Vol. 11, Special Issue 11, Part A (2025)

Abstract

India's growing urbanization in the twenty-first century has moved the demographic balance from rural hinterlands to large metropolitan agglomerations. Karnataka, one of India's most urbanized and economically vibrant states, is in the forefront of this shift. This thesis, titled *"Sustainable Urban Design: Strategies for Resilience, Equity, and Liveability in Karnataka's Metro Cities, critically examines the urban morphology of Karnataka's primary metro cities Bengaluru and Mysuru to assess the efficacy of current planning paradigms against Sustainable Urban Design (SUD) principles.

The study describes a "crisis of success" in Bengaluru, where unfettered economic migration and IT-driven expansion have overtaken infrastructure, resulting in systemic failures in mobility, water management, and garbage disposal. In contrast, Mysuru tells a story of "threatened heritage," in which a legacy of planned development is under threat from inevitable modernization. The thesis uses a comparative case study approach to examine five key dimensions of sustainability: (1) Land Use and Density (Sprawl vs. Compactness), (2) Mobility (Private vs. Public Transit), (3) Blue-Green Infrastructure (Water Security and Ecology), (4) Energy and Resource Efficiency, and (5) Social Equity. The study proposes corrective and preventative methods for Bengaluru and Mysuru using the frameworks of Transit-Oriented Development and Water Sensitive Urban Design.

The thesis indicates that cosmetic modifications or isolated technology fixes cannot accomplish Karnataka's sustainable urbanism goals. It necessitates a comprehensive overhaul of urban administration, a transition from monocentric to polycentric planning, and the democratization of the design process. It contends that unless Karnataka's metro cities shift toward a regenerative, circular urban form, they will face ecological irreversibility and economic stagnation by 2050.