Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 8 - 2, 24 - 44, April - June 2011 Kapil Kumar Gavsker 24 Kapil Kumar Gavsker, has done M. Phil. in Regional Studies from University of Hyderabad and pursuing Ph. D. in Regional Studies. Email: gavsker4@gmail.com Urban Restructuring and Change: Planning, Development Practices and Impacts on the Urban Poor Kapil Kumar Gavsker abstract Urbanization in the emerging economies like India is taking place at an accelerated rate. Urban growth in cities of India is uneven where some are growing faster than others. Current restructuring of urban areas to prepare themselves for the growing global economic demands and providing better infrastructural facilities for smooth functioning of neo-liberal agenda had changed the direction and tasks of urban planning. These transformations in the metropolitan cities have severe impacts and implications on urban space and urban poor localities in particular while affecting the spatial organization of cities. 1. IntroduCtIon Urbanization is a process which has spatial dimensions. Urbanization is a natural part of development. The urban population is the function of both migration and natural increase of the existing population. Population shifts take place only when certain development is realized and human power is required for functioning. Therefore, urbanization and industrialization are closely associated and had strong relation in the earlier phase of urban growth. It was industrial development which showed a way for modernization both of society and economy. Smart and Smart (2003) made it clear while noting that the rapid growth of cities after 1800 was possible because with industrialization cities became centers of production. Economies of scale in manufacturing produced vast agglomerations with all the disorder and human misery described so well by Engels and Dickens. Transportation and other facilities increased the attraction of cities for new industries, and growing populations created demand for services. Similarly, modernization was considered to be achieved only with the industrial growth and urban developments. Although India had long series of historical changes followed by uneven development of urban centres during different kingdoms, the colonial processes reinforced it in different ways and urban centres served as places of economic growth and socio-cultural development. What is unique about the urbanization in developing countries is the high degree of concentration, the share of large metropolitan areas to total urban population, characterizes rapid urbanization in many developing countries. It is associated with colonial legacy of current urban processes and continuous importance of large urban centres in economic, technological, political and socio-cultural