Challenges of urban informality in Indian smart cities

What is it about?

How does the governance of smart cities negotiate with the politics of urban informality? Smart cities in India are being built and managed by public-sector companies set up as special-purpose agencies. However, it remains questionable to what extent this corporatized approach to managing cities is useful for the urban poor in the informal economy. Representative electoral democracy in municipal governments is a useful platform for the urban poor to negotiate their claims with political actors. When companies are in charge of managing urban services, the scope for such negotiations decreases.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Informal sector economic activities are ubiquitous in developing country cities and provide livelihoods to most people. The survival politics of urban poor necessitate forming close ties with political actors. But such links get disrupted if cities are managed in a corporatized way. There is little research about how the ongoing thrust on smart cities is going to impact them. This article discusses governance implications for the informal sector based on Indian experience.

Perspectives