Politics and Urban Planning

As is widely acknowledged, the bulk of urban expansion globally is taking place, not?only in metropolitan centers but in hinterlands, suburbs, agricultural fields, transport corridors between major cities and coastal edges .

Such peripheries are witnessing unprecedented urban growth and transformation and constitute the new frontiers of urbanization. Along with the category of periphery and peripheralization, there are comparable designations that have been deployed to capture the diversity of extended urbanization in India.

As a result, urban peripheries in India emerge as key sites for investments, whether directed toward the integration of global production chains, infrastructure mega-projects, or property development, including speculative real estate .

Such peripheral spaces are attractive for a variety of reasons, including their relative proximity to city-based human and capital resources and transport infrastructures, relatively cheaper land and under-regulated governance regimes. Various actors, state and non-state, domestic and international, target these peripheral spaces for establishing projects.

The spread of neoliberalism is considered to be at the origin of this trend because it advocates smaller government and privatization of services and the allocation of resources via market. As states adapt to global economic conditions and strive to compete, they undertake economic and political restructuring, a process whereby new economic geographies emerge .

These broad trends are considered to be instrumental in shaping contemporary urbanization processes, especially as they are conceptualized in the formulation of what has been described as “extended urbanization” whereby the urban becomes generalized, blurring the conventional distinctions between different types of spaces.

URBAN PLANNERS AND POLITICIANS WORK TOGETHER WITH COGNATE FIELDS OF ARCHITECTURE, PUBLIC WELFARE, LAND MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO ACHIEVE STRATEGIC POLICIES AND SUSTAINABLE GOALS FOR THE COMMUNITY.?

LAND AND IMPACT OF GOVERNMENTS

?Like in other so-called “emerging” economies, India’s urban built environment has been impacted in manifold ways by inflows of global finance capital, especially after the real estate sector was opened up to foreign investment in 2005.

?Far from being a mechanical operation, such impacts draws attention to ways in which the transformation of agricultural or forest lands into tradable real estate takes place with the concurrence of several intermediaries, including local actors with knowledge and contacts.

?In particular, many national and state governments are actively supportive of these transformations when they are not initiating them.

?States are often the only ones in a position to assemble land on a large scale, given the co-existence of various tenure regimes; they alone have the power to invoke eminent domain to expropriate existing residents.

?However, the relative power and propensity of states to use administrative machinery to develop land on the urban peripheries depends very much on the broader political regimes in place . In India, state governments have emerged as key drivers of change, investing in land development and connective infrastructure, and elaborating incentives for potential investors, including exceptional regulatory and governance frameworks.

DIFFERENT ROLES OF PLANNING AND POLITCS

?Urban Planners – They are a group of professional experts and practioners of urban planning methods. They are concerned with analysis & research, strategic thinking, urban design, architecture, spatial planning, public consultation, policy recommendations, implementation and management of land planning/ city planning.

?Politicians – Are a group?of people who contest for public administrative seats in order the help the community with good policies, development projects and decisions that will help the local / regional / national economies.?

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE (?) IN URBAN PLANNING

?If at all it is agreed as interference, it occurs when the administrative arm of the Governance uses it powers to disturb or alter the process of urban planning.

?Politics’ influence in urban planning have its roots in the fact that politicians formulate decisions that influence the activities and management of their urban areas and administer those decisions through Governance or bureaucrats.

?Politicians – Are a group?of people who contest for public administrative seats in order the help the community with good policies, development projects and decisions that will help the local / regional / national economies.?

?Political interference in urban planning comes with an adverse effect on the development of any urban area as it completely disturbs the flow of planning and renders the urban planning project’s relevance somewhat insignificant.

?To achieve steady and effective urban development through optimal allocation and distribution of resources, political interference in urban planning must be controlled so that planners have optimum liberty of exercising their duties.?