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India’s National Urban Governance Platform

Authored by Jordyn Fetter and David Eaves

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14 January 2025

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India’s National Urban Governance Platform: Leveraging digital infrastructure thinking to build smart city capabilities at scale | UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) | Case Study No.1.

Authors: 

  • Jordyn Fetter | MPA 22/23 Alumna | UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
  • David Eaves | Associate Professor and Deputy Director | UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

Case Summary:

Location and time period

 2015-2019 India

The policy problem

Many Indian cities are faced with the challenge of rising populations amidst a lack of physical infrastructure elements such as water and electricity supply, sanitation, and urban transport. This is further exacerbated by missing IT infrastructure which could be leveraged at the state- and city-level to improve service delivery to residents. In 2019, Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary and Mission Director of the Smart Cities Mission, supported a new digital infrastructure-oriented solution to this capacity challenge by leveraging India Stack1 and the biometric ID system Aadhaar. But for a country with a federated government system, how to provision a highly scalable platform from the national level to states and cities became a big question for the Indian Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and National Institute for Urban Affairs-Centre for Digital Governance (NIUA-CDG) to grapple with.

Main topics/themes in this case

  • Digital Public Infrastructure
  • State Capacity
  • Service Delivery
  • Smart Cities

Read this case if you…

  • Are seeking lessons on overcoming the hurdles of implementing large-scale digital initiatives, including tackling ownership issues, infrastructure gaps, and resourcing.
  • Want to understand the dynamics of public-private collaboration in creating and sustaining digital infrastructure, with insights on how such partnerships can accelerate innovation and reach.
  • Want to explore how a digital public infrastructure approach may transform service delivery.

Reference:

This case study can be referenced as follows: Fetter, J., and Eaves, D. (2025). India’s National Urban Governance Platform: Leveraging digital infrastructure thinking to build smart city capabilities at scale. Case Study No.1. Available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/CS-01 

 

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