Lessons for India: how Kerala is tackling rapid urbanisation

The story so far:

Kerala is a tapestry of villages rippling into towns, of backwaters, and midlands and highlands woven together in a living continuum. Capital cities and hamlets bleed into each other, forming a unique “rurban” landscape. Yet beneath this tapestry lies a race against time — urbanisation accelerating faster than infrastructure and governance can keep up, while climate stress lurks in floods, landslides, coastal erosion, and unpredictable weather. In response, Kerala decided to tackle the problem head-on with the Kerala Urban Policy Commission. 

What is the KUPC?

The Kerala Urban Policy Commission (KUPC), set in motion in December 2023, was charged with designing a 25-year urban roadmap that sees cities not as concrete problems, but as organic, climate-aware ecosystems. When the KUPC handed its report to the State in March 2025, the result was not a mild adjustment — it was a structural reset. The blueprint promised nothing less than a data revolution, governance recalibration, identity revival, and finance empowerment — all tied together in one bold vision.

Why was it needed?

By late 2023, Kerala was urbanising at a pace well ahead of the national average. Estimates projected an urban population of over 80% by 2050 — a seismic shift in a region where villages and towns intermesh in a delicate mosaic. Meanwhile, climate threats were intensifying. Floods devastated Ernakulam; landslides shattered hillsides; and coastal zones reeled from sea-level pressures. The gap between crisis and planning was growing wide.

The cabinet’s December 2023 resolution to form the KUPC was a calculated break from India’s centralised, project-based urban model. It was a political acknowledgement that Kerala needed its own compass — tailored to its place, history, and climate context. No other State had taken such a leap. Therefore, the KUPC became India’s first State-level urban commission, signalling a paradigm shift — from reactive fixes to systemic thinking.

What were the recommendations of the commission?

The commission conducted 33 deep-dive studies, covering everything from land-use patterns and water systems to finance flows and civic health. It held 53 district-level stakeholder dialogues, involving mayors, NGOs, unions, resident associations, gig workers, and panchayat members.

A 2,359-page final report, structured around 10 thematic pillars, ranging from climate readiness and finance to well-being and identity, was submitted to the State. The commission drew on Census numbers, satellite imagery, socio-economic realities, ecological hazards, and Kerala’s lived “rurban” character to deliver actionable insights grounded in evidence and local narrative.

Some of the most important recommendations of the KUPC report submitted to the Chief Minister on March 30, 2025 include:

Climate and risk-aware zoning: Any kind of urban planning must reflect hazard mapping of landslides, coastal inundation, flood zones etc. Thus, planning becomes proactive, instead of being reactive.

A digital data observatory: At the Kerala Institute of Local Administration, a real-time data nerve centre could collate high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging, and ground penetrating radar, tide/water gauge, satellite and real-time weather data. Thus, every municipality gains a living intelligence feed.

Green fees and climate insurance: Projects in eco-sensitive zones could come with environmental levies (green fees) which would fund urban resilience. A parametric insurance model ensures pre-approved payouts for disaster-prone areas.

Municipal and pooled bonds: While Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode, being bigger cities, could issue municipal bonds, smaller towns would use pooled instruments. Bond subscriptions were even plugged into the 2024 interim Budget.

Governance overhaul: City cabinets, led by mayors, could replace bureaucratic inertia. Specialist cells (climate, waste, mobility, law) with dedicated municipal cadres should be formed. A “Jnanashree” program would recruit and deploy youth tech talent.

Place-based economic revival: Thrissur-Kochi is known as a FinTech hub; Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam a knowledge corridor; Kozhikode is known as the city of literature; and Palakkad and Kasaragod have been elevated to smart-industrial zones.

Commons, culture, and care: The report stressed the need to revive wetlands, reactivate waterways and preserve heritage zones. It also recommended city health councils to cater to migrants, students, gig workers.

Why is the report unique?

The KUPC highlighted a deeper innovation: the fusion of local narratives and data systems.

Commission members described how fishermens’ ordeals with coastal recession, youth-crafted water conservation drives, or mobility woes voiced by bazaar vendors — all became structured into the urban data apparatus. LIDAR maps now register tidal health near fishing zones; municipal dashboards carry community-generated indicators; and city briefing templates reflect lived stories. Rather than imposing “top-down solutions,” policies were co-produced with citizens, giving Kerala an urban intelligence engine — a living, breathing system where city systems absorb, interpret and act on the emotional, lived intelligence of local communities.

What distinguishes the KUPC isn’t one big idea — it’s the collision of several game-changing ones.

The KUPC is the first State-level commission built for sub-national realities and not recycled from national frameworks. In its report, climate resilience is embedded and not appended — every pillar integrates disaster awareness. The report also calls for the emancipation of public finance through municipal bonds and green levies which give local bodies fiscal agency.

It also re-defines governance from passive bureaucracies to dynamic election-led city cabinets, guided by youth technocrats. Rich stories fuel data, and data fuels policy, closing the feedback loop between lived reality and institutional action. Together, these features dismantle silos — in planning, finance, governance — and re-assemble them into a 360° urban system.

Does it offer lessons for other States?

Kerala’s Urban Commission offers a template with tangible takeaways for other States — mandate a time-bound commission; combine technical data with lived experience and create dialogic systems where citizen inputs are mapped into data observatories; empower local bodies with green levies, bonds, and risk premiums; and insert youth and specialists in governance.

What next?

The KUPC changed more than planning — it rewired the DNA of how a State conceives its cities and towns. It entwined climate awareness, community narrative, financial empowerment, digital governance, and identity economy into a living document-functional plan.

As the first such State-level commission in the country, KUPC isn’t an end — it’s a beginning. For Kerala, it’s a chance to grow not just richer, but wiser; not just bigger, but better; not just more urban, but more human.

For others, it’s a call to action: urban transformation isn’t a problem to solve. It’s a story to be authored — together.

Tikender Singh Panwar is a Member of the KUPC and a former deputy mayor, Shimla.