5 Cities in the global transformation process
hapter 4 are also addressed with reference to the indiC vidual city examples. For example, the various sections deal in greater detail with the starting points of informal settlements, climate-change-related natural risks and participation in Mumbai, and in Cairo with the transformation of land use. Health-related factors are also addressed, e. g. the availability of recreation areas or the existence of environmental stressors in Copenhagen, Cairo and Mumbai. Another topic discussed in the individual chapters is the decarbonization strategies pursued in the individual cities and their significance for the Great Transformation, often embedded in longterm urban-development visions. As regards the estimates of greenhouse-gas emissions and energy use in cities and settlements listed in Chapter 5, it is important to note that these are, in general, extremely diverse and rarely comparable. This is partly due to a lack of standards, e. g. in relation to emissions allocation, data quality and calculating methods, and to a lack of data, particularly in developing countries and emerging economies. In addition, the number of newly published studies cannot keep pace with the rapid urbanization process, so that no systematic, up-to-date overview exists (Seto et al., 2014: 936). The figures cited by the WBGU for individual cities can therefore only serve as a rough orientation and should certainly not be used for a comparison of the cities.
5.2 Mumbai: transformation of a colonial metropolis into a globally networked megacity
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Mumbai, the economic capital of India, represents cities that have a long history of early colonial internationalization and globalized development, as well as of cities in developing countries that have experienced manifold transition processes. Therefore, diverse and complex historical path dependencies exist that can likewise shed light on the development context of other cities and megacities. This is also true in regard to the increasing tertiarization of the economy, i. e. the shift from an industrial economy to a service economy, which is strongly linked to the erosion of Mumbai’s former economic pillar, the textile industry. Due to Mumbai’s long history of migration, the city is characterized by broad ethnic and religious diversity, multicultural coexistence, as well as ethnic and religious conflict. The urban society is likewise shaped by strong socio-economic disparities. Mumbai is also of interest in terms of the existing material, financial and human capacities for an urban transformation towards sustainability: these include the presence and efficacy of an active civil society that simultaneously faces the challenges
of improving the coordination of activities and avoiding clientelism. Basic changes, such as a conversion to energy-efficient and resource-saving infrastructures, or the establishment of social dialogues and economic retraining programmes, could significantly improve the population’s quality of life.
5.2.1 Transformation of a colonial metropolis into a globally networked megacity Since its founding in the 16th century, Mumbai has experienced a profound process of growth and expansion often marked by upheaval and change. The end of British colonial rule in 1947, the decline of the textile industry in the 1970s and 80s, and the liberalization policies instigated since 1991, which accelerated urban modernization and development, were all decisive in the evolution of the city. Accordingly, the city has been shaped by different forces: “Constructed by colonial rulers, reshaped by national leaders, and pulled in opposing directions by the global economy, [Mumbai has] been viewed as both [a location] of imperialist impositions and sources of indigenous power” (Bora and Mokashi-Punekar, 2011: 154). Following independence, urbanization processes intensified in Mumbai. Administratively, the city is known as ‘Greater Mumbai’ (GM), which consists of the peninsula (city district) and the suburbs (suburban districts), and is administered by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). Between 1960 and 2001, population growth was between 42 % and 20 % per decade (Figure 5.2‑1). At the time of the last census, in 2011, 12.4 million people were living in Mumbai on an area of 458 km2; with an average of 27,160 inhabitants per km2 (and up to 110,000 inhabitants per km2 in some metropolitan areas), the city has one of the highest population densities in the world. Future growth will take place above all in the suburban districts and the extended metropolitan area, the Greater Mumbai Urban Agglomeration, or GMUA (MCGM, 2014). The GMUA was founded in 1973 and, in addition to Greater Mumbai, encompasses seven other municipal corporations (Thane, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Mira, Bhiwandi, Navi Mumbai, and Vasai Virar City) and nine municipal councils. The GMUA extends across 4,355 km2 and, in 2011, had a population of 18.4 million inhabitants. Mumbai displays the typical characteristics of a megacity in an emerging economy: high population growth, a large informal sector, an overstretched infrastructure, and manifestations of ecological overload (Jain et al., 2013). At the same time, there are severe socio-eco-