Liveability of Indian Cities and Spread of Covid-19-- Case of Tier-1 Cities
| Author | Kamakshi Thapa,Kusum Lata,Aman Singh Rajput |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00195561211038063 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Liveability of Indian
Cities and Spread of
Covid-19 Case of
Tier-1 Cities
Kusum Lata1, Kamakshi Thapa2
and Aman Singh Rajput3
Abstract
Cities are widely considered to be the engines of economic growth, as they
contribute for more than 70% of global economy. However, the haphazard
urbanisation trends are today resulting in widespread problems of urban sprawl,
pollution, housing, crime and disaster and so on. While India is one of the least
urbanised large developing countries of the world, the country is witnessing
rapid urbanisation (projected to add 404 million of urban population by 2050).
However, the associated problems are impacting the liveability of the cities in
India. In light of that, this study aims to evaluate the liveability of Tier-1 cities
of India. In reference to the existing literature, eleven key indicators have been
identified for the evaluation of liveability. For the ease of analysis, these indica-
tors are broadly clustered under five categories, that is, health, environment,
transport, geography and socio-economy. The correlation analysis between the
indicators and the number of Covid-19 cases in selected cities of India reveal a
significant relationship between the individual categories such as ‘quality of life’
and ‘health index’.
Keywords
Urbanisation, Tier-1 Indian cities, Covid-19, liveability, Liveability Rating Index
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
67(3) 365–382, 2021
© 2021 IIPA
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561211038063
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1 Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, India.
2 Department of Architecture and Planning, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT),
Maharashtra, India.
3 National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Kusum Lata, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indraprastha Estate, Ring
Road, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110002, India.
E-mail: drkl.iipa@gmail.com
366 Indian Journal of Public Administration 67(3)
Introduction
As per Creating Livable Cities: Regional Perspectives, the continuing population
growth and urbanisation have led to the creation of massive ‘megacities’ and fast-
growing ‘small and medium cities’. It is often perceived that urbanisation has
been instrumental in bringing opportunities to cities; however, it has parallelly
generated serious socio-economic problems of environmental stress, crime, risk
of climate change and disaster (Asian Development Bank, 2019; Kovacs-Györi
et al., 2019; Kuddus et al., 2020). As per a WHO Report, nearly 1.2 million people
worldwide die annually due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases caused by
urban air pollution (WHO, 2021). Also, according to the United Nations’ Report,
cities have become the epicentre of coronavirus (Covid-19) as 90% of global
Covid-19 cases were found in cities (Mishra et al., 2020a). All these events tend
to influence the perceived ‘liveability’ of cites which can be inferred to ‘how well
the built environment and the available services fulfil the resident’s needs and
requirements’ (Kovacs-Györi et al., 2019).
In this regard, numerous studies have been undertaken by planners and policy-
makers to understand the impact of liveability on individuals/communities. The
existing discourses on liveability ranking system quantifies the urban quality of
life (Ruth & Franklin, 2014; Paul & Sen, 2020). At the policy level, the United
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 11, empha-
sises on ‘making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe resilient and sus-
tainable’ (Kovacs-Györi et al., 2019). Complementing the SDGs, the New Urban
Agenda also seeks to create a mutually reinforcing relationship between urbanisa-
tion and development (UN-Habitat, 2016). In lines with these policy guidelines,
various organisation have attempted to measure the liveability, for example, the
European Commission conducts ‘quality of life’ survey in major European Union
cities to know the resident’s satisfaction level. This survey largely includes a
question about infrastructure, employment, housing and safety (Cave & Wagner,
2018). Similarly, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India,
has developed ‘Ease of Living Index’ to assess the condition of cities across three
pillars of quality of life, economic ability and sustainability (National Institute of
Urban Affair, 2019).
On a similar line, this study aims to evaluate the liveability of selected Tier-1
cities of India, namely, the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Delhi
Municipal Corporation, Bengaluru, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation,
Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune. The key objective of the study is (a) to
measure the liveability of tier-1 cities by assessing the eleven indicators of live-
ability grouped within five categories and (b) to establish the relationship between
the individual and composite indictors of liveability with the number of Covid-19
cases in Tier-1 cities. Herein, the correlation between the indicators of liveability
and numbers of Covid-19 cases can help to serve as a useful analytical framework
to evaluate the liveability of these cities.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Second section furnishes the
conceptual understanding of the liveability and its popular indices. Third section
gives a brief about the case study Tier-1 cities along with the detailed research
methodology adopted for the study. The analysis and result of the study have been
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