How We Plan Cities Determines Who
They Work For

In India’s cities and towns, growth frequently outpaces planning, sectors and agencies operate in silos, and design is rarely treated as a means for shaping inclusive, well-functioning public spaces.

Janaagraha’s Planning and Design work addresses these structural gaps through place-based governance models, spatial planning instruments spanning regional to neighbourhood scales, and design standards that make roads and other public spaces work for all.

Impact Goal 1

Place-based Governance

Cities in India are governed as collections of sectors, rather than as distinct places. No single authority is responsible for the city as a whole, and a one-size-fits-all approach treats cities of different sizes, needs, and capacities as identical.

Place-based governance calls for a differentiated approach rooted in local context. It reorients institutions towards integrated planning, shifting cities from scheme-driven to needs-based approaches.

Impact Goal 2

Land and Planning

In many Indian cities, master plans are weak or absent. Planning is fragmented as sectoral plans are prepared independently, and public land remains under utilised and disconnected from city priorities.

We work with Jana Urban Space Foundation (JUSP), our sister organisation, to strengthen the institutional foundations of urban planning by developing three-tiered planning frameworks and linking statutory plans to project pipelines, land use decisions, and regulatory tools.

Impact Goal 3

Best-in-class Roads and Other Public Spaces

Roads in India’s cities are viewed as conduits for vehicles, built primarily to ease congestion. They are rarely designed to serve pedestrians, cyclists, public transport, and vehicles equally.

Jana Urban Space Foundation (JUSP) reimagines roads and public spaces as urban systems and strengthens how they are conceived, designed, and maintained. This enhances walkability, everyday safety, climate resilience, and long-term sustainability in cities.

Key Initiatives

City Action Plans

City Action Plans are participatory, place-based planning tools for sustainable urban transformation. Residents identify priorities based on local context — from infrastructure to health to climate resilience. City institutions prioritise and approve these interventions, enabling coordination of efforts and funding across departments. This moves planning from centralised, scheme-driven approaches to city-owned roadmaps that respond to lived realities.

In Assam, as anchor partner to the state government’s Doh Shaher Ek Rupayan programme, Janaagraha is institutionalising City Action Plans in 10 cities across the state. In Uttar Pradesh, as knowledge partners in the Aspirational Cities Programme, we are supporting the development of City Action Plans across 100 towns.

Tender SURE

Tender SURE (Specifications for Urban Roads Execution) is India’s first comprehensive set of urban road design guidelines, developed by Jana Urban Space Foundation (JUSP).Anchored in ‘Build Once, Build Right’ principles, it sets standard requirements for continuous footpaths, routes utilities under footpaths to limit repeated road-cutting, and integrates stormwater drainage to prevent waterlogging. This improves durability and maintenance outcomes, strengthening lifecycle performance. Adopted across more than 500 km of roads in 35 cities across 6 states, Tender SURE has resulted in a 228% increase in pedestrian usage, improved flood resilience, and significantly lower maintenance needs

Differential DCR

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15-Minute Neighbourhoods

Jana Urban Space Foundation’s 15-Minute Neighbourhoods initiative reimagines urbanplanning around the principle that residents should be able to access essential servicesand amenities—work, education, healthcare, mobility, and leisure—within a short walk orcycle ride from home. This approach prioritises walkability, reduces car dependence, andcreates more liveable, climate-resilient neighbourhoods through high-quality pedestrianinfrastructure and improved local accessibility.

Jana Urban Space Foundation is applying 15-minute neighbourhood principles inBengaluru’s Nallurahalli neighbourhood, Manipal Academy’s campus masterplan, and thedevelopment of Neighbourhood Planning Guidelines for the Chennai Metropolitan Area—enabling localised, resilient planning across diverse urban contexts.

City Data and Analytics Platform

Urban data in India is often fragmented, scattered, and non-standardised, making itdifficult to assess cities holistically or make informed decisions. The City Data andAnalytics Platform (CDAP) is an integrated platform that addresses this gap by bringingtogether data from national, state, district, and city levels. Developed by Janaagraha incollaboration with NITI Aayog, CDAP operates as a microsite on the National Data andAnalytics Platform. It supports cross-sectoral comparison, temporal analysis to tracktrends, and spatial visualisation through maps. The platform aims to strengthen place-based and data-based decision making to improve quality of life, resilience, andsustainability in India’s cities.

Initiative 6

Impact Highlights

City Action Plans institutionalised in 10 cities across Assam.

Tender SURE standards adopted across 500+ km of roads in 35 cities, resulting in
228% increase in pedestrian usage.

City Data and Analytics Platform launched offering accessible, standardised,
interoperable urban data from national to city levels.

15-Minute Neighbourhoods principles applied in Bengaluru and Manipal.

How We Plan Cities Determines WhoThey Work For