10 Steps to Make Indian Cities Liveable

1. Empower cities: More financial power should be delegated to cities in proportion to their responsibilities.
2. National level support: It is important to realize urban issues are not the responsibility of local government alone.
3. Integrate new migrants and other vulnerable populations into the urban fabric: These people are often systematically discriminated against by cities’ bureaucracies. Adopt a people-centred approach to urbanization.
4. Beyond city limits: Ensure policies and management decisions at the city level take into account the regional and global context and interactions.
5. Coordinated long-term vision: As cities grow and new cities emerge, we need a coordinated long-term vision of urban development.
6. Prepare for future risks: Cities need to be prepared not only for the risks arising from global phenomena such as climate change, but also those arising from local processes. For example, numerous cities sit on deltas, and many of the world’s deltas are sinking as a result of extraction and the concentration of high-rise buildings.
7. Implementation and accountability: Many cities suffer from air and water pollution, where local officials prioritize economic development over environmental quality; or worse, corruption is rife and officials are bribed to ignore regulations. Enhancing implementation of environmental regulation and reducing corruption will have a dramatic effect on the liveability of cities.
8. More science in planning and decision-making: We do not have a full grasp of how cities as a complex system behave and respond to intervention. For example, decisions about transport can affect housing, industry, energy consumption and health in unexpected ways. Unintended adverse consequences can be minimized through closer collaboration on science and urban policies.
9. Nurture cultural innovation: Cities are centres of rapid cultural innovation. Evidence shows that cultural shifts in cities, e.g. “Cycling is cool” or “Wasting food is a shame”, have the potential to deliver significant sustainability outcomes within and beyond cities.
10. Facilitate city-to-city learning: Cities learn from each other more than from anything else.