Dec 21, 2012

What are the urban planning challenges today?


Inferences from review of JNNURM CDP & Appraisal Reports!

Following sectoral list of “Urban Planning Challenges” have been compiled based on data extracted and analyzed from JNNURM Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for selected cities of India and its appraisal reports. Though these aspects are generalized and somewhat overlapping across most of the urban nodes of Indian sub-continent, lessons and inferences can be equally valuable and applicable for other cities across the world to considerable extent. It’s just an effort to have a consolidated perspective and understanding of future urban challenges, you can further suggest additional planning constraints and challenges to the list!


Comprehensive list of Urban Planning Challenges-

INSTITUTIONAL 
Functional overlap
Jurisdictional overlap
Issues of convergence and coordination

POLICY     
Lack of stakeholder consultations or under-participation
Disaster management issues
Governance issues
Delegation of functions to the new ULB
Prioritizationof action and projects alienated from problems and vision
Matters of resource sharing with neighboring states

ECONOMIC
Lack of value-add sectors
Expansion of informal sector
Continued influx of low skill manpower from neighboring states in some cases
Expanding un-organized sector
Lower work participation rates of women at some places

SOCIAL     
Issues of urban sociology in a multi-ethnic city
Social unrest,
Civil disobedience,
Public safety,
Unemployment,

MUNICIPAL FINANCE   
Unstructured financial profile of urban local bodies
Capital investment requirement
High level of dependency on state government grants
Un-assessed properties for property tax base
Tax rates not being revised regularly
Irregular flow of specific grants
Irregular servicing of debt

PROPERTY 
Low coverage of properties by taxation
Low collection efficiency,
Inefficient user charge

SLUMS & URBAN POOR       
Security of tenure
Quality of housing
Access to infrastructure
Rehabilitation and resettlement
Problem of sanitation
Community toilets
Inadequate night shelters and security
High density with poor infrastructure
Issue of ‘unapproved slums’

PLANNING 
Infrastructure deficits
Unplanned growth
Constraint on growth in city areas due to natural or environmental constraints
Increasing gap between demand and supply
Inadequacies in the basic services in unauthorized clusters
Encroachment,
Non-confirming land use
Missing link between physical and fiscal planning
Protecting, conserving and managing heritage resources
Skewed spatial density distribution

TRANSPORT
Limited road space
Shortage of public transport system
Regional traffic through the city
Inadequate management of streetlights
Problems of roads and transport during festival season
Congestion in the old city areas
Lack of facilities for NMV
Rapid increase in vehicles
Lack of land use transport integration
Inadequate facilities for physically challenged, pedestrians
Inadequate parking
Multiplicity of agencies

WATER     
Nonrevenue water
Leakages
Losses in distribution network and transmission main
Inequitable Distribution
Obsolete distribution system 
High energy cost in water production and Distribution
Ground water pollution
Water supply Vs storage capacity gap
Ground water depletion
Problems of water supply on specific festival days
Unequal intra-city distribution
Inefficient network hydraulics,
Old and dilapidated networks
High pollution in distribution network
River/ Sea odor
Lack or failure of river action plans

SEWAGE   
Limited sewerage treatment facility,
Release of untreated municipal waste into rivers
Release of untreated waste into natural drains and open grounds
Disposal of industrial effluent into the city rivers,
Soft soil condition
Storm water management

DRAINAGE 
Frequent floods
Lack of proper drainage system
Silting
Uncontrolled solid waste dumping causing blockage,
Stagnation of water & waste water runoff
Backflow of water from the river system
Flooding during monsoon season

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT (SWM)
Absence of effective primary collection mechanism
Inadequacy of waste dumping sites
Lack of scientific waste disposal
Continued use of open dustbins
Un-segregated waste disposal
Land availability for sanitary dump sites
Issue of industrial slag

HEALTH CARE    
Inadequate bed strength
Ill-equipped and inadequate operation theatre in some government hospitals
Ill-equipped corporation dispensaries and health posts
Unsafe hospital waste disposal practice

ENVIRONMENTAL
Depletion and pollution of water resources,
Degradation of forest cover
Deteriorating air quality
High incidence of environmental health problems

NATURAL  
Earthquake
Fire
Possibility of epidemic events



JNNURM CDP & Appraisal Report Source: http://jnnurm.nic.in/citywise-cdp.html

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