Indian cities are in urgent need of a complete systems overhaul

Our cities require a governance transformation that empowers local governments to lead the mission of urban development

- SRIKANTH VISWANATHAN is CEO, Janaagraha

Over the past decade, India's urban agenda has gained unprecedented support: a 932% increase in the ministry of housing and urban affairs' budget since 2009-10, 8.7 million houses built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban and metro rail network expansion to 945km across 21 cities.

However, significant as these developments are, they are not sufficient. India shows a weaker correlation between urbanization and GDP than global counterparts: a 1% rise in urbanization correlates with an increase of only 1.7% in per capita GDP, versus 3.9% globally. Meanwhile, 59% of our urban population faces water scarcity and 80% breathes unhealthy air. Further, estimates suggest India is far more urban than official figures indicate.

India's urban challenges require us to look beyond infrastructure and service delivery to address challenges of the commons: economic growth and job creation, equitable access to services and opportunities, environmental sustainability and democratic engagement. This requires understanding cities as systems.

The visible challenges of urban life—traffic congestion, pollution, waste management, etc—are symptoms of weak city-systems, the quality of which determines how effectively a city delivers services and ensures the well-being of residents. This thinking recognizes that each city has unique spatial, social and economic characteristics, calling for a place-based approach to urban governance.

Rooted in this thinking, we have identified three critical pathways for India's urban transformation: planning and design, decentralized participatory governance and state capacity in human resources and municipal finance.