Our Guiding Principles

Our Vision

Urban India will be the flywheel for India’s economic, political and social transformation.

Our Core Belief

India’s cities are facing enormous challenges in delivering a good-quality -of-life to all their residents. These challenges are complex and will require a systems approach that is rooted in democracy.

Any systems framework that is applied must improve urban infrastructure and services while simultaneously improving urban governance systems.
Spatial plans link the delivery of infrastructure and services to the sustainable governance of our cities. When used effectively, spatial plans reflect government policies and development initiatives, and translate them to ground reality. They anchor the long-term political vision for a city and guide all agencies towards delivering on that vision. They provide the public with the measures by which they evaluate the working of their government. In essence, spatial plans are the fulcrum around which vibrant cities are shaped.

The value of spatial plans has so far been ignored by governments and policy makers.

Our Approach

As we continue to strive to achieve the mission of transforming India’s cities, our organisation’s vision is to emerge as a catalyst in this process.

Our approach to this catalysis is through enabling improvement in standards, technologies, norms, practices and benchmarks into the planning that goes into our cities, management of urban spaces, creation and development of infrastructure and delivery systems for basic urban services.

We will seek to bridge gaps in knowledge and practice that exist. The focus in this area is on urban planning and other spatial management issues (such as spatial data management, land title, etc.). Driven by domain knowledge, in this bridging role, we undertake pilot projects and deliver, advocate and practice the improved standards, methodologies and approaches in the chosen focus areas.

Market players, viz. consultants, product and service providers are critical stakeholders, responsible for prevailing practices and standards, as much as Government agencies who procure their products / services for a price. This approach channels the positive energies of market players, keen on participating and contributing knowledge to make a different in practices and standards.