South Asian Studies centre

Chennai is the largest metropolitan city in South India (8.7 million in 2011) and the provincial capital of the large state of Tamil Nadu (population 72 million in 2011). Before that, under British rule, the city was the capital of the Madras Presidency, and was known as Madras until 1996, when the name was officially changed to Chennai. Located on the east coast of India, on the Bay of Bengal, sea trade has been an important aspect of the regional economy since at least the colonial period. Still today, the city combines political functions with economic command functions for both manufacturing and services, reflecting the region's diversified economy. The Chennai metropolitan area has witnessed strong growth over the last 20 years in automobile manufacturing, software services, hardware manufacturing, healthcare and financial services (CDP 2009). However, it should be noted that only 30% of total employment in the city takes place in the formal sector i.e., is covered by contracts and labour laws, the remaining 70% falls in the informal sector. This underscores the importance of small and micro enterprises and self-employment for providing goods, services and livelihoods in the local economy.

The aim of this empirical study is to refl ect on urban governance in India's large metropolitan cities by examining healthcare services in Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The objective is not a strict comparison of the cities per se, indeed the data sets available are not identical for the three cities, rather the idea is to use a comparative perspective to tease out general fi ndings about the evolution of supply and demand for a given service in relation to a particular governance situation. These three cities are situated in different regions of the country, characterised by distinct political cultures and they occupy dissimilar positions in the urban hierarchy. It will be seen that this heritage contributes in a signifi cant way to explaining the variance we observe with regard to governance between the three cities. Notwithstanding, they are exposed to a common overall policy framework and similar forces are clearly at work in each, reshaping service delivery and redefi ning the respective roles of different categories of actors. As outlined in Chapter 1, the main analytical focus is on changes that have occurred over the last 10-15 years as a result of decentralisation and economic reform.

Like in other traditional manufacturing activities in India, the structure of the leather industry in Tamil Nadu is dominated by small-scale enterprises. This is a direct result of policies aimed at protecting employment and ensuring balanced regional development, within the broad framework of an import substitution strategy. However, the liberalisation of India’s economy in the 1990s has exposed its manufacturers to the stringent demands of increasingly global markets, while enhancing competition among firms and territories within the country. Within this difficult context, this article examines the restructuring of the leather industry of the Palar Valley, which produces largely for export markets, with an emphasis on local capacities to adapt to the increasingly stringent demands of globalised markets for leather and footwear. This analysis underscores the importance of local partnerships and territorial embeddedness for achieving competitiveness in this century-old industry organised in clusters closely resembling industrial districts. Indeed, over the last few decades, local firms have developed strategies based on comparative local advantages, which include solid roots in the local territory and social capital based on strong social and ethnic ties. By analysing the articulation of various spatial and temporal processes, notably the impact of industrial policies, the main objective of this article is to identify the social and spatial transformations that are redefining the rural-urban relationship and bringing to the fore new challenges.

The aim of this empirical study is to refl ect on urban governance in India's large metropolitan cities by examining healthcare services in Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The objective is not a strict comparison of the cities per se, indeed the data sets available are not identical for the three cities, rather the idea is to use a comparative perspective to tease out general fi ndings about the evolution of supply and demand for a given service in relation to a particular governance situation. These three cities are situated in different regions of the country, characterised by distinct political cultures and they occupy dissimilar positions in the urban hierarchy. It will be seen that this heritage contributes in a signifi cant way to explaining the variance we observe with regard to governance between the three cities. Notwithstanding, they are exposed to a common overall policy framework and similar forces are clearly at work in each, reshaping service delivery and redefi ning the respective roles of different categories of actors. As outlined in Chapter 1, the main analytical focus is on changes that have occurred over the last 10-15 years as a result of decentralisation and economic reform.

This is an introductory piece for a special issue of EPW's Review of Urban Affairs on greenfield urban development in India. This essay argues that though greenfield urban development has been an enduring idiom of politics in India, new forms of premium spaces and enclaves, arising from reconfigured constellations of public–private interests, reflect an increasing tendency to instrumentalise the urban in pursuit of economic growth.