Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Editorial

This issue contains eight papers. The first one on “Smart Model for Urban Land
Management” is written jointly by Pastagia Digant A., Patel Jignesh K. and Macwan
Joel E. M., with a focus on urban land management in India, which is a state subject
and each state has its own urban land supply policy. The aim of this research paper
is to identify the best land management techniques in India based on performance
indicators and to develop an innovative technique using a combination of various tools
to enhance the quantum of supply of urban land. Accordingly, the town planning schemes
being practiced in Gujarat specifically Surat TPS number 32 was examined in detail as
a case study to find deficiencies in town planning schemes. The SMART (sustainable,
marketable, aesthetical, rational and transit oriented) model was developed to improve
the performance of land pooling as land management policy. The SMART model was
implemented for TPS number 32 in which 12 per cent extra urban land was provided for
infrastructural development in this scheme. While the second paper titled “What is the
Name of a Place? A Toponymic Study in Historical Urban Settlements” jointly authored by
Rebecca S. Jadon and Sanjay S. Jadon, explores place names, their origins and meanings
in Indian cities. The paper discusses the concepts of place and placelessness in the
current world scenario and the role of place names in the sense of identity. It argues
how names themselves become a part of the place identity. A basic toponymic study of
places in two Indian cities is used to explore the origins of names within the cultural,
linguistic and socio-political context. The study seeks to understand linkages in social,
historical and political narratives of cities through its toponyms.

The third paper on theme “A Road Map for District Planning in India” penned by Jacob
Easow underlines the institutional architecture envisaged under the 74th Constitution
Amendment Act, which mandates every district of the country to constitute a District
Planning Committee (DPC) and to prepare a District Development Plan. The changed
scenario after the establishment of the NITI Aayog, the district development plan
envisaged in the amended constitution, assumes great relevance than ever before,
therefore, a clear cut policy blueprint is needed. This paper outlines a methodological
suggestion for district planning in the light of the constitutional provisions. Preparation
of such a district plan will surely need decisions and commitments at various levels
due to the multiplicity of agencies involved and the vast spectrum of aspects to be
addressed. In this context, the paper traces a road map for each milestone for the
preparation of district development plan,which can be replicated anywhere in India. The
paper of Walid Al-Shaar on the on the topic “Design Models of Roadway Transportation
Systems and their Integration with City Planning” lays emphasis that in Lebanon, cities
are encountering many social and economic problems in terms of high population
density and high unemployment rate. Besides, roadway transportation flow is not well
distributed; frequent congestion on roads is a daily occurrence in Lebanese roads; and
unbalanced infrastructure constitutes a significant problem. This paper presents design
models, which represent a scientific tool and criteria to calculate and find the optimum
road network area to be distributed all over the master plan. These results and findings
of proportionality factors when used, it may lead to make the master plan optimistically
feasible.

The next two papers focus on rejuvenation. The paper titled “Rejuvenation of Built
Heritage of Porbandar City through Local Area Planning” written by Ravin M. Tailor,

Cover Design by Diwakar S. Meshram i

 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Kandarp Rajyaguru and Akshay Kumar Sharma highlights that local area planning
methodology is the new approach introduced in GTPUD Act of Gujarat in 2014. The city
of Porbandar is an example of having organic growth without town planning schemes.
LAP methodology could be applied to a city with these urban characteristics. In this
study, public opinion was considered for identification of neighborhoods having side
effects of urbanization. The proposal for LAP features maximum FSI of 3 and 4 based on
the abutting road width, with an extra built-up of almost 2,00,000 sq m. The proposed
road network covers an area of almost 24 per cent of the LAP boundary if compared to
existing 26 per cent. The proposal also covers urban design projects like development
of chowks and gardens. Improved circulation pattern, reconstituted plot boundaries and
availability of additional built-up will lead to healthy urban development. The paper
on “Rejuvenation of Urban Vacant Spaces in Perspective of Smart City” authored by
Mohammad Laraib Ahmad, Muhammad Shahrukh and Pradeep Singh states that vacant
land in a city can be used as green garden or park. Vertical farming concept can be
implemented in smart city. This will improve air quality and will help to make such
places socially interactive and functional that can act as recreational spaces. Urban areas
are densely populated and have much hard scape. Density in urban areas is increasing
vertically due to lack of urbanizable land, which results in lack of green spaces in urban
areas. Need of the hour is to find out such issues and have better solution by introducing
green strategies, which make urban environment clean and healthy. Aim of the paper is
to find out the role of urban green space in smart city perspective, its impact on urban
climate and importance of recreational areas.

H. S. Kumara in his paper on “CO2 Emissions from Urban Transport: Challenges and
Opportunities for Non-Motorized Transport in Indian Cities” discusses CO2 emissions by
transport sector in selected Indian cities, retrofitting challenges and opportunities for
(NMT) non-motorized transport. It attempts to examine the modal share of NMT within
the existing travel modes; to estimate CO2 emissions along with its growth rate; traffic
index were analyzed in selected Indian cities. Regression analysis shows that shorter the
trip, the greater the share of NMT. In nutshell, the study has analyzed the total vehicle
registered, total registered passenger cars, and vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT),
estimation of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of passenger cars. In persistence,
the study highlights the retrofitting issues, options and policy initiatives for NMT and
concludes that, reduction of CO2 emissions is achieved by encouraging public transport
and using NMT especially down town areas in the Indian cities.

The paper jointly authored by S. G. Sonar and Rajesh S. Phadke on the topic “GIFT
City - A Unique Model of Urban Development” provides the inside on GIFT city model
which is an important lesson for building a new city, and mentions that it is essential
first to create the infrastructure and then only to start building offices and residences.
It is observed that GIFT city offers a model by which city can be built with private
investment by capitalizing land. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India in
its Mission Statement and Guidelines on Smart Cities published in June 2015 has rightly
mentioned GIFT city as a good example of “Greenfield Smart City”.

Ashok Kumar, Ph.D.

Editor

ii
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Content

SMART Model for Urban Land Management 1

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; and
Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D.

What is the Name of a Place? 8

A Toponymic Study in Historical Urban Settlements
Rebecca S. Jadon; and Sanjay S. Jadon, Ph.D.

A Road Map for District Planning in India 15

Jacob Easow

Design Models of Roadway Transportation Systems and their 31

Integration with City Planning
Walid Al-Shaar

Rejuvenation of Built Heritage of Porbandar City 49

through Local Area Planning
Ravin M. Tailor, Ph.D.; Kandarp Rajyaguru; and
Akshay Kumar Sharma

Rejuvenation of Urban Vacant Spaces in 64

Perspective of Smart City
Mohammad Laraib Ahmad; Muhammasd Shahrukh; and
Pradeep Singh

CO2 Emissions from Uban Transport: Challenges and 73

Opportunities for Non-Motorized Transport in Indian
H. S. Kumara, Ph.D.

GIFT City - A Unique Model of Urban Development 90

S. G. Sonar, Ph.D.; and Rajesh S. Phadke

Cover Design by Diwakar S. Meshram iii

 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

ITPI JOURNAL (REFEREED)

REFEREES OF VOL. 15, NO. 1, 2, 3, & 4

Prof. D. S. Meshram, Ph.D.

Former Chief Planner, TCPO, Ministry of Urban Development

Prof. N. Sridharan, Ph.D.

Director, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal

Prof. K. K. Pandey, Ph.D.

Professor, I. I. P. A., New Delhi

Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay , Ph.D.

Professor, Architecture and Regional Planning, IIT Kharagpur

Prof. K. R. Thooyavan, Ph.D.

Professor, MESAI University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

B. Mahendra, Ph.D.
Former Additional Director, Town Planning, Government of Karnataka

EDITORIAL BOARD 2017-2018

Sham Dass Saini

Chairman

Prof. D. S. Meshram, Ph.D.

Member

Prof. K. R. Thooyavan, Ph.D.

Member

Prof. Vijay Kapse, Ph.D.

Member

Prof. Ashok Kumar, Ph.D.

Editor and Secretary Publication

D. S. Meshram iv
Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

SMART Model for Urban Land Management

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; and Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D.

Abstract
Urban land management in India is a state subject and each state has its own urban
land supply policy. Accordingly, the aim of this research paper is to identify the best
land management techniques in India based on performance indicators and to develop
an innovative technique using a combination of various tools to enhance the quantum
of supply of urban land. The Gujarat Town Planning Scheme is selected for the detailed
study and Surat (Gujarat) TPS number 32 was used as a case study to find deficiencies
in the Town Planning Scheme. The SMART (Sustainable, Marketable, Aesthetical,
Rational and Transit Oriented) Model was developed to improve the performance of
land pooling land management policy in India. The SMART model was implemented for
TPS number 32 in which 12 per cent extra urban land was provided for infrastructural
development.

1. INTRODUCTION
Being a state subject, land acquisition is adopted as an urban land supply policy in
most of the states of India. It has become a time consuming process, sometimes
it leads to unending litigation. On the other hand, land owners whose lands are
acquired, feel that they have not been adequately compensated. Guided land
development program is used in the north part of India for supply of urban land,
but failure in commitment from private developers and colonizers, it is a failed
concept. Town Planning Scheme mechanism has been followed as an alternative
method to assemble land for urban development activities in a faster and financially
affordable manner without taking recourse to compulsory acquisition of land. It
is basically an area planning technique patterned on the concept of land re-
adjustment. Disadvantages like time-consuming process, land revenue and title
problem, and land speculation fail to attract other states developers. Statistical
analytical approach to evaluate basic three policies like land acquisition, guided
land development and land pooling and readjustment methods with performance
indicators has same kind of interpretation. In this paper some of the innovative
methods are discussed to make land pooling methodology more efficient. Land
revenue and land development are like two sides of a coin which complement

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Shree swami
Atmanand Saraswati Institute of Technology, Surat, Email: [email protected]
Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; Urban Planner, Tej Consultant, Surat, Email: [email protected]
Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D.; Professor, Civil Engineering Department, S.V. National Institute of
Technology, Surat, Email: [email protected]

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; and Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D. 1
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

each other, and a new methodology is proposed to overcome the land revenue
issue in urban land management.

2. LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Land assembly and development mechanism are undertaken for achieving the
optimum social use of urban land and to ensure adequate availability of land to
public authority and individuals. Public private participation is achieved in land
development through various techniques. Some of the land assembly techniques
also promote flexibility in land utilization in response to changes resulting from
the growing city. The various mechanisms to assemble and develop land are
discussed here.

2.1 Land Acquisition

Land acquisition means the acquisition of land for some public purpose of a
government agency for individual landowners as authorized by the law after
paying compensation fixed by government to cover losses incurred by land owners
from surrender of their lands to a government agency. The land acquisition
process can be undertaken by the state for itself or for the private sector.

2.2 Land Pooling and Redistribution

Land pooling and readjustment approach is found to be better as it involves
public participation. In this method, the public planning agency or development
authority temporarily brings together a group of land owners for the purposes of
planning under the aegis of the state-level town or urban planning act. There is
no acquisition or transfer of ownership involved, and there is no case for paying
compensation.

2.3 Guided Land Development

Another alternative to compulsory land acquisition is negotiated land purchase
as pursued by private colonizers. This was made possible for the first time in
India under the Haryana Municipal and Regulation of Urban Area Act, 1975. The
Act permits developers to negotiate direct purchase from farmers for large scale
land assembly for urban development. This land is generally located on the
fringes of existing towns and negotiated prices are three to six times higher than
government rates. Land assembly is also completed relatively easily. All these
methods have certain limitations.

Land acquisition is unfair for the original owners of land, mainly farmers, as
they cannot enjoy the benefits of the development. Under this method, the
majority of the farmers lose their cultivatable lands and they are forced to join
the pool of urban labour because of their inability to invest wisely the money
received in compensation. The increase in the pool of urban labour adds to

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

urban problems such as the growth of slums, increase in the crime rate and
increased informal sector economic activity. Any person who needs land for
urban use has to approach the urban development authority. Inefficiency in
the human lead process results in a slow approval process. The development
authority ends up becoming a bottleneck for development. Development
agencies using the method of bulk land acquisition end up being powerful large-
scale land developers, controlling vast urban resources and providing the space
rent seeking and scope for encroachments.

Time lines proposed in the regulatory framework are too long. It takes
approximately four years from conceptualization to the final sanctioning of the
TPS. The state governments actually take much longer to approve the various
stages. The TPS thus takes far too long to prepare and implement. In view of
changes in technology, the time lines can be easily reduced.

The processes are far too centralized and too much power is vested in the state
government to approve and sanction the DPs and TPS. The state government is
responsible for undertaking both substantial reviews and procedural reviews of
each and every DP. There are no limits on the time line, and there is a tremendous
amount of rent seeking.

3. NEW ALTERNATIVES
This study tries to find out deficiencies in the current land pooling methodology
and providing scientific solutions. The basic aspect of the solution is to have a
higher ratio of urban land allocated towards infrastructural development. As per
evaluation studies, land pooling is the best performance technique for supply
of urban land. But at the same time it has failed to supply titled urban land to
end users. Land acquisition is a good technique from planners’ point of view,
but at the same time it has failed due to the longer time frame and higher
ratio of unsatisfied land owners due to lower compensation. A combination of
both the tools may result in a new approach of land management. Some of the
modifications in land pooling methodology and acts could lead to the development
of new land policy.

Earlier land pooling and readjustment (LP and R) is now replaced with land
acquisition and redistribution method. Few changes in acts and combination
of techniques will give free hand to planners for more infrastructural space.
Original land owners will be satisfied due to appropriate compensation. Three
basic modifications in methodology are highlighted below.

Instead of temporarily pooling land, it should be acquired under the Land

Acquisition Act 1894. As per the original act, land is redistributed to original
land owners with same agriculture land title. It is very difficult and lengthy

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; and Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D. 3
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

process to convert land title into non-agriculture title. In this new policy,
land was first acquired by local authority and then this land is returned
back to land owners with single paper non-agriculture title with defined
land use.

TRC (Transferable Rights Certificate) is issued to land owners having area less
than 2,000 sq m, while others are facilitated with land readjustment approach.
It was observed in critical review and analysis of town planning scheme that 10
per cent to 12 per cent of land having area less than 2,000 sq m and smaller plots
fail to provide mass housing with better infrastructure facilities. In new policy,
small plots are replaced with TDR and those lands are used for infrastructure
facilities.

Where there is a shortage of land for infrastructure, more floor space index
can be offered as compensation. For social and physical infrastructure facilities,
more FSI is offered to adjacent land owners.

4. INNOVATIVE MODELS FOR LAND MANAGEMENT

4.1 Incentive Model
Incentive FSI Model has encouraged land owners and developers to come forward
and redevelop old buildings, rehabilitate slum areas, construct cooperative
housing societies, and cease buildings from tenants with small carpet area for
better redevelopment, and more, implementation of incentive FSI in the TPS
scheme is to create extra space for infrastructure. It can be done on a case
to case basis, for example, where there is a need for a huge chunk of land
for infrastructure development, it may be that five to six plots can be given
incentive FSI and the state government can get extra land for widening roads in
the area. In the TPS area, where width of a road is less causing traffic congestion,
incentive FSI can be offered to land owners and land procured from them could
be used to widen the road.

With the help of the Incentive Model, 12.00 meter road could be converted
into 24 meter without the dissatisfaction of land owners as they could be
compensated through incentive FSI. This model has the potential for retrofitting
and redevelopment projects. This model can be introduced at the time of
designing of draft TPS to get a higher ratio of land allotted for public purpose
reservations.

4.2 Transfer of Development Rights Model

In the TDR Model, the potential of a plot of land identified as intensity of
built space, guided by FSI, has been separated from land itself and made
available to land owners in the form of TDR to be utilized by owners from the

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

inner zone (originating area) to an outer zone (receiving area) specified by

regulations. TDR helps to make land more marketable, one of the important
aspects of the SMART model. TDR is a market based technique that encourages
transfer of growth from places where land owners would benefit less from the
development to places land owners would benefit more after transferring the
rights. In some cases, environmentally sensitive land such as open grounds,
agriculture land, historic landmarks or other important lands where certain
type of development is not possible, such lands can be used for new civic
amenities development and land owners can use a TDR certificate for better
development in the receiving area. TDR model facilitates removal of small plots
from the layout, which could be used for public purpose like infrastructure
development. TDR allotted to the owner of land against the acquisition of land
creates a winning formula.

4.3 Revenue Model

Land revenue or land tax was the major source of revenue for Government
of India from the time of the Mughals and British. In some of the states, the
individual system was adopted under which the revenue settlement was
made directly by the government with the individual or cultivator. In order
to reduce the long term court proceedings and minimize the effort and the
human resources required converting new tenure agriculture land into old
tenure non-agricultural land, this research proposes a revenue model. This
model has not been used previously since this has been a practical problem
faced by developers in the last decade. This revenue model will provide some
easement and help in reducing time duration for the new title of land. Under
the deduction of land for TPS development, the government can decide to
deduct those lands up to 60 per cent instead of 40 per cent under the Town
Planning Act 1976. This extra land will be used for infrastructure development.
In return, new land tenure holder gets old land tenure title for non-agricultural
use.

Benefits to Government
• Availability of extra land without land acquisition; and
• Land at cheaper rate.

Benefits to Stakeholders
• Easy conversion of new tenure land to old tenure. Under the traditional
method, it takes nearly two years for approval;
• Fast development without investment; and
• Avoids legal matters, where out of 100 revenue cases, 40 are fought due to
new tenure land.

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; and Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D. 5
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

4.4 THE SMART MODEL

The SMART Model for TPS is the combination of all the above discussed tools,
which can be used on a case to case basis, resulting in a higher ratio of urban land
allocated towards infrastructural development. The SMART model will create an
urban branding and it is required to follow global architectural styles, which can
include the provision of nodes and landmarks, urban squares, urban streets, etc.
In order to create urban branding in the state of Gujarat, it is necessary to do
some modifications in TPS ideology and methodology. This new methodology of
urban land management will increase the supply of urban land in a smarter way,
hence it is called SMART.

The incentive model rejuvenates the old TPS area for sustainable
development. The TDR model makes the city dynamically marketable.
The revenue model increases transparency. Deleting smaller plots and
encouraging bigger plots, creating extra urban space for amenities, wide
roads and providing urban squares increases the aestheticism in the
city. Rational distribution of the amenities makes the city look regular
and uniform. With an incentive FSI model, the width of the road can be
increased which will give space to accommodate a better transit system.
Tall buildings on the side of the road will provide a better urban canyon
effect and a skyline effect to the city.

The main vision of this SMART model is to help the planner to take a step towards
a sustainable city without affecting stakeholders. Using the Incentive model,
TDR model and Revenue model together in the SMART model for TPS, on a case
to case basis, will help in planning a larger area (greater than 100 ha.) and
will result in the development of sustainable cities in India. The SMART model
increases land for infrastructure development by 15 per cent. All tools in the
SMART model were tested in a court of law and found that it provides for less
infrastructural costs with sustainable development. All to gather 1, 2 and 3
Model can be used for master planning in 300 ha, which is equal to approximate
the area of 3 TPS. This will also result in a sustainable development in Indian
cities. The SMART model has the capacity to supply nearly 20 per cent more
land towards infrastructural development with the optimization of the cost of
infrastructure.

6. CONCLUSIONS
Urban land management exercise is very crucial, complex and connected with
many issues. Therefore, it needs careful consideration to arrive at amicable
solutions. In the Indian context, it is more vital because land is a state subject.
As per practicing professionals and policy makers are concerned, land pooling
and readjustment known as TPS, Gujarat model is considered as the best

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; and Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D. 6
Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

performing policies. It is difficult to evaluate the land value from compensation

point of view alone in land acquisition method. Therefore, land pooling and
readjustment method should be promoted to create extra land for infrastructure
development. Incentive FSI model will be able to generate 5 per cent extra land
towards infrastructure development. TDR model provides benefit of TDR, which
should be given to landowners having a land area less than 2,000 sq m. As per
assessment 7-12 per cent of the total area of TPS has plot areas less than 2,000
sq m. Generally, this land can be made free for infrastructure development. In
revenue model, land having new tenure can be deducted as 60 per cent instead
of 40 per cent. So that overall 3 -10 per cent land can be freed for infrastructure.
SMART model is composed of all the above three techniques. By application of
the same 11.16 per cent (10-15 per cent) land can be generated for infrastructure
development.

REFERENCES
Acharya, B.P. (2014) Application of Land Management Tools in Combination: Utilizing
the Indian Urban Land and Ceiling Act and the Plot Reconstitution Techniques Land
Development Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 129-146.
Chakraborty N. (2013) Land as resource for sustainable development, 62 Congress of the
Institute of Town Planners, India.
Kankariya C. and Bhangale P. (2010) Transfer of development rights: Effective tool for
sustainable urban development, IJLTEMAS, Vol. 4, ISSN 2278-2540.
Katti, B.K. and Garg, L. (2010) Urban land management and land augmentation strategies
for housing the poor, Urban Housing: Issues And Strategies, 24-37.
Kulshrestha, S.K. (2011) Process of Transformation of Virgin Land into Resource for
Urban Development, 59th Congress of the Institute of Town Planners India publications,
Panchkula.
Mendoza and Martins (2006) Multi decision criteria analysis in natural resource
management: A critical review of methods and new modelling paradigms, Elsevier.
Meshram, D.S. (2011) Land as Resource for Urban Development: Some Issues and
Imperatives, 59 Congress of the Institute of Town Planners India publications.
Repetti, A. and Desthieux, G. (2005) A relational indicator set Model for urban land
use planning and management: Methodological approach and application, Journal of
Landscape and urban planning, Switzerland.

Pastagia Digant A., Ph.D.; Patel Jignesh K., Ph.D.; and Macwan Joel E. M., Ph.D. 7
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

What is the Name of a Place?

A Toponymic Study in Historical Urban Settlements

Rebecca S. Jadon; and Sanjay S. Jadon, Ph.D.

Abstract
This paper discusses the place names, their origins and meanings in Indian cities, so as to
explores the concepts of place and placelessness in the current world scenario and the
role of place names in the sense of identity. It argues how names themselves become a
part of the place identity. A basic toponymic study of places in two Indian cities is used
to explore the origins of names within the cultural, linguistic and socio-political context.
The study seeks to understand linkages in social, historical and political narratives of
the cities through its toponyms.

1. INTRODUCTION
Place, in general vocabulary means any portion of space regarded as measured
off or distinct from all others. It is characterized or identified by a name. Places
without names remain undifferentiated spaces. Sense of place and place identity
are psychological constructs of a place. In a world of increasing placelessness and
migrating populations, place identity is a component of self identity. A place may be
said to have a personality as a composite of natural endowment and modifications
wrought by successive generations of people (Tuan, 1979). But sense of place is a
human attribute with respect to a place. Although sense of place may be personal,
they are not the result of only an individual’s feelings and meanings, but such
feelings and meanings are shaped in larger part by the social, cultural and economic
circumstances in which individuals find them. Rose in Massey (1995) and Massey
(1993) have aptly stated that it is people themselves who make places. Places may
be thought of as constantly shifting articulations of social relations through time.
Senses of place are inevitably constructed through the process of interconnection
and interdependence of social discourses and practice (Jianhui, 2006).

Relph (2009) puts place and placelessness in an arranged continuum existing in

a state of tension with distinctiveness at one end and uniformity at the other.
The urban world is fast moving towards placelessness with globalization not only
of the economy but its products, its people and its places. Las Vegas was an
exception at one time with facsimiles of world landmarks. Dubai has become
the epitome of globalisation and markets, Spanish villas to spiralling towers in

Rebecca S. Jadon, Professor, School of Architecture, ITM University, Gwalior, Email:jadon100@

gmail.com
Sanjay S. Jadon, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Architecture, Madhav Institute of Technology
and Science, Gwalior

Rebecca S. Jadon; and Sanjay S. Jadon, Ph.D. 8

Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

the desert with impunity. And urban India is a confused potpourri of all - isms
in architecture. The borrowings of place identities to the extent of creating
placelessness of a place can stifle the identities of the people themselves. It
is argued in the new world that everyone is a global citizen, yet can identities
of centuries be negated in a generation and doesn’t even a global citizen need
roots somewhere, need some place to call his own?

Place name can be said to be the first characteristic of place identity. Thus,
is the power of a name that it itself conjures up an image of a place e.g. the
word Disneyland conjures up an image of a place of fantasy brought alive. Place
name defines a person’s place identity. ‘I am a Delhite’, ‘She is a Bangalorian’
are common phrases of identity. As explained by Schultz (1980) human identity
presupposes the identity of place. Human identity is to a high extent a function
of place and things. Drastic speed of urban development can shake the place
identity of its people. Place names are public symbols to which people attach
meaning and from which they draw identity (Alderman and Inwood, 2013).

2. TOPONYMY
Place names or toponyms have cultural, political roots or simply generic elements.
Toponymic research follows two approaches: intensive toponymy – which explores
the etymological origins of the place name and analyses the biography of the place
naming such that it includes its identification, documentation and interpretation;
extensive toponymy follows a more broad based research with place names as
independent variables to be tested against dependent variables such as region,
toponym type, etc. Toponym types may be classified into descriptive, associative,
occurent (commemorative of an event), evaluative, shift (use of a toponym in
whole or part from elsewhere), indigenous, eponymous (commemorative of a
person) types (Tent, 2015).

Migrations whether voluntary or forced (e.g. war refugees) often brings into
perspective the role of place identity as a part of self identity. Toponyms are
often an indicator of migrations of peoples or individual groups exemplified
in shift type of toponyms. Chinatown is an intrinsic part of San Francisco as
well as Kolkata. Chinatown in Kolkata originates as an 18th century settlement
of Chinese immigrants; Chinatown in San Francisco settled by immigrants in
mid 19th century. Thus the migrant population supplants its culture in its new
location. Ironically may be towns in China have a more international outlook in
its physical characteristics than Chinatown elsewhere. Curiously Calcutta is the
name of more than one town in the US named after the Calcutta of British India.

In India, place names often derive from geographical features, physical

characteristics, ownership indicators, local history of habitation, people or
events, cultural identities or political assertions. The study of toponyms itself

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is the opening chapter of the history and culture of a place and its people.
Suffixes such as - patnam, - nad, - pura, - pur, - gaon - bari, are common
to place names which according to regional languages meaning town, village,
land, etc. The names of streets and places bring forth the essence of the city’s
places, its origins and its local history. Toponyms tell the story of the peoples’
lives and livelihoods. They read out the history of social, political and spatial
development of the city.

A qualitative research study of a sample of toponyms in two diverse cities of

India is taken up herein to explore origins, developments and metamorphosis of
places. While the cities have diverse origins, both cities came of age at the turn
of the 20th century. The study is done through primary data survey, informal
interviews and literature survey.

3. TOPONYMIC ORIGINS
3.1 Gwalior and its Name Derivatives
Gwalior is a city of about 12 lakh today in Central India. An erstwhile capital of
the kingdom of the Scindias between 1811 and 1947, it also has an illustrative
history as an important strategic stronghold for various ruling dynasties from
the Gupta period(6th century), through the Pratihara and Tomar periods to
Fig 1: Map of Gwalior with Names of Localities

Source: Author

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the Mughal period (16 -18 century). The city today amalgamates three distinct
settlements developed in different periods: Old Gwalior, Lashkar (the Scindia
settlement) and Morar (the British cantonment). Its names reflect its primarily
strategic defense origins.

• Lashkar the settlement originated as the site of the army establishment.

The Hindi word lashkar (army) derives from al-askar, the Arabic word for a
guard or soldier.
• Mahalgaon – the ‘village of the palace’ is the toponym for the village
settlement which arose attached to the palace premises
• Ghauspura– the village land allotted to the saint Mohamed Ghaus in the 16th
century by the Mughal rulers (his magnificent tomb stands testimony within
the city)
• Padav (meaning a temporary destination in a journey) –the erstwhile rest
halt of horses and contingents before crossing the belt of hills at Kati Ghati
(valley created by cutting hills)
• Shinde-ki-chawni – is the erstwhile location of the army camp during
campaigns from the south to the north at the foothills of the fort hill bound
by two rivulets. (chawni means army camp)

The locality Kampoo or Sikander Kampoo is the shortened Indian version of location
of the erstwhile army commander Alexander‘s brigade (kampu) (Sikander is the
Indian version of Alexander).

• Khasgi road – the name derives from the location of the elite royal bodyguard
force (khasgi) behind the palace.

Many of the names are according to the business or the resident community of
the locality.

• Lakhera gali- the street of lac (shellac) workers

• Ghas mandi – the market place for fodder or grass for the animals - cattle,
horses and elephants in medieval period
• Didwana Oli – the residential quarter of Marwari merchants from Didwana in
Rajasthan (Gwalior state Gazetteer,1908)
• Chitera oli – the street where the mural painters (chitera) resided.
• Kasera oli - the street of metal utensil makers
• Dal Bazaar – the market of pulse (dal) taders
• Lohiya Bazaar – the market of steel traders
• Naya bazaar – (new market) denotes the later market developed in Lashkar
around the 1860s-70s.

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

The place name Sindhi colony Fig 2: Map of Mumbai with Names
is witness to the refugee
facilities offered (to people of
Sindh) at the time of partition
of India in 1947. Toponyms
also derive from people’s
usage of names. A recent
example within the city is
adoption of the name of a
new over bridge by people
as Oont – pul (camel bridge)
derived from its steep slope
like a camel hump.

3.2 Mumbai and its

Toponyms
Mumbai or Bombay, a city
which came into being from
the 1700s through a deliberate
move to utilise its natural
bay feature as a port by the
British and its flowering into
one of the most successful
and populous cities is a lesson
in planning history on its own.
Study of names of its localities
is a walk through its ethnic,
colonial and political history.
The naming of the city itself
has a tortuous past. Mumbai
is believed to be derived
from the name Mumba bai, Source: Author
the local incarnation of the
benign mother goddess. The Portuguese name of Bom Bahia (meaning good bay)
became Bombay during its British period. The city was officially renamed with its
local name Mumbai in 1995.

Although no remains of the Fort (Bombay Castle) are apparent now, the bustling
commercial centre in South Mumbai is known as the Fort. Church Gate station
is known by each Mumbaiite but that the name stems from the location of the
erstwhile fort gate leading to the St Andrew’s Church is known by few.

Mumbai has the interesting geography that a large extent of its land is reclaimed
land, reclaimed in bits and pieces from the sea under various city development

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schemes. From bunding of the Great Breach near Worli around 1750, building
of the Colaba causeway in 1838 to the Link Road through Juhu-Malad in 1980s,
the city has created its land and places have been born. Tiny island villages
have become huge dense districts – be it Parel, Byculla, Mazgaon. Parel is
believed to be derived from Paral – the trumpet flower tree (Dwivedi, 2001).

Some of the names have mythological origins (e.g. Walkeshwar) others are
geographical descriptive toponyms. Walkeshwar in south Mumbai derives its
name from the legendary Valukeshwar (Lord of the sands) temple which stood
here since the Silhara period between the 9th and 13th century. (Dwivedi,
2001) The present Walkeshwar temple is a rebuilt temple in 1715. Dongri
(hillock), Phanaswadi (jackfruit orchard), Khar (from Khara- salt swamps) are
typical geographical derivatives; whereas still other names are eponymous
named after the personalities or pioneers of their development (e.g. Curzon
road, Nariman Point). The colonial legacy is apparent in the names of localities
and stations as in Elphinstone Road, Sandhurst Road, King’s Circle. An avenue
road developed by the City Improvement Trust in 1901 was named the Princess
Street as it was inaugurated by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1905. The
bay at Chowpatty in South Bombay was nicknamed the Queen’s Necklace.
Many of the street names have been renamed post Independence though some
old names continue in public memory.

Station names in Mumbai are an integral part of its geography. Districts are
identified from the station names, for example, Bandra, Khar, Andheri, etc.
Naming of stations with the creation of new railway and metro lines is also
a socio-political exercise. For example a station on the New Bombay line
has two names Redwood-Darawe. Redwood is the name of the first major
township in the locality and Darawe the name of the nearest village. One is
a spatial marker while the other is assertion of the local origins. Naming of a
new station on the western local railway line as Ram Mandir is again a spatial
marker with socio-political considerations.

Toponyms sometimes can have quirky origins. The naming of a road as Khadi
Machine (standing machine) Road is said to owe its origins to the fact that a
road building machine was left standing for a long time after road building
in a newly developed locality. In the current market driven society, names
have a commercial value. Names of ambitious commercial building projects
are named to be attractive or saleable addresses. They are often reminiscent
of past glory, verdant spaces or commemorating brand names. Examples:
Atlantis, Gulmohar Greens, Park Avenue, Raheja Towers, DLF Plaza; etc.

4. CONCLUSIONS
In a fast changing global world, place identity has its unique role in defining self-
identities. Place names are more than innocent spatial references or passive

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artefacts. They are embedded in social power relations and struggles over the
identities of places and people (Berg and Vuolteenaho 2009; Kearns and Berg 2002
in Aldermann, 2015). Toponyms, like all place representations are expressive
and constitutive of the politics of citizenship, conferring a greater degree of
belonging to certain groups over others, while also serving as sites for battles
to widen the ‘distribution of citizenship’ and the use of space (Dunn, 2003 in
Aldermann, 2015). Renaming of places is often undertaken by rulers and political
activists as a means of a political agenda. It is a natural political exercise. But
changing of place names without a deliberate, objective and intensive study of
its past and future probabilities plays with the identity of a place and its people.
Thus, arbitrary renaming can have the same sociological repercussions of fabric
damage as in case of undeliberated urban renewal. Toponymic studies of any
city are a journey into the geographical, political, social, linguistic, cultural and
economic history of the place through time. This toponymic study has explored
roots of some place names in two cities of India. While it is not an exhaustive
study of all place names of Indian cities, it has attempted to show how the life of
a city over time gets embedded in its names even when its physical and economic
functions may change. The study has brought into perspective the role of place
names in the intrinsic character of the place, its identity and memories.

REFERENCES
Alderman, D.H. and Inwood, J. (2013) Street naming and the politics of belonging: spatial
injustices in the toponymic commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr, Social and Cultural
Geography, DOI:10.1080/14649365.2012.754488
Dwivedi, S. and Mehrotra, R. (2001) Bombay: The Cities Within, Eminence Designs Pvt.
Ltd., Bombay.
Government of Madhya Pradesh (1908) Gazetteer of India, Gwalior State Gazetteer,
reprinted by Directorate of Rajbhasa Evam Sanskriti, Government of Madhya Pradesh,
Bhopal.
Jianhui, G. (2006) ‘No More Heidegger, No More Genius Loci: a Poststructuralist View of
Place’, Journal of Environment and Art 4 (2006): 47-56. Retrieved from www.nhu.edu.
tw/~envart/learning/4/4_05.pdf
Massey, D. and Jess, P. (1995) A place in the world: places, cultures and globalization,
Open University, Milton Keynes.
Relph, E. (2015) Toponymy and Place Names, www.placeness.com
Relph, E. (2009) A pragmatic sense of place, Environmental and Architectural
Phenomenology, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 24-31. Retrieved from www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/
relph20th.htm
Rose-Redwood,  R. (2011) Rethinking the Agenda of Political Toponymy,  ACME: An
International Journal for Critical Geographies, Vol. 10, No. 1.
Rose G. (1995) ‘Place and Identity: a sense of place’ in Massey D. and Jess, P. (eds.) A
place in the world: places, cultures and globalization, Open University, Milton Keynes.
Shultz, C.S. (1980) Genus Loci: Towards a phenomenology of Architecture, New York,
Rizzoli.
Tent, J. (2015) Approaches to Research in Toponymy, Names, A Journal of Onomastics,
June 2015, DOI: 10.1179/0027773814Z.000000000103

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A Road Map for District Planning in India

Jacob Easow

Abstract
The institutional architecture envisaged under the 74th Constitution Amendment Act
mandates every district of the country to constitute a District Planning Committee (DPC)
and to prepare a District Development Plan. The changed scenario after the establishment
of the NITI Aayog, the district development plan envisaged in the amended constitution
assumes great relevance than ever before, accordingly, a clear cut policy blueprint is
needed. This paper outlines a methodological suggestion for district planning in the
light of the constitutional provisions. Preparation of such a district plan will surely need
decisions and commitments at various levels due to the multiplicity of agencies involved
and the vast spectrum of aspects to be addressed. In this context, the paper traces a
road map for each milestone for the preparation of district development plan,which can
be replicated anywhere in India.

1. INTRODUCTION
In the First Five Year Plan (1951-56) itself, a District Development Council for
coordinating the development activities of different agencies at the district
level was suggested. It paved the search of sound district planning methodology
in India. Despite several reports and studies, the science of district plan
preparation and the art of its implementation remain an operational enigma
and an unfinished task. Naturally, there is no unanimity concerning the
methodology of district planning. Seventy-forth Constitution Amendment Act
(CAA) mandates every district of the country to constitute a District Planning
Committee (DPC) and to prepare a draft district development plan. It is a
fact that though 27 years has elapsed since the enactment of the constitution
amendment, the preparation of a district development plans still remains an
unfulfilled reality.

Planning Commission that once played a dominant role in shaping the growth and
development contours of the country is abolished. A market mediated development
paradigm is well underway. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI)
Aayog was constituted replacing the Planning Commission through a cabinet
resolution in January 2015. With the introduction of NITI Aayog, Government of
India scrapped the economic planning system in India. There is no centralized
fund allocation via five year plans under NITI Aayog. This a paradigmatic shift
on the monetary control of various sectors right from national to states and

Jacob Easow, Former Additional Chief Town Planner, Government of Kerala; Email: jacobeasow@
gmail.com

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subsequently to lower levels. In the new system, Finance Ministry of India will
allocate funds based on respective ministry schemes without a central thread of
integration. This will create disjointed projects and programs at the district and
local level in the absence of a comprehensive five year plan. In addition, this
will create regional disparities. However, it can be presumed that the NITI Aayog
is also aware of this gap as it emphasis to develop a mechanism to formulate
credible plans to the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher
levels of government. This mechanism can be a comprehensive development
plan for a district integrating the national and state level policies with local
development aspirations. This makes the institutional architecture envisaged
under the Seventy-forth Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) of India more
relevant in the era of NITI Aayog. This paper outlines a methodological suggestion
for district planning in the light of the constitutional provisions and set various
milestones for achieving it.

Approaches at micro level (district or regional) planning in India vary with

time and profession. There were mainly two streams in micro level planning,
one originated from decentralized planning approaches and the other from
regional planning approaches. Economists and administrators propagated the
decentralized planning approaches while the regional planning approaches were
developed by town planners and geographers. Both these approaches have grown
with time to redress the problems of Five Year Plans, viz. lack of decision making
process closer to the people and community participation in the first while
regional disparities and backwardness in the second.

Under decentralization stream, efforts were made in successive five year plans
to initiate decentralization at the district level and block level and to promote
the establishment of three tier panchayat raj institutions namely panchayats
at village, block and district levels. The Planning Commission, in its endeavor
to strengthen the levels of administration below the state, had set up various
committees and expert groups to review the issue regarding the planning process
in India in order to suggest means and ways to accomplish the task of decentralized
planning in order to ensure people’s participation, etc. Balwant Rai Mehta Report,
Dantwala Report on Block Level Planning, Ashok Mehta Committee Report on
Panchayat Raj Institutions, etc.; are results of such attempts. In this context,
district planning has become the most important link in the whole system of
decentralized planning because this is the culminating point of decentralized
planning process. Therefore, scope of district planning exercise in this stream
was mainly consolidation of projects from lower tier of local governments.
Some important planning attempts in this angle are Plan for Raichur District
in Karnataka, Ananthpur district in AP, Pann Garhwal District in UP, Tirunelveli
Kattabomman District in Tamil Nadu, Nasik District in Maharashtra, Shimila in HP,
and Kannur District in Kerala.

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On the other hand, under the regional planning stream, delineation of the
operational area of planning i.e. the planning region for which all-regional studies
could be undertaken and developments envisaged. It moved with the assumption
that the linguistic or administrative boundaries like district, block or village
(state as well) do not offer satisfactory regional units for planned development.
Thus, it gives thrust for investable resources steered in space and time, balanced
regional development, urban-rural relationships, etc.; and over and above, a spatial
planning approach. Scope in this exercise was extended for settlements hierarchy and
its structures and attempting for a perfect integration of the development. Therefore,
this approach was very theoretical one. Worth mentioning under this stream are the
plans for the National Capital Region, South East Resource Region, Western Ghats
Region, General Development Plan for Savitri Watershed, etc.

Working Group on District Planning (1984) of the Planning Commission moved

one-step ahead and found that the states are at different stages of progress
towards decentralized planning. It has, therefore advocated a gradual, step-
by-step, approach towards the final goal, i.e. district planning with the
concept of integrated area planning or in other words comprehensive district
planning. However, so called ‘spatial planning dimensions’ mentioned in the
Working Group Report also emphasizes on locational choices of certain functions
at the district level and fails to detail out the urban - rural integration and
spatial impacts of investments. On the other hand, the National Commission
on Urbanization (NCU) 1988 was successful in suggesting developmental spatial
planning and recommended to introduce regional (district) spatial planning and
identified district planning as an integral part of the multi-level planning system
considering the politico-administrative viability. NCU classified district (spatial)
planning into allocative, adaptive or developmental. The Commission termed
the current district planning practice in our country as allocative planning.
The system of developmental spatial planning for the district recommended
by the NCU can be termed as district regional (spatial) planning. Constitution
(Seventy-Fourth) Amendment Act, 1992 further brings in preparation of District
Development Plans in all districts of India. Therefore, it is necessary to revisit
the Constitution provisions in order to understand the scope and the directive
principle of methodology of District Planning.

A close reading of the Constitutional provisions makes it abundantly clear as to

what the functional role of the district plan is and what will guide the methodology
to be adopted. Article 243 ZD(1) of the Constitution lays down that “There shall
be constituted in every state at the district level a District Planning Committee
to consolidate the plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in the
district and to prepare a draft development plan for the district as a whole”. It
means that there are two distinct roles for the District Planning Committee (DPC)
namely (see West Bengal District Planning Committee Act, 1994): ‘Consolidation

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of plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in the district and
preparation of draft development plan for the district as a whole’. The contents
of the draft district development plan, laid down in Article 243 ZD (3) (a) of
the Constitution of India. According to the Article the district plan shall address
“(i) matters of common interest between the Panchayats and the Municipalities
including spatial planning, sharing of water and other physical and natural
resources, the integrated development of infrastructure and environmental
conservation (ii) the extent and type of available resources whether financial or
otherwise”.

Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) interprets the above Article

of the Constitution as follows. “A development plan for the whole district, for
example, has to take into consideration both rural and urban areas. A district
plan is something more than the two sets of separate plans - one consisting of
micro-plans for rural areas and the other comprising plans for individual towns.
As one moves from the micro-levels to the meso and macro levels, perspectives
and priorities of plans change. The Constitution recognizes this and accordingly
prescribes that the district plan, as distinguished from the individual Panchayat
and Municipal plans, should have regard to ‘matters of common interest between
the Panchayats and the Municipalities’. This, in other words, means that the
development needs of the rural and urban areas should be dealt with in an
integrated manner and, therefore, the district plan, which is a plan for a large
area consisting of villages and towns, should take into account such factors
as ‘spatial planning’, sharing of ‘physical and natural resources’, integrated
development of infrastructure’ and ‘environmental conservation’ (Article 243ZD
3). All these are important because the relationship between villages and towns
is complementary, one needs the other. Many functions that the towns perform
as seats of industry, trade and business and as providers of various services,
including higher education, specialized health care services, communications,
etc. have an impact on the development and welfare of rural people. Similarly,
the orderly growth of the urban centre is dependent on the kind of organic
linkage it establishes with its rural hinterland”.

Expert Committee on Leveraging Panchayats for Efficient Delivery of Public

Goods and Services headed by Mani Shankar Aiyar’s report on ‘Towards Holistic
Panchayat Raj’ was published in April 2013. The report concluded on “the nature
of a district planning methodology as envisaged in the Constitution is:

• The development needs of the rural and urban areas should be dealt with in
an integrated manner;
• Assessment of physical and natural resources of the district and sharing
proposals;
• Need of integrated approach in the development of infrastructure;

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• Environmental conservation;
• Financial investment plans; and
• Planning in a spatial platform.

The first role of DPC mandated by the Constitution (consolidation of plans

prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities) is the preparation of
consolidated District Plan or in other words an exercise of district planning through
consolidation of projects prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in
the district. The Manual for Integrated District Planning refers to this plan in
para 1.2.1) as District Plan. Many of the decentralization groups argue for such
an approach. But in para 1.2.3, the Manual also recognizes the second role of
the DPC and refers as District Development Plan. Therefore; both roles of DPC
can be done by independently or an integrated manner depending on the policies
of government. Nevertheless, many of the decentralization groups stand for a
joined up approach as the spirit of Constitution is for an integrated approach.

2. SEARCH OF METHODOLOGICAL PARADIGMS

2. Several Reports, Studies and Models are Available on District Planning
Report of the Working Group on District Planning (Planning Commission, 1984)
popularly known as Hanumantha Rao Committee Report on District Planning may
be considered by many as the bible for district planning. The Working Group
Report recommended the following steps in sequence for the formulation of
district plans.

• Formulation of major objectives of the district plan;

• Compilation of data for district planning;
• Bringing out the profile of the district in relation to the basic objectives;
• Formulating the main strategy and thrust area of district planning;
• Analysis of the existing programmes and projects with reference to the
strategy outlined;
• Assessment of resources for allocation to various programmes and projects;
• Statements of physical and financial components of the district plan;
• Statement of spatial dimensions of the district plan; and
• Relationships and links between the district plan and regional and state
development plans.

The Working Group claims that the concept of district planning adopted by them
is akin to the concept of integrated area planning but it failed in recommending
so. The suggested methodology will lead to a district plan which is not a plan
for all development partners of the district. Chapter 7 of the Report does
mention about ‘spatial planning’ as one of the three components, which may

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be constructed as ‘core’ of ‘district planning’ and recognizes the role of spatial

planning in the district planning process. But the Working Group fails to identify
its relationship with the sectoral investments. In short, such a planning approach
for the district can be termed as sectoral district planning.

The People’s Planning Campaign (‘Janakeeyasoothranam’), a mass movement

to prepare plans of local governments for local development in a transparent
and participatory manner, started in Kerala state during the Ninth Five Year
Plan, and adopted a well-defined methodology for plan preparation (Local Plan),
with an overall development perspective for each local body. As part of the
campaign the respective District Planning Committee also prepared a District
Plan for each district in the state of Kerala. The subject committees constituted
for each development sector under the auspices of the District Planning
Committee elaborated the various development sectors of the district as part
of the District Plan preparation. The objective of the District Plan, so prepared,
was the integration of the Development Reports (Local Plans) prepared by local
governments in the lowest tier.

The District Plans prepared by District Planning Committees of Kerala during the
Ninth Five Year Plan as a part of People’s Planning Campaign was on the line of
sectoral planning approach and majority of its proposals were of a general nature.
There was lack of long-term perspective vision and systematic and scientific data
analysis. The Plan resulted to be merely a compilation of the proposals submitted
by sectoral departments, and therefore, lacked comprehensiveness, inter-
sectoral relationships, objectivity and direction of development of the district.
There were no efforts for integrating the plan on a spatial platform. Certainly,
the attempt was bold and imparted the actual message of the constitutional
obligation of the DPCs in India. It gave a good model for organizing a district plan
through people’s participation.

Guidelines for Preparation of District Plans in the Eleventh Five Year Plan issued
by the Planning Commission stress that the district plan process should be an
integral part of the process of preparation of state’s Eleventh Five Year Plan and
annual plan 2007-08. In continuation to the Guidelines, the Planning Commission
issued a Manual for Integrated District Planning (2008) aimed at making district
planning an intrinsic part of the Eleventh Plan itself. The guidelines envisage
preparation of a vision document for the district by the District Planning
Committee in consultation with the local government institutions. As admitted
in the guidelines, it is an extension of Kerala model of decentralized planning
in the national scene. The design of the guidelines itself is weak and it will lead
only to creation of a shelf of adhoc projects which lack integration. Building
a district vision, through perceptions and negotiations will reflect only half-
truth of the planning area and finally degrade the quality of the plan. Again, the

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process suggested mostly envisages a plan for the local government sector in the
district through consolidation of programs or projects of the local government
of the district and not a comprehensive district plan for all the development
partners in the district. The Committee for Evaluation of Decentralized Planning
and Development, constituted by Government of Kerala for the evaluation of
decentralized planning and development in the state over the last ten years,
however, disagrees with the Guidelines on “the sum total of outlay on district
plans in a state may be around 40 percent of the gross State plan outlay”. The
Committee states “In our view a District Plan is a long range comprehensive
development plan for the district. The district plan shall not be looked upon
only as a short term financial investment plan for the district. The district plan
should be much more than this and shall aim at the total development of the
district. Therefore; there shall be only one comprehensive document serving as a
district level development guideline and framework for all the LSGs and sectoral
agencies”.

Report of National Commission on Urbanization (NCU 1988) put forth

probably the most useful and sound recommendations on district planning.
The Commission observed “planning is limited to economic planning at the
national and state levels and physical planning at urban settlement level.
There is thus a wide gap between national and local planning. What is
required is to introduce regional spatial planning to bridge this gap”. NCU
further added, “Although India has been engaged in far sighted economic
planning since independence and despite the considerable achievements of
the Five Year Plans, very little constructive attention has been paid to the
spatial aspects of the social and economic change taking place in the country.
Observing this the Commission notes that lack of spatial concern has resulted
in regional spatial imbalances. The Commission further notes that each
investment, whatever be the sector, has a definite physical manifestation
and geographical location and generates as chain of developmental impulses
affecting, in several cases, the activities of other sectors, resulting in a
related spatial pattern. The Commission, therefore, recognizes the need
for integration of economic and spatial planning with a view to achieving
a rational spatio-economic development of the country and outlines the
spatial planning objective, strategies, concepts, system and process to be
adopted at different levels in the country”. The system recommended by
the NCU follows a multi-level planning approach and therefore functions at
three levels viz. national, state and district. It involves disaggregation of
development policies at national level into integrated inter-state and state
spatial development strategies and inter-district and district plans, programs
and projects. The Commission stresses that spatial planning will be most
effective at state level and spatial development plans should be formulated
and implemented at inter-district and district levels.

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It is in this context that the pioneering efforts of District Planning Committee,

Kollam district, Kerala commands attention. In Kollam district two level plans are
prepared simultaneously: one at the lowest tier of local government (panchayat
and municipalities) i.e. Local Development Plan (LDP) and the other for the District
as a whole, an Integrated District Development Plan (IDDP). Here, the direct
participation of people is ensured through village and ward sabhas and various
working groups ensure the balanced involvement of elected representatives,
government departments, NGOs, stakeholders, etc. Unlike other spatial plans
prepared in the country, specialty of IDDP and LDP is that the sectoral polices of
various development agencies of a planning area are translated to spatial plans.
Clearly, the process starts with the collection of data and up to the analysis
stage, the process moves almost in parallel for both the plans. The data and
the results of the analysis for the preparation of each local self-government
institution is an input for the preparation of Integrated District Development
Plan. Later on, based on suggestions and proposals of the Sanctioned Integrated
District Development Plan, the Local Development Plans are modified and
finalized. Actually the concept of this process is based on a combination of top-
down and grass-root approach whereby policies and strategies flow downwards,
while plans, programs and projects are conceived and implemented at grass
roots level which can be integrated to obtain the desired spatial pattern at
higher levels at any given point of time (National Commission on Urbanization,
1988) and a good example for multi-level planning (Fig. 1 is a graphical abstract

Fig. 1: Steps in the Preparation of Integrated District Development Plan (IDDP) and
Local Development Plan (LDP)

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Fig. 2: Stages in Integrated Development Plan Vision

of the Kollam Model). In general both LDP and IDDP consist of a perspective plan
for 15 to 20 years and an execution plan for 5 years. Basically five main stages
involved in the preparation of an Integrated District Development Plan, which is
illustrated in Fig 2.

Methodology for Kollam model was conceptualized through the synergic

amalgamation of the methodology of under ‘Janakeeyasoothranam’, the
recommendations of the NCU and approaches in classic spatial planning. Expert
Committee on Leveraging Panchayats for Efficient Delivery of Public Goods and
Services (2013) which examined the Kollam model in an effort to stylize the
process spelt out the following basic features:

• Harnessing of all available data;

• Creating a pool of experts for analysis and interpretation of data including
the spatial dimensions on GIS platform;
• Widespread dissemination of the results of the data in simple terms for
common understanding;
• Frequent interaction of local governments horizontally in a region and
vertically across tiers up to the district level; and
• Congruence between the priorities drawn up by the analysis and the priorities
felt by the people, achieved through a process of iterative negotiations and
consensus.

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI)

Guidelines and Model Law on Town and Country Planning were created and
issued by Government of India in August 1996 in line with the 73rd and 74th
CAA for enabling amendments to the existing Town and Country Planning
laws prevailed in various states. Further, the Planning Commission in Manual
for Integrated District Planning (2008) recommended that: “The current
legal framework that mandates planning for urban areas is usually the town
and country planning acts enacted by the state governments. However,
these laws pre-date the 74th constitution amendment and do not provide a
formal role for the District Planning Committee. This legislation needs to be
modified based on Model Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law
(revised) prepared by the Ministry of Urban Development as part of Urban
Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) Guidelines.
The model law provides for constitution of District Planning Committees and
Plans for District Planning Area Development”. Town and Country Planning
being a state subject, it is a state government to act upon the legislation
on town and country planning. Unfortunately, no concrete steps were taken
by any of the state governments towards this direction except the Kerala.
The Kerala Legislature enacted the Kerala Town and Country Planning Act,
2016 in March 2016 completely embodying the spirit of the 73rd and 74th
CAA and may be the first Town and Country Planning Act in India of this kind.
In conformity with the 74th CAA, the Kerala Town and Country Planning
Act, 2016 details the process of preparation and statutory processing of
the draft Development Plan for the District as a whole, to be prepared by
the District Planning Committee on a spatial planning platform. The District
Development Plan envisaged in the Kerala Town and Country Planning Act
comprises of a long term (20 years) Perspective Plan and mid term (five
year) Execution Plans. The first role of DPC mandated by the Constitution
i.e. District Plan through consolidation of plans prepared by the Panchayats
and the Municipalities is not addressed in this Act. In short, preparation of
consolidated district plan or in other words the exercise of district planning
through cascading consolidation of projects prepared by the panchayats
and the municipalities in the district is not in the purview of this Act. This
was done purposefully so that the Act shall not make any bottleneck to the
District Plan preparation in the decentralization system and made left to
current government to decide.

3. CONSENSUS ON THE KOLLAM MODEL

There is no unanimity with regard to the methodology of district planning.
However, there is a strong consensus on the methodology of IDDP, Kollam is
considered a good attempt by many experts / commissions as well as legislature.
The professional world including the 57th National Town and Country Planners
Congress has recognized the significance of the ‘Kollam Model’ (see Government

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of India (2008); Government of Kerala (2009; 2011); Government of India

(2013); Oommen (2014) among others). As the Manual for Integrated District
Planning prepared by Government of India in 2008 notes: “The project has given
decision makers in local governments, the District Planning Committee and other
stakeholders the opportunity to consider and take decisions in the emerging area
of spatial planning and the Kollam experience, particularly the methodologies
developed by it, can be up-scaled to other districts”(Government of India,
2008:111).

Equally relevant are the observations of the Mani Shankar Aiyar Committee
report, which has gone into the Kollam project in details and depth: “It was in
Kollam district of Kerala that a comprehensive district planning exercise was
undertaken as an experiment to develop a realistic methodology which combines
the participatory process, maintains the central role of local governments, and
provides for rational and scientific analysis of data and preparation of a vision and
perspective of its basis’. [A] district plan strictly adhering to the constitutional
provisions” (Government of India, 2008:165).

Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ending 31
March 2011 (Civil), Government of Kerala (page 40 point 2.1.17) recommended
that “the Government should prepare  an  Integrated  District  Development 
Plan  for  effective implementation of the schemes and Local  Development
Plan in consonance with the Integrated District Development Plan for effective
implementation of the schemes”

IDDP, Kollam “realistic methodology”- says EPW: “In order to promote the
democratization process, all executive and statutory measures should facilitate
the process of democratization. Although preparation of the long-term district
development plan (Article 234 ZD) could be an ideal platform for people,
administration and technocrats to cooperate, Kerala has yet to make it an integral
part of the state’s development landscape. The multiplicity of guidelines that
the central government and the Planning Commission have issued in the context
of various CSSs has added confusion in the making of district planning. Kerala’s
Kollam District Plan is widely acknowledged as a “realistic methodology” with a
participatory approach (GoI 2013: 487) and certainly needs to be given a fair trial
in the state. How far it could be made an instrument for deepening democracy
through local governance is a challenge not only for the state, but also for the
nation” (Economic and Political Weekly of June 21, 2014, Vol. 49, No 25). Beside
the Kerala Legislative Assembly enacted the Kerala Town and Country Planning
Act 2016 in line with the methodology adopted from the Kollam Model IDDP.
Approval of a legislature on the Kollam model methodology can be termed as
a meeting point of the practical wisdom of the politician and the theoretical
insight of the experts.

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4. SOME SUGGESTIONS
Consolidation of plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities cannot
be considered in isolation with respect to district planning and therefore; there
is a need to adopt methodology that meet both the roles of DPC in an integrated
manner. By making use of the Kollam Model, the new methodology can be outlined.
Indeed, ‘District Plan Components for Local Governments (LG)’ is furtherance
of this methodology. Following are the major concatenation recommended in the
methodology of District Planning.

Part I - Perspective Plan

• Data collection and compilation

• Data analysis
-- Sectoral analysis
-- Spatial and aggregative analysis
• Envisioning process (Integrated Development Vision)
-- Identification of development issues and setting up of goals and objectives
-- Emerging of development concept
-- Framing general policies , strategies and major development directives
-- Formulation of Perspective Plan

Part II - Execution Plan

• Ensuring participation of Local Governments

-- Consultation of Integrated Development Vision
-- Consolidation of proposals
• Sectoral detailing
-- Projections
-- Framing of detailed policies, sectoral recommendations and proposals
-- Linking of proposals.
-- Formulation of Execution Plan.

Part III - Consolidated District Plan

• District Plan Components for Local Governments

-- Approach Paper for Plans for LGs and Financial Resource Mapping and
Determination of Fund Envelopes
-- Draft Five Year Plans for LGs

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-- Consolidation of Plans of LGs

-- Formulation of Consolidated District Plan

Certainly the district planning is a multi-phased process having three distinct

plans viz., (i) Grounding of district development strategies for 15-20 years and
therefore, one to three steps of above is the Perspective Plan of the District
Development Plan ; (ii) Plan period of sectoral detailing is for five years and thus
steps four and five are termed as Execution Plan of the District Development Plan;
and (iii) Consolidation of plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities
in the district can only be done when project are identified thus, final stage of
the series is the District Plan Components for LGs or named as Consolidated
District Plan.

Any scientific analysis needs to view the development parameters of the district
- pertaining to a particular sector - are analyzed in slice. Nevertheless, a cross
sectional and spatial analysis of development parameters for viewing in totality
is also essential for a deep understanding of the development situation and
potential. That is why two types of situation analysis viz. sectoral analysis and
spatial and aggregative analysis is part of the methodology. From the analysis,
development issues of district can be identified. Paramount quality of this
approach is in envisioning process. Naturally, goals and development objectives
will be synthesized from development issues. The development concept or the
planning concept is the schematic spatial representation of the development
determinants of the district derived inconformity with the development objectives
using planning principles. On other hand, illustrating the development objectives
and the determinants in a district map based on planning precept will emanate
the development concept. This will lay down the foundation of spatial integration
of the plan. Subsequently general policies, strategies and major development
directives of the district will be framed. An integrated development vision in the
spatial platform is the final output of the envisioning process. Thus, from the
long-term development perspective of the district, detailing exercise of district
planning will start for the five year Execution Plan. Functional integration will
be achieved when this sectoral detailing is done. Once the midterm Execution
Plan is finalized, approach paper can be issued and LGs can formulate their
local plans. Finally, local plans will be buckled together through ‘cascading
consolidation’ process. Thus, plan will congruent as one organic entity in terms
of spatial, functional, sectoral, cross-sectoral, resources, agency wise as well as
the time. Methodology of Local Plan (Plan of a LG) is not the scope of this paper
but has to prepare in a participatory manner.

Kollam model can also be good signpost for designing the organizational set up.
The District Planning Committee (DPC) shall be the apex body. To assist DPC in
data collection, analysis and formulation of the District Planning, a Technical

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Advisory Group (TAG) may be constituted with departmental officers (mandated

and nominated for the purpose in addition to their duties) dealing with different
sectors / retired officials from various departments, faculty from local academic
institutions, members of civil society groups, etc. There shall be sub-groups for
the Technical Advisory Group for various development sectors. The chairperson
of each sub-group shall be a DPC member and the district head of the sectoral
department concerned shall be the convener. These sub - groups will do the
data collection, analysis and detailing of the proposals of respective sectors.
The overall responsibility of preparation of the Plan shall be the vested with an
Integration Committee chaired by DPC Chairperson.

Institutional supports through universities and research institutions, both at the

district and state levels, could also be availed. Non-official (experts) members
of TAG shall ideally be drawn locally, but if circumstances demand, they can
be drawn even from outside the district. Care must be taken to ensure that
participation is voluntary and above partisan politics. Members shall be able
to respect different points of view. It is strongly recommended that a Resource
Person (RP) shall be identified in each sub - group of TAG to monitor the works
and to act as a link to the spatial planning sub - group.

In this respect necessary Guidelines, Hand Book, toolkits, customized software,

etc., need to be designed to suit different geographical and developmental
regions. Suitable mechanisms for data capture including satellite imagery and
sharing of data need be made inbuilt component of the endeavor, so as to avoid
duplication of efforts and to save time. It is also essential to create essential
infrastructure and ensure availability of human resources including experts in
the fields of Town and Country Planning.

4. CONCLUSIONS
Preparation of such a district plan will surely need decisions and commitments at
various levels due to the multiplicity of agencies involved and the vast spectrum
of aspects to be covered. In a vast country like India, having 640 districts in its
different geographical, developmental and political regions, district planning
will no doubt be a difficult task. However, delay in planning shall not affect
development. Hence, a step-by-step approach may be adopted in planning. In
this context, a road map have to be developed with examples and models along
with templates for each milestone for the preparation of district plans, which
can be replicated anywhere in India. It involves a brick-by-brick approach for
district plan preparation.

“Orderly growth of the urban centre is dependent on the kind of organic linkage
it establishes with its rural hinterland”. This indicates that planning of villages
and towns are to be complementary. Therefore, a move of harmonizing urban

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and rural centres of an area is considered as a move of planned urbanization of

the area. This can be achieved through the preparation of a District Urbanization
Report (DUR) for the district. It is the first milestone in the Road Map leading to
the draft development plan for the district as laid down in the Constitution. The
District Urbanization Report defines the future spatial structure of a district,
which is formulated by integrating hierarchy and activity pattern of urban and
rural settlements and the connectivity between them. The spatial structure of
a district will act as a frame for the orderly development of urban centres and
their rural hinterlands subsequently leading to a planned urbanization.

District Spatial Plan (DSP), the next milestone is designed as a synergistic form of
the District Urbanization Report since as a plan it is congruent to a single unified
physical design for the district through setting development goals and objectives
and formulating the development concept of the district. DSP will frame the
general policies and strategies and streamline directions of development of the
district. The Development Directives of DSP is carved in the spatial platform
through the synthesis of findings of the analysis over the spatial structure based
on secondary sources of data. The District Spatial Plan will streamline the
directions of development of the district by way of providing a framework for
development as well as future planning of the district. However, the DSP lacks
the sectoral studies as co-ordination of various line departments remain as an
uphill task. IDDP of a District becomes the end product of a series of stages of
actions with intermediate products at each stage. The formulation of spatial
structure of the district is the first stage of preparation of an IDDP and the same
can be considered as the first product. Development concept is the outcome of
the second stage. Perspective plan is the third product. Sectoral proposals is the
product of the fourth stage and breakup of the sectoral proposals - time wise,
sector wise, and local body wise - is the product out of the final stage. The end
product of each stage has its own standing and use in District Planning.

In short, the milestones in this road map for district planning in India are:

• District Urbanization Report (DUR);

• District Spatial Plan (DSP);
• Integrated District Development Plan(IDDP) - Perspective Plan;
• Integrated District Development Plan(IDDP) - Execution Plan; and
• Approach Paper for Five Year Plan of local governments and Consolidated
District Plan

Supported with necessary toolkits and customized software, the DUR for a district
can be completed in a period of 4-6 months and can also be up scaled from DUR
to DSP in another 3 to 4 months. The IDDP – Perspective Plan will require another
4-6 months’ time for its preparation. The preparation of IDDP – Execution Plan

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

will require a further period of 3-4 months and an Approach Paper for Five Year
Plan (Consolidated District Plan) in another 3-4 months. The DURs and DSPs can
be done elsewhere either departmentally or through engaging consultants and
external experts. This road map will help to fill the gap of district or regional
planning in the multi-level planning process of our country. Let us also hope
district planning may emerge in India as an alternative solution to vacuum
created by the National Planning Commission and the economic planning and
build a mechanism for integrating projects at regional and local levels.

REFERENCES
Easow, J. (2016) Kerala Town and Country Planning Act: A Democratic Spatial Planning
Law for States in India, Spatio Economic Development Record, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 87-91.
Easow, J. and Thomas, U. (2005) An Innovative Experiment for the Preparation of
Development Plans: Kerala Initiative, Spatio Economic Development Record, Vol.12, No.
3, pp. 6-15.
Easow, J. and Baiju, K. (2007) A Paradigm in Local and District Plan Preparation Process,
Technical Paper, 51st National Town and Country Planners Congress, Institute of Town
Planners India. pp. 231-242.
Easow, J. (2009) District Regional Development Plan: Scope and Methodology, Technical
Paper, 57th National Town and Country Planners Congress, Institute of Town Planners
India. Pp. 54-64.
Government of India (2007) Second Administrative Reforms Commission, Sixth Report,
Local Governance, Government of India, New Delhi.
Government of Kerala (2007) Handbook on Integrated District Development Plan and
Local Development Plan, Local Self Government Department and Department of Town
and Country Planning, Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.
Government of Kerala and District Planning Committee, (2009) Integrated District
Development Plan, Kollam.
Government of Kerala (2009) Report of the Committee for Evaluation of Decentralised
Planning and Development, Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.
Oommen, M.A. (1991) Towards Evolving a Methodology for District Planning with People’s
Participation: Some Experience from Kerala’s Kannur District, The Administrator, pp.
114-124.
Planning Commission (1984) Report of the Working Group on District Planning,
Government of India, New Delhi.
Planning Commission (1988) Report of the National Commission on Urbanisation,
Government of India, New Delhi.
Planning Commission (2006) Guidelines for District Plans in the Eleventh Five year Plan,
Government of India, New Delhi.
Planning Commission (2008) Manual for Integrated District Planning, Government of
India, New Delhi.
Panneerselvam, A. (1994) Methodology for District level Spatio Economic Planning and
Development, ITPI Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 111-114
Thomas Isaac, T.M. (1999) A Methodological Note on District Plan, Hand Out.

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Design Models of Roadway Transportation Systems

and their Integration with City Planning

Walid Al-Shaar

Abstract
In Lebanon, cities are encountering many social and economic problems in terms of high
population density and high unemployment rate. Besides, roadway transportation flow
is not well distributed; frequent congestion on roads is a daily occurrence in Lebanese
roads; and unbalanced infrastructure constitutes a significant problem. This paper
presents design models, which represent a scientific tool and criteria to calculate and
find the optimum road network area to be distributed all over the master plan. These
results and findings of proportionality factors when used, it may lead to make the
master plan optimistically feasible.

1. INTRODUCTION
During the phase of the preparation of new master plan, urban planners do
not have any scientific tool or criteria to calculate and find the optimum
road network area to be distributed all over the master plan land use areas.
Generally, urban planners state clearly that the percentage of road network
area to the total land area in any new master plan should not exceed 30 to 35
per cent as stated by many urban planners in Lebanese engineering consulting
companies.

The absence of such design models may lead to making the master plan not
optimally feasible and sometimes not feasible at all. Nowadays, the checking
design process of roads system in any new master plan consists of using the
following checkpoints as stated by transportation planners in different consulting
engineering companies in Lebanon:

• Assessing the level of service in each road section independently; and

• Relating road sections to a fixed (present and future) population size and a
fixed Land Use size.

This research identifies a calculation basis (design mathematical models) to

calculate the optimum road network area to be used during the design of new
master plan, and during the assessment of the road network in any city or town
based on transportation demands (trip generation in the area).

Not taking into consideration any unexpected future urban development may
present a big transportation planning issue in future.

Walid Al-Shaar, Beirut, Lebanon; E-mail: [email protected]

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

The aim of the research is threefold: First, to identify a calculation basis

(design models) to be used during the design of new master plan or during
the assessment of the road network in any city/town based on transportation
demands (trip generation in the area). Second, to make new urban master
plan much more feasible by calculating the optimized road network area
based on the design and the selected V by C ratio. Third, to recommend the
setup of new urban development legislation decrees, stating that the road
network established for any new master plan (based on the design models),
should present a reference for the capacity of the city / town in terms of the
evolution and the growth of population, and in terms of urban expansion,
where the concept here is to state that each resident, or any person entering
the city (workers, employees, students, etc.), should have an allocated space
share of the road.

In addition and based on establishing an optimum road network, it is also

recommended to set an urban expansion standard in collaboration with local
authorities, and using law enforcement in order to keep the roadway system in
track with the city growth. Coordination with authorities (municipalities) should
periodically be held in order to keep the population density, its uniformity, and
the vertical and horizontal shape of the city in conformance with the master
plan design. So, to identify the mathematical proportionality of road surfaces,
population to the Land Use Areas, relating these 3 factors based on V/C required
ratio depending on trip generation rates and land use types. Four hypotheses
motivated this research plan are:

• Unplanned and unlimited urban expansions in the city, with non-respect

to infrastructure road networks, may cause the over saturation in cities in
terms of services (road queuing times and delays), infrastructures, natural
resources, socio-economic conditions and environmental negative impacts;
• Not identifying the capacity of road network, and not setting a legislated
plan for any urban expansion in term of population growth or any vertical and
horizontal land use expansion, will lead to an uncontrollable urban evolution
in the said city;
• An increase in the number of highways and motor ways users may cause
uncontrollable road and traffic management; and
• City road network systems may be operated by similar principles as the
Neocortex. Neurons are conduits for information-related signals on which
brain computations rely, highways are conduits for physical materials and
people. But from the perspective of the city as a whole, the materials and
people that roads transport are crucial to the large scale function provided by
the city, and are, in a sense, signals that one signal is electric and the other
physical may not matter in regards to the fundamental principles governing

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them. In addition to the prima facie analogy between city highway networks
and the brain’s neural connections, there are several other reasons we chose
to examine city highway networks.

2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Changizi and Destefano in 2009 stated that the total surface area of highways
would appear to be of interest, and the neocortical analog of this is the
cumulative surface area of white matter axons. Total white matter surface area
is the product of the number of neurons, the length of white matter axons, and
the axon diameter. Assuming axon length scales as the cube root of white matter
volume, one may derive that the total surface area of white matter axons scales
as the 1.375 power of total convoluted surface area. The total highway surface
area may similarly be estimated, and assuming highway length scales as the
square root of city land area, one may derive that total highway surface area
scales as the 1.433 power of city land area, close to the 11/8 exponent for the
analogous quantity in Neocortex.

Population scales as the 1.205 power of road (not highway) surface area for
a set of 29 German cities (Changizi and Destefano, 2009). Figure 1 depicts a
comparison of city highway system and neocortex exponents for quantities as a
function of surface area.
Fig. 1. Comparison of City Highway System and Neocortex Exponents for Quantities
as a Function of Surface Area

Source: Changizi, M. A. and Destefano, M. (2009)

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

2.1 Stage 1: Design Models Concept

These design models, can be identified by establishing mathematical models
analogously related to the “Distribution of neurons in Mammalian Neocortex”
by trying to identify the best parameters values, to fit the road network area
required for different Land Use types. This means defining a formula combining
the road network area to the Land Use area by using proportionality factors α, β.

Moreover, a population - Land use surface area relation, is also be established by

using a proportionality coefficient Δ (Ref: Eng. Walid-Al-Shaar). In this research,
it is considered that road network surface area (instead of highway) may be
estimated to be scaled as the 1.433 power of city land area, close to the 11/8
exponent for the analogous quantity in Neocortex.

2.2 Stage 2: Elaborated Design Models

The basis formulas to be used in the study are depicted below:

• A= α x S1.433 (A: represents the road network areas instead of Highway surface
area)
(Ref: Eng. Walid-Al-Shaar)
It is the formulae combining:
The road network area “A” (Area in square miles) to
The Land Use area “S” (Area in square miles)
α is the Proportionality Factor to be calculated, it is relating A to S
• P = ß x A1.205 (1)
It is the formulae combining:
The road network area “A” (Area in square miles) to
The Land Use population “P”
β is the Proportionality Factor to be calculated, it is relating A to P
• P = Δ x S1.727 (based on relating the above 2 formulas and eliminating the
element “A”)
(Refer Walid-Al-Shaar)

It is the formulae combining:

• The Land Use area “S” (Area in square miles) to

• The Land Use population “P”
• Δ is the Proportionality Factor to be calculated, it is relating P to S

2.3 Stage 3: Calculation of Proportionality Factors α, β and Δ

The third stage of this research is to establish the 5 scenarios for Land use
road network in terms of the ratio of road Volume to Capacity (V/C) to be

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taken 25%, 40%, 50% and 75% (and 100% only for residential areas), then to
determine the coefficient Alfa and Beta to fit the criteria of these ratios.
A base condition is taken in this study, where the traffic is considered to
be constituted only by passenger car vehicles with dimensions as indicated
below:

• The term ‘one space’ used in the standards refers to standing area only and
the recommended minimum dimensions for a car space are 4.8 meters by 2.4
meters. (1)
• A- V/C = 25% means that for each car, it should be a free space reservation
area equal to 3 car spaces (free space reservation = 3 x 4.8 = 14.4 m/lane) in
addition to the car space.
• B- V/C = 40% means that for each car, it should be a free space reservation
area equal to 1.5 car spaces (free space reservation = 1.5 x 4.8 = 7.2 m/lane)
in addition to the car space.
• C- V/C = 50% means that for each car, it should be a free space reservation
area equal to 1 car space (free space reservation = 1 x 4.8 = 4.8 m/lane) in
addition to the car space.
• D- V/C = 75% means that for each car, it should be a free space reservation
area equal to 0.33 car spaces (free space reservation = 0.33 x 4.8 = 1.58 m/
lane) in addition to the car space.
• E- V/C = 100% means that for each car, there is no additional free space
reservation

For each land use area, the number of vehicles (trip generated in the land use)
are calculated based on the ITE manual (3) which could guide us to set the road
surface area required to serve each type of land use trip generations at different
above selected volume to capacity ratios. It should be noted that the study
shows for each alternative of volume to capacity (V/C) ratio, 3 base conditions

Table 1: Free and Total Space Reservation for Different V/C: Volume to Capacity
Ratios
Length of one free space reservation Total reservation for
V/C
passenger car for each passenger car each passenger car
(%)
(m/Lane) (m/Lane) (m/Lane)
25 4.8 14.4 19.2
40 4.8 7.2 12
50 4.8 4.8 9.6
75 4.8 1.58 6.38
100 4.8 0 4.8
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Table 2: Trip Generation Rates for Different Land Use as per ITE Manual 9th Edition
(3)
N° Land Use Type Land Use selection from ITE manual Reference
The trip generation model for Industrial
Park Areas is the model using the “Average
Vehicle Trip Ends vs 1000 Sq. Feet Gross Floor
Area” on a “weekday – peak hour of adjacent
ITE 9th Edition
“Industrial street traffic, one hour between 7 and 9
- Volume 2 -
Park Areas” am” since the industrial areas in Tripoli are
Page 146
characterized by a mix of manufacturing,
service and warehouse facilities with a wide
variation in the proportion of each type of use
from one location to another.

The trip generation model for Recreational

Areas is the model using the “Average Vehicle
Trip Ends vs 1000 Sq. Feet Gross Floor Area”
ITE 9th Edition
“Recreational on a “weekday –peak hour of adjacent street
- Volume 2 -
“ traffic, one hour between 4 and 6 p.m. ”
Page 960
since the Recreational areas in Tripoli are
characterized by letting the community join
the recreational and cultural activities.

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N° Land Use Type Land Use selection from ITE manual Reference
The trip generation model for Residential
Areas is the model using the “Average Vehicle
Trip Ends vs Dwelling Units” on a “weekday
– peak hour of adjacent street traffic,
“Residential” ITE 9th Edition
one hour between 4 and 6 p.m.” since the
- Volume 2 -
residential areas in Tripoli are characterized
Page 388
by mid-rise apartments located in buildings
with 3 to 10 floors .

The trip generation model for Variety Store

Areas is the model using the “Average Vehicle
Trip Ends vs 1000 Sq. Feet Gross Floor Area”
“Commercial/ ITE 9th Edition
on a “weekday – peak hour of adjacent
Retail: Variety - Volume 3 -
street traffic, one hour between 7 and
Store” Page 1451
9 a.m.” since the scheme of Commercial/
Retail areas in Tripoli are characterized by the
Variety commercial Stores.

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

N° Land Use Type Land Use selection from ITE manual Reference
The trip generation model for University-
“ Educational: College Areas is the model using the “Average ITE 9th Edition
University- Vehicle Trip Ends vs Students” on a “weekday - Volume 3 -
College” – peak hour of adjacent street traffic, one Page 1077
hour between 7 and 9 am”.

The trip generation model for High School

Areas is the model using the “Average Vehicle ITE 9th Edition
“ Educational:
Trip Ends vs 1000 Sq. Feet Gross Floor - Volume 3 -
High School”
Area” on a “weekday – P.M peak hour of Page 1024
Generator”.

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N° Land Use Type Land Use selection from ITE manual Reference
The trip generation model for Elementary
School Areas is the model using the “Average
“ Educational: ITE 9th Edition
Vehicle Trip Ends vs 1000 Sq. Feet Gross
Elementary - Volume 3 -
Floor Area” on a “weekday – peak hour of
School” Page 989
adjacent street traffic, one hour between 4
and 6 p.m.”.

Source: ITE trip Generation manual 9th Edition

of lane widths (commonly known/used lane widths): 3.0 m, 3.3 m and 3.6 m to
be taken into consideration during the calculation phase.

3. CALCULATION PROCEDURES
3.1 First Design Model Relating Road Network Area and the Land Use Area
Calculation for the interrelation coefficients α, of land use area and the related
required road network area, will take place for the Land Use types within
the indicated range of units as indicated in the table below, based on trip
generation rates provided by the ITE Manual and the following the formulae:

A= α x S1.433
Where
A: Road network area in the related land use areas in square miles
S: Land use areas in square miles
α: Proportionality Coefficient

It is to notice that during the calculation, the used trip generation rates are:

• The minimum values of trip rates indicated by ITE manual (3)

• The maximum values of trip rates indicated by ITE manual, if the
percentage of calculated required road does not exceed 35%, otherwise
the maximum rate used is calculated based on this assumption (not

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Table 3: Land Use Types and the Range of Units Used in the Study
Range of units in the Reason for this Selection of the
Land Use type
study (1000 Sq. Feet) Range of units in the study
Industrial Park 140 – 10,000 The range of units is selected since
Recreational areas 140 – 10,000 it is commonly known that the
minimum area could be considered
Commercial areas 140 – 10,000
140,000 sq. feet and the maximum
High school area 140 – 10,000 would not exceed 10,000,000 sq.
Elementary school area 140 – 10,000 feet
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

exceeding the 35%) as the urban planners in Lebanon advise to not exceed
this percentage.

3.2 Second Design Model Relating Road Network Area and the Land Use
Population
The calculation for the interrelation coefficients β, of Population and the related
required road network area, will take place for the Land Use types within the
indicated range of units as indicated in the Table 3, based on trip generation
rates provided by the ITE Manual and the following formulae:

P= β x A1.205
Where
P: Population in the Land Use
A: Road network area in the related Land Use (areas in square miles)
β: Proportionality Coefficient

It is to notice that during the calculation, the used trip generation rates are:

• The minimum values of trip rates indicated by ITE manual

• The maximum values of trip rates indicated by ITE manual, if the
percentage of calculated required road does not exceed 35%, otherwise
the maximum rate used is calculated based on this assumption (not
exceeding the 35%) as the urban planners in Lebanon advice to not exceed
this percentage.

3.3 Third Design Model Relating Land Use Area and the Land Use Population
Limitations: This model should be applied only for residential zones. The
following considerations should be taken into account prior to start applying this
mathematical model and finding the optimal proportionality factor Δ:

• Observations and data collection to determine the average number of car

parking basements* for all buildings in the study zone should first of all be done.

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Table 4: Land Use Types and their Range of Units Used in the Study
Land Use type Range of units in Reason for this Selection of the Range of units in the
the study study
Residential areas/compounds studies in this
Residential 2,000 – 25,000 research are considered to have a capacity of a
areas (Population) minimum 2,000 residents and the maximum 25,000
residents
It is commonly known that one university building
University 140 – 10,000 or one campus can provide the educational services
area/campus (Students) for a minimum of 700 students and maximum 7,000
students except other special cases
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

• The space reserved in the basement for car parks and maneuvers = 52% of
the Land Use flat area (based on common practice of architects in many
engineering consulting companies in Lebanon)
• The Area needed for one passenger car (parking area and the entry/exit
maneuvers) = (5+ (5.5/2)) x 2.5) m2 (Figure 2 - Turning and parking space
(Neufert 3rd edition))
• Observations and data collection to determine the car ownership rate per
capita in the study area.
• Observations and data collection to determine the average household size in
the study area.

Figure 2 shows Turning and parking space (Neufert 3rd edition) (4). In this article
the study area was the “Tripoli” City in Lebanon.

Fig. 2: Turning and Parking Space • An assumption of the number of parking basements in
residential area was made and it is considered that the
number is equal to one.
• The car ownership = 434 cars for 1000 person in Lebanon
in 2014 (5)
• The average household size = 5.21 person/house (6)
* parking basements flat area are considered equal to the
building plot/parcel area.

4. FINDINGS: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

These design models represent a scientific tool and
criteria to calculate and find the optimum road network
area to be distributed all over the master plan. These
results and findings of proportionality factors when
used, it may lead to make the master plan optimistically
feasible.

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Table 5: Coefficient Alfa α in Industrial Areas with V/C = 25% and with Minimum Trip Generation
Rates
Number of units Land use Min Trip generated V/C = 25% (Min trip generated)
in the study Area at peak hour Required Road for Lane width
(1000 Sq. feet)  (mi2) (during one hour) Min trip generate 3 3.3 3.6
  (km/lane)
  Coefficient α
140 0.005 16.8 0.32 0.736 0.810 0.883
1,000 0.035 120 2.3 0.314 0.345 0.377
2,000 0.071 240 4.61 0.232 0.256 0.279
3,000 0.107 360 6.91 0.195 0.214 0.234
4,000 0.143 480 9.22 0.172 0.189 0.206
5,000 0.179 600 11.52 0.156 0.172 0.187
6,000 0.215 720 13.82 0.144 0.159 0.173
7,000 0.251 840 16.13 0.135 0.148 0.162
8,000 0.286 960 18.43 0.127 0.140 0.153
9,000 0.322 1080 20.74 0.121 0.133 0.145
10,000 0.358 1200 23.04 0.115 0.127 0.139
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

Table 6: Calculation of Coefficient Alfa α in Industrial Areas with V/C = 25% and with Maximum
Accepted* Trip Generation Rates

Number of Land Min Trip generated V/C = 25% (Max accepted* trip generation rate)
units in the use at peak hour Required Road for Lane width
study (1000 Area (during one hour) Min trip generated 3 3.3 3.6
Sq. feet) (mi2)  (km/lane)
Coefficient α
140 0.00502 79.1 1.52 3.467 3.813 4.160
1,000 0.03587 565 10.85 1.479 1.627 1.775
2,000 0.07174 1130 21.7 1.096 1.205 1.315
3,000 0.10761 1695 32.54 0.919 1.011 1.103
4,000 0.14348 2260 43.39 0.811 0.893 0.974
5,000 0.17935 2825 54.24 0.737 0.810 0.884
6,000 0.215 3390 65.09 0.681 0.749 0.817
7,000 0.251 3955 75.94 0.637 0.700 0.764
8,000 0.286 4520 86.78 0.601 0.661 0.721
9,000 0.322 5085 97.63 0.571 0.628 0.685
10,000 0.358 5650 108.48 0.546 0.600 0.655
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar
* based on assumption that the total road network area should not exceed 35% of land use area (with roads
lane width of 3.0 m)

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Fig. 3: Coefficient α in Industrial Areas with 25% Volume over Capacity and Minimum Rate of Trip
Generation (0.12)

Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

Fig. 4: Coefficient α in Industrial Areas with 25% Volume over Capacity and Maximum* Accepted
Rate of Trip Generation (0.565)

Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 5: Coefficient β in Residential with 25% Volume over Capacity and Minimum Rate of Trip
Generation (0.15)

Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

Fig. 6: Coefficient β in Residential with 25% Volume over Capacity and Maximum Rate of Trip
Generation (0.45)

Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

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Table 7: Calculation of Coefficient Beta β in Residential Areas with V/C = 25% and
with Minimum Trip Generation Rates

Number Min Trip V/C = 25% (Min trip generated)

of generated Required Lane width
Number
Dwelling at peak Road for
of 3 3.3 3.6
units hour Min trip
residents
in the (during generated Coefficient β
study one hour) (km/lane)
2,000 384 58 1.11 1,174,271 1,046,864 942,660
3,000 576 86 1.66 1,080,611 963,366 867,473
4,000 768 115 2.21 1,018,725 908,195 817,794
5,000 960 144 2.76 973,174 867,586 781,227
6,000 1,152 173 3.32 937,472 835,757 752,567
7,000 1,344 202 3.87 908,310 809,760 729,157
8,000 1,536 230 4.42 883,784 787,894 709,468
9,000 1,727 259 4.98 862,700 769,098 692,542
10,000 1,919 288 5.53 844,266 752,664 677,745
11,000 2,111 317 6.08 827,931 738,101 664,631
12,000 2,303 345 6.63 813,293 725,052 652,881
13,000 2,495 374 7.19 800,057 713,252 642,255
14,000 2,687 403 7.74 787,994 702,498 632,572
15,000 2,879 432 8.29 776,928 692,632 623,688
16,000 3,071 461 8.84 766,717 683,529 615,491
17,000 3,263 489 9.4 757,247 675,086 607,889
18,000 3,455 518 9.95 748,425 667,222 600,807
19,000 3,647 547 10.5 740,176 659,867 594,185
20,000 3,839 576 11.06 732,434 652,965 587,970
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

4.1 First Design Model Proportionality Factors (α)

Results depicted here are limited only for industrial areas with V/C = 25% (because
of numerous land Use types). Figures 3 and 4 shows the variation of the value of
Coefficient α in Industrial areas with 25% volume over capacity ratio and based
respectively on minimum and maximum (accepted) rate of trip generation.

4.2 Second Design Model proportionality factors (β)

Results depicted here are limited only for residential areas with V/C = 25%
(because of numerous land Use types). Figures 5 and 6 shows the variation of the

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Table 8: Coefficient Beta β in Residential Areas with V/C = 25% and with Maximum Trip Generation
Rates
Number of Number of Min Trip V/C = 25% (Max trip generated)
residents Dwelling generated Required Road Lane width
units in the at peak hour for Min trip 3 3.3 3.6
study (during one generated Coefficient β
hour) (km/lane)
2,000 384 173 3.32 312,491 278,586 250,856
3,000 576 259 4.98 287,567 256,366 230,847
4,000 768 345 6.63 271,098 241,684 217,627
5,000 960 432 8.29 258,976 230,877 207,896
6,000 1,152 518 9.95 249,475 222,407 200,269
7,000 1,344 605 11.61 241,715 215,489 194,039
8,000 1,536 691 13.27 235,188 209,670 188,800
9,000 1,727 777 14.93 229,577 204,668 184,296
10,000 1,919 864 16.58 224,672 200,295 180,358
11,000 2,111 950 18.24 220,325 196,420 176,868
12,000 2,303 1,036 19.9 216,429 192,947 173,741
13,000 2,495 1,123 21.56 212,907 189,807 170,914
14,000 2,687 1,209 23.22 209,697 186,945 168,337
15,000 2,879 1,296 24.88 206,752 184,320 165,973
16,000 3,071 1,382 26.53 204,035 181,897 163,791
17,000 3,263 1,468 28.19 201,514 179,650 161,768
18,000 3,455 1,555 29.85 199,167 177,558 159,884
19,000 3,647 1,641 31.51 196,972 175,600 158,121
20,000 3,839 1,727 33.17 194,911 173,764 156,467
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar

Table 9: Coefficient Delta ∆ in Residential Areas with 1 Parking Basement

Land Use Land Use Parking Area Number of car Number of Coefficient Δ
Area (m2) Area (mi2) (m2) park spaces residents
8,085 0.003 4,204 217 500 10,620,497
16,171 0.006 8,409 434 1,000 6,416,468
80,853 0.031 42,044 2,170 5,000 1,991,337
161,707 0.062 84,088 4,340 10,000 1,203,084
242,560 0.094 126,131 6,510 15,000 895,938
323,413 0.125 168,175 8,680 20,000 726,855
404,266 0.156 210,218 10,850 25,000 618,009
485,119 0.187 252,262 13,020 30,000 541,290
565,972 0.219 294,305 15,190 35,000 483,904
646,825 0.250 336,349 17,360 40,000 439,136
727,678 0.281 378,392 19,530 45,000 403,099
808,531 0.312 420,436 21,700 50,000 373,376
Table Continued...

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

889,384 0.343 462,480 23,870 55,000 348,380

970,237 0.375 504,523 26,040 60,000 327,025
1,051,090 0.406 546,567 28,210 65,000 308,538
1,131,943 0.437 588,610 30,380 70,000 292,355
1,212,796 0.468 630,654 32,550 75,000 278,053
1,293,649 0.499 672,697 34,720 80,000 265,308
1,374,502 0.531 714,741 36,890 85,000 253,869
1,455,355 0.562 756,784 39,060 90,000 243,536
1,536,208 0.593 798,828 41,230 95,000 234,149
1,617,061 0.624 840,872 43,400 100,000 225,578

Fig. 7: Coefficient Δ in Residential Areas with 1 Parking Basement values of Coefficient

β in Residential areas
with 25% volume over
capacity ratio and
based respectively on
minimum and maximum
rate of trip generation.

4.3 Third Design

Model propor-
tionality fac-
tors (Δ)
Results depicted here
are limited only for
residential areas with
an average of 1 parking
Source: Eng. Walid Al-Shaar
basement for all build-
ings (because of numerous scenarios of number of parking basements (numbers
ranging from 1 to 6). The calculations of the coefficient ∆ were made for a lot
of Population where the number of residents is within the range is from 500 to
100,000 residents. Figure 7 shows the variation of the values of Coefficient Δ in
Residential areas with 1 parking basement.

5. CONCLUSIONS
Proposed research plan accounts for an important city planning or control
concern. The knowledge of cities conflicts associated with unplanned urban
expansion and population growth can identify the level of saturation of the
city in terms of transportation and lead to identify the main problems. It is
highly recommended to define criteria and design models in order to make
implementation by integrating the planning of roadway transportation systems
into city planning and inter-city planning. In Lebanon, cities are encountering

Walid Al-Shaar 47
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

many social and economic problems in terms of high population density and high
unemployment rate. Besides the following are important issues:

• Roadway transportation flow is not well distributed;

• Frequent congestions are daily observed in Lebanese road network; and
• In addition to all the above problems, unbalanced infrastructure constitutes
a significant issue.

This research should be followed up by other researchers with a focus on research

areas such as:

• The best fit of road network distribution into the city (simulations);
• Finding a solution to car parking and the measures to minimize the road
friction;
• Dissipating the road flow, eliminating the congestion and minimizing the road
service delay and queuing time without adding new road sections more than
the required as recommended by the design models;
• Identify the needed actions to be enhanced to solve the problem of cities
saturation;
• Proposing the preparation of legal urban planning standards to be used by
developers and other city users; and
• Identify the simplest way to move throughout the city, accessing the city
center areas, and encouraging people to use public transportation or para-
transit pseudo systems.

REFERENCES
Changizi, M. A. and Destefano, M. (2009) Common Scaling Laws for City Highway Systems
and the Mammalian Neocortex, Wiley Periodicals, doi: 10.1002/cplx.
Davidson, M., and Dolnick, F. (2002) Parking Standards, APA Planning Advisory Service
Reports, p. 2.
Institute of Transportation Engineers (2012) Trip Generation Manual 9th Edition, Volume
2 p. 146, 388, 960, volume 3 p. 989, 1024, 1077, 1451.
Ernst, N. (2009) Architects’ Data 3rd edition, p. 437.
Websites:
Nationmaster , Motor vehicles per 1000 people: Countries Compared, http://www.
nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Transport/Road/Motor-vehicles-per-1000-people,
2014
UNDP, Mapping of Living Conditions in Lebanon, The Housing Index, D. Relation Between
the Housing Index and the Size of the Household, table 71, 1996 www.undp.org.lb/
programme/propoor/poverty/povertyinlebanon/molc/housing/D/size.htm
Declaration of Interest
The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content
and writing of this article.

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Rejuvenation of Built Heritage of Porbandar City

through Local Area Planning

Ravin M. Tailor, Ph.D.; Kandarp Rajyaguru; and Akshay Kumar Sharma

Abstract
Local Area Planning (LAP) methodology is the new approach introduced in GTPUD Act
of Gujarat in 2014. The city of Porbandar is and example of having organic growth
without TP Schemes. However, the LAP methodology could be applied to a city with
these urban characteristics. In this study, public opinion was considered for identification
of neighborhoods having side effects of urbanization. The proposal for LAP features
maximum FSI of 3 and 4 based on the abutting road width. The proposal also features
an extra built-up of almost 2 lakh sq m. The proposed road network covers an area of
almost 24 per cent of the LAP boundary in compared to existing 26 per cent. The proposal
underlines that urban design projects like development of chowks and gardens, can also
be covered, and recommends that Improved circulation pattern, reconstituted plot
boundaries and availability of additional built-up will lead to healthy urban development.

1. INTRODUCTION
Urbanization is closely linked with the rapid and historic transformation of
human social roots where rural culture is converted to urban culture. Many
rural inhabitants come to the city for reasons of seeking work and social
mobility (Jaysawal and Saha, 2014). In India, most of the modern cities grow
in an organic manner. This haphazard development makes it difficult for urban
local bodies to have a holistic development in the area. The difficulties are
severe in areas like CBD. In India, land acquisition, DP / TP, etc.; are used to
maintain the urban growth. Another important tool is ‘Local Area Planning’
which is specially mentioned in the GTPUD Act (2014 amendment) as Chapter
VI under section 76.

Porbandar is one of the examples of the city with side effects of urbanization like
traffic congestion, overcrowded residential areas, varying street widths, etc.
The city also has its fair share of natural and built heritage with places like Kirti
Mandir (birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi), Sudama Mandir and a bird sanctuary. In
this study, efforts are made to derive various proposals for Porbandar city using
LAP to overcome the problems.

Ravin M. Tailor, Ph.D., In-charge (Urban Planning) and Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering
Department, S V National Institute of Technology, Surat; E-mail: [email protected]
Kandarp Rajyaguru, Planner. Email: [email protected]
Akshay Kumar Sharma, Research Scholar, Civil Engineering Department, S V National Institute of
Technology, Surat; E-mail: [email protected]

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 1: Implementation of Local Area Planning in Already Developed Urban Area

Porbandar is a town with area of 7 sq km. The city currently does not have
non - urbanized land in the city limits and has organic growth. The town with
such a nature of urban scenario cannot opt for TP schemes and hence was stuck
with future development. Due to such scenario the city is facing multiple urban
issues like traffic congestion, overcrowding, varying street widths, absence
of hierarchy in transportation network, undevelopable plot sizes, absence of
community spaces etc. To overcome these issues the Local Area Planning (LAP)
can be adopted.

LAP is concerned with resolving local level problems and issues. Its priorities
include overall welfare of the people and development of the local area. Local
Area Plans can be prepared for the following scenarios:

• For planned development of urbanizing periphery or urban village;

• In already developed areas;
• In old, dilapidated and unauthorized areas;
• In a disaster prone part of the city; and
• For heritage site being impacted by the surrounding environment.

In older areas, the local area plan framework could be used to identify deficits
of infrastructure in view of the demand and integrate the same in ward level
plans. The resulting interventions desired at the local level can have implications
for the DP, which could be integrated in the revision process. Such implications
could include land-use, built-form and urban design aspects that find mention in
local Development Control Regulations (DCR).

2. EXISTING SCENARIO OF PORBANDAR CBD AREA

Delineated boundary for the proposed LAP was achieved through the pilot survey
or public opinion. The LAP-The Heritage Square is about 28.14 hectare. The area
is predominantly commercial and acts as a CBD for Porbandar city. The overall
urban fabric can be visualized as a low-rise, mostly G+2 cluster of adjoining
buildings with commercial and residential uses with narrow streets. Housing is
mostly introvert with common faliya at the center and land lock plots. These

Ravin M. Tailor, Ph.D.; Kandarp Rajyaguru; and Akshay Kumar Sharma 50

 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 2: Local Area Plan – The Heritage Square

central faliyas are currently government Land which is a big advantage for any
redevelopment scheme. There are no restrictions over land use of the building
unit with respect to its size. Hence, the old dilapidated buildings are converted
to commercial shops.

This redevelopment has affected city’s infrastructure and density in an unhealthy

manner. The small plots were redeveloped without leaving any margins and road
frontage and even consumed FSI - 2, more than permissible. This haphazard
redevelopment is constantly increasing pressure on all physical infrastructures.
These demands for area development policy and strategy which could take care
of the entire current situation keeping in mind the future needs.

Fig. 3: Existing Land Use Map at Block Level of LAP

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

2.1 Existing Road Net- Fig. 4: Existing Land Use Distribution of LAP
work – LAP
The LAP study area has
two major roads running
in East-West direction
namely – M.G. Road
(varying width from 15 m
to 7.5 m) on the South and
SVP Road (Station Road =
15 m wide) on the North.
Another major link is the
connecting road between
Manek Chowk and Shitala
Chowk known as Kirti
Mandir Road. Typical block
sizes vary greatly throughout the study area and most of them are less than 400
m of perimeter which encourages walkability in the area. Walkable block sizes
have resulted into market being fairly pedestrian with vehicular traffic or either
through traffic.

Unavailability of footpaths for pedestrians and on street parking has made it

difficult for pedestrians to move around the streets. Unavailability of parking

Table 1: Road Network Characteristics in Study Area

S. No. Road Width (m) Road Length (m) Area (sq. m.) % Length % Area
Category A
1. 15 946 14190 14.19 25.18
2. 12 1323 15876 19.84 28.17
3. 9 877 7893 13.15 14.00
4. 7 1179 8253 17.68 14.64
5. 6 864 5184 12.96 9.20
6. 4 525 2100 7.87 3.73
7. 3 955 2865 14.32 5.08
Total 6669 56361 100.00 100.00
Category B
8. Uneven Widths / 16419
Chowks
Total 6669 72780

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

within the plot area even after redevelopment has led to such a situation. Also
there is no regularized zone for street hawkers. The street widths currently
range from 3 m to 15 m. Footpath for pedestrians can only be seen on 15 m wide
roads.

2.2 Existing Built Forms

The built form in the LAP area varies from high density row house clusters and
mixed use buildings with commercial on ground and residential on upper floors.
The Urban fabric in the LAP area is dense – particularly in the areas of Kirti Mandir,
Sutaarvada and Manek Chowk. The building height varies from G to G+3 floors. Also
recently in last 5 years, apartment buildings up to G+6 floors have also come up.
Fig. 5: Existing Road Network of LAP

Fig. 6: Existing Road Network of LAP

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 7: Building Height Map of LAP

2.3 Kirti Mandir Block

The Kirti Mandir Block is situated on the Western end of the LAP boundary as
shown in Fig. 8. The Kirti Mandir block has an area of 2.12 hectare. The block
has two important structures – Kirti Mandir and Kasturba Memorial. The area also
features an urban square, two open plots and a police station.

Land use distribution shows a maximum of 33 per cent for residential and 34.30 per
cent of roads. Despite of having such a large chunk of land under roads, the area
suffers congestion and recessed plot entries due to the irregular street widths,
Fig. 8: Kirti Mandir Block Location W.R.T. LAP

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 9: Existing Land Use Plan of Kirti Mandir regularization of Otlas and
ineffective implementation of
build to line during construction
process. The existing street
widths range from 14 m wide
on Kirti Mandir to 1.53 m in the
inner residential roads. The
back road connecting Kasturba
Memorial to the Shitala Chowk
has an avg. street width of 1.8
m only.

Despite of having such a his-

torical significance and heri-
tage value for the city, the
urban local body has failed to
provide the visitors with basic
amenities like parking, way
finding signboards, drinking
water and public transporta-
tion connectivity. The housing
scenario is also very poor due
to overcrowding and poor ven-
tilation. The core reason for
this lies in the plot size of the
residences as they are as low
as 15 sq m in few cases. The
building height scenario is as
per Table 2:

3. PROPOSALS FOR LOCAL

AREA PLAN
3.1 Accessibility Improve-
Table 2: Existing Built-up Area of the block
ment
Structure Built-Up Area (Sq.m.) The aim of this LAP was to im-
G 217 prove accessibility to all the
G+1 3135 X 2 = 6270 plots with special reference to
G+2 4382 X 3 = 13146 the protected monuments. The
G+3 260 X 4 = 1040 proposal begins with road wid-
Total built-up area 20673 ening of some roads within the
boundary. The most significant
one being the widening of Kirti Mandir Road and 9m wide road at the back.
Remaining all roads is widened to at least 6 m.

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

3.2 Amalgamation Fig. 10: Birdseye Views of Kirti Mandir Area

and Re-Consti-
tution of Plots
The existing plot sizes
are too small to be
developed according
to comprehensive
GDCR. Hence, the
amalgamation and re-
constitution of the plot
boundaries seems to
be as a feasible option
for redevelopment
strategy. These new
plots will inhabit the
plot owners and tenants
already residing in this
area. In majority of
cases, the location of
the new plots is same
as that of the old one.
The new plot sizes
ranges from 552 sq m
to 2,339 sq m, which
are developable plot
sizes. In this exercise,
the adjoining buildings of Kirti Mandir and Kasturba Memorial are kept intact to
avoid any damage to the monument.

3.3 Proposed Built Form

The proposed built form consist of a low-rise structures (upto 18 m height) with
commercial on ground floor and upper floors will be residential in nature. The
internal layout of the buildings will be finalized through public participation in
each plot. Also, for developing a new urban fabric of the CBD area, the G+1
façade would be similar for all the buildings.

3.4 Advantages of Redevelopment Model

• Redevelopment under LAP provides with the additional FSI of 3 in contrast to
FSI 2 of Comprehensive GDCR.
• Area falling under LAP has maximum FSI of 3 and hence no regulation for
height restrictions.

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 11: Proposed Roads and Re-constituted Plot Boundaries

Table 3: FSI and Plot Area Analysis for Kirti Mandir Block • The residents now have mul-
Parameter Existing Proposed
tiple options for redevelop-
ment and increased floor
FSI (Plot) 2 3
space. The issue of over-
FSI (Gross) 0.97 1.44 crowding within the house-
Total Plot Area (sq.m.) 12982 12706 hold can now be solved.
Total Built Floor Space (sq.m.) 20673 30659 • The fire fighting vehicle and
Streets 34.30 % 35.59 % ambulance can now reach to
every building.
• The redevelopment policy ensures enough parking facilities for all residents
in form of underground or surface parking.

3.5 Proposed Road Layout; Following Hierarchy

The proposed road layout is set to form a hierarchy from arterial roads to collector
streets and finally local streets. There are a total of 4 types of streets proposed
in the LAP region – three of them are vehicular streets with 15 m, 12 m and 9 m
ROW respectively and a 9 m wide pedestrian street. The details of proposed ROW

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

are as follows: Fig. 12:

Proposed Building Footprints for Kirti
Mandir Block
• Street patterns are such that, it forms
overall blocks of perimeter ranging
from 250 m to 500 m, which would
increase the walkability of the area.
The block sizes have either been
increased or kept constant from the
existing scenario;
• For pedestrians, all the new roads will
have footpaths. A few purely pedestrian
streets featuring linear parks are also
proposed and also accommodates
regularized hawker’s zone; and
• All the front margins in the new LAP
would be declared as public domain;
hence the footpaths are designed in
that stretch to maximize pedestrian-
shop front interaction.

3.6 Amalgamation and Reconstitution

of Plots: Developable Sizes
The similar system of amalgamation and
re-constitution of plots will be followed
as in the case of Kirti Mandir Block. The
block sizes vary from 250 m to 500 m in
perimeter. The plot sizes have increased significantly, ranging from 700 sq m to
3,500 sq m. These increased plot sizes are enough to be able to get developed
according to comprehensive GDCR. In comparison to old scenario which had total

Fig. 13: Proposed Birdseye view of Kirti Mandir Block

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Table 5: Proposed Roads Detail

ROW (m) Length (m) Area (sq m) % Length % Area
15m (vehicular) 1373 20595 22.71 30.15
12m (vehicular) 1528 18336 25.28 26.84
13.5m (vehicular) 240 3240 3.97 4.74
9m (vehicular) 2156 19404 35.67 28.41
9m (pedestrian) 748 6736 12.37 9.86
Total 6045 68311 100.00 100.00

plotted area of 20.30 ha; the proposal features the plotted area of 21 hectare.

3.7 Building Setbacks

In this LAP, the two setbacks i.e. road side margin and side margin have been
assigned a specific function to follow. In respect to this idea, the concept of
compound wall has been totally eliminated which leaves us with open boundaries
to interact directly to the built form. There are basically three setbacks that are
followed in this LAP. They have direct co-relation with the abutting road width
and the building height.

3.8 Density Utilization Maps

This map deals with the FSI (free + chargeable) assigned to every plot based on the
abutting road widths. The CBD area of Porbandar consists of old dilapidated buildings.
Thus, this is one of the prime areas where redevelopment potential is there. The
maximum assigned FSI is 4 to the plots abutting 15 m wide road and rest are awarded
FSI of 3. Also according to the clause 15.1 of comprehensive GDCR, there are no height
restrictions other than through airport authority within the LAP. This would potentially

Fig. 14: Proposed Road Layout

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 15: Setbacks for the Proposed LAP

imply that full FSI could be consumed with careful planning. Also, the base FSI of 2 will
be free and the remaining FSI would be chargeable.

The Table 5 suggests that 6.13 lakh sq m of built-up area will be available after
complete implementation of the LAP compared to existing 4.15 lakh sq m.

3.8 Building Massing and Façade Guidelines

In recent years, the heritage fabric of the city is being completely neglected.
There are new buildings popping up in the CBD area without paying due re-
spect to the surrounding environment in terms of vernacular architecture, built
form, materials used, etc. The new building
facades have failed to maintain the harmony Table 5: Calculations for Proposed Built-Up
in the CBD area. This sets the need of unified Area in LAP
façade pattern and building material and thus FSI Plot Area (sq.m.) Built-up (sq.m.)
demand for the policy on the same. 3 129713 389139

Thus, new façade guidelines are introduced 4 56060 224240

to maintain the uniformity throughout the 6,13,379

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 16: Density Utilization Map of LAP CBD. The façade

guidelines include
the treatment of
G+1 floors of every
building. This only
includes façade
facing roadside
only. The elements
are taken from the
existing built heri-
tage throughout the
city. The elements
include railing, in-
clined chajja, lan-
cet window, balco-
ny and pointed arch
entrances to the
shops. The façade
is modular in nature
with size in golden
ratio of 1.618.
Fig. 16: Façade Guidelines for LAP 4. CONCLUSIONS
Local Area Plan-
ning is a third tier
of planning in In-
dia involving micro
level planning to
each plot. This new
paradigm of plan-
ning deals with lo-
cal issues, which
could not be solved
through Develop-
ment Plans. LAPs
can be implemented
at any place like
dilapidated urban
areas, core walled
city, urban villages, fast growing urban canters, etc. The LAP – ‘Heritage Square’
is the CBD area of the Porbandar city with an area of 28.14 ha. Proposals for LAP
attempted to solve the various issues taking in account the analysis of question-
naire survey are:

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

• The issue of land lock plots and recessed plot entries was solved by proposing
a new road layout juxtaposed on the existing street patterns. The procedure
involves road widening at some places;
• The existing plot sizes were too small for regularized re-development,
so amalgamation and re-constitution of plot boundaries were adopted to
create large developable plot sizes. This leads to decrease in overall plotted
allotment for development from 19.58 ha to 18.19 hectare;
• The proposals of new road sections were floated featuring the on-street
parking;
• The FSI of 3 and 4 were provided for all the proposed plots (with size larger
than 500 sq m) based on the adjoining road width;
• Built form of the buildings would feature a similar façade for G+ 1 floor based
on the façade guidelines;
• High-rise mixed use built form with commercial on ground floor and their
own residences on upper floors are adopted;
• Road-side margin of all the plots will be considered as public domain and
developed as walkways. The buildings will not have a compound wall on the
road side margin; and
• LAP also provides with opportunity to undertake urban design projects
like Urban Squares, Parks and Heritage building conservation and Plaza
redevelopment.

REFERENCES
Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (2016) Local Area Plan – TOZ 2 RTO Circle to
Shastrinagar, Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority, Ahmedabad.
Caffrey, J., O’Kane, N., Walsh, S (2013) Kilmartin: Local Area Plan. Comhalrle Contae
Fhine Gall, Fingal County Council. [online] Available at: www.fingal.ie/media/ Kilmartin
per cent20Local per cent20Area per cent20Plan per cent20Document.pdf [Accessed 22
April2018]
Delhi Development Authority (2010) Street Design Guidelines for Equitable distribution
of road space-NNUUTTPP [online] New Delhi: UTTIPEC, Delhi Development Authority.
Available at: http://smartcities.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/StreetGuidelines_DDA.
pdf [Accessed 26 March 2018]
Environmental Planning Collaborative (2012) Guidelines for Preparation of Local Area
Plans. [online] Ahmedabad: ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING COLLABORATIVE,pp.3-19.
Available at: http://ftp://ftp.solutionexchange-un.net.in/public/decn/cr/res23080702.
pdf [Accessed 17 Sep.2017].
Indo-USAID Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion Project (2008) Preparation of
Local Area Plans: Pilot Project for Delhi, India, Indo-USAID Financial Institutions Reform
and Expansion Project-Debt & Infrastructure Component. [online] United States: USAID,
pp. 4-80. Available at: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnaea781.pdf [Accessed 8 Oct.
2017].

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Kost, C. and Nohn, M. (2011) Better Streets, better cities: A guide to street design in
urban India. [online] Ahmedabad: Insitute for Transportation and Development Policy.
Available at: https://www.itdp.org/wp content/uploads/2011/12/Better-Streets-
Better-Cities-ITDP-2011.pdf [Accessed 22 April 2018].
Mahadevia, D., Munshi, T., Joshi, R., Shah, K., Joseph, Y. and Advani, (2014) A Methodology for
Local Accessibility Planning in Indian Cities, CEPT University, Ahmedabad. pp. 16-151.
Philip Everest (2015) City of London: Local Plan. [online] Department of the Built
Environment, City of London Corporation. Available at: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/
services/environment-and planning/planning/planning-policy/local-plan/Documents/
local-plan-2015.pdf [Accessed 29 Dec2017].
Pune Municipal Corporation (2016) Urban Street Design Guidelines.[online] Pune.
Available at https://pmc.gov.in/sites/default/files/miscellaneous/USDG-FD-Uploading
File.pdf[Accessed 22 March2018]
Queen’s University Belfast (2013) Manuals for Local Area Plans. [online]: Department of
Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Available at: www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/.../Planning/FileDownLoad per
cent2C33558 per cent2 Cen.pdf[Accessed 05 February2018].
Rahman, S. (2017) Gujarat District Factbook: Porbandar District [online] Porbandar:
Datanet India Pvt. Ltd., pp.4-11. Available at: www.datanetindia-ebooks.com [Accessed
02 Mar. 2018].
Rishi Dev (2015) Local Area Planning In India, Copal Publishing Group, Delhi.
Saha, J. (2014) Urbanization in India: An Impact Assessment, International Journal of
Applied Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 60-65.
Shri Jairambhai Patel Institute of Business Management (2016) District Human Development
Report, Porbandar. [online] Porbandar: Gujarat Social Infrastructure Development Society
(GSIDS), pp.29-35. Available at: www.gujhd.gujarat.gov.in[Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].
Singh, B. (2015) What Should a Local Area Plan Be? SPA New Delhi.[online] Available
at: http://www.academia.edu/9596323/WHAT_SHOULD_A_LOCAL_AREA_PLAN_BE[
Accessed 25 Feb 2018]
Urban Development and Urban Housing Department (2017) Comprehensive General
Development Control Regulations – 2017. [online] Gandhinagar. Available at: www.udd.
gujarat.gov.in[Accessed 12 Dec 2017].

Ravin M. Tailor, Ph.D.; Kandarp Rajyaguru; and Akshay Kumar Sharma 63

 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Rejuvenation of Urban Vacant Spaces in

Perspective of Smart City

Mohammad Laraib Ahmad, Muhammasd Shahrukh and Pradeep Singh

Vacant land or dead spaces in a city can be used as green gardens, and parks. Vertical
farming concept can be implemented in smart city. This will improve air quality
and will help to make such places socially interactive and functional that can act as
recreational spaces. Urban areas are densely populated and have much hardscape.
Density in urban areas is increasing vertically due to lack of urbanizable land which
results in lack of green spaces in urban areas. Need of the hour is to find out such
issues and have better solution by introducing green strategies which make urban
environment clean and healthy. Aim of the paper is to find out the role of urban
green space in Smart City perspective, its impact on urban climate and importance
of recreational areas.

1. INTRODUCTION
Smart City guidelines have proposals for preserving and developing open spaces
in order to enhance quality of citizens life, reduce urban heat island effect
and promote eco balance (Development, 2015). Idea of smart city came into
formulation owing to the need to accommodate rapid urbanization of the age.
Interest in smart cities continues to grow, driven by a range of socio-economic
and technological developments across the globe. Need of the hour was so, as it
came into existence people started focusing on structures, jobs, employment,
more masses started settling down in urban areas and people ignored importance
of urban climate and heat island effect, which now has become one of the most
important concern of Smart City strategy (Nasrin Khansari, 2013). There are
spaces like institutional buildings which have a lot of softscape in the form
of playground or other open green spaces. Those areas are not in use after
scheduled timing of institution and can be functioned as some recreational
activities on those places which can be utilized for recreation purpose. (Anon.,
2012)

This is paper attempts to understand the role of urban green open spaces in
Smart City perspective, and to study urban green strategies and techniques, to
reduce urban heat island effect; besides to appraise need of green open space in
smart city perspective; and to analyze importance of vacant land and heritage
sites for recreational purpose.

Mohammad Laraib Ahmad; E-mail: [email protected]

Muhammasd Shahrukh, E-mail: [email protected]
Pradeep Singh, E-mail: [email protected]

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

2. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
In 5 year Development Plan of a city the 'Urban and Regional Development Plans
Formulation and Implementation URDPFI guidelines' classifies Open Space Zone
named as ‘O Zone’ for the development of open green areas in urban region
which is sub - divided into: (i) area 0-1 (Recreation); (ii) area 0-2 (Peri Urban
Area); and (iii) eco Sensitive Zones (E Zone).

It is also for the development of water body, recreational zones, biodiversity

park, reserve forests, etc. There is formulation in URDPFI guidelines (2014) for
open green spaces in land use planning that about 25-35 % of total area should be
in use for recreational open spaces within the city (Development, 2014). Urban
growth has increased number of vehicles on roads and even on streets which
results into increase in traffic congestion and give rise to noise pollution. Noise
is considered to be one of the most disturbing thing which disturbs human health
physically as well as psychologically. Urban green open spaces can reduce its
impact on users in cities on daily basis and can create a better living environment.

Noise in urban areas is slowly and gradually increasing day by day and the reason
are increase of population and mobility, increase in vehicle on roads creates
a lot of hindrance and disturbs human life psychologically and also physically
(Patrik Grahna, 2009). There are lot of sites available within the cities which
are dead spaces or are not in use, such spaces can be proposed to be treated as
retrofitting of vacant land can be done to improve air quality and overcome such
issues of noise, health, etc. (E.A. Richardson, 2012)

2.1 Use of Open Space as Recreation

Recreation is an important aspect of city life, contributing towards health
of citizens and vitality of the city. Recreation is a service that city provides
through parks, playgrounds, botanical garden, resorts, gaming club, etc.
Need for recreational spaces depends on local climatic and cultural condition
(S.E. Gill, n.d.). Recreation nowadays has become a concern for society.
Recreation has got special proposals and concern from government in smart
city guidelines so it is need of hour to introduce some green strategies to
improve vacant land and heritage sites in cities to make place active for
recreation. (Anon., 2012)

2.2 Peri Urban Areas

Peri urban are the areas which resides at the ridge of developed urban areas
or at boundaries of developing cities. Use of vacant land using techniques and
strategies, innovative planning, provision of affordable housing on such land
as the shortage of homes for poor in cities is one of the threatening concern.
Area of land which have been previously used for industrial purpose, therefore

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

retrofitting of such spaces in the inner core of city is brown field development
which has its basic function to beautify spaces and improve condition of
existing structures or spaces. Existing structures may be in use, so wastage of
land on urban level is secured and can be utilized for any other uses. On the
other hand Greenfield development provides design flexibility, it is designed
to meet future needs it does not consume Greenfield spaces within the urban
areas. Vacant sites are valuable but destroys beautification of city, so urban
greenfield development helps in promoting urban regeneration of unused
vacant land which is a suitable approach towards sustainability on urban level.
(Department, n.d.)

Due to scarcity of open space in urban cities, greenbelts are provided on the
ridges of cities to promote urban health and maintain air quality and balance
urban heat island effect. High building density results in vertical expansions,
increase in urban greenfield sites become vulnerable.

2.3 Impact of Eco Park in Neighborhood of Urban Areas

Biodiversity Park has become a home for biologically rich wetlands, grassland
communities, and a wide variety of species and an abundance of medicinal
herbs. Such parks comprises of native flora and fauna which helps in maintaining
meso climate of city. Such parks have been spread over a large chunk of city
which helps in balancing urban heat island effect (Department of Leisure, 2002).
Biodiversity parks such as Aravalli and Yamuna Biodiversity Park on the ridge of
cities like Delhi are strength to the cities in terms of meso and micro climate.
Parks consist diverse varieties of plants, trees, shrubs, vegetation, animals, birds
and provide large chunk of green open spaces which act as green lungs and
helps in maintaining balance between city and its surroundings. The Yamuna
Biodiversity Park is covered over an area of 457 acres of land of which 150 acres
has already been developed (Agarwal, 2015). Water body within park helps in
maintaining temperature but in some regions it becomes the major reason for
humidity.

Ecological Restoration is necessary to check, if it is generating ecological

sources and goods such as moisture in soil and atmosphere, increase in
humidity and rainfall and reduction in dust pollution. Conservation of flora
and fauna plays crucial role in deciding urban climate of city. Healthy and
urban green space such as wetlands, urban forests and biodiversity parks
can be critical to solve water stress, air pollution, heat island and natural
disaster mitigation. Green open space and urban biodiversity are vice versa
and creates recreation in city. Urban areas have microclimates that always
vary from its surrounding climate. An urban city always have more heat
island effect as comparison to rural areas. Energy expenditure, air pollution

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

emission, concrete massing in city, less open green spaces, results in urban
health issues.

Strategies to overcome such issues can be solved by vegetative green spaces

compelled with high reflective material in place of conventional paved
surface have proven to be effective method. Green roofing is also one of
the effecting method used in this field and use of light colors on roof top
will help in reducing urban heat from the surface. The future is for the high
rise structures, so it increases the demand of vertical gardening and vertical
farming which can be very beneficial method to improve urban air quality and
climate.

3. RETROFITTING OF VACANT LAND

Role of land use planning plays a vital role in urban planning. Vacant land is
threat area to urban cities. Land use planning should focus on proper aspects
keeping in mind use of vacant land and their utilization of spaces. Spaces
which are not in general use such as near railway lines and bridges or roadside
property are not for any use, so retrofitting of such areas as green spaces or
vegetation or making such place interactive for recreation activities which will
create social gathering and improves urban health and maintain heat island
effect.

3.1 Role of Greenfield and Brown Field Development in Urban Areas

Use of vacant land using techniques and strategies, innovative planning, provision
of affordable housing on such land as the shortage of homes for poor in cities is
one of the threatening concern. Greenfield design provides flexibility in order
to meet future needs. It doesn’t consume Greenfield spaces and performed
in vacant land. Vacant sites are ugly but are valuable if restored properly and
can generate good recreation facilities and enhance air quality of urban areas.
(Giannakodakis, 2013)

It also promotes urban regeneration, make place active and centre for tourist
attraction which helps in maintaining urban wealth and economy or revenue
generation process. It is a sustainable approach towards a growing smart
city which should be sustainably balanced and it is cheaper to develop such
vacant land, no need of much maintenance is required as only covering hard
surface by green soft covers and planting some native trees and vegetation
will do a lot of work as, it will reduce urban heat island effect on both
micro and macro level (Rajabi, 2014), it will help in reducing thermal heat
from surface and environmental cycle will maintain air quality in region.
Softscape cover will reduce impact of noise also, as trees and green covers
on roadsides and on vacant sites will act as a barrier to noise which will
contradict it.

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

The main smart city experience are to achieve energy efficiency and
sustainable mobility. While developing countries like India is facing problems
like over congestion, traffic problems and health issues. In these kind of
places Brown field development can be very beneficial as it is a process of
redevelopment, regeneration and retrofitting of spaces in urban areas, where
other external interventions cannot be implemented to enhance quality of
life. This process helps in maintaining quality life of city by not wasting any
new site and develop old vacant, unused land to promote beauty of urban
areas.

3.2 Greenbelt
Greenbelts define edges of urban areas. It is a solution to problems like
congestion, overcrowding and scarcity of land is one the major issue. Due to
increase in vertical expansions of structures, urban Green fields sites have become
vulnerable. Greenbelts are created on the ridge of cities to promote urban green
environment and maintain balance between cities temperature and surrounding
that help in maintaining urban heat island effect, which makes greenbelt area
mush cooler than core city temperature. (Miskell, 2011)

4. ROLE OF URBAN FORESTRY, IT’S IMPACT ON NOISE AND DUST POLLUTION

Urban trees plays vital role is deciding local air pollution. A 30 inch dia tree
removes about 70 times more air pollution in a year than a 3 inch dia tree.
Shaded tree can reduce smog level by 5% that is by process of evaporating,
cooling, shading city environment (Akbari et al, 2001)

Air floating above, not through vegetation barrier is not filtered. Differently
designed vegetation catch different particle size. Vegetation should be close
to the source. Air pollution is presence of high concentration of contamination,
dust smoke, etc. Ozone gas cause major air pollution in city and inhaling such
hazardous gases can cause severe health issues which is a concern for urban
health. Dust generation from such activities reduce visibility and breathing issue.
(Chaudhary, 2015)

4.1 Sound and Air Quality Impact

The decadal growth of the urban population in India rose to 31.8% during
the last decade (2001-2011). Noise is regarded as a pollutant under the air
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Noise is one of the major
issue for urban areas as the population increase number of vehicles on road
also increases which creates noise pollution. It is because urban cities do not
have much greenery or plants and trees in the surrounding, which does not
allow noise to trap into it, hence city is full of noise on roads and even on
streets.

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Table 1: Estimated Size of Urban Green Space

S.No Country/Region Estimated size of urban green space
1 Australia Average green space is about 24 million meter square i.e. 80 m2 per capita.
2 USA Average green space is about 27% i.e. 32 m2 per capita.
3 Netherland Average green space is about 19% of 22 largest Dutch cities i.e. 228 m2
per capita.
4 India (Delhi) Average tree and forest cover is about 20% of geographical area and
about 21 m2 per inhabitant (FSI 2009,Census 2011)
5 India(Chandigarh) Average tree and forest cover is about 35.7% of geographical area and
about 55 m2 per inhabitant (Action Plan 2010,Census 2001)
Source: (Anon., 2009) (Anon., 2010)

Noise can cause anxiety, tension, or even illness, and exposure to high levels
of noise can cause hearing loss. Noise is regarded as a form of environmental
pollution, and is sometimes considered an international health concern. Green
space has the ability to mitigate noise in urban areas. Planting noise buffer
composed of trees and shrubs can reduce noise by five to ten decibels for every 30
m width of woodland and this reduces noise to the human ear by approximately
50%. Providing greenbelts at the edges of cities helps in acting as a barrier for
sound restriction and reducing noise level. This will also help in maintaining urban
health factor, maintain air quality and urban climate. (E.A. Richardson, 2012)

The four variables for green space in urban context are quantity (% of filled
green spaces in urban areas); quality (to improve urban biodiversity and provide
better ecosystem and environment); connectivity (Inter connection and relation
between green spaces in urban areas); and accessibility (% of population with
green accessibility). It is recommend to have at least a 33% green cover for urban
areas as per global standards. As per the best practices over the world, green
area per capita for inhabitant should be more than 20 m2 which gives a figure of
around 1.25 ha of land for open space per 1,000 residents. Green spaces should be
easily accessible and their approach should be within 250 m of residential areas.
Almost all local and native plants should be used for landscaping purposes, as this
helps in reducing water usage and maintenance while improving biodiversity on
urban level. The Table 1 shows the comparison of different countries of the world
as per their availability of open green space available per capita in a region.

4.1 Indian Scenario 

Rapidly growing urbanization are resulting in decrease of open spaces mainly
in urban areas. There are few cities in India which are exceptionally in good
condition. Cities like Chandigarh and Gandhinagar which were developed
and planned after the Independence period, where urban greenery was pre-
integrated in the Master Plan of city at initial phase of design and planning of
city. Chandigarh has 55 m2 of land per capita for open green space and on the

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other hand Gandhinagar has 160 m2 per capita for open green space within city
which is more than traditional green city Bangalore which is famous for it is park
and garden. (Pradeep Chaudhry, 2011)

A study by IIS (Indian Institute of Science), Bangalore noted that Bangalore city
has lost a lot of it’s open spaces and urban wetlands over 35% decline in number
of water bodies from 1973 to 1996 due to urban sprawl in the region, which
has affected physical infrastructure of city which includes drainage, water table
and geographical issues. It has been calculated that Mumbai has only 1.1 m2 of
open space per person in the form of gardens, parks, recreation grounds and
playgrounds. The city has 2.5 sq km area for gardens and parks, 4 sq km area for
playgrounds and 7.7 sq km area for recreation ground. The total adds up to only
14 sq km area of land for open spaces for the population of 12.4 million people;
or 1.1 sq km per person (City, 2012), which helps to analyze the statistics that
Mumbai has a poor ratio of urban open green spaces which is approximately 0.03
acre of open space per 1,000 people.

4.2 Best Practice

There are two best practices of the world discussed on the basis of strategies,
they used to make use of vacant land and make place interactive for recreational
purpose, which helps in maintaining urban health and climate in the region.
(Walker, 2004)

Table 2: Way Ahead

S.No. Parameter Case Study (Kapurthala) Way Ahead
1 Urban green Kapurthala city in Punjab have very Redevelopment of heritage sites
space less amount of open recreational and restoration of vacant land by
green spaces due to lack of land implementing greenfield and brown
and improper attention towards field techniques.
maintenance of open spaces.
2 Recreational Kapurthala, a princely state having Recreational activities are the need to
Areas historical buildings, but still not in provide and design spaces according to
use for any recreational purpose. requirement of user.
3 Noise And Air Densely populated city have noise Organizing open green spaces and
Quality and dirty air issues. plantation of native trees will help in
improving such issues
4 Greenfield And Kapurthala have very less open Providing brown field development
Brown field green space within city and no near historical sites, such as in
Development proper attention towards historical Amritsar will create a better
buildings. environment.
5 Greenbelt City does not have greenbelt, as Greenfield development can be done
it lies in the outer boundary of inside the city on vacant sites near
Jalandhar historical sites.
Source: (Author, 2017)

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The Table 2 shows the parameter adopted for Kapurthala Region of Punjab state,
and also suggest way forward for particular problems.

4.2.1 Beardmore Park (Scotland): It is one of the best example for transformation
of derelict, vacant, unused land into a vibrant, multi-functional play and open
space area. The land which was abandoned and had no connection with local
users are now being used as one of the most happening place of city. The park
now contains play area for all groups, event occurring spaces, garden and spaces
for rest and relaxation. The local community is playing vital role in changing the
layout within the park. Park has toddlers play area also to protect planted trees
and use of native plants for landscaping. It stands as one of the best example for
use of vacant land as a space which can be utilized for recreational purpose also
with green and healthy environment, which improve urban climate and involves
community gathering.

5.2.2 The Helix, Falkirk: The helix is an eco-park on the ridge of Falkirk urban
area and western boundary of Grange Mouth. It was a huge vacant patch of
land of 300 hectares on the boundary of city which later have been developed
to be an interactive place. The area includes community, woodland, grazing
land, wetlands and canal. The park connects these open spaces and creates a
green junction at the centre of a new metropolitan area. The purpose of the
project was to reconnect people from different communities at a common place,
creating a destination for visitors and tourists, celebrating the culture of region
and exhibit world class art.

6. CONCLUSIONS
To maintain urban climate and to promote urban health socio impact in cities,
it is necessary to maintain eco balance between cities and their surrounding
climate that can be done by taking steps towards retrofitting of urban greenery
and restoration of vacant land, heritage sites which can create social gathering
and improve air quality, control noise pollution by plantation of trees and
providing green cover over the city. Urban heat island effect is one of the most
concerning issue in urban cities and that can be resolved only if we pay proper
attention towards maintaining balance in nature, as outer ridge of cities always
have less heat emission from surface because of less massing and more greenery
in comparison to inner core of cities, so planting more trees, restoring vacant
land, retrofitting green spaces, provide vertical greenery in high rise structures
and providing greenbelts on outer boundaries of cities help in resolving such
problems.

Macro climate is always dependent on micro climate, hence implementation of

such strategies on micro level and focusing on these issues by finding it’s green

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solution will have impact on macro climate of city. Urban health is one of the
most beneficial thing which can be improved: by addressing such urban issues
and making urban environment healthy.

REFERENCES
Agarwal, R., 2015. Yamuna Biodiversity Park. p. 74.
Anon., 2012. City of La Masa. Recreation & Open Space, p. 15.
Anon., 2012. Recreation And Open Space Element. City Of La Mesa, p. 15.
Chaudhary, P., 2015. Urban Forestry In India. Development research and scenario, p. 15.
City, T. T. o. I., 2012. You have just 1 square metres of open space. Monday May, p.1.
Department of Leisure, T. a. E., 2002. The role of urban parks for the sustainable city.
Landscape and Urban Planning, Elsevier, p. 10.
Department, P., n.d. Recreation Open Space and Greening. Planning Standards and
Guidelines, p. 63.
DEPARTMENT, P., n.d. Recreation,Open Space And Greening. The Government of The
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, p. 63.
Development, M. O. U., 2014. URDPFI Guidelines, s.l.: Ministry Of Urban Development.
Development, M. o. U., 2015. Mission Statement And Guidelines. Smart City, Mission
Transformation, p. 43.
E.A. Richardson, J. P. ,. R. M. ,. S. K., 2012. Role of physical activity in the relationship
between. Public Health,Elseivier, p. 7.
E.A. Richardson, J. P. R. M. S. K., 2012. Role of physical activityi in the relation between
urban green space and health. Public Health, p. 7.
Giannakodakis, G., 2013. Urban infill and brownfield development. Infra Plan, p. 94.
Miskell, B., 2011. Outer Green Belt. the Outer Green Belt Concept Area, p. 3.
Nasrin Khansari, A. M. a. M. M., 2013. Impacting Sustainable Behaviour and Planning in
Smart City. International Journal of Sustainable Land Use and Urban Planning, p. 16.
Patrik Grahna, U. K. S., 2009. The relation between perceived sensory dimensions of
urban green space and. Landscape and Urban Planning ,ELSEVIER, p. 12.
Pradeep Chaudhry, K. B. a. B. S., 2011. Urban Greenery Status of Some Indian Cities:.
International Journal of Enviromental Science and Development, p. 4.
Rajabi, A.-H., 2014. The Study of Vegetation Effects on Reduction of Urban Heat. World
SB4, p. 7.
S.E. GILL, J. H. A. E. a. S. P., n.d. Adapting Cities for Climate Change:. BUILT ENVIRONMENT,
p. 19.

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

CO2 Emissions from Uban Transport:

Challenges and Opportunities for Non-Motorized
Transport in Indian Cities
H. S. Kumara, Ph.D.

Abstract
The paper discusses CO2 emissions by transport sector in selected Indian cities,
retrofitting challenges and opportunities for Non-motorized transport (NMT), and
attempts to examine the modal share of NMT within the existing travel modes; to
estimate the CO2 emissions along with its growth rate; besides traffic index is also
analyzed. Regression analysis shows that shorter the trip, greater the share of NMT. In
nutshell, the study has analyzed the total vehicle registered, total registered passenger
cars, vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT), estimation of fuel consumption and CO2
emissions of passenger cars. In persistence, the study highlights the retrofitting issues,
options and policy initiatives for NMT and concludes that, reduction of CO2 emissions is
achieved by encouraging public transport and using NMT especially down town areas in
the Indian cities.

1. INTRODUCTION
Urbanization is a major change taking place globally. According to United Nation
Report (UNDP, 2006), 30 per cent of the world’s population lived in cities in
1950 which increased to 47 per cent in 2000. The urban global tipping point
was reached in 2007 when for the first time in history over half of the world’s
population i.e. 3.3 billion people were living in urban areas. United Nation (UN)
forecasts show that by 2050, more than 70 per cent of the world’s population will
be living in cities (UNPD, 2006). Presently, one out of two humans already lives
in an urban environment. Census of India (2011) data reveals that 377 million
Indians live in urban area, which constitutes about 31.16 per cent of the total
population in India. The number is further expected to rise to about 600 million
by 2030 (HPEC Report, 2011).

The World Bank study shows that about 75 per cent of global economic production
takes place in cities; the share of developing countries is rapidly increasing. But,
unfortunately, the 20 largest cities consume 80 per cent of the world’s energy and
urban areas generate 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (IFS,
2010). According to Rode et al. (2014), urban transport is currently the largest
single source of global transport-related carbon emissions and the largest local
source of urban air pollution. Recent studies reveal that emissions are growing
more rapidly in the transport sector than in any other sector and are projected

H. S. Kumara, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru,

Karnataka;email: [email protected]

H. S. Kumara, Ph.D. 73
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

to increase by 50 per cent by 2035 and almost double by 2050 under a business-
as-usual scenario (Dulac, 2013; IPCC, 2014b).

In India, the number of registered vehicles in five metropolitan cities,

namely, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune accounted for 49.3
per cent of the total registered vehicles among the 35 million plus cities
(MoRTH, 2013). The average trip length in medium and small size cities is
less than 5 km, which makes NMT an attractive option for commuting. In
bigger cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad 80 per cent of the trips are less
than 10 km in length and 70 per cent of the trips are less than 5 km. In
cities like Pune 97 per cent of the trips is less than 10 km and 80 per cent
of the trips are shorter than 5 km (Tiwari, 2011). Shorter trip lengths which
are primarily responsible for higher private vehicle ridership; especially the
two wheelers and passenger cars are consequently contributing higher to
CO2 emissions.

2. CARBON-DIOXIDE (CO2) EMISSIONS SCENARIO

Vehicle plays a vital role in our economic and social prosperity. Road Transport
is the largest CO2 emitter in transportation sector. In 2014, total global CO2
emissions were 38 Gigatonnes, of which 8.8 Gigatonnes of total transport
emissions, 74 per cent (6.5Gt) were from road transport (GFEI, 2016). Among
the GHG emissions, CO2 is the single most important anthropogenic greenhouse
gas which contributes about 65 per cent of total GHG emissions (WMO, 2014).
The study conducted by Ramachandra et al. in 2015 reveals that, the highest
CO2 emissions is in Hyderabad about 56 per cent, followed by Bengaluru (43 per
cent), Delhi (32 per cent), Ahmadabad (25 per cent), Chennai (19 per cent),
and Greater Mumbai (17 per cent) respectively. Air pollution has emerged as
one of the most serious threats to public health in urban India. India is one of
the countries with highest population expo­sure to PM 2.5, and consequently
health risks from PM 2.5 to the people in India are among the highest in the
World (WHO, 2014). Fine PM (particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers, known as
PM 2.5) can lodge deeply in the lungs and is hazardous to humans and to the
environment. Numerous studies have linked PM 2.5 to serious health problems
including irregular heartbeat, asthma, heart attack, and premature death, etc.
(USAID, 2016).

3. NON-MOTORIZED TRANSPORT (NMT)

Non-Motorized Transport is a sustainable mode of transport (Massink et al.,
2011), further defined as walking, cycling, cycle rickshaws, pushcarts, and other
forms of mobility that are powered by humans (NMTP, Corporation of Chennai,
2014). This is primarily due to the reduced external costs and higher value of
benefits (Litman, 2007; Sinnett et al., 2011). The Jan Gehl, an architect who

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successfully promoted cycling in Copenhagen, in his book ‘Cities for People’

has quoted that ‘the city is for the people and not for cars’. NMT vehicles are
green modes of transport as their carbon footprint is low, energy consumption is
minimal and their emission is zero. In addition they are not dependent on fossil
fuels.

National Urban Transport Policy of India, 2006 clearly lists out the role of NMT
as a last mile connector for the urban transport systems and as an independent
mode for short distances (NUTP, 2006). Non-motorized transport is made up of
about of 37 per cent of urban trips worldwide in 2005 (Habitat III, 2015). The
share of NMT (walking and cycling combine) in Indian cities in the early 1980’s
was in the range of 40-60 per cent of the total trips and a recent study pointed
out its decline. Bicycle ownership in urban area was 46.00 per cent in 2001; it has
declined to 41.90 per cent in 2011 (Census of India, 2001 and 2011). Pedestrians
are particularly vulnerable and account for about 35-50 percent of road traffic
fatalities in most Indian cities (NTDPC, 2015). Non-motorized transport makes a
substantial contribution to reducing air pollution and significant benefits for low
income groups, the sick, the elderly, women and children (John Whitelegg and
Williams, 2000). This is particularly important in the developing world where so
many people live in below poverty.

4. MODAL SHARE OF NMT IN SELECTED INDIAN CITIES

Since 1991, total registered motor vehicle has gone up from 21 million to 141.8
million a more than six fold increases in urban area in India (Planning Commission,
2014). More than 30 per cent of the trips in cities of Ahmadabad, Bengaluru,
Chennai, Delhi and Greater Mumbai are by public transport. The average trip
lengths (ATL) in these cities are 5.4 km, 9.6 km, 8.6 km, 10.2 km and 11.9
km respectively (Table 1). Trends observed in Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal,
Chennai, Delhi, Indore, Jaipur, Mumbai, Mysuru, Pune, Rajkot, and Surat reveal
that about 34 per cent, 25 per cent, 53 per cent, 31 per cent, 33 per cent, 47
per cent, 44 per cent, 33 per cent, 51 per cent, 33 per cent 48 per cent and 55
per cent are NMT trips respectively. Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Mysuru, Rajkot and
Surat account for more than 45 per cent of the total trips by walking and bicycle.
Generalized relationship between population size, trip length and contribution
of NMT trips, as cited in is given Table 1, which reflects that with the increased
population size, trip lengths increase and the share of NMT in total trips reduces.
In bigger cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad 80 per cent of the trips are less than
10 km in length and 70 per cent of the trips are less than 5 km. In cities like Pune
97 per cent of the trips is less than 10 km and 80 per cent of the trips are shorter
than 5 km. Linear regression analysis shows that, shorter the trip length and
greater the share of the NMT and vice versa (Fig. 1). Similarly inference is drawn
by National Institute of Urban Affairs in 2014 whereby bicycle average trip lengths
in Indian cities (excluding walking) range between 2.5 - 4.8 km in small cities and

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Table 1: Existing Travel Modes in Selected Indian Cities

Cities Modal Split Share Average
Population Share of Share of Share of Share of Trip
Urban Public Private Walking of NMT Length
Agglomeration Transport Transport (%) Bicycle (%) (ATL)
(2011 Census) (%) (%) (%) (in km)
Greater Mumbai 18, 414,288 52 15 27 6 33 11.9
Delhi 16,314,838 48 19 21 12 33 10.2
Chennai 8,696,010 39 30 22 9 31 8.6
Bengaluru 8,499,399 36 39 20 5 25 9.6
Ahmadabad 6,352,254 30 36 22 12 34 5.4
Pune 5,049,968 13 54 22 11 33 6.1
Surat 4,585,367 14 31 42 13 55 5.3
Jaipur 3,073,350 17 39 37 7 44 5.4
Indore 2,167,447 16 37 27 20 47 5.6
Bhopal 1,883,381 28 19 49 4 53 3.1
Rajkot 1,390,933 14 38 36 12 48 3.7
Mysuru 983,893 26 23 34 17 51 2.5
Source: Compiled from various reports of Census of India, City Development Plans, Bus Rapid Transit System,
Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Plan and EMBARQ, iTrans, 2009 and Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways (2012).

Fig. 1: Relation between Trip Length and Share of NMT

4.2–6.9 km. in medium and large cities (NIUA, 2014). Tiwari (2011) also concluded
that the average trip length in medium and small size cities is less than 5 km.

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Table 2: Traffic Indices in Selected Indian Cities

Cities 2012 2016 Growth Rate (in Percentage)
Traffic CO2 Emission Traffic CO2 Emission Traffic CO2 Emission
Index Index Index Index Index Index 
(in grams)  (in grams)  (in grams)
Bengaluru 114.74 5536.77 223.97 7271.69 95.20 31.33
Chennai 179.42 5414.00 139.76 4113.15 -22.10 -24.03
Delhi 142.67 7011.43 268.96 10746.67 88.52 53.27
Greater Mumbai 236.29 1575.00 342.51 7355.60 44.95 367.02
Pune 291.20 16470.00 234.43 8504.90 -19.50 -48.36
Source: https://www.numbeo.com/traffic/indices_explained.jsp accessed on 2nd October, 2016
Note: Traffic Index is a composite index of time consumed in traffic due to job commute, estimation of
time consumption dissatisfaction, CO2 consumption estimation in traffic and overall inefficiencies in
the traffic system.
CO2 Emission Index - is an estimation of CO2 consumption due to traffic time. Measurement unit
is grams for the return trip. To calculate an average estimation of emission in grams for one way
commute to work, divide this value with 2.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Traffic Index and CO2 Emissions
Traffic indices of selected Indian cities between 2012 - 2016 indicates that
whereas Pune and Chennai showed negative trends i.e. -19.50 per cent and -22.19
per cent respectively, Bengaluru, Delhi and Grater Mumbai reflected incremental
trends i.e. 95.20 per cent, 88.53 per cent and 44.95 per cent respectively. The
CO2  emission index is an estimation of CO2  consumption due to traffic time and
is measured in grams for the return trip. Growth rate of CO2  emission index in
selected Indian cities between 2012 - 2016 shows that there is a major change
especially in Greater Mumbai, where the index value has increased 367.02 per cent
followed by Delhi (53.27 per cent) and Bengaluru (31.33 per cent) respectively.
On the contrary, it has negative growth rate in Pune and Chennai i.e. -48.36 per
cent and -24.03 per cent respectively (Table 2), which clearly shows that they had
implemented NMT system as an integral part of urban transportation planning and
share of public transport is also increased substantially over the period.

Table 2 clearly indicates that growth rate of time index and CO2 emission index
are positively corresponding to each other and the strength of relationship varies
with the efforts made in introducing the NMT into their respective transportation
systems. Pune and Chennai appear to have implemented the NMT in their
transportation systems more rigorously than Bengaluru, Delhi and Grater Mumbai.

5.2 CO2 Emissions in Passenger Cars

Owning a car is not always about necessity; it is often inspirational and also a
status symbol. Today, the USA, Japan, and Europe have car-ownership levels

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

above 450 cars per 1,000 persons, in India currently has about 15 million cars,
which is equivalent to 13 cars per 1,000 populations (Akshima T Ghate and
S Sundar, 2014). Ownership level of cars in Delhi 157 cars per 1000 persons
followed by Chennai (127), Coimbatore (125), Pune (92), and Bengaluru (85)
respectively (MoRTH, 2012). Car travel consumes nearly twice the energy on
average compared to urban bus travel (CSE, 2013). The exponential growth
of number of cars in metropolitan cities will have serious implication on
energy, air pollution and road safety. Over 90 percent of the fuel used for
transportation is petroleum based, which includes gasoline and diesel (Kahn
Ribeiro et. al. 2007). Further, five Indian cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai,
Delhi, Greater Mumbai and Pune were selected for detailing analysis of
vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT), fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in
passenger cars.

5.3 Vehicle Kilometers Travelled (VKT) in Passenger Cars

VKT is the key data for transportation planning and management, and a common
measure of roadway use (DULT, 2010-11). It is dependent on the trip lengths and
the number of trips made of the passengers. The average annual VKT in passenger
cars has been calculated based on the total passenger cars registered (MORTH,
2012). In 2012, Delhi has the highest VKT in passenger cars with 22.16 million
kilometers, followed by Bengaluru (7.69 million kilometers), Greater Mumbai
(7.35 million kilometers), Chennai (5.62 million kilometers) and least is the Pune
(2.03 million kilometers) respectively (Table 3). While comparing with CRRI 2002
data, the average annual VKT in passenger cars in Delhi, Greater Mumbai and
Pune is declining, whereas Bengaluru and Chennai were having increasing trends
in the span of ten years, which clearly indicates that, even though encouraging
public transport system and simultaneously passenger cars also increasing in
these cities.

Table 3: Registered Vehicles, ATL, VKT of Selected Indian Cities

Selected Population Average Annual Average Annual Average Annual
Cities (in millions) VKT in all Motor VKT in Passenger VKT in Passenger
Vehicles Cars Cars
(in million (in million (in million
kilometers) -2012 kilometers) - 2012 kilometers)
(CRRI, 2002)
Bengaluru 8.50 39.90 7.69 5.35
Chennai 4.65 32.40 5.62 5.56
Delhi 11.03 74.97 22.16 30.69
Greater
12.44 24.15 7.35 12.10
Mumbai
Pune 3.12 13.83 2.03 3.15
Source: Census of India, 2011, MORTH, 2012, CRRI, 2002.

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Table 4: Estimation of Fuel Consumption of Passenger Cars in Selected Indian Cities

Average
Total Diesel Petrol Diesel Petrol
Annual
Registered (40%) (60%) Consumption Consumption
VKT Fuel
Selected Passenger Passenger Passenger Passenger Passenger
Passenger Consumption
Cities Cars (in Cars (in Cars (in Car in Car in
Cars (in (in liters)
millions- million million liters (16.2 liters (15.3
million
2012) kms) kms) Mileage/km) Mileage/km)
kms)
Bengaluru 8.50 7.69 3.08 4.61 189877 301569 491445
Chennai 4.65 5.62 2.25 3.37 138765 220392 359158
Delhi 11.03 22.16 8.86 13.30 547160 869020 1416180
Greater
12.44 7.35 2.94 4.41 181481 288235 469717
Mumbai
Pune 3.12 2.03 0.81 1.22 50123 79608 129731
Note: Calculation of Fuel Consumption was not considered for Non-availability of data on CNG and Electrical
Passenger cars in selected cities.

5.4 Estimation of Fuel Consumption in Passenger Cars

The fuel efficiency of in-use fleet for year 2012 is summarized in Table 4, which
is based on (Goel et al., 2015) average mileage of petrol car is 14-15.3 l/km and
diesel car is 15.3-16.2 l/km respectively. For calculation considered diesel car
16.2 liters/ km and petrol car 15.3 liters/km and an assumption of 40 per cent
of diesel and 60 per cent petrol cars in all the cities. The total fuel consumption
of Passenger cars is highest in Delhi, followed by Bengaluru, Greater Mumbai,
Chennai and Pune respectively.

5.5 Estimation of CO2 Emissions of Passenger Cars

Estimation of CO2 emissions are directly related to the amount of fuel burnt
and the total number of in-use vehicles and vehicle kilometers travelled (Rahul
Goel et al., 2015). There are four key components to drive transportation CO2
emissions which are travel activity (i.e., vehicle kilometers traveled, or VKT),
mode share, fuel intensity, and fuel carbon content (Lee, S., Celine, M. and Roger,
G, 2000). For the petrol and diesel vehicles Inter-governmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) Guidelines for calculating CO2 emission of Diesel Passenger car is
2.3035 kg/l and Petrol Passenger car is 2.6256 kg/l (IPCC, 2006) were considered.
Delhi passenger Car emits 1.23 million tones Carbon – dioxide (CO2) equivalent,
followed by Bengaluru (0.15), Greater Mumbai (0.13), Chennai (0.08) and least
is the Pune i.e. 0.01 (Table 5).

CO2 emissions/ kilometers (USEPA, 2014) x Average Vehicle

Travelled Kilometers

Emissions (g) =No. of Vehicles X Vehicle Kilometers Travelled (VKT) X Emission

factor (G/KM)

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Table 5: Estimation of CO2 Emissions from Passenger Cars in Selected Indian Cities
Average CO2 CO2
Diesel Petrol CO2 CO2 Total CO2
Annual Emissions Emissions Total CO2
(40%) (60%) Emissions Emissions emissions of
Selected VKT in Diesel Petrol Emissions of
Passenger Passenger Diesel Petrol Passenger
Cities in Passenger Passenger Passenger Passenger
Cars (in Cars (in Passenger Passenger Cars
India Cars (In Car Car Cars
million million Car Car (In million
Million (2.3035 (2.6256 (In tons)
kms) kms) (In tones) (In tones) tons)
kms) kg/l) kg/l)
Bengaluru 7.69 3.08 4.61 0.0023 0.0026 54,488.00 93,160.65 147,648.65 0.15
Chennai 5.62 2.25 3.37 0.0023 0.0026 29,101.87 49,756.80 78,858.67 0.08
Delhi 22.16 8.86 13.30 0.0023 0.0026 452,467.84 773,605.10 1,226,072.95 1.23
Greater
7.35 2.94 4.41 0.0023 0.0026 49,776.33 85,104.89 134,881.22 0.13
Mumbai
Pune 2.03 0.81 1.22 0.0023 0.0026 3,797.00 6, 491.90 10,288.90 0.01

6. CHALLENGES
Various studies and academic research have come across to addressing towards
integration of transport and land use at city level. The recent studies have come
up with different approaches of urban forms to resolve the urban issues such
as ‘transit oriented development’, ‘non-motorized transport’, ‘smart growth’,
‘down zoning’ and ‘new urbanism’, etc. But, if these are to be achieved then
strong governance framework is required for effective implementation of spatial
plans. The major challenge is to retrofitting issues for NMT especially in Indian
cities are as follows:

• Issues related to segregation of lanes for (bicycle paths and sidewalks) NMT
increasing the pressure on road density; existing roads do not have dedicated
facilities for pedestrians, bicycles or buses, and have high rates of fatal
crashes per km per year based on five years of traffic fatality data in Delhi
(Rankawat et al., 2012);
• Presence of discontinued foot paths discouraged to pedestrian usage in
Indian cities. The major obstacle of discontinued footpaths are “potholes,
open manholes, poor maintenance of paver blocks, trees planted in the
centre, parked vehicles, street furniture like light poles, electric wires, and
discontinuity due to driveways” (Goel and Tiwari, 2014);
• Urban sprawl negatively impacts the non-motorized travel as trip length
increases. On the contrary, the studies reveals that majority of the trips,
even in mega cities, are shorter than 5 km, revealing high potential for NMT
in Indian Cities (Tiwari and Jain, 2013);
• Issues for creating compact environment for NMT in old and compact cities;
and
• Factors associated with NMT which includes demographic and socio-economic
characteristics, trip characteristics, environmental factors, people attitude
and individual perception.

H. S. Kumara, Ph.D. 80
Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 1: A Defunct Cycle Track in the City. PMC’s Past Efforts in this Regard have Failed.

Source: (Courtesy by Sandeep Daundkar) http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/

pmc-flogs-tired-tested-cycling-project-again-2842150/.

• Pune Municipal Corporation has introduced Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) in

2008 under JnNURM. It has constructed 123 kilometers of cycle tracks. But
most of it is in a bad condition presently.

7. OPPORTUNITIES
Mysore City Corporation was started India’s First Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS)
System. The Government of India has taken up 20 smart cities for development
in Round 1 of the Smart City Mission. Pune, Coimbatore and Chennai, as
part of the Mission, have proposed to invest over 88 million USD (600 Crore
rupees) in sustainable transport projects. A Master Plan of the road network
proposed for Nanded city includes: rationalization of major vehicle lanes to
accommodate all users, separate lanes for NMT, pedestrian precinct around
the Sachkh and Gurudwara (Pradeep Sachdeva Design Associates, 2012). The
following Indian cities have attempted to integrate with retrofitting options
of NMT.

7.1 Mysore City Corporation

Mysuru is the third biggest city in the State of Karnataka covering an area of
128 sq km and a population of 8.87 lakh (Census of India 2011). It is located 140
km away from Bangalore, the State Capital. The Mysore City Corporation has
introduced India’s first Public Bicycle sharing project in Mysuru (Photos 2). The
project is funded by the World Bank under its Global Environment Facility Grant
and State Government. The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has implemented the

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 2: Public Bicycle Sharing System, Docking Station and Students and General Public Using Public
Bicycle Sharing System

project in collaboration with Directorate of Urban Land and Transport (DULT).

The total project cost is Rs. 20.00 crore. A total 450 bicycles and 48 docking
stations setup across the City including major tourist destinations, universities
and offices. The docking stations are automated and users can use a smart card
to take bicycles from one docking station and return at any other docking station.
The Bicycle users has to be registered as member by paying Rs. 350 a refundable
deposit and obtain a smart card by swiping which they can take out a bicycle
from docking station.

7.2 Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)

Pune is the ninth most populous city in India and the second largest in the state
of Maharashtra with a metropolitan area population of 5.057 million. Pune
Municipal Corporation (PMC) has a population of 3.124 million (Census of India,
2011). Pune is an educational hub and is emerging as a prominent location for
IT and is centre of concentration of manufacturing and automobile industries.
The current share of trips by walk and cycle are 32 per cent. PMC has prepared
urban street design guidelines and called for global tender worth Rs. 9.5. crores
to implement PBS system in city, which is about 42 km long having 1200 bicycles
and 112 station. PMC will be developing about 225 km pedestrian paths and
initiative of ‘Walk Smart Policy’ for pedestrian facilities and safety in Pune city
(Pune Smart City Plan, 2016).

7.3 Coimbatore Corporation

Coimbatore is the second largest city in Tamil Nadu with a population of 0.226
million in the greater metropolitan area (Census of India, 2011). Coimbatore
City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has been implementing 30 km corridor for
non-motorized tracks for cycling and walking. The corridor has been envisaged
as connecting vantage points of lake, parks, Ukkadam bus stand, bustling market
streets and residential areas. In addition, various projects in the pipeline
include, 9 km of new footpaths, 34 km of protected cycle tracks, and the
pedestrianization of Big Bazaar Street in the heart of the city (Fig. 3). This also
included under signature initiatives under area-based proposal in the Smart City
Project initiatives (Coimbatore SCP, 2016).

H. S. Kumara, Ph.D. 82
Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

Fig. 3: A View of Coimbatore’s Car-Free Sunday

Sources: http://itdp.in/coimbatores-car-free-sundays-spark-demand-for-better-pedestrian-
facilities/

7.4 The Corporation of Chennai

Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in India with population
of 8.69 million (Census of India, 2011). The Corporation of Chennai (COC) has
introduced Non-Motorized Transport Policy in 2014 and initiated to develop wide,
Fig. 4: New Footpaths, Pedestrian Plazas, Separate Cycle Tracks, Car Free Sunday in
Elliot’s Beach Road in Chennai

Source: https://www.itdp.org/category/program/cycling-and-walking/
http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Chennais-First-Car-free-
Sunday-in-City-a-Big-Draw/2015/10/12/article3075611.ece accessed on 25th
October, 2016.

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

continuous pedestrian footpaths along all of the city’s arterial streets. The policy
aims to arrest the current decline in walking and cycling in the city by creating
safe and pleasant network of footpaths, cycle tracks, green ways and other NMT
facilities (Fig. 4). The Corporation of Chennai has earmarked about 60 per cent
of urban transport fund to be allocated to NMT in Chennai city. About 75 per
cent of its primary and secondary road networks should have NMT infrastructure
before 2020 (Corporation of Chennai, 2014).

8. POLICY INITIATIVES FOR AN APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE URBAN

TRANSPORT
8.1 Global Scenario and Initiatives
About 10 million trips are made every day in urban areas around the World
(World Bank Report). Share of NMT in the world is to the tune of about 37 per
cent in 2005, but a recent study pointed out its decline. In Global scenario,
various cities have initiated NMT system in a sustainable manner. Copenhagen
is one of the top bicycle city in the World, where more than 45 per cent of
the journey is made by bicycles and is also known as World green capital
(Copenhagen City of Cyclists, 2014). League of American Bicyclist-1880 has
initiated Bicycle Friendly America (BFA) with the focuses of bicycle friendly
community, bicycle friendly business and bicycle friendly university (League
of American Wheelmen, Inc., 1880). California Bicycle Transportation Plan was
prepared under California Cycle Transportation Act. Germany opened first 5
km stretch of a traffic-free bicycle highway that is set to span over 100 km
(AFP, 2015). European countries have initiated auto-free zones in downtown
areas, bicycle streets and Public Bicycle System (European Commission, 2004).
Seoul and Singapore was started the initiatives of Walkable and Bikeable Cities
(Centre for Liveable Cities, 2016).

8.2 Indian scenario and initiatives

NMT system is key elements of the transport system in Indian cities. NMT is
sustainable mode or green modes of transport; their carbon footprint is low;
energy consumption is minimal; and emission is zero. Share of NMT in 1980’s in
Indian cities was 40 - 60 per cent. In 2008, modal share for walking and cycling in
urban areas was 38 per cent, whereas public transport and intermediate public
transport had 33 per cent share and private vehicles, 29 per cent (IIHS, 2011;
Pai, 2010). NMT constitutes a significant share of the total traffic in Indian cities
and all have a relatively high rate of bicycle ownership and a high proportion of
bicycle traffic. In Indian cities, the share of NMT at peak hour varies from 30 - 70
per cent. The proportion of trips undertaken by bicycles range from 15 to 35 per
cent; the share tending to be higher in medium and small size cities. The patterns
of NMT use change with growth in city size (Dinesh Mohan, 2002). Incremental
increasing of middle income families and India is the third largest CO2 emission
country. WHO report reveals that 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world

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are in India (Hindustan Times, 2015). NMT makes a substantial contribution to

reducing pollution and significant benefit for low income groups.

The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has encouraged Indian cities through
various initiatives and programmes to adopt NMT as a key component of their
integrated urban transport system. One of the objectives of National Urban
Transport Policy, 2006 is to encourage NMT and public transport with central
financial assistance (MoUD, 2006). National Mission for Sustainable Habitat under
the Prime Ministers National Action Plan on Climate Change has constituted
sub-committees for specially focusing on urban transport. The committee has
listed eight primary principles to ensure sustainable approach to urban transport
planning, of which first two are ‘Walk’ and ‘Cycle’ (NMSH, 2011). A Working Group
on Urban Transport under 12th Five Year Plan document recommended to create
dedicated funds to improve, maintain and upgrade existing walking and cycling
infrastructures (Planning Commission, 2011). Smart city initiatives program
have emphasized on to promote mixed land use in area based development and
creating walkable neighborhoods (MoUD, 2015). Atal Mission for Rejuvenation
and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) has identified 500 cities; it will focus on the
trust area of pedestrian, non-motorized and public transport facilities (MoUD,
2015). MoUD, 2012 has prepared Public Cycle Sharing Systems - a planning
toolkit for Indian cities under National Public Bicycle Scheme, December, 2012
(MoUD, 2012). The MoUD has initiated the Sustainable Urban Transport Project
with support of Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), World Bank (WB) and Participating States and Cities. Under
this initiative MoUD has selected four demo cities. They are; Pimpri-Chinchwad
in Maharashtra, Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh State, Indore in Madhya Pradesh
and Mysuru in Karnataka. Government of India has also launched the National
Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 with an aim to address the issue of
rising vehicular pollution, and increasing concerns over the energy security of
the country.

9. CONCLUSIONS
CO2 emissions are the major alarming issues in the Indian cities. Walking and
cycling is the most desirable modes of urban residents for shopping and other
activities. Detailed analysis of modal share of NMT is quite enormous. The study
indicates that whichever cities have implemented NMT has substantially increased
public transport, and experienced remarkable decline in the CO2 emissions e.g.
Copenhagen and Paris having negative growth rate of CO2 emissions. At present, in
Copenhagen almost 50 per cent of urban residents use NMT. In addition, few Indian
cities have made attempts to implement NMT, but there are issues concerning
lane segregation, obstruction of utilities and dedicated funding for effective
implementation. In this paper, the detail analysis of VKT, fuel consumption and
CO2 emission of passenger cars is quite huge. While comparing VKT in passenger

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 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

cars from 2002 to 2012, it is found that in Bengaluru it is constantly increasing

followed by Chennai, whereas in Delhi, Greater Mumbai and Pune it is declining.
It indicates that, few cities have implemented mass-rapid transit system such
as Metro, BRTS, etc. Based on the analysis, the study suggests restricting the
passenger cars entry into the downtown areas and encouraging sustainable
modes of urban transport such as NMT and public transport.

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H. S. Kumara, Ph.D. 89
 Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

GIFT City - A Unique Model of Urban Development

S. G. Sonar, Ph. D.; and Rajesh S. Phadke

Abstract
This study of GIFT City model provides an important lesson that, while building a new
city, it is essential first to create the infrastructure and then only to start building
offices and residences. It is observed that GIFT City offers a model by which city can
be built with private investment by capitalizing land. Ministry of Urban Development,
Government of India in its Mission Statement and Guidelines on Smart Cities published
in June, 2015 has rightly mentioned GIFT City as a good example of "Greenfield Smart
City".

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Overview of Gift City
In the history of the country, a new city is being set up for the first time in a
Public- Private Partnership (PPP) mode by name Gujarat International Financial
Tec-City (GIFT) in the State of Gujarat. In terms of scale and sheer physical
scope, GIFT City is designed to be at par with presently acknowledged globally
benchmarked Financial Centres, such as, Shinjuku Tokyo, Lujiazui Shanghai, La
Defense Paris, London Dockyards, etc. GIFT City is envisaged as a future city in
many ways. GIFT City Master Plan spreads over a total land area of 886 acres.
The total planned built-up area (BUA) is 62 million sq ft; commercial area 42
million sq ft, residential area 14 million sq ft and social area 6 million sq. ft.
About 60 % of the land is proposed to be kept permanently open. GIFT City is
divided into two zones: one for Domestic Financial and IT Services (625 acres),
and the other (261 acres) for Multi Services including International Financial
Services under Multi Services-Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Approvals for SEZ
and International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) are obtained by GIFT City.
It targets service sector in general and International Financial Services Centre
in particular as its economic base for employment generation. Further, city
does not have any scope for Industries or Service Industries to contribute in
its employment generation. This being, the state does not have a strong base
of service sectors, like, financial services which are concentrated in economic
capital i.e. Mumbai.

S. G. Sonar, Ph. D.; Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering,
Shivajinagar, Pune; e-mail: sgs.civil(g),coep.ac.in
Rajesh S. Phadke; Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering,
Shivajinagar, Pune; e-mail: [email protected]

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2. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
Government of Gujarat (GoG) has had an excellent record of promoting
large projects in partnership with private sector. The government decided
to partner with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) Ltd. for
GIFT City; which had established itself as a leading infrastructure company
in the country. Public sector usually lack in real estate skill and expertise to
develop and private sector is unable to make large scale real estate project
economically viable. The solution can be a PPP Project which can avail benefits
of both public and private sectors. In June, 2007 a joint venture company GIFT
Company Limited (GIFTCL) was formed with 50 % equity contribution each
from Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC), a fully-owned company
of the Government of Gujarat and IL and FS. Government handed over its
own land with a condition to share profit with the government and to act
as a resource for the project. Government developed the trunk peripheral
infrastructure required for this project. This includes two bridges on river
Sabarmati, access roads to project site, lying of electric transmission lines
till sub-station, allocation of water from Narmada Canal, etc. All approvals,
sanctions, clearances like approval of Land-use Zone Plan, DCRs required for
project are supported by government. The record indicates that government
facilitated in obtaining finance, development and promotion of the project
Fig. 1: GIFT City Development Framework

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which is a great advantage for any large scale project in its initial stages.
The role of IL and FS is that of an Equity Partner, Project Manager and also an
Anchor Investor. It has contributed in Master Planning and providing state-of-
the-art infrastructure services and in globally positioning the project. It has
used its skill in bringing the right developers, right clients and right partners.
Its presence on the Board facilitates quick and often risky decisions, while
the presence of the government and Independent Directors can ensure due
regard for processes and transparency. Such a combination of Board Members
is quite different when compared with other companies of large scale
development. Development Framework for GIFT City has been presented in
Fig. 1.

3. LOCATION AND LAND FOR PROJECT

Accessibility and location is very crucial for the success of any Urban Development
Project. It is important to have seamless connectivity for sale of project.
Fortunately, GIFT City is located on National Highway 48 and is well connected
to Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (developed cities in the immediate vicinity).
Ahmedabad Railway Station is approximately 17 km and Sabarmati Railway
Station is located approximately at 15 km from GIFT City. A big advantage
is closeness to airport. Ahmedabad International Airport is located at 12 km
from the site and is presently well connected by roads. There is a proposal to
connect Airport with GIFT City by eight lane expressway. The notified area of
3.65 sq kms (886 acres) is very minimal for accommodating 1.0 million projected
employments. The great step was taken by the government by approving and
allotting 673 acres of its land for the project for a token payment of one rupee
in January, 2011. The project was on paper from 2005 till government handed
over land in 2011. Handing over of land proved to be a starting point for the
project. Additionally, nearly 10 acres of land was acquired by GIFTCL following
land acquisition procedure, Some critical parcels of private lands admeasuring
17 acres were purchased by GIFTCL at market rates from private owners. Land
assembly which is a major hurdle for any green-field project was not a problem
for GIFT City. Still 196 acres of land is not yet in possession of GIFT Company.
All 261 acres of land notified for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is in possession of
GIFT Company.

4. MASTER PLAN FOR GIFT CITY

A careful analysis of GIFT Master Plan shows that it envisages a development
model that is different from that being practised by regular Urban Development
Authorities and Urban Local Bodies in Indian context. GIFT Master Plan is
prepared to achieve specific urban form, public realm, pattern, mix uses and
to accommodate 0.5 million direct employments and equal number of indirect
employments. The Plan is designed considering all these factors with an

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aim to develop built-up area of about 62 million sq ft on 886 acres of land.

In order to achieve its skyline with high-rise buildings up to 410 meters some
different concept of Floating and Higher Floor Space Index (FSI) was needed.
The planners proposed Global FSI with 3.65 factors to achieve High Rise High
Density Development. It was proposed in DCRs and approved by government. It
was not possible with usual plotted development with FSI 1.0. This Global FSI
factor of 3.65 was granted first time to any Urban Development Project in Indian
context. It was required for GIFT City to achieve the planned High Density High-
Rise Development on the limited land area. The concept of Global FSI is being
used in its true sense for the first time in

Gujarat State. As per the development model, GIFTCL sells only Development
Rights to the developers with Basement Extent and Building Footprint marked
as per the Urban Design and Architecture Sheet (UDAS). It is issued to developer
to prepare building plans. It includes guidelines regarding building development
relating to building envelope, built-up area, open spaces, building form, building
height, facade, vertical zoning, landscape, urban design, architectural features,
access, utilities and services, etc. The built-up area generated using Global FSI
is distributed across various blocks to achieve a certain built-form. This concept
of "Form Based Development" is being successfully implemented. There is no
plotted development in GIFT City. Also, compound walls to buildings are not
permitted in GIFT City as per its DCRs. Its Master Plan has been presented in
Fig. 2.

4.1 GIFT City Development Control Regulations (DCRs)

The DCRs prepared for GIFT City are intentionally made different than the DCRs
of all Urban Development Authorities in Gujarat State. The details when studied
reveal that these DCRs are also different than the one usually followed in the
country. The intent and purpose of the DCRs clearly reflects that these are
to promote innovation and creativity. The DCRs are unique as they promote a
form-based controls rather than prescriptive controls. The regulations authorize
GIFTCL to scrutinise the building plans. The total technical scrutiny is done by
technical team of GIFTCL. The scrutiny is not limited to architectural drawings
but it also scrutinizes engineering services, structural drawings and designs of
the building proposal. The important aspects, like, entry of utility tunnel, gas
pipeline, sewage connection point, storm water drain with levels are checked at
the time of development permission itself. The permission drawings are issued
with co-ordinates which are on universal co-ordination system. These detailing
leaves no chance for any ambiguity or last minute amendments for developers.
Every aspect of building and services is decided before permission. As per GIFT
City DCRs, the applicant gets development permission only for architectural
drawings. The applicant has to apply and obtain Commencement Certificates

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separately for structural works and services. The consultants appointed by

the applicants need to submit structural design and drawings as well as design
and drawings of mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire fighting services.
GIFTCL appoints proof checking consultants at the cost of the applicant to
review all design and drawings of structural and services. Without obtaining
Commencement Certificate for structural drawings the applicant is not allowed
to start construction.

GIFT DCRs has made following mandatory provisions for each and every building
which makes it different from other regulations:

• Follow Green Building Norms and obtain Green Building Certificate;

• Submit all drawings in REVIT Model which include all structural and services
drawings;
• Prepare and submit Emergency Response Plan and Disaster Management Plan;
• Integrated Building Management System (IBMS) is mandatory;
• Duel Plumbing System is mandatory to use recycled water;
• Provisions for use of Solar Energy Mandatory;
• All approval drawings should be on Universal Co-ordinate System; and
• The developer need to prepare and submit plans in soft-copies in prescribed
format required by software developed for online approval of plans.

4.2 Online Development Approval System (ODAS)

GIFTCL has developed an Online Development Approval System (ODAS) for
development permission. ODAS is the unique and innovative way of automatic
scrutiny of building proposal by reading CAD drawings in pre-DCR formats. The
system reads CAD drawing in pre-DCR format and produces scrutiny reports in
a few minutes, mapping all DCRs of Authority to the drawing entities. Thus,
it reduces paper work, valuable time and effort of developers, consultants
and the Authority. Though this is no more a new technique in Indian context,
in GIFT City it is implemented right from the first permission that makes it
different.

4.3 Environmental Clearance and Height Clearance

GIFT Company has obtained Environmental Clearance for the entire project. Also,
the required Height Clearance for all the buildings in the project is obtained by the
company. This has saved valuable time and efforts of individual developers from
obtaining Environmental and Height Clearances for their individual buildings. In
all other Urban Development Authorities Environmental and Height Clearances
is left to the individual developer. Such initiatives taken by project proponent
make it a good place for ‘ease of doing businesses’.

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5. GOVERNANCE MODEL FOR GIFT CITY

It is observed that the development of green-field large scale development
always poses a challenge with respect to local urban governance of such
developments. The promoter / developer has to provide and maintain
services till such time a democratically elected governance structure is in
place as per the provisions of the Constitution of India. This transition period
is critical for the promoter / developer as the rights of the local authorities
namely the gram / village Panchayat are not extinguished. In order to resolve
this problem in case of GIFT City, Urban Development and Urban Housing
Department, Government of Gujarat by notification dated 15th March, 2012
declared the areas of GIFT City as Industrial Township in exercise of its powers
under proviso to Clause (1) of Article 243 Q of the Constitution of India.
Thereafter, by another notification government constituted a Committee for
the Industrial Township in exercise of the powers under Gujarat Municipalities
Act, 1963. This "Notified Committee" is empowered as Urban Local Body for
GIFT City. With this, it has come out of village Panchayat jurisdiction. This
saved its residents / developers from levy of property tax and from the hassles
of obtaining various permissions / NOCs from village Panchayat as local body.
Getting the status of Urban Local Body from start of the project is a unique
feature of GIFT City. This model is worth repeating by all other states for
large scale green-field development projects.

5.1 GIFT Urban Development Authority (UDA)

Initially, GIFT was conceptualized, as a part of the Gandhinagar Urban Development
Authority (GUDA). In order to achieve a specific built form, the separate DCRs
were prepared and sanctioned for GIFT City in 2011. When, it was observed that
the process of granting building permission through GUDA was time-consuming
and there was a shortage of dedicated team to address the Unique Building
Permission Process stipulated in GIFT DCRs, government constituted a separate
'GIFT Urban Development Authority (GIFT UDA)' on 15th March, 2012 to regulate
the development in GIFT City. It was not envisaged with an exclusive full-fledged
staff. The technical staffs of GIFTCL provide the necessary technical support.
Such an arrangement is unique, happening for the first time in the state and
also in the country. For the first time in the state, a separate UDA is formed for
such a small area of 886 acres. A separate UDA has given the required autonomy
and flexibility to the Authority. The setup of GIFT UDA is quite different. It is
headed by Principal Secretary / Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development
and Urban Housing Department. The members are Government Officials. The
Chairman and Managing Director of GIFTCL are the members. GIFT UDA has
constituted the Development Committee for granting approval to the Building
Plans (issue of Development Permission), issue of Commencement Certificate
and Occupancy Certificate in GIFT City. The Development Committee has the
following three members.

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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 16 x 1, January - March 2019

• Managing Director, GIFTCL;

• Chief Town Planner, Govt, of Gujarat; and
• Member Secretary, GIFT UDA.

As per the arrangement sanctioned by government, the approved DCRs; GIFTCL

scrutinizes the application for development permission and recommends the
same to the GIFT UDA. Thus, all buildings are administratively approved by GIFT
UDA and GIFTCL provides technical support. Such an arrangement is not a usual
for any Planning and Development Authority in Indian context.

6. UNIQUE INFRASTRUCTURE
GIFT City management had taken bold decisions to use new concepts, techniques and
technology for the first time at city scale. Dedicated Power Distribution Company,
Utility Tunnel, District Cooling System and Automated Waste Collection System are
planned and provided at city level for the first time in the country. This modern
infrastructure has made GIFT City a unique large scale development project.

6.1 GIFT Power Company Ltd.

Getting power distribution license for SEZ area is common but to get it for entire
city is different. GIFTCL has formed its fully owned subsidiary named as GIFT
Power Company Ltd. for procurement and distribution of electricity within its
jurisdiction. The company has obtained the electricity distribution license from
Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission; the regulatory authority in April,
2013. This has given autonomy to purchase power and decide electricity tariff,
execute infrastructure and distribute power as per required specifications.

6.2 Utility Tunnel

GIFT City management had taken a bold decision to give its citizens a place which
will function without digging of city roads for maintenance, repairs, replacement
and augmentation of all services. In many urban development projects 'Utility
Trenches' are seen whereas; GIFT City has planned Utility Tunnels for entire city to
carry all services except sewage, storm water drain and pipe gas. The alignment
of utility tunnel is not below roads. This has saved roads from digging for various
reasons. The roads are without service manholes. This concept has necessitated
marking of additional land for services. All pipes and cables are housed in an
underground concrete tunnel, equipped with ventilation, fire fighting equipment
and sensors to detect faults and leaks. A utility tunnel measures average 7.6
meter by 6.2 meters. This tunnel in GIFT City has a provision of a repair and
maintenance vehicle to manoeuvre through it. This concept has definitely
high cost implications. But considering importance of un-interrupted services
for continuity of business this is tried for the first time in India. Moreover, for
High-Rise High Density Development it is a good option. GIFT City demonstrates
what can be done for un-interrupted services as services are backbone of any
development (Fig. 3).

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Fig. 3: Utility Tunnel in GIFT City, District Cooling System (DCS)

The window or split air conditioners which hang out of window, radiate heat,
spill water, guzzle power and create noise are not allowed in GIFT City. All the
buildings in city are planned to be air-conditioned using District Cooling System,
which supply chilled water to every building through insulated pipes which
runs in utility tunnel. This is made mandatory through DCRs. District Cooling is
energy-efficient and pollution-free. This is an efficient and reliable service for
the occupants of GIFT City. It saves energy, its noiseless, clean technology, saves
space in every building. DCS at city level is done for the first time in India. It is
used earlier elsewhere for captive areas only.

6.3 Domestic Gas

The domestic gas is not an after-thought for GIFT City which usually happens for
brown field development. A specific corridor was earmarked for domestic gas
well at planning stage to avoid future complications. All the occupants of GIFT
City would have piped gas for domestic / commercial uses. This has eliminated
the requirement of gas cylinder movement, gas storage yards which has saved
important urban land giving a clean neat look.

6.4 Master Balancing Reservoir

GIFT Master Plan has used the requirement of Master Balancing Reservoir and
proposed it in the form of an artificial lake which will also act as recreational
water body. It will be used to store raw water pumped from Narmada Canal
which is a source of water supply for GIFT City. This lake serves the huge daily
requirement and the requirement during canal closure period for maintenance,
a Master Balancing Reservoir with about 15 days of storage has been envisaged
which is on higher side. Besides storage, this reservoir would also be used for
water side recreational activities. The lake has added urban character and has
enhanced the aesthetic beauty of GIFT City. This has added a social element to
GIFT City. It has avoided ugly looking ground and elevated reservoirs may be at
the cost of heavy evaporation losses.

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6.4 Use of Treated Water

Towards being "Water Neutral", sewage collection, treatment and recycling is
planned in GIFT City for sourcing water for reuse so that there is no discharge
of waste water from it. This is a much needed step considering location of GIFT
City in area where there is a water scarcity. This treated water will be mainly
used in District Cooling Plants in Cooling Towers. The balance treated water is
planned to be used for horticulture and flushing. Each High-Rise Building has
to make provision for duel plumbing system to use recycled water for flushing.
This aspect is taken care through regulated development permissions. This is
how GIFT Greenfield Urban Development has planned to utilise entire Treated
Sewage Effluent (TSE) to reduce fresh water requirement. Such practices can
be made mandatory by all State and Central Government for Greenfield urban
development considering the scarcity of fresh water in all major cities.

6.5 Solid Waste Management

GIFT City Planners did not want any visible garbage anywhere in city. It was
envisaged to have Integrated Solid Waste Management System employing latest
Solid Waste Treatment Technologies. Considering the nature of business in
the GIFT City, a dedicated e-Waste Management System would be required to
ensure pollution less environment for the occupants. After a global search, they
selected a system in which the garbage would be dropped into chutes, provided
in all buildings, at street level, and evacuated through pipes using high-pressure
vacuum, to a Central Collection System, where it would be segregated, processed
and the unusable garbage would be eventually incinerated. It has given a clean,
neat city. Such an arrangement can be repeated in Central Business Districts of
new towns and cities Having High Rise High Density Developments. The concept
diagram and building is shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4: Solid Waste Management in GIFT City

7. CONCLUSIONS
Government of Gujarat had taken bold initiatives for GIFT City Project which
typically State Governments are reluctant to take. This includes formation of

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Public Private Partnership in the form of GIFT City Joint Venture Company with
50 % equity contribution each from GUDC and IL&FS Ltd. This is the only city
which is being built without any capital investment by the government, both
in infrastructure and buildings. The project is financed by leveraging land and
BUA (FSI). This approach of planning is a unique and different approach away
from the traditional one. Government handed over its own land with a condition
to share profit with the government and to act as a resource for the project.
Government developed the trunk peripheral infrastructure required for this
project, which includes external connectivity, approach roads, bridges, water
supply, domestic gas, power supply, etc. Government declared GIFT City as
Industrial Township and proposed Notified Committee as an Urban Local Body
for professional management of all utilities. GIFT UDA formed for quick decision
making in the approval of building plans and other statutory requirements. It
has formulated separate Form Based Development Control Regulations in the
form of Urban Design and Architectural Sheet to facilitate flexible Global FSI
consistent with the Master Plan. It has obtained Environmental Clearance and
Height Clearance for entire project in advance and adopted Online Development
Approval System. Also, separate Power Distribution Company for the city has
been established to ensure uninterrupted power supply. It has also developed
Unique Infrastructure, in the form of District Cooling System, Domestic Gas,
Utility Tunnel, Master Balancing Reservoir, Reuse of Treated Water, Automated
Waste Collection System, etc.

Initiatives taken by Government of Gujarat in the development of GIFT City

has set an example for the large scale green-field developments in the form of
smart development, good governance and efficient management, world class
unique Infrastructure, form based flexible development and that to on innovative
concept of public private partnership. Although, this project deals in real estate,
it never allows itself to forget that this project is being built in public interest
and that, perhaps, has made it a unique urban development model. GIFT City has
set an example of smart development which can be replicated for future large
scale green-field developments in Indian context.

REFERENCES
Mankad Sudhir, (2016) Making of GIFT City, Sardar Patel University Publication, H.M. Patel
Memorial lecture, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, February 12, 2016.
Patel Gaurang, (2017) India's First District Cooling System at GIFT City, Air Conditioning
and Refrigeration ISHRAE Journal, December 2017, pp 54 to 64.
Phadke Rajesh (2014); Local Governance for Special Townships in Maharashtra: Case of
Hill Stations and Private Cities. 'Shelter', HUDCO Journal Volume 15, No. 1, April 2014,
pp31 to 37.
Phadke Rajesh (2019), 'Urban Land Policies and City Planning', Technical Papers Journal
of ITPFs 67th NTCP Congress, Chandigarh, January 2019, pp 25 to 31.
GIFT City website: http://www.giftgujarat.in

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