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The Social Determinants of Health in India pp 51–69Cite as

Deconstructing the Urban Transition: Conceptualization, Measurement and Mechanisms

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Abstract

Policy discourses on urban health in India have been geared towards addressing the unmet need for health services through the National Urban Health Mission. This approach is limiting and myopic as it ignores urbanization as a determinant of health or the context through which other social determinants of health (SDH) may operate. While it is widely acknowledged that India is rapidly urbanizing, the speed, spread and style of this urbanization exposes several anomalies, relevant to the burden of morbidity and emerging health concerns, particularly chronic diseases and risk factors. This chapter examines some facts of the rural to urban transition in India, the emerging measure of urbanization—‘urbanicity’, and it simpacts on health conditions. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the issues involved in conceptualization what is ‘urban’ and urbanicity, and the issues involves in this conceptualization. The second part investigates aspects related to the urbanization trajectory in India. Finally, the chapter concludes with some experiences of research and emerging methodologies on urbanization and health in India.

In this city, there is a strong connection between the seasons and customs, between man and nature, linking the new of the past to the old of the present.

—Badrinath in Madras, Chennai and the Self [1]

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The US, similar to India, uses density measures for differentiating rural from urban. However, the industrial nature of the US economy implies that most areas are urban and there is no range of ‘peri-urban’ areas [41, 42]. Additionally, metropolitan areas are defined by the US census through policies including residential, land-use and zoning policies and are applied to public policies around industrialization and environment regulation. These have been criticized for being heavily skewed in favor of more affluent and white populations, and discriminating against poor and minority populations. The metropolitan classification is now being used in some metro cities to define the greater region around the metropolis and the development of suburban areas as feeders for labor (both white and blue collar).

  2. 2.

    Lewis received the Nobel Prize in Economics for the model in 1979.

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  1. Public Health Foundation of India, Delhi, NCR, India

    Nandita Bhan

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  1. The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Devaki Nambiar

  2. WASH in Health and Nutritions, WASH in Schools, WaterAid India, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Arundati Muralidharan

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Bhan, N. (2017). Deconstructing the Urban Transition: Conceptualization, Measurement and Mechanisms. In: Nambiar, D., Muralidharan, A. (eds) The Social Determinants of Health in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5999-5_4

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