Showing posts with label Planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planning. Show all posts

Feb 20, 2023

Need of reinventing planning and analysis processes in view of colossal data and novel technology.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Projections, theories, conclusions and research methodologies being put together, shaped over years, formulated over months, are susceptible of getting outdated even before getting published and usually starts losing significance by the time actually put into practice. Even moment after arriving at a conclusion, outcomes are getting overshadowed and gets diluted considering unavoidable quantum of intellectual insights, discussions, counterarguments and constructive criticism on subject which follows on multiple public forums, not to speak of colossal new raw data surfaced post publication which was never part of base data and assumptions in the first place and poised to lead outcome to a different conclusion. Even scientific theories, concepts and methods change over time or sometimes radically on a new discovery.

We need to acknowledge that data being an amorphous, colossal and dynamic entity and a foundational attribute as a common denominator across knowledge streams has unprecedented and overwhelming potential to disrupt edifice of accumulated knowledge. To give a perspective and to substantiate thoughts its noteworthy that as per Forbes 2018 report there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created each day and 90 percent of data was generated over just two years. Its nearly impossible for any individual or expert to process such flux of data in a limited time with exiting widespread tech-tools, where any random piece of newly generated data may be vital and not to be overlooked. We also need to acknowledge that most of existing workforce around the world is neither equipped to handle such amount of data nor skilled enough today to use exascale computing system which may arrive anytime soon. It’s difficult to come to terms to the fact that a substantial quantum of unfiltered near real-time data can supersede a legitimate factual outdated piece of information. There is also an urgent need to recognise the upcoming role of machine in data processing and experts should increasingly focus more on human aspects of planning and policy.

Learning, for individuals as well as community, is an enlightening journey from one conclusion followed by disruption leading to another conclusion and so on, that’s how we evolve, hence policies, governance and planning processes have to take cognizance of the ever emerging information and data set, quickly and constantly adapting to the new data inferences and insights and should mimic the dynamic attributes based on which they are drafted and implemented.

It also leads to the realisation that traditional predefined data sets and tools to analyse and interpret data, including popular methodology of research and planning are somewhat overrated and calls for a new renaissance.

Author- Anoop Jha

Mar 23, 2013

Thriving market of cheap design aesthetics.

Have you ever wondered why you still find those similar crude designs around even after decades?



IMG_0119 by karen horton, on Flickr
Design demands Freedom 
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
 Image by  karen horton 

So, will they keep producing those sub-standard design and inexpensive aesthetics just because they have found a comfortable niche market for that? a compromising non demanding market segment which is either unaware of their right to aesthetics, right to own good design or they have accepted this false imposed notion of design dictatorship that a good design and aesthetics is only for well-off segment. The restrictive and monopolistic approach towards design only leaves majority of people frustrated witnessing bad designs and cheap aesthetics scattered all around which is usually propagated due to lack of serious talent and affordable skills in design industry or sometimes carefully established to make you feel inexpensive!  



Nerds For Nature Launch at CFA on Febuar by Nerds For Nature, on Flickr
Strengthening Design  
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License
  Image by  Nerds For Nature 

Next time you are travelling in a public transport or while casually strolling through the busy market street, take a serious look around, you might be overwhelmed by the shear abundance of product designs borrowed from your childhood memories, for example look at couple of shoes of those people standing next to you in a subway, chances are, out of ten pairs of shoes you will find one out of this world customized designer pair "a must have it in your wardrobe style", you will see two highly expensive ergonomically designed branded pair, another two pairs from the trending fashion, and another five pairs of shoes with design and aesthetics borrowed from the memories of your distant past, designs borrowed from different time spans of previous couple of decades. It cant just be a coincidence that 40-60% of designed products are still trapped in the evolutionary stage of design, while we already have the best of benchmarks available and established. and it is applicable to almost every type and scale of product available in the market, shoes are just a crude example!



It's the urgent need and responsibility of a designer and a progressive society at large to unlock and libralise the design and aesthetics in a production environment or otherwise, and educate masses towards the same, letting this dissipated knowledge and awareness permeate through the consciousness of otherwise design ignorant and aesthetically suppressed consumers and society, a wind of change which will help make a better ambiance and surrounding whichever part of the world or whichever corner of the city you are in at the moment.

you might like this post on Design Democracy as well called "Deprived of design aesthetics?" 

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

Oct 25, 2012

A to Z Satellitexted : Urban Planning Text

Satellite view or architecture and planning resembling English alphabet 

Its took one bright idea, couple of days, several dozen cities, hundreds of Google Earth rotation and thousands of zoom-in-out to compile this piece of work for you. Enjoy Satellitexted* urbanism!    

*Satellitexted : Building plan in satellite view resembling Alphabet!






























Aug 23, 2012

Real Estate price at user’s end: Transparency is the way to win-win situation!

When demand is so high there is no point keeping hidden costs and policies. 

Planning to buy a home? For some, it's joy of their life, for some it’s a mission, for some their livelihood but for many, it’s a pain. Pain of market research, confusion of what to choose, whom to trust, struggle of monetary arrangement, fear of being cheated, horror of future encounter with inevitable unpleasant surprises associated with real estate deals in constantly changing landscape of real estate market, volatile banking and public policies, unstable political and people’s affair and so on.  

There are so many places where your real estate judgment might go wrong no matter how smart, how educated and how networked you are. Forget about the traits and circumstances which are beyond your control. So volatile this whole affair is that at times it feels like it's a game of luck to finally secure a place without any conflict of guesswork and reality, which you can call your home sweet home.  

Long completion cycle of real estate development especially in case of housing and apartments, makes it more vulnerable and susceptible to volatile market and changing policy environment, susceptible to changes in policies and contracts leading to additional fiscal burden, majority on customer’s side and some on developers as well and to monetary losses occurred mostly to buyers who failed to understand the fine intricacies of initial contracts and hidden policies.

In midst of all this confusion you either hire or get channelized through someone or a firm apparently specialized in real estate dealings to make your life easy, only to realize that they have their own hidden policies and excuses to add to your frustrations.

Acknowledging and understanding the inevitability of market dynamism and inevitable growth in housing demand with little bit of fluctuation here and there time to time, a whole new approach is needed in the functioning of real estate affair.

You are a customer; you want to buy a house rather home, you know your financial condition, you know your aspirations and limitations. You see a home advertisement at fabulously low price in local newspaper or on internet with an assumed star (*) or applied conditions, you are already comfortable with that, you match your budget, you find out more just to realize that there are considerable hidden charges, you think for a while, going ahead seeing the same prevalent story everywhere, you go to bank for monetary help, they have their own complex structure of policy documentation difficult to fathom right away, leave it aside for a while because you urgently need loan for your sweet home, you do the deal formality with developer  while realizing that there are secondary and even tertiary level of hidden charges. Finally your deal is completed, but someone just comes to you and tells you that there are additional visitor parking charges subjected to availability, really high annual club charges you can’t escape, Monthly fixed or accelerating maintenance charges for several amenities you won’t be using ever, not to speak of the security and other welfare charges which issues would occurs later in future if you want to live there. And unfortunately you can’t hold developer liable for many of these things because they will say these monetary activities are beyond their scope of contract and deal. Oh, and don’t forget recently revised property related tax policies which is going to go increasingly taxing on your already demanding fiscal health.

Now, you are a developer, you are in this business for long, you know the intricacies very well, you adjust your position as market and policies change, you see that your business in not going to go down ever in future due to insanely high housing and real estate demand apart from occasional dip, you are in a position to dictate the terms so you don’t have to worry. Of course changes in real estate laws and public policy as well as volatility of politics and people’s affair are going to affect your business, but you are sure you will be able to recover what you want from those existing or prospective customers.

For every single customer who can’t afford the price you are offering for a piece of real estate work you are creating, there would be dozens of willing customers to buy the same piece of project. Acknowledging the strong and more or less stable future real estate growth, as well as abundance of customers, it’s your responsibility as a developer to be as transparent in your offers, deals and policies as possible. It will benefit both customers as well as developer. Customer will know early what is within their reach based on their financial position and assessment of realistic real estate offers and their search for house would be less painful and more fruitful, speedy and less frustrating. Developers should declare every possible instance where an additional cost burden can occur to a customer along with its tentative quantum, should declare every possible project constraint and policy in big bold font, emphasizing every liable policy changes and unexpected future charges based on their industry and regional experience. What worst can happen by this approach? You might lose a customer or two, but with such a huge customer base, who cares! It will sure have advantage both ways. Developers will get real customers rather than ghost customers, their transaction turnaround time would reduce considerably, their dealing process would be smoother, more transparent and honest and they can reinvest that saved time and money back into customer service, building repeat customers and word-of-mouth publicity as well as providing better customer service. Not to speak of huge value addition to company’s brand image. Customers will have in tern fair choice of selection, without any hidden fiscal or psychological burden, after all one can only buy a house with a price tag which he or she can afford.   

Public agencies would always be there to help, assist and control the exceedingly high real estate prices to keep the ball rolling and to keep it within reach of a city dweller, common or exclusive. Considering the positive effect it’s an option worth exploration.


By: Anoop Jha

Jul 8, 2012

Urban underground art : perception and mainstream absorption!

A case of graffiti culture in a city environment.  

Some say its vandalism, some find it an art, some say its irrational some say it’s cool, some see it outdated, at places it’s in vogue, reasons can be many, from fun to revolution but result is one - Graffiti. In this varying landscape of purpose and perception, there is always an apparent struggle to conclude what is right and what is wrong in an urban environment. What with graffiti? Why this perpetual struggle between city administrations and those who create such art-pieces, some anonymous, some leaving their stamp.

Graffiti is an art form standing at the edge of law. Some do it for thrill; some to put across their message, for some it’s an outlet, some do it for recognition and some to revolt against established values and norms. Even after decades of existence there has not been any consensus on the subject. City administrations are either strictly against it or will shy away from the subject saying that they have larger issues of city infrastructure, education, poverty and all at hand to deal with. Go ask a planner, what with Graffiti, what to do with it, you will find them clueless, though some of them might tell you few ways to curb this phenomenon.

Why graffiti culture exists in first place? Unless we try to understand the psychology of underground art, we can’t find a reasonable answer and solution to it. May be it’s the very imposition of rule to curb this behavior, triggers and sustain this behavior. Thrill of breaking the law, mixed with artistic skill, daring move and motivation by some cause, results in graffiti.

Isn’t it good to have wonderful artists in your city? But an artist needs to express and if you won’t give them enough opportunities and enough canvas they will express themselves in any manner, anywhere,  even if it’s a wall, and in this case public properties become soft target. Art itself has no boundaries, but we divide it in good and bad, civilized and vandalism. Piece of art by those few artists who have enough opportunity and money to display their work of art in an upscale gallery becomes a civilized and socially accepted art while the similar piece of art or poor or better if expressed on the walls of city streets and subways and any abandoned structures in form of graffiti gets a tag of vandalism. Can we do something about it?


There are few cities which provide long public walls at sea shores and other specified places specially for making graffiti, for those underground graffiti artists, who do not have to remain underground any more. They are making wonderful graffiti, day and night on these public canvases provided by city administrations, they don’t have to paint the subways and public structures anymore. Temporary, though they have a place for their creative outlet. We can always have some control strategies in place to check the nature and subject of graffiti to respect the feelings and sentiments of citizens.   

They say Taki or someone invented it, I think it exists before the dawn of civilization, remember those wonderful paintings from prehistoric caves? Its basic instinct of human being to express, expression in tangible forms, expressing it for good, to document, to leave it for generations to come, tools doesn’t matter, modes of expression is irrelevant and changing constantly. From prehistoric caves to modern urban wall they have expressed it and they will find out ways and means to express in future. So, it might be a good idea to start thinking of some city level policy intervention measures to provide an appropriate and recognized platform for easy and legalized creative expression, rather than negating its existence and simply trying to get rid of it.   

Planners and city administrations need to come forward and suggest strategies to integrate underground art in their city development plans and urban landscape. Making this form of art publicly acceptable and giving it mainstream recognition by taking illegality, obscenity any kind of provocation out of it. They need to propose strategies to recognize urban talent which has remained underground till now, and propose plans to nourish them by channelizing their talent in right direction and at right place. Simply creating and imposing the anti-graffiti law and trying to maintain the same is not the answer to this ever growing phenomenon, we need to channelize that creative energy in the right direction and at right places by creating favorable environment and instruments in city landscape.
                                                         
By: Anoop Jha