- The UN predicts that 1 in 3 people will live in slums by 2050 if sustainable urbanization is not implemented. Developing countries like India are facing rapid urbanization and the growth of slums. - Urban migrants have a variety of needs including shelter, mobility, employment opportunities, and access to services. Providing affordable housing options, improving transportation systems, and developing new economic centers can help address these needs. - Sustainable urbanization requires long-term planning including building new planned towns with affordable housing and jobs, improving infrastructure like transportation, and ensuring access to services like healthcare and sanitation for all residents. Public-private partnerships and innovative solutions can help make cities more livable for urban migrants.

1. HOUSING OPTIONS AND MOBILITY OF THE URBAN MIGRANTS
The United Nations predicts that one in every three persons might end up living in slums by
2050, if we fail to implement sustainable urbanization today. The need to explore housing and
lifestyle options in urban landscapes is all the more acute in developing nations like India,
wherein cities are fast turning into urban sprawls. The new ‘model townships’ are not excluded
from this phenomenon of disorganized urbanization despite all the planning put on blueprints.
The present condition of the city of Mumbai is a case in point, wherein if you were to get a bird’s
eye view of the city from a window of an aircraft hovering above the city and you managed to
see past the smog and pollution, the sore eyesight of slums would astonish you with the sheer
size of it. If one were to take a magic wand and organize these slums vertically instead of its
present horizontal spread, 300-400% of the present surface area occupied by the slums would be
spot-free.
But magic wands are hard to come by and the real issues involved in tackling break-neck and
mindless urbanization include influx of migrants, real estate boom supported by unrealistic
housing prices, severe shortage of space to construct intelligent shelters and an unsustainable
burden on urban sanitation and hygiene. Apart from housing and shelter, people living in very
dense and developed collection of human structures need fast mobility, entertainment options,
social and emotional security, as also privacy and dignity. Urban migrants are predominantly a
mix of economically well endowed rural populace, professionals from other urban areas and
socially downtrodden households from other parts of the country. Besides, migrants can be
permanent or temporary occupants of a city. Hence, the needs of the people that reside in an
urban area can be very different.

2. However, the three common needs for all groups of urban migrants remain shelter, mobility and
a flourishing life. Urban areas tend to grow up around a central generator of economic activities.
The problem occurs when the sustainable periphery of this central zone is overburdened with a
burgeoning population, and the central business district is unable to do justice to the needs of the
populace depending upon it.
Self-contained townships must be planned and promoted on city outskirts. This also boosts the
development of new business hubs in the proximity of such townships, thus drawing away some
pressure from already burdened city centers. Planning of alternate business hubs in suburbs and
outlying areas offer a scope to create new and planned urban spaces with better breathing
conditions. However, in most cases this hopeful document of the policy makers fails to
materialize as planned, and they are left with dormitory townships and incurable mobility
problems. This may be partly due to apathetic policy follow-up once such satellite business hubs
are created, and partly poor incentives offered for shifting of existing businesses or establishment
of new ones there. Apart from developing solutions to existing urbanization woes, promoting the
genesis of planned urban areas is the need of the hour. This can be achieved by ensuring that the
paraphernalia and infrastructure that go with creating satellite townships, accessible easily to
urban nerve centres, are planned and executed together with precision.
National housing programs, employer housing, rental housing and dormitory housing are some
of the many options available to urban migrants. Banks can play a major role in making these
options available to the migrants by offering low-interest and need-based financing. Retail
lending can be customized to the needs of particular age-groups and different income categories
availing the finance.

3. Employers providing housing options to migrant employees can be encouraged by providing
special tax rebates. Similarly, existing urban householders who provide paying guest services to
migrant professionals can be given special incentives. Dormitory lodging for different income
brackets and genders in suburban areas can give a boost to the development of alternate central
business hubs.
Migrants who have hitherto lived in slums can be encouraged to move to concrete dwellings in
areas not very far from city centers by providing them hassle-free title deeds to their newly
created housing units. These housing units can be subsidized and provided to the dwellers vide
different pay-back options such as minimal annual payments, and also to constructors of such
dwellings. The construction companies should be given time-bound incentives like tax benefits
and profit margins for planning self-sustainable housing units. Providing water and power to
these units must be a pre-planned program and not an afterthought - a blunder due to which
majority of such dwelling units have become derelict ruins today.
Banks can play a pivotal role in sustainable urbanization by creating awareness and ensuring
sound financial planning for a sustainable future to urban migrants. The problem of severe
shortage of space for creating new urban shelters for various income groups is compounded by
the problem of unsustainable housing prices, which makes 'housing for all' in a well-developed
city a myth. However, this does not stop the inflow of hopeful migrants into an already over-
crowded city. Hence, boosting economic and social development in Tier 2 and 3 cities is
required for ensuring sustainable urban development in developing countries.
Housing options must take into account time and money involved in constructing housing that is
accessible to all income groups. Promotion of prefabricated construction and green design

4. solutions that maximize the use of ecosystem services must be actively encouraged by policy
makers. Again, financial incentives can be provided by banks and other service providers to
companies that utilize green ideas in their construction.
Mobility is a major hassle in cities. Pollution notwithstanding, hours of traffic and miles of
clogged streets ensure a waste of time, money and energy. Promoting green mobility options in a
city is crucial to ensure that future generations do not lose out on their health and their right to a
cleaner planet. Providing green mobility is not so much a matter of gigantic and snail-paced
overhaul of our public transport systems, as implementation of small and smarter steps by the
policy makers.
An example to illustrate the above would be waiving of transportation tolls if the occupancy of a
vehicle is eighty to near hundred percent. This not only encourages car-pooling, but also reduces
fuel consumption. Consumption of non-renewable sources of energy can be further reduced by
promoting innovative transport channels such as electric bikes. The use of electric bikes is not
viable presently due to high cost of battery involved in running such bikes. The government can
provide for subsidies to makers of such bikes, thereby promoting an entire new industry
dedicated to developing greener transport options. Provision of accessible charging points at
utility centers, dedicated lanes for these bikes and incentives by financial institutions for use of
such mobility options can further ameliorate mobility problems.
Vehicles that use green technology and can run on greener fuels like bio-fuels can be encouraged
by providing special finance schemes. Tax benefits can be offered to both consumers and
manufacturers of such vehicles. Technology transfer and know-how import from countries that
have implemented successful green mobility models must to be undertaken.

5. It is shown that given a choice, people would choose to avoid travelling great distances to reach
their work areas, especially given the dismal state of public transport and safety concerns in most
Indian cities. Hence, developing remote work arrangements by encouraging information
technology development in small and medium scale companies can reduce the load on urban
mobility as well.
Housing options that provide privacy and dignity are not mere choices that we must offer people,
but it is an imperative clause for the survival of a society. Slum areas and urban sprawls are a
hotbed of violence and disease that must be remedied at all costs.
Sanitation, health care and hygiene are major issues that must be addressed to ensure that the
above plans of affordable housing and green mobility are sustained over the long run. Dedicated
lanes cannot exist if these lanes moonlight as makeshift garbage dumps. Segregation of wet and
dry waste is a matter of grave importance that is systemically ignored by cities, and must be
implemented aggressively.
Identity proofs and KYC norms must be strengthened, yet simplified in order to make life easier
for migrants. Financial linkages and alternate banking channels must be improved to enable
migrants to send money to their villages and thereby promoting financial awareness in the
country.
Making urbanization sustainable does not need a revolutionary leap. It only needs detailed
planning of last mile connectivity for every policy made, and ensuring accountability through
social audit programs. The devil lies in the detail; in this case the detail must eliminate the scope
of failure in creating sustainable futures.