Reverse urbanisation - A blessing in disguise
CA Balaji Aravamuthan
CEO Advisor | Managing Partner - Suvarchas Technologies | Founder - Datacharya.ai | Data-Driven Profitability | Bridging the Data Gap | DPDP & Compliance
There are many topics around urbanisation and its hazards, sustainable urbanisation, poorly planned urbanisation, effects of urbanisation, urbanisation management strategies etc., and just to put things in perspective see the following link of wiki. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country
For almost 178 countries out of 228 countries, urbanisation % goes from 40 % to 100%. So it is not a new problem of the world. However Covid situation pressed refresh button and is providing us an opportunity to revisit this gross imbalance with fresh pair of eyes and see whether the current adversity can disrupt this positively and set right balance of opportunities. This article is written with the objective of sharing some of my inference and possibilities. #urbanisation # reverseurbanisation #covid19
Before getting into reverse urbanisation possibilities here is an interesting news "3 out of 10 people moving from cities to rural areas could be carrying coronavirus: Centre to SC". With 34.9% of urbanisation in India that is around 9% possibilities. It may be a temporary phenomenon (really?) if there is no sustainable alternatives are provided to them. In my view the majority of their composition should be labour (mostly semi-skilled ) community to begin with. This can positively be converted to skilled white collar jobs migration due to Digital WFH possibilities. If we can move that needle towards less occupied area (home town) that will grossly help sustainable spread of people. #digitalwfh.
Following Pros and cons can happen in the near future due to this but in the long run it will improve the overall ecological balance of world.
Pros:
- Digital adoption
- Establishment of sustainable rural infrastructure
- Low cost of operation
- Ecological balance
- Back to Nature.
- Revenue spread within Geography will not be skewed.
- Pave way for overall expansion - Nature tourism, cultural upliftment, infrastructure strengthening, self sustainability are long term course corrections.
Cons:
- Poor education system (short term. Can be mitigated through remote digital learning)
- Poor hospital facilities (short term. Government sponsored program should happen immediately to mitigate this)
- Cost imbalance for existing. This is certainly not a good news for the cost of living of existing citizens. However it will also throw allied opportunities towards overall standard of living.
- City cost of labour will grow as demand will over shadow supply. For example Total investment in fixed assets in Beijing is US$126.11 billion and if reverse urbanisation is reality all these return on investment on these fixed assets will take more time compared to pre-covid.
In a nutshell, we witness this reverse urbanisation due to covid which may not be a permanent shift. To make it permanent (as it bears the overall sustainable well being) State and Central governments should join hands with companies with suitable policies to reduce further skew in urbanisation. This is a golden opportunity before us to do a detailed study and take appropriate actions.
IT Leadership | Digital Transformation Expert | Technology Strategy & Innovation | MBA
4 年Sir this is good thoughts and great opportunity to solve many problems using technology. The good education and good medical facilities should be provided to all and digital technology can solve this problem. The environment of human is already changed from physical to virtual due to social media and it is irrespective of village or city.
Data Architech-Operations at Bekaert
4 年Nice one. With digital disruption reverse urbanization is not far from reality and thanks to covid-19 crisis, it has thought the leaders and organizations what wfh can do. With this trend becoming new normal and cashbflow in rural areas as rightly mention by you technology can help break new grounds.
Cloud Delivery Transformation at Hewlett Packard Enterprise
4 年A pertinent point to consider during this crisis Balaji. The current rate of urbanisation is close to 40% and has been accelerating in the last decade or so. We can slow down through digital adoption and provide sufficient opportunities for employment and be inclusive as well. This will also reduce the stress on the current infrastructure and provide for equitable development and consumption of resources.
Award-winning CIO | HEAD IT | Technology Evangelist | 3 decades in IT Mgmt| Ex. Aditya Birla group, UPL, JK | Digital Transformation | Cloud | ERP, Enterprise Apps | Data-Driven | IT Security | Speaker | Mentor and Coach
4 年Well said sir, When we failure to protect the earth, Nature do its on cycle to protect it. Whether it related to back to village, cleaning of ravers or pollution control etc..
Head - IT (Global Information Services) | Business & Technology Transformation | M&A | Integrations | Mentoring
4 年Very well thought and Covid 19 definitely made us re-engineer our thoughts. Hope Government too along with private participation, encourage infrastructure developments in rural area, particularly on IT, Healthcare and education. This will definitely bring positive shift and bring harmony. I would have gone back to my village if reliable internet connectivity is available