Following are the projects that IIHS is currently working on :
Land and land management
The management and development of land is a core opportunity for increasing the growth, equity, and sustainability of our cities and surrounding regions. Cities have witnessed a wide economic expansion, but at the same time are facing environmental challenges and straining under the weight of providing services and housing to the expanding workforce upon which economic growth depends. These pressures have added to and sharpened existing conflicts around land: within cities as usage evolves, at the peri-urban interface of expanding city regions as rural/agricultural land is transformed for urban use, and in intra-city over exploitation of resources and the use of land, to name a few examples. The participants – a range of public and private actors, formal and informal, powerful and marginalised, operate and interact in overlapping but fragmented market and political arenas. The competition is often unequal and important dimensions of value such as sustainability and cultural importance are often distorted in the transactions that do occur. Research in this cluster attempts to unravel some of the roots of the current bottlenecks in land development and explore ways in which India can respond effectively and democratically to the challenges outlined above.
The management and development of land is a core opportunity for increasing the growth, equity, and sustainability of our cities and surrounding regions. Cities have witnessed a wide economic expansion, but at the same time are facing environmental challenges and straining under the weight of providing services and housing to the expanding workforce upon which economic growth depends. These pressures have added to and sharpened existing conflicts around land: within cities as usage evolves, at the peri-urban interface of expanding city regions as rural/agricultural land is transformed for urban use, and in intra-city over exploitation of resources and the use of land, to name a few examples. The participants – a range of public and private actors, formal and informal, powerful and marginalised, operate and interact in overlapping but fragmented market and political arenas. The competition is often unequal and important dimensions of value such as sustainability and cultural importance are often distorted in the transactions that do occur. Research in this cluster attempts to unravel some of the roots of the current bottlenecks in land development and explore ways in which India can respond effectively and democratically to the challenges outlined above.
Projects and Contacts:
- Land Use and Land Cover Change (H.S. Sudhira):
- Upgradation, Regularization, and Planning in Practice (Gautam Bhan)
- Land Acquisition: Regulation and Practice (Amlan Goswami)
- Urban Sustainability & Land Use (Kavita Wankhade)
Related Papers
- The political economy of urban land in India : Key issues
Author : Neha Sami - Land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement: law and politics
Author : Amlanjyoti Goswami - Land, infrastructure and ecological sustainability in Indian cities
Authors : Kavita Wankhade and Krishnachandran Balakrishnan
Governance and institutions
Urban governance – the collection of relationships, formal institutions, and informal norms that organise the discussion, interactions, and transactions between public and private stakeholders in urban India – will be the key to ensuring a successful urban transformation in India. The country faces significant challenges in altering the present tangle of constitutional, legal, political, and administrative practices that shape urban dynamics. Comparative research on political economy may offer some insights into alternative arrangements for overseeing cities, but this research has to be paired with a strong advocacy strategy as well as careful attention to sequencing and incentive compatibility of reforms. On the other hand, new technologies for information management to support accountability, broker and sustain new relationships and forms of organisation, offer new forms of measuring and monitoring outcomes, and other governance functions offer new possibilities for IT-enabled transformation of urban governance. The research in this cluster will thus combine insights from social sciences as well as technology.
Urban governance – the collection of relationships, formal institutions, and informal norms that organise the discussion, interactions, and transactions between public and private stakeholders in urban India – will be the key to ensuring a successful urban transformation in India. The country faces significant challenges in altering the present tangle of constitutional, legal, political, and administrative practices that shape urban dynamics. Comparative research on political economy may offer some insights into alternative arrangements for overseeing cities, but this research has to be paired with a strong advocacy strategy as well as careful attention to sequencing and incentive compatibility of reforms. On the other hand, new technologies for information management to support accountability, broker and sustain new relationships and forms of organisation, offer new forms of measuring and monitoring outcomes, and other governance functions offer new possibilities for IT-enabled transformation of urban governance. The research in this cluster will thus combine insights from social sciences as well as technology.
Projects and Contacts
- Urban PPPs (Jessica Seddon)
- Institutions, Inclusion, and Social Safety Nets (Charis Idicheria)
- Municipal Financial Disclosure and Market Stability (Jessica Seddon)
- Urban Leaders in National Politics (Jessica Seddon)
Related Papers
- PPP and Urban Infrastructure (Jessica Seddon and Ashwin Mahalingam, IIT-M)
- Marketworthiness and City Financial Disclosure (Jessica Seddon)
- Prospects for Inclusion in India’s Cities (Aromar Revi & Jessica Seddon)
Sustainable urbanisation
Urbanisation offers the potential for new, more sustainable, less resource-intensive economic development. This potential, however, requires strategy and tactics to achieve. First, the definition of “sustainability” is hazy, particularly when one thinks of cities as nodes of activity within a larger national and global system. Second, the data required to assess achievements of the aspects of sustainability that have achieved some degree of consensus are lacking and filling these evidence gaps would require a substantive re-thinking of the way that governments measure and social and economic progress, considerable investment in new systems, and innovative ways of leveraging information produced by administrative and transactional activities. Third, institutional arrangements for guiding and motivating closer responsiveness to the interplay between human and other ecosystem activities need to be developed. Addressing these challenges requires an interdisciplinary mix of natural and social science expertise, information management and engineering, and practical experience in working with urban stakeholders to redirect attention toward “sustainability.”
Urbanisation offers the potential for new, more sustainable, less resource-intensive economic development. This potential, however, requires strategy and tactics to achieve. First, the definition of “sustainability” is hazy, particularly when one thinks of cities as nodes of activity within a larger national and global system. Second, the data required to assess achievements of the aspects of sustainability that have achieved some degree of consensus are lacking and filling these evidence gaps would require a substantive re-thinking of the way that governments measure and social and economic progress, considerable investment in new systems, and innovative ways of leveraging information produced by administrative and transactional activities. Third, institutional arrangements for guiding and motivating closer responsiveness to the interplay between human and other ecosystem activities need to be developed. Addressing these challenges requires an interdisciplinary mix of natural and social science expertise, information management and engineering, and practical experience in working with urban stakeholders to redirect attention toward “sustainability.”
Projects and Contacts
- Contributions to Human Settlements, Industry and Infrastructure: IPCC Working Group II, 5th Assessment Report (Aromar Revi).
- Case studies on Sustainable Urban Transitions for comparative volume with contributions from Latin America, South Africa (eds Mark Swilling and Edgar Pieterse) (Kavita Wankhade)
- Bangalore Underground: Water Management and Stream Burial (H.S. Sudhira).
- Integrated Urban Water Management: the Case of Mulbagal: review of lessons from Arghyam’s experience in Mulbagal (Team TBD)
- Urban Sustainability & Land Use (Kavita Wankhade)
Related Papers
- Land, infrastructure and ecological sustainability in Indian cities
Authors : Kavita Wankhade and Krishnachandran Balakrishnan