We have a habit of confusing solutions with symptoms.
More urbanization is not a solution. It is a response to a deeper problem—one we refuse to acknowledge.
The argument is always the same: “We need to create new cities because the old ones are overburdened.” Bengaluru is choking? Let’s carve out new states and build more urban centers. The logic seems sound—until you realize it’s just kicking the can down the road.
A prominent economist recently suggested that splitting large states could lead to the rise of new urban centers. His reasoning? When a new state is formed, a new capital needs to be built, creating instant political and economic focus. The idea isn’t entirely wrong—it has worked before.
But here’s the real question:
Why do we think urbanization is the only path forward?
Bengaluru’s Problem Is Not a Lack of Cities
Bengaluru isn’t struggling because India has too few cities. It’s struggling because it was never designed for the load it’s carrying today.
Roads built for a few lakh vehicles now bear millions. Public transport remains inadequate. Water and air quality decline, while real estate prices push out the very people who power the city.
And yet, the solution being offered isn’t to fix Bengaluru—it’s to build another Bengaluru somewhere else and hope it doesn’t meet the same fate.
Why Do People Leave Their Homes?
Why does a farmer leave his village?
Why does a small-town shopkeeper migrate?
Not because they crave skyscrapers and congestion—but because opportunities have been vacuumed out of where they live.
We create deserts and then complain that people are rushing to the last remaining oasis.
It’s not that villages and small towns are unsustainable. It’s that we’ve let them decay. The rush toward urbanization isn’t happening because people prefer city life—it’s happening because they have no real alternative.
Fix What Exists, Don’t Abandon It
Instead of building more cities, why not focus on making where people already live more viable?
- Decentralized opportunity: Let the work move to people, not the people to work. Tech has made it possible—policy needs to catch up.
- Better governance in cities AND towns: Bengaluru isn’t struggling because it lacks funding—it’s struggling because its management is inefficient. Smaller places don’t even get that chance.
- Infrastructure investment where it’s needed most: Power, water, roads, schools, and hospitals shouldn’t be urban luxuries.
Yes, creating new capitals can redistribute some economic activity. But if the foundation is weak, all we are doing is building taller structures on top of cracks.
India doesn’t need more urban agglomerations. It needs to make life possible outside them.
Because the best cities in the world aren’t the ones people are forced to live in—they’re the ones people choose to stay in.
Think about that.