Context: India's urban governance needs urgent reform to effectively implement SDG-11, i.e., to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains: Limitations in current urban governance and planning frameworks.
Urbanisation: Double-edged sword
- India is undergoing an unprecedented urban transformation, with more than 30% of its population residing in cities.
- However, Urbanisation is a double-edged sword. While it brings economic opportunities and development, it also exacerbates environmental degradation, congestion, pollution, and social inequalities.
- E.g., the recent crisis in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad indicate, water shortages, power deficits, and extreme heat are no longer seasonal anomalies but signs of systemic fragility.
- The 2023 Annual Survey of Indian City Systems by Janaagraha revealed that only 16 cities had a city sustainability plan, and just 17 had a resilience strategy. This highlights the foundational work still required to align urban governance with SDG-11.
The 2025 report by the Sustainable Futures Collective titled- ‘Is India Ready for a Warming World?’ notes serious gaps in long-term urban climate planning.
Limitations in Existing Indices
- Inadequate SDG-11 Tracking: NITI Aayog’s SDG Urban Index ranks 56 cities on 77 indicators. But its SDG-11 component is limited to four indicators: Swachh Survekshan, road deaths, PMAY-U housing, and waste treatment. It excludes critical aspects like climate resilience, social inclusivity, and urban safety.
- Fragmented Assessment Tools: Ease of Living Index covers 111 cities but lacks a dedicated SDG-11 framework. International indices (e.g., Mercer, Economist) often fail to capture localised Indian realities.
- Policy-Research Gap: The absence of city-specific data and disaggregated indicators inhibits targeted policymaking and the identification of urban stress zones.
The absence of a focused SDG-11 index hinders policymakers from identifying genuinely safe, sustainable, and inclusive cities, creating a policy-research gap. To bridge this gap, a new research initiative was undertaken.
The New Research Initiative
- The research initiative constructed four separate indices aligned with the pillars of SDG-11: safety, inclusivity, sustainability, and resilience.
- Ten major Indian cities: Hyderabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Surat were ranked across selected indicators.
- These included 9 indicators for safety, 19 for inclusivity, and 15 for sustainability and resilience each.
- Data sources included Census 2011, the Road Transport Yearbook, Indian Forest Survey, NCRB, PLFS, NFHS-5, RBI statistics, IMD Climatological Tables, and Ola Mobility Institute's 2022 Ease of Moving Index.
- A multi-criteria decision-making model, the Shannon Entropy Weighting Technique, was used to ensure objectivity in assigning weights to the indicators.
Key Findings from the Study
- Many cities regarded as front-runners by NITI Aayog performed poorly in this assessment, exposing the shortcomings of existing indices. For instance, disparities in the inclusivity index underscored uneven access to economic and social opportunities.
- Safety rankings highlighted differences in law enforcement efficacy and crime prevention.
- Sustainability scores revealed gaps in pollution control and waste management, while resilience rankings exposed weaknesses in disaster preparedness and recovery planning.
Way Forward
- Cities must establish better mechanisms for tracking SDG-11 at the urban local body (ULB) level. While some States and Union Territories have adopted district-level monitoring frameworks, urban local bodies must follow suit.
- Integrated Command and Control Centres, developed under the Smart Cities Mission, should be leveraged to collect real-time data and enhance urban planning and development processes.
- As almost one-third of urban residents are poor, addressing their needs is critical. India still relies on Census 2011 data, leading to severe underestimation of urban poverty. A periodic Urban Poor Quality of Living Survey at the State level is necessary to bridge this gap.
- Each city (small and large) faces unique challenges, requiring localised governance, better planning, and city-specific strategies.
Addressing these differences through data-backed, city-specific policies is crucial for a more equitable urban future.