Ideas to Transform India's Cities

Scholars from the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad discuss how to remake the country's urban areas into sources of economic prosperity.

1 minute read

March 30, 2010, 10:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


"India is likely to witness an acceleration in the urbanization trend in the coming years. While there is a broad agreement that every economy undergoing such metamorphosis will witness higher levels of urbanization, the outcomes achieved by nations during this process depend on where they started from and how they managed this crucial phase of growth. Do our towns, cities and metropolitan centers have the institutional structures and resources to manage this transition? Should we even consider urbanization as an inevitable outcome and start channelizing our policy attention towards the urban areas at the expense of building sustainable rural communities?"

Similar to ideas expressed in the U.S., the Indian scholars writing for The Wall Street Journal argue for a distributed collection of innovation hotbeds, and a focus on expanding opportunities in rural areas beyond subsistence farming.

Friday, March 26, 2010 in The Wall Street Journal

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight