Urbanization and National Urban Policy in India and China: a Comparative Analysis

The course of urbanization in India and China is notable not only for the scale, but also for the different role of the state. Despite the abundance of materials, comparative studies are scarce: local urbanists only passionate about national processes, while foreigners could lack a deep knowledge of the context. The pace of urbanization of the two countries, which was on a par for a long time, diverged drastically after the beginning of market reforms. According to official data, the share of citizens in China is almost twice as high as in India, though due to the differences in the criteria, the real gap could be less. Each country possesses six megacities larger than 10 million people, but the Indian urban system as a whole is less structurally balanced. The standards of living, infrastructure development and global integration of the Chinese urban centers are higher than those of the Indian counterparts. In accordance with international practice, both countries have adopted guidelines for the cities development. The Indian “Ten Urban Sutras” (2018) are advisory recommendation, mainly devoted to urban planning and management. Their implementation depends fully on the state governments. The coverage of China’s “newtype urbanization” (2014) is much wider. Its main goal is to increase the number of urban residents while limiting the size of the largest cities. The main tool is the reform of the registration system (hukou). This is a comprehensive national program: implementation is coordinated by the high-level interministerial working group, the goals are mandatory for local authorities. The differences in the regulation of urbanization correspond to differences in political systems, and their analysis is important in the context of studying the modernization pathways of developing countries.

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