Common Misconceptions / Apprehensions About An Urban Plan And The Ways In Which They Can Be Addressed

Urbanization will spoil the liveability of the city

The positive approach to urbanization in the planning of cities has multifarious advantages over the society in all aspects such as economy, social, demographical and environmental aspects. The increase in growth results in increased globalization resulting in a global market economically. The usage of common resources reduces the need to diversify it, closer proximity and other social changes. The higher density in cities will benefit the rural biodiversity leaving it undisturbed.

FSI can control population density

The FSI being figured out as a solution to control population density is a myth. With the restrictions to the number of floors, the space consumed per capita will become less in those prime areas. And with the increase in the number of floors, people are not going to consume more space per capita. The illegal constructions and corruptions are not because Indians are genetically predisposed to not following rules, it is because Indians are asked to follow the rules and to comply plans that makes no sense to the cause.

For example – In Mumbai. With the restrictions given on FSI, the space consumed per capita became very less and people started living in highly uncomfortable and unhealthy conditions.

Static planning creates order

The traditional rigid way of planning does not create order instead it chokes the growth of the city. The allocation of all the plots in the land use zoning according to a rigid master plan is not going to work out in the future as none can predict the future completely. Flexibility of the master plan according to the current trends will automatically create order and the cities will grow organically. Market-based planning is important in the upcoming generations of urban planning. The flexibility of the land use with minimum amount of restrictions in order to not disturb the other party will enable the growth of a diversified society that is rich in culture and even in economic status.

For example: 20 years ago, no planner could predict the current scenario of the cities. There is always a 10 percent hike in the estimated calculations of traffic or population density etc.

Urban growth happens only in the mega-cities

Most urban growth actually happens in the smaller cities as it easier for the people to deal with them. Competitiveness is lesser comparatively thus resulting in more employment opportunities. The requisite to reside in mega cities are very high when compared to such small cities. Majority of the developers and donors are interested only in such small cities when compared to the mega-cities.

Urbanization is only due to migration of people

The migration is only one among the many factors that drive urbanization. It might be because of the increased birth rates than death rates. It can be because of the socialization, industrialization, modernization, employment opportunities, increase in educational qualities etc.

Cities have a marginal population of the poor

In developing countries such as India, there is a major growth in the population of the poor. Slums are 1/4th of all urban housing. India’s cities make a major contribution to the country’s economy with less than 1/3th population, its urban areas comprise over 2/3rd of the country’s GDP and generate 90% of government revenues.

For example - In Mumbai, more than 50 % of the people reside in slums and most of it are located near the employment centres.

Cities occupy huge chunks of land area

Cities do occupy rich agricultural lands but only 3% of the world’s population lives in cities. Rural areas hold large chunks of land area for agriculture when compared to cities. Yet in future, due to urban expansion and peri-urbanization can multiply the land used.

Agricultural lands are getting degraded by urbanization

The growth of cities only consume a small percentage of agricultural lands and yet this myth persists. The calculation of the total percentage of urbanization would reveal the sufficient amount of percentage of land available for agricultural cultivation. Even the ideal models like the garden cities by Ebenezer Howard has an agricultural belt in the periphery. Such developments can be encouraged to promote a more sustainable way of living within the cities. More open and green spaces can be developed to promote healthier lives within the cities.

Political influence will not let the planners to plan

The Indian planners need to develop unique strategies to involve and negotiate with all the parties. The politicians will only think about their profit in the project which can be resolved with the trading techniques. The small portion of advantage to all the parties will take one through the process of implementation of the master plan with many challenges ahead. The feasibility of the project within the funding limit should be clearly conveyed to the third parties.

For example – CG road, Sabarmathi riverfront would not have been possible without negotiating with the politicians and the other authorities.

Indian government is not ready to spend in spite of having the funds

The reality is that India does not have sufficient funds to develop infrastructure as equal to the western countries. The western countries were once in our place 20-30 years ago. They evolved gradually with the increase in all kinds of aspects. India does not have sufficient funds to develop optimum infrastructure facilities like London, Paris, Shangai, Singapore etc. The per capita GDP of India is way lower when compared to these cities. Lack of funds from the government can be solved by the public private partnerships or private developers.

New solutions for same urban infrastructure problems

Innovative strategies to solve the same old urban infrastructure problems which existed in almost all the countries before one or more decades. ‘Learn from others mistakes’ is the key solution for these kind of problems when we already have a heap of problems to attend to as being a developing country.

We need not follow anything blindly, but logically we can follow the solutions developed by other developed countries when they were injured decades back. Such smart strategies are required. For example: In the west, the epidemic disease caused Cholera attacked the whole town. The statistics showed that the percentage of death was high near the pipelines and the percentage of death far away from the pipeline was lesser. Only after various studies, they figured out that it was because of the contamination of water from the pipeline. And so, to follow the basic principles and urban development strategies from the west is no harm. Learn from others mistakes is a key to faster urban development.

One size fits all

The planner cannot formulate the needs of all the users of the city. And so, liberalisation of the planning will only make it effective. Policy of reserving individual plots is not going to be effective in the future with the increase in the technology and the level of urbanization. For example: In Ahmedabad, The new DP pioneered many reforms. The policy of reserving individual plots in the DP was abandoned; land-use zoning was liberalized; building bye-laws were simplified; the scope of planned provision of goods and services was limited and floor-area ratios were liberalized.