Decentralization, pluralization, balkanization? Challenges for disaster mitigation and governance in Mumbai

This paper critiques the three interlinked but distinct processes of pluralization, decentralization, and balkanization in relating urban planning and governance problems to disaster mitigation and governance. Using flood-related disasters in Mumbai as a case study, the paper analyzes the disaster governance initiatives of urban and regional institutions in the Mumbai region. Balkanization of institutions and governance mechanisms pertaining to urban planning and disaster management is identified as a key barrier to effective decentralized disaster governance in the city and its region. Three types of balkanization are described and critiqued: a) spatial/geographical (balkanization of ecosystem and environmental management); b) sectoral (balkanization of urban governance sectors solid-waste, drainage and sewerage, pollution control, infrastructure); and c) institutional (balkanization of urban and disaster mitigation/management institutions). Attention to issues of scale and cross-institutional linkages are identified as key areas for addressing the balkanization problem. Issues of informality are foregrounded as contradictory features affecting the quality of decentralized disaster governance, and as one of the neo-liberal mechanisms of urban entrepreneurial governance. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.