Indian cities stand at a critical crossroads. The urban population is projected to reach 40 percent by 2030, up from 30 percent in 2011, redefining how millions of Indians live, work and interact. The impending transformation brings immense opportunities for economic growth and social progress. Still, it also presents complex challenges—further strain on infrastructure, exacerbated environmental degradation and wider social inequalities. Climate change intensifies these challenges, introducing first-order effects like floods and heatwaves, and second-order impacts such as increased migration from affected regions. The stakes are high, and the need for resilient urban planning has never been more urgent.
Traditionally, addressing urban challenges has involved a combination of policy and law, investment in infrastructure and technological advancements. Yet, a critical component often gets overlooked: behavioural change.
On the citizens’ side, individual behaviours substantially impact the sustainability and functionality of urban systems. Take waste management. When citizens properly segregate their waste, they help reduce pollution and support efficiency in waste processing, ultimately contributing to a cleaner city. Another key behaviour is the use of public transport. When residents choose mass transit over private vehicles, they alleviate traffic congestion, reduce emissions and contribute to a more efficient city. These seemingly small behaviours collectively have the potential to transform urban spaces for all.
On the supply side, the behaviour of public service providers is equally important. For instance, police officers who practise empathy-driven community policing engaging with communities to build trust, using non-violent conflict resolution and reducing biases can foster safer, more harmonious neighbourhoods. Public transport workers who follow safety protocols and proactively address issues related to gender-based violence can make a substantial difference and encourage greater use of public transport.
This is not happening optimally at the moment. Efforts to get actors to enact these behaviours are often reduced to simplistic information, education and communication efforts in urban planning and service delivery. While educational programmes have their place, they are often insufficient for driving sustained behaviour change at scale. We need to borrow more heavily from the behavioural toolkit.
Behavioural frameworks such as ‘mindspace’—which emphasises key principles such as incentives, social norms and priming—are seldom employed when designing public messaging. Urban communication strategies often rely on generic awareness campaigns, overlooking the opportunity to craft behaviourally informed messages that resonate more deeply. However, when done well—such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (big celebrities playing the role of trusted messengers) or Delhi’s odd-even scheme (the vehicle number plate being the default sorting mechanism)—programmes can drive significant adoption.
Urban planning must embrace a more nuanced, data-driven approach to influencing behaviour at both individual and systemic levels. There is enough evidence to suggest that this is a journey worth embarking upon.
Consider the case of Indore, a city that transformed itself from struggling with waste management to being recognised as one of the cleanest cities in India. This wasn’t achieved through infrastructure alone, but by changing the behaviours of both citizens and municipal workers. Initiatives included door-to-door awareness campaigns, strict waste segregation enforcement and community involvement. A key part of this success was the catchy and viral song ‘Kachra gadi,’ which gained significant traction and was later adopted by other cities in Madhya Pradesh.
Indian cities need to institutionalise this approach. We propose the creation of a new role—a chief behavioural officer or CBO—embedded within urban local bodies and working closely with the municipal commissioner to integrate behavioural insights into all facets of urban governance.
Supported by a small team of ‘behavioural fellows’, the CBO would collaborate with city departments and external partners to embed behaviourally informed strategies into urban planning and public service delivery. Similar roles and projects have been institutionalised in several cities such as New Orleans, and initiatives such as What Works Cities, which partnered with behavioural experts in driving change.
To fully leverage the potential of this role, a systematic approach could include the following steps: establishing the role and resourcing it adequately with budgets and skilled team members, developing an annual behavioural plan for the city in consultation with stakeholders, investing in data and research to support behavioural initiatives in the city, creating in technology platforms to engage with citizens and also last mile delivery workers.
When properly implemented, this approach could yield significant returns on investment, with positive impacts visible within the first few years. By improving service delivery, enhancing operational efficiency, and promoting sustainable citizen behaviours such as better waste management, increased use of public transport, and energy conservation cities could generate cost savings and improve quality of life. These benefits will further drive down the costs of urban management, allowing the initiative to pay for itself.
Implementing this strategy will require a strong commitment from city leaders and policymakers. The success of initiatives like the Behavioural Insights Unit at Niti Aayog, and similar projects in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar demonstrate that the time is right to expand behavioural approaches to the city level. We urge city governments, urban planners, and stakeholders to embrace this approach.
(Views are personal)
Utsav Choudhury
Lead, universal design and inclusion, National Institute of Urban Affairs
Nirat Bhatnagar
Partner, Dalberg Advisors; member, Atlas of Behaviour Change in Development