National Urban Conclave 2026 Concludes with Urban Development Recommendations
The National Urban Conclave 2026 concluded in Bhubaneswar with actionable recommendations to strengthen urban governance, planning, and service delivery towards achieving the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. The two-day event brought together representatives from Union and State Governments, urban local bodies, industry, academia, and knowledge institutions to address India's evolving urban challenges.
Union Minister Shri Manohar Lal emphasized that the conclave aimed to deliberate on future challenges of cities, highlighting progress achieved through national missions including AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban, and PM SVANidhi. He noted that over half of the country's legacy waste has been remediated and stressed the need to prevent accumulation of new waste. The Minister emphasized affordable housing near employment centers and public transport, circularity in construction practices, and scientific waste remediation.
Shri Satendra Singh, Secretary of Urban Development, emphasized translating policy deliberations into practical urban solutions, stating that "success should be measured by the quality of services, not merely by project completion." He highlighted the importance of strengthening institutional capacity, inter-agency coordination, municipal finances, and accountability.
Shri Rajiv Gauba from NITI Aayog called for comprehensive reforms in urban governance, planning, and municipal finance, emphasizing that "we cannot run cities from our state capitals" and need to empower smaller cities. He stressed greater devolution of powers and finances to urban local bodies, empowered city leadership, and stronger municipal accountability.
Technical Session Recommendations
Seven technical sessions produced specific recommendations across urban development domains. The 'Right to Walk' session addressed fragmented pedestrian spaces and recommended institutionalizing the 'Right to Walk' in statutory plans, securing pedestrian right-of-way, and establishing dedicated financing mechanisms.
The 'Water, Waste and Resource Efficiency' session recommended integrating water, wastewater and solid waste planning, shifting toward outcome-based service delivery, and enabling sustainable financing through PPPs, municipal bonds, and climate finance.
The 'Affordable Housing' session recommended reserving land for affordable housing, integrating housing with transit and employment centers, developing viable rental models, and leveraging FAR and TDR incentives for cross-subsidization.
The 'Integrated Urban Development' session recommended integrating spatial and infrastructure planning through shared GIS-based databases, promoting corridor-based development, and leveraging land-based financing mechanisms.
The 'Urban Service Delivery' session recommended shifting from asset creation to outcome-based service delivery, integrating municipal agencies, strengthening digital monitoring systems, and improving own-source revenue mobilization.
The 'Model Building Bye-Laws' session recommended simplifying building regulations through integrated digital platforms, introducing risk-based scrutiny, rationalizing FAR and density norms, and incorporating climate resilience standards.
The 'Model Municipal Law' session recommended empowering Mayors with five-year tenures, strengthening devolution of municipal functions, enhancing fiscal autonomy, and revising the Model Municipal Law, 2003.
Launched Initiatives
Several digital initiatives were launched during the conclave. The Used Water Marketplace under AMRUT 2.0 is a digital platform connecting urban local bodies with potential users and investors in treated used-water ecosystems, enabling ULBs to list treated water available for sale.
The UCF Portal serves as a digital interface for states, Union Territories, ULBs, and implementing agencies for project submission, tracking, appraisal, and monitoring under the Urban Challenge Fund.
The Online Interactive Municipal Finance Data Hub is a multipurpose portal connecting municipal finance practitioners through online discussion forums and enabling municipal reforms through real-time digital data on municipal revenue and expenditure.
The Street Food Hubs initiative under PM SVANidhi formally commenced development of 18 selected Street Food Hubs with the release of the first tranche of funds.
Additional launches included the 'Swachhata Ke Superheroes' book for children promoting waste management values, CPWD Nirman application for digital monitoring of CPWD projects, CPWDway digital capacity building platform, an Internship Scheme through the National Internship Portal for engineering and architecture students, and a Technical Cooperation MoU between JICA and CPHEEO for circular use of treated water.
The recommendations from the conclave will inform the next phase of urban reforms with emphasis on institutional capacity, integrated planning, sustainable financing, and accountable service delivery.