NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner

India is facing three overlapping social challenges in the coming decades: (i) managing an inclusive and peaceful transition from rural to urban society; (ii) ensuring sustained social and economic inclusion; and (iii) tackling environmental change. In an effort to study and understand these challenges, and how adverse implications can be minimized, researchers at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) teamed up with colleagues from the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and developed a research project on Urbanizing India (URBIN), funded by the Research Council of Norway for the period 2013-16. Reflecting the project teams complementary background and competence, the analytical approach was explicitly multi-disciplinary and policy-oriented, engaging various stakeholders and policy actors throughout. During the project, the research team carried out fieldwork and stakeholder interviews in three medium-sized Indian urban centers (Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Pune), conducted a survey of popular attitudes to urban security threats, and carried out statistical analyses of environment-conflict connections covering the entire Indian subcontinent. This work revealed that while the local governments are aware of the challenges associated with rapid urbanization, implemented policies are often sluggish or ineffective. Typically, planned and newly developed housing complexes are not been accompanied by corresponding investments in basic infrastructure, such that transportation and delivery of basic services are impeded. Failure in ensuring proper access to entitlements by the concerned authorities creates a general feeling of distrust in government and increased risk of social unrest. The project also found some indication that adverse environmental changes lead to escalation of political violence, although this pattern was mostly observed in the rural countryside. Based on these findings, the final project report formulated a set of recommendations for policy related to sustainable urban planning and social inclusion. Among other things, there is a clear need to implement strategies under the Smart Cities scheme with equal vigor also to cities and towns presently not covered by the scheme. The project has resulted in the publication of two monographs, one journal special issue, six peer-reviewed journal articles, one book chapter, 11 op-eds and news articles, and 20 presentations, policy briefs, and policy reports. In addition, the project organized two international scientific conferences, and produced a policy report summarizing key insights gained from this research.

India will face three related social challenges in the coming decades: managing an inclusive and peaceful transition from rural to urban society; ensuring sustained social and economic inclusion; and tackling environmental change. While often conceived of as disparate, urbanization processes are embedded in complex and interacting ethnic, religious and political contexts that shape India's inclusiveness, security, and prosperity. Environmentally induced rural resource scarcity may be driving migration to cities; new groups in densely populated urban settlements may exacerbate social tensions; and the areas most vulnerable to the effects of climate change are often informal urban and peri-urban areas. The project addresses how these fundamental issues in teract, thus framing our overarching research question: What are the implications of urban expansion, communal tensions, and climate change for urban security in India? We take up these issues in separate research packages that explore: (1) Urban Expansio n, (2) Exclusion and Inequality, and (3) Environmental Change. How does urban growth affect exclusion and public safety? How do perceptions of inequality influence tensions between urban communities divided by religion? Do adverse climatic conditions or s udden increases in food prices increase the risk urban violence? We will answer such questions from a multi-disciplinary perspective using mixed methodologies, drawing upon previous project team expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research proj ects in India. To further study how these three themes explicitly relate, a final-year cross-cutting research package (4) will integrate findings and knowledge, devoting special attention to complex challenges that would benefit from a more overarching perspective.