Opportunities and Risks of the “New Urban Governance” in India: To What Extent Can It Help Addressing Pressing Environmental Problems?

Jeroen van der Heijden*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The “new urban governance” has made rapid inroads as an approach to govern the transition to more environmentally sustainable buildings and cities. It allows for a broad repertoire of actors and instruments in the governing of this transition and is expected to overcome some of the pervasive problems of mandatory regulation and legislation for urban development and transformation. This article studies six new urban governance practices in India based on a series of interviews with relevant actors. It seeks to better understand the opportunities and risks of this approach to urban governance for governing India’s rapid urbanization. It finds that the new urban governance holds some promise but is also critical of it. Particularly, the lack of mandatory urban regulation and legislation, the lack of institutional capital, and a culture of corruption in India undermine the promise that the new urban governance holds in this context.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)251-275
    Number of pages25
    JournalJournal of Environment and Development
    Volume25
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2016

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