Contents: Preface. 1. Shifts in urban governance: raising the questions/I.S.A. Baud and J. de Wit. I. Models and instruments in urban decentralization: 2. Urban governance in India--spotlight on Mumbai/M. Pinto. 3. Urban decentralization in Indian cities: assessing the performance of neighbourhood level wards committees/J. de Wit, N. Nainan and S. Palnitkar. 4. Institutionalizing people's participation in urban governance: an inter-city perspective of wards committees in West Bengal/A. Ghosh and M. Mitra. 5. Negotiating for participation: decentralization and NGOs in Mumbai, India/N. Nainan and I.S.A. Baud. II. Multi-stakeholder arrangements in public services: 6. Governance in urban environmental management: comparing accountability and performance in multi-stakeholder arrangements in South India/I.S.A. Baud and R. Dhanalakshmi. 7. Law, urban policies and the role of intermediaries in Delhi/I. Milbert. 8. New management tools for Mumbai's Solid Waste Management (SWM)/S. Redkar. 9. Partnerships in action: a people's view/A. Bhide. 10. New forms of governance in Hyderabad: how urban reforms are redefining actors in the city/L. Kennedy. III. Contestations and urban governance: 11. New forms of contestation and cooperation in Indian urban governance/N. Sridharan. 12. The courts and the squatter settlements in Delhi--or the intervention of the judiciary in urban 'governance'/V. Dupont and U. Ramanathan. 13. Urban governance--whose ball game is it anyway?/A. Adarkar. Consolidated bibliography. Index.
"This work looks at the impact of decentralization on local governance arrangements and citizen participation in urban democracy processes in India. To analyse the various issues, it includes case studies from the major cities throughout the country.
New Forms of Urban Governance in India : Shifts, Models, Networks and Contestations examines how local governments work together with other actors in governing mega cities in India, especially in view of globalization and internal transformation processes. It analyses whether new forms of governance open up opportunities for more participatory urban governance and improved service delivery, with positive implications for poor groups in the cities.
The articles in the collection deal with two major processes--bringing the government closer to citizens through decentralization, and working with private sector and civil society groups in providing urban services. Participation of the rich and the poor in local democratic processes and the relations between local and city planning are focused. Students and academics involved in urban studies, economics and development studies and the study of local governance will find the work valuable." (jacket)
