Kerala Urban Policy Commission (KUPC)

Kerala Urban Policy Commission (KUPC)

• Set up: December 2023 by Kerala Cabinet.
• Report submitted: March 30, 2025 (2,359 pages).
• Nature: First State-level Urban Commission in India.
• Mandate: To prepare a 25-year urban roadmap tailored to Kerala’s unique “rurban” context (villages merging into towns, high climate risks).
• Why needed:
  • Kerala urbanisation > national average; projected 80% urban by 2050.
  • Frequent climate disasters: 2018–19 floods, recurring landslides, coastal erosion.
  • Mismatch between national urban frameworks and Kerala’s sub-national realities.

Relevance: GS II (Polity – State governance, 73rd & 74th Amendments, Urban Local Bodies, Municipal governance), GS III (Infrastructure – Urbanisation, Disaster management, Climate-resilient planning, Municipal finance, SDG 11)

Key Recommendations of KUPC

1. Climate & Risk-Aware Planning
   1. Mandatory hazard zoning: floods, landslides, coastal inundation.
   2. Integration of LIDAR, satellite, tide gauges, real-time data.
2. Digital Data Revolution
   1. A Data Observatory at Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA).
   2. Dashboards with community-generated indicators.
   3. Crowd-sourced inputs: fishermen’s experiences, bazaar vendors’ mobility issues.
3. Finance Empowerment
   1. Municipal Bonds: Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode to issue; pooled bonds for smaller towns.
   2. Green Fees: Levies on eco-sensitive projects.
   3. Climate Insurance: Parametric model for quick disaster payouts.
4. Governance Recalibration
   1. City Cabinets led by mayors, replacing bureaucratic inertia.
   2. Specialist municipal cells (climate, waste, mobility, law).
   3. Jnanashree Programme: Recruit youth technocrats for urban governance.
5. Place-Based Economic Revival
   1. Thrissur-Kochi → FinTech hub.
   2. Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam → Knowledge corridor.
   3. Kozhikode → City of literature.
   4. Palakkad & Kasaragod → Smart-industrial zones.
6. Commons, Culture, and Care
   1. Revive wetlands, waterways, heritage zones.
   2. City health councils for migrants, students, gig workers.

Overview

Constitutional & Governance Dimension

• Falls under State List (urban development, local government – 7th Schedule).
• Strengthens 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendments: empowerment of municipalities.
• Brings in decentralised planning + climate governance.

Administrative Dimension

• Moves from reactive disaster management → proactive resilience planning.
• Enhances municipal autonomy with financial tools.
• Reduces dependence on centrally driven schemes (e.g., Smart Cities Mission).

Climate & Environmental Dimension

• Urban planning integrates hazard mapping and resilience.
• Green levies + insurance → internalising climate risk.
• Unique: embeds resilience as a core pillar, not an add-on.

Economic & Financial Dimension

• Municipal bonds + pooled financing → fiscal autonomy for local bodies.
• Encourages private & community investment in climate-safe infrastructure.
• Supports Atmanirbhar Bharat Urban Finance Agenda.

Technological & Data Dimension

• Urban Data Observatory: first state-driven “living intelligence engine”.
• Integrates satellite, GIS, LIDAR, crowd-sourced citizen data.
• Facilitates evidence-based policymaking.

Social Dimension

• Protects vulnerable groups: migrants, gig workers, women.
• Blends lived experience with formal planning (e.g., fisherfolk voices in hazard maps).
• Recognises Kerala’s rurban identity → continuity of village–town–city.

Political & Ethical Dimension

• Democratizes urban governance by empowering mayors, youth technocrats.
• Upholds principles of participatory planning.
• Ensures inclusivity, reducing elite capture of urban development.

Value Addition

• 74th Amendment Act, 1992 → Constitutional status to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
• NITI Aayog’s SDG Index → Kerala ranks high in SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities).
• Urban Finance Tools in India:
  • Municipal bonds (Pune, Ahmedabad were pioneers).
  • Pooled finance model → Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund (TNUDF).
• Climate-Urban Nexus:
  • IPCC AR6 stresses urban vulnerability in coastal & hilly states like Kerala.
  • India’s National Urban Policy Framework (2018) had climate mentions, but not as central as KUPC.

Why KUPC is Unique & Lessons for Other States

• First state-level urban commission → tailored to sub-national context.
• Integrates data, finance, governance, and identity into one framework.
• Template for others: combine technical + social knowledge, empower local bodies, mandate resilience in planning.

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