India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world and urbanisation is both a challenge and an opportunity for India with huge implications for the rest of the world. One critical concern for India’s urbanising future is the provision of basic urban services for all its citizens.

This paper examines the case of Kochi, an Indian city located at the centre of a rapidly urbanizing coastal and estuarine region. In Kochi, a port city characterised by crisscrossing canals and rivers connected to a backwater system, waterways used to play a major role in the socio-economic and cultural development of the region.