By the turn of the century we are told by the experts, there will be several cities in developing countries whose population will exceed ten million. The largest cities in the world in future are likely to be Mexico City, Bombay and Calcutta, not London, Paris, New York or Tokyo. Several cities in developing countries have a population exceeding two million already and are expected to reach five million in a few years time. In India, the breakdown of city services like transporatation and water supply has become a cause of widespread concern. Rights of pavement dwellers have been taken up to the Supreme Court of India. Their eviction has been halted, after a fast by the actress Shabana Azmi in mid-1986. Why is there a breakdown of city services? Can the pressure on cities be reduced by diverting development to other parts of the country? Such questions can best be answered by someone with direct experience of city management.

Cities are not only home to around half of the global population but also major centers of economic activity and innovation. Yet, so far there has been no consensus of what a city really is. Substantial differences in the way cities, metropolitan, urban, and rural areas are defined across countries hinder robust international comparisons and an accurate monitoring of SDGs. The report Cities in the World: A New Perspective on Urbanisation addresses this void and provides new insights on urbanisation by applying for the first time two new definitions of human settlements to the entire globe: the Degree of Urbanisation and the Functional Urban Area.

This substantive and original contribution to the study of urbanization in India critically analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian urban system and provides new insights into contemporary urban problems. Relating the geographical dimension with historical and socioeconomic aspects, the author focuses on the processes of urbanization and the nature of the interdependence among urban centers and between urban centers and their outlying areas.

Urbanization beyond Municipal Boundaries informs policy priorities to manage India's urbanization. Incisive analysis of the patterns of India's urbanization using geo-referenced data from various rounds of the population and economic census highlights rapid suburbanization of people and fi rms around the country's largest metropolitan areas. However, the move to the suburbs is accelerated by land and housing shortages in metropolitan cores, coupled with high transport costs between the metropolitan core and its periphery, and much worse infrastructure access and quality for water, electricity, and sanitation in the urban periphery. What are priorities for policy reform? First, investing in India's institutional and informational foundations that can enable land and housing markets to function effi ciently while deregulating land use in urban areas. To achieve this, planning for land use and planning for infrastructure must be coordinated so that densifi cation of metropolitan areas can be accompanied by infrastructure improvements. Second, expanding and delivering better infrastructure services to improve livability. Policy makers need to institute reforms that would help providers recover costs yet reach out to poorer neighborhoods and peripheral areas. Last, strengthening physical connectivity between metropolitan hubs and their peripheries to improve those areas that attract the majority of people and businesses over the medium term. Investments in network infrastructure alongside logistics improvements can facilitate the smoother movement of goods. Land policy, infrastructure services, and connectivity--coordinated improvements in this triad can help India reap dividends from improved spatial equity and greater economic effi ciency that come with urbanization.

Papers presented at the National Seminar on "Problems of Low- income Groups in Metropolitan Cities of India", Osmania University, Hyderabad, in March 1983, and organized by the Planning Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad Urban Development Authority, and the Centre for Area Studies, Osmania University.