MODULE 1 An Introduction To Urban Planning

Module 1: An Introduction to Urban Planning 1
Appreciation Programme
Participatory Urban Planning:

Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor
Module – I
The development of Appreciation Programmes has been made possible through the technical
and financial support of DVV International, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Swiss
Agency for Development & Corporation, University of Victoria (UVic) and PRIA
Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor
©PRIA International Academy 2014

Content Developers and Authors:
Banashree Banerjee is an urban planner, working as an independent consultant and

also as an associate staff member of the Institute for Housing and Urban Development
Studies, Rotterdam and visiting faculty member at the School of Planning and
Architecture, New Delhi.
In the last twenty years Banashree has worked extensively as a consultant on urban
poverty reduction projects supported by bilateral and international agencies, primarily in
India but also in Egypt and Bangladesh. She also conducts short international courses
on land management and informal settlements upgrading at IHS Rotterdam.
Banashree has several publications to her credit. She has undertaken prestigious
assignments such as Panelist for Dialogue 3: Land and Housing at the World Urban
Forum 2010, Rio De Janeiro; Chairperson of the International Jury for the UN-HABITAT
best Practices Awards in 2008; and working group member of the Global Commission
for Legal Empowerment of the Poor in 2007. She was part of the International Expert
Group on Land and Housing of UN-HABITAT.
Mr. Manoj Rai has about 20 years of experience and expertise in issues related to
governance, poverty, service delivery, social analysis, budget analysis, social
mobilization, development communication, use of social accountability tools such as
citizens report cards and social audit-public hearing.
Nabamalika Joardar is an architect-planner, currently associated with a real estate

consultancy in the capacity of an architect. Her work has been focused on the
development of large-scale residential designs including affordable residential projects
for under-served settlements. In addition, she has carried out research on mass housing
building techniques and the history of housing policies in India. She has also developed
question banks for course material for PRIA and is a contributing author for the
Encyclopedia of Action Research. Nabamalika pursued her undergraduate degree in
Architecture from Sathyabama University in Chennai and her postgraduate degree in
Planning (with specialization in Housing) from the School of Planning and Architecture,
Delhi.
Dr. Rajesh Tandon is president-founder of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a

voluntary organisation providing support to grass roots initiatives in South Asia. Dr.
Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research

and development. He has served on numerous government task forces and committees
both nationally and internationally. He is also the UNESCO Co-Chair for community
based research and social responsibility in higher education.
Content Packaging:
Ms. Nabamalika Joardar
Conceptualization and Technical Expertise by:
Ms. Apoorva Sharma- Communication and visual branding
Dr. Martha Farrell- Adult education and online distance learning
Mr. Prashant Dambhale- Technological platforms for delivery
Acknowledgements:
Ms. Anupma Gajwani- Visualizing and setting up of MOODLE platform
Mr. M D Joseph - Coordination and secretarial support
Mr. Ranjan Sinha- IT support
Mr. Sujit Kumar Sourav- All backend technical support

Table of Contents
S. No. Topic Pg. No.
Overview 5
Pre-Requisite 6
Introduction 6
Learning Objectives 6
Unit 1 What is Urban? 7
1.1 Urbanisation - Global Scenario 9
1.2 Urbanisation - Indian Scenario 12
1.3 Classifications of Towns and Cities in India 13
Unit 2 Urban Planning: Definition and Objectives 16
2.1 Brief History and Evolution of Urban Planning 17
Unit 3 Urban Planning In India: Practice and Administration 20
3.1 Institutional Framework Pertaining to Urban Planning 21

in India
3.2 Challenges and Issues of Urban Planning Practice in 25
India
Summary 27
Further Reading 27

OVERVIEW
In this module the fundamentals and definitions of Urban Planning, especially in the
context of India, have been discussed at length. Urban Planning needs lot of thinking
and there are several criteria associated with the process of planning. Hence this
Module deals with the fundamental requirements, definitions and criteria related to
Urban Planning. For the clarity of concepts this Module has been divided into three
units:
Unit One gives a description of Urban Planning in the Global perspective. In this Unit
criterion of urban areas adopted by various countries has been explained in detail.
Unit Two describes various definitions of Urban Planning and its objectives, and
Unit Three talks about the Urban Planning in India at the National, State and Local or
Regional level.
This Module provides the fundamentals of Urban Planning in a very comprehensive

way.

PRE-REQUISITE
Learners need to have:
 Basic understanding of the population composition of urban areas,
 Basic information about the needs of the urban areas,
 Some knowledge of the administrative structure of urban areas
INTRODUCTION
In this Module we will study the importance of Urban Planning and its distinctive
features, in detail. Every place inhabited by human groups is based on some sort of
planning. The planning includes location of various buildings as per their types and
services they provide. The terms town/ city planning are used synonymously with
the Urban Planning. The cities are further divided as per the population they hold,
hence the larger the city, more intricate t h e n e e d f o r planning it.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This Module is envisaged with the objective that at the end of the Module the learners
will:
 Understand the criteria and need of Urban Planning
 Know the importance of Urban Planning in the Indian context

UNIT 1: WHAT IS URBAN?
More than half the population of the world is now urban and the numbers are
increasing at a swift pace. Here, it becomes important to know how a population is
classified as being ‘urban’, as opposed to being rural or tribal or any other type. The
simplest definition of an urban population is that of a population residing in towns and
cities. But, which places qualify as a towns or cities?
The concrete technical aspects defining ‘urban’ are:
 population size
 population density
 economic base
 presence of a municipal body
There must be a minimum number of

NOTE BANK:
people residing in the place for it to be
In India, the Census defines an urban area
called urban; these people must be
as one with:
concentrated in a particular area and
 Population more than 5000
not scattered; there should be a
 Population density over 400 persons per
minimum number of people in one unit
sq.km
area of land; they should be engaged
 75% of the male population engaged in
in economic activities other than
non-agricultural occupations.
primary ones such as agriculture or
animal rearing etc. and; there must be a municipality or town committee or a
planning and governing body to take care of the services and planning of that place.

There is no common minimum number that can be put against these aspects, as no
numbers are universally applicable all over the world. All countries have their own
specifications for each of these aspects and they vary considerably as seen in Table
1. Thus, for some countries, 400 people can constitute an urban area whereas for
others, the minimum number is 50,000. Thus, there is no common definition of ‘urban’
as it keeps changing contextually.
Table 1: Different Definitions of Urban Areas World Over
S.
No. Country Definition of Urban Area
1 Australia Population clusters of 1000 or more people, with a density of 200 or
more persons per sq.km.
2. Canada More than 400 people per sq.km. and more than 1,000 people
3 China An urban area is an urban district, city and town with population density
higher than 1,500 persons per sq.km.
4 Sweden Statistically defined localities, totally independent of the administrative
subdivision
5 U.S.A There are two kinds.
of the country. With a The term-urbanized
population area200
ranging from denotes an urban area
to 1,252,000
of 50,000 or more people. Urban areas under 50,000 people are called
inhabitants.
urban clusters.
6 South Places with some form of local authority
Africa
7 Brazil Urban and suburban zones of administrative centers of municipalities
and districts
8 Bahrain Communes or villages of 2,500 or more inhabitants.
9 Cyprus Urban areas are those defined by local town plans
10 Indonesia Places with urban characteristics

11 Japan City (shi) having 50,000 or more inhabitants with 60 percent or more
of the houses located in main built-up areas and 60 percent or more
of the population (including their dependents) engaged in
manufacturing, trade or other urban type of business.
12 Albania Towns and other industrial centers of more than 400 inhabitants.
13 Austria Communes of more than 5000 inhabitants
14 France Communes containing an agglomeration of more than 2000

inhabitants living in contiguous houses or with not more than 200
meters between houses.
15 India Town/City are defined as places with municipal corporation/municipal
area committee/ town committee/notified area committee/cantonment
board; Places having 5000 or more inhabitants, a density of not less
than 400 per sq.km, pronounced urban characteristics and at least
3/4 of the adult male population employed in pursuits other than
agriculture.
(Source: Various Internet Sources)
1.1 Urbanization – Global scenario
(Source: World Urbanization Prospects: the 2005 Revision UNDP)

In 2008, for the first time, half the world’s population was living in towns and cities. By
2030, the urban population will reach 5 billion i.e. 60 per cent of the world’s
population. Nearly all population growth will be in the cities of developing countries,
whose population will double to nearly 4 billion by 2030 — about the size of the
developing world’s total population in 1990. The map below illustrates the current levels
of urbanization across the globe.

Figure 1: Map showing global levels of Urbanization
(Source: www.commons.wikimedia.org)
Some key findings of the report ‘World Urbanization Prospects: the 2005 Revision’,
prepared by the United Nations Population Division have been briefly presented below
(also refer Figure 2):
 Most of the population increase expected during 2005-2030 will be absorbed by

the urban areas of the less developed regions whose population will likely rise
from 1.9 billion in 2000 to nearly 4 billion in 2030. In contrast, the urban
population of the more developed regions is expected to increase very slowly,
passing from 0.9 billion in 2005 to 1 billion in 2030.
 During 2005-2030, the world's urban population will grow at an average annual
rate of 1.8 per cent, nearly double the rate expected for the total population of
the world (1 per cent per year). At that rate of growth, the world's urban
population will double in 38 years.
 Growth will be particularly rapid in the urban areas of less developed regions,
averaging 2.2 per cent per year during 2005-2030, consistent with a doubling
time of 30 years. In contrast, the rural population of the less developed
regions is expected to grow very slowly, at just 0.1 per cent per year during
2000-2030.

 The rapid increase of the world's urban population coupled with the slowing
growth of the rural population will lead to a major redistribution of the
population. Thus, whereas in 1950, 30 per cent of the world population lived in
urban areas, by 2000 the proportion of urban dwellers had risen to 47 per cent
and are expected to reach 60 per cent by 2030. The number of urban dwellers,
for the first time, had overtaken the number of rural dwellers in the world in
2008.
 As a consequence of regional trends, the world's rural population will remain

nearly stable during 2000-2030, falling only from 3.21 billion to 3.19 billion.
 In terms of population size, Tokyo was the largest urban agglomeration in the
world in 2005, with 35 million residents (the Tokyo estimate has been raised
considerably in the latest estimates due to a new definition of metropolitan area).
Tokyo is expected to remain the largest metropolis although its population will
not grow substantially. It is followed today by Mexico City, New York, Sao
Paulo and Mumbai (Bombay). Of these cities, Mumbai is expected to become
the second largest mega-city in 2015 with a population of 22 million, followed by
Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Delhi.
Figure 2: Urban & Rural population of the World: 1950-2030
Source: World Urbanization Prospects 2005, UN Population Division

1.2 Urbanization – Indian Scenario
The rate of urbanization in India in the last decade was much less than what was
expected and till date India still has not reached the mark of 50 percent. Around 30
percent of the population in India is urban and this transformation from rural to urban
is a rapid one despite the low rate of urbanization. The urbanization of rural India has
gained huge momentum as with the emergence of large metropolises, smaller urban
centers have started sprouting everywhere in order to serve the larger centers. Today
an increasing number of India’s population of over 1.1 billion is fuelling urban
centres across the subcontinent, with over 300 million city dwellers making up one-
tenth of the world’s urban population.
NOTE BANK:
‘India’s status as a developing nation
Some facts of Urbanization in India as per
with a growing urban economy, coupled Census 2011
with the sheer magnitude of people  The Census of India covered 7,935 towns
in 2011 whereas in 2001, it had covered
and social potential, provides an ideal only 5,161.
platform for the analysis and discussion  The growth rate of population for India in
the last decade was 17.64%. The growth
on the future shape of urban society’
rate of population in rural and urban areas
(Urban Age). was 12.18% and 31.80% respectively.
Thus interventions are called for in the chaotic and unplanned urban centers, especially
the small and medium sized towns that are often neglected. In India, the official
classification of different types of towns and urban centers is done on the basis of
population size.

1.3 Classification of Towns and Cities in India
Indian towns and cities are broadly classified into six classes according to census
2001 on the basis of population.
Table 2: Classification of Towns and Cities in India
Class Population Size Numbers of Urban

Agglomerations/Towns
Class I 1,00,000 and above 393
Class II 50,000 –99,999 401
Class III 20,000-49,999 1,151
Class IV 10,000-19,999 1,344
Class V 5000-9,999 888
Class VI Less than 5000 191
Unclassified 10
All Classes 4378 and increasing
Source: Census of India 2001
Besides the given classification, there are many other terms used in Urban Planning to
describe different kinds of cities. A very informal kind of classification is to describe the
city by the role it plays. For instance, we could have cities that could be described as
tourism centers, religious or pilgrimage centres, craft centres or IT cities or we could
have capital cities or educational and administrative hubs or steel city or coal city and
so on and forth.
There is also another way of classifying cities based on their spread and size such as
metro cities, urban agglomerations, megapolises, city regions (for e.g. The National
Capital Region or Greater Mumbai Metropolitan Area) etc. In India, we have a
classification of metro and non- metro cities that is commonly used. Most of the
metropolitan cities in India are urban agglomerations comprising several municipal
jurisdictions.

In fact a number of cities that have crossed the million-mark in terms of population
(refer Table 3) are on their way of becoming metropolises soon. The number of
million plus cities in India has increased from 5 in 1951 to 35 in 2001.
Table 3: Twelve Largest Million Plus Cities in India
Rank Urban Agglomeration/city Population (in Millions)
1 Greater Mumbai 16.3
2 Kolkata 13.2
3 Delhi 12.7
4 Chennai 6.4
5 Bangalore 5.6
6 Hyderabad 5.5
7 Ahmedabad 4.5
8 Pune 3.7
9 Surat 2.8
10 Kanpur 2.6
11 Jaipur 2.3
12 Lucknow 2.2
Source: Census of India 2001

THINK TANK
Answer these Questions:
Megapolises in India: Some million plus
 How cities are classified in your country?
cities in India have an extensive
 Does your country contain a spatial unit
metropolitan area or a chain of roughly
that responds to the classic definition of a
continuous metropolitan areas termed megapolis? What are its characteristics?
as megapolis areas of that city. Three  What percentage of your country’s
major megapolises in India are: population lives in urban areas? At what
rate has it grown over the past 50 years?

1. The National Capital Region consisting of the National Capital Territiory of Delhi,
Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad can be considered as a megapolis
with a population of about 2 2 million. It also includes other regions from
neighbouring states.
2. The industrial-IT hub between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai with a total
population of around 16 million can also be considered a megapolis.
3. The Bengaluru-Hosur corridor with a population of 7 million can soon be a

megapolis with the current rate of increase in population.

UNIT 2: URBAN PLANNING: DEFINITION AND OBJECTIVES
Urban planning is also popularly known as Town Planning. It encompasses many

different disciplines attempts to accomplish sustainable, user-friendly, economic and
social organization of all elements of a town, city or any other urban environment.
It has to take care of the residents’ housing, employment, recreation, trade and
business, sanitation, mobility and communication besides preserving the natural and
built heritage of the place. In the next section, we shall briefly browse through the
history of planning from that of ancient cities to its present form.
Conveyers and Hills (1984) define planning as ‘a continuous process which involves
decision and choices, about normative ways of using available resources, with the
aim of achieving articular goals at some time in future.’
NOTE BANK:
A Definition of Urban Planning:
‘It is the design and regulation of the uses of space that focus on the physical form, economic
functions, and social impacts of the urban environment and on the location of different
activities within it. Because urban planning draws upon engineering, architectural, and social
and political concerns, it is variously a technical profession, an endeavor involving political will
and public participation, and an academic discipline.
Urban planning concerns itself with both the development of open land (greenfield sites) and
the revitalization of existing parts of the city, thereby involving goal setting, data collection and
analysis, forecasting, design, strategic thinking, and public consultation.’
Britannica Encyclopedia Source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/619445/urban-planning
There are many other specialized streams of planning that

constitute urban planning: environmental planning;
transport planning; land use planning; housing etc.
Regional planning involves planning at a larger scale,
comprising of both urban and rural planning.

2.1 Brief History and Evolution of Urban Planning
The first towns were human settlements that were established when human society
evolved from hunting-gathering to an agricultural one. Agriculture as an occupation
required settling close to water sources that are needed for irrigation. Thus, ancient
civilizations were cities and settlements on riverbanks such as Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa (Indus Valley); Egypt (Nile), Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates) going
back to the Bronze Age i.e. 3000 BC – 150 BC.
Figure 3: Ancient Cities
Source: http://blue.utb.edu/paullgj/geog3320/lectures/origincivil.html
As society became more complex, cities started being planned on the basis of
societal and religious hierarchies. The great cities of Rome, Athens etc. all had
hierarchical planning where the most important structures (public or religious)
occupied the centre and all other functions of the town were planned concentrically
or radially around this structure with their importance decreasing as their distance
increased from the centre. Similar examples are seen in many Islamic cities or
temple towns in South India where the main mosque or temple occupies the
highest or central point and the rest of the town is planned around it.

In the 16th-17th century, land occupation by communities or tribes for settlement

became the primary objective and thus cities started being planned as citadels,
fortifications or within walled enclosures. Most of the historic cities in India are
actually forts or walled cities, s u c h a s Agra, Delhi, Hyderabad, Daulatabad and
Jodhpur. With advancement in warfare, walls and forts became obsolete as defense
mechanisms but these cities still stand as evidence of a time when ‘security’
dictated their form and the built heritage of forts and walls forms a unique combination
with new developments. With increased globalization, sea-travel and trade in the
18th century, market towns and ports gained huge importance as centres of trade
across the globe. In fact, the most powerful countries were those with mighty
naval fleets and prosperous port cities as capitals. All colonizers such as the
English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch etc. captured areas in far off places due to
their naval dominance and planning practices also got globalized and more
universal.
Urban Planning metamorphosed into its modern form owing to the Industrial
Revolution, with the advent of machines, new construction technology and cars. The
scale of a town underwent tremendous expansion in terms of having wider roads,
taller buildings, spread out cities due to extensive railroad networks, huge industries
etc. Areas that were not very good for crops, started developing into industrial
centres and manufacturing townships called ‘factory towns’. But in a few years, all
these towns were b rought with squalor as people had been accommodated in
minimum living area with no attention towards sanitation. The only focus was
industrial mass production in these towns whereas the elite lived in more sanitized
quarters of the cities. Epidemics and diseases resulted in further transformation in
city planning with more attention to sanitation and aesthetics.
Planning gained popularity in the mid-to-late 19th century, when it became obvious
that there should be some kind of plan or larger goals for the growth of big cities
like New York, London, and Paris etc. as they had grown haphazardly and

disproportionately to the available infrastructure. In America, this transformation was

called the ‘City Beautiful Movement’ and large tracts of land were cleared for the
purpose of building public areas like parks and plazas. Urban Designers, Landscape
Designers and Architects gained great importance as professionals besides urban
planners. Land use planning and Zoning became the most necessary tools for
planning of cities. There have been criticisms of this movement in terms of non-
involvement of common people and pushing the poor to the periphery in order to
make the city ‘look good’.
Urban Planning for the past 100 years has

THINK TANK
sadly not transformed much. It is only recently
that ‘environmental sustainability’ and ‘people’s
 Is your city a planned city?
participation’ have become pertinent issues to
 What are the
be considered by planners and hopefully, city
characteristics of your
planning will evolve into a more inclusive, just city’s spatial expansion?
and ecologically sensitive practice.

UNIT 3: URBAN PLANNING IN INDIA: PRACTICE AND

ADMINISTRATION
After Independence in 1947, the Nehruvian vision of catching up with the rest of
the world penetrated the planning practice in India and cities like Chandigarh and
Bhubaneswar were especially planned as iconic cities showcasing the fast paced
progress of India as an independent nation. Chandigarh’s layout is inspired by the
‘navagraha mandala’ like the city of Jaipur and was planned by French architect
and planner Le Corbusier whereas Bhubaneswar was planned by German architect
and climatologist Otto Koenigsberger. These along with Jamshedpur are the first
planned cities of independent India.
Sadly, it was not these well laid out plans that inspired urban planning in the rest of
the country. The example that was emulated by every city was mainly that of Delhi
and Mumbai. The Town Improvement Trusts that existed under the British rule were
brought under the umbrella of Town and Country Planning Act 1954 to establish
agencies to provide physical infrastructure (first enacted in Maharashtra) but this
was removed from ground reality and city municipalities felt that these agencies
had been imposed on them. In 1973, the Model Law prepared by Town and
Country Planning Organisation (TCPO) added the Model Urban Development
Authorities Law providing for the creation of Development Authorities to undertake
large scale development works. Though these legislations were created for better
planning, they resulted in multiplicity of agencies with ambiguity of roles without any
coordinating body.
After independence and partition, Delhi as the capital saw a gigantic influx of
population and refugees with no place to house them. The Delhi Development
Authority (DDA) was the first authority established under the Model Urban
Development Authorities Law (Delhi Development Act of 1957) as an agency
empowered with the right to acquire land for development from private landowners,

plan residential colonies and other infrastructure and sell them. Advised by a team of
eminent American planners led by Albert Mayer, the DDA chose the policy of creating
Master Plans with 20 year timeframes supported by Land use Plans (LUPs) and
Zonal Development Plans (ZDPs). Though the first master plan for Delhi was well
intentioned, by the time it was prepared, development had already occurred on the
land for which it had planned uses. All subsequent plans also had the same
problem of a distinct difference between planned use and actual use. Also, in so
many years, the ineffectiveness of segregated land use in Indian cities has also been
proved. Thus, by following the mistake-ridden template of Delhi, all emerging urban
centres in India adopted the 20-year timeframe Master Plan method of urban planning.
3.1. Institutional Framework Pertaining to Urban Planning in India
Initially, urban planning was a state subject in the constitutional division of

responsibilities but after the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act passed in 1992 and
came into force on 01.06.1993, the urban planning function was devolved to the urban
local government.
The various bodies in India that are related to Urban Planning are:
At the National Level:
3.1.1 Though the Central Planning Commission is the primary body that
formulates policy level decisions with regard to all kinds of development through the
channel of five year plans, it is not specifically focused on ‘urban’ planning.
3.1.2 At the central level, the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD); the Housing
and Urban Development Division of the Central Planning Commission and
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) are the three
authorities dealing with the subject of urban planning and development performing
advisory and coordination roles apart from providing technical assistance for

promoting orderly urbanization. These agencies focus mainly on policy planning,

allocation of funds and monitoring of central schemes.
3.1.3 The Town and Country Planning Organization is the technical planning
agency at central level. It lays out broad guidelines urban development including
Housing, Poverty, Urban Governance, Mapping, Infrastructure, Capacity Building,
Land Policy, Urbanization, Urban Reforms etc. It is responsible for providing
assistance and guidance of the highest competence to the centre. It has two main
divisions: (a) National Policies and Prospective Division - responsible for national
urbanization policies, urban- regional information systems, norms and indicators of
urban planning and development; and (b) Regional Level Policies and Planning
Division - carries out studies relating to regional development planning at different
levels, assessing regional impacts and devising strategies for spatial development.
3.1.4 The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) assists various
agencies and authorities in upgrading the housing conditions and infrastructure in the
urban areas of the country. Its domain spreads over Urban housing; Rural housing;
Staff rental housing; Repairs and renewal; Shelter and sanitation facilities for footpath
dwellers; Working women ownership condominium housing; Housing through private
builders/ joint sector; Land acquisition; provision of Infrastructure; Integrated land
acquisition and development; Environmental improvement of slums; Utility
infrastructure; Social infrastructure; Economic and commercial infrastructure;
Financial Services such as provision of housing loans; Research on Building materials
and technology; Consultancy services.
3.1.5 The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) is another autonomous central
agency that deals with research, training and information dissemination in urban
development and management. It undertakes and conducts and promotes studies on
urbanization and urban issues. It also provides relevant training and research facilities
to evaluate the social, administrative, financial and other aspects of the
implementation of urban development plans and programmes. It also undertakes
publication of books, research papers, monographs etc. pertaining to urban affairs.

At the State Level
3.1.6 The state level Town and Country Planning Organization in every state was
created for planned urban & regional development of the state. The department was
conceptualized essentially for preparation of blue print for such developments. It
assists the State Government in formulating policies for urban areas and prepares
Master Plans for Development area / Regulated Area/ Special Area Development.
Delineation of Regions and preparation of Regional Plans for different Regions is
also carried out by this body. It also provides technical assistance to various
implementing agencies in terms of survey of land and implementation of state and
central schemes of urban development.
3.1.7 The Development Authorities / lmprovement Trusts / Special Planning

Authorities are independent bodies created by the state governments as required
from time to time for certain metropolitan cities and other towns, empowered with acts
and rules to take care of the aggregate physical development of a given/identified
area. The Special Planning Authority (SPA)/Improvement Trust is usually created for
intermediate towns/cities, whereas the Development Authorities (DA) have been
established for metropolitan and big cities. These bodies are very powerful and
empowered to prepare interim development plans, comprehensive development
plans, preparation of zonal development plans, and preparation of town planning
schemes for smaller areas, to implement these plans, to impose development control,
to guide, regulate and intervene in the development process as and when required.
3.1.8 The other parastatal agencies related to infrastructure provision are Water
Boards and Sanitation Boards; Public Works Department etc. These carry out the
works relating to planning and implementation of water supply, sewerage and
drainage and roads for the whole state but their head offices are established in major
cities. These agencies also have ownership of the entire infrastructure and related
land though the maintenance may be carried out by the local body or municipality.
3.1.9 With regard to establishment of Social Infrastructure, Education and Health

Departments are governed by the State Government. These Departments carry out

implementation of schemes, planning for education and health facilities at state level
for both urban and rural areas.
At the City Level
TWELFTH SCHEDULE (Article 243W)

3.1.10 Municipalities, also
1. Urban planning including town planning.
called Urban Local Bodies are 2. Regulation of land-use and construction of
the agencies responsible for buildings.
3. Planning for economic and social development.
planning of cities. As per the 74th
4. Roads and bridges.
Constitutional Amendment Act 5. Water supply for domestic, industrial and
(74th CAA), there are three kinds commercial purposes.
6. Public health, sanitation conservancy and solid
of Municipalities in India: waste management
Nagar Panchayats for areas in 7. Fire services.
8. Urban forestry, protection of the environment and
transition from a rural area to promotion of ecological aspects.
urban area; 9. Safeguarding the interests of weaker
sections of society, including the
Municipal Councils for smaller
handicapped and mentally retarded.
urban areas; 10. Slum improvement and upgradation.
Municipal Corporations for larger 11. Urban poverty alleviation.
12. Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as
urban areas. parks, gardens, playgrounds.
13. Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic
Every State has a different
aspects.
norm assigned to each of the 14. Burials and burial grounds; cremations, cremation
grounds and electric crematoriums.
above and there is no particular
15. Cattle pounds; prevention of cruelty to animals.
population size accepted all 16. Vital statistics including registration of births and
over India for a city to have a deaths.
17. Public amenities including street lighting, parking
particular kind of municipality. lots, bus stops and public conveniences.
According to the 74th CAA, the 18. Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries.
function of ‘urban planning’ is one of the eighteen functions mentioned in its Twelfth
Schedule (refer list) that fall under the purview of the municipality or urban local
body. Yet even after 20 years of the passage of this amendment, this function has not
devolved to the local government and remains the domain of parastatal agencies like
Development Authorities.

3.2. Challenges and Issues of Urban Planning Practice in India
 Lack of clarity of responsibilities and jurisdictions coupled with multiplicity of

agencies with overlapping functions. There are agencies both at state and
local level that are carrying out the function of urban planning for e.g. TCPO, DA’s,
and ULBs etc.
 Opposing Acts and Laws: The 74th CAA devolves the function of urban planning
to the urban local bodies but the Development Authorities Act assigns the same
function to respective parastatal authorities.
 Lack of capacity: ULBs are not equipped with professional and technical
capacity to carry out this function.
 Lack of proper Financial Devolution: Unless the ULBs have resources to spend
on this function, they cannot become the primary urban planning bodies.
 Lack of innovation and contextualization as per Indian conditions: Segregated

Land use planning has failed in many cities and there is need to experiment
with more socially sustainable zoning such as mixed use planning.
 Lack of short term monitoring and appraisal of plan: Master Plans are made for a
period of 20 years but there is need to evolve plans of smaller scale and duration
(ward plans/ local area plans; annual plans etc.) for better monitoring and timely
revision of the larger planning decisions.
 Limited spaces and opportunities for People’s participation in the urban planning
exercise. As we shall see in the next module, Participatory Planning is a better
approach as it develops ownership of the people in the city plan and its
implementation. With the diverse character of the city, all stakeholders of the
plan are varied and numerous and cannot be treated as a single block
 Lack of adoption and adaption of current global practices: World over, city
plans are giving special consideration to aspects of Social Inclusion and Climate
Change. Planning for better quality of life for urban poor and slum dwellers has

become a primary concern. So has planning for ecological sustainability of any city
plan. In India, we are still taking our first steps towards these practices.
THINK TANK
 What is the institutional framework for urban planning practice
in your country?
 What challenges does your country face in its urban planning
pursuits?

SUMMARY
This Module provided the basic knowledge about the Urban Planning. It explained
the advantages the Urban Plan and how useful it is in the development. Also
Planning of the urban areas depend on the nature of the cities and the number of
population it holds. It is a very sensitive process, which requires lot of thinking.
FURTHER READING
1. The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992:

http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend74.htm
2. The State of Asian Cities 2010-11 by UN Habitat:

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=8891&catid=643&typeid=46&subMen
uId=0&All Content=1

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Module 1: An Introduction to Urban Planning 1

Participatory Urban Planning:

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor

©PRIA International Academy 2014

Content Developers and Authors:

Banashree Banerjee is an urban planner, working as an independent consultant and

Nabamalika Joardar is an architect-planner, currently associated with a real estate

Dr. Rajesh Tandon is president-founder of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a

©PRIA International Academy 2014

Ms. Nabamalika Joardar

Conceptualization and Technical Expertise by:

Ms. Apoorva Sharma- Communication and visual branding

Dr. Martha Farrell- Adult education and online distance learning

Mr. Prashant Dambhale- Technological platforms for delivery

Ms. Anupma Gajwani- Visualizing and setting up of MOODLE platform

Mr. M D Joseph - Coordination and secretarial support

Mr. Ranjan Sinha- IT support

Mr. Sujit Kumar Sourav- All backend technical support

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor

©PRIA International Academy 2014

S. No. Topic Pg. No.

Unit 1 What is Urban? 7

1.1 Urbanisation - Global Scenario 9

1.2 Urbanisation - Indian Scenario 12

1.3 Classifications of Towns and Cities in India 13

Unit 2 Urban Planning: Definition and Objectives 16

2.1 Brief History and Evolution of Urban Planning 17

Unit 3 Urban Planning In India: Practice and Administration 20

3.1 Institutional Framework Pertaining to Urban Planning 21

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor

©PRIA International Academy 2014

This Module provides the fundamentals of Urban Planning in a very comprehensive

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor

©PRIA International Academy 2014

Learners need to have:

 Basic understanding of the population composition of urban areas,

 Basic information about the needs of the urban areas,

 Some knowledge of the administrative structure of urban areas

 Understand the criteria and need of Urban Planning

 Know the importance of Urban Planning in the Indian context

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor

©PRIA International Academy 2014

UNIT 1: WHAT IS URBAN?

The concrete technical aspects defining ‘urban’ are:

 presence of a municipal body

There must be a minimum number of

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor

©PRIA International Academy 2014

Table 1: Different Definitions of Urban Areas World Over

9 Cyprus Urban areas are those defined by local town plans

10 Indonesia Places with urban characteristics

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor

©PRIA International Academy 2014

13 Austria Communes of more than 5000 inhabitants

14 France Communes containing an agglomeration of more than 2000

1.1 Urbanization – Global scenario

(Source: World Urbanization Prospects: the 2005 Revision UNDP)

Participatory Urban Planning: Making Cities Inclusive of Urban Poor