Learnings from the Mumbai DP2034 Process

Fourteen Years of Public Engagement for Better Development Planning

Development Plans shape how cities grow for decades, influencing housing, transport, public spaces, infrastructure, and the environment. Yet, the planning process often remains difficult for citizens to understand and engage with. Over a period of fourteen years, the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) actively participated in Mumbai's Development Plan 2034 process, working alongside citizens, experts, and government agencies to make planning more transparent, accessible, and participatory. This project documents those experiences and transforms them into practical lessons that can strengthen development planning processes across Indian cities.

Learnings from the Mumbai DP2034 Process

Why Public Participation Matters

A Development Plan is one of the most important statutory planning documents prepared by a city. It determines how land will be used, where infrastructure will be developed, how neighbourhoods will evolve, and how future growth will be managed over the next twenty years. Despite its significance, development planning is often viewed as a technical exercise that is difficult for citizens to understand and engage with.

Meaningful public participation can improve planning outcomes by incorporating local knowledge, identifying issues that may otherwise be overlooked, and building greater public ownership of long-term urban decisions. However, achieving effective participation requires information to be accessible, planning processes to be transparent, and citizens to have the tools needed to engage constructively.

Documenting Fourteen Years of Engagement

The revision of Mumbai's Development Plan 2034 presented a unique opportunity to understand how citizens, institutions, and planning authorities interact throughout a large-scale planning process. UDRI remained closely involved for more than fourteen years, supporting and complementing the statutory planning process through independent research, stakeholder engagement, public outreach, and capacity building.

This project documents the complete journey of Mumbai's Development Plan revision. Rather than focusing only on the final outcome, it captures each stage of the planning process, highlighting successful approaches, challenges encountered, and lessons that can inform future Development Plans in Mumbai and other Indian cities.

The DP 2034 Engagement Process – The Steps Followed

In 2008, UDRI independently started studying the existing development plan and the degree to which this and the previous development plans had been implemented. UDRI further provided a platform to bring together voices in the city to identify issues of urban planning and land use.

UDRI initiated lecture series, debates, workshops, and expert group meetings to develop a framework of analysis for the DP. The brainstorming sessions helped identify eleven critical areas, including Housing, Urban Form, Education, Health, Water and Sanitation, Environment, Livelihood, Finance, Energy, Governance, and Transportation. This framework helped guide the engagement process. The revision for the DP 2034 began in mid-2008. Around the time the local body expressed the intent to revise the DP, UDRI began organising stakeholder focus groups around these eleven themes to conduct concentrated debate and to create an active public engagement platform for both citizens and experts.

To support this, UDRI also launched an online initiative, Mumbai DP 24SEVEN, to make the process open, equitable and efficient. This web-based information portal was accessible to everyone and had updated and simplified information about the revision process of the development plan as it progressed.

From 2009 to 2011, UDRI continued to engage with various stakeholders to debate and define the issues impacting the city. Over time, public participation intensified. Close to 70 stakeholder meetings were held, 250 NGOs and 24 Area Local Management (ALM) Groups were engaged, and numerous public events were organised. As the framing of the DP progressed, two relevant themes of open space and digital inclusion were added. Additionally, as the stakeholder engagement process progressed, in parallel UDRI initiated a three-month-long ‘Vertical Studio’ with students from architecture colleges in Mumbai. With the help of elaborate door-to-door surveys, UDRI was able to gather a comprehensive understanding of the issues from the citizens’ perspective. This exercise also helped validate the recommendations of the various stakeholder groups. UDRI thus provided a critical platform to bring the community into the planning process.

During this time, UDRI also started engaging with the local authority and suggested making the process more inclusive by ensuring wider public participation. We started collating a clear set of recommendations to be incorporated into the DP. These consolidated planning principles formed the People’s Briefs, which were sent to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and were endorsed by more than 120 different organisations and citizens.

In 2012, the local authority released the Existing Land Use (ELU) plan. UDRI conducted a detailed comparison between this ELU and the ELU in the previous 1991 DP and found over 3000 discrepancies. Realising that it was not possible for UDRI to verify these errors single-handedly, we prepared an ELU verification guide which was circulated amongst the citizens and organisations in Mumbai. We empowered the citizens and stakeholder groups with tools that they could use and directly engage with the MCGM to report discrepancies. During this time, UDRI also initiated a gaps analysis for delivery of service for each of the 24 wards in the city. The timely incorporation of this ‘gap analysis’ report, with the existing MCGM database, would have been a useful tool in the formulation of the DP.

A similar process was followed after the Preparatory Studies report was released by the MCGM in 2013. UDRI submitted comments on the document and attended consultative workshops organised by the local authority. At this time, UDRI also prepared a booklet jointly with PRAJA as a tool to simplify and put complex statistical and demographic information about Greater Mumbai in the public domain.

The first draft of the development plan (Erstwhile Draft Development Plan, EDDP) was released in early 2015. UDRI analysed and submitted its suggestions and objections to the plan. Although some elements of the EDDP were appreciated, the number of errors in the plan resulted in it being put on hold. The Revised Draft Development Plan (RDDP) was then released in mid-2016. UDRI followed its process of analysing, submitting its comments to the plan and spreading awareness about it.

In 2018, DP 2034 was notified. This document was released in parts. Later releases included two further sections - the excluded part (EP) and sanctioned modifications (SM) . This was the final round of revision to the DP, and UDRI submitted its comments to the authorities, one last time. Whenever a new draft was released, the time allotted for people to comment on the DP was limited ranging between thirty to sixty days (it is important to note that these DP documents are lengthy and complex to understand). Lack of awareness about the release dates and deadlines to comment on the DP often left very little time for people to completely grasp the implications of the proposals made in the DP in order to make appropriate suggestions. At every step and revision of the DP, UDRI diligently engaged with planning bodies through meetings and correspondence, and with citizens through public meetings and workshops.

The Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPRs) 2034 came into force in their entirety on 12th November 2018. Over the next five years, the excluded parts from the PLU are getting sanctioned in parts, and that process is still ongoing. The biggest drawback of the multiple iterations of the DP was that some beneficial proposals made in the earlier drafts were omitted over time in the subsequent revisions.

Key Achievements

Provided a platform and built a stakeholder network of NGOs, citizens and resident associations to review the ELU and facilitate consensus building for the DP.

Formulated planning principles and targeted 12 civic themes, namely, Education, Health, Housing, Water and Sanitation, Transportation, Energy, Open Spaces, Environment, Urban Form, Livelihoods, Governance and Digital Inclusion, which indicated the needs in these areas for the next 20 years. UDRI organised workshops, and the findings were communicated to the DP department for consideration.

Through numerous meetings and letters, UDRI compelled the MCGM to disclose and share the Existing Land Use (ELU) with the public, which is the basis on which any DP is created.

UDRI prepared a Verification Guide to read the land use categories and help the citizens identify the mistakes in the ELU

Developed training manuals in English and Marathi for land-use verification and imparted training to stakeholders to enable participation in the DP process.

Turning Information into Action

As the planning process evolved, UDRI developed practical tools that enabled citizens to participate more effectively. When the Existing Land Use map was released, UDRI identified thousands of discrepancies and prepared a verification guide that allowed residents and community organisations to review land use information independently and submit their observations directly to the municipal authority. Training manuals in English and Hindi further strengthened citizens' ability to engage with the planning process.

Throughout multiple drafts of the Development Plan, UDRI continued to analyse planning proposals, submit technical recommendations, organise public meetings, and create simplified publications that made planning information accessible to a wider audience. This consistent engagement helped bridge the gap between technical planning documents and public understanding.

A Roadmap for Other Cities

The Mumbai Development Plan process generated valuable lessons that extend far beyond a single city. The project documents not only what happened during each stage of the planning process, but also how different engagement methods were designed, implemented, and refined over time.

The resulting documentation includes timelines, engagement strategies, capacity building tools, and practical methodologies that can be adapted by governments, planning institutions, civil society organisations, and citizen groups undertaking Development Plans elsewhere in India. By capturing both successful approaches and challenges encountered, the project provides a practical roadmap for strengthening participatory planning processes.

How to read the timeline

The timeline graphic in the download section below divided into two parts – (i) the ‘DP 2034’ section (on the top half of the timeline), gives a brief description of the steps initiated by the MCGM and the State Government of Maharashtra and (ii) the ‘UDRI’ section (on bottom half of the timeline), gives a detailed description of activities conducted by UDRI.

The steps for both are identified and numbered (highlighted in the faint yellow band) to emphasize the duration, how one step can have an effect that could last for months, and to cross reference steps taken by MCGM and The State Government with the steps taken by UDRI.

The activities under ‘UDRI’ are categorised as Preparatory (actions taken well in advance, anticipating the next step) and Reactionary (actions taken in response to the local/State government).

Additionally, the capacity-building elements from this engagement process have been captured under the categories shown in the table below:

Looking Ahead

As Indian cities continue to grow, Development Plans will play an increasingly important role in shaping sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban futures. Making these plans more transparent and participatory requires more than statutory consultation. It requires continuous engagement, accessible information, and institutional capacity to involve citizens throughout the planning process.

Learnings from the Mumbai Development Planning Process demonstrates how long-term engagement can strengthen planning outcomes while building trust between citizens and planning institutions. By documenting fourteen years of experience, the project provides practical guidance that can help other cities create more inclusive, informed, and collaborative approaches to development planning.