Drivers for Urban Development in India: Learning from Diversity

India's diverse and multi-layered social, economic, and cultural realities make it impossible to have a homogenous model of urban development. Replicating the megacities of India is clearly an unviable and undesirable option, as is the creation of tailor-made cities such as Dongtan in China. India's developmental evolution dictates that disparate stakeholders work towards the creation of unique urbanisation models for India at its current formative stage of urbanisation. Different cities of India can capitalise on various drivers of urban development such as industrialisation, tourism, natural resources, educational institutions, etc. depending on their heritage and characteristics. Revival of smaller towns, preservation of religious cities, regeneration of industrial cities, and planned growth of new State capitals are just a few examples of urban development models that can be adapted to India. This session presents an overview of urban development models that could be employed to enable India's urban centres to become liveable, competitive and environmentally sustainable and the role that can be played by both the public and the private sectors in achieving this.

Confirmed Speakers

• M Ramachandran, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India
• Amitabh Kant, Managing Director, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Corporation
• Amit Kapoor, Honorary Chairman, Institute for Competitiveness, India
• Pavan Sukhdev, Project Leader, The Economics of Ecology and Biodiversity
• Philipp Rode, Executive Director, Urban Age, London School of Economics & Political Science
• Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India