Yet, while regional planning is crucial, a key question remains: Are smaller scales — neighborhoods, streets and wards — receiving the attention they need to ensure cities are livable and sustainable?

The Regional Approach: A Critical First Step

Take Chennai, for instance. The city's regional planning initiatives include watershed management strategies that go beyond municipal limits to address water conservation and urban flooding. Similarly, Bengaluru's Peripheral Ring Road project, part of its regional master plan, aims to divert traffic from congested city centers. These efforts lay the groundwork for long-term growth.

But smaller cities and neighborhoods often miss out on such strategic investments. Rapid growth at these places is frequently accompanied by informal and unplanned development, which leaves them ill-prepared for challenges like urban flooding, heat islands and inadequate infrastructure.

Zooming In: Are We Overlooking Basics?

Even with Ahmedabad's robust regional and city-wide planning initiatives, local-scale issues, such as waterlogging, continue to disrupt daily life. This monsoon, 32 new waterlogging spots emerged across the city, highlighting gaps in drainage and flood management at the neighbourhood and street levels. 

These micro issues can severely affect residents, straining transportation and damaging property, despite broader infrastructure planning. Addressing these smaller-scale challenges, like ensuring efficient drainage in vulnerable areas, is essential for making cities truly resilient and livable, complementing the larger-scale physical and regional plans already in place.

When it comes to urban design, it's often the smaller-scale issues that directly affect the daily lives of residents. From inadequate drainage systems to poor ventilation, the infrastructure challenges at the street and neighbourhood levels are far-reaching. In many smaller cities and informal areas, where rapid growth is not met with careful planning, residents are left to deal with the consequences of haphazard development.

A recent study by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs found that over 65 per cent of India’s smaller cities face chronic infrastructure issues. These are often exacerbated by the informal nature of development, where residents build without sufficient planning or infrastructure support. In these contexts, climate risks such as urban heat islands, poor air quality, and inadequate drainage systems are most pronounced, yet they remain unaddressed due to a lack of localized focus in urban planning.

As Dr Kavita Deshmukh, an urban planner, points out, “We’ve made significant strides in regional planning, but without addressing infrastructure gaps at the neighbourhood and street level, we risk creating areas that are ill-equipped to cope with the challenges of climate change, especially in rapidly urbanising smaller cities.”

Bridging The Gap: Norms, Standards For Local Planning

To address these local challenges, cities need to integrate regional planning with localised design solutions that adhere to established urban norms. India’s National Building Code (NBC) 2016, offers a set of standards for climate-responsive design, including guidelines for natural ventilation, drainage and flood management. These norms help ensure that buildings and neighborhoods are prepared for climate risks, from urban heat to flooding. For instance, the NBC provides specific guidelines on optimising natural airflow to combat the heat island effect in densely packed urban spaces, especially in smaller cities.

“Local infrastructure must be designed with these standards in mind,” says Dr Vinod Kumar, a climate-resilient urban planner. “Simple interventions like shading, proper drainage, and green cover, when guided by such norms, can go a long way in improving quality of life while ensuring long-term climate resilience.”

The Role of Participatory Planning: Ahmedabad's TP Scheme

One successful example of local-level planning is Ahmedabad’s town planning (TP) scheme, which brings residents into the urban design process. By pooling land for redesign, the TP Scheme allows neighbourhoods to be redeveloped with an emphasis on improved drainage, green spaces, and ventilation. The participation of local communities ensures that the designs are both practical and sensitive to the climate needs of the area.

“A participatory approach, like Ahmedabad’s TP Scheme, empowers communities to take charge of their urban environment,” explains Dr Alka Mehta, an urban planner. “It helps cities design spaces that are not only livable but also climate-responsive, with an emphasis on ventilation, shading, and stormwater management — key elements in smaller cities that are vulnerable to heat and flooding.”

Micro-Level Climate Data, Street-Level Interventions

Using climate-specific data at the street level can further improve urban resilience. Pune’s Smart Streets initiative, which uses climate data to inform the design of pedestrian lanes, shaded walkways, and green spaces, serves as a prime example of how small interventions can make a big impact. By analysing data on temperature, wind patterns, and sunlight exposure, Pune is redesigning its streets to reduce heat, enhance air quality, and encourage walking and cycling.

Dr Ashok Ranjan, an urban designer, highlights the importance of street-level planning: “Data-driven street design — whether it’s incorporating shade or improving airflow — can significantly reduce heat and improve comfort for residents. This is the kind of localised planning that should be part of every city’s climate resilience strategy.”

Small Cities, Big Opportunities: Learning From The Past

India’s experience with rapid urbanisation in the 1990s offers important lessons for smaller cities today. In larger cities, growth often outpaced infrastructure development, leading to long-term challenges like poor drainage, inadequate waste management and excessive heat. Now, as migration flows to smaller cities and towns due to affordable real estate and labor, these cities have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of their larger counterparts.

Dr Meera Sharma, a consultant with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), argues, “Smaller cities must avoid repeating the mistakes of large cities in the early 1990s. If they focus on scalable climate-sensitive solutions and integrate participatory planning, they can grow sustainably and avoid the infrastructure deficits that larger cities are now struggling to fix.”

A Multi-Scale Approach to Sustainable Growth

To ensure sustainable and resilient urban growth, India’s cities must move beyond regional planning to incorporate smaller-scale, localised solutions. By applying climate-responsive norms, using local climate data, and involving communities in the planning process, cities can better manage the infrastructure needs of rapidly growing areas. This multi-scale approach, combining the broader framework of regional planning with the detailed design of neighbourhoods and streets, will help cities avoid the pitfalls of past urbanisation and build a future that is both livable and climate-resilient.

Smaller cities may not have the sprawling infrastructures of their larger counterparts, but they can still lead the way in creating sustainable, climate-conscious urban spaces. By focusing on both regional and local scales, India’s cities can ensure that growth is not only inclusive but also resilient to the challenges of climate change.