1) Context & Why in News

• India is urbanising fast. By 2030, cities are expected to generate about 70% of new jobs.
• By 2070, India will likely need around 144 million additional homes—more than twice today’s urban housing stock—plus large investments in transport, water, drainage, and other municipal services.
• Climate risks are rising: many cities already face repeated flooding and dangerous heat waves.
• The opportunity: a large share of India’s urban infrastructure is yet to be built. What we plan and construct in the next two decades will decide productivity, liveability, and resilience for generations.

2) India’s Urban Challenges

• Climate vulnerability: Floods, cyclones, extreme heat, landslides, and earthquakes; storm water often mixes with sewage; wetlands have been encroached.
• Flooding and heat stress: A large share of city roads flood even in moderate rain; urban heat island effects can raise night temperatures by 3–5°C, hurting health and productivity.
• Housing gap: More than half the housing India needs by 2070 is not yet built; too much current construction ignores site safety and thermal comfort.
• Transport and land use: Sprawl, long commutes, unsafe walking and cycling, weak last-mile connectivity; a single inundation can cripple city mobility.
• Municipal basics: Gaps in water supply, sewage treatment, drainage, waste management, and local air quality.
• Institutions and finance: Urban local bodies are under-staffed and under-funded; slow approvals and weak project preparation deter private capital.
• Inequality: Informal settlements often lack tenure, piped water, sanitation, cooling, and safe public space; climate shocks hit the poor the hardest.
• Scale of money: Building climate-resilient, low-carbon cities will require trillions of dollars over coming decades; the pipeline of bankable projects is still thin.

3) Why Urban Planning Matters

• Economic engine: Cities concentrate firms and talent; good infrastructure raises productivity, jobs, and tax base.
• Climate resilience: Wetland buffers, blue-green networks, graded drainage, and heat-resilient materials cut losses and save lives.
• Sustainable growth: Compact, mixed-use, transit-oriented development lowers congestion, emissions, and service costs.
• Better governance: Empowered city governments with skilled staff and predictable revenue deliver faster, more inclusive services.
• Equity by design: Guaranteed basic services, safe mobility, and green space narrow social gaps and improve well-being.

4) What India Has Done (policy landscape and recent progress)

• Frameworks and missions:
  • National Urban Policy Framework (2018) for planned, sustainable urbanisation.
  • Smart Cities Mission (since 2015) to modernise core infrastructure and governance.
  • Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (since 2015) for water supply, sewerage, and green spaces.
  • Affordable housing through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana–Urban, with slum upgrading and credit-linked subsidies.
  • Urban livelihoods support under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihood Mission.
  • Sanitation through Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban; climate integration via the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat and the Climate Smart Cities framework.
• Digital governance: Integrated command and control centres now support traffic, safety, public health, and climate responses; more cities are using satellite and heat maps to guide ward-level action.
• Mobility: Expansion of metro systems, city bus services, and procurement of electric buses; gradual improvement in last-mile connectivity.
• Finance tools: Municipal bonds and green bonds are emerging; public–private partnerships used in transport, water, and waste.
• Status check: A large share of Smart Cities projects are completed nationally, but last-mile delivery and operation-and-maintenance remain uneven across cities.

5) Future-Ready Blueprint (actionable steps)

A) Plan compact, connected, climate-safe cities

• Update master plans with flood risk maps, strict wetland protection, blue-green corridors, and site-appropriate density near mass transit.
• Prioritise transit-oriented development with mixed land use, safe footpaths, cycling networks, universal accessibility, and parking reform.

B) Build resilience into every asset

• Drains before roads: separate storm water from sewage; redesign outfalls; desilt regularly; add detention ponds and permeable surfaces.
• Cool the city: cool/reflective roofs in public and low-income housing; shade trees and urban forests; reflective or porous pavements; ward-level heat action plans.
• Protect lifelines: flood-proof power substations, water pumps, hospitals, and schools; maintain emergency access routes.

C) Strengthen city institutions and financing

• Implement the Seventy-Fourth Constitutional Amendment fully: devolve functions, staff, and funds to urban local bodies.
• Build professional city cadres for planning, mobility, water, environment, and finance; set up urban observatories for live data.
• Scale municipal and green bonds; pool small cities; standardise disclosures; create project preparation facilities so cities have bankable, climate-tagged pipelines.

D) Crowd-in private capital and technology

• Use public–private partnerships with clear risk-sharing; outcome-based contracts in waste, water, and street lighting; climate warranties for pumps and sensors.
• Open city data (with privacy safeguards) to enable start-ups to solve for heat, flooding, mobility, and waste.

E) Put inclusion at the centre

• Upgrade informal settlements in-situ with tenure, piped water, toilets, drainage, cooling, and safe public space; design women- and child-safe streets; ensure universal design for persons with disabilities.
• Link housing and livelihoods to affordable, reliable transport so workers can access jobs.

F) Measure what matters (tie funds to outcomes)

• Publish five annual city numbers:
  1. Flooded road kilometres and time to clear,
  2. Heat-wave mortality and number of homes retrofitted for cooling,
  3. Non-revenue water and sewer coverage,
  4. Average bus speed and continuity of footpaths,
  5. Green cover per resident.
• Link state and central grants to measurable improvements on these indicators.

6) Exam Toolkit (data bites + mains questions with brief hints)

Quick data to remember

• Cities to generate ~70% of new jobs by 2030.
• Housing need of ~144 million additional homes by 2070.
• Urban infrastructure needs run into trillions of dollars through mid-century and beyond.
• Heat island effect adds ~3–5°C at night; many city corridors flood even in moderate rain.
• Smart Cities portfolio largely implemented, but last-mile completion and maintenance vary widely across cities.

Mains Q1 (250 words):
“Future-proofing Indian cities requires compact growth, blue-green infrastructure, and empowered local governments.” Discuss with recent developments and data.
Hints: Start with jobs share and housing need; diagnose floods/heat and service gaps; argue for climate-smart master plans, drains-before-roads, cooling measures, full devolution under the Seventy-Fourth Amendment, municipal/green bonds, and project preparation facilities; end with measurable outcomes.

Mains Q2 (250 words):
Critically assess a decade of urban missions (Smart Cities, AMRUT, affordable housing). Have they improved resilience and inclusion? What must change in the next phase?
Hints: Note asset creation and digital centres; flag uneven last-mile delivery, operation-and-maintenance gaps, and inequality; propose resilience retrofits, in-situ slum upgrading with services, professional city cadres, climate-tagged finance, open city data, and performance-linked grants.

One-line wrap: India’s window is narrow—build compact, climate-safe, and inclusive cities now so that growth, jobs, and resilience rise together.