3. The Research Context: India and the Megacity of Hyderabad

India has been facing rapid transformation processes for about the last two and a half decades. One of the most critical manifestations and drivers of these changes is economic growth, which is a consequence of external (globalisation) and internal factors (liberalisation and economic reform since the early 1990s) – both interrelated. Along with economic development, there are other dimensions of social and environmental change, such as rapid urbanisation, rising incomes, a maturing young workforce, emergence of a new and rapidly growing middle class, and associated social-cultural changes. These apparently positive developments involve a multiplicity of interrelated processes and mechanisms that directly and indirectly create social, ecological, and political risks and challenges. For instance, the social effects of economic development have to be looked at from two sides. On the one hand, the last two decades of growth have led to an escalator effect, which has lifted large parts of the poor out of poverty. However, on the other hand, social disparities have grown substantially – between different regions and between urban and rural areas. Moreover, the fast character of change and the lack of effective institutions have led to tremendous social and environmental risks and challenges. And, as a form of “umbrella effect”, most of these changes take place in urban areas in a concentrated manner, with the consequence of powerful feedback mechanisms that further drive urbanisation and serve as a pull factor for rural-to-urban migration. Hyderabad is taken as a representative example for many other megacities in India. This city defines the geographic frame for an analysis of processes that transcend physical-spatial boundaries by far. Such concentration, however, allows that the manifest locational aspects anchoring these processes on the ground are not lost sight of in the analysis.