Consolidation - From Southern Urbanism to Southern e-Governance

Centralised service delivery has been a long-standing approach in urban areas, with historical scholarship advocating for its effectiveness and efficiency. However, here, in the global South, merging existing socio-technical systems and infrastructure is a more practical and feasible solution for improving public service delivery than building new centralised systems. In Southern Urban Theory, this phenomenon is referred to as Consolidation. This paper argues that much like Southern Urbanism, Southern e-governance also utilises this phenomenon of consolidation and develops a framework to understand this with various cases from India. This framework embodies the placeness approach, recognising that consolidation is a process shaped by the unique characteristics of the place in which it operates. This framework raises critical questions about the nature and preference for consolidation that can advance research and practice. Further, the paper highlights the intrinsically sustainable nature of e-governance consolidation and how this can be better manifested in design and implementation.