This book addresses some key issues of governance and management for India's principal urban areas of Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. As three of the greatest Indian cities, they have evolved in recent decades into large metropolitan regions with complex, overlapping and often haphazard governance arrangements. All three cities exemplify the challenges of urbanisation and serve here as case studies to explore the five dimensions of urban governance. London, with its recent establishment of a directly elected Mayor, provides a reference point for this analysis, and signifies the extent to which urban leadership has moved to the top of the urban governance agenda.

Nirmala Rao is Professor of Politics and Pro-Director at SOAS, University of London, UK. She has published extensively in the field of urban governance and her other publications include Cities in Transition: Growth and Change in Six Metropolitan Areas (Routledge) and Governing London (with Ben Pimlott).

1. Urban governance in India

2. The conditions of effective metropolitan governance

3. London: A prototype for India?

4. Devolution of power to cities

5. The reach of metropolitan power

6. The structures of metropolitan authority

7. Urban leadership and civic engagement

8. The future of India's urban governance