Needed: A planned urban future

How do we ensure planned growth of our human settlements? Good urban planning is the starting point no doubt. Various states in our country have town planning laws. These laws enable the town planning departments and urban local bodies to prepare town plans or master plans. Urban development authorities have also been created to ensure that cities are developed in a planned manner. Private entrepreneurs are also encouraged to develop layouts which are sanctioned by the concerned authorities. So if there is such a large organisational paraphernalia,why is it that our cities do not bear any semblance of being planned?

Firstly,a town plan or master plan preparation is a very cumbersome task. Departments of town planning in various parts of the country are mostly outdated in terms of staffing,office infrastructure and equipment to manage tasks. In most places,positions are not filled or have been scrapped. As a matter of fact,there is a need to create more positions of town planners. Secondly,in the absence of the latest technologies and techniques of mapping and surveying using latest satellite imagery,geographical information systems and so on,the whole process becomes time consuming. Thirdly,while manpower is not available,consultants alien to the local conditions are brought in to deliver the goods. More often than not,there is a disconnect with ground reality and things get delayed. Fourthly,the consultants and the local stakeholders find it difficult to get on to a common plane of consensus. Master plans invariably take several years,even decades to be prepared and approved to become statutory plans!

In the meantime,a lot of land is subdivided on the ground and the plan loses its meaning because the ground conditions are all different! In addition to this,there is of course local politics to contend with,since the approval of the plan is in the hands of the urban local body,a political entity,and this system is mandated by the Constitution of India under the 74th Amendment Act. Whilst extensive stakeholder meetings are envisaged,these end up more as stumbling blocks to derail the plan rather than to understand the larger public good of the plan and make it happen. The conflict between personal benefit and public good is extremely difficult to resolve.

If a city is fortunate to have an approved and published plan in place at last,the next question is its implementation. How does the master plan get implemented? Land,the basic resource for city development needs to be acquired and given to the development authorities for implementation. This again is wrought with a large number of contradictions. As a result,we find that development authorities in various cities of India are hardly developing any planned extensions. The state finds it politically more acceptable to approve private layouts of all shapes and sizes in a haphazard manner,rather than have planned development where the lands of the landlords are taken away with apparently a pittance in return. If roads,drains,pipelines and traffic go winding haywire,it is nobodys problem. The outcome is therefore a product of the process!

Obviously,in such a situation,you will not be in a position to estimate and plan the provision of infrastructure services since the area plan does not follow any rational technical system. Drains do not follow slopes,they only follow property ownership lines and the result is obvious for us to see every rainy season! Physical infrastructure can still be laid under the roads,what about the social infrastructure? Parks,playgrounds,schools,hospitals,fire stations and a variety of other uses need land,who will provide it for them? The private layouts do not provide for them. At least that has been the experience in all our large metropolitan cities where 40 to 60 per cent of the population live in unapproved private layouts without any proper planning or infrastructure. Comprehensively planned areas form only a small part of the cities in India.

During pre-independence days,town planning,surveying and valuation were important subjects which were pursued with zeal. Stalwarts like Sir Patrick Geddes,Otto Koenigsberger,Le Corbusier,Jane Drew,Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens,Walter George,John Terry,Maxwell Fry,Pierre Jeanneret to name a few,intervened and we have some nicely planned urban areas which stand testimony of the benefits of planning even today. The Americans gave us the planned city of Jamshedpur built by the Tatas. Thanks to the British engineers,we have well planned areas called Cantonments. The towns of Bangalore were a similar outcome. Early British surveyors and town planners gave us good town planning schemes in Mumbai and some other cities. Then we had well planned steel townships and other similar areas for large public sector undertakings. We have our own leading lights in home grown town planners. Over the decades,however,the lack of any significant town planning developments barring a few such as Bubaneshwar,Gandhinagar,Navi Mumbai,Greater Noida and some others,speak volumes of the state of urban planning in India today. Modern Indian town planning talent is available aplenty and needs to be fully harnessed by the government.

The other trend is permitting real estate developers to put up large area developments. It is,however,seen that most of these are in awkward land parcels,shape being no consideration for approval. As a result,while there is everything inside,there is nothing outside! The near absence of external infrastructure for a variety of reasons is another reason for the failure of such a model. Gurgaon and most other city fringes are in this state of chaos,something consciously being encouraged by state governments.

Not having comprehensive city plans is one thing,not implementing them is another. Funding implementation of master plans has always been lacking. Obviously,plans remain only on paper and people do what they feel like on the ground.

Further,lackadaisical regulation has led to haphazard constructions all over the city,particularly the fringes. Then there are unchecked informal sector encroachments. All these add up to the chaos on the city roads and build the total picture of disorder,disarray and dismay.

India lives by the Delhi example of mass regularisation. In such a political climate,technical considerations of town planning have sadly little role to play. Scientific town planning is therefore sidelined; a dangerous trend for urban disasters to follow.

When the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was announced with a huge budget of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore,the hope it brought was only short lived. There was nothing in it for town planning. Instead of using the money for implementing existing statutory master plans,it was envisaged that non-statutory city development plans be prepared afresh,projects be identified and funded. Thus,comprehensive town planning missed the bus again.

Anna Kajumulo Tabaijuka from the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements said,8230; Many of the ills of urbanisation have been conveniently left at the doorstep of urban planners and planning. Actually,there is no replacement for planning. It is a function that results from our uniquely human ability to anticipate consequences. As the world grows more and more urban,it is vital that,governments accept urbanisation as a positive trend 8230; It is high time the government takes a hard look at the state of town planning in the country and initiate steps to strengthen the same.

The author is Professor,SPA New Delhi