Indian Urbanization

Much has been said and written about the haphazard growth of the Indian cities. Some have argued, and in my opinion with a lot of sense, that brand new cities built from scratch is our only hope for sustainable urbanization. Apparently there are some active projects of brand new city building including the $1.07 Billion Nanocity in Haryana headed by the Hotmail Sabeer Bhatia and another project near Bellary in the state of Karnataka. Whatever the status of these projects and whether or not these actually happen it is inevitable that planned urbanization will happen in some shape or form soon. An interesting viewpoint is expressed in an article in the Mint magazine that basically amounts to saying that urbanization and not rural development is key to India's future.

Scalability and sustainability are important factors that the planners of these urban centers need to keep in mind. At the rate India is growing, what may be a good plan today may be woefully inadequate in a couple of years. It is also important to learn from the mistakes of other countries in the way they developed their cities. One of the major complaints that is heard in the United States is the urban decay that the so-called anti-suburbanists lament about. Bigger houses, urban sprawl, big box stores, and lack of proper mass transit etc are all results of decades of suburbanization that began with construction of highways and the American obsession with the automobile. And judging by the uncontrolled growth in India's cities so far, I can tell you that the same is happening in India - only with even less planning. And that is scary.

Energy, water, mass transit, recycling, and many other issues related to sustainable and environmentally friendly growth will offer many entrepreneurial opportunities. It is a good time for budding entrepreneurs to start thinking outside the box in anticipation of the needs of the new as well as old urban centers.