Inclusive Urban Development Part - 4

Other meaning of Inclusive development 

In my earlier blogs on this topic, I had focused on inclusion of Environmental, Digital and social aspects of urban growth in Inclusive Urban planning.  When I studied various urban development programs launched by Government of India and World Bank, I realized that the inclusive phrase used in those schemes  refer mainly to include development of poor and weaker section of society who had been excluded in traditional urban development plans.  

It is observed that many a times, with a vision of slum free cities, the existing slums in the vicinity of multistoried residential  complexes and business offices are demolished and are rehabilitated outskirts of the city in undeveloped land area. Such a scheme is carried out without completion of construction and provision of basic facilities like water, electricity, health and education amenities and economical transport services. This leads to  social unrest   creating further hurdles in the project completion.  Physical isolation of rich and poor habitats is not the solution to the problem as it tends to aggravate social inequality .  Urban planning  should include growth of entire city population, slum dwellers being a major component who need more attention and priority allocation. Where it is imperative to have physical separation of such communities to safeguard environmental quality and to avoid overstraining of existing services,  strengthening connecting routes and development of  neighbourhood villages may help in accommodating displaced or influx of population in a sustainable environment.  This will reduce wide gap between urban and rural growth and will  also ensure sustainable living conditions to those staying in the city. Hence the inclusive urban planning cannot be bound to city limits but should encompass the neighborhood region.

Combination of  two aspects of inclusive phrase.

Integration of environmental, digital and social aspects in planning and inclusion of equitable development of all sections of society thus forms a basis for sustainable urban development .  This task  requires careful planning, detailed time-cost schedule and coordinated efforts of all parties in the entire lifecycle of project from its planning to implementation stage.  As discussed earlier, it is generally observed that ambitious dream projects for urban development get delayed over long period due to lack of coordination between separate departments responsible for sanction and execution. This increases cost and project becomes financial burden without delivering desired benefits.

Fortunately, technological advances and digital revolution have provided many economical and effective options for better coordination and project monitoring  without need of physical presence and manual operations.  It is now possible to administer the entire project  with web portal services for video conferences,  data capture with electronic gadgets and sensors, data transfer, storage and analysis from remote control centre. IBM, Siemens, Microsoft, Hitachi and similar software giants have started working on development of smart world leave apart smart building or smart  city. 

However, it  would be wrong to apply these concepts in prevailing Indian conditions. This is due to various reasons.  Economic disparity in population,  low education level in majority of population, necessity of manual operations to provide jobs to unemployed unskilled people,  high cost of automation systems and their infrastructural requirements as compared to manpower cost.

India has to develop its own methodology to incorporate strength of its manpower,  use of IT enabled services  to the extent possible and convenient and preserve environmental quality without aggressive exploitation of natural resources. It is necessary therefore, to have better interaction in experts in various fields at local  level  to evolve sustainable growth model  suitable and specific for inclusive urban development  for each city in India.

Inclusive Urban Development Part - 3

Inclusive urban planning implies All inclusive means comprehensive or integrated development. There are three main types of development strategies

1. Eco city planning

Emphasis on environmental quality which includes safe and adequate water supply, green building practices, passive architecture,  efficient wastewater and solid waste disposal facilities, tree plantation, preservation and development of gardens and open spaces, pollution free transport system, Use of renewable energy sources. Dr. Prasad Modak has prepared a ecocity development plan for Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Corporation and evaluation of its progress will help in identifying the training and operation needs for success in  effective implementation of the project. There are many development projects  The 24x7 water supply scheme suggested by Dr. Dahasahasra, Sheri Nalla diversion scheme designed by Walchand College of Engineering, Proposal of drawing water from Warna are some examples of this category for Sangli-Kupwad-Miraj Corporation

2. Digital city planning

Emphasis on development of comprehensive  e-governance system for city administration and control of all operations with use of central web portal and sensor operated modern technological devices and digital  communication systems.  Network of data fiber lines would serve as main communication channel for flow of diverse information streams from individual houses and places to central control room and vice versa . Use of automatic energy saving gadgets, electronic sensors and devices in buildings for security and control of various appliances,   is already common in most of the modern constructions in advanced countries and in India also its use is increasing. However, to use this system for business activities and city administration is a novel concept.  The system envisages provision of security, comfort, convenience to every resident with minimization of expenses in maintenance, travelling,  energy use and increase in work efficiency avoiding time delays and prompt service facilities. For a new project, the cost can be drastically brought down by eliminating need of many infrastructural establishments.  I happen to attend one presentation by Shri. Ajay Shirgurkar of Unique Consultants & Services on this concept. and I was glad to know that his company is providing technical know-how in this field at international level.

3.  Socio-Economical Planning

 Emphasis on harmonious relations between different sections of society, improvement of standard of living and well being of all community irrespective of differences in  income or type of work levels. This would need development of social community centers, religious places, museums and libraries, education and health care facilities, soft  loan facilities and business promotion initiatives. This section depends of active role of social and political leaders and workers to establish cordial relations between administrative machinery and people and provide proper channels for grievance redressal and seek proactive suggestions from public..

Inclusive urban city development should try to integrate all the above three concepts so that   city dwellers will be able to live comfortably, would  become more productive and would be able to provide great social initiative to replicate such model at at other places. This can be achieved for the new habitat where there are no restrictions of existing structures or administration practices.

For development projects in the existing cities many factors may limit the implementation of all above concepts.  As regards ecocity development,  major structural changes will have to be made. Difficulties with arise from availing necessary land space  at desired location with necessity of relocation of population, legal land acquisition, dismantling  and clearing existing structures. Even removal of debris and transport of construction materials and equipment will need  traffic diversion works  for considerable time period. Provision of electricity, water supply for construction will also pose problems. Care will have to be taken to reduce environmental and noise pollution during project construction.

In case of implementation of digital city concept, education and awareness of the people about use of new technology devices and methods would assume prime importance.  This task is not easy and the project may fail miserably if people do not know or reluctant to use the modern methods of communication and use of utilities.Many changes and modifications will be needed to bring it is practice for Indian conditions. As an example, use of regional language in communications will have to be provided for its wide acceptance.

Different sustainable models for urban growth

1. Development of project near existing village or group of villages
2. Development of industry cluster well  connected to city by express transit routes
3. Development of remote all inclusive complex example industry  with its own establishment of colony or habitat

 

Inclusive Urban Development Part-2

Selection and Excecution of projects

Urban planning projects can be categorized mainly in following  sections

• Urban planning for integrated growth of existing cities
• Infrastructural changes and additions in the interior part of city – for example improvement of inner roads, drainage and water supply systems,  introduction of new transport systems like train, metro, skybus, Development of open vacant area for rehabilitation of slums, construction of utility centers, gardens, playgrounds or other public amenities like health and education services, Enforcement of green initiatives and social harmony.
• Expansion of city boundaries and/or development of neighboring villages  by strengthening  easy and fast communication systems between city and villages
• Improvement in City services by providing  electricity, water supply, transport and communication and waste disposal systems.
• Planning of entirely new  urban centre or building complex at vacant location by converting land use pattern
• Creating specific zones for development of industries and business centers near city

It is evident that each type of project will need  entirely different input parameters and would vary in scope widely as regards financial outlay, time period, technical complexity and utility value. As such, it is not possible to have common guidelines for design and implementation of these projects.  However, it is necessary to evaluate these project options for deciding priority ranking so that development can be phased out to match with the available financial assets. 

It is observed that ambitious development projects requiring large capital investment are undertaken under BOT scheme without considering the future continuous financial burden required to be  borne by corporation or citizens.  The vision of development after successful completion of the project  is a selling point of project proponents.  Detailed financial evaluation of project is generally shrouded in ambiguity. Project proponents submit the project feasibility report to banks for sanction of necessary financial loan.  This report contains the cost-benefit analysis of the project. There are legal assurance conditions for repayment  of capital loan which have to be honored by corporation or government.  Hence it is essential to have transparency , publicity and public consent to these conditions to avoid future disputes.

It is seen that in majority of cases these projects are awarded to big corporates or agencies collaborating with  foreign companies under the pretext of  quality assuarance and capability of capital investment. The use of imported machinery and technology is facilitated in this process with benefit to foreign suppliers. The project work also often carried out by these companies from  local contractors on subcontract basis stripping off the profit margin. Local expertise is overlooked and the employment of local people remains at the lowest cadre of data entry or labour. Application of foreign technology without its customisation to suit local conditions may give unsatisfactory results. The cost of such projects is highly inflated considering manhour costs applicable there. The project excecution control remains entirely in the hands of these outside parties.

It is possible to form separate development authority for corporation with powers to get  financial loan from banks and advisory panel of experts for project planning and execution and award the project to local contractors by splitting it into many small subunits. This will help in having full control of project with corporation and would generate business potential for local parties and employment to local  people.  Cooperative sugar, textile and dairy industries can be considered as role model  for such development work. Employment of local people in such projects will ensure active collaboration and participation of people.

Inclusive Urban Development Part-1

I got invitation to National Seminar on Inclusive Urban development to be held on 17^th October 2013 at at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The snapshots of brochure are shown below

The seminar includes technical sessions on Affordable Housing, Urban Planning, Multi-modal transport, Basic Urban Amenities, Social Inclusion, Sustainable waste management, urban Governance & Municipal Finance and Smart Cities. Though each topic  in the proposed seminar would require  a separate seminar for unfolding various issues involved in it, the proposed one day seminar  would definitely  be helpful in  focusing  the attention of stakeholders to the prime aspects  of Inclusive Urban Development  in the Indian context. ( Those who are interested may contact mohit.sharma@cii.in or contact@gudcltd.com) As it is not possible for me to attend this important seminar,  I would like to put my views regarding the subject in this blog.

Our Dnyandeep Education & Research Foundation has been organizing seminars on green building design, use of  renewable energy sources and environmental technology. Our two day seminar on    ‘Dream of Green City’ in 2006 at Pune highlighted the ill effects of uncontrolled urban growth  and emphasized the need of integrated sustainable development. However, this requires coordinated efforts of all concerned experts  in political, social, financial, technical and environmental fields  who can give desired input for planning.  Seminars and conferences often create awareness at  academic  level, but the message does not reach the decision makers who can actually steer the growth engine in proper direction.

Necessity of Baseline Study

First of all, It is necessary to study and prepare detailed documentation  of existing status of city as regards infrastructural and service facilities, socio-economical conditions, environmental quality and  limiting factors for growth or change. Many a times, new schemes are proposed without such baseline data collection resulting in failure to yield expected outcome. It should be remembered that major stake holders of urban planning are citizens in that city and not finance and technology suppliers. Hence the planning process must start by understanding problems and difficulties faced by citizens, their demands and  aspirations for healthy, comfortable, secure and affordable living.   I witnessed such interaction public meeting conducted by Dr. Prasad Modak before suggesting Ecocity project for Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad     corporation. The project envisaged active participation of citizens in monitoring and information suppliers for corrective actions. The modality  suggested was use of webportal  with specially devised map tool for location wise feedback  receiving system. However, the scheme could not succeed  due to  ignorance and connectivity limitations of internet use by general public.

Majority of people living in multistoried complexes in urban area belong to middle class and cannot afford costly smart gadgets and refrain from using renewable energy sources due to high capital investment. However, they do require help of workers from poor families for household duties.  These workers need residential accommodation nearby. Due to unavailability of land at affordable cost, they prefer to live even  in unauthorized slum type establishments, which lack basic amenities like water supply and sanitation. Hence every multistoried complex gives rise to growth of slum  in  surrounding or nearby area.   Multistoried complexes become excessive burden for existing roads, electricity, water supply and sanitation facilities provided by corporation. Combined result of this situation is unhealthy and insecure environment .  Open spaces, gardens  and places of recreation are fast disappearing and cities are growing with engulping of nearby villages. The major metropolitan cities in India are facing this problem and situation from bad to worst due to huge influx of population and rampant building activity.

The administration of city infrastructure and services is divided in many independent organizations, who have their own agenda and priorities for development. The development projects get stuck or delayed due to lack of permission or inaction in preparatory work needed to be done from particular agency. Hence project must be planned by enforcing priority criteria for activities to be performed by all concerned parties in fixed time schedule. Any delay in project execution increases cost and may become unfeasible due to financial constraints. 

It is therefore necessary to form one central authority to handle the project and it should take advise from committee composed of  representatives of all concerned departments, who will act as liaison officers of the respective departments.