Springer Geography

Himalayan Quality of Life

Benjamin L. Saitluanga

A Study of Aizawl City

Springer Geography

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Benjamin L. Saitluanga

Himalayan Quality of LifeA Study of Aizawl City

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Benjamin L. SaitluangaDepartment of Geography and ResourceManagement, School of Earth Sciencesand Natural Resource Management

Mizoram UniversityAizawl, MizoramIndia

ISSN 2194-315X ISSN 2194-3168 (electronic)Springer GeographyISBN 978-3-319-53779-5 ISBN 978-3-319-53780-1 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53780-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017934612

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To my Parents Lalkungpuia Sailoand Ngurhmingthangi

Preface

Enrichment of quality of life is an important national policy issue in every country.A number of studies have been taken out on quality of life from a range ofdisciplines such as sociology, geography, economics, planning, psychology, andpublic health. The relevance of the topic has also moved a number of internationalorganizations to publish cross-country and intercity comparisons on quality of life.With increasing urbanization, cities are facing resource crunches and deteriorationsof socio-physical environment that affect the well-being of individuals. In manydeveloping countries, provisions of services and amenities to city dwellers havebeen limited, fragmented, and unequal. Localities may vary greatly in terms ofquality of life. Within a particular neighbourhood, level of satisfaction may alsovary from one person to another. A comprehensive analysis of quality of life,therefore, should encompass both objective and subjective measures of quality oflife. Another theme of the book is residential differentiation which is deeplyintertwined with spatial variation in quality of life. Past studies have shown thatcities are usually differentiated on the basis of socio-economic class, ethnicity, andfamily-related attributes. The present study is an attempt to seek and provide theunderlying dimensions of residential differentiation in a hilly, medium-sized citywith ethnically homogenous population in the remote eastern extension ofHimalayan Mountains. It also covers the fast emerging theme on residential dif-ferentiation and vertical social differentiation.

The book is empirical and methodological. Multivariate statistical techniquessuch as factor analysis, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis wereemployed to observe residential pattern, variation in quality of life, and social areasof the study area, respectively. Spatial autocorrelation techniques such as globalMoran’s I and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) were also tested tosee the spatial pattern of residential areas on the basis of their scores in quality oflife. Apart from these, an in-depth survey on approaches and literatures pertainingto residential differentiation and quality of life from multidisciplinary perspective isalso provided. The book, in its entirety, is the first-ever attempt to present the spatialpattern of both quality of life and residential differentiation in Aizawl city.

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There are seven chapters in the book. Chapter 1 is an introduction of the study.Chapter 2 is a general discussion on the physical, socio-economic, and demo-graphic characteristics of Aizawl city. Important physical and socio-economiccharacteristics which could be linked up with the main themes of the study aredescribed and analysed. Chapter 3 deals with the methodology of the study. Itconsists of the whole design of the research including sampling technique, deter-mination of sample size, scheme of preparation of schedule, and method of datacollection. A detail description is also given on quantitative techniques such asfactor analysis, principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and measures ofspatial autocorrelation such as global Moran’s I and Local Indicators of SpatialAssociation (LISA), all of which are employed in the study. Chapter 4 is an analysisof residential differentiation in Aizawl city. This chapter is subdivided into twoparts. The first part is a factorial ecological study on horizontal pattern of residentialdifferentiation while the second part is a study on vertical pattern of residentialdifferentiation. Chapter 5 is a study on quality of life (QOL) in Aizawl city. Itincludes identification of dimensions and indicators of QOL, development ofcomposite indices of QOL with the help of principal component analysis, as well ascorrelation analysis of objective and subjective QOL. In Chap. 6, spatial autocor-relation techniques such as global Moran’s I and LISA were employed to find outspatial pattern of clustering and dispersion of residential areas in the study area.Moreover, social areas of Aizawl city are also identified with the help of clusteranalysis.

The book is an outcome of my doctoral thesis submitted to Department ofGeography and Resource Management, Mizoram University. I am very grateful tomy supervisor Rintluanga Pachuau who has been very helpful throughout myresearch. Many friends and colleagues have helped me in many ways. ThomasMaloutas of Harokopio University, Athens, has given valuable suggestions onvertical social differentiation. My student Vanlaltanpuia has enlightened me on theuse of GIS softwares for mapping purpose. I am also indebted to Lalfamkima Varte,Department of Psychology, Mizoram University, for providing valuable feedbackon the statistical techniques. My senior colleagues—P. Rinawma, G. Kumar, andV.P. Sati—have been sources of inspiration and encouragement. Beyond the aca-demics, I am blessed with a wonderful family. My six-year-old son JonathanLalpekhlua has been growing up with this research. His sister Celina Sailopari hasrecently celebrated her first birthday. Without the constant support of my wife RosyLalbuatsaihi, this work might never be completed. I am also thankful that God hasgiven me the opportunity and strength to accomplish this study.

Aizawl, India Benjamin L. Saitluanga2016

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About the Book

The book is about quality of life and residential differentiation in a fast-growingHimalayan city of north-eastern India. It starts with an introduction on the conceptsand issues pertaining to the subjects of interest which is followed by a detaildiscussion on the history, geography, demography, and economy of Aizawl city.An in-depth survey of literatures pertaining to quality of life and residential dif-ferentiation from multidisciplinary perspective is also provided. Residentialdifferentiation is analysed volumetrically including horizontal and vertical dimen-sions. The study reveals that socio-economic class is the most important factordetermining horizontal pattern of residential differentiation. Analysis of verticaldifferentiation shows that the upper floors of multi-storey buildings were occupiedby higher socio-economic class while the basement floors were occupied by poorerpopulation. Then, spatial variations in both objective and subjective qualities of lifewere assessed at locality level. The derivation of clusters of residential areas withthe help of spatial autocorrelation techniques like global Moran’s I and aspatialmultivariate technique like cluster analysis provides additional enrichment to thescope of the book.

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Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1.1 Urban Residential Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.1.2 Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.1.3 Organization of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 A Geographical Introduction to Aizawl City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.2 The Study Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102.3 Growth of Aizawl City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102.4 Physical Environment of Aizawl City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.4.1 Altitude and Slope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192.4.2 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.5 Land-use and Land Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242.6 Transportation Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.7 Economic and Social Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3 Methodological Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.2 Sampling and Sample Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.3 Techniques of Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

3.3.1 Principal Component Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383.3.2 Factor Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393.3.3 Steps in Factor Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403.3.4 Construction of Weights Using Principal

Component Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.4 Cluster Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

3.4.1 (Dis)Similarity Measure and Clustering Method . . . . . . . . . 44

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3.4.2 Dendrogram—Selection of Number of Cluster . . . . . . . . . . 453.5 Correlation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453.6 Measurement of Spatial Autocorrelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

3.6.1 Global Moran’s I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463.6.2 Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) . . . . . . . . . . 49

3.7 Choropleth Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503.8 Limitations of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

4 Residential Differentiation in Aizawl City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554.2 Approaches to Residential Differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

4.2.1 Human Ecological Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574.2.2 Neoclassical-Locational Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594.2.3 Behavioural Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604.2.4 Marxist Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

4.3 Adopted Approach—Factorial Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624.4 Horizontal Pattern of Residential Differentiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

4.4.1 Interpretation of Factor Loadings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684.5 Vertical Pattern of Residential Differentiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

4.5.1 Design of Multi-storey Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784.5.2 Analysis of Vertical Differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

4.6 State, Housing, and Residential Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

5 Quality of Life in Aizawl City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895.2 Dimensions and Indicators of Quality of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905.3 Objective Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935.4 Subjective Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985.5 Overall Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035.6 Relationship Between Objective and Subjective

Qualities of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

6 Quality of Life and Residential Clusters in Aizawl City . . . . . . . . . . . 1116.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116.2 Analysis of Spatial Autocorrelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

6.2.1 Global Moran’s I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126.2.2 Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) . . . . . . . . . . 112

6.3 Social Areas and Quality of Life: A Cluster Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 1186.3.1 Cluster 1: Outer Peripheral Low-Class Ethnic Enclave . . . . 1216.3.2 Cluster 2: Proto-urbanized Outer Periphery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1216.3.3 Cluster 3: Low-Class Inner Periphery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1216.3.4 Cluster 4: Medium-Class Modern Lifestyle

Outer Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

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6.3.5 Cluster 5: High-Class Modern Lifestyle Inner Core . . . . . . 1226.3.6 Cluster 6: Isolated Slum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246.3.7 Cluster 7: Outer Peripheral Slum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Appendix A: Number of Household and Populationof Local Councils, Aizawl City, 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Appendix B: Classification of Localities by Cluster Analysis,Aizawl City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Contents xiii

Chapter 1Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Space had been obscured in the academic explanation for a long time. Socialscientists used to put emphasis on sociological and historical explanations ofsocio-economic processes rather than geographical explanation ones (Soja 2010).However, with the introduction of critical social theory in geography after the1970s, a diffusion of spatial thinking or, in other words, a spatial turn in socialscience was witnessed and carried forward vigorously by scholars from variousdisciplines (see Warf and Aries 2008). The hitherto neglected spatial perspectivethen formed an important part of analysis alongside social and historical perspec-tives. Massey (1984: 52) has forcefully argued that ‘Geography matters. The factthat processes take place over space…just as there are no purely spatial processes,neither are there any non-spatial social processes’. It has similarly been claimed that‘everything that is social is simultaneously and inherently spatial, just as everythingspatial, at least with regard to the human world, is simultaneously and inherentlysocialized’ (Soja 2010: 6).

Socio-spatial inequality is now an important subject matter of human geography.In his monumental text on urban geography, Pacione (2009) posited that one of themain tasks of urban geography is to study socio-spatial similarities and contraststhat exist between and within towns and cities. Similarly, social geography, anotherimportant branch of geography, is considered to be ‘concerned with the ways inwhich social relations, social identities and social inequalities are produced, theirspatial variation, and the role of space in constructing them’ (Pain et al. 2001: 1).

An important question to urban social geographers, therefore, is to study thepattern of residential differentiation within cities, the factors that determine thecreation of dissimilar social space as well as the processes that drive socio-spatial

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017B.L. Saitluanga, Himalayan Quality of Life, Springer Geography,DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53780-1_1

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differentiation including their behavioural consequences. These questions havenicely been put forwarded by Knox and Pinch (2010: 1):

Why do city populations get sifted out according to race and social class to producedistinctive neighbourhoods? What are the processes responsible for this sifting? Are thereany other characteristics by which individuals and households become physically segre-gated within the city? How does a person’s area of residence affect his or her behaviour?How do people choose where to live, and what are the constraints on their choices?… Thus,spatial pattern of socio-economic inequality has been an important area of research amonggeographers.

Geographers have important role in tackling the accelerating social differentia-tion, because every social process takes place in space. Spatial or territorial justice(Harvey 1973; Soja 2010) is a concept that deals with social justice from a geo-graphical perspective. It is about ‘the most appropriate distribution (of resources)between areas…according to the needs of the population of that area’ (Davies 1968:16). The concept implicitly implies equitable distribution of resources, and withoutit, social justice is almost impossible (Johnston 1975).

From the perspective of ‘spatial or territorial justice’, residential differentiationand segregation are unjust because they are deeply intertwined with uneven dis-tribution of resources. Socio-spatial differentiation has various negative impacts onthe quality of life (QOL) of the affected people. Poorer people tend to get‘marginalized spatially, both in terms of their residential locations and in terms oftheir activity spaces’ (Knox and Pinch 2010: 70), and they suffer the most dan-gerous and polluted environment as well as the most restricted mobility and theworst access to services (Hall 2006). So, territorial justice is deeply related toimprovement and enhancement of QOL.

1.1.1 Urban Residential Pattern

Cities are spaces of differences. They have been acting as arenas where socialdifferentiation has been manifested spatially in pronounced and highly contestedways. Naturally, the process of urbanization is accompanied by segmentation anddifferentiation of urban communities. According to Marcuse (2002: 11), ‘cities havealways been divided…along a number of lines’ and this spatial concentration ofpopulation group may take place along ‘lines of nationality, class, income, wealth,occupation, religion, race, colour, ethnicity, language, age household composition,personal cultural preference, and lifestyle’.

Residential pattern is a spatial manifestation of intra-urban social differentiationalong certain dimensions or characteristics. Social group tends to concentrate in aparticular location to give rise to development of distinct type of residential area.A number of empirical findings in the past have shown that social differentiation inWestern cities usually occurred along socio-economic status, family status, andethnic status (Shevky and Bell 1955; Timms 1971; Knox and Pinch 2010).However, residential pattern is not always similar through time and at all places. For

2 1 Introduction

instance, ethnic status is not a predominant dimension of residential differentiationin European cities (Musterd et al. 1998; Van Kempen and Ozuekren 1998) becauseof the absence of substantial ethnic minorities and their relatively higher level ofintegration with the indigenous population (Knox and Pinch 2010: 72). In devel-oping cities, earlier studies have revealed that family status failed to appear as adistinct factor (Abu-Lughod 1969; Berry and Rees 1969).

The socio-spatial processes that operate to produce residential pattern in urbanareas have been explained through different approaches. In a highly deterministicfashion, the human ecological school maintained that, under free market system,residential pattern emerges due to processes of competition and differentiationamong social class in the same way that plants and animals do (Burgess 1925; Hoyt1939; Harris and Ullman 1945). The neoclassical school, on the other hand, arguedthat residential differentiation occurs due to unequal economic power that deter-mines residential choice (Alonso 1964; Muth 1969). The behavioural schoolmaintained that sociocultural attributes such as lifestyle and ethnicity have highlyinfluenced residential choice and decision-making (Wolpert 1965; Van Kempen2002). A strong argument has also been put forward by Marxist geographers whomaintained that socio-spatial differentiation arises through capitalist accumulation(Harvey 1973; Harvey and Chatterjee 1974). Thus, urban residential pattern hasbeen studied through various approaches, each of which has significance in certainways.

Residential patterns emerged through different processes of urbanization underdifferent political and socio-economic settings. Residential patterns in India areinfluenced by historical circumstances and cultural milieu rather than by purelyeconomic reasoning (Chatterjee 1960; Fakhruddin 1991). The roles of the state inland-use planning and housing allocation system are the prime drivers of residentialdifferentiation in countries such as China and Israel (Sit 1999; Yiftachel 2001).Physical setting is also an important determinant of residential pattern in hilly andmountainous cities. Burgess (1929) has observed a ‘topographical effect’ in such away that in cities with substantial degree of relief, terrain, rather than distance fromthe city centre will be the dominant factor in residential differentiation. However,Burgess’ ‘altitudinal zonation’ did not mention about residential differentiationwithin multi-storey buildings which is reported in both developed and developingcities (Maloutas and Karadimitriou 2001; O’Neill and Fogarty-Valenzuela 2013).Considering the hilly topography of Aizawl city where multi-storey buildings areconstructed along the hillslopes, it is felt that increasing vertical growth of the cityhas significant implications in the residential pattern of the city. Therefore, resi-dential differentiation is hereby conceptualized to operate along the three-dimensional space, including the horizontal and vertical dimensions.

Analysis of residential differentiation implies analysis of socio-economic pro-cesses on a specific environment. In fact, socio-economic changes in a particularplace or region are best articulated within cities and these changes produce dis-tinctive residential areas and through time, accentuate and reshape patterns ofsocio-spatial inequality. This reshaping has taken a spatial form in cities, not only inrelation to the relevance of space for access to resources such as jobs or housing,

1.1 Introduction 3