Pre-Independence

• Madras, now Chennai, was the the first municipal corporation in India, set up in 1687- 88.
• Bombay and Calcutta Municipal Corporations were set in 1726. 
• Lord  Ripon is known as father of local self-government in India, responsible for many administrative reforms. In 1882, he passed a resolution  according to which, panchayat were to be formed at village level, district boards, taluq boards and after that municipalities also came into existence.
• Under the guidance of  architect Lutyens, New Delhi was built to the south of the existing walled city between 1911 and 1931. The  centerpiece was Viceroy’s palace complex (now the Presidential Palace or Rashtrapati  Bhavan).The wide roads were built to suit the motor transport. Later on the city expanded and moderern Delhi took shape.
• Jamshedpur is the first example of Public Private Partnership in city planning. Built around a small village called Sakchi, Lord Chelmsford named the city as Jamshedpur in honour of its founder, Jamshetji Tata. The city was further developed as per the vision of Tata Steel's "Green  City—Clean City—Steel City". Messrs Julin Kennedy Sahlin from Pittsburgh prepared the first layout of the town of Jamshedpur in 1919. Jamshedpur is the  only million plus city in India without a municipal corporation.
• The modern city of Bhubaneswar was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946.

Post Independence

• After Independence, first two Five Year Plans were primarily focussed on institution building on centre and state level. The government established institutions like Delhi Development Authority,Town and Country Planning organizations and Housing boards.
• This period saw formation of new capital cities of Bhubaneswar (1949) Chandigarh (1952) and Gandhinagar (1960). For the first time entirely new cities were built in a planned manner. Chandigarh  was planned by Le Corbusier and Gandhinagar was planned by Prakash M  Apte and H. K. Mewada, who had apprenticed with Le Corbusier in  Chandigarh.
• The Third  Five Year plan (1961-66) initiated comprehensive development plans for major cities for rapidly growing cities and industrial centers, with 100 per cent Central assistance. 
• The Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, first incorporated the practice of development plans and town planning.
• During fourth Plan In 1969 the Planning Commission issued its first guidelines for district planning. The government set up Housing and Urban  Development Corporation of India  (HUDCO).
• In 1971 plan for Navi Mumbai was sanctioned. It was the first planned extension of a megacity.
• The Fifth Plan and sixth plan (1974-84) recommended many positive initiatives including Integrated Urban Development Programme for large cities, augmentation of civic services in urban centers to improve the condition of urban infrastructure, development of small towns to lessen the growing pressure of migration to bigger towns.The centre established task force for housing and urban development. It also saw the enactment of Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act,1976.
• The Seventh Plan period (1985-90) was remarkable for appointment of National Commission on Urbanization (1988) which articulated urban policy perspectives at the national  level. It launched two major centrally sponsored schemes know as Urban Basic Services (1986) and the Nehru Rozgar Yojana (1989) and setting up of National Housing Bank in 1988.
• Eight plan emphasized on the urban local governance. For the first time management of the government scheme were included within the purview of Urban Local  Bodies.
• The 74th Constitutional Amendment act,1992,was another landmark. It mandated for every state to form ULBs, to conduct regular election, etc. Under 12 schedule of Indian constitution, 18 such functions were defined which are to be performed by ULBs and for that states should support the ULBs through  finances and decentralization of power, for more autonomy.  
• The first instance of financially empowering urban local bodies came when Bangalore Municipal Corporation became the first ULB to issue Municipal  Bond in India in 1997, followed by Ahmedabad.
• Year 2005  was a  major landmark in the  development of  urban policy in India in the form of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). It  was a great assertion on the role of cities in economic development of the country.
• The plan for the  development of Naya Raipur, new capital city of Chhattisgarh was sanctioned in 2008. It is the first smart city of independent India 
• The year 2014 took the urbanisation to a new level, with the announcement of Smart Cities mission, Amrut, Hriday, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.