Kerala's unique roadmap to manage rapid urban growth

Kerala is known to have a distinct rural-urban continuum, where the lines between villages and towns have long blurred, giving the state the appearance of one continuous city.

- Shivani Singh

To address this unique sprawling development and provide a roadmap to manage urban growth in the next 25 years, the southern state is now all set to launch a policy that may be the first of its kind in India.

On December 18, the Kerala Urban Policy Commission (KUPC) submitted its interim report to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, with final recommendations expected by March 2025. Last year, Kerala became the first Indian state to set up the commission through a state cabinet decision, with financial support from the Centre's Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

"In the past, the only comprehensive policy we had was the National Urbanisation Policy of 1988, developed under architect Charles Correa. However, there hasn't been a similar policy for the states," said M Satish Kumar, professor at Queen's University, Belfast, and KUPC chairperson. Kerala's policy will be suggesting ways to boost the economy, create quality jobs, and reform urban planning and governance.

According to the 2011 census, 47.7% of Kerala's population lived in urban areas, making it one of India's most urbanised states after Goa, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. By 2035, more than 90% of the population is projected to be urban. Intended to provide a roadmap for the next 25 years, Kerala's urban policy is also meant to serve as a lighthouse for other Indian states.

Traditionally, rural (desa) and urban (kota) areas have blended well in Kerala, said Kumar, resulting in an urban-rural continuum characterised by dispersed settlements rather than concentrated in a town or a city. The 2011 census recorded an 83.82% decadal increase in Kerala's urban population, largely due to the reclassification of rural areas as urban. It identified 461 Census Towns (CTs) - centres with a population exceeding 5,000, a density of 400 people per square kilometre, and at least 75% of the male workforce employed in non-primary sector jobs - governed as rural.