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A small but increasing number of scholarships, going beyond a fragmented approach, examine the transformative potential of ―inclusive cities‖ and place the narrative as a potential model for city development and growth (Dahiya and Das, 2020; WEF, 2018). Building on this premise, through a multidimensional lens of the economic, social and spatial dimensions, this thesis engages with the development and application of an inclusiveness framework for cities facing pressures of urbanisation. It uses the framework to assess 21 smart cities in India and further performs an in-depth qualitative assessment of Nagpur to capture the deeper challenges for an inclusive city. The study uses grounded theory and transformative sequential mixed method design to deal with the complexity and scale of the research inquiry. The research is done in a rigorous manner using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies including ranking, k-means cluster analysis, various non-parametric procedures and stakeholder interviews. The diverse assessment techniques help deal with the data-based challenges for the topic and add reliability to the analysis. Uniquely, this thesis contributes to raising the significance of an inclusive approach to development in Indian cities. It directly engages with the multidimensional challenges of the complex urbanisation context for Indian cities.
With a three stepped process, which also corresponds to the three objectives of the research, the thesis initially develops a multidimensional evaluation framework and recognises the significance of the spatial, social and economic dimensions for inclusiveness in cities. Thirteen critical factors, forty-four quantitative, twenty quantitative indicators, and sixteen barriers to inclusiveness are the key elements of the framework. It uses a robust qualitative approach for the literature review and incorporates inputs from multiple sector experts to develop the framework. This is one of the main outcomes of this research and the thesis provides a comprehensive, multidimensional and flexible framework for inclusiveness challenges of the growing cities in India.
In step two, applying the framework to a set of twenty-one smart cities in India that have received sustained investments, the study uses the ranking method to benchmark cities on overall inclusion and examines and reveals the nature of imbalances across various factors of the critical dimensions of inclusiveness. The study also reveals the imbalances in clusters of small, medium, and large size city typologies. Through the ranking, it generates the larger picture and the much-needed benchmarks for a multidimensional assessment of Indian cities on inclusiveness aspects. The analysis highlights the simultaneous concerns of social transformation and inclusive growth in small, midsize and large smart cities.
In the third step, the study applies the framework to Nagpur, a midsize smart city in India. Using a stakeholder-diversity-based assessment, the methodology captures diverse perceptions of critical groups of actors and identifies the pragmatic and latent influences that promote and hinder cities' making inclusive. By comparing perceptions on inclusiveness amongst six stakeholder groups in Nagpur, the research reveals the gap between the government and citizen sub-groups and identifies the scope for inclusive planning and management via techniques like more effective participation. It suggests the need for more democratic and innovative mechanisms of inclusive governance, apart from other critical inferences about Nagpur like the need for an inclusive growth strategy, change in approach for conceiving and implementing projects, and capacity enhancement to deliver inclusive development-based projects.
The research overcomes to an extent the limitations of reliability and granularity of city-wide database on inclusiveness aspects in India. Through the Nagpur study, the research highlights the use of qualitative assessment and study of stakeholder perceptions in generating a reliable database for inclusiveness studies. It promotes the use of quantitative and qualitative data capture for evaluating and formulating initiatives and investments. The study advances the literature on methodological approaches for inclusiveness issues of emerging cities in the context of developing countries like India. Through the overall analysis and assessment, the thesis argues that the cities should shape their growth inclusively and sustainably, involving a larger stakeholder diversity. For this, it provides a comprehensive framework and multidimensional benchmarks to evaluate, assess and monitor the actions, strategies and policies of cities.
The thesis has inferences for both India and other developing countries with similar challenges. The framework developed in this thesis is flexible and by incorporating other contextual indicators and focussing on specific factors, it can be useful for other similar contexts and target subjective issues within the larger umbrella of the growing inclusiveness challenges for cities.
Keywords: Inclusive smart cities, India, Nagpur, midsize cities, inclusive urbanisation, grounded theory, transformative sequential mixed method.
