The entire world is rapidly urbanising, either in terms of urban population growth or a shift in economic activities from agriculture to non-agriculture activities, while these processes are easily traceable in metro cities as they become evident sites to witness. In contrast, urban processes are more nuanced and localised in second-tier cities. In the same thread of thought, this paper seeks to comprehend the ecological consequences of the urban process in Gorakhpur, a second-tier city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. This paper aims to highlight that urban floods are not limited to metro cities, but with the accelerated growth of the urban process, even small and medium cities are experiencing urban floods. The literature on the ecological consequences of urban process in small and medium cities remain scanty; thus, this paper will contribute to it and expand on the knowledge domain of urban floods by looking beyond metro cities. The paper investigates the urban process and flood issue in Gorakhpur city in terms of converting agricultural and wetlands into commercial development sites, the issue of city drainage congestion, and a shift towards marker-oriented agriculture. In this paper, I intend to recalibrate the theoretical framework of urban political ecology beyond the metro cities and focus on the urban process in a second-tier city and its peri-urban areas.
