Indian city

In the broad perspective of urban development and human growth, this book focuses on the social, economic and cultural dimensions of urban poverty, slums and the informal urban sector. The various papers included in this volume examine several
interrelated themes-rural-urban migration, nutrition and health, education and employment, housing, slum improvement and
re-location-which taken together highlight the problems of urbanisation in India. The book has two sections. The first section develops the theme of Poverty and Ecology in the context of the informal urban sector, slums and squatter settlements.
The second section on Urban Development is concerned with analytical studies of urban renewal programmes in some of
the major cities of India: Calcutta, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Ranchi and Delhi. Certain themes constantly recur. There is a recognition of the immense contribution of the informal sector to the urban economy. It is assumed that the urban poor are a permanent, not a transitory, feature of the Indian city. Traditional urban planning needs to be re-examined in terms of its value system and the social, economic and political structures which keep large number of men and women poor and powerless.