Plotting, Squatting, Public Purpose and Politics

by Baken, Robert Jan

• ISBN13: 9780754635543
• ISBN10: 0754635546
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Ashgate Pub Ltd

Summary

Since independence in 1947, India has undergone a phase of rapid urbanization. New planning laws have been passed, new organisations established, public policy documents and discussion papers prepared and a host of land and housing schemes have been implemented. Still, however, the vast majority of urban expansion is an unplanned process that takes the form of squatting and illegal or semi-legal land subdivision.By looking in detail at two rapidly growing cities in Andhra Pradesh (Vijayawada and Viaskhapatnam) this book explores cultural, physical-spatial, political and economic determinants of the allocation of urban land and of urban growth in India in historical context. It focuses on the interplay between the government, i.e. the law, programmes, policies and the organisations in charge of their implementation, on the one hand, and the private sector on the other. Special attention is given to the housing and living conditions of the urban poor, with the changes in their socio-economic conditions, as well as those affecting the quantity and quality of land and housing options available to them. In doing so, the book describes and analyzes basic issues and problems of governance in relation to urban land delivery. It traces these back to their historical origins and subsequent articulation.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
List of Tables	x
List of Maps	xii
List of Boxes	xiii
List of Acronyms	xiv
Acknowledgements	xvii
1 Introduction: objectives, background and methodology	1	(30)
1.1 The evolution, historical-theoretical background and central questions of the research	3	(6)
1.1.1 Historical-theoretical background and initial intentions	3	(5)
1.1.2 Research questions	8	(1)
1.2 Theoretical background: the market, the government and the urban poor	9	(14)
1.2.1 The market	10	(5)
1.2.2 The government: patronage and the politics of policy implementation	15	(6)
1.2.3 The poor: housing conditions and mobility	21	(2)
1.3 Plan of the book	23	(2)
1.4 Methodology	25	(4)
1.4.1 Analysis	25	(1)
1.4.2 Fieldwork methodology	26	(2)
1.4.3 The selection of the research cities	28	(1)
Notes	29	(2)
2 The development of state and city politics in Andhra Pradesh (1947-1993)	31	(24)
2.1 The Congress Party in historical perspective	32	(11)
2.1.1 Congress Party dominance	32	(1)
2.1.2 Congress Party development, 1947-1966	33	(6)
2.1.3 Indira Gandhi: an attempt to change Congress politics	39	(3)
2.1.4 Andhra Pradesh after 1983: the Congress and the TDP	42	(1)
2.2 Ideology, public policy and political interest groups	43
2.2.1 Ideology and public policy	43	(1)
2.2.2 Political interest groups	44	(1)
2.2.3 Public servants and politicians	45
2.3 Urban Politics	41	(12)
2.3.1 The urban political (patronage) structure	47	(3)
2.3.2 The role of urban politicians in the field of low income housing	50	(3)
Notes	53	(2)
3 Land and housing policy in India and Andhra Pradesh (1947-1993)	55	(24)
3.1 Land and housing policy in India (1947-1993)	56	(10)
3.1.1 Housing	57	(3)
3.1.2 Land	60	(3)
3.1.3 The National Housing Policy and preceding developments	63	(2)
3.1.4 Some concluding comments	65	(1)
3.2 Land and housing policy in Andhra Pradesh (1941-1993)	66	(8)
3.2.1 Housing	67	(5)
3.2.2 Land	72	(1)
3.2.3 An overview of policy development in Andhra Pradesh	73	(1)
3.3 Conclusions: Centre-State relationships	74	(2)
Notes	76	(3)
4 State and local government (administrative) structure	79	(22)
4.1 The State and local administrative structure	79	(17)
4.1.1 The State Government	79	(3)
4.1.2 State Government functional and special organisations	82	(1)
4.1.3 The State Government and the Municipal Corporations	83	(1)
4.1.4 Municipal Corporations	84	(3)
4.1.5 The Urban Development Authorities	87	(3)
4.1.6 The District Administration	90	(6)
4.2 Conclusions	96	(2)
Notes	98	(3)
5 The research cities	101	(10)
5.1 Vijayawada	101	(3)
5.1.1 Location, physical-spatial outlook and demography	101	(1)
5.1.2 Economic base	101	(2)
5.1.3 Regional functions: education, health care and religion	103	(1)
5.1.4 Politics	103	(1)
5.2 Visakhapatnam	104	(6)
5.2.1 Location, physical-spatial outlook and demography	104	(3)
5.2.2 Economic base	107	(1)
5.2.3 Regional functions: education, religion and health care	108	(1)
5.2.4 Politics	109	(1)
Notes	110	(1)
6 Urban growth history: Land allocation across income groups (1900-1911)	111	(32)
6.1 Vijayawada	111	(10)
6.1.1 Colonial history: developments until 1947	111	(4)
6.1.2 After Independence (1947-1971)	115	(6)
6.2 Visakhapatnam	121	(11)
6.2.1 Colonial history: developments until 1947	121	(4)
6.2.2 After Independence (1947-1971)	125	(7)
6.3 Land allocation across income groups (1941-1911)	132	(6)
6.3.1 Private supply of and demand for residential land	134	(2)
6.3.2 Low income housing	136	(2)
Notes	138	(5)
7 Land allocation across income groups (1971-1993): an overview	143	(26)
7.1 General trends	143	(4)
7.1.1 Changes in income profiles of city populations	143	(2)
7.1.2 Changes in the modes of land delivery in the MIG-HIG market segment	145	(2)
7.2 Land allocation across income groups (1971-1993)	147	(13)
7.2.1 Vijayawada: population growth and physical-spatial expansion	147	(2)
7.2.2 Vijayawada: land delivery in main socio-economic market segments	149	(5)
7.2.3 Visakhapatnam: population growth and physical-spatial expansion	154	(2)
7.2.4 Visakhapatnam: land delivery in main socio-economic market segments	156	(4)
7.3 Need and supply of residential land: a brief quantitative analysis	160	(4)
Notes	164	(5)
8 Changes in the MIG-HIG land market segment (1971.1993): the private sector	169	(54)
8.1 Changes in private supply, demand and prices in the MIG-HIG segment of the local land market	169	(13)
8.1.1 Changes in the private supply and demand for land	169	(5)
8.1.2 The role of (formal) housing finance	174	(2)
8.1.3 Changes in land prices	176	(6)
8.2 Commercial private land subdivision for middle and high income groups in historical perspective	182	(16)
8.2.1 Modus operandi of land brokers	182	(6)
8.2.2 The interaction of private land delivery and public intervention in historical perspective	188	(10)
8.3 Recent developments: the emergence of real estate organisations and independent builders	198	(19)
8.3.1 Real estate organisations	198	(13)
8.3.2 Private apartment builders	211	(6)
8.4 Conclusions	217	(3)
Notes	220	(3)
9 Changes in the low-income segment of the market (1911-1993): the private sector	223	(56)
9.1 Types of settlements and land delivery	224	(14)
9.1.1 A profile of poor neighbourhoods	224	(10)
9.1.2 A typology of settlements and land delivery	234	(2)
9.1.3 Quantitative weight of settlement and land delivery types	236	(2)
9.2 Changes in the quantity, quality, and prices of land delivered to poor households	238	(18)
9.2.1 Changes in the number of poor neighbourhoods and poor neighbourhood dwellers	238	(4)
9.2.2 Changes in the quality of land delivered for low-income housing	242	(7)
9.2.3 Changes in land prices	249	(7)
9.3 Developments in squatting	256	(18)
9.3.1 Squatting and the law: the most important acts and legal instruments available to government organisations and squatters	257	(3)
9.3.2 The inception of squatments: squatting and urban politics	260	(6)
9.3.3 Settlement development	266	(7)
9.3.4 Developments in squatting: brief summary of findings	273	(1)
9.4 Household mobility	274	(4)
Notes	278	(1)
10 Government intervention	279	(62)
10.1 Infrastructure and service provision: a brief overview	279	(2)
10.2 Urban Planning	281	(9)
10.2.1 The city master plans	282	(4)
10.2.2 The master plans for the urban regions	286
10.2.3 Zonal Development Planning: the case of Gopalapatnam (Visakhapatnam)	281	(7)
10.2.4 The alternative role of the UDAS	288	(2)
10.3 Land acquisition: the Land Acquisition Act (1894) and the Urban Land Ceiling Act (1916)	290	(11)
10.3.1 The Land Acquisition Act (1894)	290	(3)
10.3.2 The Urban Land Ceiling Act (1976)	293	(8)
10.4 Public land and housing delivery	301	(4)
10.4.1 An overview of public land and housing delivery: the distribution across income groups	301	(2)
10.4.2 The upward filtering of government supplied plots and houses	303	(1)
10.4.3 The problems involved in supplying plots and houses to the poor	304	(1)
10.5 Slum improvement	305	(16)
10.5.1 The Environmental Improvement and Urban Community Development Schemes	305
10.5.2 The ODA-sponsored slum improvement schemes (1988/90-1996)	301	(20)
10.6 Relocation	321	(7)
10.6.1 Historical overview of relocation schemes, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam	321	(3)
10.6.2 Relocation: causes and problems	324	(4)
10.7 Low income housing loans: The Weaker Section Housing Programme	328	(7)
10.7.1 The case of Weaker Section Housing Programme implementation, Visakhapatnam	328	(5)
10.7.2 Conclusions	333	(2)
10.8 Summary of findings	335
Notes	331	(10)
11 Conclusions	341
11.1 The research questions	341	(19)
11.2 Policy options	360
11.2.1 'Pragmatic solutions'	364	(2)
11.2.2 A more encompassing, 'Indian solution'	366	(1)
11.2.3 The author: 'easy solutions'	367	(4)
11.2.4 The author: 'the more difficult solution'	371
Appendices	315	(78)
1 Methodology	375	(8)
1.1 The research subject and methodological constraints	315	(56)
1.2 The research 'project' organisation	371	(6)
1.3 Quantitative and qualitative research methods	377	(6)
2 The allocation of land across income groups: basic tables and calculations	383	(5)
3 Statistical analysis and calculations underlying figures 9.1 and 9.2	388	(1)
4 Rental housing, (changes in) rents and (changes) in construction costs	389	(4)
4.1 Rental housing and (changes in) rents	389	(1)
4.2 (Changes in) construction costs	390	(3)
References	393	(10)
Glossary	403