A Critical Review of India’s Urban Governance Reforms and Its Impact on Transport Sector: Case Studies of Bangalore and Jaipur

Transport is central to the development of urban areas because it directly affects the economic efficiency of the cities and the well-being of inhabitants. In the context of rapid urbanization processes, increasing travel demand, growing congestion, negative environmental impacts, the large size of investments, and the impacts of transport on daily human life, it is essential to formulate policies and strategies that enable the sustainable development of the transport sector in the cities. The redesign of the urban mobility governance system has played a pivotal role in seeking to promote more equitable, desirable, economically efficient, and environmentally sustainable cities in India. Recently, the Government of India implemented the Smart Cities Mission, to address sustainable development challenges in parts of 100 cities. This paper focuses on the implementation of the Smart City Mission to fulfil a threefold purpose (a) to examine the various governance reform initiatives implemented over the past few years to determine their impact on long-term infrastructure development projects and to identify those that could not be implemented (b) to give a detailed review of Smart Cities Mission and (c) to build a stakeholder map by conducting workshops with stakeholders, to understand the relationships between local actors, public officials, Non-Governmental Organizations, and institutions involved in sustainable transport infrastructure initiatives in Bangalore and Jaipur, and their connection to the new Smart City Mission initiative and delivery.