Rourkela is a planned city located in the western part of Odisha, India. It is the third-largest Urban Agglomeration in Odisha. It is situated about 328 kilometres (204 mi) north of state capital Bhubaneswar and is surrounded by a range of hills and encircled by rivers - Koel, Sankha, and Brahmani. The city is also popularly known as Ispat Nagar and also as the Steel City of Odisha. It has one of the largest steel plants of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) known as Rourkela Steel Plant. The city has been selected as smart city in the third phase of the smart city list on 20 September 2016. Among all the 27city list Rourkela ranked 12th position on merit basis. Every year, on 3 March Rourkela Day is celebrated. Rourkela has been declared India's Fastest Moving City (East Zone 2-10 Lakh). Rourkela is third largest city of Odisha state and is categorized as a Tier-2 city.Rourkela is ranked No.1 in Eastern India under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for cleanliness.

Rourkela is the educational, technical and medical research hub of Western Odisha and even students from all parts of country come here to pursue higher education. There are different institutes along with Kanak Manjari Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences(KMIPS) come under the jurisdiction of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) and the head office is located in Chennd, Rourkela.Rourkela has an International hockey stadium with synthetic astroturf which has been host to World Junior Hockey Championship and been a training centre to most of the international Hockey players of India.

There are a number of daily Bus Services from Rourkela to different parts of Orissa and also, a few, to neighboring states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. There are a number of city buses plying daily on different routes in the city. Many goods train also pass-through Rourkela every day. Rourkela is a profit-generating junction of South-Eastern Railway. From Rourkela junction, one line also goes to Biramitrapur whereas two from Bondamunda. One more line goes from Bimalagarh to Kiriburu.

After inception of Rourkela Steel Plant, the Govt. of India built up an Air Strip at Rourkela in 60's and till 1991 it was under Government control. In 1991 the management and control of this Air strip was transferred to Steel Authority of India, Rourkela Steel Plant. As per the license agreement of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Government of India, Rourkela Airport comes under Private License category. Time to time some of the important dignitaries and VVIPs boarding flights are landing here. Rourkela has major recreation parks like Indira Gandhi Park, Jubilee Park, and Ispat Nehru Park Udyaan along with the recently inaugurated Community Park at Civil Township. Bhanja Bhaban (comprising the Bhanja Kala Kendra and the Library) and Civic Centre hosts the State level and National Level Drama, Fashion and Dancing competitions throughout the year. The city has several cinemas, including Konark, UMA, Apsara, Deepak and Razzaq (presently all of them being turned into multiplex). A couple of multiplexes however have started recently, namely PSR Cinemas, Panposh Road and Cineplex, Shanti Towers. Pantaloons and a host of other brand stores have made their presence in newly inaugurated CROSSROAD MALL (Railway Station Road). Several food courts like Ambagan Food Court, Sector 5 VIP Market, Koel Nagar NAC Market, Khana Khazana, 7 AM & Max Restaurant and Bakery, The Cakery Bakery and Paris Bakery in New Rourkela, Green Chillyz behind Ambagan are some of the most visited places. Many Malls are under construction or in the completion phase like Fe2 Arcade (Sector 5), Forum Galleria (Civil Township), Pluto Plaza (Chhend Colony)(The Biggest Mall of Western Odisha and 2nd Largest Mall in Odisha) and many more in the pipeline. For more information, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rourkela.