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The role of cities in ensuring good jobs

In light of India's rapid urbanisation, Rana Hasan looks at various factors which set large cities apart from smaller cities and rural areas: more job opportunities, higher wages, large manufacturing ...

  • Perspectives

Are cities holding India back from reaching its ambitious net zero targets?

While per capita emissions in global cities are significantly lower than the national average, large Indian cities like Delhi and Kolkata emit up to double the national average. Shah and Downes look a...

  • Perspectives

Mobility and congestion in urban India

Urban transportation in developing countries is prioritised for massive investments, yet little is known about the determinants of urban mobility in these countries. This article applies a methodology...

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The Growth of Cities in India, 1870-2020

The aim of this project is to understand the determinants of city growth in India in the short run and over the long period. By analysing data on cities from every decennial Census conducted in India ...

  • IGC Research on India

Data-jam: Could data reduce road congestion in Dhaka?

While urbanisation is key to economic growth, failure to address the downsides of the process - such as congestion - may deter the ability of cities to achieve their full growth potential. This colum...

  • Articles

The Changing Face of Circular Migration in Bihar

The aim of this project is to investigate the changing patterns of circular migration from rural Bihar, the place of origin for many of India's labour/seasonal migrants. The study focuses specifically...

  • IGC Research on India

One step forward, one step back? Ahmedabad's evolving urban policy

India’s urbanisation process has come to be characterised by haphazard growth of cities, the costs of which are borne disproportionately by the poor. This column analyses Ahmedabad’s urban policy...

  • Articles

India on the move: The commuting worker

About 25 million workers in India commute daily for work, from rural to urban areas or vice versa, or have no fixed place of work. This column finds that rural households with at least one rural-to-ur...

  • Articles

Growing through cities in India

Do cities grow through specialisation or diversity? This column measures specialisation and diversity for the manufacturing and services sectors in India. It finds that Indian districts with a broade...

  • Articles

A unique, informal banking system of rickshaw drivers in cities

Seasonal, rural migrants that drive rickshaws in cities have little or no access to formal financial institutions. Based on a survey of over 100 rickshaw drivers in Delhi, this article highlights a un...

  • Notes from the Field

What makes cities more competitive in India?

Policymakers in both developed and developing countries want to make cities more competitive, attract new entrepreneurs, boost economic growth, and promote job creation. This column shows that the two...

  • Articles

India's spatial disparities: Have big cities become too congested?

A key driver of the Indian economy is its rapidly growing service sector. This column compares the spatial growth pattern of the sector in India and other countries. It is found that while in US and ...

  • Articles

JNNURM and environmental sustainability

Can entrepreneurship be a vehicle for social mobility in India? This column analyses data from micro, small and medium enterprises, and finds clear and persistent caste and gender disparities in virtu...

  • Articles

Electricity demand in urban Indian households: Influencing consumer behaviour

The huge and fast growing urban middle class of India uses a significant amount of electricity at their homes. This column argues that there is a need to focus on managing demand of electricity, and d...

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Is India's manufacturing sector moving out of cities?

While urbanisation is moving ahead at a rapid pace in India, industrialisation has slowed down. What explains this disconnect between urbanisation and infrastructure? This column presents results of a...

  • Articles

Recent Contributors

Ronak

Ronak Jain

University of Zurich

Gaurav

Gaurav Dhamija

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

Punarjit

Punarjit Roychowdhury

Shiv Nadar University

Binay

Binay Shankar

Shiv Nadar University

Gurbachan

Gurbachan Singh

Independent Economist

Satyaki

Satyaki Sensarma

Delhi School of Economics

Rana

Rana Hasan

Asian Development Bank

Jagan

Jagan Shah

Artha Global

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Most Popular Urbanisation Posts

Residential segregation in urban India and persistence of caste

B.R. Ambedkar had exhorted lower-caste people to move towards cities to defy localism and benefit from the virtues of cosmopolitanism that urbanisation might provide. Using 2011 enumeration block-leve...

  • Articles

Challenges of solid waste management: The case of Patna city

Rapid urbanisation with insufficient planning has led to problems of solid waste management in several Indian cities. In this note, Uma Sarmistha discusses preliminary findings from a field study in t...

  • Notes from the Field

Seasonal migration and health in India: Constraints for research and practice

Seasonal migrants in India engage in temporary informal work in work environments that actively flout labour laws on wages, work hours, and living conditions. The most significant impact of this is on...

  • Notes from the Field