In the span of sixty years, between 1950 and 2010, the number of people living in urban areas has grown from 730 million to 3.5 billion1. Since 2007, and for the first time in our history, more than half of the world’s population (50.6 per cent) now reside in cities2. By 2030, this proportion will rise to 59 per cent, reaching nearly 5 billion people, and will increase to 68.7 per cent – more than 6.285 billion – in 20503. Humanity’s future seems to be urban and the trend of urbanization, irreversible. Urban populations are expected to rise much more rapidly in the less developed regions of the world, at an average of 2.3 per cent per year from the year 2000 until 20304. Urbanization rates will be the highest in Asia (average 1.9 per cent) and Africa (average 3 per cent) in 2010-2030. By 2030 Asia will account for more than half of the world’s urban population with a figure of 2.6 billion. A cause for concern is that this growth also brings in its wake the urbanization of poverty. Today, about one third of the world’s urban population, nearly one billion people, live in slums. Of the world’s slum dwellers, about 60 per cent live in Asia (504 million), 25 per cent in Africa (211 million), and around 13 per cent in Latin America (110 million), Cities are not static environments: they are dynamic and ever-changing.

In cities experiencing rapid economic development, historic districts are often demolished due to the increasing pressure on urban land and its subsequent rising value.7 Residents belonging to lower socio-economic strata are often the first to be evicted from inner-city areas. Alternatively, these areas can remain zones of neglect and disrepair, alienated from the wider economic development and physical transformation that goes on around them and with their own chaotic construction and expansion which rarely respects their historic and cultural significance. India’s urban growth has not been rapid, despite the fact that worldwide, the fastest rates of urbanization are being witnessed in the developing world. India’s urban population increased from 17 per cent (63.4 million) in 1950 to 27.7 per cent (288.5 million) in 20009. However, there are some characteristics of urbanization in India which make even these small percentages relevant. Most significantly, in terms of sheer numbers, India’s urban population is vast, with more than 364 million people (30 per cent of the total population) living in urban areas across the country in 201010. This figure is expected to grow to more than 590 million people (39.7 per cent of the total population) by 2030 and to exceed 875 million (54.2 per cent of the total population) by 205011. It is also estimated that by the year 2011, urban areas will contribute about 65 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).