Rethinking Urban Development in India

• 27 May 2025

This editorial is based on “Why India needs a national plan for building new cities” which was published in The Hindu on 26/05/2025. The article brings into picture the disconnect between greenfield and brownfield urban strategies in India, highlighting the urgent need for a unified national urban plan to ensure sustainable growth and achieve Viksit Bharat.

For Prelims:  74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 12th Schedule,Urban local bodies,Sponge Cities,  Climate Action Plans, Digital public infrastructure, Greenfield and Brownfield Urban Development, Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT, PMAY-U 

For Mains: Key Difference Between Greenfield and Brownfield Urban Development, Key Drivers of India's Rapid Urban Development, Key Issues Associated with India's Urban Landscape.

India's urban development strategy suffers from a dichotomy between greenfield cities like Amaravati and brownfield improvements in existing urban centers, creating confusion about investment priorities and planning approaches. The disconnect between these two paradigms has led to planning failures, uncontrolled urban sprawl, and cities struggling to manage even their legacy infrastructure, let alone accommodate rapid growth. With urban investments needing an eightfold increase and cities becoming increasingly difficult to manage, India urgently requires a national plan that creates a well-integrated urban network essential for achieving Viksit Bharat. 

What are the Key Drivers of India's Rapid Urban Development?  

• Demographic Transition and Rural-Urban Migration: India’s urban surge is propelled by sustained rural-to-urban migration, fueled by better livelihood prospects and enhanced urban amenities.  
  • This migration intensifies pressure on cities to provide jobs, housing, and infrastructure, accelerating urban expansion but also challenging governance.  
  • By 2036, India’s urban population is expected to swell to 600 million (40% of the population), compared to 31% in 2011, signifying a massive demographic shift.  
• Structural Economic Transformation and Sectoral Shifts:  The shift from agriculture to industry and services concentrates economic activities in urban areas, making cities engines of growth and innovation.  
  • Currently, urban centers contribute 63% of GDP, expected to rise to 75% by 2030, driven by booming IT, manufacturing, and services sectors.  
  • The rise of tier-2 and tier-3 cities, supported by government schemes like Smart Cities Mission, is decentralizing growth beyond megacities, fostering regional economic diversification. 
• Robust Government Urban Policy Frameworks and Initiatives: Ambitious schemes such as the Smart Cities Mission (over 8,000 projects), AMRUT, and PMAY-U exemplify targeted policy interventions to modernize urban infrastructure, housing, and governance.  
  • These initiatives emphasize sustainability, climate resilience, and citizen-centric digital services, crucial for managing rapid urbanization.  
  • They aim to transform urban spaces into hubs of economic activity and social inclusion, reflecting a shift from infrastructure-building to quality-of-life enhancement. 

 

• Technological Integration and Smart Urban Solutions: Emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, and big data analytics are revolutionizing urban management, enhancing efficiency, transparency, and sustainability.  
  • Pune’s transition to a 90% clean-fuel bus fleet and Vadodara’s USD 10.5 million Integrated Command Center demonstrate how tech-driven governance improves public services and environmental outcomes.  
  • Digital infrastructure, intelligent traffic systems, and smart water and waste management are pivotal in addressing the complexities of rapid urban growth. 
• Urbanization as a National Development Strategy: Urban growth is central to India’s ambition of a $30 trillion economy by 2047, with cities becoming innovation hubs and engines of employment.  
  • The population of million-plus cities is projected to increase from 53 in 2011 to 87 by 2030, reflecting rapid urban consolidation.  
  • Initiatives like ‘Vocal for Local’ seek to harmonize urban economic dynamism with indigenous entrepreneurship, supporting self-reliance and sustainability, while balancing growth with climate commitments. 

What are the Key Issues Associated with India's Urban Landscape?  

• Infrastructure Deficit and Service Delivery Bottlenecks: India’s urban infrastructure is severely lagging behind demographic growth, resulting in critical shortages of housing, potable water, sanitation, transport, and energy services.  
  • The legacy infrastructure in many cities is outdated and incapable of meeting escalating demand, causing chronic congestion, poor sanitation, and public health risks.  
  • Investment in urban infrastructure averaged only 0.6% of GDP between 2011-18, half the required 1.2%, reflecting a persistent funding gap.  
  • Despite the Smart Cities Mission’s ambitious targets, no Indian metro ranks in the top 100 globally on the IMD Smart City Index, highlighting lingering infrastructural inadequacies. 
• Fragmented Urban Growth and Planning Failures: The coexistence of greenfield city projects like Amaravati alongside brownfield upgrades in legacy cities creates disjointed urban development strategies, leading to sprawling, inefficient urban footprints.  
  • This fragmented growth exacerbates land-use conflicts, escalates transport costs, and intensifies environmental degradation through unchecked urban sprawl.  
  • India’s million-plus cities are projected to rise from 53 in 2011 to 87 by 2030, intensifying pressures on urban governance and infrastructure in the absence of cohesive metropolitan planning frameworks. 
• Fiscal Constraints and Underutilization of Private Capital: Urban local bodies remain financially constrained due to limited revenue autonomy, inefficient tax collection, and dependence on state and central transfers, undermining their capacity to fund essential services and infrastructure.  
  • While governments finance 72% of urban infrastructure, private sector participation lags at a mere 5%, reflecting structural barriers in attracting commercial financing.  
  • Municipal bond markets and innovative financing tools are nascent, as demonstrated by isolated successes in Pune and Vadodara, but widespread adoption is stymied by institutional weaknesses and risk perceptions, leaving a substantial $840 billion funding gap looming till 2036. 
• Environmental Stress and Resource Management Challenges: Indian cities grapple with escalating environmental crises—pollution, waste mismanagement, water scarcity, and vulnerability to climate change—which threaten urban sustainability and health. 
  • According to NITI Aayog's 2019 "Composite Water Management Index," approximately 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress, with many cities classified as water-stressed or critically water-scarce.  
  • Surat’s large-scale wastewater recycling and Dharampuri’s holistic water management offer replicable models, yet the majority of urban centers lack integrated environmental management systems, risking irreversible ecological damage and resource depletion. 
• Rising Urban Inequality and Social Exclusion: Urbanization has intensified socio-economic disparities, with marginalized communities disproportionately affected by inadequate housing, sanitation, and limited access to quality healthcare and education. 
  • Informal settlements or slums continue to house millions under substandard conditions, exposing residents to health hazards and economic vulnerabilities. 
  • Though PMAY-U has helped millions access affordable housing. India's slum population in 2020 is still estimated at 236 million suggesting that nearly half of its urban population lives in slums (UN-Habitat 2021). 
• Deficient Data Ecosystems and Non-Responsive Governance: A significant barrier to effective urban management is the lack of comprehensive, real-time data, limiting evidence-based policy formulation and adaptive governance.  
  • According to a 2023 study, at least 39% of India's capital cities lack active spatial plans.  
  • Vadodara’s Integrated Command Center and Pune’s smart mobility projects demonstrate the benefits of technology-driven governance, but many urban local bodies lack the institutional capacity and technical expertise to scale such innovations nationwide. 

What Measures can India Adopt for Sustainable Urban Development?  

• Strategic Polycentric Urbanism and Metropolitan Integration: Implement polycentric urban development by interlinking emerging satellite towns and urban clusters with core cities through multimodal transit corridors. 
  • This spatial strategy, harmonizing greenfield city frameworks with brownfield revitalization, can curtail urban sprawl, enhance regional competitiveness, and optimize land use efficiency.  
  • Leveraging synergies between the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT programs will enable a coherent, scalable metropolitan governance model rooted in transit-oriented development (TOD) and mixed-use zoning. 
• Deep Fiscal Decentralization with Revenue Innovation: Empower Urban Local Bodies with comprehensive fiscal decentralization by expanding municipal revenue streams—property taxes reforms, land value capture mechanisms, and dynamic user fees—aligned with fiscal responsibility frameworks.  
  • Catalyze municipal bond markets with ESG-linked instruments and develop outcome-based performance grants, incentivizing fiscal prudence, transparency, and public-private collaboration to unlock capital for resilient infrastructure investments. 
• Holistic Institutional Reforms for Integrated Urban Governance: Reconfigure fragmented governance structures by institutionalizing metropolitan development authorities with unified mandates over land use, transport, housing, and environmental management.  
  • Embed principles of subsidiarity and cooperative federalism consistent with the 74th Amendment to ensure empowered, accountable leadership that integrates vertical and horizontal coordination, breaking down bureaucratic silos and accelerating policy execution. 
  • Following the recommendation of Standing Committee on Urban Development (2020-2021), mandate inclusive participation in smart city governance and:  
    • Ensure regular Smart City Advisory Forum meetings with mandatory inclusion of local MPs and elected representatives. 
    • Strengthen accountability and multi-stakeholder collaboration for responsive urban governance. 
• Climate-Adaptive Infrastructure and Ecosystem-Based Urban Resilience: Mainstream climate risk into urban infrastructure through green building certifications, decentralized renewable energy adoption, and urban water-sensitive designs.  
  • Prioritize ecosystem-based adaptation strategies—urban wetlands restoration, green corridors, and bioswales—to enhance microclimate regulation, stormwater management, and carbon sequestration, aligning urban development with India’s NDC targets and net-zero pathways. 
• Inclusive Urban Regeneration through Cross-Scheme Convergence: Operationalize integrative urban regeneration by merging PMAY-Urban’s affordable housing thrust with Smart Cities’ digital governance and service delivery platforms.  
  • Facilitate comprehensive slum upgrading that combines physical infrastructure, sanitation, livelihood support, and digital inclusion, fostering social equity and empowering marginalized urban communities via participatory planning and real-time monitoring systems. 
• Gender-Responsive, Multi-Modal Smart Mobility Networks: Develop sustainable, electric-powered multimodal transport ecosystems that prioritize last-mile connectivity and non-motorized options.  
  • Embed gender-responsive urban design—safe corridors, surveillance-enabled transit hubs, and accessible infrastructure—to dismantle mobility barriers for women and differently-abled citizens, thereby amplifying female labor participation and inclusive economic growth. 
• Data-Driven Urban Governance and Transparent Digital Ecosystems: Institutionalize advanced urban data ecosystems harnessing AI, IoT, and geospatial analytics to enable real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and citizen engagement through open government data platforms.  
  • This digital transformation fosters evidence-based policymaking, enhances operational efficiency, and strengthens accountability mechanisms critical for responsive and adaptive urban management. 
• Catalyzing Green Finance and Impact-Driven Investment Models:  Scale municipal green bonds and ESG-aligned impact investments to mobilize capital for sustainable urban infrastructure projects—renewable energy, green buildings, and waste-to-energy initiatives.  
  • Design blended finance models combining concessional funds, private capital, and performance incentives to bridge financing gaps while accelerating India’s urban climate commitments and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
• Urban-Rural Synergistic Development and Regional Resilience: Advance integrated regional planning frameworks that reinforce urban-rural economic linkages through shared infrastructure, agri-logistics corridors, and circular resource flows.  
  • By promoting decentralized production-consumption systems and eco-sensitive urban expansion, this approach balances demographic pressures, fosters equitable growth, and strengthens regional food security and ecological sustainability. 

Conclusion

India’s urban future hinges on harmonizing greenfield ambition with brownfield pragmatism to build inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities. A unified national urban strategy must prioritize polycentric growth, smart governance, and climate-adaptive infrastructure. Empowering local bodies and leveraging technology will be crucial for bridging service deficits and ensuring equitable development. This aligns with SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).

Drishti Mains Question:

India’s urban development strategy reflects a fragmented approach marked by a dichotomy between greenfield and brownfield projects. In this context, examine the key drivers and challenges of India’s urban transformation

 

UPSC Civil Services Examination Previous Year’s Question (PYQs)   

Prelims

Q. As per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in India, which one of the following  statements is correct? (2019) 

(a) Waste generators have to segregate waste into five categories.   

(b) The Rules are applicable to notified urban local bodies, notified towns and all industrial townships only   

(c) The Rules provide for exact and elaborate criteria for the identification of sites for landfills and waste processing facilities.   

(d) It is mandatory on the part of the waste generator that the waste generated in one district cannot be moved to another district.   

Ans: (c) 

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Mains

Q. The frequency of urban floods due to high intensity rainfall is increasing over the years. Discussing the reasons for urban floods, highlight the mechanisms for preparedness to reduce the risk during such events. (2016)

Q. Do government schemes for up-lifting vulnerable and backward communities by protecting required social resources for them, lead to their exclusion in establishing businesses in urban economies? (2014)