Urbanization can be positively viewed as an engine of economic growth and an agent of socio-political transformation. But this is not sufficient, due to the high cost of living and partly and because of the growing economic disparity in urban areas. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer. Several steps have been initiated to meet the challenges posed by the urban crisis but with little or no success.
National Commission on Urbanisation (NCU) has, in its policy proposal of 1988, stressed the need for:
- The evolution of a spatial pattern of economic development and hierarchies of human settlements.
- Optimum distribution of population between rural and urban settlements and among towns and cities of various sizes.
- Distribution of economic activities in small and medium-sized growth centers.
- Dispersal of economic activities through the establishment of counter-magnets in the region.
- Provision of optimum levels of services in urban and rural areas.
The other major development programmes include:
- Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP).
- Environmental Improvement of Urban Slums (EIUS) programme.
- Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT).
- Various housing and infrastructure financing schemes e.g. Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO).
- Mega-Cities Project.
- Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Programme (IUPEP).
Recent urban development programmes in India
- Smart Cities Mission.
- Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Project.
- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) or Housing for All by 2022 Mission.
- Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY).
- Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
- Urban transportation.
- Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).