Cities: Trapped in central planning

India's urban policy continues to follow old-style bureaucratic control, leading to dysfunctional and ugly cities. An overhaul is urgently needed

Imagine a greenfield city being built from the ground up. Imagine also that there is no statutory monopoly on the development of colonies or layouts as granted to a Delhi Development Authority or a Bangalore Development Authority. Imagine that the private sector is building on the land in an uncoordinated way, based on simple self-interest. What would go wrong?

Simple profit-seeking behaviour of private individuals would lead to excessive use of land for private projects, leaving insufficient land for parks and streets. Urban infrastructure, such as water, sanitation, solid waste, electricity, and telecom would also be poorly executed in a simple