Robin King | Georgetown University (original) (raw)
Papers by Robin King
Surabaya's Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) innovated and sustained in situ upgrading policies i... more Surabaya's Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) innovated and sustained in situ upgrading policies in poor, traditional urban neighborhoods called kampung. ► KIP became a model for in situ slum upgrading efforts both nationwide and internationally. These community-managed efforts brought basic infrastructure and services to the kampung and provided affordable housing and livelihood opportunities for the poor. ► KIP and later settlement upgrading programs were made possible by Surabaya's pro-poor leadership, which supported the long-term pursuit of urban upgrading; the city government's support for and collaboration with local universities; and the fact that successful participatory upgrading earned citizens' trust. ► Since the decentralization of administration, planning, and governance in 1999, kampung-focused, community-led, incremental shelter programs have been threatened by resource constraints, shifting housing policy priorities, increasing land values, and overly technocratic planning. To make its pro-poor efforts truly inclusive and equitable, Surabaya must overcome these challenges and end the exclusionary treatment of poor migrants.
Today, four out of the nine municipalities in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara close major st... more Today, four out of the nine municipalities in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara close major streets and over 220,000 people use the path. ► The Via RecreActiva has had a clear "before" and "after" effect on the surrounding community. It marks the consolidation of both political and economic power around the importance of and investment in public space. ► The momentum created by civil society groups that advocated for the Via RecreActiva shifted demands for basic public infrastructure to progressive political commitments. This has increased transparency, created new roles for public space activists in municipal institutions, and institutionalized participatory processes. ► Investing in public spaces can unite competing interests and encourage them to move towards progressive politics. To sustain transformation, this case suggests implementing social measures to address the uneven distribution of investment and potential displacement and inequality.
Beijing, China Urban design that reduces the need for vehicle travel and fosters safer vehicle sp... more Beijing, China Urban design that reduces the need for vehicle travel and fosters safer vehicle speeds Develop mixed land uses, smaller blocks, ground-floor activities, and nearby public facilities that reduce overall exposure to traffic crashes from less vehicle travel. Medellín, Colombia Traffic calming measures that reduce vehicle speeds or allow safer crossings Integrate proven measures such as speed humps, chicanes, chokers, refuge islands, traffic circles, shared streets, and other street design applications that can reinforce safety. Mexico City, Mexico Arterial corridors that ensure safer conditions for all road users Improve arterials and other main streets to ensure the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, mass transit as well as motor vehicle drivers through reduced crossing distances, lead pedestrian intervals, refuge islands and medians, safe turning movements, and lane alignments. Consistent designs should create a forgiving road environment with the least surprises for the road user, especially for vulnerable users. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A network of connected and specially designed bicycling infrastructure Design accessible, bicycle-friendly streets that include protected bike lanes or cycle tracks and connected networks. Pay special attention to reducing conflicts at junctions between cyclists and turning vehicles. Istanbul, Turkey Safe pedestrian facilities and access to public spaces Provide quality space for pedestrians through sidewalks and street space, as well as access to parks, plazas, schools, and other key public spaces. Design these spaces to be attractive for pedestrians. Ahmedabad, India Safe access to mass transport corridors, stations, and stops Improve access to transit, in part by avoiding physical barriers. Create a safe and secure interchange environment.
World Resources Institute, 2020
This paper presents analysis of the fiscal and equity impacts of urban land value capture instrum... more This paper presents analysis of the fiscal and equity impacts of urban land value capture instruments based on three case studies from the global south. These include the Lideta redevelopment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the Outer Ring Road in Hyderabad, India; and Água Espraiada Urban Operation in São Paulo, Brazil. It combines desk research with interviews of local key informants with deep knowledge of the policy and market dynamics in the three cities and representing different perspectives. The analysis highlights the relevance of legal and planning processes (especially with respect to land tenure), available financial instruments, real estate market conditions and dynamics, and government capacity in both design and implementation of LVC. The cases show the importance of the following enabling factors as key to implementing LVC in an equitable manner: planning for equitable financing and risk mitigation from the beginning and not during or after implementation; transparent valuat...
World Resources Institute, 2021
Urbanization is happening differently today than in the past and occurring most rapidly in places... more Urbanization is happening differently today than in the past and occurring most rapidly in places with the fewest resources. Traditional approaches are not able to keep up, leaving billions of people with poor access to basic necessities, dragging down economies and damaging the environment. This synthesis report of the Towards a More Equal City series proposes a new way of thinking about urban development, where the metrics for a functional and thriving city are defined by the quality, reliability and affordability of essential services. The report brings together the best thinking from over six years of research and more than 160 authors and reviewers. It acts as a roadmap for how to break through sectoral silos and the status quo to make cities more equal, which will in turn create prosperity, reduce environmental damage and improve livelihoods. The report documents breakthrough innovations from numerous cities, revealing real solutions and the outcomes of investing in equitable ...
Diverse civil society organizations, in collaboration with open-minded municipal government repre... more Diverse civil society organizations, in collaboration with open-minded municipal government representatives, have leveraged supporting national policies to help lead Pune towards transformative change. ▸ Two sectors have shown notable progress for both citizens' quality of life and the city overall: transport and solid waste management. ▸ Sustainable transport efforts include India's first bus rapid transit system and a pro-pedestrian street design. However, these efforts were challenged by the construction of flyovers, the widening of roads, and decisions within the bus rapid transit system that sabotaged its success. ▸ Solid waste management centered around creatively integrating waste pickers into the city's solid waste management systems. Sustainable solid waste management was introduced under enabling state and national policies, but has declined with corporatization and the sector's newfound profitability. ▸ To achieve lasting transformation, municipal financial, planning, and governance systems need to be strengthened, with additional autonomy granted to the Pune Municipal Corporation. Ideally, the state of Maharashtra would commit to urban sustainability and to supporting its cities with financial, technological, and institutional knowledge.
Porto Alegre pioneered the Participatory Budget (PB) in the 1990s, which contributed to the popul... more Porto Alegre pioneered the Participatory Budget (PB) in the 1990s, which contributed to the popularity of the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores; PT) and served as a model throughout Brazil and the world, with over 2,700 governments implementing some version of it. 1 ▸ In Porto Alegre, the PB was successful as a model for mobilizing communities, including the poor, improving access to small-scale infrastructure and services, and transforming citizenship. ▸ Over time, city leaders' political support of the PB has declined, and Porto Alegre's current leadership has suspended the process, calling into question its long-term influence. ▸ For participatory budgeting to continue to support transformative urban change, it must be well-structured to ensure participation from a wide range of actors across society, have adequate financial resources, be rooted in institutions that are responsive to changing political realities, and be accompanied by a commitment to implement the proposals the process generates.
International Congress. Miami. Florida. …, 1989
1ntroduction 1 "Wall Street frightened by Mexican Moratorium ProposaL" Headlines like this did no... more 1ntroduction 1 "Wall Street frightened by Mexican Moratorium ProposaL" Headlines like this did not appear for the first time in August 1982 when fmance Minister Jesus Silva Herzog arrived in Washington to announce that Mexico could not pay the debt payments due that year. In 1933 the Mexican Delegation at the Intemational American Conference in Montevideo presented a background paper and proposed a wide ranging resolution to the debt crisis of that period which they hoped would challenge the "intemational superbankers" (which I labcl the "Mexican 1nitiative"). A retum to that document indicates that many of the proposals on foreign debt for an equitable and proper resolution of the problem offered in the mid-to late 1980s were proposed, considered, and then ignored, well bcfore 1982. Not surprisingly, the proposed solutions also bear a resemblance to those heard today. Are thcre lcssons to be leamed from the debt crisis of the 1930s that may be relevant to the current crisis? In this paper I argue that there are substantial similaritics between the crisis of the 1930s and the crisis of the 1980s. Solutions being proposed now were also proposed then. Latin American nations then, as now, generally recognized the obligation to pay, arguing temporary inability, not lack of desire. But in 1933 Mexico was a 1cader of the movement for the declaration of a continent-wide moratorium, contrary to its rc1ativc1y compliant patlcm of behavior today. The structure of the debt-holding and the nature of debt-backing intemational institutions, I will also argue, represents a further dramatic differcnce. That difference may explain part of the difference in Mexico's
Working Papers contain preliminary research, analysis, findings, and recommendations. They are ci... more Working Papers contain preliminary research, analysis, findings, and recommendations. They are circulated to stimulate timely discussion and critical feedback and to influence ongoing debate on emerging issues. Most working papers are eventually published in another form and their content may be revised.
Scientific data, Jan 9, 2018
In 2010, an estimated 860 million people were living in slums worldwide, with around 60 million a... more In 2010, an estimated 860 million people were living in slums worldwide, with around 60 million added to the slum population between 2000 and 2010. In 2011, 200 million people in urban Indian households were considered to live in slums. In order to address and create slum development programmes and poverty alleviation methods, it is necessary to understand the needs of these communities. Therefore, we require data with high granularity in the Indian context. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of highly granular data at the level of individual slums. We collected the data presented in this paper in partnership with the slum dwellers in order to overcome the challenges such as validity and efficacy of self reported data. Our survey of Bangalore covered 36 slums across the city. The slums were chosen based on stratification criteria, which included geographical location of the slum, whether the slum was resettled or rehabilitated, notification status of the slum, the size of the slum an...
Estas cifras de incumplimiento no incluyen los pagos de bonos mexicanos, ya que habían sido reneg... more Estas cifras de incumplimiento no incluyen los pagos de bonos mexicanos, ya que habían sido renegociados y no estaban técnicamente en incumplimiento.
Knowledge Management, 2005
... For instance, the Soviet steel making technologies (using large open-hearth furnaces) wasn&am... more ... For instance, the Soviet steel making technologies (using large open-hearth furnaces) wasn't very useful See Deepak Lai, Unfinished Business: India in the World Economy, New Del-hi: Oxford ... 122 VS Arunachalam and Robin King for manufacturing steel using the LD process. ...
Research in Transportation Economics, 2013
ABSTRACT Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an ur... more ABSTRACT Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an urgent need for integration, revitalization and renewal of the smaller towns and cities to make urban areas in India more sustainable. Unless our regional space is reorganized to upgrade development of towns and cities and integrate them with each other and the larger cities, the urbanization process in India will become unsustainable. It is argued that High Speed Rail (HSR) can play a role in achieving this more balanced and sustainable development of towns and cities, opening up opportunities for growth across a wider, inter-connected, region, with the benefit of taking the pressure of the larger cities to absorb additional burgeoning populations. This paper will make the case that in the current Indian context, current patterns of mega-city growth are unsustainable, and that HSR can play an important role in providing opportunities for medium and smaller size cities through their interconnections. It begins by highlighting the role that railways have played in India and other countries, noting that merely economic analysis of their costs and benefits generally underestimated their contributions to development. It then provides an introduction to HSR and its potential impact in general, before applying this to the example of the State of Karnataka in South India.
International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, 2012
... 25 agencies [8] managing over 20 components of urban transportation in India [9]. In 2006, th... more ... 25 agencies [8] managing over 20 components of urban transportation in India [9]. In 2006, the Government of India created the ... up a Unified Mass Transit Authority (UMTA), setting up a dedicated transport fund at state and city level, transit-oriented development policy, creating ...
International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, 2012
ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zi... more ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zipf's law to the Indian State of Karnataka, with the result demonstrating Bangalore's increasing urban primacy. The authors review the literature on promote more equitably distributed growth, primarily the European polycentric model, to conclude that it is a 'wicked problem' that requires multiple perspectives, including systems dynamics and institutional economics approaches as well as traditional regional and land use planning. This requires new participatory techniques, and simulation, computation, and games can provide increased opportunities for more diverse inputs and analysis. They argue for authorities to pursue their planning processes with a view of the region as a complex system with many interconnected parts, and to consider using computation as a means to enable participation and integration.
Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an urgent need... more Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an urgent need for integration, revitalization and renewal of the smaller towns and cities to make urban areas in India more sustainable. Unless our regional space is reorganized to upgrade development of towns and cities and integrate them with each other and the larger cities, the urbanization process in India will become unsustainable. It is argued that High Speed Rail (HSR) can play a role in achieving this more balanced and sustainable development of towns and cities, opening up opportunities for growth across a wider, interconnected, region, with the benefit of taking the pressure of the larger cities to absorb additional burgeoning populations. This paper will make the case that in the current Indian context, current patterns of mega-city growth are unsustainable, and that HSR can play an important role in providing opportunities for medium and smaller size cities through their interconnections. It begins by highlighting the role that railways have played in India and other countries, noting that merely economic analysis of their costs and benefits generally underestimated their contributions to development. It then provides an introduction to HSR and its potential impact in general, before applying this to the example of the State of Karnataka in South India.
ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zi... more ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zipf's law to the Indian State of Karnataka, with the result demonstrating Bangalore's increasing urban primacy. The authors review the literature on promote more equitably distributed growth, primarily the European polycentric model, to conclude that it is a 'wicked problem' that requires multiple perspectives, including systems dynamics and institutional economics approaches as well as traditional regional and land use planning. This requires new participatory techniques, and simulation, computation, and games can provide increased opportunities for more diverse inputs and analysis. They argue for authorities to pursue their planning processes with a view of the region as a complex system with many interconnected parts, and to consider using computation as a means to enable participation and integration.
This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” of the World Resource... more This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” of the World Resources Institute (WRI) examines the processes of transformative change and the conditions both enabling and inhibiting it in Pune, the second largest city in Maharashtra state, India. Many initiatives across diverse sectors have had a positive, qualitative impact on sustainability and service provision in Pune, particularly in its solid waste and transport sectors between the 1990s and the present. Civil society organizations played a key role in both sectors, aligning with the municipality to catalyze positive reforms for labor, the economy, and the environment. These initiatives reflect important shifts in the local government’s attitudes and systems towards greater sustainability and equity and have had a positive impact on many lives. Pune’s transformation towards sustainable transportation began in the early 2000s. It has included efforts to reduce dependence on private vehicles by impro...
Surabaya's Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) innovated and sustained in situ upgrading policies i... more Surabaya's Kampung Improvement Program (KIP) innovated and sustained in situ upgrading policies in poor, traditional urban neighborhoods called kampung. ► KIP became a model for in situ slum upgrading efforts both nationwide and internationally. These community-managed efforts brought basic infrastructure and services to the kampung and provided affordable housing and livelihood opportunities for the poor. ► KIP and later settlement upgrading programs were made possible by Surabaya's pro-poor leadership, which supported the long-term pursuit of urban upgrading; the city government's support for and collaboration with local universities; and the fact that successful participatory upgrading earned citizens' trust. ► Since the decentralization of administration, planning, and governance in 1999, kampung-focused, community-led, incremental shelter programs have been threatened by resource constraints, shifting housing policy priorities, increasing land values, and overly technocratic planning. To make its pro-poor efforts truly inclusive and equitable, Surabaya must overcome these challenges and end the exclusionary treatment of poor migrants.
Today, four out of the nine municipalities in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara close major st... more Today, four out of the nine municipalities in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara close major streets and over 220,000 people use the path. ► The Via RecreActiva has had a clear "before" and "after" effect on the surrounding community. It marks the consolidation of both political and economic power around the importance of and investment in public space. ► The momentum created by civil society groups that advocated for the Via RecreActiva shifted demands for basic public infrastructure to progressive political commitments. This has increased transparency, created new roles for public space activists in municipal institutions, and institutionalized participatory processes. ► Investing in public spaces can unite competing interests and encourage them to move towards progressive politics. To sustain transformation, this case suggests implementing social measures to address the uneven distribution of investment and potential displacement and inequality.
Beijing, China Urban design that reduces the need for vehicle travel and fosters safer vehicle sp... more Beijing, China Urban design that reduces the need for vehicle travel and fosters safer vehicle speeds Develop mixed land uses, smaller blocks, ground-floor activities, and nearby public facilities that reduce overall exposure to traffic crashes from less vehicle travel. Medellín, Colombia Traffic calming measures that reduce vehicle speeds or allow safer crossings Integrate proven measures such as speed humps, chicanes, chokers, refuge islands, traffic circles, shared streets, and other street design applications that can reinforce safety. Mexico City, Mexico Arterial corridors that ensure safer conditions for all road users Improve arterials and other main streets to ensure the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, mass transit as well as motor vehicle drivers through reduced crossing distances, lead pedestrian intervals, refuge islands and medians, safe turning movements, and lane alignments. Consistent designs should create a forgiving road environment with the least surprises for the road user, especially for vulnerable users. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A network of connected and specially designed bicycling infrastructure Design accessible, bicycle-friendly streets that include protected bike lanes or cycle tracks and connected networks. Pay special attention to reducing conflicts at junctions between cyclists and turning vehicles. Istanbul, Turkey Safe pedestrian facilities and access to public spaces Provide quality space for pedestrians through sidewalks and street space, as well as access to parks, plazas, schools, and other key public spaces. Design these spaces to be attractive for pedestrians. Ahmedabad, India Safe access to mass transport corridors, stations, and stops Improve access to transit, in part by avoiding physical barriers. Create a safe and secure interchange environment.
World Resources Institute, 2020
This paper presents analysis of the fiscal and equity impacts of urban land value capture instrum... more This paper presents analysis of the fiscal and equity impacts of urban land value capture instruments based on three case studies from the global south. These include the Lideta redevelopment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the Outer Ring Road in Hyderabad, India; and Água Espraiada Urban Operation in São Paulo, Brazil. It combines desk research with interviews of local key informants with deep knowledge of the policy and market dynamics in the three cities and representing different perspectives. The analysis highlights the relevance of legal and planning processes (especially with respect to land tenure), available financial instruments, real estate market conditions and dynamics, and government capacity in both design and implementation of LVC. The cases show the importance of the following enabling factors as key to implementing LVC in an equitable manner: planning for equitable financing and risk mitigation from the beginning and not during or after implementation; transparent valuat...
World Resources Institute, 2021
Urbanization is happening differently today than in the past and occurring most rapidly in places... more Urbanization is happening differently today than in the past and occurring most rapidly in places with the fewest resources. Traditional approaches are not able to keep up, leaving billions of people with poor access to basic necessities, dragging down economies and damaging the environment. This synthesis report of the Towards a More Equal City series proposes a new way of thinking about urban development, where the metrics for a functional and thriving city are defined by the quality, reliability and affordability of essential services. The report brings together the best thinking from over six years of research and more than 160 authors and reviewers. It acts as a roadmap for how to break through sectoral silos and the status quo to make cities more equal, which will in turn create prosperity, reduce environmental damage and improve livelihoods. The report documents breakthrough innovations from numerous cities, revealing real solutions and the outcomes of investing in equitable ...
Diverse civil society organizations, in collaboration with open-minded municipal government repre... more Diverse civil society organizations, in collaboration with open-minded municipal government representatives, have leveraged supporting national policies to help lead Pune towards transformative change. ▸ Two sectors have shown notable progress for both citizens' quality of life and the city overall: transport and solid waste management. ▸ Sustainable transport efforts include India's first bus rapid transit system and a pro-pedestrian street design. However, these efforts were challenged by the construction of flyovers, the widening of roads, and decisions within the bus rapid transit system that sabotaged its success. ▸ Solid waste management centered around creatively integrating waste pickers into the city's solid waste management systems. Sustainable solid waste management was introduced under enabling state and national policies, but has declined with corporatization and the sector's newfound profitability. ▸ To achieve lasting transformation, municipal financial, planning, and governance systems need to be strengthened, with additional autonomy granted to the Pune Municipal Corporation. Ideally, the state of Maharashtra would commit to urban sustainability and to supporting its cities with financial, technological, and institutional knowledge.
Porto Alegre pioneered the Participatory Budget (PB) in the 1990s, which contributed to the popul... more Porto Alegre pioneered the Participatory Budget (PB) in the 1990s, which contributed to the popularity of the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores; PT) and served as a model throughout Brazil and the world, with over 2,700 governments implementing some version of it. 1 ▸ In Porto Alegre, the PB was successful as a model for mobilizing communities, including the poor, improving access to small-scale infrastructure and services, and transforming citizenship. ▸ Over time, city leaders' political support of the PB has declined, and Porto Alegre's current leadership has suspended the process, calling into question its long-term influence. ▸ For participatory budgeting to continue to support transformative urban change, it must be well-structured to ensure participation from a wide range of actors across society, have adequate financial resources, be rooted in institutions that are responsive to changing political realities, and be accompanied by a commitment to implement the proposals the process generates.
International Congress. Miami. Florida. …, 1989
1ntroduction 1 "Wall Street frightened by Mexican Moratorium ProposaL" Headlines like this did no... more 1ntroduction 1 "Wall Street frightened by Mexican Moratorium ProposaL" Headlines like this did not appear for the first time in August 1982 when fmance Minister Jesus Silva Herzog arrived in Washington to announce that Mexico could not pay the debt payments due that year. In 1933 the Mexican Delegation at the Intemational American Conference in Montevideo presented a background paper and proposed a wide ranging resolution to the debt crisis of that period which they hoped would challenge the "intemational superbankers" (which I labcl the "Mexican 1nitiative"). A retum to that document indicates that many of the proposals on foreign debt for an equitable and proper resolution of the problem offered in the mid-to late 1980s were proposed, considered, and then ignored, well bcfore 1982. Not surprisingly, the proposed solutions also bear a resemblance to those heard today. Are thcre lcssons to be leamed from the debt crisis of the 1930s that may be relevant to the current crisis? In this paper I argue that there are substantial similaritics between the crisis of the 1930s and the crisis of the 1980s. Solutions being proposed now were also proposed then. Latin American nations then, as now, generally recognized the obligation to pay, arguing temporary inability, not lack of desire. But in 1933 Mexico was a 1cader of the movement for the declaration of a continent-wide moratorium, contrary to its rc1ativc1y compliant patlcm of behavior today. The structure of the debt-holding and the nature of debt-backing intemational institutions, I will also argue, represents a further dramatic differcnce. That difference may explain part of the difference in Mexico's
Working Papers contain preliminary research, analysis, findings, and recommendations. They are ci... more Working Papers contain preliminary research, analysis, findings, and recommendations. They are circulated to stimulate timely discussion and critical feedback and to influence ongoing debate on emerging issues. Most working papers are eventually published in another form and their content may be revised.
Scientific data, Jan 9, 2018
In 2010, an estimated 860 million people were living in slums worldwide, with around 60 million a... more In 2010, an estimated 860 million people were living in slums worldwide, with around 60 million added to the slum population between 2000 and 2010. In 2011, 200 million people in urban Indian households were considered to live in slums. In order to address and create slum development programmes and poverty alleviation methods, it is necessary to understand the needs of these communities. Therefore, we require data with high granularity in the Indian context. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of highly granular data at the level of individual slums. We collected the data presented in this paper in partnership with the slum dwellers in order to overcome the challenges such as validity and efficacy of self reported data. Our survey of Bangalore covered 36 slums across the city. The slums were chosen based on stratification criteria, which included geographical location of the slum, whether the slum was resettled or rehabilitated, notification status of the slum, the size of the slum an...
Estas cifras de incumplimiento no incluyen los pagos de bonos mexicanos, ya que habían sido reneg... more Estas cifras de incumplimiento no incluyen los pagos de bonos mexicanos, ya que habían sido renegociados y no estaban técnicamente en incumplimiento.
Knowledge Management, 2005
... For instance, the Soviet steel making technologies (using large open-hearth furnaces) wasn&am... more ... For instance, the Soviet steel making technologies (using large open-hearth furnaces) wasn't very useful See Deepak Lai, Unfinished Business: India in the World Economy, New Del-hi: Oxford ... 122 VS Arunachalam and Robin King for manufacturing steel using the LD process. ...
Research in Transportation Economics, 2013
ABSTRACT Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an ur... more ABSTRACT Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an urgent need for integration, revitalization and renewal of the smaller towns and cities to make urban areas in India more sustainable. Unless our regional space is reorganized to upgrade development of towns and cities and integrate them with each other and the larger cities, the urbanization process in India will become unsustainable. It is argued that High Speed Rail (HSR) can play a role in achieving this more balanced and sustainable development of towns and cities, opening up opportunities for growth across a wider, inter-connected, region, with the benefit of taking the pressure of the larger cities to absorb additional burgeoning populations. This paper will make the case that in the current Indian context, current patterns of mega-city growth are unsustainable, and that HSR can play an important role in providing opportunities for medium and smaller size cities through their interconnections. It begins by highlighting the role that railways have played in India and other countries, noting that merely economic analysis of their costs and benefits generally underestimated their contributions to development. It then provides an introduction to HSR and its potential impact in general, before applying this to the example of the State of Karnataka in South India.
International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, 2012
... 25 agencies [8] managing over 20 components of urban transportation in India [9]. In 2006, th... more ... 25 agencies [8] managing over 20 components of urban transportation in India [9]. In 2006, the Government of India created the ... up a Unified Mass Transit Authority (UMTA), setting up a dedicated transport fund at state and city level, transit-oriented development policy, creating ...
International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, 2012
ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zi... more ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zipf's law to the Indian State of Karnataka, with the result demonstrating Bangalore's increasing urban primacy. The authors review the literature on promote more equitably distributed growth, primarily the European polycentric model, to conclude that it is a 'wicked problem' that requires multiple perspectives, including systems dynamics and institutional economics approaches as well as traditional regional and land use planning. This requires new participatory techniques, and simulation, computation, and games can provide increased opportunities for more diverse inputs and analysis. They argue for authorities to pursue their planning processes with a view of the region as a complex system with many interconnected parts, and to consider using computation as a means to enable participation and integration.
Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an urgent need... more Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an urgent need for integration, revitalization and renewal of the smaller towns and cities to make urban areas in India more sustainable. Unless our regional space is reorganized to upgrade development of towns and cities and integrate them with each other and the larger cities, the urbanization process in India will become unsustainable. It is argued that High Speed Rail (HSR) can play a role in achieving this more balanced and sustainable development of towns and cities, opening up opportunities for growth across a wider, interconnected, region, with the benefit of taking the pressure of the larger cities to absorb additional burgeoning populations. This paper will make the case that in the current Indian context, current patterns of mega-city growth are unsustainable, and that HSR can play an important role in providing opportunities for medium and smaller size cities through their interconnections. It begins by highlighting the role that railways have played in India and other countries, noting that merely economic analysis of their costs and benefits generally underestimated their contributions to development. It then provides an introduction to HSR and its potential impact in general, before applying this to the example of the State of Karnataka in South India.
ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zi... more ABSTRACT The need for a more balanced spatial growth pattern in Karnataka is shown by applying Zipf's law to the Indian State of Karnataka, with the result demonstrating Bangalore's increasing urban primacy. The authors review the literature on promote more equitably distributed growth, primarily the European polycentric model, to conclude that it is a 'wicked problem' that requires multiple perspectives, including systems dynamics and institutional economics approaches as well as traditional regional and land use planning. This requires new participatory techniques, and simulation, computation, and games can provide increased opportunities for more diverse inputs and analysis. They argue for authorities to pursue their planning processes with a view of the region as a complex system with many interconnected parts, and to consider using computation as a means to enable participation and integration.
This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” of the World Resource... more This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” of the World Resources Institute (WRI) examines the processes of transformative change and the conditions both enabling and inhibiting it in Pune, the second largest city in Maharashtra state, India. Many initiatives across diverse sectors have had a positive, qualitative impact on sustainability and service provision in Pune, particularly in its solid waste and transport sectors between the 1990s and the present. Civil society organizations played a key role in both sectors, aligning with the municipality to catalyze positive reforms for labor, the economy, and the environment. These initiatives reflect important shifts in the local government’s attitudes and systems towards greater sustainability and equity and have had a positive impact on many lives. Pune’s transformation towards sustainable transportation began in the early 2000s. It has included efforts to reduce dependence on private vehicles by impro...