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.

Delhi Master Plan 2041

Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) 2041 is an instrument that assesses the current status of the National Capital and guides how desired development in various areas can be achieved. This is the fourth master plan developed by Delhi development Authority (DDA).

Key Focus Areas of MPD 2041:

Environment:

Green cover: Even though Delhi is among the greenest cities in the country, the distribution of greenery across the city is uneven and hence inequitable.

The MPD 2041 categorizes the Ridge as a regional park and limits development and activities in the area.

Agencies will have to promote native species of trees and plants which act as pollution filters.

Pollution: Environmental pollution is a significant concern, with the city witnessing poor air quality almost throughout the year. This can be tackled through multi-state efforts, the master plan notes.

NCR member states are required to follow directions of the Regional Plan and the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority to address pollution and climate change.

All development activities have to follow dust mitigation measures while handling construction materials and construction and demolition (C&D) waste.

There is a need to improve awareness and provide adequate and reliable information to engage stakeholders as implementation partners.

Water:

Water availability: The Yamuna River is the most precious water resource of the city.

The city also hosts water bodies in the form of lakes, ponds, and tanks, which have been facing encroachment, pollution, and natural drying up, affecting its water resources.

Water pollution: The 22-km stretch of Yamuna between Wazirabad and Okhla in Delhi accounts for about 70% of the pollution load in the river.

Addressing concerns: The MPD 2041 seeks prevent discharge of untreated wastewater and industrial effluents into water bodies. The plan aims for time-bound removal of existing pollutants using natural non-mechanized systems.

There is a provision for periodic monitoring along the entire length of drains by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

Energy and Waste:

Delhi is one of the highest power consumers and waste generators in the country, and the MPD seeks to identify potential renewable energy generation areas within the city along with strategies and projects to meet the Renewable Energy targets.

The plan proposes several steps, such as mandatory use of modular star-rated electrical appliances and electrical fixtures in buildings for higher energy efficiency.

Segregation of waste at source points, empowering local bodies to tackle waste generated at large public gatherings and festivals held in open areas, and mainstreaming reuse and recycling practices are being suggested for better waste management.

Mobility:

Due to its huge fleet of private vehicles, the city witnesses congestion and unorganized parking, apart from contributing to air pollution.

MPD seeks to improve the mobility of citizens by providing last-mile connectivity and infrastructure for walking and cycling.

Encouraging green mobility to tackle climate change will be a priority under MPD.

Housing:

Population increase and migration have created a need for new types of housing in Delhi.

The MPD seeks to provide affordable rental housing, etc., and enhanced built environment, safety and quality of life in old and unplanned areas.

The plan will address the housing needs of students, single working women and men, migrants and others through affordable housing, rental housing, hostels, studio apartments, serviced apartments, and dormitories

Public Spaces:

The existing open and public spaces have become inadequate. There is a need to make public spaces more accessible, inclusive, and safer for its residents.

The MPD will address issues of safety, encroachment, and lack of infrastructure to ensure a vibrant public realm in the city.

Heritage Sites:

Delhi being a heritage city, the MPD aims to preserve various heritage sites across the city by building strong economic linkages and creating opportunities for cultural experience, tourism and active public life.

Local bodies will be allowed to set up Heritage Cells to manage heritage assets, monitor the status of their upkeep, promote complementary economic/ cultural activities, conduct festivals, facilitate adaptive reuse projects, and set up a heritage fund to support these initiatives.

Plans for specific heritage zones of Delhi include promoting Shahjahanabad (walled city) as a cultural enterprise hub, and following development-oriented norms for Lutyens’ bungalow zone.

Vulnerability:

The City of Delhi is vulnerable to damage due to earthquakes, fire outbreaks and flooding.

MPD measures include dedicated structural audits, mandatory clearances from the fire department for buildings hosting inflammable materials, obstruction-free natural and engineered drains with regular desilting.

Economic Potential:

Areas such as specialty health, higher education, tourism, modern logistics, and specialized trade will be focused to realize Delhi’s potential as an economic hub.

MPD seeks a balanced economic growth by supporting formal and informal economies (inclusive economy), promoting eco-friendly economies (clean economy) and encouraging economies that provide a unique role for the city in the regional context (niche economy).

Monitoring and Evaluation:

MPD calls for monitoring and evaluation framework with key performance indicators to ensure growth is in desired direction.

This can be implemented through a common database at the city-level with multi-agency coordination and an integrated monitoring protocol.

An interdisciplinary team at DDA will be set up to check the progress of the plan.

Detailed Understanding of Master Plan

Failure of Master Plans

Nearly one-fourth of the urban population in India lives in slums and around 80 percent of urban workers are employed in the informal economy. Informal housing and workplaces do not find a place in the outdated model of spatial planning followed and implemented in India. 

The master planning model implemented in India is rooted in the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act of the United Kingdom. The UK changed its planning paradigm in 1968. However, India continues to follow it in the original form. This model is not linked to the income distribution structure of cities and ignores the fact that a large segment of the population in cities belongs to the poor and low-income groups. It also does not integrate inclusion into planning, financing, and governance in cities. It fails to plan for “informal city” and recognizes only the formal sector. 

The city master plans have failed to provide adequate space for the poor to live, work and vend. The land allocation process adopted by the Government planning agencies ignores the needs of the urban poor for housing and informal activities carried out in non-conventional workplaces. While the master plans have invariably allocated space for shopping malls and high-end commercial activities, they have failed to allocate space for informal markets and vending zones. 

The master plans have also neglected mixed landuse zoning, which is appropriate for Indian conditions, with large numbers engaged in home-based work and street vending. The lack of legal recognition to the informal sector urban planning has led to frequent evictions of the urban poor from homes and workplaces in the name of master plan enforcement and world-class city. 

Master Plans in India conceive a grand vision and end-state spatial form, unrelated to the real urban economy. The technocratic master plans rely on a non-participatory process. They treat areas with similar characteristics as ‘conforming’ for the high and middle-income segments while regarding slums in the same area as ‘nonconforming’ and ‘illegal’.

Preparation of Master Plan

 > With rapid urbanization and growth of the city, urban planning has received a major importance. This planning is done at various hierarchies to integrate a large region with a small area so that the development is done at a same pace. There are many legal documents made to promote development. Master plan is one such document which provides rules and guidelines for a planned development both at present and future.

>  Master Plan is an instrument to work out land and infrastructure requirements for various urban and rural uses, and allocate land for various uses to result in harmonious and sustainable distribution of activities so that towns / cities are provided with a form and structure within which they can perform all their economic and social functions efficiently and effectively. The purpose of a Master Plan is to promote growth and guide and regulate present and future development of towns and cities with a perspective of 20-25 years. 

Necessity and Features of Master Plan:

>  To discourage the growth of a city in an unplanned and unscientific way.

> To control the development of various Land use in a systematic way.

>  To give a Perspective picture of a fully planned city.

> To plan and account for existing migration of rural population to the urban area.

> To address the evolving challenges such as Housing, Infrastructure, means of     transport, open space development and insufficiency in public amenities etc.

>  For effective land use management and utilization.

>  For Spatial Growth Management.

>  To enable Project Planning and Urban Management. 

City Development Plan (CDP) vs Master Plan

So Many times City Development Plan (CDP) is made in cities with no Master plan. This isolation amount to ignoring an existing legal instrument of city planning and leads to only project oriented development. City Development Plan (CDP) is usually taken as a synonym to a Master Plan, which is a statutory document having gone through the process of `public opinions and objections’ and backing. City Development Plan (CDP) may not be even prepared by professional Planners. It fails to seek advantage of modern data sources as used in development plans and thus may contradict the statutory master plan. JNNURM gets more financials to prepare City Development Plan (CDP) than National Urban Information System (NUIS) for development plans although City Development Plan (CDP) has to be prepared for less number of cities.

Basic Characteristics, Concept of Master Plan

Master Plan is an instrument to work out land and infrastructure requirements for various urban and rural uses, and allocate land for various uses to result in harmonious and sustainable distribution of activities so that towns / cities are provided with a form and structure within which they can perform all their economic and social functions efficiently and effectively. The purpose of a Master Plan is to promote growth and guide and regulate present and future development of towns and cities with a perspective of 20-25 years.

With rapid urbanization and growth of the city, urban planning has received a major importance. This planning is done at various hierarchies to integrate a large region with a small area so that the development is done at a same pace. There are many legal documents made to promote development. Master plan is one such document which provides rules and guidelines for a planned development both at present and future. Urban areas have grown in both size and complexity over the decades and became unmanageable in most of the places. The need of having a mechanism or a way to regulate this growth was felt and thus methods were devised to regulate or “shape” this growth. Having master plan is one of such attempt. Other methods include development places called as “City Development Plan”, Town Planning Schemes, Land Use Plans,Zonal Plans, various other “spatial” plans made by concerned authorities.

Basic Characteristics of Master Plan:

It’s a Physical plan: The plan is fundamentally a guide to the physical development of the community; 

It is long ranged: involves long term planning; 

It is comprehensive: encompasses all the functions that make a community work, such as transportation, housing, land use, utility systems, and recreation. Moreover, the plan considers the interrelationships of function; 

Guide to decision making: for the planning board, the governing board and mayor or manager; 

Statement of public policy: The plan translates community values, desires, and visions into land use and development principles that can guide the future growth of your community. 

Concept of Master Plan:

Master Plan is comprehensive and it is integrates various aspects of planning like housing, transportation, infrastructure etc. All the aspects are considered that affects the quality of life of people and all the interrelationships between various aspects; Multidisciplinary in nature: it encompasses various disciplines of studies like social aspects, economics, environment, engineering, architecture etc. 

Master plan is a long term document. It clears out the vision for prospective year for the city and plans out development for future; Master plan focuses on rational use of land that is demarking land for the use most optimal for the activity at a place. It efficiently uses resources to meet the present and future requirements of the citizens; Master plan should consider the environmental and costs related to it. 

The proposals for development should be environmentally sustainable.; Master Plan is based on inclusive planning. It considers all sections of people in society in development proposals and focuses on affordability. ; Master plan gives restrictions on ecologically sensitive areas, on heritage sites and traditional built up areas and gives special norms for these places. ; Master Plan leads to a balanced growth of the city. It prevents concentration of a particular activity at one place and takes into account efficient distribution of facilities, infrastructure, networks and housing and follows neighbourhood concept of development.

Master Plan

A master plan is a dynamic long-term planning document that provides a conceptual layout to guide future growth and development. Master planning is about making the connection between buildings, social settings, and their surrounding environments. A Master Plan includes analysis, recommendations, and proposals for a site’s population, economy, housing, transportation, Community Facilities, and land-use.

The master plan is the planning document which gives a general framework which includes planning for the development of downtown or the centre city area. The characteristics of a master plan are that it plans for the physical development of the downtown, that it is future oriented and that it is geographically inclusive and looks at the entire downtown or centre city.

> The master plan consists of future directions of development, policy and implantation of the same.

> It sets out how a particular area can develop and redevelop into the future.

> A high-level plan intended to set out objectives and strategies to manage development and change over time.

> A process that defines what is important about a place and how its character and quality can be conserved, improved and enhanced.

> Master plans can have an important role in determining the shape of the urban environment.

> Master Plans generally prepare for 20 years of the horizon period.