The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 14th February 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Context

On December 24, 2009, a tunnel boring machine in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, hit an aquifer about three kilometres from Selang village. This resulted in the loss of nearly 800 litres of water per second (enough to sustain the needs of nearly 30 lakh people per day). Soon after, groundwater sources began drying up even as the water !ow reduced but never stopped.

What is Urban Planning?

• Urban Planning is the process of constructing and designing urban areas to satisfy the demands of a community.
• The technique draws on a variety of disciplines in order to better prepare cities and communities for the future.
• It is usually utilized as a part of a wider city plan, and it should be related to your city’s purpose and vision statements.
• Urban planning encompasses many aspects of city life, including new and pre-existing land, buildings, roads, common spaces, transit, economic development, infrastructure, and the environment.
• These are frequently referred to as urban planning categories, however, it is crucial to note that they are not mutually exclusive.

Objectives of Urban Planning

• The efficacy of urban planning is the most important aspect in limiting unrestrained informality communities.
• The major goal is to plan integrated and sustainable human settlements that can withstand increased environmental, social, and economic problems while also improving rural community quality of life.

Types Of Urban Planning

• Strategic Urban Planning
  • Strategic urban planning focuses on establishing preferred regions of expansion for a city or metropolitan area and creating high-level goals.
  • The planning process yields a strategic plan, often known as a development plan, core strategy, or comprehensive plan.
• Land-Use Planning
  • Land-use planning is primarily concerned with law and policy, with planning tools such as governmental statutes, regulations, rules, codes, and policies being used to impact land use.
• Master Planning
  • Greenfield development initiatives, or construction on undeveloped land, generally require master planning.
• Urban Revitalization
  • In contrast to master planning, urban regeneration focuses on revitalising deteriorating regions. The precise definition of a deteriorating area varies per city.
• Economic Development
  • Economic development is the process of finding areas of growth in order to encourage more financial success inside the city, specifically by attracting corporations to construct or relocate their headquarters there.
  • Following that, such firms recruit local personnel and boost commuter traffic to the new location.
• Environmental Planning
  • Environmental planning is a sort of strategic development that focuses on long-term viability.
  • Air pollution, noise pollution, wetlands, habitats of endangered species, flood zone vulnerability, and coastal zone erosion are all factors to consider in this form of urban planning.
• Infrastructure Planning
  • Infrastructure planning is concerned with the fundamental structures and processes that serve a city and its inhabitants, as well as how such facilities may support the strategic plan’s aims.

• The growth in the number of people living in towns and cities is referred to as urbanization.
• The distribution of urban areas and the rate of urbanization vary across the country.

• India’s urban population accounts for 11% of the global total. However, in absolute terms, India has a larger urban population than highly urbanized countries/regions such as the United States, Japan, Western Europe, and South America.
• During the period 2011-36, urban growth will account for 73% of India’s total population increase.
• Urbanization is Critical to India’s Economy: Urbanization accounts for roughly 60% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• By 2030, the total workforce is expected to reach 0.64 billion, with 0.26 billion working in cities.
• As part of the National Industrial Corridor Program, 11 big industrial corridors have been built, as have other multi-modal logistics parks.

• Measures to Strengthen Human Resources and Match Demand-Supply: Establishment of a statutory entity of the Government of India called the “National Council of Town and Country Planners.”
• A ‘National Digital Platform of Town and Country Planners’ is also recommended to be built inside MoHUA’s National Urban Innovation Stack. Citizen Outreach Campaign’ for demystifying urban planning is also suggested.
• The Central Sector Scheme ‘500 Healthy Cities Programme’ will run for five years, with priority cities and towns chosen collaboratively by states and local governments.
• It is proposed that a state-level apex committee be formed to conduct a periodical assessment of planning legislation (including town and country planning or urban and regional development acts or other relevant acts).
• Adoption of fair mechanisms for obtaining technical consultation services, developing project structure and management abilities in the public sector, and empanelment of private sector consultancies are all examples of ways to increase the role of the private sector.

• Urbanization has been a tool for economic, social, and political growth, but it has also resulted in major socioeconomic issues.
• The major reasons for such a situation are the sheer size of the metropolitan population, uncontrolled and unplanned expansion of urban areas, and a dire shortage of infrastructure.
• The inability of the public sector to offer appropriate service delivery has been attributed to public monopoly, organizational inefficiencies, technological faults in the form of high leakages, lack of preventative maintenance, bad accounting, overstaffing, and lack of autonomy.
• Effective urban planning necessitates treating the city/town as an interconnected natural entity.
• A comprehensive plan includes not just the city’s built-up region, but also portions of the undeveloped hinterland. However, in most metropolitan places, this is lacking.
• The fast development of the urban population, both natural and through migration, has put a strain on public services like housing, sanitation, transportation, water, energy, health, and education.
• Poverty, unemployment, and underemployment among rural immigrants, as well as beggary, thefts, dacoities, burglaries, and other social ills, are on the rise.
• The scarce agricultural land is being gradually encroached upon by urban expansion. Poor planning has been obvious in metropolises, as seen by Delhi’s major pollution problem and Mumbai’s floods.

• AMRUT‘s Mission is to ensure that every family has access to a tap with a guaranteed supply of water as well as a sewerage connection.
• HRIDAY – Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) intends to integrate urban planning, economic growth, and heritage conservation in order to preserve the city’s heritage identity.
• The Rajiv Rinn Yojana, which addresses the housing requirements of the EWS/LIG groups through enhanced credit flow, has aided the most vulnerable elements of society.
• The Deen Dayal Antyodaya- National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) aims to organize urban disadvantaged households into thrift and credit-based SHGs.Individual dry latrines will be converted into pour flush latrines under the Integrated Low-Cost Sanitation plan.
• The National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy of 2007 anticipated a long-term framework for city growth.
• JNNURM – From 2005 to 2014, it focused on providing technical help to cities in sectors like transportation, solid waste management, and housing. One of the most noticeable successes has been rapid bus transportation networks. However, the overall impact of the initiative is not as obvious, owing primarily to irregular benefits gained in scattered localities. JNNURM aided in transportation in certain cities and housing in others. As a result, there was no holistic growth, and the outcomes were ineffective.
• Rajiv Awaas  Yojana-It focuses on the urban poor and intends to eliminate slums in India by 2022. It provides low-priced housing at no cost

• India must elevate urban planning to a major, valued function by investing in qualified workers, a rigorous fact foundation, and innovative urban design. This can be accomplished through a “cascaded” planning system in which big cities have 40-year and 20-year metropolitan plans that connect local development plans.
• The best distribution of space, particularly land use and Floor Area Ratio (FAR) planning, is central to every city’s design.
• Integrate local, state, and national urban development and associated initiatives to create sustainable cities or metropolitan regions.
• Devolution must be accompanied by other reforms in urban financing that lessen cities’ reliance on the Centre and states while releasing internal revenue streams.
• Consistent with most worldwide instances, Indian towns may tap into various sources of finance to a far higher level than they do now: Monetization of land assets; increased collection of property taxes; cost-reflective user charges; debt and public-private partnerships (PPPs); municipal bonds and central/state government financing.