Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the Issues of Urban Governance

Abstract

The entire developing world is witness to an unprecedented shift of human settlement to the cities. While India’s population remains substantially rural, it is emerging as one of the fastest urbanizing countries in the world and has already a staggering large urban population of around 285 million. The economic base of the nation through expanding industries, trade, commerce and services has already shifted to urban centers. Cities have strongly emerged as the prime engines of Indian economy and generators of national wealth. Even though the level of urbanization is relatively low in India, the contribution of urban economy to national economic structure is significantly high. It is realized that handling of urban development is a very delicate issue and has to be strategically operated. Thus, it can be seen that urban India is facing a challenge. Cities must cope with great numbers of people, plan to provide them services, find resources to meet needs of maintaining infrastructure, respond to urbanization and poverty. Solving these complex problems is the goal of good urban governance. It envisages improving the quality of life in cities through improved local governance by reinventing the city as an inclusive city. Such a city provides space and voice to its stakeholders through inclusive decision-making, since decision-making is the heart of urban governance.