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THEME PAPER
in 2011 was 78.9 million, it Lahiri, 2017).
increased by more than 25.2
million (46.9%) as against Further, it has also been
53.7 million households in evidenced that amid a expand the megacities rather
2001. These numbers are moderate increase in
expected to double by 2031. public spending on slum
Apart from the obvious rise in improvement, there has been
the population, the numbers a simultaneous increase in
of urban households have the informal settlements and
increased due to the addition slums on the periphery of the
of new urban areas from the cities. Thus, besides socio-
last census (Kumar, 2015), economic exclusions, policy-
a 52% increase from 5161 to making efforts have trailed
7933 Census Towns. with the inefficient top-down
policy implementation, and
India remains dominated by a urbanization is characterised
large number of small towns as ‘messy and hidden’.
and a small number of large
cities. This is evidenced by Urbanization in China
the fact that 53 metropolitan China, in its urbanization
centres account for more strategy, has been localised
than 43% of the urban and consistent. According
population. Delhi, Mumbai, to the Seventh Population
Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Census of China, the
Hyderabad, Pune, and total urban population is
Ahmedabad are a few large roughly 902 million in 2020,
metropolitan cities. accounting for 63.9% of
the total population. This
Urbanization in the country estimate stands against the
is marked by rural to urban population’s share of
urban migration in search
of employment prospects. 37.1% in total population
The economy has been in 2000, and 51.3% in 2010,
service-driven, while the indicating a stunning pace of
urbanization.
manufacturing sector has
been missing in terms of In China, urbanization has
contribution to the Gross taken place along the coast.
Domestic Product (GDP) and Roughly 70% of all built-
employment generation. The up land and more than 50%
ratio of urban to rural income of all new built-up land
in India is 1.6, half of that of added between 1990 and
China’s (Hnatkovska and 2010 is included in village
2 CGTN. 2020. Xi Jinping’s Semi-suburban economic model lifts county out of
poverty. Available at: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-02-22/Xi-Jinping-s- migrants tend to cluster in
Semi-Suburban-Economic-Model-lifts-county-out-of-poverty-Y5Kwzo6raU/index. the cheaper suburban areas,
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April 2022 Volume 23 No. 1 - SHELTER
landscapes (Li et al. 2019).
This indicates that there is
leeway for policymakers to
than focusing on the spread of
population across the country.
A few of these megacities
include Shanghai, Suzhou,
Chengdu, Hangzhou, Beijing,
Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and
Chongqing.
The motivation for migrating
is rooted in not just a
higher income but social
welfare benefits as well. The
urbanization miracle (Chen
et al., 2013) can be attributed
to stellar performance in
manufacturing and exports,
resulting in a double-digit
surge in real wages and
contribution to the GDP,
further feeding into demand
for housing. The ratio of urban
to rural income is 3.2, the
highest in the world (Luo and
Zhu, 2008). Chinese President
Xi Jinping’s Semi-Suburban
Model has been exemplary
2
in its impact and reach and
continues to provide direction
to economic growth and
urbanization.
It should be added that the
housing system follows the
Hukou system in China,
where only residents who
have obtained local Hukou
(a system of household
registration used in mainland
China) can access the local
welfare system. Thus,
which offer low-skilled
5