From Master Plan to Vision Plan: The Changing Role of Plans and Plan making in City development (with reference to Mumbai)

Master plans are the traditional instruments used by urban local governments in India as forward planning tools by anticipating urban development and making provisions for the same in terms of (a) the allocation of land for various uses, (b) the regulation of its development and (c) the provision of civic infrastructure. However, they failed to meet the expectations of the citizens as well as the decision makers for several reasons: their design and approach were far too simplistic in anticipating the citizens’ needs and aspirations; their very long tenure has been a major hindrance to anticipate socio-economic changes over time horizon; further, the restrictive approach taken to their implementation without adequate flexibility to meet the changing needs of hour has been acting against the spirit of urban planning. Essentially, it is because of these inadequacies in the plan design, plan making and plan implementation that there is a need felt now on steering an alternative course for achieving the city development goals. Vision plans, in this context, have emerged as alternative instruments useful for achieving the city development goals over a medium to long term; and they are increasingly becoming popular in the cities across the USA as well as elsewhere. This paper describes the evolution of master plan in the Indian context and analyses its inadequacies first (as found in literature); subsequently, it explains the positive features of emerging alternative approaches like the strategic vision plans. In particular, it illustrates the specific case of the Strategic Vision Plan for Mumbai, jointly prepared by a partnership of private non-profit initiative and for-profit organisation, as to how its design is different and as how it takes in to account of / built upon some of the principles of master planning approach. It therefore lays down, finally, how the urban planning has to change the course, akin to the economic planning focus change from that in central planning [of pre-modern era] to decentralized planning [of post-modern era].Master plans, City development, Vision plan and Planning focus.

REDEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL LAND IN URBAN AREAS: OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS. A CASE STUDY OF TEXTILE MILL LAND REDEVELOPMENT IN MUMBAI

Urban industrial land is an important and integral part of city land use. Mumbai had been the industrial power house of India since the British were in rule. It was a prime centre for cotton processing that directly fed into the cotton mills that were established in the subsequent phases of history. After led by the textile mills, several other large and medium scale industries were established in the post-independence era and the development plans made provision for the same through earmarking industrial zones for manufacturing, trade and logistics operations. Bombay has shown how to build the enormous potential in industrial production and almost became one of the country’s backbones of industries and economy. However, concentration of industries and industrialization have also left many demands on city’s infrastructure and housing, and pressure began to mount on making the city inhabitable through shifting of industries to the outskirts. In the subsequent periods, what is known as the ‘decongestion’ policies were laid down in the era of first regional master plan proposed both industrial as well as population decongestion, at a time when the population rise and industrialization were on move. These together with other factors laid death knell for manufacturing industry in general and textile industry in particular. As textile mills were closing down their operations, they sought commercial redevelopment of the land, which became an important historical battle between the industry and government. The first proposal of government based on the Charles Correa Committee report sought equal distribution of land between city government, industry and state government, which was later amended to change the fate of declining textile mills through DCR 58. This paper traces these changes in industrial planning and policy in Mumbai that have some important implications to the development of industrial land in cities.industrial location policy, textile mill land, redevelopment, planning and markets

Production System Planning for Natural Resource Conservation in a Micro-Watershed

Is sustainable utilization of natural resources is essential for sustainable development

Land-based Instruments for Urban Infrastructure Development: The Experience of TDR in Mumbai

Abstract Mumbai, one of the few largest cities in India, faces the challenges of continuing as economic powerhouse as well as maintaining the quality of life of its citizens. Civic infrastructure and its provision are important to support economic development as well as to enhance quality of life. However, with much of the land already developed in the city and with an intense competition between various land uses, the costs associated with infrastructure development (both land acquisition and construction) are large. Although the MCGM prepared a development Master plan for the period of 1981-2005 introduced the concept of land reservations for various infrastructure services, the development of infrastructure did not progress much for the paucity of funds; moreover, the conventional method of land acquisition has met severe difficulties. An alternate way is to utilise land based instruments that offer incentives for land owners and/or developers to surrender/develop land for providing urban infrastructure. Transferable Development Rights (TDR) is one such instrument that can be used to achieve urban infrastructure development while utilizing the development potential as well as value of urban land. This paper shows how the MCGM has proposed to achieve the goal of developing civic amenities in Mumbai without burdening its exchequer. It also outlines some of the issues and the reforms required in the current TDR programme to make it more effective

Natural Resources Accounting for Sustainable Development

Economic growth has been conventionally looked upon as the measure for the development of society, while ignoring the other aspects viz., human development, natural resources, environment and ecology. In the conventional accounting of economic development, the value of services and goods provided by natural resources like air, water, land and biota are ignored; neither any attempts are made to monitor and account for the changes in natural resources and environment. For the economic development to be sustainable, the environmental costs have to be limited and to be growing at slower pace than the economic gains. In this chapter, an attempt is made to outline the importance of using Natural Resource Accounting (NRA) for sustainable development through an attempt to estimate the environmental costs and benefits, and also to compare with economic growth in the case of India. This chapter highlights the potential of using NRA to make decisions for sustainable development through policies for conservation, management and development of natural resources.</jats:p