Developing economies: Getting ready to reach a higher level??

Dr B K Mukhopadhyay

(The author is a Professor of Management and Economics, formerly at IIBM (RBI) Guwahati. He can be contacted at m.bibhas@gmail.com)

Keeping in view the fast changing global economic, business, and financial
environment, the necessity has arisen to look at planning as a rescuer’s role. The complexities galore and traditional risk management techniques are fast losing ground, calling for reinforcing the process through more global cooperation and attaching top importance to the emerging economies, which possess the latent potentialities to ultimately counter and balance the topsy-turvy global economy. Regional planners, therefore, have been changing their approach to tackle the hitherto unforeseen challenges, including the adaptation and mitigation processes to deal with climate change.

The Reality: Complexities Galore

BRICS do deserve credit for the higher level they have been striving to reach for decades together. When even the G20 came into existence, it was rightly asked from many quarters why South Africa had not been given the place it deserved, side by side with the other members of the group. A similar trend is being noticed in the case of other upcoming economies like Vietnam, Ethiopia, Latvia, and the like.

At this juncture, the main point is that the developed bloc, to serve their own interests, should see that the laggards are coming up. They get the market. They park the fund. They get the places to bolster international business ventures. 

The question looms large! Is it still not the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population lives close to the perilous border of bare subsistence?

Urgent need to tackle population

The world population is 6.8 billion; the world population is increasing by 77,000,000, or 1 to 2 percent each year; 82 percent live in developing countries, where the population increases 1.4 percent per year; more than 1 billion people do not have adequate food; at least 1.4 billion live on less than $1.25 a day; almost half the world population lives on less than $2.50 a day; the price of food has risen dramatically: the cost of rice was 28 percent more in 2008 than in 2006; 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger in Asia and the Pacific; 265 million in Sub-Saharan Africa; 53 million in Latin America and the Caribbean; 42 million in the Near East and North Africa; and 15 million in developed countries. Asia is home to two-thirds of the world’s poor; every fifth person lives on less than $1 a day. In India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, more than 30 percent of people live on less than $1 a day, and most poor people live in areas where the land is marginal and ecosystems are fragile. Look at cities like Dhaka, Manila, etc. 

This, no doubt, has been the case for a long, long time, but only recently has it attracted the interest and attention it deserves.

Today, the poverty in which a great mass of people live stands at the very top. World economic problems demand lasting solutions. Though the impoverished countries, no doubt, themselves place economic development first on the priority list of goals, it has come to be widely believed that the world’s population is suffering from deprivation and seething with discontent, while the remainder of the world lives in relative affluence. Higher commodity prices have been hampering the further growth of these economies in particular.

Reinforcing efforts

It is, of course, a special point to note that developed countries, individually and collectively, through various international organizations, have joined the battle and declared the intention to help raise the standard of living of the poorer countries. In fact, the world’s current crises have forced their way onto the agenda of the Group of Eight (G8), whose importance has diminished with the rise of emerging economies like China and India, who noted that the recovery was becoming more “self-sustained,” yet the pace of world growth could further affect the developing countries [many of which are implementing austerity measures at home to rein in budget deficits and trim public debt and are willing to stump up to help the Arab World’s emerging democracies].

It is all innovention [innovation + invention] days ahead. The silver lining—a number of revamped ideas is gaining ground.

In the UK, regional planning bodies opted for preparing Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) to succeed Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) as the frameworks guiding local development planning—the transition from RPG to RSSs being one of the outcomes of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Another outcome on this score is the abolition of the structure-planning function of English county councils, potentially resulting in a strategic vacuum in sub-regional planning. The Regional Assemblies (together with Regional Development Agencies and Government Offices) are needed to address the sub-regional agenda, providing strategic leadership in what are often diverse and complex regional settings, examining both the changing policy context in this region and the means by which a hitherto regional—and top-down—policy agenda is being ‘spatialized’ to address sub-regional diversity.

Again, the very question of managing the region’s water resources has to be answered, [including the flows and levels in any water body; control of taking, using, damming, and diversion of water, the allocation of water, and the control of discharges]. In carrying out these functions, Environment Canterbury gathered information, undertook research on fresh water resources, and monitored, reported, and made available information about the state of the whole or any part of the fresh water environment ( vide Resource Management Act 1991). In this respect, Environment Canterbury is the lead agency for this work and works in collaboration with landholders, industry groups, territorial authorities, and other agencies.

The model remains equally applicable to the emerging economies at this juncture. Managing the region’s water resource, including the flows and levels in any water body; the control of taking, use, damming, and diversion of water; the allocation of water; and the control of discharges is, obviously enough, a huge task that calls for systematic, continuous, and spontaneous processes—that loom large as a challenge before the regional planners indeed!

Examples in related fields are not far to seek. The discipline of Town and Regional Planning forms part of the built environment profession and provides a significant service element to the construction sector. The profession underpins the development work of local government in South Africa in particular and contributes to housing projects, infrastructural development, township establishment, local economic development, industrial development, environmental considerations, rehabilitation, revitalization, urban renewal, and rural development, amongst others, and has local, regional, and continental reach.

The importance of this profession [ Town and Country Planning]  is articulated in the development agenda of government policy and impacts society at large. In a number of emerging economies, the shortage of skilled planners has been identified as one of the challenges for the planning profession, especially with the advent of new municipal structures and the economic and social development challenges of poverty, unemployment, housing, and service delivery. Similarly, the 9 percent economic growth rate target set by India will continue to put pressure on human resource capacity in the built environment.

So, the Department of Town and Regional Planning has to understand the developmental challenge in the built environment and rural areas and attempt to make a meaningful contribution to meet the reconstruction and development needs of the profession.

The case of South Africa, which is undergoing a transition to democracy, may be seen. This transition has brought to the fore numerous socio-political and economic problems. These problems are characterized by increasing rates of urbanization, a lack of housing, homelessness, growing unemployment, a lack of facilities, economic deprivation of sections of our population, and many more. It is in this changing environment that the planning profession must carry out its work. This poses enormous problems and places a great deal of responsibility on planning theorists, practitioners, and technicians alike. 

As things stand now, metropolitan regions are now a reality in developing countries. Kenya is not an exception. The Nairobi metropolitan region presents great development potential in Kenya and the East African region. The metropolitan region is set to be an international business and service hub. In order to fully achieve this development potential, the metropolitan authorities in such economies must prepare a strategic spatial plan and, at the same time, invest in improved human welfare, housing, infrastructure, and transport services. Simultaneously, it is also important to have an effective governance structure. Nairobi metropolitan strategy has important lessons for other regions.