Pathways of industrialization exploring the impact of policy on industrial growth and urbanization in India

Abstract

Industrialization is the process in which a primarily agricultural area transforms into one centered around manufacturing goods and services. It occurs after the relocation of a large industrial plant to a previously rural area and, if left unregulated, can grow to monopolize the natural resources of a region to the detriment of the surrounding community. (Sengupta, Bandyopadhyay, Roy, van Westen, & van der Veen, 2016) Industrialization also accelerates regional urbanization by incentivizing worker migration. Unchecked or poorly planned urbanization can lead to insufficient public services and slum housing developments as the population increases more rapidly than the municipality is able to accommodate. (Barve, Kenney, & Ojha, n.d.) This is especially pertinent in India, where many areas are quickly urbanizing, and where water and sanitation services and urban planning can be non-existent in rural areas and cash-strapped regions do not have the ability to create or expand services in response to rapid population growth. (Raparthi, 2015) This thesis explores how policy can impact industrialization and its effects and, subsequently, impact the urbanization process. Through the construction of a modeling approach it examines: how regions attract industry, how that attraction translates to the opening of industry in a new location, the ensuing effects of new industry in a region, and how policy can alter these processes. The goal of this examination is to assist policymakers in determining legislation that support better integration between industry and urban development and mitigate the negative impacts of industrialization. To simulate the growth of industrial development, and the impact of that growth on the region, the modeling approach characterizes the attractiveness of a region using multi attribute utility analysis (MAUA) and then uses projections of industrial growth rates and regional characterization to allocate new industry locates there to capture the impact industrial openings have on regional attributes. Methods of policy intervention are examined at each of these steps. The author applies this methodology to the district of Jajapur, an up-and-coming industrial region in northeast India, as a case study of the impact on policies on urbanization. To do this the model characterizes Jajapur's regional attributes in comparison with the other regionals available to industrial location, and matches it with new industry based on its relative attractiveness. The author simulates different industrial and urban development futures for Jajapur based on a selection of legislative policies, and examines the impact of those futures on Jajapur's quality of life metrics.