Understanding urban geographies is key to evaluating how cities come to be where they are, while allowing policymakers to plan for the future of cities across India. In order to truly understand growing urban dynamics of the country and placing cities and towns in a larger geographical context, something that the NIUA excels in. With technologies like geographical information systems (GIS), it has become easier than ever to employ methods from this discipline to inform decisions related to zoning, urban planning, as well as transit and transportation planning and can be a key to NIUAs contribution to the growth of urban centres in India. The linkages of these urban areas and economic activity and wide-ranging effects on spatial growth, availability of employment opportunities and livability in urban ecosystems is areas where NIUA is going to be our focused approach under this centre. By studying issues through an economic lens, the NIUA will support urban discourse in a vast variety of fields: reducing ghettoisation, promoting economic growth, effectively creating industrial clusters, creating cost effective public housing, among many other pressing issues
The proposed Centre will serve the following functions: