Redefining Public Policy and Physical Planning in Promoting Socio- Economic Development in Urban India


·?????? Jit Kumar Gupta

·?????? [email protected]

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Urban development as a process is, primarily and essentially, is mandated? to remain people centric, focusing on providing optimum quality of life, making human living more sustainable, livable, qualitative and productive based on making best uses of the available resources. Planning also ?involves making choices and options how to make ?human living, working, care of body, spirits and circulation more effective and? efficient. All these mandates and directives are to be achieved through? appropriate policy framework and tools used for planning and development of the human settlements.? Accordingly, all Urban development policies framed by the Governmnet, and all planning tools and options used by the physical planners? for? development of cities, needs to be studied, analysed, understood? and appreciated, whether? such policies and? tools remain people centric, leading to? promoting universal public good,? focus on socio-economic development and improved human living.

?Looking objectively ?and critically at the? manner in which urban ?policies are formulated and urban planning is practiced and? made operational, it can be observed that Urban planning, as a process and approach,?? has? major role to play in bringing distortions,? making city development lopsided, promoting? poverty, and bringing? socio-economic challenges? in ??the urban context. Current? urban planning practices, tools and methodologies invariably are ?biased , catering to selected sections of the society and ?riches of the society. Instead of? promoting inclusion and bringing all classes of citizen on same platform , exiting policies are known to? promote? exclusion of the marginalized sections of the society? by bridging gap between haves and have-nots. Accordingly, it will be appropriate that existing ?understanding and approach to ?policy formulation and urban planning ?should be clinically, ?critically and objectively reviewed, revised and redefined to involve ?communities, include informal sector, make optimum use of available resources, empower the poor and make? growth and development of urban settlements? just, rational, equitable and sustainable. Accordingly? urban planning policies, ?principles and processes put in place for rationalizing development of human settlements must include, involve and ?revolve around;

·?????? Promoting Co-operative and Just Cities; Urban related policies must ensure that ?cities are planned on the principle and basis of ?co-operative and just city, to ?promote universal good and ?joint ownerships for all the citizens so as to eliminate the ownership of urban resources, facilities and amenities by few elites/riches? in? the city. Co-operative city as a concept will remain different and distinct, where cities will not be used for promoting good? of few at the cost of others ; favoring few by marginalizing majority, promoting inclusion by ensuring exclusion etc. Equity and universal good should remain the theme of the? policy framework.?

·?????? ?Making Urban Planning Poor Centric ; Unfortunately, ?urban policies? put in place by state and parastatal agencies have led to the exclusion ?of the poor from the urban development process despite constituting substantial portion of urban population.? This has invariably led to making urban planning and development irrational and illogical for majority of the urban settlements. All urban development policies and programs evolved at national, state and local levels, must? remain poverty centric and should aim at minimizing the challenges faced by the poor and empowering poor in the urban spaces. Making poor integral part of city planning and development process, while preparing Master plans/Development Plans/Local area plans , are known to help in better understanding, appreciating, analyzing ?the existing? developmental deficit in the human settlements; and providing all basic amenities ,services and spaces? essentially needed by the poor,? for making their living and working qualitative. Policy framework accordingly must create an appropriate mechanism and space for? listening, caring and empowering poor as part of the urban development policies and programs.

·?????? Earmarking dedicated Commercial space; Existing policy of disposal? by auction of ?commercial area, by the state and parastatal agencies ?has essentially led to large scale speculation in the? pricing of commercial areas, leading to exclusion of the majority of population, willing to find space for working in the urban areas. ?Existence of large number of commercial slums has genesis in the policy of auction of urban spaces followed for the cities and towns. ?Defining policies ?of earmarking, acquiring and developing ?adequate dedicated commercial space? for the urban poor, in the local area plans, to do business by rationalizing and redefining appropriate norms and standards, will help the poor to contribute to the ?rational growth, employment and economy of the city on? large scale.

·?????? Earmarking dedicated Residential space; Despite the fact that majority of population living in cities have limited resources, but no Master plan, Development Plan and Local area plan prepared and the policy formulated? for the city,? provides space for housing these people in the city. This has led to emergence of large number of slums and majority of unplanned development in urban areas can be attributed to such planning approach and urban policies framed for the city. Earmarking, acquiring and developing dedicated spaces for housing the poor in the urban context, by evolving and defining appropriate urban planning ?policies, ?norms and standards and making them part of the local area plans , would help in minimizing growth of slums and shanty towns in urban areas and promote rational growth and ?development.

·?????? Skilling Poor; Skilling remains major issue and prime reason for promoting poverty among the large number of rural migrants, opting to make cities as their preferred place for living and working. Framing policies and creating appropriate urban spaces for? opening large number of? centers? for skilling the urban poor? in the urban context?? will help in empowering poor for sourcing better employment. Urban related policies and planning tools would require redefinition to overcome such skilling? deficit in urban areas.

·?????? Creating Day Markets; Permitting the? organization of the day-markets in? different? parts of the cities, on rotation basis, for poor to? market their products and selling goods required for? meeting the day to day needs of urban residents, will help in? generating employment and creating? opportunities for better earning for the poor in the city. Such a provision needs to be embedded in the policy framework and planning strategies for the city.

·?????? Permitting multiple use of formal? urban spaces; Planning for permitting poor to use prime urban spaces in the city ,after the close and before the open of the? formal markets, to create space for doing business by the poor will? be a game changer in alleviating poverty in the urban areas. Making this a reality would require creating an enabling and supportive? policy framework for using land 2x7x365 and embedding in the urban planning tools and strategies.

·?????? Registering Poor; Mechanism of registering poor needs to be introduced in? each city, in order? to? realistically quantify and? understand the need and demand for such section of the community for undertaking planning? in rational and realistic manner. Adopting and defining? such a policy framework will help in targeting right beneficiaries for all ?framing poor centric programs.

·?????? Promoting Circular Economy ; Cities planned, designed and developed following? the circular pattern? of economy, have great potential ,capacity and capability to rationalize development and? minimize poverty by optimizing the? use of available resources and converting enormous waste being generated by them into wealth. Accordingly, policies and planning framework put in place for? ?cities to ?create? large opportunities/ options for converting waste into wealth by making?? products which can be used /consumed locally,? can help in lowering the graph of poverty.

·?????? Involving Poor in Planning; For rationally understanding the basic? requirements? and empowering the poor, it will be appropriate to? make poor integral part of the urban planning, development and management process. Creating appropriate and supportive policies ??for ?planning tools

for Involving poor in the planning and designing of urban spaces can help in not only making urban planning process more rational, equitable and objective but? will go? a long way in eliminating large number of ills facing the urban settlements.

·?????? Using Technologies; Technology has enormous potential in optimizing resources, empowering people, promoting operational efficiency,? making innovations, promoting start up, creating large employment, creating correct data base, effectively monitoring the implementation welfare schemes, connecting communities etc. Accordingly , it will be important? and critical to rationalize policies by embedding ?technology? as integral part of all? the urban related ?policies and programs ?to make them more rational, focused and productive.

·?????? Promoting Cross-subsidization; Adopting mechanism of cross subsidization as integral part of the ?urban related policies and ?planning process can help in generating revenue/resources and creating? space for the urban poor while planning/granting permission for different projects/schemes launched by? the private sector in the city.

·?????? Prioritizing Regional Planning; ?Urban planning? remains the focus of all the planners in the present context leading to exclusion of the large number of rural settlements and? major proportion of population living in the rural areas of the country? ( placed at 68.9%, as per Census 2011). This has led to lopsided development? of the country besides perpetuating ill planned growth and ?poverty on large scale in the urban areas .Poverty? remains a human problem but it is unfortunately been reckoned as urban problem because rural poverty gets concentrated in urban areas due to large scale rural- urban migration. Prioritizing? Regional Planning, will help in? not only synergizing but also? making optimum use of strength , resources, manpower and opportunities available in both in rural and urban areas, helping in empowering the poor in the rural settlements by? providing appropriate infrastructures, services? and creating options/opportunities for better employment? locally. Accordingly, prioritizing Regional Planning in the and? physical planning?? should remain? a pre-requisite? all policies focusing on planned and rational development of the state, regions, cities and communities.

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·?????? Author:? Jit Kumar Gupta

Former Advisor, Town Planning Punjab Urban Development Authority

Chandigarh-160036.; ?email:? jit.kumar1944@ gmail.com

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