Abstract
India has witnessed a significant increase of small towns in the last decades. The number of small towns has reached up to 3894 in the 2011 census, which is nearly 3 folds from 2001; while only 1363 towns where there previously within the club. These towns dominantly emerged in only 6 Indian states including Uttar Pradesh. Ideally small towns could be a decent case for sustainable urban planning because of their manageable size. Even though small towns in Uttar Pradesh are affronted with haphazard (though organic) rapid growth, financial deficit, accelerated uses of unclean energy sources and deficiencies of planning and management capacities. Consequently, these have resulted in scanty public services and insufficient infrastructure and putting the sustainability of towns at risk. A qualitative research exploration in sampled small towns divulges that while on one hand, these small towns are plagued with slipshod urban planning; on the other hand real-estate sector in these towns is thriving together with the expanding consumer markets and mushrooming of English medium schools. Meaningful research, participatory planning, accountable & transparent governance, captivating advantages of information technologies and establishing innovative financing mechanism at the local level might be a game changer for tapping the opulent promises of these towns aimed towards sustainability. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.