Planning for Inclusive Urban growth in Chennai

Introduction

The Ideal city is a planned city that takes in consideration of the triple bottom line – Prioritizing Economic, Social and Environmental sustainability. Right from zoning to transportation planning, several strategies can be incorporated to ensure well-being of the future citizens and the society as a whole. For economic sustainability, interactions between the commercial, industrial and residential zones must be boosted through various plans. Economic sustainability is equally influenced by social and environmental sustainability. While creating safe social spaces create an environment for people to engage in activities together, reducing the travel required between several places through proper planning reduces the impact of pollution.

There are so many opportunities hidden in this world that can make it a better place if we plan early on. But we still have to consider improving our existing cities and infrastructure and make the cities more inclusive for everyone. There are no Ideal cities in India and all cities have their problems. Life for everyone is not the same in Indian cities. While the rich are unaffected by the problems the city throws at them, the underprivileged face the same problems head on and suffer. While Mumbai is one of the best examples for social inequality, Let us take the example of Chennai where a plan can be drafted to give way to inclusive growth of population and reduce social and economic inequalities.

The Societal problems in Chennai

Every city has its own problems and Chennai is no stranger to problems. While it may not have the traffic congestion as bad as Bengaluru and Mumbai, Chennai’s societal problems include water availability, flooding due to heavy rain, high traffic (It’s still bad but better compared to Bengaluru), increasing rent for properties, hot temperature, waste management system that needs a revamp, etc. All these factors play a role in worsening the inequality among people. While most of the privileged in Chennai were safe during the cyclones and floods, the poor and downtrodden had to fend for themselves in the calamity and risked losing everything. While Chennai suffers from Floods and cyclones, it is ironically a victim of water scarcity.

Floods of 2015 due to heavy rain of the North east monsoon rocked Chennai

Chennai is supplied water through four reservoirs and these are supplied through various means to the people. While the privileged live in areas where water supply lines are well developed, many underprivileged people rely on water tankers and need to compete with several others to attain the day’s water requirement during summer when water scarcity hits. Waste management in the city needs much improvement with the well developed areas having adequate bins and the other areas filled with overflowing garbage bins. This leads to several annoying issues for the residences.

Chennai's Water scarcity of 2019

Chennai’s streets and lanes are not wide and hence the two wheelers form the majority of the traffic. People who can afford two wheelers and cars add to the traffic but manage to reach their destinations faster while those who can only afford public transport are stuck in crowded buses in traffic caused by the very cars and two wheelers of the privileged. Chennai’s slums are mostly concentrated along the Beaches and banks of the river Cooum which is highly polluted. In order to restore the river, efforts have been underway and as a result many forced evictions rendered thousands homeless with unsatisfactory promises of a relocation of the settlers.

A plan for inclusive urban growth in Chennai 

A few plans can be put forth to reduce the social inequalities in the city:

1. Wider roads and Pavements – While it is too late to modify existing narrow roads and streets, newer roads and potential roads need to be widened with priority on the pavements – something India never took seriously. As part of the smart city program, this is already under way, and several areas have been selected for study for implementation while this plan has already been implemented some areas. Wider roads with parking spaces have been coming up in some areas like Anna Nagar and cycling lanes have been introduced in Adyar. Without designated pavements, garbage are dumped at several locations causing eyesore and annoyance. Big garbage bins are placed in pavements which make pedestrians to avoid the specific spot and move towards the roads. Wider pavements will give more space for pedestrians and also the waste management bins. Wide pavements encourage people be it rich or poor to walk and this also prevents pedestrians from using the road where automobiles ply. LED street lighting in all areas will make the streets feel safer at night and enhance community activities well past the sunset.

Thanks to the smart city Initiative, a locality in Chennai shines!

2. Revamping Public Transport – Wider roads will eventually mean nothing without an integrated public transport system. Such a system needs to be cost efficient, reliable, comfortable and safe to use. The existing metro rail which is increasing its spread across the city gradually gives a hopeful momentum towards decreasing the traffic woes of the city. The recent Availability of public cycle racks at metro stations is a boon.

Smart bikes allow the user to unlock the cycle through payment in the app. These are placed across many locations in Chennai including metro stations

Although advancements have been provided in the city recently, there are areas that require a subway or overhead walkway to connect bus stops to metro stations and local railway stations. Bus stops are provided in some roads where a single bus would take up all the road and lead to traffic congestion. Such roads should be plied on only by Mini-Buses with an increased frequency. The Bus rapid transport system (BRTS) project has been dragging for far too long and the same should be fast-tracked. There are plans for restoring the Polluted Cooum River which flows through majority of the areas in Chennai and enable water ways as the next mode of transportation within the city. These can be integrated with existing Bus stops and Metro stations. Bus stops and old railway stations should be improved in terms of aesthetics and lighting to make them feel safer for everyone. An integrated and reliable public transportation system will not only provide solution to traffic woes but also reduce the social inequality where everyone would prefer to use public transport thereby saving cost and reducing emissions.

Chennai metro connects the Central railway station, Airport and the City's Bus terminus

3. Mandate for Rainwater Harvesting – Rainwater harvesting was mandated in the early 2000s but the enforcement of the ambitious plan fizzled out. Chennai has faced both floods and drought within a span of five years. The only solution to this is Rainwater harvesting, restoring water bodies and revamping the drainage. With many of Chennai’s lakes destroyed and built upon, the natural drainage of the city was lost and has been one of the main reasons for flooding. Mandating rainwater harvesting again would decrease the reliance on water supplies from the reservoir. Restoring water bodies will not only provide water but also serve as drainage. Chennai’s drainage system should account for water logging and vulnerable regions should have better drainage facilities just for rainwater. The above steps are to be prioritized to reduce the water woes and flooding problems of the city.

The Chetpet lake was restored and is now a Park

4. Making way to a Green Community – There are existing plans for restoration of the polluted Rivers of Cooum and Adyar River and to build parks, walkways and cycling lanes along the banks of the restored river. While there is no hope in seeing the light of project completion, prioritizing it will enable the community spirit of the people of Chennai and increase leisure activities. Water bodies of Chennai should be restored and lake parks such as Chetpet and Avadi Lake parks should be introduced to the public and increase interaction of people and let the local business thrive. Chennai’s parks having composting facilities for the nearby residences. Small STPs are to be installed like the one in Natesan park, T-Nagar which collects sewage from residences and is used to water plants in the parks. These implementations are a welcome move towards waste management and water saving and should be widespread throughout the city.

STP in Natesan Park, T nagar which supplies treated water to the Park for irrigation

The Hot weather of Chennai can be harsh for the underprivileged. Increasing the tree cover of the city through planting trees at bus stops, traffic signals, and pavements will provide a green umbrella for every person outside.

Tree cover makes waiting at Traffic signals bearable

5. Tackling the slums problem – There have been lots of evictions of slums over the past year and these people haven’t been resettled properly as per reports. Chennai receives regular migration of rural youth of Tamil Nadu and these youth are forced to settle in low cost accomodations. While the existing slums should be given proper resettlement with equity in mind, further growth of slums can be avoided through creation of low cost affordable homes to accommodate the rural inflow.

Conclusion

While Chennai does not face huge inequalities as compared to Mumbai, the above methods can prove fruitful in removing such inequalities and improving the life for all citizens. Once wider roads and better infrastructure for parking and drainage is provided, Higher FSI can be allowed for suitable areas which can lead to high rise structures getting built more to accommodate the high population that is present and is yet to move in to the City.