Urban Inequalities: measurement and characterization using infrastructure as a lens

Abstract:

Urbanization and inequality are deeply intertwined. However, characterizing urban inequalities is challenging due to the multiple dimensions which underpin the notions of urbanization and inequality. These conceptual difficulties are further complicated by the limited availability of socio-economic data. In this study, we posit infrastructural distributions as a lens to study urban inequalities. Using a comparative analysis of South Africa and India—two countries that differ in their levels of socio-economic inequality—we ask four specific research questions: Do infrastructural distributions exhibit generalizable patterns? What is the best empirical measure of infrastructural distributions to assess inequality? Does an infrastructure-based measurement of inequalities corroborate with known differences in socio-economic inequalities between South Africa and India? How do inequalities differ between urban areas in South Africa and India? We use census and VIIRS nighttime lights (NTL) datasets to examine these questions. From simulating infrastructural growth and examining census and NTL datasets, we show that changes in the mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of infrastructural distributions exhibit a Kuznets-type, inverted-U curve, under the assumption that infrastructural growth in all regions is subjected to an upper bound. Our results suggest spatial heterogeneity in infrastructural distributions, as a proxy measure of inequalities. Based on these results, we develop a generalizable inequality-measurement framework and apply it to South Africa and India. Our results show that inequalities measured from census and NTL datasets are consistent with inequalities along socio-economic dimensions, between the two countries. We also find more significant inequalities associated with urban areas in South Africa than in India. By highlighting reciprocal relationships between infrastructural distributions and socio-economic inequalities, this study suggests that infrastructure is one dimension that can unravel the inequality implications of the global urban transition.