India’s urban future has reached a crossroads.

• Indian cities face challenges such as water shortages, rising electricity demand, and rising temperatures.

• Urbanization leads to increased pollution, congestion, and environmental impacts, particularly for the underprivileged.

• Sustainable Futures Collective’s report, ‘Is India Ready for a Warming World?’ (2025), highlights the need for long-term planning for climate change in cities.

• Cities face challenges in pursuing Sustainable Development Goal-11 (SDG-11): creating inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable urban environments by 2030.

• India lacks city-level tools for effective tracking of SDG-11 indicators.

• The research constructs four distinct indices for each pillar of SDG-11, ranking 10 major cities based on performance across select indicators.

• The study found that Ahmedabad ranked first in inclusivity, Bengaluru was the safest city, Surat led in sustainability, and Chennai was the least resilient.

• Variations in the inclusivity index reflect disparities in social and economic participation, safety rankings suggest need for better crime prevention and urban safety strategies, and sustainability rankings reveal uneven progress in environmental planning, waste management, and pollution control.

• The road ahead is to establish better mechanisms for tracking SDG-11 at the urban local body level, leverage Integrated Command and Control Centres, and address the needs of the urban poor.