Urbanisation

A city is not an inventory of assets but a metabolism, drawing in water, energy, land and people and returning them in usable form or failing to do so

Lower costs, infrastructure investments, GCC expansion and changing workforce preferences are turning India's tier-2 and tier-3 cities into the country's fastest-growing employment hubs

New services production index, a shift on Chinese investment, farmer-led agricultural reform, city labour markets and life under siege in Iran feature in today's Best of BS Opinion.

From rising oil pressures and coal gasification to urban housing reform and RBI policy, today's BS Opinion explores the economic and structural challenges shaping India's future

India's cities need to consider a large-scale, publicly anchored rental housing system

At its core, India's urban rejuvenation challenge is institutional. Long-life assets need long-term capital, but municipal revenues and investor confidence remain limited

India's 2026 policy framework recognises the importance of urban growth, but falls short of offering a cohesive, data-driven national urbanisation strategy to guide planning and investment

India must overhaul urban governance, planning, and finance to support rapid urbanisation and achieve Viksit Bharat by 2047, says NITI Aayog's Rajiv Gauba

As cities grow, the most important component of planning, its "spine", should be transportation, to connect the periphery and enable movement within the city

India is economically urban but not productively so. The Economic Survey flags how weak institutions, not density itself, are holding back cities from realising agglomeration gains

While megacities often draw attention, the UN report shows that most urban growth is happening in smaller cities

Calls for integrated city planning, land-use reforms, and disincentives on private vehicle use

The Economic Survey 2025-26 says India's cities drive growth but suffer from daily stress due to poor planning, overuse of private transport and fragmented governance

With rapid urbanisation, Budget 2026-27 can strengthen urban logistics through city logistics plans, smart freight systems, digital tools and incentives to reduce congestion and pollution

Today's pieces look at why a US trade deal is critical, issues in the higher education reform, the need for more services exports besides PMC, why India must develop design skills, and Malala's memoir

Despite the clear pace of growth of cities in India, the ability of the city managers to track private investment is slow

ML Khattar, Union housing and urban affairs minister, said urbanisation is accelerating while land remains finite, making vertical expansion essential

Cities are complex, decentralised systems where economic, ecological and social dynamics interface. Urban transformations cannot be achieved by simply scripting outcomes for these interactions

Decades of neglect, chaotic urbanisation and broken governance has left Indian metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru flooded in every rain

Among the cities that have fully implemented their projects are Agra, Varanasi, Madurai, Coimbatore, Udaipur, Pune, Surat, and Vadodara