The United Nations has designated October 31 as World Cities Day. The aim is to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanisation, push forward co-operation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanization, and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world.

The general theme of the Day is ‘Better City, Better life’, while each year a different sub-theme is selected, to either promote successes of urbanization, or address specific challenges resulting from urbanization. This year the United Nations has selected the theme ‘Inclusive Cities, Shared Development’ to highlight the important role of urbanization as a source of global development and social inclusion.

Growing population and reduced living spaces are clearly leading to the deterioration of living conditions in urban centres. It is well known that urban centres continue to grow rapidly with much of it in an unplanned fashion. Moreover, policies, strategies, plans and implementation have not kept up with the speed of urban transformation.

In 2011, 377 million people (31 per cent of the total population) in India lived in cities, but of these, 65 million (27 per cent of the urban population) lived in extreme shelter poverty in areas called slums. This challenge is not unique to India; 863 million people around the world live in similar squatter settlements. Almost all towns have substandard houses and slums. In India, the housing shortage is estimated to be 18.78 million at the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan. In the five States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal, more than 1 in 5 urban households live in a slum. In Odisha, the percentage of slum population is 23.1. There are shortages of 4, 10,000 dwelling units for EWS/lIG housing in Odisha. Besides, lack of affordable housing leads to slums in many parts of the State.

Bhubaneswar has 3, 01,611 slum population living in 436 slums. Most of the slum dwellers have occupied Government land. The encroachment of Government land by the slum people creates unhygienic conditions, traffic jams, etc. Slum dwellers have not willingly chosen their shanty structures and unhygienic environment but have been driven to this option due to compelling circumstances as they are unable to enter into the formal housing sector. Many slums lack basic services such as provision of safe drinking water, sanitation, wastewater and solid waste management.

In Odisha, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is the apex institution responsible for urban governance and development. Urban governance in the State involves both urban development and municipal administration activities. For the purpose of municipal administration, urban local Government institutions are constituted while the urban development activities involve the role of city development authorities. The municipal body is the dominant group in the system prevalent for delivering urban civic services. Although other sub-systems like private organisations and citizens’ initiatives are involved in the process, their activity is dependent on the operation of municipal body.

In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals were developed and agreed upon by all UN member countries. Goal 7 was to ensure environmental sustainability, and one of the targets under this goal was "to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers". As the MDGs touched on the issue of slums, it has also refocused attention on how to alleviate the problem of slums.

The UN-HABITAT officially supports the policy of slum upgrading, making it one of the foremost ways of urban renewal with respect to slums.

The Government of India has identified 98 urban locations, including Bhubaneswar,  to be converted as Smart Cities, covering 13 crore people (out of 1.2 billion population) and accounting for over 35 per cent of the country’s total urban population. and this huge investment is expected to transform existing cities into high-class urban areas, with adequate clean water supply, 24 hours  electricity supply, proper sanitation system, efficient mobility and public transport, affordable housing for the poor, besides good governance and citizen participation. The Smart Cities should have the capacity to absorb, adapt and provide opportunities for all citizens of the city, including poor.  There should be provision in the Smart Cities so that all classes, irrespective of their financial status will afford to stay and enjoy quality services.

There are several schemes introduced by the Government of India to provide housing for all. The schemes include Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), along with its long-planned Smart Cities mission, and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

The PMAY is an ambitious scheme aimed to develop two crore affordable housing units for the urban poor. Besides, the Housing for All schemes would ensure every urban poor to own a house. Odisha has been included in the Housing-for-All scheme under the PMAY. Odisha’s 42cities have been included in the list of over 305 cities and towns across nine States for implementing the scheme. The Central Government also has two other major initiatives. First, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), there is a component for Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) and the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), which aims at creating slum-free cities.

There is a need to reserve lands in every urban development project to be set apart for undertaking EWS and lIG housing. This would enable continuous supply of serviced land for housing of the slum dwellers.

Cities should draw up long-term local strategies for improving the living condition of slum dwellers. These should include access to affordable land, employment opportunities and basic infrastructures and social services. Besides, local Governments should develop strategies to prevent formation of new slums.

Sustainable housing offers a great spectrum of opportunities to promote economic development, quality of life and social equality.

Housing is integral to social inclusion and policies must be made with all the people in mind. Therefore to plan liveable and inclusive cities, affordable housing must be tied with sustainable transportation and other infrastructural facilities.  This can be achieved by appropriate land management, good governance and citizen participation in decision-making process.

(Dr Praharaj teaches at Department of Architecture, College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar)