With a population that has already surpassed 1.2 billion and shows no sign of stagnation, India’s infrastructure needs are vast and ever-expanding. India ranked 89th out of 142 countries for its infrastructure in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2011-2012. The report criticized its transport, ICT and energy infrastructure as “largely insufficient and ill-adapted to the needs of business,” before going on to add: “The Indian business community continues to cite infrastructure as the single biggest hindrance to doing business in the country.”

Cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore (to name a few) are facing the brunt of the imminent need to upgrade India’s infrastructure. India’s urban population of around 375 million is projected to reach 500 million by 2017.[1] By 2030, the country is expected to have 68 cities with over 1 million residents.[2] This torrid rate of urbanization means that massive investment will be required in everything from metro systems to clean water supplies, power generation to affordable housing.

Contemporary planning theorists have pointed out the gap of infrastructure planning owing to shortage of skilled workforce. Given the scale of this infrastructure gap, it’s small wonder that India is one of the world’s most attractive markets for companies in the infrastructure business. However, lack of coordination between the private industries, national government and solution providers (such as planners and engineers) continues to be the Achilles’ heel of the infrastructure industry in India.

Our group aims to develop a pedagogy of infrastructure planners and urban scientists aiming to plan and design infrastructure to fulfill the needs of 21st century Indian cities. We believe that if adequately equipped, we have the intellect and ability to plan for modern India. To contemplate on this issue, we aim to develop a milieu of thoughts and process of different schools and strike a balance to cultivate human resources for tomorrow.