Housing the seasonal migrants, a challenge for Urban Sustainability: The Case of India.

Abstract

Cities have served as the cradle of civilization,engine for growth,and fuel for the sustenance of mankind since their inception.With time,they have evolved to be inherently complex urban systemsand have attracted various perils to their very existencedue to unprecedented growth andexpansion,the excessive harnessing of natural resources,economic,social,and cultural fragmentation of society,climate change,etc.Under these conditions,principles,and ideals of sustainable urbanism haveemergedas aray of hope,asthere seemsto be the key to humanity’s futuresurvival. Sustainable urbanism entails the creation of an urban or city environment that functions to foster the long-term viability of social, financial, and environmental systemscoupled with being responsible for citizens' mental health and well-being. Among many others,inclusion and ensuring the equal right to the city for all,including those on themargins,is one of the most important pillars on which urban sustainability stands.When looked at from this perspective, seasonal migrants are one of the most unequalcitizens in cities worldwide,including India.Theirextreme exclusion from urban processes is evident from their wide-scale invisibility in the policy andplanning discourses of mosturban entities.In addition to the lack of basic facilities like clean water,sanitation,food security, etc. the lack of affordable and adequate housingfor seasonal migrantsis often the single most dominantobstacle in the path of their equal citizenship which also creates serious roadblocks in the path to the attainment ofsustainable development goalsfor the cities they reside in temporarily.Unless ‘Housing for all is made a reality, a sustainable urban future will remain a long-distant dream. In India, The concept of affordable rental housing has been gaining considerable importance in e the last decade both in terms of policy and implementation, but their unsuitability to fit inwith the seasonal migrantsdue to their peculiar contextual realityis also becoming increasingly evident. The achievement of sustainability goals of cities and countries is intricately related to their success in solving theperennial problem of housingthis segment of the vulnerable city -dwellers and cities must give urgent attention to addressing this concern for ensuring a sustainable urban future.