Governance of urban lake commons in India: a social-ecological perspective on policy fragmentation and stakeholder dynamics

Urban lakes in the Global South provide vital ecological and socio-economic functions however, despite decades of policy investment, many continue to decline, with the literature increasingly attributing this pattern to institutional fragmentation, power asymmetries, and technocratic restoration practices. However, no national-scale synthesis has examined how these governance dynamics interact in the context of urban lake management in India. This review addresses that gap by asking how policy fragmentation, institutional power asymmetries, and technocratic restoration jointly shape urban lake governance, and whether polycentric governance and Nature-Based Solutions can overcome these limitations. This review employs a systematic narrative review of peer-reviewed, policy, and case-study literature (2000–2026), guided by Ostrom's Social-Ecological Systems framework and stakeholder power-interest mapping, to synthesize evidence from five Indian urban/peri-urban lake systems: Dal Lake (Kashmir), Delhi, Pushkar and Udaipur (Rajasthan), Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Findings show that degradation persists not from a lack of policy but from institutional siloing, weak cross-scale coordination, and the exclusion of lake-dependent communities; most lakes remain in the poorest water-quality categories despite major national missions, and state agencies and developers dominate stakeholder power at the expense of commons-based stewardship. The review highlights the need for a transition toward Integrated Lake Basin Management and Nature-Based Solutions (NbS), aligned with Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), with broader implications for urban water governance across the Global South.