The COVID-19 Crisis as a Metropolitan Battle

Context: Comprehensive and integrated urban planning is the key to handle the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Lack of governance architecture in urban areas:

• Lack of robust integrated spatial planning: Janaagraha’s Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2017 report found that only 9  out of 18 cities assessed had constituted Metropolitan Planning Committees.
• Absence of comprehensive integrated planning: Visible in poor housing, sanitation, and a lack of access to meaningful social security. 
• Weak municipal capacities: India’s metropolitan cities have weak capacities in finance and staffing. 

• Bengaluru’s average percentage of its own revenue to total expenditure is 47.9%, Mumbai 36.1% and Kolkata at 48.4%. 
• According to ASICS 2017, Mumbai has 938 officers per lakh population, while New York has 5,446 officers.

• Weak mayor and fragmentation of governance: No big metropolitan cities with a 10 million-plus population has a directly elected Mayor. 

• Mumbai’s Mayor has a tenure of 2.5 years, Delhi and Bengaluru, a one year. 
• Mayors do not have full decision-making authority over critical functions of planning, housing, water, and emergency services. 
• The State government also largely controls public works and police.

• Lack of transparency and citizen participation: No metropolitan has functional ‘Ward Committees’ and area Sabhas. 

• As per ASICS 2017, India’s big metropolitan cities on average score 3.04/10 in transparency, accountability and participation.

• Concerns of smaller cities: Studies by the Centre for Policy Research point that India’s spatial feature exhibits the growth of small towns beyond the economics of large agglomerations. 

Way Forward:

• Reducing the fragmentation in governance: Empowering Mayors with five-year tenure, decentralised ward level governance, and inter-agency coordination are need of the hour.
• Accountability: Citizens should be able to hold one political authority accountable for the city's governance.
• Medium- to long-term spatial planning that focuses on equal access to opportunities and services to meet the challenges posed by disasters.
• Decentralised citizen participation platforms: in collaboration with civil society organisations to handle the future pandemic.
• Focus on small cities: India’s urban vision should also focus on small cities to address their needs.