Predicament of planning for a sustainable and low carbon city in 21st century

This is an urban century and India itself is facing an unprecedented scale of urbanization. Hence it presents an unique opportunity to plan, develop and build a new lndia which is ecologically and economically sustainable. The urban approaches chosen, and the infrastructure decisions made today will have severe consequences for generations to come. At the same time, cities are complex open systems with linkages to hinterlands across multiple scales. Urban planners are faced with multiple sustainability challenges and thus urban plaining must address multiple agendas, including sustainable development, poverty reduction, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Qualitative understanding of various urban sustainability strategies for co benefits and trade off in relation to carbon reduction strategies is reasonably good but quantification of their effectiveness is weaker in many cases. As the chapter describes, the way forward is not simple, as climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster management and sustainable development is a complex problem in the urban context and yet only a small proportion of urban governments have begun to act of this agenda. Identifying co-benefits and spill over effects of an intervention while addressing trade-off sale necessary and might increase the likelihood of success for sustainable urban development in 21st century.