National Institute of Urban Affairs

The core activities of the Institute are carried out by a well qualified, experienced, multidisciplinary team of urban planners, economists, geographers, statisticians, sociologists, systems analysts and management experts. Specialised staff equipped with the latest computer hardware and advanced software packages provide the necessary support services to the Institute's research, training, publication and other activities.

Contribution to Urban Policy Formulation

• A series of exercises to raise issues in urban governance, carried out at the Institute, helped in the drafting of the Seventy-Fourth Constitution Amendment Act, 1992.

• Extensive work done at the Institute helped the National Commission on Urbanisation in the drafting of their report.

• Participatory training and research conducted in the area of urban basic services, being conducted at the Institute since the inception of UBSP programme under the Seventh Five year Plan, contributed to building community processes towards urban poverty alleviation.

• A series of National level meetings organised at the Institute provided technical assistance to State Finance Commissions on various issues pertaining to municipal finances.

• Training workshops, seminars and research under the Indo-US AID collaboration programme, the Financial Institution Reforms and Expansion (FIRE-D) programme, being conducted at the Institute, sensitised the state Governments to the concept of full cost recovery for directly chargeable urban infrastructure and motivated city governments to increasingly go in for credit rating.

Thrust Area of Research

• Urbanisation and Urban Policy.

• Urban planning and development.

• Urban infrastructure and services

• Urban poverty

• Urban Environment

• Urban Transport

• Urban Shelter

• Municipal Finance

• Urban Informal Sector

Publication and Documentation

The Institute disseminates and shares its research outputs and other related information on the urban sector with all concerned through its publications and documentation services. Research outputs of the Institute are available at a nominal cost to all concerned through the Research Study Series and working Papers.

Journals & other Periodicals

• Urban India, the leading bi-annual journal in the field, publishes contribution from researches, decision makers and professionals interested in research and study of India’s Urban Sector.

• Urban News, a compact ready-to-use compilation of newspaper clippings on urban problems and related matters, is a rich source of reference for researches, policy makers and administrators.

• Urban File, a bi-annual bibliography of articles published in over eighty national and international journals is of immense value to those working in the urban sector.

Research Study Series/Working Papers

Some of the most important publications of the Institute are :

• Financing Urban Infrastructure in India.

• Inner City Environment and Urban Renewal of Mysore

• Scope and Practice of Privatisation of Urban Services in India.

• Octroi: A study of its Impact on Municipal Finance and Transport Efficiency.

• India’s Urban Sector Profile

• Pricing and Cost Recovery of Urban Services: A case study of four Indian cities.

NIUA Study Report on Status of Water Supply, Sanitation and Solid Waste Management in 300 Cities/Towns

1. Water Suppy and Water Tariff 1999
2. Wastewater Management & Low Cost Sanitation 1999
3. Solid Waste Management 1999
4. Status of Water Supply, Sanitation and Solid Waste Management in Urban Areas

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

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