Redefining Master Plans for creating sustainable cities-Jharkhand Conference- 5-6-25.docx

Rationalising and Redefining Master Plans for Making Indian
Cities - Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable
*Jit Kumar Gupta
1. Introduction
Last two centuries have witnessed rapid change and transformation of communities, cities,
states and countries; in terms of way of living, distribution of population, pattern of
employment, means of productivity & mobility, pattern of income, distribution and
consumption of wealth and resource etc. These patterns are largely showcased by both speed,
magnitude and concentration of population, activities, resources and infrastructure. All these
changes and transformations have their roots in the ongoing process of rapid urbanisation,
which has reshaped and redefined the entire fabric of communities and human settlements.
Starting with industrial revolution, the process is gaining both speed and acceptability, across
the globe, ushering a new era and regime of population growth, industrialisation,
commercialisation, prosperity, development and rapid expansion of human settlements
besides promoting poverty, pollution and exclusion.
Globally twenty first century has been called century of urbanization, with larger proportion
of population, opting for living in the urban centres. Studies made by United Nations about
the global trends in urbanization, has concluded that world is urbanizing rapidly, with year
2007, marking a historic milestone in the human history ,when for the first time global urban
population exceeded the global rural population. Following the global pattern, India is also
fast treading on the path of rapid urbanization. Rapid increase in urban population, coupled
with in-migration from rural hinterland, is making cities grow both horizontally and
vertically. Accordingly, metropolises., megalopolises and ecu-monopolises are fast emerging
on the urban canvas. With recorded urban population standing over 377.1 million (31.16 per
cent) residing in 3 super- metros, 49 metropolises and 7935 towns (Census 2011), India has
emerged as the second largest urban system in the world after China. Cities like Mumbai
(185lacs), Kolkata (158 lacs) and Delhi (125 lacs) are assuming monstrous proportions.
Under this process of rapid population growth, cities are fast melting and expanding, to
encompass larger and larger rural hinterland within urban fold; increasing distances between
basic human activities of living and working; asking for expanded transportation network, to
keep the city moving. In the process, levels of energy and resource consumption are rising
in a compounded manner, making cities more polluted, less sustainable and resource in-
efficient.
Looking holistically, cities are known to be propeller and promoters of rapid growth of
economy, generators of large-scale employment, providers of basic and essential amenities &
services besides offering better quality of life, as compared to their rural counterpart. This
makes urban centres important and vital, when the issues of employment, income,
infrastructures, economic growth and development are considered as priority. Globally,
urbanisation and prosperity have been found to have high degree of positive co-relation.
However, despite distinct having positivity, cities have been growing in an unplanned and

haphazard manner. In the process, urban growth is marked by chaos, disorder, dualities and
contradictions. . Cities are facing the greatest challenges of meeting the basic needs of
shelter, healthcare, education, employment, water and sanitation for its residents. In the
process, majority of urban residents are being marginalised and excluded, depriving them of
essential services. Quality of life in urban India is fast becoming nightmare for majority of
migrants. Population, poverty, pollution and exclusion have emerged as the adverse
consequences of Indian urbanisation. With urban population projected to reach 825 million
out of 1.6 billion in 2050, greatest challenge before urban planners, architects, professionals,
administrators and policy makers would be, how to harmonise the growth and development
of urban India and make it smart, planned, sustainable and rational. This calls for making
process of urbanisation, planning, development and management of urban settlements, more
transparent, community focussed, resource-efficient, productive and sustainable.
Considering the fact that productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of urban centres largely
hinges on the planned and rational development of the urban settlements, and cost of
unplanned development has been estimated to be much higher than cost of planned
development, accordingly promoting planned development becomes critical, vital and
important for society and nations to rationalise the entire process of economic, physical,
social and environmental emancipation of cities. Role , relevance and importance of
promoting planned development of urban settlements, in the context of making planet earth
sustainable, has also been stated by the UNDP in SDG11, which calls for making cities and
communities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Further, studies globally made, have
also revealed that, making cities and communities sustainable , will help in achieving 9 out
of total 17 SDGs.
Image ; Urbanisation in India ; Source; fity.club
2. Defining Master Plan

Master plan , as a planning tool, has been extensively and religiously used by planners,
locally and globally, to understand and analyse the basic fabric of the city; defining genesis
of its origin, growth and development; showcasing its culture and heritage; documenting its
ever changing demographic profile; defining status of the city in terms of infrastructure ,
services and amenities; showcasing its existing land utilization pattern and distribution of
housing, work centres, trade and commerce, industry, leisure etc; besides identifying
developmental and environmental issues and challenges faced by the city and evaluating
cities in terms of its strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Based on the studies
made and analysis carried out, Master Plans are known to lay down and define agenda for
future growth, to launch cities on the path of planned development; to make city more
sustainable and to ensure that city overcomes all its existing problems; provides basic
amenities of life to all, its existing and future residents including poorest of the poor, to lead a
dignified life. Premise and process of Master Plans have also been used extensively, to make
cities economically vibrant, socially just and environmentally sustainable places, through the
mechanism of planned development, using land use as the basic tool and resource. Master
Plans have been valued, by planners and administrators, as long-term documents, which
define the city in the futuristic context, generally spread over a period of two decades.
Considering its role and importance, Master Plans have been viewed differently and distinctly
by Planners in different counties. Master Plan has also been called Comprehensive Plan,
considering the comprehensive approach adopted for the urban settlement, in its visioning,
formulation and implementation. Master Plans have been named as Development Plans by
developed nations, by redefining its intent, content and scope, to make city growth more
flexible and less rigid for effectively responding to the challenges unleashed by urban
dynamism and fast changing technologies impacting the urban areas, urban living and urban
working. Difference in approach has its genesis in the fact that Master Plan has been used
both as a policy document to guide the future development of a city and a document detailing
precise shape and size of the city in terms of land use by allocation of defined uses to
different parcels of urban land. Adopting Master Plan, as a policy document, has been used
extensively by countries of the developed world, to usher an era of ensuring flexibility in
future planned development. Whereas majority of developing nations have adopted Master
Plans as an instrument of defining use of land, for different land parcels, to control and
regulate the planned development of urban centres. Indian planners have adopted the land use
planning as the basic approach and option for preparing Master Plans of the cities.
In order to understand the genesis , contents and scope , it will be relevant to look at how
Master Plans have been defined by different experts/ planning agencies involved in preparing
these plans.
Delhi Development Authority defines Master Plan as: ‘A long term perspective plan,
for guiding the sustainable planned development of the city. It lays down the planning
guidelines, policies, development code and space requirements for various socio-
economic activities supporting the city population during the plan period. It also
provides basis for determining all infrastructure requirements, both locally and
regionally’.

Division of Planning, City of Trenton, NJ has defined Master Plan in terms of;
‘A comprehensive plan providing a long-range vision for the built environment of a
community. It guides the appropriate use of land within a municipality, in order to
protect the public health and safety and to promote general welfare. Among other issues,
the Master Plan can identify:
 Suitable locations for commercial, housing and mixed-use development;
 Locations where the city should increase density, use redevelopment, or intervene
in other ways;
 Opportunities to extend and/or improve open space, recreational areas, and civic
facilities;
 Strategies for increasing economic development;
 Environmental, historic and cultural resources that need conservation; and
 Strategies for solving congestion and improving transit services.
Master Plan has also been defined as,
‘A plan that shows an overall development concept that includes urban design,
landscaping, infrastructure, service provision, circulation, present and future land
use and built form. It consists of three-dimensional images, texts, diagrams, statistics,
reports, maps and aerial photos that describe how a specific location will be
developed. It provides a structured approach and creates a clear framework for
developing an area.
Looking at the above definitions, it can be concluded that Master Plans, are mandated to be
definers of physical environment, social environment and economic environment and are
supposed to provide all the ingredients which can make a city people centric, more liveable,
sustainable, productive and promoter of quality human living besides making city an
attractive investment destination. Considering its focus, approach, context and importance,
governments and urban development authorities have adopted Master Plan, as the mechanism
to promote planned development. Accordingly, state governments have put in place
comprehensive legal framework defining objectives, intent, scope and contents besides
detailing methodology for preparing Master Plans, to ensure that these plans are prepared,
approved and made operational, for both existing and proposed urban centres, in order to
launch them on the fast trajectory of rational growth, sustainable and planned development.

Image; Chandigarh Master Plan; Source; www.pinterest.com
3. Issues related to Urban Growth and Preparing Master Plans
 Promoting Dualities and contradictions Despite the fact Master Plan showcases
distinct advantages in terms of controlling unplanned development, promoting
planned development, making provisions of basic amenities on prescribed norms,
ushering an era of quality development, ensuring quality of life , holding capacity to
leverage economic development and making urban development both inclusive and
equitable, but the past experience of development of cities in the post- independence
era, for whom Master Plans have been prepared and made operational, has been found
to be marked with dualities and contradictions. Instead of planned development,
majority of the growth in these cities is dotted with haphazard and sub-standard
development with unplanned development emerging as the order of the day. Despite
Master Plans assuring quality of life to all the residents, even to the poorest of the
poor to lead a dignified life, majority of urban dwellers have been facing a life of
deprivation, exclusion and poverty, living in slums and shanty towns. As engines of
economic growth, Indian cities showcase large scale poverty rubbing shoulders with
prosperity and slums existing besides sky-scrappers. Basic amenities of life including,
shelter, water supply, sanitation, electricity, road network, healthcare, education etc.,
are eluding majority of urban residents. Cities are found to be fast emerging as island
of prosperity in the sea of poverty. In the process, Master Plans have emerged as one
of the most potent tools to promote the interest of rich communities while
marginalising poor besides widening gaps between haves and haven’t. Mumbai,
known as the commercial capital, which has the distinction of having one of the first
Master Plan in the country, offers the best example of how successive Master plans
have shaped and impacted adversely the city. In the process, Mumbai now holds the
distinction of not only having largest number of billionaires(42)in the country but
also becoming home to the biggest slum of Asia, Dharvi, housing more than one
million people in merely an area of 239 Hectares.

 Controlling Development; Master Plans, in its present shape and approach, have not
been able to promote, achieve and deliver the objectives of ushering an era of equity,
physical, social and economic justice for the local communities, for which such plans
were put in place. Instead they have created enabling environment of promoting
dualities and perpetuating contradictions, making cities less attractive and less
preferred destination to live and work. Instead of promoting rational and planned
development, Master Plans have emerged as role model of controllers of
development. They have frozen the cities through rigidly defining the land uses,
making these plans emerging as major roadblock in the process of rational growth
and development.
 Marginalising Nature; Nature and human beings are known for their close
relationship, positivities and negativities. Nature is known for its capacity and
capability to support, sustain and make human living more qualitative and
productive, provided human living remains need based and not greed based. Planet
earth being finite, both in terms of area , scope and resources, has limitations to
meet human needs, based on greed. Limitations of resources coupled with ever
increasing human numbers, has led to marginalization of nature in planning and
development of urban settlements. In the process urban settlements are facing large
number of developmental, environmental issues and challenges, impacting both
nature and humanity . Majority of urban ills, related to climate change , global
warming, rising temperature, urban heat island, flooding, disasters, poverty, pollution
and mobility, can be attributed to the manner, urban settlements have muted, diluted
and marginalized Nature in its planning, development and management processes.
This is despite the fact that human living remains largely dependent/contingent upon
and connected with nature and valuable resources provided by the nature.
Uncontrolled and rapid addition of human beings, coupled with rapid
industrialization and ever increasing unplanned and irrational urabanisation, can be
largely attributed to and essentially remain the product and outcomes of cities,
emerging as anti-thesis and marginalising the nature and misusing and abusing
natural resource at the local level.
 Promoting Exclusion and Poverty; Master plans, in majority of cases, have been
found to promote and follow policy of exclusion instead of inclusion by focussing
more on physical aspects of city planning ignoring the environmental, economic and
social aspects. This approach has caused enormous damage to urban fabric and its
growth and development. By excluding majority of urban population, consisting of
poor, informal sector and lower section of societal pyramid from the process of
planning, Master Plans have ushered an era of unplanned growth and mushrooming of
slums. In this process, these plans have emerged as instruments of serving the
interests of elite at the cost of poor and have-nots.
 Time-Intensive; With complex and cumbersome legal framework, large resources
and time frame is required for preparing, processing and approval of Master Plans.
This invariably delays the preparation of such plans leading to a situation where
planning is found to be invariably chasing the development. Mumbai Master Plan
once took 17 long years for approval, leading to largest city and economic capital of
India, growing without a plan during these 17 long years. With limited commitment

of politicians and bureaucrats to promote planned and rational development at local
level, master plans are found to be chasing the development in majority of cases.
 Resource Intensive; In addition to being time-intensive, preparation of Master Plans
also require large allocation of financial resources, for financing the manpower
involved in mapping of the planning area, carrying out various surveys and
preparing large number of documents and maps, ordained in the legal framework,
under which the master plan is prepared. Accordingly, in majority of cases such
Master Plans have not been prepared for large number of Indian cities. In the absence
of such plans, cities are growing without the support of any such plans. Niti Ayog in
its recent document,’ Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India- Final Report-
September, 2021, has also highlighted that 65% of the 7933 urban settlements do not
have any master plans, which has led to piecemeal interventions, haphazard
constructions, urban sprawl, and environmental pollution and aggravated the issues
related to traffic congestion, flooding, etc. In the process, urbanisation in India
remains irrational and uncontrolled. Accordingly, it will be critical that appropriate
options must be made operational to make preparation of master plans more cost-
effective for ensuring planned development of cities.
 Marginalising Sustainability; Master Plans remain largely land based document,
focussing on physical features of land involving, area, ownership, shape, size,
location, accessibility etc; sub-division of land into parcels of appropriate shape and
size for different urban uses; allocating use to sub-divided parcels in terms of
residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, roads, open spaces, amenities,
facilities etc. and defining what could be built in these plots, in terms of height,
ground coverage, setbacks, floor area ratio etc.. In this process, role and relevance of
embedding sustainability remains muted and marginalised in the preparation of
master plans. Ignoring sustainability in the planning process has led to large number
of distortions emerging in the city growth and development. In addition, major focus
on land and its sub-division, has also lowered the effectiveness, efficacy and
efficiency of the Master Plans in rationally addressing the environmental and
sustainability challenges faced by the cities. In order to make Master Plans more
focussed, relevant, liveable and productive, sustainability has to be built in, as an
integra part and important element, in the planning process
 Ignoring Villages; Planning area for the Master Plans of any city invariably includes
and involves large number of villages, in addition to the urban centre for which
Master Plan is being prepared. But all planning efforts are directed to promote the
planned development of the urban centres. In the process large number of rural
settlements, coming within the urban area, urbanisable area and agricultural area are
ignored, muted and marginalised in the planning process. Despite the fact these
villages form integral part of the urban eco-system and are closely connected with the
mother city, for providing support in terms of goods, services and manpower for
maintaining urban services besides providing essential food and milk for daily use ,
but these villages rarely find any space in the Master Plans, related to its growth and
development. In the process, these villages, under the pressure of development led
largely by speculation, continue to grow in an unplanned and haphazard manner,
absorbing some of the development pressures of the city by offering cost-effective
options of living and working in close vicinity to the mother city. However, over a

period of time, with the expansion of the urban areas, these villages, get merged into
urban limits, invariably pose greatest threat and challenge to rational and planned
growth of the mother city. Rational growth and development of majority of Indian
cities, for which Master Plans have been prepared, is suffering primarily by ignoring
planning of the rural settlements in the preparation of the Master plans and divorcing
rural planning from urban planning.
 Discounting Land Resource; Despite the fact that Master plans, primarily and
essentially, deal with land, still in the entire process of preparing master plans,
optimum utilisation of urban land is largely discounted and ignored. Land, as a
natural resource, remains most valuable for the reason that land is the platform on
which all human activities are performed and land remains the raw materials for the
planners, while preparing the Master Plans. Unfortunately, land is treated as a
commodity for sale and purchase, making money for all the agencies involved in the
urban development process and the individuals owning land in the urban areas. In
addition, all planning norms and standards framed for urban development, discount
the optimum utilisation of land and as such cities become large consumers of land, by
uncontrolled expansion and peri-urban area development. Since planning norms are
population based, they discount the optimum usability of land as a valuable resource.
Considering the fact that holding 2.4%(32 lakh Sqms) global land and housing 17.7%
(1.41 billion) global population, India remains the most land stressed nation , having
one of the lowest land, man ratio. Accordingly, optimum utilisation of the land
resource, should form and remain the governing and guiding principle of master plan
preparation.
 Promoting Commercialisation; Making Master Plans for various cities remains
largely an exercise focussing on promoting commercialisation and generating
resources for the state and the parastatal institutions, which are authorised and given
the charge of preparing and implementation the Master Plans. Such plans are used
primarily for granting permission in terms of change of land-use; granting approval
of the projects undertaken in the private and the Government Sector; taking decisions
regarding locating various projects related to housing, trade and commerce and
allocating land for various uses in urban areas. In this exercise of promoting
commercialisation, the larger interest of promoting public interest, ensuring
infrastructures, services and quality of life for the urban residents and communities,
gets lost and marginalised. Instead of promoting equity, Master Plans have been
found to promote disparity and widen the gaps between various strata of society.
This invariably divides cities into distinct layers, showcasing different levels of
services, amenities and quality of life. Heterogeneity existing in cities can be largely
attributed to the way ,Master Plans are conceptualized, prepared and implemented.
 Marginalising Public Spaces; Connecting local communities and promoting
sustainability, public spaces are known to be the heart and soul of the cities. Public
spaces are also known to make cities, happy, healthy, sustainable and more
productive. These spaces are also known to usher an era of making cities socially
more vibrant. Quality of life and social vibrancy , largely depends upon the quality of
public spaces created in the cities. In addition, these public spaces are known to
promote tourism, generate employment and promote local economy. Globally, iconic
public spaces, like Times Square ,New York or Trafalgar Square London, are known

to have branded these cities and helped in attracting millions of tourists annually,
making valuable contribution in terms of; attracting numerous typologies of
businesses, promoting economy, generating large casual employment, making
optimum use of available space and bringing recognition and vibrancy to such cities.
Looking at the entire context, role, relevance and importance of public spaces, it can
be concluded that majority of urban ills have genesis in neglecting and marginalising
public spaces in the cities. Despite distinct advantages and character, which public
spaces provide to the cities, still they don’t find appropriate space and importance in
the study, analysis and proposals of the Master Plans. Excluding open spaces from its
scope invariably has led to the lopsided growth and development of the city.
 Ignoring Carrying Capacity; Master plans are generally prepared, based on
demographic studies, assessing and evaluating existing infrastructures, studying
prevailing urban problems related to mobility, housing, pollution etc., without caring
for available resources and carrying capacity of the city. Each city because of its
peculiar location, physiography, accessibility, existing flora& fauna etc., has a well-
defined carrying capacity, which is never assessed and evaluated. Accordingly,
majority of towns are planned without having any knowledge and understanding of
the inherent strength of the city. This leads to cities growing in an unplanned and
haphazard manner, despite having a master plan. If the cities are planned, based on
assessing and evaluating carrying capacity of the city, master plans, thus prepared,
will be in a much better position to rationally address the challenges posed by rapid
urban growth.
 Generating Waste; Cities are being planned, designed and operated, adopting a linear
approach to available resources, accordingly, majority of cities have emerged as the
major source of generating large waste. Master plans, prepared for the cities,
invariably ignore and discount the optimum utilisation of the available resources in
the city, due to which cities are facing the challenge of managing its waste. In order
to rationalise the growth and development of cities and overcome the challenges of
pollution, posed by waste generated, master plans need to embed the principle of
making cities zero waste. This can happen only when Master Plans of urban
settlements are prepared, based on using and embedding the principle of circular
economy in the planning and development process. ,
 Promoting Poverty; Despite the fact, majority of developmental challenges and
problems faced by urban areas has genesis in concentration of poverty in urban areas,
still Master Plans prepared for the cities , never address issue of eradicating poverty,
to make cities safe and sustainable. As already stated, Master Plans are known to
promote prosperity, at the cost of optimising poverty. Prevailing poverty in the urban
areas invariably has led to growth of slums, mushrooming of poor housing,
haphazard and unplanned growth, lack of infrastructures and services, cities. Poverty
is also known to make cities largely unsafe due to increasing incidences of crime.
Accordingly, it will be important that Master Plan must space empowering poor in the
agenda of preparing such plans to make cities safer and more sustainable.

Image ; Urban poverty in Urban India; Source; asianatimes.com
 Excluding Stakeholders; Preparation of the Master Plans, in the present context is
considered more as an official business and is generally undertaken as a
government-led programme. Master Plans are prepared within four walls of agencies
entrusted with the task of preparing such plans, with minimum involvement of stake-
holders including people, communities, institutions, industry etc, to whom this plan is
supposed to serve and whose needs and interests, it is supposed to meet and cater.
There is little consultation with stakeholders to know their perception of issues related
to growth and development and options for future growth of the city. Master Plans
thus prepared, do not reflect the ground realities and aspiration of the people and
largely remain a paper tiger. In the case of consultants being haired for preparation of
town planning, in the absence of in-depth knowledge and understanding of the city
fabric, structure and issues, these plans remain generic in nature, having little local
relevance. Such plans largely remain a copy-paste exercise ,leading to its non-
implementation and rejection by majority of urban residents.
 Absence of Technology; In majority of cases, Master Plans are prepared involving
limited use of latest technologies involving IT, ITES, AI, GIS etc., available for
mapping existing land use; documenting built structures; evaluating ground
conditions and understanding issues and challenges faced by the city, in its growth
and development trajectory. In the absence of such technologies, majority of base
plans prepared for the city remain embedded with inaccuracies in mapping land and
its existing conditions. Absence of using latest technologies in preparations of
different plans, invariably makes planning process ,both time consuming and cost-
intensive, which invariably delays the plan preparation and negates its
implementation. Absence of accurate existing land use plans of cities, have been
considered as one of the prime reasons, of causing inordinate delay in preparing
Master Plans and its implementation. Using appropriate technologies can make
preparation of Master Plan more cost-effective and time -efficient.
 Lack of Ownership; Considering large number of institutions/agencies operating in
the domain of urban planning and development at local level, preparation of the
Master Plans always remain an issue, with no agency coming forward to take the onus

of such plans. Lack of ownership of Master Plan ,has emerged as one of the prime
roadblock delaying the preparation and non-implementation of these plans. In
majority of cases, Master Plans for cities are prepared by the Town Planning
Development, which are then handed over to Urban Local Bodies for implementation
within the existing urban area. However, there remains no consultation and
involvement of ULBs, in the preparation of the Master Plans, which they are asked to
implement. This practice has led to making majority of Master Plans ineffective in
promoting planned development of the urban areas.
 Enlarging Urban Area ; Process of declaring large planning area, enlarging urban
and urbanisable area in the successive plans has led to making city not only energy
inefficient but also consumers of large amount of land and resources. It also increases
the length, breadth and depth of network and services, making city development and
maintenance unsustainable and cost-intensive besides creating large number of
problems related to, mobility, traffic, transportation and pollution. The approach of
providing successive ring roads as a mechanism to define the future growth of cities,
has invariably led to cities assuming large proportions, consuming large amount of
agrictural land, besides promoting land speculation on large scale. Instead of making
cities compact, cost-effective and operationally efficient, present process of preparing
Master Plans, has invariably led to melting of city, consuming large resources and
making cities unsustainable.
Image ; Unplanned Urbanisation in India; Source;dailyasianage.com
4. Redefining Master Plans;
In the words of Ishar Judge Walia, ‘Indian urban planning needs major overhaul—it is
overly top down and controlling, not providing much needed guidance, coordination and
integration’. Considering all the above issues, it becomes critical that the intent, content,
scope along with entire process and procedure of preparing/approval of Master Plan is,
objectively and critically, reviewed and reframed to make it an effective instrument and role

model of promoting planned growth, sustainable development and good governance. In order
to rationalise the urban development process in the country, Government of India has
launched a Smart City Mission covering initially 100 selected cities. Creating smart and
sustainable cities would essentially requires new order of Master Plans, considering the
contours and complexity of such urban settlements.
New order of Master Plans would essentially involve, making planning people centric,
transparent, community oriented and flexible. Its focus should be to minimize dualities and
contradictions prevailing in urban areas and to promote development based on equity,
inclusiveness and providing opportunities for all. Contours of Master Plans, will have to be
redrawn /redefined with appropriate innovations/changes made in the intent, contents and
scope of such plans. New order of Master Plans will not be merely land-use plans,
defining/freezing the future of the city for next two decades, indicating the use of every
parcel of land. Master Plans should take ‘whole city’ approach to planning and should focus
on the urban form, shape and typology of the city along with sustainability, environment,
ecology and communities which will opt to live in the city. New breed of master plans should
focus on, minimising consumption of resources and reducing generations of waste. These
plans should have genesis in nature and drive its resources from the nature. The new
typology of Master plan should lay emphasis on making cities more humane and liveable.
These plans should also make cities finite and compact, where the pedestrianisation ,cycling
and public transport shall be preferred mode of travel. Such cites shall offer appropriate space
for living , working and assured quality of life, even to the poorest of the poor, to lead a
dignified life. Based on nature and focussing on communities, the new breed of Master Plans
shall involve and revolve around;
 Imparting Flexibility ; Since cities are dynamic entities, ever changing, ever shaping,
evolving and devolving, cities will require new order of planning which should
provide inbuilt flexibility to urban growth and development, for catering to urban
dynamism. Accordingly, Master Plans prepared for the cities should be dynamic in
nature, growing, evolving and devolving with the growth of towns. New breed of
Master Plans would be based on state art technologies and a distinct vision, evolved
after detailed study, analysis and understanding of the city fabric and its growth
potential, duly supported by detailed planning and development guidelines. The vision
should be achieved through well-defined missions, evolved for different facets of city
involving planning and development. Each development project will need to be
evaluated for its appropriateness, in the context of defined vision and guidelines, by a
multi-disciplinary team of experts involving all stakeholders, before acceptance and
approval. The city planning should remain a co-operative and collaborative effort of
all professionals having wisdom, expertise, understanding , knowledge and skill
related to growth and development of cities. Accordingly, in the preparation of new
Master plans, urban planners will be supported by experts representing different
shades of city planning, urban design, urban growth , development and management
to rationalize planning of the city. In addition to urban planners, architects, urban
designers, landscape experts, engineers, service providers, environmentalists, transport
experts, conservationists, art and culture historians and sociologists etc will have
critical role and relevance in preparing Master Plans.

 Valuing Nature; If divorcing Nature, from city planning and development, has been
recognized as one of the prime reasons for majority of ills and challenges facing
urban settlements , then solutions to make cities sustainable, liveable, safe, qualitative
and inclusive, are also embedded in making Nature integral part of urban planning,
development and management processes . Accordingly, cities and nature need to be
brought on the same wavelength/platform for collaboration, co-operation and mutual
support and sustenance. Planning options used in preparing Master Plans must aim at
enhancing and making value addition to existing natural resources, rather than muting
and marginalising them. In search for appropriate options to bring nature and cities on
the common platform, it will be essential that while preparing Master Plans for the
urban settlements, all the existing natural resources including flora, fauna,
environment and ecology in the urban area, should be appropriately mapped,
assessed and evaluated, in terms of their potential, role and relevance in the urban
context and embed them in the planning and development process, without causing
any damage and destruction. Innovatively integrating and enhancing the natural
resources in Master Plans, will help in not only making cities more happy, healthy,
sustainable and vibrant places to live, but also will go a long way in overcoming
majority of urban related ills, known to adversely impact environment and ecology.
Image; Promoting Nature-based Urban Planning Source;constructive-voices.com
 Making Community Focussed ;. Focus of the Master plans shall be people and
empowering communities. Master Plans shall focus on promoting better relationship
between living and working by adopting the mechanism of transit-oriented

development. In this pattern, the focus shall be to provide housing, offices, work areas,
commercial and institutions along the mass transport network provided within walking
distance. Green spaces on the defined norms shall form integral part of urban living
and working in order to promote highest order of environment and ecology.
 Promoting Sustainability; For promoting higher order of sustainability, Master
Plans should be prepared to promote inclusiveness, self-reliance and self-
sustainability in the urban settlements, having minimum impact on local and global
environment and ecology. Considering the major implications of urban areas, being
largest consumers of energy and resources, generators of waste and emitters of
greenhouse gasses , largely due to transportation and built environment, the new
regime of Master Plans will focus on minimising travel and create buildings which are
least consumers of energy and resources. In addition, Master Plans will focus on
creating cities which are highly energy efficient. This would be made possible by
adopting shape and size of the city which will make cities compact and finite,
involving minimum travel and services, to reduce travel and minimise the extent of
service network, to bring economy and operational efficiency in the city
 Involving Regional Context; In addition, to looking inward, new regime of Master
Plans should also be looking outward, so as to link the city with its surrounding
areas/settlements. No city exists in spatial isolation. Every city has its periphery/area
of influence to support it. This zone of influence varies with the size, location,
primacy, accessibility, population, nature of specialisation, administrative status,
amenities, services etc of the existing city . Existing pattern of preparing Master
Plans, ignores the critical role and importance of periphery in sustaining/rationalizing
the city growth and development. In fact, majority of prevailing urban ills have their
genesis in ignoring the planned growth and development of surrounding urban/rural
settlements. Accordingly, new regime of Master Planning will be based on the
approach which would involve inward and outward looking at the cities. Most
efficient cities in the world, have adopted Regional Perspective and not just looked at
city’s growth. The Regional approach/model has helped them, in not only minimizing
local competition and conflicts, over/under investment in infrastructure but also
overcoming confusion over role and responsibilities of various agencies and making
city sustainable. In the process, looking cities in the regional context has promoted
higher order of co-operation and integrated growth, of not only of the city but also of
the region. Looking outward will also help cities in achieving the objectives of
integration and decentralized planning, enshrined in 74th
Constitutional Amendment
Act,1992.
5. Preparing Better Master Plans; Despite the fact that urban India is globally ranked as the
second largest urban system in the world, only about 40 percent cities, out of a total of 7935
urban settlements in the country, have completed master plans, even after seven decades of
independence and completing twelve five-year plans of growth and development. In order to
ensure that urban centres become sustainable and operate as engines of economic growth and
usherers of new era of rapid, sustainable, equitable growth, planners will have to put in
place a new order of planning and innovative system/process/mechanism, which would lead
to preparing Better Master Plans for cities, on a time bound basis. This calls for changing the
existing approach, intent, contents and scope of preparing Master Plans. In the new order,
cities must be made to live, breathe and grow freely. Cities must provide universal supportive

and create enabling environment and opportunities for promoting orderly development,
attracting investment and ensuring quality of life besides providing opportunities, to all its
existing and future residents, to lead an optimum and quality living. Looking at the entire
context of making cities more humane, inclusive, safe , productive, qualitative, liveable and
sustainable, options for preparing new order of Master Plans should essentially involve and
revolve around:
 Defining a Realistic and Achievable Vision; for the city based on in-depth study,
and analysis, including carrying out SWOT analysis, through a consultative
process, involving all stakeholders, experts and parastatal agencies
 Defreezing City; by changing approach of preparing Master Plans, from
defining land uses of all parcels of land included in the city, to providing a
dynamic developmental framework within which city should grow freely,
rationally and realistically, for meeting its ever-changing needs and aspirations
of the communities and stakeholders, due to fast changing technologies and ever-
changing urban contexts.
 Making City Compact; by redefining shape, size and population of the city based
on adopting high rise and high-density development mechanism to optimise the
use of available land resource, minimise travel, change options for travel, reduce
carbon footprints and limit the service network, to make city development, cost,
resource and energy efficient.
 Planning Cities Based on Carrying Capacity; New order of Master plans shall
be prepared considering the carrying capacity of the area, which cities occupy,
in order to make them sustainable, self-sufficient and self-reliant to meet its basic
day- to- day needs, without compromising and damaging available resources,
existing environment and ecology.
 Making Cities Finite; In order to rationalise the growth and development of
human settlements, Master Plans prepared must try to make cities finite in terms
of area, population, infrastructure and resources. Infinite cities, known for
numerous uncertainties, invariably have led to misuse, abuse and marginalise the
use of available resource and its optimum utilisation. Planning finite cities will
help in taking up development of new centres when existing cities achieve
designed population, and make development spread rather than getting
concentrated in limited human centres.
 Making Housing for all- A Distinct Reality; Considering role, relevance and
importance of housing, as a major determinant of quality of life, safety, security,
identity of human beings, Master plans must include and involve, providing and
assuring, housing for all, as the basic and governing principle of city planning in
order to ensure that all residents are empowered to have access to affordable
housing, as one of the fundamental rights. Accordingly, housing for all , as a
theme, for providing shelter to all social and economic categories shall be,
adequately and appropriately, spaced in the intent, content and scope of such
plan.
 Promoting Green Transport; Despite all efforts made, cities are suffering from
two worst gifts of urbanisation, travelling and traffic. People in metropolises are

wasting major time of the day, in travelling between place of work and place of
residence, and invariably fall victim to congestion. Emancipation from traffic
blues should remain the one of the basic agenda of preparing Master Plans. This
should be achieved and made possible by changing approach to prepare Master
Plans, from planning for vehicle to planning for people, with order of priority for
travel placed at, pedestrianisation, cycling, mass transportation and personal
vehicles, in that order of preference, to minimise congestion, lowering
environmental pollution and avoiding traffic blues.
 Making City Energy Efficient; Despite the fact ,globally cities have been
reckoned to be the consumers of 60% of global energy; for lighting, heating,
cooling, refrigeration, appliances, computers, electronics, machinery, and public
transport, besides generators of 70% of energy related caron emissions, still role,
relevance and importance of minimising use of energy by cities, has never been
embedded in preparing the Master Plans. Energy consumptions by cities can be
considerably lowered by preparing energy efficient Master Plans by minimising
energy consumption as the focus . Master plans can empower cities to reduce
energy consumption by; adopting mixed land use planning, avoiding pure land
use planning and redefining living-working-leisure relationship by adopting
transit-oriented development approach in urban planning. Making innovative use
of climate, solar radiation, orientation in planning and designing of built
environment, would help in creating zero car, zero energy, zero slum, zero waste
and zero carbon cities.
 Making Urban Villages integral part of Urban Planning Process; Majority of
urban problems have genesis in the neglect of the rural areas. Development of
urban and rural settlements can be brought on the same platform, by defining a
rational and realistic policy framework and agenda, for integrating, planning and
development of villages, falling in urban/ urbanisable/ planning area, with urban
settlements, in the preparation of the Master Plans.
 Making Informal Sector integral part of planning process; Despite the fact,
informal sector makes valuable contribution in servicing the city, generating
employment and adding wealth to the urban economy, still it remains
marginalised and largely ignored in the planning, development and management
of the cities. This approach of marginalising the informal sector, has led to large
number of distortions emerging on the urban landscape. In order to overcome the
developmental challenges and rationalise the planned growth, Master Plans
prepared for the cities must earmark appropriate and dedicated space for the
living and working of the informal sector, in order to enable the sector to play its
critical role in urban emancipation and urban economy.
 Creating Ownership of Master Plan; Ownership of Master Plans remains the
biggest roadblock in the preparation of a rational Master Plan and its effective
implementation. Non-implementation of Master plans has genesis in multiplicity
of agencies operating in the urban planning process at the local level.
Accordingly, it will be critical that a single agency should be vested with the
power, authority, role and responsibility to prepare and implement the Master

Plan. Accordingly, legal framework related to urban local bodies, needs to be
redefined to empower ULBs to take the onus of undertaking the task of preparing
and implementing the Master Plans, in co-ordination and collaborations with
other agencies operating at local level. However, it will be critical that ULBs
must be vested with appropriate level of technical and financial resources, to
perform these functions, effectively and efficiently.
 Using latest, state of art and innovative Technologies; Information Technology,
ITES, Artificial intelligence and GIS are known for its distinct advantages in
bring economy, promoting efficiency and bringing transparency in any urban
planning operation. Accordingly, preparing, approval, implementation and
interpretation of Master Plan based on technologies will help in not only making
Master Plans more qualitative but also operationally more effective and
efficient. Using technology for consultation and receiving suggestions from
communities and stakeholders and communicating status of planning to the
users and interest groups will help in making Master Plans more effective,
efficient and productive, Inherent strength and advantages of technologies can be
used in the domain of undertaking detailed spatial data analysis; better
understanding of current urban needs: providing greater support for more
informed decisions: ensuring integration of large data; promoting efficient
information management; ensuring efficient resource management: improving
quality of urban mapping and optimization of communication among
stakeholders.
 Using Team-Based Approach; comprising of planners., architects’ engineers,
urban designer, transport planner landscape expert, sociologist, geographer,
environmentalist, conservationist to prepare Master Plan and evaluate all
projects presented for approval and implementation in city will help in not only
ensure effective implementation of the Master Plan, but will also go a long way in
making cities more vibrant, qualitative and sustainable.
 Planning based on well- defined Parameters; Master Plans prepared for the
city must include and involve specifying pre-defined norms and standards related
to open spaces, services, mobility, housing, sanitation infrastructures, services,
energy etc so to ensure the provision of such services and amenities on a
defined scale to all the residents. Known to be eco-city, Tianjin, in China has
been planned and developed based on 22 quantitative and 4 qualitative
parameters to make new city a role model of sustainable development.
 Addressing issues related to Poverty, Employment and Economy; Master Plans
have been considered to be major promoters of prevailing dichotomies,
contradictions and ever-widening gaps between communities besides promoting
poverty and exclusion on large scale in urban areas. Strength of the Master Plans
can be effectively leveraged to promote equity in urban growth by redefining
approach to preparing such plan; from merely land use planning to spacing
poverty, creating opportunities of equitable economic development, ensuring
environment promotion and generating universal employment .

 Making City Sustainable and Safe; Irrational growth, unplanned development,
exclusion of local communities and marginalisation of nature, from planning
process are making cities unsustainable and unsafe for the urban living.
Accordingly, cities are becoming operationally inefficient and unsafe for the
communities to live in. All this can be attributed to marginalisation of safety from
the urban planning process. Cities can be made safe for the communities by
preparing Master plan with focus on safety of the people and promoting visibility
in all spaces used by the community.
Image ; Making Cities safe; Source ;greatsenioryears.com
 Valuing Heritage; With rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of urban
spces, cities are fast losing enormous amount of built/natural wealth inherited
over a period of time. For preserving, protecting and promoting, Master Plans
need to identify, map and detail out both natural and manmade heritage, existing
in the city in order to link the city with its past history and prevailing culture.
Accordingly, Master Plans should include detailing out the existing status of such
valuable assets, identify the challenges faced and define strategies to preserve ,
promote , protect and showcase the valuable heritage by integrating with the
urban development process, to showcase and preserve past glory and cultural
values of communities for posterity
 Adopting a Participatory Approach; will be critical to create a local ownership
of the Master Plans by actively creating forum and institutional framework for
involving people, communities, NGO’s, CBO’s, industry, trade & commerce,
academic institutions etc.
 Making Master Plan Promoter of Development; rather than controller of
development by providing space for inclusion of all people centric development
activities which promote and safeguards communities and city interest.
 Using Land 24x7x365; should remain critical while preparing Master Plans to
promote the multiple use of precious urban land resource, optimise the use of
available land, minimise diversion of land under agriculture to non-agricultural
uses, making cities more compact, ensuring optimum utilisation of infrastructure

and to make urban development highly cost-effective and resource efficient. In
addition, for making optimum use of land resource in urban areas, mechanism of
promoting intensification and densification, must be built into the Master Plan by
identifying areas where such options can be exercised.
o Embedding Circular Economy; Existing breed of cities, have emerged as; large
consumers of natural resources, store house and breeding grounds of the waste,
making them highly unsustainable and inefficient. Adopting circular approach for
all urban operations, offers distinct advantage and potential to eliminate all waste
and bringing enormous economic, social, and environmental benefits besides
decarbonising cities and making them vibrant, and sustainable. According to Ellen
MacArthur , in the circular economy, waste is eliminated, products and materials
are kept in use throughout their product lifecycle and natural systems are
regenerated. Such an approach is dependent on systems designed with a focus on
reuse, repair, refurbishment and when a product can no longer be of use, then
recycling. Making cities least consumers of resources and generators of waste, will
require Master Plans to be prepared, embedding the principle of circular economy
in the planning process. In a city planned on the principle of the circular
economy, everything will be operating within an interconnected network of systems
that are designed to eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and
materials, and regenerate nature. Such a city will be based on collaboration
between citizens, government, research facilities, and businesses. Entire city will
be powered by renewable energy; products, services, infrastructure, buildings, and
vehicles are designed to be durable, adaptable, modular, easy to maintain and
repurpose, and locally sourced; everything can be composted, reused, or recycled,
with net outcome will be a thriving local economy that provides a vibrant, liveable
and resilient way of life”.

Image; Urban Planning- Circular Economy ,Source;
www.eagleedgeadvisory.com
 Generating Resources; In order to make planned development a distinct reality,
Master Plans should be able to generate resources for its preparation,
implementation, revision and reframing besides creating/maintaining city/local level
infrastructures, amenities and services. Accordingly, Master Plans must include and
involve defining options using which the planned development can be made self-
sustaining and self-supporting
 Redefining the Legal Framework; For preparing better Master Plan in a time
bound manner and to make it more community focussed, technology driven; simple;
cost-effective, time- efficient and more participatory, will require the support of the
enabling legal framework, which must be redefined and rationalised to make such
plans a distinct reality

 . Creating Quality Public Spaces; Public spaces remain critical for the social,
economic, environmental and sustainable growth of the human settlements in general
and urban centers in particular. However, pressure generated by urbanization and
commercialization, has not only led to large scale encroachment on available public
open spaces but has also put provision of new public spaces at premium.
Marginalization and diluting of the provision of the public open spaces in the public
domain, can be largely attributed to, lack of understanding and appreciation, on the
part of manpower deployed and agencies involved in urban planning, development
and management, about the role relevance importance and criticality of these
spaces, in making local communities/ urban areas and urban living, socially and
environmentally. more happy, healthy, qualitative and meaningful. In the absence of
specified norms and standards, provision of public open spaces remains at the whims
and fancies, of the developers involved in developing townships and agencies
empowered to approve the real estate projects. In majority of cases, it has been
observed public open spaces provided at the local level are generally spaced in the
incidental/left over areas, having poor accessibility, limited visibility and minimal
commercial values. Such marginalized public spaces are known to provide limited
value and utility, to the local communities and cities. With rapid increase in global
population and concentration of majority of population in urban centers, cities are
becoming more and more crowded and congested. With 68% global population
projected to live in cities by the year 2050, while occupying merely 3% of global
land ,cities are likely to witness more congestion and concentration of population in
defined urban areas. In the process, existing cities are likely to become more
crowded having limited/ minimal availability of public open spaces for the use of
communities. All this calls for relooking at the entire context of population growth,
pattern of urabanisation, Master Plans used for urban planning and development, to
ensure that adequate quantity and quality of public places are made available at the
local level, to meet the essential requirement of vibrancy, outdoor living and
socialization of communities in urban areas

 Documenting Best Practices; In addition to defining various narratives stated
above, Master Plans must also include best practice used, both globally and locally,
in the domain of planning, development and management of cities; empowering
communities; providing basic infrastructures and services; spacing poverty;
minimising haphazard and unplanned development; leveraging circular economy;
valuing heritage; optimising land; generating resources; optimising environment
and ecology and making cities safe , resilient, inclusive and sustainable.
6. Bibliography
 Delhi Development Authority, Master Plan Delhi-2021
 Division of Planning , City of Trenton, NJ, ‘ Trenton 250’
 Government of India, ‘Census of India,2011’
 Government of India; Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India- Final
Report- Niti Ayog, September, 2021
 Gupta JK , ‘Planning for Sustainable Cities’, published paper
 Gupta JK; Reinventing , Rationalising and Revitalising the Public Spaces to
Make Cities ; More Vibrant, Liveable and Sustainable; published paper JIIA
 Gupta JK; Making Cities Net Zero Cabon – issues And Options; published
paper
 https://www.reference.com/education/master-plan-5c6df9f53b18033f#,” What
is a Master Plan’
 http://www.citylab.com/tech/2012/08/master-planning-7935-indian-cities-
and-towns/2835, Master Planning 7935 Indian Cities and Towns
 Isher Judge Ahluwalia , ‘Planning for Urban Development in India’,
http://icrier.org/Urbanisation/pdf/Ahluwalia_Planning_for_Urban_
%20Development.pdf
 William Harris, ‘How Urban Planning Works
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/urban-
planning.htm
 Author:
*Ar. Jit Kumar Gupta Former Advisor (Town Planning),
Punjab Urban Development Authority
Mail- jit.kumar1944@gmail.com

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