Benchmarking Urban Sustainability: An Indicator-Based Assessment of Selected Indian and Global Megacities

Reddy, BS and Balachandra, P (2023) Benchmarking Urban Sustainability: An Indicator-Based Assessment of Selected Indian and Global Megacities. [Book Chapter]

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Abstract

Cities are at the forefront of global socio-economic change, and rapid urbanisation is the phenomenon of the current century. This has significant implications for economic, environmental and social sustainability. Given this, the present study investigates whether the present pattern of urbanisation in India in creating megacities is sustainable and what can be learnt from the experiences of global megacities. This has been done by comparing two Indian cities, viz., Mumbai and Bangalore, with selected megacities of the world (Shanghai, London and Singapore) using an indicator-based approach under a sustainability framework. Firstly, a hierarchical sustainability framework is developed with a prioritised set of quantifiable indicators under three dimensions of sustainability�economic, social and environmental. Secondly, these indicators are quantified using data from secondary sources and then used for constructing urban sustainability indices (USIs) for selected megacities. Finally, these megacities are evaluated by benchmarking them with a hypothetical sustainable megacity, which has been created using best indicator values realised across cities of the world, and thus sustainability gaps are identified. These gaps essentially represent the targets for achieving sustainable urbanisation. The results indicate that, compared to benchmark index values, both Mumbai and Bangalore have large gaps to bridge concerning economic sustainability but are relatively better placed with respect to social and environmental sustainability. Among the five cities, Singapore emerged at the top with a high USI valued Bangalore and Mumbai occupy the bottom two positions. We believe that the indicator-based approach represents a primary tool to guide policy makers to assist in decision-making and to monitor local strategies/plans. The outcome of the study will contribute to the design of policies, tools, and approaches essential for planning to attain the goal of sustainable urban development. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.

Item Type:	Book Chapter
Publication:	Sustainable Development Goals Series
Publisher:	Springer
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to the Springer.
Department/Centre:	Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences > Management Studies
Date Deposited:	13 Aug 2024 11:59
Last Modified:	13 Aug 2024 11:59
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/85296

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