Better Cities, Better Growth: India's Urban Opportunity

Back to results
Author(s)
Tawari, M., Godfrey, N.
Publication language
English
Pages
76pp
Date published
01 Jan 2017
Publisher
New Climate Economy
Type
Research, reports and studies
Keywords
Livelihoods, Urban
Countries
India
Organisations
ODI

This report provides new analysis across 479 Indian cities – using an innovative combination of satellite data of night-time lights, census, environmental, and economic data – which demonstrates a clear link between more compact, connected urban growth and stronger economic performance in India, corroborating global findings.

India can foster a better urbanisation – one that promotes more rapid economic transformation, improves the quality of life of city dwellers, and curbs the potential harmful spillovers of urbanisation, such as congestion, wasteful energy use, and unwanted pollution. Better, smarter urban growth could be an economic opportunity for India worth up to 6% of GDP by mid-century, with significant savings at the household level.