Papers and proceedings of a seminar organized by the Department of Sociology, Gujarat University.

This work is one of the most comprehensive analyses of the extent, as well as the socio-economic and spatial characteristics, of urbanization in Indian. It assesses the nature of the policies and programs required for urban governance and the development and management of urban areas. The study is very relevant in the current context of economic growth and changing structural patterns of the Indian economy. The conclusion provides strong policy suggestions.

This comprehensive volume contributes to the existing and emerging body of literature on contemporary urbanization and the interactions between cities and the environment. The volume is contextualized against latest theories, debates and discussions on 'sustainable urbanization', the post‐2015 development agenda of the United Nations and India's official launching of the 'smart city' agenda. Reflecting on three major components of urban sustainability: investments and infrastructures, waste management, and urban ecologies and environmentalisms, it moves beyond the bi‐centric approach of only looking into the differences between the ‘developed’ and the ‘developing’ world and reflects on cities across India using polycentric methods and approaches. The Indian urban scenario is extremely complex and diverse, and solutions laid out in official and non‐official documents tend to miss these complexities. This volume includes innovative research across different parts of India, identifying city‐specific sources of unsustainability and challenges along with strategies and potentials that would make the process of urban transition both sustainable and equitable. Complex explorations of non‐linear, bottom‐up, multisectoral process‐based local urban contexts across north, south, east and west Indian cities in this volume critique a general acceptance of the universalized concept of ‘sustainable urbanization’ and suggest ways that might be important for transcending inclusive theories to form practical policy-based recommendations and actions.

Urbanisation is considered to be an index of transformation from traditional rural economy to modern industrial one. It is a long term process. Urbanisation is a product of demographic explosion and poverty induced rural-urban migration. It has been observed that the pace of urbanisation has always faster than the pace of population growth. The rapid growth trends are observed, particularly in a metropolitan city in India and also in Gujarat. Gujarat has been one of the most urbanised states in the country with 46 percent population resides in urban areas. Due to faster growth of the economy of state, urbanisation leads to widening gap between demand and supply of essential goods, services and infrastructure. This entire problem makes Gujarat's cities and town polluted, unlivable, inefficient and vulnerable to disasters. Policy relates to proper urban planning where city planning will consist of operational, developmental and restorative planning. There is the need to balance the process of urbanisation with proper development center in an integrated manner; people should get maximum social economic benefit rather than financial gain only.

Contributed articles, chiefly in the Indian context.

This volume brings together papers by well-known scholars that look at various aspects of the urbanization phenomenon in India, including the folk-urban continuum, social stratification, neighbourhood and family, and slum-dwellers and migrants./-//-/This book is one of the Indian Sociological Society: Golden Jubilee Volumes.