Master planning in the megalopolis: exploring the opportunities and barriers for urban governance reform in Bangalore, India

ABSTRACT

Residents from the Indian city of Bangalore perceive the degradation of quality of life primarily attributed to unprecedented levels of growth. The city has been guided by routinely updated master plans since 1985, which should have anticipated and mitigated the consequences of urban growth. Today, new forms of collective action are emerging to gain control over urban space, life and ultimately governance. Based on the voices of multi-sector stakeholders in various ‘domains’ of urban governance during the latest master planning process, this paper provides an exploratory case study about the relationship between the planning process and governance reform. Master planning could facilitate reform through collaborative decision-making, accountability for outcomes, and greater inclusion. Master planning processes need to go beyond current means of citizen participation and ensure sustained social learning among the various actors at the ward-level to strengthen urban governance structures. More research is needed for planners in this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Master planning
• urban governance
• social learning

Acknowledgements

The author appreciates the insightful and supportive comments by the anonymous reviewers who helped strengthen the analytical contributions in this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Research for this paper was conducted while on a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship to Bangalore, India from July to November 2017.

2 Accessed from the organization’s website in November 2017 http://namma-bengaluru.org/index.php

3 Accessed from the organization’s website in November 2017 http://baf.org.in/

4 Accessed from the organization’s website in November 2017 http://citizensforbengaluru.in/index.php/about-us/

5 Accessed from the organization’s website in November 2017 http://www.civicspace.in/

6 Accessed from the organization’s website in November 2017 http://whitefieldrising.org/about/

7 “How to Plan Bengaluru” (2017).

8 Veeresha and Sivasankaran (2012).

9 More information on the My City, My Budget program is available online at http://www.janaagraha.org/mycitymybudget-2/. Accessed online December 2018.

10 More information on CiFoS is available online https://cifos.weebly.com/. Accessed online December 2018

11 Vijaita Singh (2020).

Additional information

Funding

Research for this paper was supported by the 2017 Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research) Fellowship.