Swaraj for Cities

The ‘Swaraj for Cities’ project is a national series of engagements to devolve a vision for Urban Planning, Urban Governance, and Civic Engagement. We are also calling this the ‘Beyond 74th Amendment’ project, as the vision of the 74th Amendment remains unfulfilled three decades after the law was enacted. Cities, towns, and more importantly, peri-urban areas and fast-transforming rural-urban continuums, face a vacuum of planning and governance, and citizens are unempowered to engage with the system in managing their shared destiny. We need bold powerful ideas to prevent the present course of urbanization that leads to the ruin and collapse of our environment and quality of life. A path forward needs to empower citizens, facilitate planned and sustainable development, local resilience respecting nature, and prepare for the worst impacts of climate change.

This series will take us on a journey of past, present, and future along the length and breadth of our country, engaging the best minds from academia, government, citizenry, practitioners, and experts. There will be events that are national and there will be events that are focussed on the experience of individual cities. There will be a series of webinars as well as local offline events. Publication of a series of thought leadership articles and position papers by experts is envisaged. Eventually, there will also be a book publication capturing the learnings of this series. Expect all of this and more. Keep following us.