Abstract:

The governance policies in 21st-century societies aim to ameliorate poverty, universalize health care facilities, facilitate optimum education coupled with employment opportunities and achieve inclusive development by promoting good governance paradigms. To address the concerns of rising urbanization, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals emphasize a holistic urban planning approach to ensure inclusive and sustainable development in urban regions. Global lockdown during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which shattered the livelihood of vulnerable urban population, mandates revisiting development policies. Indian government implemented urban development policies including ‘Smart City Mission’ and ‘Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation - AMRUT’ to transform urban landscape and facilitate equitable distribution of socio- economic benefits. In this context, the paper analyzes dynamism of governance and urban development in Srinagar city of Jammu & Kashmir by exploring the impact of Srinagar Smart city Mission and AMRUT on socio-economic development in the city, identify governance & urban development challenges and explore opportunities for rejuvenation of governance and urban development paradigms in the region. The paper is based on analysis of data collected from fifty respondents, including general public, academicians, administrative practitioners and journalists using an open-ended questionnaire technique. The findings revealed poor public satisfaction about impact of Srinagar Smart City Mission and AMRUT on the region’s socio-economic development.

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