August 5, 2026Mysuru: “With an organised and well co-ordinated planning, Mysuru has the capability of becoming a model city not only for Karnataka but to the entire country,” said Varun Michael Pais, an Urban Planner and Researcher at University of California, Berkeley. He was delivering a talk on the topic ‘Mysuru at crossroads: Planning, democracy and the future of the city’ at the S.P. More decentralisation of the functioning of the body is needed if city planning is to be kept free of political intervention,” he contended. There are already widespread talks on the dangers of Mysuru city becoming a second Bengaluru. “Only officials and politicians must not take decisions on city’s development.