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Urbanisation

Residential segregation in urban India and persistence of caste

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Mobility and congestion in urban India

Urban transportation in developing countries is prioritised for massive investments, yet little is known about the determinants of urban mobility in these countries. This article applies a methodology...

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How India’s internal borders inhibit migration

Indians, particularly men seeking education and jobs, display a puzzling reluctance to cross state borders. This article explores the reasons for this migration pattern. A major culprit is India’s s...

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Seasonal migration and health in India: Constraints for research and practice

Seasonal migrants in India engage in temporary informal work in work environments that actively flout labour laws on wages, work hours, and living conditions. The most significant impact of this is on...

  • Notes from the Field
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Data-jam: Could data reduce road congestion in Dhaka?

While urbanisation is key to economic growth, failure to address the downsides of the process - such as congestion - may deter the ability of cities to achieve their full growth potential. This colum...

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The Changing Face of Circular Migration in Bihar

The aim of this project is to investigate the changing patterns of circular migration from rural Bihar, the place of origin for many of India's labour/seasonal migrants. The study focuses specifically...

  • IGC Research on India

One step forward, one step back? Ahmedabad's evolving urban policy

India’s urbanisation process has come to be characterised by haphazard growth of cities, the costs of which are borne disproportionately by the poor. This column analyses Ahmedabad’s urban policy...

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India on the move: The commuting worker

About 25 million workers in India commute daily for work, from rural to urban areas or vice versa, or have no fixed place of work. This column finds that rural households with at least one rural-to-ur...

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Growing through cities in India

Do cities grow through specialisation or diversity? This column measures specialisation and diversity for the manufacturing and services sectors in India. It finds that Indian districts with a broade...

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A unique, informal banking system of rickshaw drivers in cities

Seasonal, rural migrants that drive rickshaws in cities have little or no access to formal financial institutions. Based on a survey of over 100 rickshaw drivers in Delhi, this article highlights a un...

  • Notes from the Field

What makes cities more competitive in India?

Policymakers in both developed and developing countries want to make cities more competitive, attract new entrepreneurs, boost economic growth, and promote job creation. This column shows that the two...

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India's spatial disparities: Have big cities become too congested?

A key driver of the Indian economy is its rapidly growing service sector. This column compares the spatial growth pattern of the sector in India and other countries. It is found that while in US and ...

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JNNURM and environmental sustainability

Can entrepreneurship be a vehicle for social mobility in India? This column analyses data from micro, small and medium enterprises, and finds clear and persistent caste and gender disparities in virtu...

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Electricity demand in urban Indian households: Influencing consumer behaviour

The huge and fast growing urban middle class of India uses a significant amount of electricity at their homes. This column argues that there is a need to focus on managing demand of electricity, and d...

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Is India's manufacturing sector moving out of cities?

While urbanisation is moving ahead at a rapid pace in India, industrialisation has slowed down. What explains this disconnect between urbanisation and infrastructure? This column presents results of a...

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JNNURM: An Opportunity for Environmentally Sustainable Urbanisation

This project undertakes an analysis of the sustainability of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the largest chunk of public sector funding channeled into urban India till da...

  • IGC Research on India

Recent Contributors

Pranab

Pranab Bardhan

University of California, Berkeley

Ashok

Ashok Kotwal

Editor-in-Chief, I4I; University of British Columb

Damien

Damien de Walque

World Bank

Quy-Toan

Quy-Toan Do

World Bank

Gil

Gil Shapira

World Bank

Lin

Lin Ma

Singapore Management University

Jed

Jed Friedman

World Bank

Andrei

Andrei Levchenko

University of Michigan

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Most Popular Urbanisation Posts

Residential segregation in urban India and persistence of caste

B.R. Ambedkar had exhorted lower-caste people to move towards cities to defy localism and benefit from the virtues of cosmopolitanism that urbanisation might provide. Using 2011 enumeration block-leve...

  • Articles

Seasonal migration and health in India: Constraints for research and practice

Seasonal migrants in India engage in temporary informal work in work environments that actively flout labour laws on wages, work hours, and living conditions. The most significant impact of this is on...

  • Notes from the Field

Moving towards better definitions of 'urban' in India

According to the 2011 Census, 31% of the country is ‘urban’. Using definitions of urbanisation that are different from those used by the government, this column demonstrates that this figure may ...

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