Over the last seven decades, planners in India have tried different approaches and adopted various methods to plan the Indian cities. From the early days of centralised Master planning to current emphasis on local town planning schemes, they embraced different tools. The state has put in place ambitious renewal schemes and smart city missions. However, questions, such as how to make planning mechanisms work for India persists as solutions either appear elusive or fall short of their objectives.

This podcast series, titled Urban Planning in India, is a reflection on the urban story so far. Hosted by the Centre for Research on Architecture and Urbanism (CAU) and the Centre for Urban Planning and Policy (CUPP) at CEPT University, it offers a rich collection of conversations and audio essays. Eminent thinkers, practitioners, public decision-makers and policy advocates recall and reflect, discuss critical issues and point out the way forward. The episodes are of two categories, one that engages with larger and fundamental issues of urban planning and policy and the other that looks at them through the stories of specific city experiences.

Motivated by the excellent reception of a similar attempt on architecture, the centres have put together the podcast series that will benefit students, serve as resource materials for teaching, work as useful analysis to practitioners and support research as archival material.