Urban complexity is increasing in the developing countries experiencing rapid urbanization. India is not an exception. The country has faced a tremendous urban growth in the post-Independence years. The large urban areas are expanding in an unplanned way. The migration of population, both urban to urban and rural to urban, is leading to concentration of population in large cities resulting into their haphazard development. The mushrooming of slums and shanties is adversely impacting the urban development, worsening the urban environment besides creating a number of social and economic problems. The vocal and demanding community aspires qualitative and efficient services.

The institutional mechanism for managing the urban affairs has miserably failed to act as per the expectations and aspirations of the people. A number of factors are responsible for such a pathetic condition of urban local institutions. It is however being recognized gradually that human resource is the principal factor which can turn the table. It is the personnel who can optimize the other resources-financial, materials, technological etc.

Urban government in our democratic set up is at the cutting edge of administration responsible mainly for the provision and delivery of basic services. Their regulatory character is diminishing and they are emerging in a new avtar as facilitator. The traditional urban administration is adopting management techniques. It is getting the shape of urban governance and further to good urban governance. This paradigm shift requires a new class of urban managers.

Unfortunately, the teaching of public administration in Independent India has been inadequate to appreciate the changing demands of the time. The universities do not conduct academic programmes exclusively on urban administration. Hence, there is an ardent need to provide an academic forum where the future urban professionals can be brought up and developed. The proposed Post-Graduate Diploma in Urban Management is the outcome of such a realization. It aims to prepare managers who can give a new direction to urban India in new Millennium.