Abstract

The Indian national government has embraced the development of corridors between major Indian cities as a key development strategy: for example, work on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is already underway while a second corridor between Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai is being planned. This follows earlier policies like the development of the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South and East-West corridors that emphasised connecting the four major Indian metros. Focusing on particular sites along the Delhi-Mumbai corridor, this proposal will examine the impacts of this type of development on local and regional economies and communities. The development of the corridor has multiple stated goals, which include improving infrastructure, enabling exports, generating employment, and linking fast-growing regions to relatively poorer regions. However, here we intend to focus on the relationship between the development of the DMIC and urbanisation. Policy makers are increasingly focused on the critical importance of managing India’s urban transition to ensure the sustainability of the growth and inclusion agenda in the coming decades.