Social media and its ignored role in planning process

By- Anoop Jha

Utilising Background noise of social media for better planning

There is always a resistance and hesitance to change, resistance to adapt to new technology, new methods, new thoughts. Same is the case of age old planning procedure. Take for example surveys and participatory planning. Surveys both primary and secondary play a very important role in any Urban and regional planning endeavor and project of any scale and nature, implemented through any agency whether private or Govt. or PPP. Also due to rigidity and shortsightedness of planning process we forgot to include the recently emerged but powerful segment of social structure called Social Media whose feedback and opinion matters a lot. Tech savvy active segment of population who emerged in recent past feel responsible as a citizen to express their feeling towards variety of issues including any particular development and planning issues and projects, some of these collective thoughts out of the massive online “junk opinions” can prove to be a very valuable asset if filtered, tracked, interpreted and incorporated in the project being discussed or for any planning issue in general.  

Social Media feedbacks for planning process and projects are either underestimated due to pre-determined age old procedural guidelines for planning process including, surveys, community participation and feedback, or are untapped due to shear abundance of it. Current situation is that a substantial number of people give their opinion and feedback and willing to share more on some ongoing project as well as project under pipeline, but planners and responsible authorities do not feel responsible even to listen to these valuable inputs coming from background noise of the social media. All these efforts of individuals and groups go into the vain in most of the cases.    

Enabling and channelizing the online focused planning communities like dedicated discussion forums, blogs, social networking sites and online professional communities in the positive direction to get a feedback on a particular project can radically alter the way projects being planned and implemented.  

Future-proofing urban planning

By Anoop Jha

Understanding future dynamics of urban environment

Urban planning projects present a multifaceted and dynamics set of challenges over its project lifecycle and during its subsequent operational phase. Due to dynamic behavior, polycentric domain, complex cross-sectoral interaction, varying scale and time of execution and operation within urban environment it is difficult to perceive future problems, constraints and direction of growth.

Only possible solution to understand the future dynamics of urban environment is to extract static elements in terms of quantitative measurements from the array of dynamic qualitative urban environment and actions like climate, social interaction, active transportation, combining them with the static elements of city like urban built form, concealed infrastructure. Each element of this derived quantitative inventory need to be assigned some index based on its weightage, and based on these indexes a comprehensive urban vulnerability matrix need to be prepared.  After a thorough and periodic assessment of vulnerability indictors from evaluation matrix, relevant revitalisation, prevention and recovery strategies against each item of this matrix need to be listed to for future proofing urban development and environment.  

Dilemma of Technology: Resistance to adoption of emerging Urban Infrastructure Technology

By- Anoop Jha

Choice between proven technologies of past & tempting future technology

Lifespan of any particular technology is so short that people tend to miss many steps of development. Take for example, cell phones - by the time people know that a new sophisticated technology has arrived in market and they make up their mind to go for it, they realize that a more advanced version of similar technology is waiting around the corner, which is going to make the present technology outdated very soon. This ever-changing flux of development makes it harder to make a choice. Though the pace of change varies across the sectors and scale of operation, but is an inevitable phenomenon of 21^st century. And its acceleratingly fast.

Can we match the pace of planning with the fast pace of technological changes? Can we afford replacing urban infrastructure at the pace we replace our cell phone or laptop? So when we plan an urban infrastructure today with age old technological components there is always a fear that very soon this infrastructure and technology is going to be obsolete, and some new method, technology, or component will be in market, and by that time it would be too late and expensive to replace the installed infrastructure, take example of any emerging technology which is going to take over old one like – Faster building Lifts, Gas insulated Switchgears, Online UV Treatment of Water, Vacuum based waste disposal, District Cooling, SCADA, Automated MLP, ever growing sophisticated Surveillance technology, etc.

The challenge for planners is to choose between the age old proven infrastructure technology and latest or upcoming advanced technology. The problem here is the additional cost of new technology as well as unproven lifespan and performance of technology during its lifespan.

Role of an Urban Planner in the light of technological advancement is to plan a flexible, scalable, and modular state of art sustainable infrastructure, which further allows a smooth transition to the next functional technology in course of time with the minimum intervention, effort, time and cost. 

Neglected Urban River Stretches - an untapped potential

By - Anoop Jha

Ignorance to the very thing which initiated the settlement of city

River which was supposed to be the life of city has become a dumping yard of city and ignored like a backyard of house in the course of evolution of city. Most of the early civilizations evolved and nurtured on the banks of river, there must be some reason for that.

Historically City used to be a combination of human Settlement, built form and River, which used to be a complete experience in itself, and key to an autonomous existence, because people used to be utterly dependent on river for –

Agriculture,

Food,

Grazing Land,

Trade,

Business,

Transport,

Drinking water,

Other Daily Activities

Contemporarily most of the rivers in the developing countries are either polluted or ignored or both, the only activity related to that is -

Dumping Industrial Waste

Dumping city sewage and waste water

Retrieving water for drinking and other purposes

For majority of rivers in the cities of developing countries the case is that river is no more directly related to livelihood of residents of the city, insignificant business or trade activities related to river, dominance of surface transport, numerous other recreational activities and places other than river.  Even rivers are perceived as hindrance in Commuting from one part of city to the other (common feeling: God forbid the long route and traffic jams on bridges crossing river at rush hours!!!).

Need is to Understand the significance of river in forming the balanced ecosystem in the dynamics of city. Cleaning, nurturing and integrating the river stretches in to the fabric of city. There is an urgent need for Pro-river Planning approach integrating it with mainstream city life. Strict but sensible river conservation and integration guidelines need to be in the place.

Even if the Riverfront Development is not possible due to some constraints like revenue, resource etc. some of the strategies to integrate river to the city life can be –

River cleansing and maintenance through diversion and downstream disposal of city waste water and sewage

Streamlining, developing and maintaining optimum acceptable standards of clean and safe public spaces with public facilities at river banks

Providing access to “public transport nodes” from river bank at walkable distances,

Integrating every existing open and green space of city to the   riverbank    

24X7 Surveillance and easy help facilities 

Light Pollution - A nuisance seemingly out of control

By - Anoop Jha

Light Pollution propelled by shear lack of awareness


If you will conduct a survey asking city dwellers, including educated as well as  illiterate population of any developing country to name the types of pollution they know, they tell you water and air pollution, few of them might also tell you Sound pollution but, you will find only handful of population even aware of the phenomenon of light pollution. This is unfortunate that people don’t even know about the price they pay in the name of industrialization and development, not even aware of their rights to live in a healthy pollution free environment.

There is a very simple and straight reason for all this unawareness - there is no curriculum throughout the hierarchy of education ladder that teaches the existence, cause, effects and resolution of light pollution. At least it wasn’t included in course structure in recent past. Another reason of lack of awareness is that majority of young population who were born and brought up in city and have not visited or spent time in any rural area or outskirts of city, they don’t even know that how does a clear night sky look like. They haven’t observed stars in real, lying on the terrace of their home, or in front lawn of their home, because majority of them live in compact flats in the comfort of controlled indoor temperature, they have only vague memories of star filled sky from a movie or childhood imagination of stories that their grandparents used to tell them. Possibly Light pollution is more of intangible in nature and awareness, hence planning communities as well as city authorities are more concerned with the tangible issues whose effects are visible and well known by citizens like water and air pollution.    

Acute phenomenon of light pollution calls for strict urban lighting Guidelines and Regulations whether people are aware of it or not. Parallelly an education drive needs to be conducted throughout the country to make people aware of the illness of industrialization, massive unregulated developments, their rights, emerging global phenomenon.  

Comprehensive list of Landuse Categories

Masterplan and Urban Landuse Activities

Urban Landuse

RESIDENTIAL

Single House/Plot/Flat

Group Housing

Guard residence

COMMERCIAL

Retail Shop/Plate Form

Repair shop

Personal service Shop

Vending booth

Showroom

Weekly Market

Convenience shopping centre

Local/ Sector level Shopping Centre

Shopping Centre/ Commercial Centre/ Shopping Mall

Informal commercial unit/ Platform

Wholesale Market/ Mandi

Bakery/Confectionary/Atta Chakki

Coal/ Wood/ Building Material Market

Vegetable/ Fruit Market

Cold Storage

Hotel

Service Apartment

Restaurant/ Canteen/ Food Court

Drive-in cinema

Exhibition Hall/ Exhibition centre

Banquet hall/ Barat ghar

Petrol/ Deisel/ Gas Filling Station

Oil depot and LPG refilling plant

Gas Godown

Warehouse/ Godown for Non-Hazardous Items

Warehouse/ Godown for Hazardous Items

Automobiles Showrooms/ Showroom cum service centre

Freight Complex/ Logistic Park

Steel/ Cement/ Building Material Yard

Weigh Bridge/ DharmKanta

Cinema/ Multiplex

INDUSTRIAL

Service/ Cottage Industry

Flatted Factories

 Information/ Software Technology Industry

Small/ Light Industry

Industrial plot (specific industry type)

Medium & Large scale Industry

Film Centre/ TV, Radio Programme Production Centre

OFFICES

Govt./ Semi Govt. / Public Undertaking/ Local Body Office

Office/Corporate office

Professional/Personal/Agent Office

Banks

Project Development/ Management/ Maintenance office

Satellite/ Wireless/ Telecommunication centre

PUBLIC / SEMI-PUBLIC / INSTITUTIONAL FACILITIES

Guest house/lodging/boarding house

Hostel

Reformatory and Orphanage

School for mentally/ Physical challenged Persons

Crèche & Day Care Centre/Play & Nursery School

Old age home

Primary school

Secondary School/Integrated Residential School

Vocational Institute

Degree/P G/professional (medical/Engg. etc) college

University

Post Office

Telephone Exchange

Police Station/Fire station

Police Post

Library

R & D Centre

Health Centre/ Family Welfare Centre/ Dispensry

Trauma Centre

Hospital/ Medical college

Clinic

Nursing home

Clinical Lab

Veterinary Hospital/Dispensary

Health club/Gym

Dance/ Music/Art centre

Yoga/ Meditation centre

Milk Booth

Religious Building/ Centre

Community Centre

Convention centre/ Conference Centre/ Auditotium

Planetarium

Socio-cultural Centre

PCO

Internet/ Information Centre

Social Wellfare Centre

Cremation/Burial ground/ Crematoriu

PUBLIC UTILITIES

Sewerage treatment plant/ Pumping station

Sanitary landfill site/ Solid waste treatment plant

Tube well/ Over head tanks/ Under ground tanks/ Renny well

Electric sub-station

Public toilet

Transmission tower/ Mobile tower

TRANSPORTATION

Open parking

Covered/Multi-level parking

Taxi/ Auto/Rickshaw Stand

Truck Terminal/ Transport Nagar

Bus Stand/ Shelter

Bus Depot/ Terminal

Motor Garage/ Service Garage/ Workshop

Traffic Park/ Children Traffic Park/Training Centre

Loading/ Unloading Facilities/Space

Transport/Cargo booking centre

Container Depot

Toll Plaza

Helipad

RECREATIONAL

Park/ Play Ground

Multipurpose open spaces

Golf course/ Race course

Stadium/ Sports training centre/Sports complex

Picnic Spot

Indoor stadium/games Hall

Amusement/ Specialised/ Theme Park

Recreational Club/Swimming pool

Museum-cum-Auditorium/Conference Hall/ Art/Exhibition gallery

Open air theatre

National Memorial

Source: Noida Master Plan - 2031

Barrier-free Environment: A long way to go

By- Anoop Jha

Contemporary fragmented Barrier-free planning calls for integration

Accessible Urban Planning

In the developing countries like India very little attention has been given to the planning of barrier free environment for Differently abled and old age population of any existing city. Though many of new cities and township projects consider and incorporate the design elements of barrier-free environment in actual implementation of such principals following the prescribe guidelines are doubtful and need a comprehensive survey and documentation as part of post occupancy evaluation both at building level as well as master-plan level. In most parts of the existing cities there are not sufficient facilities even for normal pedestrians like, continuous footpaths, not to speak of facilities for differently-abled and old age people. Though there are “Guidelines and Space Standards for Barrier Free Built Environment for Disabled and Elderly Persons” but there are also loopholes in term of final outcome of implementation and functionality at building and city level for creating integrated barrier free environment. These guidelines need to be mandatorily integrated with the comprehensive Transport Masterplan, Zonal Plans, masterplans, local area plans, township and housing plans. Considering the importance and urgency of issue these guidelines and standards need to be implemented as widely and as strictly as possible for the well being of citizens.