Kala Seetharam Sridhar
Biographic Data
| ID | 233336 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kala Seetharam Sridhar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kala Seetharam |
| FAMILY NAME | Sridhar |
| SIGNATURE | SRIDHAR K S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institute for Social and Economic Change |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7739-9297 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Impact of gentrification on transgender safe spaces in Bengaluru, India
This paper examines the socio-cultural impact of gentrification on transgender safe spaces in Bengaluru, India. Based on an intergenerational ethnography, it finds that the gradual erosion of transgender safe spaces due to gentrification-led redevelopment has caused a distinctive socio-cultural, moral, and spatio-political dispossession from established ways of life among diverse transgender communities. This is experienced through displacement o…
Urban poverty beyond ‘slums’
Indian urban poverty research identifies slums as pockets of poverty, but official sources in developing countries typically underestimate poverty in and overlook poverty outside slum areas. In this research, deprived areas of Bengaluru outside of officially recognised slums are identified. An Index of Multiple Deprivation (in human, financial and physical capital) is estimated and mapped at the ward level. The research finds that deprivations ar…
Governing pandemics
Urban form in India 1975–2015
Is Your City Too Big? Causes of Urban Primacy in India
In this article, we examine the degree of urban primacy and understand what explains urban primacy in the Indian states. We estimated Zipf’s law for Indian states for 2001 and 2011. We then regressed the urban population in the largest city in each state as dependent on various factors. We find Kerala had the least primacy as of 2011, whereby its biggest city contained only 5% of its urban population. Based on the second-stage regression, we find…
Understanding the Digital Platform Economy
This article answers the question: What is the effect of Airbnb on rents and housing prices? Based on theory and empirical evidence, we expect that in cities where Airbnb is active, rental accommodation and housing would be relatively more expensive. This is because we assume that such units were withdrawn from the housing market and excess capacity of houses can be used. We distinguish between the rents of one- , two- , and three-bedroom apartme…
Determinants of Own Revenues in Urban Local Bodies
Our objective in this article is to understand the determinants of sustainable (own source) revenues of cities and empirically estimate it in the context of an econometric model. This article makes an attempt to understand the determinants of own revenues for ULBs in India, taking the case of a prominent state, Karnataka. We empirically examine the determinants of own source revenues, controlling for endogeneity of several variables, using valuab…
Mobility, job accessibility and welfare from jobs in Bengaluru,India
This study draws on a large household survey to identify the effective labour market of Bengaluru, India, the accessibility of its jobs and the degree to which they are welfare-enhancing. The average journey to work was 28 min, implying that Bengaluru’s effective labour market had increased since 2001. The survey showed that 81% of jobs were accessible within 20 min, while the reported reservation wage was found to depend on age, education and cu…
Is India’s urbanization really too low
In this paper, two questions are examined: Is India’s definition of urbanization conservative? What would happen if India used a less restrictive definition? To answer the first question, a simple ordinary least squares model is estimated. For 50% of the comparable countries considered, including India, the actual level of urbanization is below the level predicted by the model, suggesting a conservative definition. To answer the second question, …
Urbanization and Carbon Emissions in India and China
This article understands, from an empirical perspective, the determinants of carbon emissions, using internationally comparable data, and cross-national regressions for India and China. Next, it explores the relationship between urban land use regulations and carbon emissions in India’s cities. Urbanization has no impact on carbon emissions per capita or per unit of geographical area. Electricity consumption in China and electricity produced from…
The Role of Road Infrastructure and Air Pollution in the Recent Suburbanization of India’s Cities
This article re-examines the suburbanization of Indian cities by calculating population density gradients, for a large number of urban agglomerations, using recent data and Mills’ two-point method. In the next step, we estimate multiple regression models to explore the determinants of suburbanization. This study presents several methodological advances over previous research, by incorporating new measures of transport infrastructure, air pollutio…
Suburbanization of Indian Cities
In this article, we make an attempt to understand the population and employment suburbanization of a mid-tier Indian city—Gulbarga, Karnataka. We estimate population and employment density gradients for the city for two periods and find the evidence of suburbanization. While we are unable to explain the suburbanization, our anecdotal examination of the ratio of unemployment rate in the central city to that of the suburbs indicate the suburbanizat…
Is Urban Poverty More Challenging than Rural Poverty? A Review
In this article, we ask the question as to whether urban poverty is more challenging than rural poverty. We review the conceptual arguments and the existing literature examining the intensity of urban versus that of rural poverty, urban and rural inequality, and whether urban poverty lines should be higher than those for rural areas. The review of the existing research finds that the urban share of the poor is rising and that the ratio of urban p…
Solid Waste Management in Asia Pacific
Solid waste, being a basic urban service, is invariably related to urbanization and economic development. In this article, we make an attempt to understand what explains solid waste management (SWM) coverage, a local public service problem, using cross-national data. Using regressions, we find that higher levels of income bring along with them the public awareness, institutional structure, and fiscal capacity to deliver better levels of public se…
Measuring welfare gains from relaxation of land-use restrictions
Is it Push or Pull? Recent Evidence from Migration into Bangalore, India
Impact of Land Use Regulations
India’s cities are characterised by strong land use controls, but their impacts on city growth and the urban poor have drawn little attention. This paper deals with strong land use regulations prevalent in India’s cities, which have negative impacts on urban form, the consumption of floor space and affordable housing. The impact of land use controls, such as floor area ratio and urban land ceiling, on suburbanisation in India is studied using sta…
Local Employment Impact of Growth Centres
Evidence regarding non-tax incentives is sparse. To promote industrialisation in the backward areas of the country, growth centres providing infrastructure incentives to enable the states to attract industries, were set up by India in 1988. The impact of GCs on unemployment is examined, accounting for the simultaneity of GC status. The findings are that the change in population of a district and its growth potential are significant in determining…
An Equilibrium Model of Tax Abatement
The model of tax abatements includes taxing district and firm characteristics to explain a locality’s abatement generosity. The community-level characteristics are for the school district in the enterprise zone that grants the tax abatement. Firm characteristics include the size, credit rating, number of newly created and/or retained jobs, and the quality of the jobs. Generosity of abatements is measured by the percentage of taxes abated. Firms t…
Impact of Land Use Regulations
India’s cities are characterised by strong land use controls, but their impacts on city growth and the urban poor have drawn little attention. This paper deals with strong land use regulations prevalent in India’s cities, which have negative impacts on urban form, the consumption of floor space and affordable housing. The impact of land use controls, such as floor area ratio and urban land ceiling, on suburbanisation in India is studied using sta…
An Equilibrium Model of Tax Abatement
The model of tax abatements includes taxing district and firm characteristics to explain a locality’s abatement generosity. The community-level characteristics are for the school district in the enterprise zone that grants the tax abatement. Firm characteristics include the size, credit rating, number of newly created and/or retained jobs, and the quality of the jobs. Generosity of abatements is measured by the percentage of taxes abated. Firms t…
Local Employment Impact of Growth Centres
Evidence regarding non-tax incentives is sparse. To promote industrialisation in the backward areas of the country, growth centres providing infrastructure incentives to enable the states to attract industries, were set up by India in 1988. The impact of GCs on unemployment is examined, accounting for the simultaneity of GC status. The findings are that the change in population of a district and its growth potential are significant in determining…
Urban poverty beyond ‘slums’
Indian urban poverty research identifies slums as pockets of poverty, but official sources in developing countries typically underestimate poverty in and overlook poverty outside slum areas. In this research, deprived areas of Bengaluru outside of officially recognised slums are identified. An Index of Multiple Deprivation (in human, financial and physical capital) is estimated and mapped at the ward level. The research finds that deprivations ar…
Mobility, job accessibility and welfare from jobs in Bengaluru,India
This study draws on a large household survey to identify the effective labour market of Bengaluru, India, the accessibility of its jobs and the degree to which they are welfare-enhancing. The average journey to work was 28 min, implying that Bengaluru’s effective labour market had increased since 2001. The survey showed that 81% of jobs were accessible within 20 min, while the reported reservation wage was found to depend on age, education and cu…
Is it Push or Pull? Recent Evidence from Migration into Bangalore, India
An Equilibrium Model of Tax Abatement
The model of tax abatements includes taxing district and firm characteristics to explain a locality’s abatement generosity. The community-level characteristics are for the school district in the enterprise zone that grants the tax abatement. Firm characteristics include the size, credit rating, number of newly created and/or retained jobs, and the quality of the jobs. Generosity of abatements is measured by the percentage of taxes abated. Firms t…
Local Employment Impact of Growth Centres
Evidence regarding non-tax incentives is sparse. To promote industrialisation in the backward areas of the country, growth centres providing infrastructure incentives to enable the states to attract industries, were set up by India in 1988. The impact of GCs on unemployment is examined, accounting for the simultaneity of GC status. The findings are that the change in population of a district and its growth potential are significant in determining…
Impact of Land Use Regulations
India’s cities are characterised by strong land use controls, but their impacts on city growth and the urban poor have drawn little attention. This paper deals with strong land use regulations prevalent in India’s cities, which have negative impacts on urban form, the consumption of floor space and affordable housing. The impact of land use controls, such as floor area ratio and urban land ceiling, on suburbanisation in India is studied using sta…
Measuring welfare gains from relaxation of land-use restrictions
Is it Push or Pull? Recent Evidence from Migration into Bangalore, India
Is Urban Poverty More Challenging than Rural Poverty? A Review
In this article, we ask the question as to whether urban poverty is more challenging than rural poverty. We review the conceptual arguments and the existing literature examining the intensity of urban versus that of rural poverty, urban and rural inequality, and whether urban poverty lines should be higher than those for rural areas. The review of the existing research finds that the urban share of the poor is rising and that the ratio of urban p…
Solid Waste Management in Asia Pacific
Solid waste, being a basic urban service, is invariably related to urbanization and economic development. In this article, we make an attempt to understand what explains solid waste management (SWM) coverage, a local public service problem, using cross-national data. Using regressions, we find that higher levels of income bring along with them the public awareness, institutional structure, and fiscal capacity to deliver better levels of public se…
Suburbanization of Indian Cities
In this article, we make an attempt to understand the population and employment suburbanization of a mid-tier Indian city—Gulbarga, Karnataka. We estimate population and employment density gradients for the city for two periods and find the evidence of suburbanization. While we are unable to explain the suburbanization, our anecdotal examination of the ratio of unemployment rate in the central city to that of the suburbs indicate the suburbanizat…
The Role of Road Infrastructure and Air Pollution in the Recent Suburbanization of India’s Cities
This article re-examines the suburbanization of Indian cities by calculating population density gradients, for a large number of urban agglomerations, using recent data and Mills’ two-point method. In the next step, we estimate multiple regression models to explore the determinants of suburbanization. This study presents several methodological advances over previous research, by incorporating new measures of transport infrastructure, air pollutio…
Urbanization and Carbon Emissions in India and China
This article understands, from an empirical perspective, the determinants of carbon emissions, using internationally comparable data, and cross-national regressions for India and China. Next, it explores the relationship between urban land use regulations and carbon emissions in India’s cities. Urbanization has no impact on carbon emissions per capita or per unit of geographical area. Electricity consumption in China and electricity produced from…
Is India’s urbanization really too low
In this paper, two questions are examined: Is India’s definition of urbanization conservative? What would happen if India used a less restrictive definition? To answer the first question, a simple ordinary least squares model is estimated. For 50% of the comparable countries considered, including India, the actual level of urbanization is below the level predicted by the model, suggesting a conservative definition. To answer the second question, …
Mobility, job accessibility and welfare from jobs in Bengaluru,India
This study draws on a large household survey to identify the effective labour market of Bengaluru, India, the accessibility of its jobs and the degree to which they are welfare-enhancing. The average journey to work was 28 min, implying that Bengaluru’s effective labour market had increased since 2001. The survey showed that 81% of jobs were accessible within 20 min, while the reported reservation wage was found to depend on age, education and cu…
Understanding the Digital Platform Economy
This article answers the question: What is the effect of Airbnb on rents and housing prices? Based on theory and empirical evidence, we expect that in cities where Airbnb is active, rental accommodation and housing would be relatively more expensive. This is because we assume that such units were withdrawn from the housing market and excess capacity of houses can be used. We distinguish between the rents of one- , two- , and three-bedroom apartme…
Determinants of Own Revenues in Urban Local Bodies
Our objective in this article is to understand the determinants of sustainable (own source) revenues of cities and empirically estimate it in the context of an econometric model. This article makes an attempt to understand the determinants of own revenues for ULBs in India, taking the case of a prominent state, Karnataka. We empirically examine the determinants of own source revenues, controlling for endogeneity of several variables, using valuab…
Is Your City Too Big? Causes of Urban Primacy in India
In this article, we examine the degree of urban primacy and understand what explains urban primacy in the Indian states. We estimated Zipf’s law for Indian states for 2001 and 2011. We then regressed the urban population in the largest city in each state as dependent on various factors. We find Kerala had the least primacy as of 2011, whereby its biggest city contained only 5% of its urban population. Based on the second-stage regression, we find…
Urban poverty beyond ‘slums’
Indian urban poverty research identifies slums as pockets of poverty, but official sources in developing countries typically underestimate poverty in and overlook poverty outside slum areas. In this research, deprived areas of Bengaluru outside of officially recognised slums are identified. An Index of Multiple Deprivation (in human, financial and physical capital) is estimated and mapped at the ward level. The research finds that deprivations ar…
Governing pandemics
Urban form in India 1975–2015
Impact of gentrification on transgender safe spaces in Bengaluru, India
This paper examines the socio-cultural impact of gentrification on transgender safe spaces in Bengaluru, India. Based on an intergenerational ethnography, it finds that the gradual erosion of transgender safe spaces due to gentrification-led redevelopment has caused a distinctive socio-cultural, moral, and spatio-political dispossession from established ways of life among diverse transgender communities. This is experienced through displacement o…
Economics (17 works) · Geography (14 works) · Economic growth (12 works) · Population (9 works) · Urban and Rural Development Challenges (7 works) · Economic geography (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Demographic economics (5 works) · Demography (5 works)