What Ails the Urban in the ‘Emerging Economies?’

The editors of the volume, Urban Housing, Livelihoods and Environmental Challenges in Emerging Economies, state their aim as “an attempt to understand the issues of urban livelihoods, housing and environment in their connectedness” (p 3). The volume covers case studies from six emerging economies—Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Africa, and Thailand. The geographical scope of the book is limited to the experiences of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries along with Thailand; hence the term “emerging economies” in the title is misleading since it excludes the experiences of several other countries that fall in this category. The category “emerging economies” is itself fluid and needs to be interpreted with caution. Several of these countries are now led by right-wing leaders and are likely to slip in or out of this category over a period of time. Further, some countries that were formerly classified as “emerging” may actually have “emerged” as major global market players in the current context.

There are 14 chapters in the book that are divided into four themes—housing provision by the state, redevelopment of slums, informal housing, and the right to the city and environmental re(con­fig­ura­tions) of urban infrastructure, housing, and livelihood. It is a compilation of selected papers from a conference held at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. The themes are broad-based and provide a good coverage of the environmental, housing, and livelihood challenges being faced in selected “emerging economies.” The contributors are well-known academics and practitioners in the field of urban studies.