Handbook of Urban inequalities

Description

 Urbanizing India has posed many challenges in terms of employment, poverty, and quality of and access to urban services. Most policy and research in these areas has focused on metropolitan cities, thereby creating a paucity of studies on the characteristics and dynamics of small and medium towns. This handbook is the first study on the inequalities between metros and non-metros with regard to poverty, employment, education levels, and services over the last 25 years.   Reprocessing NSS household-level data, including latest data from the 66th Round, the authors provide a disaggregated analysis for different size classes of urban centres. The book focuses on: (a) the importance of small and medium towns in urban development and (b) patterns of urban inequalities over time and policy implications of these. Comparing the pre- and post-reform periods, the book presents disaggregated trends across major states in India of: • urban poverty and per capita consumption expenditure • employment patterns and unemployment levels by gender; and • level of basic facilities such as water supply, sanitation, and garbage collection Highlighting the heterogeneity and complexity of urban systems, this handbook is unique in making available new urban data which will make nuanced policy responses possible.