For planned and sustainable development of the human settlements, the regional planning approach needs to be promoted. The planning regions could be classified under three heads:
(a) Administrative Regions, which can be District Regions or Metropolitan Regions as per the recommendations of the 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendment Act,
(b) Investment Regions, which can be new investment manufacturing zones, industrial and freight corridors, special investment regions etc. They could be identified under National Acts/ policies,
(c) Special regions, which are sensitive in terms of environment/ socio economic or political aspects.
States undertake Urban and Regional Planning under a variety of statutes such as the Town and Country Planning Act, Municipal Laws, Urban/Metropolitan Planning/ Development Act, Improvement Trust Act, Industrial Development Act, Cantonment Board Act, Major Ports Act etc. Often these laws are mutually exclusive. For instance, a Master Plan for a city would exclude the lands covered under the Industrial Development Act, even though the lands would be adjacent and the movement of the people and of the economic activities may be seamless. This leads to sub‐optimal planning for land use as well as for infrastructure. It is, therefore, suggested that the principles for spatial planning recommended by these guidelines are extended to all areas, whether administered by the regular administrative system of the State Government or by special laws such as for the ports, cantonments, railways, industrial zones etc. Furthermore, the concepts of regional planning enunciated in these guidelines should be extended to all contiguous areas that are socially, economically or functionally inter‐dependent. For instance, a civilian town and the adjoining port/ cantonment/railway area should be covered by an umbrella regional plan, even though the actual authority for administration of the individual piece of land would continue to vest with the respective organisation, such as the Port Trust, Cantonment Board, Railway Administration, etc. At times, even certain infrastructure could be planned and developed in a regional set up. For instance, the road network/ mobility plan, or the drainage plan could more efficiently be executed in a regional set up, rather than limiting to the jurisdiction of the statutory authorities administering their respective lands.
Regional plan is to be a comprehensive plan at an appropriate scale (district/interdistrict, investment region or special area) for the integration of urban nodes with the semi‐urban and rural areas. The plan is based on understanding of the characteristics of the region such as flow of people, goods, knowledge and money. Some states have comprehensive town and country planning legislation, which provides for urban planning and development in a regional perspective beyond the city limits and coordinated with the overall framework of economic development, priorities and resource availabilities. Regions, identified in the States, are to be planned holistically or as sub‐regions for the holistic approach of planning.
The detailed planning of the urban nodes will be addressed by the development plans at the next stage of planning, while the requirements of the region will be addressed by the regional plan to bring out policies for development and bringing in harmony between the different types of human settlements. Regional plan focuses on balanced development and plan for hierarchy of settlements, both urban and rural (in terms of its geographical area coverage), hierarchy of connectivity network, road, rail, sea and airports and intermodal transport hubs, focuses on land utilisation, resource mobilisation, environmental protection and disaster risk management.
A regional development plan, conceived within the framework of the regional perspective plan, is a comprehensive medium term (5 years) plan that consolidates the planning proposals of all urban and rural local bodies falling within the delineated area and provides regional development goals, objectives, priorities, sect oral programmes, and their spatial and environmental implications. The output report has illustrations and maps drawn to 1 : 50,000 to 1 : 100,000 scale.