Towards equitable progress essays from a south asian perspective

South Asia Economic and Policy Studies K Locana Gunaratna Towards Equitable Progress Essays from a South Asian Perspective South Asia Economic and Policy Studies Series editors Sachin Chaturvedi, RIS for Developing Countries, New Delhi, India Mustafizur Rahman, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dhaka, Bangladesh Abid Suleri, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan Saman Kelegama (1959–2017), Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), Colombo, Sri Lanka The Series aims to address evolving and new challenges and policy actions that may be needed in the South Asian Region in the 21st century It ventures niche and makes critical assessment to evolve a coherent understanding of the nature of challenges and allow/facilitate dialogue among scholars and policymakers from the region working with the common purpose of exploring and strengthening new ways to implement regional cooperation The series is multidisciplinary in its orientation and invites contributions from academicians, policy makers, practitioners, consultants working in the broad fields of regional cooperation; trade and investment; finance; economic growth and development; industry and technology; agriculture; services; environment, resources and climate change; demography and migration; disaster management, globalization and institutions among others More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15400 K Locana Gunaratna Towards Equitable Progress Essays from a South Asian Perspective 123 K Locana Gunaratna National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka Colombo Sri Lanka ISSN 2522-5502 ISSN 2522-5510 (electronic) South Asia Economic and Policy Studies ISBN 978-981-10-8922-0 ISBN 978-981-10-8923-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8923-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018935857 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 This work is subject to copyright All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd part of Springer Nature The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore To my parents Acknowledgements A book by Charles Abrams (1964) made a deep impression on me at the early stage of my career My more thorough exposure to Urban Planning and Spatial Economics happened later through academic interactions mainly with Profs Otto Koenigsberger, Lisa Peattie, Bill Doebele, Laurence Mann, Michael Woldenberg, Kusuma Gunawardena, Percy Silva, and John Turner I mention them here with much respect and appreciation A few have encouraged me to deliver lectures at specific institutions An earlier version of Chap was an address delivered in 1996 to the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) On that occasion, I was particularly encouraged by the generous words of three eminent scientists: Dr Wijesekera and Profs Dahanayake and Indraratna Subsequently, Prof Basnayake invited me to deliver an oration in 2002—an event in a series of annual orations established to honor the memory of a much respected teacher of medicine who had an abiding concern for ethics in science It gave me an opportunity to research the material which resulted later in my writing of Chap The material in Chap too was initially presented as a lecture It was delivered in 2004 on the invitation of the Sri Lanka Economic Association Chapter 10 is based on an invited guest lecture delivered in 2010 to a group of Research Fellows in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies of Developing Areas of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology I acknowledge the efforts to get me there by Profs Ralph Gakenheimer and Bishwapriya Sanyal, both from MIT The subject matter of that lecture summarized the work over many years to prepare a national spatial policy by a government department of Sri Lanka under supervision by a statutory Technical Advisory Committee which I had the privilege of chairing—a position which I still hold The cooperation extended to me to gather the visual presentation material for that lecture by a few individuals in two organizations needs also to be acknowledged here They were: Gemunu Silva, Lakshman Jayasekera, Prasanna Silva, and Indu Weeraoori Dr C R Panabokke allowed me to use a map of ancient reservoirs which he had prepared and published vii viii Acknowledgements Dr Palitha Kohona, who was Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in 2010, was kind enough to give me a personal briefing in his office in New York on the status of the island’s ongoing claim to increase its Extended Oceanic Economic Zone Tannar Whitney helped me to prepare the graphics for that lecture Chapter 10 is a written version of that lecture which includes here many of its supporting illustrations This book would not be a reality if not for the encouragement given to me by the publisher, Springer, their reviewers and editors I also have to acknowledge my debt to two extraordinary women—Shanta, my wife, and Sarita, my daughter They, each in their own and very special ways, gave me a great deal of direct help and encouragement to stay on course and complete the task of writing this book Contents Introduction Reference Part I Basic Concerns Development: The Concept Preamble Main Concepts and Theories Early Revisions “Growth” “Development” Underdevelopment Resource Allocation Recent Revisions References 11 11 14 15 15 16 17 18 19 20 Sustainable Development: Some Philosophic and Ethical Concerns Preamble Some Philosophic Concerns References 23 23 24 28 Climate Change: The Scientific Consensus Preamble The Scientists’ Views A Report Commissioned by the World Bank References 31 31 32 34 37 Science, Ethics, and Development Preamble Some Views from South Asia 39 39 41 ix x Contents Science in the West Ethics in Science Ethical Crises in Science References 43 45 46 48 Managing Climate Change in South Asia Preamble Climate Change and South Asian Countries Sri Lanka Maldives Bangladesh India Pakistan Bhutan Nepal General Observations Climate and Culture Unpredictable Events Response to Disasters: Two Examples Needed Responses to Climate Change References 53 53 55 55 56 56 57 58 60 61 62 62 65 65 67 69 Managing Urbanization Preamble Discussion The Context Utopian Visions Theories from Spatial Economics Growth Center Theories The Theory of Duality Small and Mid-Sized Towns References 71 72 72 75 77 80 80 83 84 87 Urban Primacy Preamble The Case Studies Vietnam Myanmar Sri Lanka Mozambique Senegal Ghana 91 91 93 93 94 96 98 100 102 Part II Spatial Concerns 150 10 Concerns in Preparing a National Spatial Policy: A Case Study Fig 10.24 Existing and proposed railways Other Concerns Fig 10.25 Map of facilities for encouraging tourism 151 152 10 Concerns in Preparing a National Spatial Policy: A Case Study Fig 10.26 Map of the key spatial planning proposals References 153 References Sanyal B (ed) (2005) Comparative planning cultures Routledge, New York and London Stohr WB, Taylor DRF (eds) (1981) Development from above or below Wiley, New York Watson V (2012) Planning and the ‘stubborn realities’ of global south cities: some emerging ideas Plann Theor J 12(1) Part III Conclusions Chapter 11 A Summary and Conclusions After the Second World War, many colonized territories worldwide began to gain independence International institutions were established along with a body of Western scholarship concerned with “development” Internalized were theories on how national progress may be fostered Through schemes of monetary aid, loans, technical assistance, and education, the concept of development was promoted among various institutions and governments Extraordinary funding and effort have been expended since development efforts were begun in the newly emerging lowand middle-income countries (LMICs) While some progress is evident, large numbers in many of these countries have remained illiterate, entrenched in abject poverty vulnerable to disasters, debilitating disease, hunger, and untimely death This chapter is a summary of the book and its conclusions The book broadly concerns the LMICs with particular and specific reference to the countries of South Asia It is focused on identifying more scientific and alternative approaches to the needed process of development and to the specific challenges confronting these countries There is an emphasis here on the need for such spatial planning and changes in these countries to meet these current challenges The first chapter of the book is the introduction Thereafter, it is presented in three parts and their respective conclusions are included along with the summaries given below Part I Part I entitled “Basic Concerns” started with Chap and contained four other chapters Chap discussed the concept of “development” itself It reviewed the seminal ideas and theories that form the canons which were subsequently disseminated to the LMICs It examined these underlying ideas and theories for their scientific merit and contextual relevance As put together and used in the Social Science literature, these theories had relatively recent origins dating from the © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 K L Gunaratna, Towards Equitable Progress, South Asia Economic and Policy Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8923-7_11 157 158 11 A Summary and Conclusions immediate Post World War II period The chapter noted that these economic growth theories contained metaphoric references to biologic evolution where societies, regardless of their separate historic, geographic, and cultural contexts were expected to pass through a preordained sequence of recognizable stages This “stages” hypothesis involved the assumption that the social systems in all the LMICs must replicate in miniature the historical processes through which some of the industrialized societies had already passed The relevant conclusions drawn in this chapter were as follows: that this was an ahistoric stance that had at its base a weak and untested hypothesis; that the hypothesis had neither any justification to substantiate a claim that it has any basis in science; nor that it has general relevance to the LMICs and to the context of special concern here, namely, the countries of South Asia It was noted in Chap that, starting in the mid-1960s and progressing through the 1970s, an important revision had begun in regard to the advocacy of unbridled economic growth and industrialization; that the need for environmental sustainability in such a growth process had thus come to be recognized; and that awareness of the ecological consequences of economic growth has led to the current promotion of development in the LMICs as qualified by the word “sustainable” Noting that multiple environmental crises confront the world now with consequences that could in the extreme even threaten all life on earth, this chapter also sought to address the environmental challenges facing the LMICs It analyzed the philosophical concerns that arise within the new paradigm of “sustainable development” and focused on some of the environmental crises being faced currently by the entire world It was noted that the contention of some Western scholars now is that at least in the past few centuries, anthropocentrism with its many philosophic references to the origins of Western civilization in ancient Greece, has become a dominant attitude in the Western world, and that this dominant attitude is a cause for serious concern It was further noted that non-anthropocentric philosophy is already entrenched in most of the Asian cultures Chapter was concerned with the facts as presented by scientists on the subject of climate change It was mentioned that following the Rio Summit of 1992, two international organizations, namely, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), were empowered to perform special tasks They were, respectively, to gather scientific information on climate change and to facilitate consensus among countries to stabilize greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere so as not to further aggravate global warming It was noted that carbon dioxide constitutes about 75% of the GHGs with the rest being composed of three other types of gases It is now well recognized that no country will be immune to the impacts of climate change The most affected will be the LMICs Sea level rise will impact adversely upon small islands and river delta regions Increases in tropical cyclones and in drought conditions in arid areas of the tropical LMICs will be experienced frequently Major flooding can be expected which will not only affect food supply but also cause disease epidemics Increased acidification of ocean waters will cause Part I 159 damage to marine life and consequently to livelihoods and food supply Furthermore, large shocks to agriculture may even lead to disrupting and dislocating some populations This 4th chapter was concerned also with the unprecedented rate of global warming since the 1950s It was noted there that many international UN conferences have been held over almost two decades to discuss and find ways of dealing with the adversities of climate change While human causation is recognized by the scientific community, there are influential political voices in at least one polluting countries that are in denial The views of some of the respected scientific organization which support human causation are discussed It was also noted that there are a few Arctic nations that will share some benefits from global warming and climate change Nevertheless, it is recognized that almost all other countries will be adversely affected by these phenomena and that the worst to be affected will be the tropical LMICs An international agreement has been reached after deliberations over many years with clear definitions on what needs to be done However, there is at present no guarantee that the commitments made will be honored by each and all of the relevant countries Chapter contained a foray into the epistemology of science to explore the role of scientific and professional ethics as likely factors influencing sustainable progress in the LMICs It was recognized that a commitment to science and technology is essential for the LMICs to generate economic growth, and also that ethical convictions are necessary for that growth to be both inclusive and environmentally sustainable One conclusion was that the success of such efforts depends on the extent of consumption of goods and services and on the types of technology and energy utilized for their production Another conclusion was that controlling these factors is neither easy nor popular and that political leaders cannot always be relied upon to act on this matter with the needed foresight It was thus concluded that scientists, nongovernmental organizations, and professionals governed by ethical concerns need to take upon themselves the leadership in educating the public and creating a collective ethical consciousness It was also noted in this chapter that Science is manifest today in two versions: “Classical Science” and “Modern Science” that the former had its roots in the “European Renaissance” and was systemized starting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; that the technological advances based on science that accompanied the Industrial Revolution in the West, strengthened the belief in science; and that the European colonial powers exported Classical Science to their dependencies in Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries presenting them as being of European origin and perfected in the West However, the fact was noted that there are many important Asian influences in Classical Science even from its beginnings and also in Modern Science This fifth chapter also recognized that an individualistic quest for economic power and the pursuit of knowledge was associated with the European Renaissance; that this quest even overrode the moral law in human conduct; and that by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a consolidating impact of the 160 11 A Summary and Conclusions Industrial revolution on Classical Science; and thus, that discrete science-based professional disciplines which had begun to emerge in the West sought legal recognition; that this need in the Western democratic traditions required guarantees that each profession functions in the public interest; that thus, in the absence of an overarching moral code, it soon became mandatory for each professional discipline to have its own code of conduct When these professions in their “Western” guise came to be known and practiced in the LMICs of Asia, they were already prepackaged complete with their respective culture-specific codes of conduct The discussions in Chap also related to the ethical concerns that arose with the industrialized mass production of weapons begun in Europe with the First and Second World Wars The chapter noted that even much more destructive weapons of mass destruction were developed and stockpiled by the West and the Soviet Union during the “Cold War” arms race It was recognized that the participating scientists had no code of ethics strong enough to resist their own governments; and that in this atmosphere in the 1950s and 1960s only a few notable independent scientists were brave enough to protest and to inform the public about the dangers that could be caused to all life on earth—dangers from nuclear weapons that were hidden from the public and often denied by politicians on both sides of the Cold War Some significant changes have occurred in recent decades in the relationship among the Cold War contestants of the 1950s Nevertheless, the numerous “flash points” have arisen and still continue to arise since then in various geographic locations from time to time These were noted as chilling reminders that the danger of a minor conflict escalating even into a nuclear war is still ever-present Other important ethical challenges than warfare also confronted Science in the recent past A serious ethical situation is before the scientists in today’s environmental crises In Chap it was observed that if impending disasters are to be averted, scientists have a major part to play; that codes of conduct behind science will have to be substantially strengthened to resonate with an overarching non-anthropocentric cultural code of ethics; that such a cultural influence is being suggested now by some Western thinkers as an urgent necessity for their own countries; and that adherence to a similar cultural influence, being more indigenous, should have an even greater relevance to all industrialized and rapidly industrializing countries of Asia including those in South Asia It was also observed that since the Meiji restoration, Japan, an Asian country, did adopt and follow the Western path to industrialization quite unaware at that time about serious consequential global impacts upon the environment; that today, India and China are two of the three very large and rapidly industrializing LMICs in Asia with markedly high economic growth potential It was noted as being most unfortunate that scientists, policy planners, advisor, and indeed the modern philosophers in these Asian countries, despite strong philosophic affiliations to non-anthropocentric cultures, have not striven hard enough to find appropriate paths to rapid national progress consonant with their great cultural heritage Part II 161 Part II Part II of the book entitled “Spatial Concerns” consists of Chaps 6–10 Chapter was concerned with the impact of climate change on South Asia There are eight countries that are usually identified as comprising South Asia Of them, seven, namely, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Nepal, are examined in this chapter They are as extreme a geographic variety as could be found anywhere globally They include tropical islands and other warm coastal areas, major rivers, flat river delta regions, vast plains, deserts, much hilly terrain, and some of the highest mountains in the world This sixth chapter briefly and generally examined each of these countries noting their climatic zones, the basics of their individual climatic feature in terms of temperature and precipitation, their main economic activities, and their dependence on weather patterns Thereafter, the chapter proceeded to discuss the impact of climate change on these countries South Asia is home to half the world’s population Its special vulnerability to climate change has to with its geography, the presence of substantial poverty, its food insecurity, and its multitude of undernourished people Temperature extremes and altered precipitation patterns, frequent deficit monsoons, abnormally high glacial melt in the Himalayan region, and consequent swelling of those rivers, intermittent floods, and droughts all cause frequent disasters These trends, which are expected to continue and intensify, cause a serious challenge to progress in these South Asian countries The adverse impact upon agriculture in all these countries and thus on their economies is and will continue to be profound It may thus be concluded that despite the very wide geographic and climatic variations among the countries of South Asia, all of them are seriously affected by climate change This happens due to unseasonal and unpredictable weather conditions that tend to occur All these countries including those in the mountainous Himalayan region are now more than in the past subject to floods and landslides Much of the adversity stems in consequence of the impact of these conditions upon agriculture in those countries Agriculture is important to all South Asian countries not only for their food security but also as it is a key component in their respective economies Their rural conditions, bad as they already are, are worsened, and thus, rural–urban migration is further encouraged Chapter highlighted that the scale and pace of urbanization today is unprecedented as experienced primarily in the LMICs It was recognized that many Western scholars have viewed urbanization as an inevitable, if not desirable product of development Therefore, efforts have generally converged in the LMICs on mitigating resultant problems through intra-urban interventions, rather than attempting to control its causative factors to reduce their adversities The writings on managing urbanization in this manner formed the subject matter of this chapter It also traced contemporary spatial planning theories to their origins and critically examined their relevance to LMICs There was also a brief mention of one of the theories concerned with the phenomena of “urban primacy” and its observable presence in the smaller among those countries The theory was seen to be of 162 11 A Summary and Conclusions fundamental relevance to the desired new spatial planning approach to deal with this problem in many LMICs Chapter focused and expanded on the theory relating to urban primacy which is seen as being of special relevance to the smaller LMICs An important conclusion is that urbanization, while it has its many benefits, also has its own serious consequences in the countries of South Asia and perhaps also in other LMICs It tends to denude the rural areas of the younger, more intelligent, and able-bodied members of their populations and has thus an unfavorable impact upon agriculture As mentioned earlier, agriculture is important not only for food security but also as it is a key component in the respective economies of the South Asian countries The condition of “Primacy” is observable as a phenomenon commonly found in the smaller South Asian countries and indeed found in most other smaller LMICs as well It reinforces marginalization of the rural populations through the strong encouragement it provides to urbanization in their respective countries Many LMICs have ancient monuments and sites of cultural significance South Asia abounds in such sites Conserving these often becomes a matter of prestige and cultural necessity receiving high priority in their respective national development programs Chapter relates to a cultural site of great importance nationally, regionally, and internationally having been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site The particular site is Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, which is situated in the southern plains of Nepal adjacent to the border with India Much work has been done since the Lumbini conservation project was launched with considerable UN assistance in 1970 A relevant and useful Master Plan had been prepared to provide a zoned spatial framework within which facilities for visitor may be located and conservation work may be pursued unhindered Due perhaps to the many and serious social and economic problems faced by the government of Nepal in recent decades, it is noted in this chapter that overall progress in conservation and construction has been delayed for long periods With the consequent changes in officials and lapses in institutional memory, some serious threats have arisen The most serious is the unauthorized encroachment and industrial activity that has been allowed to take place within and in close proximity to the Buffer Zone which could eventually jeopardize the entire project and place Lumbini’s status as a World Heritage Site at risk An equally serious threat is that there is an alternative proposal to create a city of more than 200,000 inhabitants with its spatial coverage over the entire Buffer Zone The chapter notes that the urgent need now is first for social scientists to quickly study the socioeconomic conditions and the population dynamics in the Buffer Zone; that based on these studies, expert spatial planning work is put to establish land use controls, relocate encroachers in carefully planned settlements nearby with active support from the government of Nepal, and relevant international agencies to lead quickly to reestablish the Buffer Zone to its original intended purpose Chapter 10 makes a case for the LMICs to define and make explicit their respective national urban and regional planning policies To help translate theory to practice, this chapter presents an environmentally predicated case study where some of the important spatial planning theories recommended in the book are embedded Part II 163 —a rare attempt in an LMIC to prepare such a policy with approval by stakeholders for implementation It is presented for its intrinsic value to concerned academics and professionals in the region It should be clearly evident from the chapters in Part II of this book that spatial planning is at the core of the important issues raised and is fundamental especially to the two case studies presented in Chaps and 10 These latter dealt, respectively, with conservation of cultural monuments and sites, on the one hand, and on the other, a national spatial policy The most important conclusions to be arrived at from all the presentations made in this book relates to the overarching need for inclusive and sustained progress; and that such progress does not follow automatically through the development effort as currently practiced in South Asia, nor perhaps in most LMICs; that the progress that does arise is at best highly and invariably spatially skewed and benefits only a few segments of the population; that the particular benefited segments are in all probability already privileged groups within a major city often a “primate city” located within an already relatively privileged region of the particular LMIC; that the process, with whatever benefits it brings to the country of concern, also automatically exaggerates further the existing spatial inequalities; that it creates serious disparities in income distribution as well as in the access provided to social infrastructure; and finally, that the urbanization process which could be very beneficial is thus forced to compound existing problems rather than solve them It is thus an important final conclusion in this book that the entire process of development through economic growth as practiced today in South Asia and indeed in most LMICs can succeed in achieving the objective of inclusive and sustainable growth only if the effort is coupled with and tempered by an environmentally sound national spatial strategy that is aimed specifically at the provision inter alia of economic opportunities along with the necessary social and economic infrastructure to generate genuine and lasting spatial equity Part III Part III of the book consists solely of Chap 11 which is this present summary of the contents of this book and of the conclusions that may be drawn from all of its chapters Appendix A South Asian Seminar on Small and Medium Sized Towns in Regional Development Organized in Kathmandu, Nepal by the Quaker International Affairs Programme in South Asia, New Delhi 9th–16th April 1978 Group II Report Metro Magnets and Small and Medium Sized Towns The group was also expected to reflect on whether small and medium sized towns in fact have a role to play in national/regional development The group, after some deliberation, agreed that the statement somewhat misidentified the principle issue, which was to consider what type of settlement pattern is called for in the separate countries of South Asia The group therefore proceeded to discuss this question The main points of agreement that emerged from the discussion are given below The question needs to be studied in relation to (a) the settlement patterns or national urban systems now existing in these countries, and how they came into being; and (b) the development goals and strategies of each of the separate countries concerned There are some important similarities in the existing settlement patterns of these countries especially as regards the dichotomous nature of the rural-urban relationship There are large primate cities on the one hand, and the rural hinterland on the other, with hardly any urban places of an intermediate scale in-between This pattern of settlements has resulted from the nature of the economies of these countries during the ‘pre-independence’ period The pattern, in general, persisted even after ‘independence’ because industries and other economic activities continued to gravitate to the primate cities to take advantage of the availability of infrastructure, skilled manpower, and economies of scale Thus, these settlement systems entered a ‘vicious cycle’ where the rural areas continued to be drained even further of manpower and resources, and the urban centres grew exponentially to such proportions that dis-economies of scale are now being felt © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 K L Gunaratna, Towards Equitable Progress, South Asia Economic and Policy Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8923-7 165 166 Appendix A: South Asian Seminar on Small and Medium Sized … The development goals for these countries are concerned not only with economic growth but also social goals such as equity and justice While in some cases development strategies call for industrialization, in all cases agricultural and rural development are given heavy weightage There is indeed a very deep concern about the equitable distribution of socio-economic benefits among the people at large, most of who live in the rural areas The existing settlement patterns bear little relevance to the development strategies in each of the countries, are therefore not conducive to, and may even hinder the achievement of development goals Thus, intervention by the national governments in each of the countries is essential to restructure the settlement patterns to make them relevant to the development strategies and facilitate the achievement of development goals In each of the countries, the re-structuring of the settlement pattern that is called for, involves the establishment of a number of urban places at an intermediate scale between the primate cities and the rural hinterland All of these towns will not be of the same size or function Ranking will be necessary according to the order of goods and services provided by each There can be little replicability, country to country, in the hierarchical levels of towns, or the forms the settlement systems may take These need to be based, in each case, on such considerations inter alia as: (a) Population characteristics and spread; (b) Resource endowment and distribution; (c) Transport technology Also, in each case, careful attention would have to be given to establishment of the minimum levels of adequacy of infrastructure in each of the urban hierarchical levels, to ensure viability The planning of such towns as are envisaged will necessitate a much improved database, sectoral integration and popular participation that what exists in each of the countries at present The intermediate scale towns are considered essential so that (a) they may act as service centres for agriculture, (b) distribution functions can be performed (c) mutually beneficial linkages will be established between the existing urban and rural economies, and enable the diffusion of knowledge and innovation Appendix B The Key Events That Led to Transforming the Town and Country Planning Department of Sri Lanka into the National Physical Planning Department The publication of the following documents: “A Case for an Explicit National Urban Policy” Economic Review, Colombo; Published: 1977 “Sri Lanka Urban Sector Profile” A report prepared by the Asian Development Bank (First Draft Published in 1988) Manila, January 1991 This document mentions (in Section V2d p 104) inter alia that the 1977 paper cited in key event above recommends the establishment of a national spatial planning agency; The Report of the Forum: “Towards a National Urban Policy for Sri Lanka” Institution of Town Planners in 1995 and the publication of its proceedings in 1997; and, The report of: The Presidential Task Force on Housing and Urban Development: 1997 This Task Force recommended that the Department not be disbanded but transformed to develop a National Spatial Plan for Sri Lanka © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2018 K L Gunaratna, Towards Equitable Progress, South Asia Economic and Policy Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8923-7 167 ... information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15400 K Locana Gunaratna Towards Equitable Progress Essays from a South Asian Perspective 123 K Locana Gunaratna National Academy... diseases, and poverty This book has been written from the analytical perspective of a South Asian Architect and Urban Planner with a professional career based in a South Asian country spanning... 161 163 Appendix A: South Asian Seminar on Small and Medium Sized Towns in Regional Development Organized in Kathmandu, Nepal by the Quaker International Affairs Programme in South Asia, New Delhi