Leveraging Good Policy Options for Approaching Sustainable Urban Planning and Development in India

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Leveraging Good Policy Options for Approaching Sustainable Urban Planning and Development in India.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? *Jit Kumar Gupta

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Framing rational and realistic policies, promoting ?state of art planning , ensuring ?rapid growth, achieving equity based development and delivering ?good, effective and efficient governance; form integral part of ?government of every nation, state and community. Every state, region and city try for creating and making operational ?policies and programs for achieving the goals of ??to promoting universal good, prosperity, equity and quality of life of both existing and future population going to live in the given geographical area. Policies are the outcome?of the vision and approach adopted/stated/declared by the people governing any geographical entity. In the political system, it is invariably the ruling party , which remains, primarily and essentially, involved in?formulation?and implementation of policies. In a democratic system of governance,?policy formulation falls in the domain of party elected/voted to power?through the process of election. In the other systems , it is the entity/people who exercise power and authority, by virtue of the system put in place for governing the state/nation. In majority of cases, basic agenda , aim and objective of any policy framed by the governance structure, is to ensure that ruling entity remains perpetually in power. Against this objective, all policies?put in place, invariably ?focus on?empowering people in power and?intend to make ordinary citizens happy and supportive of the policies put in place by the rulers. Majority of nations and communities are suffering from the malaise of?irrational policies formulation at the state and the local level, which are embedded with distortions. Many?communities , nations and states also suffer from policy paralysis, where decision is taken on priority. However,? realistic and rational policy formulation must include and involve, ?defining?intent, contents, scope, specify goals and objectives to be achieved under the policy; communities to be addressed; process of implementation, time-frame?for implementation and?expected outcome; for evaluation etc. Wrong policies are known to damage the basic fabric of the society whereas policies addressing?universal good framed in a transparent manner are known to alleviate the nations and communities.

Urban related policies and programs are known to have considerable impact on the growth and development of cities in making them more productive, effective, efficient and livable or otherwise. Good urban policies have ushered an era of immense prosperity, growth and development for many promising cities ,whereas irrational policies have distorted the total framework within which cities grow and develop. Accordingly, cities represent a canvas of ?great achievements and contributions made by few cities , and ?creating a chaotic condition in majority of the cities of developing world.

?Looking at the existing scenario, despite distinct advantages, cities are also known for numerous dualities and contradictions. Looking at the growth pattern, despite best ?efforts made and options exercised, majority of ?cities ?globally, are getting swarmed with ?spontaneous mushroom growth of? informal settlements/slums; creating conflicting spaces where depths of poverty is competing with heights of prosperity; creating environment for making unplanned and haphazard to become accepted pattern of development with basic amenities and services eluding majority of the urban residents. Large cities are promoting exclusion whereas small towns are lacking ?basic amenities needed for quality human living. Cities are also emerging major consumers of energy and non-renewable resources, making them not only unsustainable and promoters of global warming but also agents of climate change. In this scenario, cities offer greatest challenge to planners as to how to make them people friendly and environment centric. With a view to make cities supportive and promoters of environment and ecology; cities need to leverage the positivity and overcome the negativities. Cities need to be empowered to enable them to play their designated role in generating employment, promoting economy and providing optimum living conditions to even the poorest of the poor urbanites, to lead a dignified life. In order to leverage the positivity, cities need to be innovatively planned, developed and managed. That would require new options and strategies to be put in place for rationalizing their growth and development. Globally nations are trying to search for best options to make urban centres, efficient, productive, safe, inclusive, livable and sustainable.

Looking at the urban context, cities of the future?will have to be?viewed, considered, planned, designed, constructed,? managed and governed , differently and? distinctly, based on consideration of sustainability, inclusiveness, safety, resilience and security. Cities will have to be role model of?conserving land, minimizing the consumption of energy; making cities ??zero water waste , most energy efficient, carbon neutral , material efficient and self -sufficient to take care of daily needs of the people and communities. Promoting, preserving and making value addition to climate, environment, resources both renewable and non-renewable, ecology and bio-diversity shall be the underlying philosophy of urban planning. Cities will be planned to?meet the basic needs of all inhabitants and not their greed. Cities will be held in the co-operative ownership, eliminating individual ownership. Cities will be mandated to meet all the basic needs of human living including shelter, food, employment?, clothing, education and healthcare. Poorest of the poor?will have all the basic amenities. Unplanned, haphazard and sub-standard development will have no place in the ?development of future cities. Technology will be used for promoting efficiency, economy, productivity, cos-effectiveness, time efficiency and transparency in decision making and working besides connecting communities . Cities will be managed by professionals- architects, planners and engineers and not by bureaucrats having no commitment, knowledge and understanding of the urban development, who have little understanding of the fabric of the city. Cities will create ownership and commitment on the part of all stakeholders. Each city must have a well-defined ?and realistic vision and?mission to achieve. Local governance will have precedent over state's dictates and policies. Eliminating poverty; restoring the environment/ecology; promoting well-knit society; making cities safe against social/physical/manmade/natural disasters ; creating options for people to be happy/healthy-physically/mentally? and empowering Rural India ,shall remain the focus and basic agenda of city planning , development, management and governance.

In defining future approach and scenario of ?urban planning and ?development, Feinstein’s ideas for the “Just City”, crystallized in the 1960s and ’70s, during ?the time of great political unrest in the United States, ?can be taken as one of the many models for city development. Just City concept challenged the era of top-down planning ?,regressive urban renewal policies and copy and paste approach to urban development . It also militated against the marginalization, diluting and muting the role of ?planners ?and planning profession, as powerless pawns in the growth pattern driven fundamentally by profit and politics. Feinstein’s argued that? role of planners and planning profession, remains critical and valuable, ?for ushering an era of ?rational, planned, equitable ?and orderly urban growth and development.

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