Urban Heat Island Effect

 

Andhra Pradesh Final Standardized Development and Building Regulations

Streets for People - Pathways of Change from India's Smart Cities

Town Planning

City Beauty Competition Guidelines

The Challenge of Implementing GIS - Based Master Plans

Over 200 Class-I cities in India, including Shimla and Imphal, have recently notifi ed Geographic Information System (GIS)-based master plans as part of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) mission.

 The Supreme Court’s approval of the Shimla Development Plan, after 44 years, and Manipur’s notifi cation of a fl ood-prone capital city plan marked signifi cant milestones. 

 These initiatives are part of the larger AMRUT mission, initially launched in 2015 and relaunched in 2021, aiming to have over 1,000 cities with GISbased master plans. 

Signifi cance of GIS-Based Master Plans: 

 GIS-based master plans involve mapping the entire existing infrastructure, providing a comprehensive vision for a city’s development over the next two decades. 

 It includes regulations for land use, building construction, transport, green spaces, and economic development. 

Challenges in Master Plan Implementation: 

 Urban development experts argue that master plans, despite being critical, often remain unimplemented, leading to unauthorized development in cities. 

 The rapid urbanization and poor enforcement of these plans have contributed to issues like unregulated construction and environmental concerns.

Unregulated Development and Climate Impact: 

 The absence of master plans in 65% of urban settlements, as highlighted by NITI Aayog, leads to piecemeal interventions, haphazard constructions, and environmental pollution. 

 This is particularly signifi cant in hill states like Himachal, prone to fl ash fl oods and landslides.

AMRUT’s Role in Addressing Challenges: 

 AMRUT’s sub-scheme focuses on using technology to prepare master plans, utilizing GIS data to address challenges arising from urbanization and climate change. 

 The baseline maps, created using satellite imagery or drones, form the foundation for future plans related to transportation, economic activities, and social infrastructure.

The Implementation Challenge: 

 While the emphasis is on planning for the next two decades, experts stress that the real challenge lies in implementation and having an enforceable legal framework. 

 The lack of strict enforcement and accountability has hindered the success of master plans in many cities. 

Incentives and Recruitment Drive: 

 Approximately 1500 Class-I towns have only around 10% with valid master plans. 

 However, with the central government providing incentives and focusing on recruiting urban planners, there is a positive shift. 

 Cities are now receiving funds as incentives for preparing master plans, marking progress on the ground. 

 While GIS-based master plans represent a crucial step toward planned urban development, the success hinges on effective implementation and a robust legal framework. The current momentum, driven by incentives and recruitment initiatives, offers hope for more cities to adopt and enforce comprehensive master plans. 

Key Points:

1. Master Plan Significance: A master plan is a critical vision document outlining a city’s development for the next two decades, including regulations on land use, building construction, transport, green spaces, and economic development.
2. Historical Gap: Urban development experts note that master plans have often remained theoretical, leading to unauthorized development due to rapid urbanization and poor implementation.
3. Environmental Concerns: The urgency of these plans is underscored by environmental challenges, such as the frequent flash floods and landslides in hill states like Himachal Pradesh.

Benefits of Town Planning

Town planning has gained a lot of importance today. New towns are being developed. It has become very important for the town planners to concentrate on old development as well as the new development. It is essential that old and new development are linked properly. Energy efficiency in planning should be the goal of any town planner, urban designer or an architect. The aims of town planning are as follows.

1. To correct the past errors as far as possible.
2. To provide civic aesthetics of the town.
3. To attempt an orderly appropriate and balanced arrangements of land use.
4. To develop healthy, attractive and efficient environment in the city.
5. To promote a high level of culture.
6. To create and maintain an attractive central core and make it the cultural, financial, commercial and entertainment centre.
7. To provide an interrelated balanced transportation system adequate to meet the needs of everyone in the urban community.
8. To encourage the attraction, retention and expansion of a sufficient number and variety of industries and business activities to provide jobs to the people and to get more income to municipality.
9. To create a sense of dignity, identity, pride and responsibility in the social environment.
10. To suggest the schemes which will control the future growth and development of the city.
11. To insure against the possible future errors.
12. To concentrate for development of full potentials of human resources through wide variety of programmes, facilities and other incentives.
13. To establish and maintain a consistent housing policy providing for decent housing open to all persons in the community at reasonable prices and rents.
14. To encourage vigorous programmes of inspection, maintenance of health environment in the city.
15. Suggestions will be given to provide maximum housing facilities as per the income through various concerned authorities.
16. To encourage the development of neighbourhoods as social and recreational units and promote the neighbourhood organizations and involvement in the improvement of local services, facilities, transportation and living conditions.
17. Suggestions will be made for efficient transportation facilities in the city including new roads, widening the roads repairing maintenance depending upon the localities and functional zones.
18. To develop parks and recreation facilities to optimum standards based on local needs preserving as many sites of natural and historical significance as possible.
19. To provide maximum educational and medical facilities.
20. To provide maximum utility service facilities to reach all people of the city.
21. To promote maximum co-operation between Government and public to get the benefits of development schemes of urban development.
22. To implement effective measure of slum clearance programmes in the city and controlling the further development of slum in the city.
23. Suggestions will be made to demolish old structures of public and private houses.
24. To suggest relocation, redevelopment and renewal of structure in the city.
25. To create maximum green and open spaces in the urban limit.
26. Measures will be suggested to control the pollution of air, water, noise etc.
27. Improvement and modernization of water supply, sewerage, electricity etc.
28. Improvement of site development for residential industrial, public and semi-public use.

Origin and Growth of Town

Origin of Towns: Topographical Features

If a survey is carried out regarding the origin of some of the important existing towns and cities of the world, it can be easily established that any town or city has originated because of certain specific cause. The origin of towns can be broadly classified into two categories, namely, topographical and functional. The topographical features of origin of towns are as follows.

1. Conditions favorable for industrial units
2. Hilly areas to achieve the objects of defense
3. Plain areas useful for business activities
4. River banks
5. Sea or ocean fronts

The functional aspects of origin of towns are as follows.

1. Education
2. Health resorts
3. Political
4. Community

Growth of Town

The towns grow during passage of time in number of ways and various forces which contribute to the overall development of a town are transportation facilities, industries, safety for public, proximity of agricultural lands, availability of electric power, political importance, etc. Some of the reasons why the people would like to stay in urban areas can be enumerated as follows.

• It is quite likely that people have often found to stay in groups or societies to safeguard themselves from dangers of theft.
• The humans by nature are social animal and they get much satisfaction of living their life in the company of friends and community.
• An urban man can develop contacts and make friends with like-minded people having common interest.
• The urban dwellers can maintain a very high degree of privacy.
• The urban are provide with reliable water supply, good market for business, large amount of opportunities to succeed, etc.

Also the facilities of transport and communication increase the population and leads to the growth of towns. The means of transport may take up the following forms.

• Aerial ports : In some cases, the airports plays an important role in the growth of a town.
• Railways : If the town is connected with railways, there will be increase of passengers and goods traffic even from long distances.
• Roadways : The neighbouring area is connected with the town and it leads to overall expansion of trade and industry.
• Waterways : If facilities of waterways are available, the town can grow as a harbour with possibility of foreign trade and business.

The above mentioned means of transport have led to the horizontal growth of town. But the availability of mechanical lifts, escalators and elevators has made it possible to have vertical growth of town in the form of skyscrapers.

 Types of Growth of Towns

Types of Growth of Town

The growth of towns and cities can be studied in the following two ways.

I) Growth according to origin

II) Growth according to direction

1) Growth According to Origin

The growth of towns and cities according to the origin can be divided in two categories.

A) Natural Growth

Most of the towns in the past have grown in a natural way, that is, the development of the town as such has taken place without any future planning. The provisions of various essential amenities such as road system, parks, playgrounds, schools, industrial units, commercial centres, hospitals, cinemas, etc., are made in an irregular way without consideration for future expansion of the town. The natural growth of a town may be in the form of following four types.

a) Concentric spread

b) Ribbon development

c) Satellite growth

d) Scattered growth

a) Concentric Spread

• It is the natural tendency of the people to be as near as possible to town or city, therefore the town develops in form of concentric rings with nucleus as town.
• These type of growth create many complicated problems such as traffic congestion, narrow streets,concentration of population, improper housing, etc.
• The town growth is represented by a series of concentric circles or rings.
• The first zone represents central business like commercial and social life of the town.
• The second zone represents low-income housing, better-class residences and high-class residences are subsequently formed.
• The idea of concentric spread is based on the fact that similar or functionally related activities will be located at the same distance from the centre of an urban area.

 Concentric Spread

b) Ribbon Development

• It has been observed that because of improvement of road surface and growth of motor traffic, everyone build or occupy the places as near as possible to the main road.
• The building activity therefore expands in a natural way along the sides of main road and long fingers or ribbons of houses, factories, shops, etc., develop as shown in figure below.

 Ribbon Development

Disadvantages

• As houses extend in a long strip or ribbon, there is increase in cost of utility services such as water supply and electricity, postal deliveries, etc.
• It results into wastage of available resources.
• It lacks social life as ribbon development causes scatter of community.
• The future improvement becomes costly and difficult, in some place it becomes impossible.
• The interior place are left undeveloped which results in wastage of valuable land.
• It causes accidents and traffic delays (jams) due to pedestrians on the main road.
• The traffic capacity and efficiency of main road are reduced.
• The ribbon development spoils the countryside view as it becomes non-visible at least for road users.
• The problem of ribbon development is complex involving social-economic, political, technical and legal measures for its solution.

c) Satellite Growth

When a town reaches a certain size, satellite growth is bound to take place. The satellite town is mainly due to the metropolis and it indicate a body under the influence of a more powerful body but possessing its own identity. Development of satellite towns around the parent city is shown in the figure below.

 Satellite Growth

The features of a satellite town are as follows.

• It has its own local government and corporate life.
• It is a town in the full sense but it depends to a certain extent upon a nearby large town or city.
• It is connected to the parent city by local trains, buses, etc. in such a way the people can reach to the parent city easily.
• It is free to decide its economic, social and cultural activities.
• It is generally situated beyond the green belt of the parent city.
• It is mainly residential area having only local shops, schools for children, etc.
• No industries are permitted, the people will have to depend on the parent city for employment opportunities.
• It is neither a village nor a suburb.
• It need not have zoning regulations.
• Its size and development are controlled in such a way that it does not affect the parent town in future.
• The satellite may even be considered to be the part of market for some goods and services from the parent town.
• The workers living in particular satellite may belong to the labour force of a certain industry. It gives a wider choice to the employers of such industries for finding the best man for the job.

Disadvantages

• The main disadvantage of satellite growth is the necessity of the long journey to work. (It may be long journey in distance does not necessarily mean a long journey in time due to efficient modes of transport and traffic).
• Satellite growth may be deprived of entertainment and cultural activity.
• It is responsible for preventing the development of a community spirit.
• Lack of community centres and halls.

d) Scattered Growth

• The growth of the town takes place in very irregular way.
• It results in traffic congestion.
• Encroachment of industries on residential areas.
• Development of slums.
• Lack of parks and various other problems which prove to be too difficult to be solved in future.

B) Planned Growth

In case of a planned growth, a town develops in a pre-determined line as conceived by the town planner. The overall growth of the town is controlled by the enforcement of suitable rules and regulations. There is rational distribution of various blocks such as residential, industrial, commercial, etc.

The provision of various amenities such as widths of streets, drainage lines, water supply lines, parks, playgrounds, etc. is made to meet with the future requirements. The modern concepts of town planning can very well be seen and appreciated in some of the recent new towns in many parts of the world.

2) Growth According to Direction

With respect to direction, the growth of towns and cities can take place in the following two ways.

1. Horizontal Growth

The town expands and develops horizontally in all directions. It is clear that such a growth will be possible at places where land is available in plenty at nominal cost.

Advantages

• In general, there will be saving in cost as the buildings will usually consist of two or three floors.
• It does not require the service of high technical personnel.
• Maximum possible use of the natural light in the buildings.
• The density of the population can be restricted.
• There is economy of floor space as the provision of columns, lifts, etc. will not be required.
• The surrounding marginal space can be utilized for developing gardens.

Disadvantages

• It uses more land and hence, it will prove to be uneconomical where the land value are very high.
• The foundation cost per unit area will be more.
• There will be absence of group living.

2. Vertical Growth

The buildings of the town are designed and developed as multistoried flats. It is quite evident that such a growth will be possible at places where land is costly.

Advantages

• A sense of group living and unity develops as many families live in same building.
• The foundation cost will be distributed between all the floors, therefore the foundation cost per unit area will be in the reasonable limit.
• For floor above certain height, the natural sceneries such as sea view, river view, etc. can be enjoyed in a better way.
• It will be possible to make maximum use of the modern technology such as fire-proofing, sound-proofing, heat insulation, air-conditioning, high speed elevators, etc.
• There will be considerable saving in land and hence, it will prove to be economical where land values are very high.
• There will be economy in construction cost as the buildings will be designed as framed structures with repetition of a typical floor plan at each floor level.

Disadvantages

• In case of natural calamities such as earthquakes or fire, it will be difficult for the inhabitants (dwellers) of the upper floors to escape safely.
• The density of population will be more.
• The design of flats will be stereo-typed and there is no scope for personal likes or dislikes.
• The evils of group living will have to be tolerated.
• The failure of lift, pumps, etc. will cause great inconvenience.
• The people staying at upper floors will be deprived of natural living near the ground level.
• There will be some wastage of floor space as lifts, supporting columns, etc. will have to be provided.

Urban Commission

Formation of the Kerala Urban Commission in 2024 reflects a renewed emphasis on comprehensive urban planning.

Introduction:

 An Urban Commission serves as a crucial institution tasked with formulating and guiding urban development policies, addressing challenges, and providing a roadmap for sustained growth. 

 Nearly 35% of the population lives in urban centers as per the 2011 census. 

 The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 (74th CAA) came into effect on 1 June 1993 and introduced Part IX A (the Municipalities) which deals with the issues relating to municipalities. The Act provided constitutional status to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). 

Necessity of Urban Commission: 

Long-term Vision: It allows for strategic planning that considers demographic shifts, technological advancements, and environmental considerations. 

Social Equity and Inclusive Development: By addressing issues of housing affordability and accessibility, commissions contribute to creating diverse and inclusive urban environments. 

Integrated Infrastructure Planning: For instance, a commission can align transportation plans with housing policies to create accessible and sustainable urban spaces. 

Challenges Faced by Urban Commissions: 

Fragmented Approaches: An Urban Commission encounters difficulties in harmonizing efforts for a synergized impact. 

Governance issues: The governance structure within cities is often complicated, with decentralization remaining incomplete. Urban Commissions grapple with the need for efficient governance, balanced power distribution, and effective coordination between local bodies and state agencies. 

Political interference: The autonomy of commissions can be compromised when political considerations override long-term urban development goals. 

Resource Constraints: Over-centralisation in financial architecture creates financial constraints in Urban commissions which significantly impact Urban Commissions in India, hindering their ability to conduct comprehensive research and implement ambitious plans. 

Data Management: Access to accurate and updated data is a persistent challenge for urban commissions in India. 

Urban Commissions in India: 

Understanding holistic aspect of development: Urban commissions in India should address the issue of migration, settlement patterns, and technological advancement. 

Financial Autonomy: Giving enough financial autonomy to the Urban Commission will equip them with resources. 

Public Participation: The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority is an Indian example that has successfully integrated public participation in its planning initiatives 

Policy Innovation: The Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee's initiatives exemplify forward-thinking approaches, incorporating smart city initiatives. 

Capacity Building: Training programs, collaboration with research institutions, and leveraging technology can strengthen the analytical and planning capabilities of commissions. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's capacity-building initiatives serve as a model for effective urban governance. 

Cross-Boundary Collaboration: Collaborative efforts can streamline infrastructure planning and address challenges that transcend administrative boundaries. 

Global best practices: 

 London City Planning Commission, which envisions London's growth over the next several decades. 

 The Stockholm Planning Commission in Sweden is recognized for its efforts in creating socially inclusive urban spaces.

Conclusion: 

 The SDGs Goal 11 promotes urban planning as one of the recommended methods for achieving sustainable development. 

 The establishment of Urban Commissions, exemplified by the recent initiative in Kerala, is pivotal for navigating the intricate urban landscape in India.

Schemes/Programmes Related to Urban Development:

AMRUT Mission: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation aims to provide basic services such as water supply, sewerage, and urban transport to households and building amenities in cities. 

Smart Cities: To promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment, and application of Smart Solutions. 

HRIDAY: The National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), aims to bring together urban planning, economic growth, and heritage conservation in an inclusive manner & to preserve the heritage character of the City. 

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban: Addresses Urban housing shortage among the Urban Poor including the Slum Dwellers by ensuring a pucca house for eligible urban poor. 

Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban: Aim at making urban India free from open defecation and achieving 100% scientific management of municipal solid waste in 4,041 statutory towns in the country.