Bringing rivers back into the city: Rethinking urban planning in India

In most Indian cities, rivers are treated like an afterthought, if they’re thought of at all. They’re seen as sources of water or waste disposal channels, often cut off from the public’s imagination and physically pushed to the fringes of urban life. But what if cities could plan with rivers at the centre—not just as natural features, but as cultural, ecological, and economic lifelines?

Why are rivers missing in our city plans?

Ishleen Kaur began by outlining the foundational issue. “We are largely moving further and further away from our rivers—both physically and in our planning imagination,” she says, emphasising that in most Indian cities, rivers are viewed either as sources of water or as channels for waste, with their ecological, cultural, and social roles being largely ignored.

Delhi Master Plan 2041: A turning point

Reflecting on her involvement in the Master Plan for Delhi 2041, Ms. Kaur shared how a major shift was attempted: “This time, we made a conscious decision to put the Yamuna and its floodplain at the centre of the environment strategy.” Unlike its predecessors, this plan introduced a dedicated focus on water sensitivity. With detailed baselines for physical infrastructure, water supply, sewage, and ecology, the plan sought to restore over 250 water bodies, expand green-blue networks, and formally delineate floodplains using the one-in-25-year flood line.

She highlighted one of the boldest features of the plan, i.e., the delineation of floodplains and a strict no-development zone: “The floodplain has now been marked using the one-in-25-year flood line, and it’s no longer just a stream—it is a protected ecosystem.” She called this “a step in the direction of recognising rivers not just as utilities, but as natural assets that shape urban form.”

Water bodies and stormwater drains, often encroached upon or polluted, were assigned protective buffers and rehabilitation strategies, some drawing on hybrid and nature-based solutions. The riparian buffers were not just protective mechanisms but also envisioned as community spaces to rekindle citizen engagement with rivers.

Urban River Management Plans: Cities leading the way

Kaur then turned to the broader Urban River Management Plan (URMP) framework developed by NIUA. “We realised that pollution abatement alone is not river management. You need to look at rivers as economic, social, and ecological systems,” she said.

Cities such as Aurangabad, Ayodhya, and Kanpur have adopted this framework. In Aurangabad, where the city pumps water from 60 km downstream, the irony was stark: “You’re pumping water back into the city after letting the rivers degrade upstream—it’s completely counter-intuitive to sustainability.” Through on-ground mapping, NIUA showed how proposed land use changes would destroy upper catchments, leading to river dry-up. Their intervention led to development plans being revised to reflect state flood zoning norms.

In Kanpur, she noted, “We managed to institutionalise a 100-metre no-development zone around the Ganga and a 30-metre buffer around the Pandu River. It’s not perfect, but it’s progress.”

Challenges to implementation

Acknowledging the many hurdles, Kaur observed, “Urban rivers are not bounded by municipal limits—but our governance structures are.” In Delhi, for instance, one drain is under the jurisdiction of 17 different agencies. The problem, she argued, is not always lack of intent, but structural fragmentation.

She also addressed the issue of livelihoods and encroachments: “When we talk about encroachments on floodplains, we forget that some of these communities have lived there for decades. Solutions must be inclusive.” One example from Aurangabad involved building a biogas plant within a floodplain cattle shed to manage waste sustainably—“a win-win for the community and the river.”

Building coalitions: The River Cities Alliance

In response to the systemic challenges, the River Cities Alliance was initiated in 2020, beginning with just 30 cities. By 2025, it had expanded to 146 cities covering 93 rivers across 20 states. “We now have cities asking us to help prepare Urban River Management Plans,” said Kaur. “This shift—from imposition to request—is incredibly encouraging.”

“Never during my planning education was I told that underground infrastructure impacts aquifers,” she reflected. “We need to start teaching this upstream—in planning schools, architecture programmes, and civil services.” 

Reimagining urban planning: From consumption to conservation

Summing up her vision, Kaur asserted, “Our cities need to move from a consumption-centric to a conservation-centric paradigm.” The Delhi Master Plan, she noted, had reduced per capita freshwater allocations for high-rise zones and made wastewater reuse mandatory. “These are small steps, but they send a powerful message—your growth must respect the river.”

Looking ahead, NIUA plans to influence 20 more master plans by the end of 2025 and foster basin-level integration by 2027. “We’ve spent decades ignoring our rivers. The fact that cities now want to correct course is a sign that this work matters.”

With institutional innovations, collaborative frameworks, and a renewed political and civic appetite, India’s cities may yet rediscover their rivers—not as relics of the past, but as foundations for a resilient and inclusive future.