8. Actualizing Smart Regional Aspirations: A Case of the National Capital Region, India

National Capital Region (NCR) is one of the best known and economically fastest growing planning regions of India. Innovative real estate developments in the cities of Gurugram, Noida, and Greater Noida have caught the attention of policy makers and academic scholars alike. Most scholars however have focused on challenges presented by this region and critiqued inequitable developments. This chapter focuses on challenges as well as opportunities presented by this metropolitan planning region. This chapter speculatively seeks to answer the question of what holds for the people living in the NCR for the next 20 years. After brief introduction, the second part of the chapter used to set the context by examining planning and governance of the NCR. The third part of the chapter focuses on five smart spatial challenges and opportunities. Emanating from these challenges and opportunities are policy proposals that are discussed in the fourth part of the chapter that policy proposals would convert challenges into realizable opportunities, making regional aspirations a real possibility. The chapter ends with some conclusions.