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<p>Small towns act as important spaces for the growing urban population of India. Both the population size and density in these towns are accelerating at a much higher rate compared to big metropolitan cities. Among these emerging small towns, some are located in disaster-prone coastal areas and fragile delta regions. However, the ‘sustainable development’ debate is still limited to big metropolitan cities of India, leaving these small towns out of both the academic and the policy discourses. Through an in-depth analysis of the provision of affordable housing and urban basic services (UBS) in three small towns of the deltaic region of West Bengal, this article argues that there is a need for deeper understanding of environmental crisis in the small towns of deltaic and coastal regions to avoid future catastrophic conditions in these fragile regions. The article uses a broader framework of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 to analyze the situations of housing and three selected UBS. Based on empirical research comprising interviews using both semi-structured and open-ended questionnaires with 208 households, 21 municipal officials, and 52 councillors, the research analyzes the ground conditions as well as the policy gaps in the housing and in the provision of UBS. The research reveals a clear disconnect between policy intent and its implementation at the local level. Citizen’s feedback is a significant component of this research, which helped us to understand the concept of bottom-up sustainability at the city level. Increased rate of migration from the highly fragile and disaster-prone rural hinterland is an additional barrier in the sustainable development of small towns located in environmentally sensitive regions like deltas and coastal areas. The findings also highlight the need for integrated urban development strategy that prioritize infrastructure development, improved housing conditions, and effective service delivery in deltaic towns. The major contribution of this article is to fill the research gap on sustainable cities in the context of small towns, especially located in highly fragile ecosystem regions like deltas.</p>

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The sustainability of small towns in deltaic West Bengal: housing and urban basic services

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年8月4日

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  • Babusona Gharami,
  • Gopa Samanta

摘要

Small towns act as important spaces for the growing urban population of India. Both the population size and density in these towns are accelerating at a much higher rate compared to big metropolitan cities. Among these emerging small towns, some are located in disaster-prone coastal areas and fragile delta regions. However, the ‘sustainable development’ debate is still limited to big metropolitan cities of India, leaving these small towns out of both the academic and the policy discourses. Through an in-depth analysis of the provision of affordable housing and urban basic services (UBS) in three small towns of the deltaic region of West Bengal, this article argues that there is a need for deeper understanding of environmental crisis in the small towns of deltaic and coastal regions to avoid future catastrophic conditions in these fragile regions. The article uses a broader framework of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 to analyze the situations of housing and three selected UBS. Based on empirical research comprising interviews using both semi-structured and open-ended questionnaires with 208 households, 21 municipal officials, and 52 councillors, the research analyzes the ground conditions as well as the policy gaps in the housing and in the provision of UBS. The research reveals a clear disconnect between policy intent and its implementation at the local level. Citizen’s feedback is a significant component of this research, which helped us to understand the concept of bottom-up sustainability at the city level. Increased rate of migration from the highly fragile and disaster-prone rural hinterland is an additional barrier in the sustainable development of small towns located in environmentally sensitive regions like deltas and coastal areas. The findings also highlight the need for integrated urban development strategy that prioritize infrastructure development, improved housing conditions, and effective service delivery in deltaic towns. The major contribution of this article is to fill the research gap on sustainable cities in the context of small towns, especially located in highly fragile ecosystem regions like deltas.