade or tourism, it is also through the cities that foreign money flows into a country. People living on a farm may wish to move to the city and try to make enough money to send back home to their struggling family. In the cities, there are better basic services as well as other specialist services that are not found in rural areas. There are more job opportunities and a greater variety of jobs in the cities. Health is another major factor. People, especially the elderly are often forced to move to cities where there are doctors and hospitals that can cater for their health needs. Other factors include a greater variety of entertainment (restaurants, movie theatres, theme parks, etc.) and a better quality of education. Due to high populations, urban areas can also have much more diverse social communities allowing others to find people like them.
These conditions are heightened during times of change from a pre-industrial society to an industrial one. At this transition time many new commercial enterprises are made possible, thus creating new jobs in cities. It is also a result of industrialisation that farms become more mechanised, putting many farm labourers out of work. Developing nations are currently passing through the process of industrialisation. As a result, growth rate of urban population is very high in these countries comparing industrialised countries. In industrialised countries the future growth of urban populations will be comparatively modest since their population growth rates are low and over 80% of their population already live in urban areas. In contrast, developing countries are in the middle of the transition process, when urban population growth rates are very high.
2. Independence of Decision
The competitors (government and/or private) hold a variety of expectations about the future and a variety of development demands. Often these competitors can take decisions at their own to meet their future expectations and development demands.
This is especially true if the city lacks a master plan as a whole. This independence ultimately results in uncoordinated, uncontrolled and unplanned development .
3 Economic Growth
Expansion of economic base (such as higher per capita income, increase in number of working persons) creates demand for new housing or more housing space for individuals. This also encourages many developers for rapid construction of new houses. Rapid development of housing and other urban infrastructure often produces a variety of discontinuous uncorrelated developments.Rapiddevelopmentisalsoblamedowingtoitslackoftimeforproper planning and coordination among developers, governments and proponents.
4 Industrialisation
Establishment of new industries in countryside increases impervious surfaces rapidly. Industry requires providing housing facilities to its workers in a large area that generally becomes larger than the industry itself. The transition process from agricultural to industrial employment demands more urban housing. Single-storey, low-density industrial parks surrounded by large parking lots are one of the main reasons of sprawl. There is no reason why light industrial and commercial land-uses cannot grow up instead of out, by adding more storeys instead of more hectares. Perhaps, industrial sprawl has happened because land at the urban edge is cheaper.
5 Speculation
Speculation about the future growth, future government policies and facilities (like transportation etc.) may cause premature growth without proper planning. Several political election manifestos may also encourage people speculating the direction and magnitude of future growth. Speculation is sometimes blamed for sprawl in that speculation produces withholding of land for development which is one reason of discontinuous development.
6 Expectations of Land Appreciation
Expectations of land appreciation at the urban fringe cause some landowners to withhold land from the market . Expectations may vary, however, from landowner to landowner, as does the suitability of land for development. The result is a discontinuous pattern of development. The higher the rate of growth in a metropolitan area, the greater the expectations of land appreciation; as a result, more land will be withheld for future development.
7 Land Hunger Attitude
Many institutions and even individuals desire for the ownership of land. Often these lands left vacant within the core city area and makes infill policies unsuccessful. As a result the city grows outward leaving the undeveloped land within the city.
8. Physical Geography
Sometimes the sprawl is caused because of unsuitable physical terrain (such as rugged terrain, wetlands, mineral lands, or water bodies, etc.) for continuous development . This often creates leap-frog development sprawl. Important to mention that in many instances these problems cannot be overcome and therefore should be overlooked.
Unsuitable physical terrain prohibits continuous development
9. Lack of Affordable Housing
It is similar to living and property cost and another reason of urban sprawl. Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed ‘affordable’ to those that have a median household income.2 A common measure of community-wide affordability is the number of homes that a household with a certain percentage of median income can afford. For example, in a perfectly balanced housing market, the median household (and the half of the households which are wealthier) could officially afford the median housing option, while those poorer than the median income could not afford the median home. 50% affordability for the median home indicates a balanced market. Lack of affordable housing within the city forces people to set their residences in the countryside.
The median household income (or median income) is commonly used to provide data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more. The median income is considered by many statisticians to be a better indicator than the average household income as it is not dramatically affected by unusually high or low values.
10. Demand of More Living Space
In India , residents of the core city lack sufficient living space. This encourages countryside development for more living space. People can buy more living space in the countryside than in the inner city, since the cost of property is less in the countryside. However, consumption of more living space not always causes sprawl. Population density is a major concern in this issue. Cities in India are three times denser than the cities in developed countries . Therefore, higher per capita consumption of built-up area (or living space) is desired in many instances. In such cases, higher per capita consumption of living space may indicate better and extended living facilities within the confines of compact urban growth. However, if the demand of more living space forces rapid low-density development in the countryside then it must be an indication of sprawl.
11 Transportation
Transportation routes open the access of city to the countryside and responsible for linear branch development . The construction of expressways and highways cause both congestion in the city and rapid outgrowth . Roads are commonly considered in modelling and forecasting urban sprawl , because they are a major catalyst of sprawl. Important to realize that transportation facilities are essential to cities and its neighbourhoods. Development of urban economy and thereby job opportunities are directly dependent on the transportation facilities. Therefore, transportation facilities can never be suppressed; rather initiatives to impede linear branch development by means of government policies and regulations should be practiced.
12. Road Width
Governments do not allow construction of high-rise buildings if the site can not be easily accessed. Narrow roads within the city area restrict construction of highrise buildings resulting in waste of vertical space. This wastage of vertical space transformed into horizontal growth. This is a common problem to very old cities in india where past planners failed to visualise the future needs and did not plan wider roads. Recent road-widening policies that are taken in many developing countries have failed owing to their economic (huge money is required to compensate the road-side house owners) and political constrains.
13 Single-Family Home
In many instances, individuals built a single-family home (rather than multi-family high-rise building. This also wastes vertical space significantly resulting in horizontal growth. Single-family residences increase the size of a city in multiple magnitudes.
14. Lack of Proper Planning Policies
Lack of consistent and well-experimented planning policies may also cause urban sprawl. A city may be planned with exclusive zoning policies; this means separation of residential, commercial, industrial, office, institutional, or other land uses. Completely separate zoning created isolated islands of each type of development. In most cases, the automobile had become a requirement for transportation between vast fields of residentially zoned housing and the separate commercial and office strips, creating issues of automobile dependency and more fossil fuel consumption and thereby pollution. A mixed land-use policy is preferred to fight against sprawl.
15. Failure to Enforce Planning Policies
Having a proper planning policy is not enough, rather its successful implementation and enforcement is more important. Unsuccessful enforcement of land-use plans is one of the reasons of sprawl in developing countries, since the enforcement is often corrupt and intermittent in these countries.
Residents of countryside are often former urbanites who desire the solitude and perceived amenities of country-living as rural retreats. Despite traffic congestion and long commutes to work, moving to the suburbs remains a goal for many city residents who perceive quality of life in the suburbs as better. Unless this perception changes and the conditions of urban life improve, sprawl development will continue as the flight from cities to suburbs continues .
16. Housing Investment
Often urbanites purchase second homes in the countryside as future investments . This encourages the developers for construction at the countryside in advance. These homes often left vacant but the government is forced to maintain urban facilities and services in a low-density area. Low interest rate and high housing demand make the countryside-housing investment more attractive.
17. Large Lot Size
Large lot (or plot) size is another reason of sprawl. Large-lot residents utilise a portion of their land for construction purposes leaving other portions as non-developed . Although this problem is mainly associated with developed countries; however, also in the developing countries, residents in the countryside generally prefer to have a large individual lot.
Large-lot residents utilise a portion of their land for construction
1. Population growth
2. Independence of decision
3. Economic growth
4. Industrialisation
5. Speculation
6. Expectations of land appreciation
7. Land hunger attitude
8. Physical geography
9. Lack of affordable housing
10. Demand of more living space
11. Transportation
12. Road width
13. Single-family home
14. Lack of proper planning policies
15. Failure to enforce planning policies
16. Housing investment
17. Large plot size
1. Population Growth
The first and foremost reason of urban growth is increase in urbanpopulation. Rapid growth of urban areas is the result of two population growth factors:
(1) natural increase in population,
(2) migration to urban areas.
Natural population growth results from excess of births over deaths. Migration is defined as the long-term relocation of an individual, household or group to a new location outside the community of origin. In the recent time, the movement of people from rural to urban areas within the country (internal migration) is most significant. Although very insignificant comparing the movement of people within the country; international migration is also increasing. International migration includes labour migration, refugees and undocumented migrants. Both internal and international migrations contribute to urban growth. Internal migration is often explained in terms of either push factors—conditions in the place of origin which are perceived by migrants as detrimental to their wellbeing or economic security, and pull factors—the circumstances in new places that attract individuals to move there. Examples of push factors include high unemployment and political persecution; examples of pull factors include job opportunities or better living facilities. Typically, a pull factor initiates migration that can be sustained by push and other factors that facilitate or make possible the change. For example, a farmer in rural area whose land has become unproductive because of drought (push factor) may decide to move to a nearby city where he perceives more job opportunities and possibilities for a better lifestyle (pull factor). In general, cities are perceived as places where one could have a better life; because of better opportunities, higher salaries, better services, and better lifestyles. The perceived better conditions attract poor people from rural areas. People move into urban areas mainly to seek economic opportunities. In rural areas, often on small family farms, it is difficult to improve one’s standard of living beyond basic sustenance. Farm living is dependent on unpredictable environmental conditions, and during of drought, flood or pestilence, survival becomes extremely problematic. Cities, in contrast, are known to be places where money, services and wealth are centralised. Cities are places where fortunes are made and where social mobility is possible. Businesses that generate jobs and capitals are usually located in urban areas. Whether the source is trade or tourism, it is also through the cities that foreign money flows into a country. People living on a farm may wish to move to the city and try to make enough money to send back home to their struggling family. In the cities, there are better basic services as well as other specialist services that are not found in rural areas. There are more job opportunities and a greater variety of jobs in the cities. Health is another major factor. People, especially the elderly are often forced to move to cities where there are doctors and hospitals that can cater for their health needs. Other factors include a greater variety of entertainment (restaurants, movie theatres, theme parks, etc.) and a better quality of education. Due to high populations, urban areas can also have much more diverse social communities allowing others to find people like them.
These conditions are heightened during times of change from a pre-industrial society to an industrial one. At this transition time many new commercial enterprises are made possible, thus creating new jobs in cities. It is also a result of industrialisation that farms become more mechanised, putting many farm labourers out of work. Developing nations are currently passing through the process of industrialisation. As a result, growth rate of urban population is very high in these countries comparing industrialised countries. In industrialised countries the future growth of urban populations will be comparatively modest since their population growth rates are low and over 80% of their population already live in urban areas. In contrast, developing countries are in the middle of the transition process, when urban population growth rates are very high.
2. Independence of Decision
The competitors (government and/or private) hold a variety of expectations about the future and a variety of development demands. Often these competitors can take decisions at their own to meet their future expectations and development demands.
This is especially true if the city lacks a master plan as a whole. This independence ultimately results in uncoordinated, uncontrolled and unplanned development .
3 Economic Growth
Expansion of economic base (such as higher per capita income, increase in number of working persons) creates demand for new housing or more housing space for individuals. This also encourages many developers for rapid construction of new houses. Rapid development of housing and other urban infrastructure often produces a variety of discontinuous uncorrelated developments.Rapiddevelopmentisalsoblamedowingtoitslackoftimeforproper planning and coordination among developers, governments and proponents.
4 Industrialisation
Establishment of new industries in countryside increases impervious surfaces rapidly. Industry requires providing housing facilities to its workers in a large area that generally becomes larger than the industry itself. The transition process from agricultural to industrial employment demands more urban housing. Single-storey, low-density industrial parks surrounded by large parking lots are one of the main reasons of sprawl. There is no reason why light industrial and commercial land-uses cannot grow up instead of out, by adding more storeys instead of more hectares. Perhaps, industrial sprawl has happened because land at the urban edge is cheaper.
5 Speculation
Speculation about the future growth, future government policies and facilities (like transportation etc.) may cause premature growth without proper planning. Several political election manifestos may also encourage people speculating the direction and magnitude of future growth. Speculation is sometimes blamed for sprawl in that speculation produces withholding of land for development which is one reason of discontinuous development.
6 Expectations of Land Appreciation
Expectations of land appreciation at the urban fringe cause some landowners to withhold land from the market . Expectations may vary, however, from landowner to landowner, as does the suitability of land for development. The result is a discontinuous pattern of development. The higher the rate of growth in a metropolitan area, the greater the expectations of land appreciation; as a result, more land will be withheld for future development.
7 Land Hunger Attitude
Many institutions and even individuals desire for the ownership of land. Often these lands left vacant within the core city area and makes infill policies unsuccessful. As a result the city grows outward leaving the undeveloped land within the city.
8. Physical Geography
Sometimes the sprawl is caused because of unsuitable physical terrain (such as rugged terrain, wetlands, mineral lands, or water bodies, etc.) for continuous development . This often creates leap-frog development sprawl. Important to mention that in many instances these problems cannot be overcome and therefore should be overlooked.
Unsuitable physical terrain prohibits continuous development
9. Lack of Affordable Housing
It is similar to living and property cost and another reason of urban sprawl. Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed ‘affordable’ to those that have a median household income.2 A common measure of community-wide affordability is the number of homes that a household with a certain percentage of median income can afford. For example, in a perfectly balanced housing market, the median household (and the half of the households which are wealthier) could officially afford the median housing option, while those poorer than the median income could not afford the median home. 50% affordability for the median home indicates a balanced market. Lack of affordable housing within the city forces people to set their residences in the countryside.
The median household income (or median income) is commonly used to provide data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more. The median income is considered by many statisticians to be a better indicator than the average household income as it is not dramatically affected by unusually high or low values.
10. Demand of More Living Space
In India , residents of the core city lack sufficient living space. This encourages countryside development for more living space. People can buy more living space in the countryside than in the inner city, since the cost of property is less in the countryside. However, consumption of more living space not always causes sprawl. Population density is a major concern in this issue. Cities in India are three times denser than the cities in developed countries . Therefore, higher per capita consumption of built-up area (or living space) is desired in many instances. In such cases, higher per capita consumption of living space may indicate better and extended living facilities within the confines of compact urban growth. However, if the demand of more living space forces rapid low-density development in the countryside then it must be an indication of sprawl.
11 Transportation
Transportation routes open the access of city to the countryside and responsible for linear branch development . The construction of expressways and highways cause both congestion in the city and rapid outgrowth . Roads are commonly considered in modelling and forecasting urban sprawl , because they are a major catalyst of sprawl. Important to realize that transportation facilities are essential to cities and its neighbourhoods. Development of urban economy and thereby job opportunities are directly dependent on the transportation facilities. Therefore, transportation facilities can never be suppressed; rather initiatives to impede linear branch development by means of government policies and regulations should be practiced.
12. Road Width
Governments do not allow construction of high-rise buildings if the site can not be easily accessed. Narrow roads within the city area restrict construction of highrise buildings resulting in waste of vertical space. This wastage of vertical space transformed into horizontal growth. This is a common problem to very old cities in india where past planners failed to visualise the future needs and did not plan wider roads. Recent road-widening policies that are taken in many developing countries have failed owing to their economic (huge money is required to compensate the road-side house owners) and political constrains.
13 Single-Family Home
In many instances, individuals built a single-family home (rather than multi-family high-rise building. This also wastes vertical space significantly resulting in horizontal growth. Single-family residences increase the size of a city in multiple magnitudes.
14. Lack of Proper Planning Policies
Lack of consistent and well-experimented planning policies may also cause urban sprawl. A city may be planned with exclusive zoning policies; this means separation of residential, commercial, industrial, office, institutional, or other land uses. Completely separate zoning created isolated islands of each type of development. In most cases, the automobile had become a requirement for transportation between vast fields of residentially zoned housing and the separate commercial and office strips, creating issues of automobile dependency and more fossil fuel consumption and thereby pollution. A mixed land-use policy is preferred to fight against sprawl.
15. Failure to Enforce Planning Policies
Having a proper planning policy is not enough, rather its successful implementation and enforcement is more important. Unsuccessful enforcement of land-use plans is one of the reasons of sprawl in developing countries, since the enforcement is often corrupt and intermittent in these countries.
Residents of countryside are often former urbanites who desire the solitude and perceived amenities of country-living as rural retreats. Despite traffic congestion and long commutes to work, moving to the suburbs remains a goal for many city residents who perceive quality of life in the suburbs as better. Unless this perception changes and the conditions of urban life improve, sprawl development will continue as the flight from cities to suburbs continues .
16. Housing Investment
Often urbanites purchase second homes in the countryside as future investments . This encourages the developers for construction at the countryside in advance. These homes often left vacant but the government is forced to maintain urban facilities and services in a low-density area. Low interest rate and high housing demand make the countryside-housing investment more attractive.
17. Large Lot Size
Large lot (or plot) size is another reason of sprawl. Large-lot residents utilise a portion of their land for construction purposes leaving other portions as non-developed . Although this problem is mainly associated with developed countries; however, also in the developing countries, residents in the countryside generally prefer to have a large individual lot.
Large-lot residents utilise a portion of their land for construction