Context

India’s rapid urbanisation has become not only the cornerstone of its economic growth, innovation, and modernity, but also a consequential strain on the country’s available resources. By 2050, it is estimated that approximately two-thirds of the global population will reside in cities worldwide. India alone is expected to add 400 million urban residents to this number, simultaneously doubling its population by 2050. While occupying a mere 3% of the country’s landmass, India’s cities account for 70% resource consumption, 60-80% of the country’s energy consumption, and contribute to approximately 75% GHG emissions.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11 of Making Cities Safe, Inclusive, Resilient, and Sustainable, has positioned urbanisation at the forefront of global and national development policy discourse. While India’s strides in this direction attempt to be comprehensive, despite the breadth of schemes and programmes targeting the country’s urban population specifically, its performance against the UN SDGs in general and SDG11 in particular presents significant room for improvement. India ranked 121 out of 163 nations in the Sustainable Development Report 2022, which also ranked that 12 out of the 15 most polluted cities in all of central and south Asia were in India.

To address this urbanisation challenge, the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India, is conducting a study tracing India’s journey and progress related to SDG 11 Localisation, aiming to build a comprehensive national framework for city-level assessments that combines stakeholder insights and extensive research.

The project culminates in a National Convening scheduled to take place in December 2025, which will feature six thematic areas aligned with SDG11’s targets and indicators, and the National Framework formulated by CPPR through its research and consultations. These sessions across the themes of Housing, Urban Transport, Environmental Risk (Waste Management and Air Quality), Participatory Planning, and Climate and Disaster Risk will host a wide range of representatives from academia, governments, non-profits, and citizen groups, and relevant private players in the space, to share insights, foster dialogue, and advance the SDG11 agenda in India.

Project Objectives

• Expand and advance multilateral dialogue on the salience of SDG11 Localising in India’s current climate of urbanisation.

• Draft a background research paper on the status of localisation of SDG11 in India, and develop a national city-level assessment framework across 7 thematic areas — Housing, Urban Transport, Environment Risk (Waste Management and Air Quality), Participatory Planning, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Climate Change.

• Present, refine, and validate the National Level City Assessment Framework at the National Convening.

• Foster multi-stakeholder dialogue for actionable urban solutions in India’s emerging urban spheres.