Smart Master Planning for Cities: Case Studies on Domain Innovations (Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements) 981192385X, 9789811923852

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Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements

T. M. Vinod Kumar   Editor

Smart Master Planning for Cities Case Studies on Domain Innovations

Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements Series Editor Bharat Dahiya, School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand Editorial Board Andrew Kirby, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA Erhard Friedberg, Sciences Po-Paris, France Rana P. B. Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India Kongjian Yu, Peking University, Beijing, China Mohamed El Sioufi, Monash University, Australia Tim Campbell, Woodrow Wilson Center, USA Yoshitsugu Hayashi, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan Xuemei Bai, Australian National University, Australia Dagmar Haase, Humboldt University, Germany Ben C. Arimah, United Nations Human Settlements Program, Nairobi, Kenya

Indexed by SCOPUS This Series focuses on the entire spectrum of human settlements – from rural to urban, in different regions of the world, with questions such as: What factors cause and guide the process of change in human settlements from rural to urban in character, from hamlets and villages to towns, cities and megacities? Is this process different across time and space, how and why? Is there a future for rural life? Is it possible or not to have industrial development in rural settlements, and how? Why does ‘urban shrinkage’ occur? Are the rural areas urbanizing or is that urban areas are undergoing ‘ruralisation’ (in form of underserviced slums)? What are the challenges faced by ‘mega urban regions’, and how they can be/are being addressed? What drives economic dynamism in human settlements? Is the urban-based economic growth paradigm the only answer to the quest for sustainable development, or is there an urgent need to balance between economic growth on one hand and ecosystem restoration and conservation on the other – for the future sustainability of human habitats? How and what new technology is helping to achieve sustainable development in human settlements? What sort of changes in the current planning, management and governance of human settlements are needed to face the changing environment including the climate and increasing disaster risks? What is the uniqueness of the new ‘socio-cultural spaces’ that emerge in human settlements, and how they change over time? As rural settlements become urban, are the new ‘urban spaces’ resulting in the loss of rural life and ‘socio-cultural spaces’? What is leading the preservation of rural ‘socio-cultural spaces’ within the urbanizing world, and how? What is the emerging nature of the rural-urban interface, and what factors influence it? What are the emerging perspectives that help understand the human-environment-culture complex through the study of human settlements and the related ecosystems, and how do they transform our understanding of cultural landscapes and ‘waterscapes’ in the 21st Century? What else is and/or likely to be new vis-à-vis human settlements – now and in the future? The Series, therefore, welcomes contributions with fresh cognitive perspectives to understand the new and emerging realities of the 21st Century human settlements. Such perspectives will include a multidisciplinary analysis, constituting of the demographic, spatio-economic, environmental, technological, and planning, management and governance lenses. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for this series, please contact the Series Editor, or the Publishing Editor: Bharat Dahiya ([email protected]) or Loyola D’Silva ([email protected])

More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/13196

T. M. Vinod Kumar Editor

Smart Master Planning for Cities Case Studies on Domain Innovations

Editor T. M. Vinod Kumar Opp Calicut Orphanage Besant Nivas Kozhikode, Kerala, India

ISSN 2198-2546 ISSN 2198-2554 (electronic) Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements ISBN 978-981-19-2385-2 ISBN 978-981-19-2386-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Contents

Introduction Smarter Master Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T. M. Vinod Kumar

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Amravati Innovative and Inclusive Land Pooling Scheme for the Planning of Amravati and Participant’s Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. Vijayalaxmi and Srikonda Ramesh

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Bhuj Smart Planning and Management of Urban Water Systems: The Case of Bhuj, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Mona Iyer, Siddh Doshi, Gargi Mishra, and Sameer Kumar Cincinnati Comprehensive Planning Comes a Full Circle in Cincinnati, Ohio: Insights from the 2012 Plan Cincinnati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Sudeshna Ghosh and Sweta Byahut Gurugram Be Smart, Be with the Basics of Planning: A Case of Gurugram, Haryana, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Prabh Bedi and Mahavir Kochi Regional Integrated Approach for Smart Master Planning: A Case of Kochi, Kerala, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Fathim Rashna Kallingal and Kenny P. Joy v

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Contents

Kolkata Integrating Master Planning with Smart City Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities in Newtown, Kolkata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Vidhulekha Tiwari, Ahana Sarkar, and Arnab Jana San Diego Citizen-Centric Smart Planning: Case Study San Diego, California . . . . . 271 Neha Goel Tripathi and Malti Goel Conclusion International Collaborative Research: Smart Master Planning Case Studies of Domain Innovations and Conclusions of Cities . . . . . . . . . 303 T. M. Vinod Kumar

Introduction

Smarter Master Planning T. M. Vinod Kumar

Abstract This book explores the capabilities of Smart Master Planning as against legacy Master Planning of cities practised. Master Planning of cities exists because cities under change need uninterrupted integrated area development and urban regulation that benefits and protects the rights of all citizens under the constitution. Despite many shortcomings of Master Planning as discussed in this chapter, and which made some big-ticket national urban development projects replacing it with other shortlived plans with different names by the Union Government, it still exists in India and all countries being revised once every 20 years as per the constitution since no alternative has emerged to replace it. The 100 Smart City Programme and Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) of India were two big-ticket National projects involving a larger amount of public investment ever received by Indian cities so far, were not using Master Plan and detailed town planning schemes for its implementation for integrated area development but is based on some other non-statutory limited time and limited scope plans which by design is short-lived and intend to die soon after the project is over with no continuity for integrated development of cities. The 100 Smart city project is strictly not even using local self-government institutional mechanism under the constitution but a special purpose vehicle to implement, unlike JNNURM. Despite all these circumstances, local self-governments continues to prepare and execute Master Plans as their constitutional responsibility despite some plan holidays years. One intend of this book is to evolve and not replace Master Planning of cities with Smart Master Planning which can broadly be classified as digital master Planning or based on innovations in some domains of Master Planning practices as alternatives keeping the intent of intention of Constitution of India respected and implemented. This book searches for an effective strengthening of Master Planning mentioned in the 74th constitutional amendment of India which we call Smart Master Planning. This can be digital or with domain-specific changes in master planning. This chapter assesses quantitatively the candidate cities for Master Planning in India based on the census 2011 and compares them with registered professional urban planners to plan it. Then discuss how the supply of candidates master Planning cities and demand of Planners can be balanced in India. This chapter explores the T. M. Vinod Kumar (B) School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_1

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first scope and approach of past colonial legacy in Master Planning followed by a critique by many scholars and practising planners. This will be the basis of domainspecific master planning innovations. The Digital Master Plan which is emerging in a limited manner is then studied from practices of certain countries as an alternative for legacy master planning first with its architecture, followed by three international case studies Barcelona in Spain, Greater Spring fields in Brisbane Australia and Dublin in Ireland. Finally, it is followed by an introduction to the case study chapter by the author and his study team in one of two volumes entitled Smart Master Planning: domain innovation and digital innovation. Keywords Smart and legacy Master Planning of Cities · Scope and approach of legacy Master Planning · Colonial British influence in Master Planning · Critique of legacy Master Planning · Candidate cities · Coverage of Master Planning in India and registered planners · Digital Master Planning as alternative · Architecture of digital Master Planning · Examples of digital Master Planning · Barcelona · Dublin and greater spring field · Authors approach to smart Master Planning of this book

1 Introduction This book researches the Smart Master Planning of Cities discussing innovations using case studies. Cities are urban agglomeration the true representation of urbanised geographic space as per the census of India and UNHABITAT and not Municipal boundary, planning area or other towns administrative boundary fixed arbitrarily. Master Planning approach differs in countries as per the governing system followed whether it is a Communist, Capitalist, Secular, Theocratic or Democratic country, besides based on, emerging urban issues and long-range vision of the city. The Constitution determines the governing system and approach to the City Master Plan based on several regulatory legislation encompassing all aspects of city life. This differs from country to country and federal state to state. The constitution is a living document, an instrument that makes the government system work [1]. The adjective smart indicates a better, effective and responsive way of doing Master Planning than practised now but goes much beyond. Undoubtedly, there were several such attempts in the past in many countries and federal states to do that from time to time resulting in an ever-growing body of knowledge in planning theory and techniques. However, the concept of smart as applicable to Master Planning is a product of the twenty-first century, which is an emerging topic of great significance, largely unknown and not practised under many systems of Governance. Smart can be understood easily if we understand the functioning of our smartphone or many IoT or smart devices [2] that are invading all houses. There is a competition to make smart devices to achieve an economy of scale in production. They are today an integral part of internet usage, cost cheaper by every day and spread all over the world dramatically encompassing end uses, irrespective of their income, age group, class and caste. We have a smartphone that converts our single function dumb

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phone to a multifunctional capability of a powerful but tiny computer in your pocket that perform all tasks of communication more efficiently and creatively using all modes of communication and provides, you with many extras like video messaging, SMS/text messaging, email messaging, music player in the background, camera, word processing, spreadsheets, database management, meeting your bank transaction requirements electronically and shopping needs without going to Bank or Mall/shop, Government offices and so on. In other words, a smartphone for a smart citizen converts a physical city to a virtual cyberspace city where all transactions in cash and kind are possible using a smartphone. There are rapid up-gradation from 2 G, 3 G to 4 G with the introduction of cheaper phones, for example, Jio-Google 4 G smart phones within the purchasing capacity of the low-income group. It also makes the brick-and-mortar malls, banks, physical Newspapers, Cinema Theatre, Auditoriums and Government offices not strictly required for smartphone using populations. The transportation system usages also change consequently creating implications to the practice of urban land use and transportation systems Master planning. Smart devices such as a smart plug or smart switch in a smart home is no more the dumb plug doing the assigned function but can be activated by Amazon Echo talk commands to switch on the TV attached to it or switch off even at a predetermined time and even without an echo voice command. The smart plug monitors the heat generated in the plug and can be programmed to cut off the power when the heat is generated to a certain unacceptable level. It can be programmed to switch on a certain time and switch off a certain time based on the ambient temperature and humidity that is comfortable to the occupant of the room. You can then add by design many more functions and scenes to the smart plug/switch and only your imagination limits the functional addition. In smart, two underlying principles are common in all these devices; the internet and wireless communications in their many forms and other technologies related to electronics. They are highly responsive and have superior communication for action. These smart devices in cities can make many of them work together in a group triggered by motion sensors, thermal and humidity sensors and light sensors and can trigger create scenes you want at certain times predetermined where some or many devices work together as per needs. The concept of Smart Master Planning is an adaptation and extension of these ideas given above in city planning. The unacceptable delay in plan making, as well as its implementation, can be prevented by smart master planning. That means smart planning and its implementation can be fused in one so that there is no time loss in Master Planning and between planning and implementation which is never attempted before and undoubtedly a new concept conceived as part of the functioning of smart devices. Value addition to Master Planning results when smart is applied to Master Planning. It all indicates the automation of Master Planning with minimal human involvement. In a Government, the administrative staff is multiplying like a virus, increasing the cost of administration and creating more and more inefficiencies, delays, frustration, and anger among end-user of a city the citizens. This unwanted growth of administrative staff who invent and pursue complicated administrative procedures is financed by tax paid by the citizen. This smart transformation of Master Planning reduces the cost of delivering Municipal Services in a very smart, efficient,

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cost-effective way without an increase in administrative staff. This book is all about discussing this innovation using a case study that makes it highly replicable to many cities. This task is taken up by the study teams of chapters of this book in the hope and intention that anyone can use the results freely. Master Planning has two main functions regulatory and development. All existing legislation applicable to the city is termed as regulation and area or spatial development is called development. The book “Geographic Information System for Smart Cities” [3] defined smart cities as follows. “Smart city is a knowledge-based city that develops extraordinary capabilities to be self-aware, how it functions 24 h and 7 days a week and communicate, selectively, in real-time knowledge to citizen end users for a satisfactory way of life with easy public delivery of services, comfortable mobility, conserve energy, environment and other natural resources, and create energetic face to face communities and a vibrant urban economy even at a time there are National economic downturns” [1]. If you replace the word smart city/city in this definition with Smart Master Planning, you get the definition of Smart Master Planning. The smart city and smart master planning are conceived around the concept of six components-systems smart people, smart mobility, smart economy, smart environment, smart government, and smart living working together in an integrated manner [4]. So Master Planning for integrated area development is all about long-range planning for these six systems. This way of working around these concepts transforms any city into a smart city. The level of the smart city is the level at which the six components have progressed in their working in these cities. There is no end or saturation in any of these six components if innovative practices are emerging from creative people in future. Every city has some level of achievement in these components in a very partial and non-integrated manner. The smart Master Planning task, therefore, looks at the level of development of the city as smart and make smart master plans. The smart city is not an end state of a city but constantly evolving as the creative and innovative inputs of the citizen evolve with the more innovative functionality of the city added to its six components as per the needs. These are realised through smart master planning. The six components system of the smart cities were discussed in many books of the smart city series which was edited by the author. These components are discussed here to place the smart master planning in the right perspective. Although this book has case studies on Smart Master Planning from other countries, this chapter is India Centric, the largest democracy in the world with a federal structure; because the author is a citizen of India and is most familiar with the Master Planning of India. The credential to write this chapter derives from the fact that as a teacher I have taught Master Planning and its different constituents to Planning students for several decades and as a professional consultant worked on Master Plan of Kuantan in Malaysia as a Structure Planner for the World Bank, Project Manager of the first Master Plan of Lakshadweep group of islands and Adviser to Tata Consultancy Services for the Master Plan of Gandhi Nagar the Capital of Gujarat State and innumerable urban development project all over India. This introductory chapter is divided into 10 parts. Part 1 is this introduction which orients smart master planning in its full meaning.

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The second part gives the most recent understanding of the scope of work of Master Planning practised in many parts of the world. Part 3 deals with the evolution of Master Planning in India. The archaeological investigation on the prehistoric cities in Harappa and Mohan-Ja-dare shows the urban design of cities for common people planned with a high level of civil engineering skill and great care for the use of all showing a democratic master planning. The same is true in cities planned based on the Vedic planning period. However, we do not have abundant written pieces on the master planning of these cities and omitted in this chapter. In contrast, during the British Colonial period, we have considerable written pieces available and this chapter concentrate on that. This is despite we have an inferior sample of British Master Planning in comparison with Mohan Jab Daro and Harappa period and Vedic and Mughal period. The only justification to study this period is because the Master Plan being practised in several parts of India was evolved in the colonial period and continued in many states even very recently with no change despite its not so satisfying approach. Part 4 looks at cities in the 2011 census and earlier for India, and Master Planning efforts in India. This is compared with available qualified city planners in India. With COVID 19, 2021 census will be delayed. Part 5 is a summary of a literature survey that critically look at the past Master Planning effort in all aspects. I may warn here no one who wrote these papers do have a high opinion on the Master Planning effort in India. They are unanimous in not celebrating these efforts but accept that as a necessary evil in the absence of worthwhile alternatives. Can we find a legally valid alternative is the focus of this book? The sixth part looks at the alternative to Master Planning and discusses the architecture of Digital master Planning. The seventh part discusses the implementation of digital master planning in Barcelona (Brownfield), The eighth part presents a new town planned and implemented as a case study of Greater Springfield’s digital master plan: a New Town in Brisbane Australia (Greenfield). The ninth part presents an attempt at making a digital Master plan as a Case Study Dublin. Ireland Digital Master Planning (Brownfield). Part 10 briefly presents the approaches of Master planning suggested in this book as a city case study in Kozhikode Metropolitan Area. Finally, part 10 concludes this chapter with some definitive statements. The Indian constitution believes in flexibility in implementing constitutional goals, in multi-levels of Governance of the nation [1], the states and Local selfgovernments like Municipal Corporation and Metropolitan planning committees, and others. The constitution exhibits adaptability as against dictatorial coercion on the other multilevel governance. Therefore, the constitution is updated with amendments as the needs arise and we are now on the 93rd amendment and in the 12th schedule of the Indian Constitution Article, 243 W gives 18 items the first is urban planning including town planning. The second is the regulation of land use and construction

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of a building and the third being Planning for economic and social development. All these are the subject matter of the book. The constitution of India in its flexibility and adaptability do not dictate how the Master Planning should be done and how urban regulation is to be achieved at different levels. It is left to us planners and academicians to design an approach acceptable and work within the legal framework of master Planning. This book is meant to achieve that through innovations and case studies detailing these innovations so that they can be used by those willing to use them. So if you are a planner and I am a Mayor of a city empowered to appoint you as a planner as per the Indian Constitution, I shall ask you to give me a Master Plan of this city that double the GDP once every 2 years and demonstrate it. Is India producing such Mayors who ask these questions and planners confident to deliver what is asked convincingly and demonstrate in a sample area of the city? We will investigate the answer in the following paragraphs and all chapters of the book. In this book for the hypothetical question posed, I want to consider cities as the worshipful Goddess of the wealth (Lakshmi of India) and planners of cities all smart people with or without a professional degree in planning who work for doubling of cities wealth in a premeditated limited time based on the knowledge including that is provided by the book. In the book, Smart Environment for Smart Cities [5], we discussed the rationale of how Indians in the Vedic period considered all elements of the environment in the universe as GOD so Lakshmi for Cities is acceptable for Indians. Before answering this question raised by the hypothetical Mayor to hypothetical planner, we must critically understand what Master Planning of cities is all about.

2 Master Plan [6] The master plan is the blueprint for the Long-Term Plan of a City generally 20 years, to guide the sustainable development of any city, formulating planning guidelines, policies, development codes and space requirements for various socio-economic activities and identifying infrastructure requirements. It is generally found to be executed for any city with local self-government such as a Municipality. Municipalities are constitutional entities in India. The constitutional body the election commission is assigned the responsibility to conduct periodic (5 years) election of local representatives in local government institutions like Municiaplaity by voting. The Central and State Finance Commission determines the share of taxes that provides grants in aid from the consolidated fund of Government to support its 12th schedule functions. For local self-government, the state finance commission provides the standard of municipal services it should provide based on the quantum of grants available to the Municipality. It generally provides for municipal service which mostly is inadequate. Master Plan regulates the use of land and building by development control rules for environmental sustainability. Hence one view is that Master Plan is a Spatial Development Plan since regulation is meant to be undertaken in different areas of

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the designated master plan of any city based on many states and central government legislation and the master plan postulates such as the use of land, and its intensity and many don’t and dos related to that. 74th constitution amendments emphasise social justice and economic development and responsibility for Master planning are given to local bodies Master Plan. Master Plan focuses on social justice, by generally looks after the needs of people living in slums, economically weaker sections, and those under poverty and who sleeps every night with no roof over them in pavements. Hence Master Plan is for social justice and economic development. Economic development involves income generation as well as employment generation. World Bank emphasises the function of Master Plan as urban productivity increases, employment generation and poverty reduction, liveability, competitiveness in comparison to other cities as destinations for economic activities, sustainability, and bankability of urban government with a credit rating is also emphasised in some Master Plans. It may be emphasised that Master Plans always advocates the removal of poverty, foster economic development, environmental sustainability, better urban management and better urban finance. How far these are achieved by the Master Plan will be discussed later. The Master Plan generally have many Components. They are 1. 2.

3. 4. 5.

Spatial development plan generally called existing and proposed land use plan; Resource mobilisation plan indicating the various source of financing plans such as state government grant in aid, house tax and other municipal taxes, grants for various government projects being implemented by municipality and others; Institutional mechanism for plan implementation which may also involve collaboration with other government agencies and non-government agencies; Comprehensive and easy to understand development management/promotion rules/regulations; Participatory mechanism of the poor, women, NGO, Community and Socially Disadvantageous.

It may be noted all the above are not met satisfactorily in many Master Plans. Generally, Master Planning follows a set procedure. A Master Plan must first conceptualise the city’s future based on the existing land use plan and aspirations of the people, then cover all aspects of its planning, development, financing, phasing and management, along with institutional, financial, legal and administrative mechanisms for the realisation of this future. The outcome depends on the quality of the Master Plans. Development in the context of Master Planning means carrying out all or any of the works contemplated in a master plan and shall include building, engineering, or other operations in or over or under land, or any material change in the use of any building or land as proposed in the Proposed Master Plan. The Master Plan goal is to offer citizens a better quality of life; it is important to ensure in the master Planning that the growth and development of a city do not result in environmental degradation. Let us look at concerning one sample state in India, the state of Kerala and the approach of Kerala Local Self Government Department for its 58 statutory towns. It states; “The present practice of annual planning based on the budgetary provision envisioning only short period implementation is inadequate and will hamper

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the comprehensive mass-scale development of the town. Therefore, an integrated and coordinated planning strategy based on a comprehensive master scheme which effectively reflects the social, cultural, and heritage factors of every city is required”. It is seen generally that these goals are never met adequately for various reasons. Next, let us examine one city in Kerala and list out all Master Planning efforts statutory master Plans and non-statutory master Plans undertaken so far. 1. 2.

3.

4. 5.

6. 7. 8.

Non-Statutory Master Plan 1962 prepared by Shri. Rusi Khambatta at the request of Calicut Municipality. Preparation of Statutory Regional Plan for Calicut city and 43 Panchayats. Surveys in 1964 and Interim Development Plan for Calicut Urban Complex (1967–1981) by Town and Country Planning Department Government of Kerala. The second Statutory Master Plan was called the Development Plan for Calicut Urban Area (1981–2001). This was implemented through the number of Detailed Town Planning Schemes (DTP) by the Calicut Development Authority which now Government of Kerala has closed down most of the development Authorities in Kerala in their wisdom barring few such as Greater Kochi Development Authority, etc. Non-Statutory Perspective Plan for Kozhikode 2003 (as part of UNDP-DST MATURE Project). Non-Statutory Calicut Agglomeration Plan 2006 (Voluntary Effort of Indian Institute of Management, Centre for Water Resources Development and management, and others). Non-Statutory Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project Calicut Plan 2009. Non-Statutory City Development Plan 2010 (for JNNURM Project but Calicut was not selected for this project by Central Government). Statutory Master Plan of Kozhikode Area 2035.

A similar pattern exists all over India in master Planning It can be seen that there were three statutory Master Plans with legal validity and five which were non-statutory with no legal validity but prepared for executing some project with very limited funds and limited period of the project allotted for project implementation. In between the second and third Master Plan of 20 years duration, there was a Master Plan holiday which gave great concern to real estate developers and other private builders whether what they are doing is legal or illegal that Can is demolished with new Master Plan legal land use and zonal plan. There was a planned holiday in Kozhikode which was against the Government of Kerala Policy. The Plan holiday 2001 till June 2010 when the third Master Plan 2035 started and was completed in 2015 after considerable delays a part of Master Plan making all over India. There were many violations of the Master Plan 2001 during the plan period and plan holidays. There was then no new statutory Master Plan to conform. There was a complete, absence of proper development control and in Kozhikode and zonal development codes never existed, resulting in ad-hoc decisions.

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Let us look at briefly Planning Issues Tackled in Master Plan 2001. They are 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

The decentralization of economic activities. The rationalization of densities in the various parts of the urban area. The streamlining of the transportation system. The provision of easily accessible facilities such as education, health, recreation, shopping to all. The provision of essential Urban Services. Special consideration for the needs of the urban poor. An implementation mechanism for balanced development including zoning and subdivision regulations suitable for local conditions.

I also enumerate here Planning Issues not generally tackled in statutory Master Plans 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Local Economic development and social justice Urban productivity, employment generation and poverty alleviation Tourism Development Urban Renewal Solid Waste Management Liveability, Competitiveness and Environment Sustainability Urban Ecology and related Urban Form Urban Governance.

The Objectives of the Perspective Plan prepared as part of the Department of Science and Technology MATURE project a non-statutory plan enumerated as above. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Rejuvenation of the trade and commerce sector in the city Upliftment and up-gradation of Slums in the city Better urban services including provision of drinking water Better sanitation facilities The decentralised and safe transportation system Developing an institutional area near the city Identifying the city as an educational centre and a tourism transit point Solving environmental issues.

It may be noted that most of the Statutory and Non-statutory plans mentioned above incorporated most of the recommendations of the Perspective Plans or Urban Agglomeration Plan. The Plan holiday 2001 till June 2010 when the third Master Plan 2035 started and was completed in 2015 with considerable delays. There were many violations of the Master Plan 2001 during the plan period and plan holidays. There was then no new statutory Master Plan. There was a complete, absence of proper development control and development codes never existed, resulting in adhoc decisions as against the Government of Kerala’s Policy is for “an integrated and coordinated planning strategy based on the comprehensive master scheme which effectively reflects the social, cultural, and heritage factors of every city are required”. It was during planning holidays the Calicut Development Authority which was entrusted to implement the second Master Plan and subsequent was closed down by the Government of Kerala as per their policy and Kozhikode Municipal Corporation

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got the legal authority and power to plan Kozhikode, urban regulation and implement but there was inadequate technical manpower to do this work in the Municipal Corporation. There were no training opportunities created to do this new job to Municipal Corporation or augmentation of technical staff. There was no attempt to crate adequate technically qualified persons in the local self-government to discharge the planning functions. The planning function which is now with local bodies was incapable of technically translating policies of urban development of the Kerala Government or the local body had any policy of urban development which may be called their own. In many cases, there has been arbitrariness in permitting the maximum Floor Area Ratio (FAR). From the planning point of view, the FAR permissible for an area shall be based on the considerations of the infrastructure available in the area. High rise-high density developments can be permitted only in those parts of the towns where the available infrastructure is well developed and/or the infrastructure capacity could be augmented without creating an imbalance to the infrastructure system of the town. This was not followed during the Plan holidays. No new Town Planning Schemes were undertaken by Kozhikode Municipal Cooperation once the Master Plan 2035 came into being. Even before that the implementation of Town Planning Schemes by the Calicut Development Authority in comparison with other states in India was very poor. Based on the above discussion let us Suggest the focus of the Master Plan for the future are 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6.

Spatial (Pragmatic urban space based on regional space, rationalising land usetransportation and infrastructure system) Social (A caring city for the young, old, those below the poverty level and sick; extending even palliative care for terminally sick) Economic (A city which is an engine of economic development by the promotion of income, employment and attracting investment) Environmental (A city that protects the environment, conserving and enhancing the quality of air, water and land resources, and cultural and heritage resources) Governance (A city with better citizen-municipal corporation interface and customer relationship management for all interaction and activities and better Urban Management and Finance) Financial (A city that upgrades the Financial health of Municipal Corporation to attract more bankable loans).

The Master Plan shall have a Strategic Framework like a Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and a Local Development Framework (LDF). The regional framework comes out in the Planning area concept to a limited extent in which Master Plan is prepared along with adjoining Municipalities and village panchayat. It comes short of including all urban agglomeration of the census of India. Local Development Document (say each panchayat and subdivision of city like Municipal ward) will include the policies and strategy for the area, site-specific allocations, and a proposals map. Supplementary Documents may elaborate upon policies and proposals and may include such areas as development briefs for specific areas. Development Control will change in the way it is operated in some key respects.

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A Spatial Strategy may be postulated for Master Plan. Articulate a spatial vision of what the city will look like at the end of the period of the strategy and show how this will contribute to achieving sustainable development objectives. A blue-green city is articulated by many Kozhikode environmentalists. It provides a concise spatial strategy for achieving that vision, defining its main aims and objectives, illustrated by a key diagram, with the policies highlighted. It addresses regional or sub-regional issues that will take advantage of the range of development options that exist at that level. The Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) will form an integral part of the RSS. Be locationally but not site-specific, while not going into the level of detail more appropriate to a development plan; be focused on delivery mechanisms that make clear what is to be done by whom and by when. It minimises the need to travel and reduces car dependency; for example, through high-density mixed-use developments, good public transport and pedestrian and cycle-friendly design. It creates a sense of place, reflecting the local character and integrated with adjoining landscapes, with well-designed buildings and attractive green spaces. It makes efficient use of energy and resources, including energy and water conservation measures and recycling facilities, siting buildings for energy efficiency, using sustainable construction processes and materials, and using renewable energy where possible. It takes account of community requirements, by involving the community in the development process and designing for all types of people, by including a mix of housing.

3 Indian Urban Planning in British Colonial days and Its Influence Later The present-day Master planning in Kerala and many states in India is based mostly on legislation and planning techniques framed by colonial rulers. These rules are partial to colonial rulers in the sense it benefits more the East India Company that ruled India than Indians and were made to ease their ongoing colonial exploitation. Our legislators in parliament and assembly had never debated and reject or partially accept with modification, all these legislations which was made for Colonial rulers and not for native Indians whom they considered as slaves to be exploited. Even the imported competitive politics in India after the independence of India is an alien concept where traditionally Indian believes in consensus politics. The rationale is legislation is for all and why not make it the best pooling the intellectual resources of the opposition party. Unfortunately, there seems today some continuity with the British period than the best practices of Master Planning of prehistoric Harappa cities, Vedic period cities of Mughal period Cities which resulted in the archaeological a city for all than a present divided city giving more benefits to the colonial rulers of East India Company. So we study the Colonial influence in this section. I may

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state here, the resulting master plan has not created any city similar to prehistoric Harappan cities, Vedic cities or Mughal cities all of which was the city for all. It cannot be in the British colony because past rich India was programmed by colonial rulers to be poor in a colonial day and the poor cannot sustain a city similar to what we had in Harappa. Ministry of External Affairs Government of India computed that British colonial rulers syphoned out to England from India a sum of $ 45 Trillian impoverishing India and most affected was Indian cities. This process had a maximum adverse impact on city development. The British influence in planning for Indian cities showed this attempt more. The issues the urban planning generally addressed was intended mainly for Britishers in India and not the Indian natives because colonial rulers were also living in Indian cities. By using design and control of city space; selective provision of water, sewerage, roads, street lighting; and police all of them for the British and not for the natives by dividing invariably cities into two parts was the result of Colonial Master Planning. However, luckily this was not spread all over India uniformly since the British whites in India were few and the spread of British whites in India was mainly in port cities where the wealth of India got syphoned from the Indian gateway of port cities to the gateway to England. The British introduced concepts of urban planning for themselves that is familiar to them and not Indians with no regard to the glories of the wealthy past of India but based largely on emerging European ideals of health and sanitation that was prevalent in the post-Industrial revolution in England such as improved roads, spaciousness, order and beautification to safeguard British populated part of India. This is applied in Indian cities where no industrial revolutions were allowed by the colonialists to take place since the colonial rulers prevented it to happen as part of making India poorer. The place they resided is called ‘White Town’ while in the areas inhabited by poor Indians, as ‘Black Town’, where they implemented no or less and cheaper infrastructure, with minimum taxation since poor Indians cannot afford and minimum recurring expenditure in Black Town. So, every city has two parts, for example, Lutyens Delhi and the rest of Delhi in pre-Independent India. As colonial Masters, it was easy to persuade their Indian subjects to accept these imported ideas of post-industrial city as their own, though never without opposition. Undoubtedly there was a conflict with local leaders, but Colonial subjugation helped the British manage and force their way in India. The physical and administrative legacies of colonial rule in Indian Cities then were more or less the same in British India and later independent India till 1991 but seem to continue even today in the implementation of urban projects in cities where central government direct with some money in project and state government follow it. If Central Government says City Development Plan for JNNURM is to be used than the Master Plan under State Government, the latter followed it since money was there in the project. Even after independence, more power was given to appointed bureaucrats than to elected officials; along with subordination of city governments to state and national authorities; use of eminent domain especially for slum removal; a policy of low taxes regardless of civic needs; a pattern of patronage in contracting out urban service even if it is public sector undertakings; and more emphasis on impressive design and architecture for government and the elites than on the basic needs of the ever-increasing immigrant and poor urban masses. This exists

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even today as a legacy of colonial rule and India could not overcome these legacies. This was the same in other colonies of the British such as in Africa where the British colonised. India’s ancient legacy from the Republics of India of 2500 years ago which was based on consultations with beneficiaries and consensus being practised as in the sangha of Buddhism all over the world were disregarded by bureaucracy who from time to time produced government orders and encouraged competitive politics as against consensus politics to divide communities and rule. As stated, Indian colonial cities have always been an area dominated, designed and occupied by the British, which was fortified to protect them like Forts named for St. George in Bombay and Madras, and for King William III in Calcutta (Figs. 1 and 2). Sometimes these areas were called the civil lines. Here the Colonial Masters built their homes not traditional Indian homes but British homes, shops, and churches as well as their commercial and administrative headquarters, with some variations since Fort William had few residential settlements while Fort St. George was a veritable city. The army was accommodated in a nearby area called the cantonment or camp. The much larger Indian area of the city was usually referred to as the native, or black town. As British control extended across India, such patterns of racial separation were repeated, although they never amounted to a system of apartheid. These were the main concepts of Indian cities under colonial rule. Any official plan that emphasised this segregation was however short-lived, Indians overwhelmingly outnumbered the British in the Fort area in later years which made the colonialists lament that they do not have adequate legislation to separate

Fig. 1 St. George Madras eighteenth century sketch. An eighteenth-century sketch of Fort St. George, Madras by Jan Van Ryne. Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_St._George,_Che nnai.jpg

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Fig. 2 Fort William 18 Calcutta century sketch. 2. Fort William, Calcutta. Source http://en.wikipe dia.org/wiki/File:Fortwilliam_1760.jpg

Indians from this area. Out of a total population of 10,801 listed as dwelling in the Fort, 250 were English, 5464 Parses, 4061 Hindus, 775 ‘Moors’, 146 Portuguese and 105 Armenians [7]. These groups, however, tended to be separated even within the Fort, with Churchgate Street functioning as an intangible line of demarcation that separated the British settlement to the south, characterised by ‘whitewashed English homes with covered piazzas’, from the ‘brightly painted and carved ethnic Indian houses to the north’ [8]. Later, suburbs began to develop outside the fort walls, the resulting suburbs were even less racially exclusive than the fort areas [9, 10]. European officials and merchants as well as wealthy Indians found themselves forming new elite neighbourhoods together as ‘many Indian magnates began to move out of their wadis and Mohalla’s to European dominated areas such as Malabar and Cumballa Hills, Breach Candy and Mahalaxmi.’ This mixing of rich Indians with British areas was gradually replaced by poorer Indians and the British start living together in white towns since they had better civic amenities. The existing laws were not sufficient to keep up their original intent but the British used every pretext to practice their intent. For instance, after the revolt of 1857, the British saw their supremacy and rule under attack, they could retaliate with devastating, uncompromising and cruel power. The entire Indian population of Delhi was evacuated and allowed to return only in groups, like for instance Hindus in January 1858. Muslims not till the end of that year. Muslims who wanted their property back had to pay for it’ (as cited [11]). The British break up the close-knit residential neighbourhoods where rebels could hide and escape British forces and create roads along which troops could be deployed quickly.

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New sanitation measures included not only water supply and sewerage, but also extended to regulation and health examinations of the Indian women who serviced the British troops sexually. The British also introduced new taxes and collected them more efficiently to make the city pay for the new construction, services, and police [12]. This was mainly to fund infrastructure like roads which was not for people instead of for the army to navigate and suppress the rebellion. While before that people freely shared part of their land to create access to their homes and roads but the ruling British found that such things will never happen to roads and railway land solely to take away wealth in kind to Britain and it mainly served the British interest in India. So, there was a land acquisition act and the British forcefully acquired land in the name of eminent domain and executed the colonial infrastructure for the benefit of Brittan. Surprisingly, a state like Kerala which is relatively poorer than other south Indian states because of less industrialisation and survival trend from Money order economy and non-productive household investment pattern from Gulf countries followed land acquisition than traditional land-sharing mechanism practised for thousands of years in India for city development. This is a good example of the lasting impact of British legacy through Indian Administrative service as if there exists a psychological barrier to overcome and cities in Kerala is a living example of lack of urban development because of inadequate land management. The same bureaucracy that implements the land acquisition forcefully was used to suppress potential wealth creators of cities by bureaucratic means and red tapes if not physical force to have any industrial and commercial activities by the native Indians so that the native become more impoverished and less strong. This continued in some form after independence. The confronting approach with strikes and bands to wealth creators like industrialists or big farmers by Marxist-led government in Kerala never allowed any industrialisation to take place in Kerala which affected adversely the economic base of Kerala cities. I feel this trend is there in Kerala even today in the name of socialism and communist party rules but with different slogans akin to environmental terrorism. It was felt more legislation for urban governance was required to meet the emerging issues. The East India Company passed the Improvement in Towns Act (Act 26 of 1850) 30, which called for more contributions to support Municipal Commissions that would introduce urban improvements. Ahmedabad adopted the act in 1856, as did some towns in the Bengal presidency, also in the 1850s, and some in Punjab in the 1860s. By 1860, a new regime of municipal record-keeping and control over building activity in towns and cities was inaugurated through the new Municipal Committees [13], which focused largely on providing urban facilities and services and enforcing building bye-laws [14]. Initially, persons nominated by the British rulers governed these municipalities. This continued in the post-independence period as if it is the only way while other options were there more beneficial. This is another instance of an unsatisfactory psychological barrier I mentioned. This marked the beginning of urban governance in India during the British Colonial period not accounting for the earlier experiences of India probably from the prehistoric times onwards. Later, especially after 1882, the municipalities

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were opened to more members elected from the city’s Indian population as well as restricting their powers by Municipal Commissioners the bureaucrat. Viceroy Lord Ripon in 1982 extended the principles of local self-government to all municipalities under British rule, but under the strict administrative control of the British under the chairmanship of the municipal commissioner, usually a white. Civic improvement although part of the agenda, the burden of tax collection moved from the British to Indians. Most citizens did not want to pay the taxes, especially when they perceived no benefit for themselves and more benefit flowed to the British populated area or for Britain to syphon out money from India to Britain. This was perceived as the reason for white administered Municipality. Many have noted the shortage of municipal funds and the almost total lack of concern for parts of the city into which poor immigrants moved. The plague that broke out in Bombay in 1896, following the first Improvement Trust In 1898, was initiated in Bombay [14]. The trust the answer to the poor sanitation in Bombay threatened the city’s which was called then a ‘cholera nest, [7] and threatened to close their ports to ships passing through Bombay. The threat became a reality in 1896 as the ‘plague initially closed the ports of Europe to ships from Bombay, disrupting the city’s export trade and virtually paralysing its commercial life’ [8]. The Trust was to bring Bombay into compliance with international health standards. The Trust was to save lives through improving housing standards. ‘The establishment of the Bombay Improvement Trust in 1898 was the outcome of a firmly entrenched belief that plague was, in the first instance, the direct result of overcrowding in poorly ventilated and filth-ridden dwellings’ [15]. Mortality rates, 1896–1900, reached 65.4 per thousand and remained at 64.1 per thousand, in 1901– 05. This was more than double its rate in the previous decades and [16] Workers fled. The population of the city which had been 821,764 in 1891 [16] plummeted to 400,000 in 1897–98 [7], although, the city recouped its losses by 1911. Ira Klein points out the absence of building code in most of Bombay, and the census 1901 discuss the grim housing conditions of the period. There were 100,000 homeless, [15] and tremendous disparities in wealth, and urban blight. The Bombay Improvement Trust was therefore charged with invoking the power of eminent domain to destroy slums and improve the living conditions of the poor. The Trust focused on physical planning: creating new streets, decongesting crowded localities, reclaiming land for urban expansion and constructing housing for low-income residents. These improvements were also intended to enhance the city’s image as a centre of imperial and commercial power but nothing was done to help the majority of the poor and here is an instance of physical planning as if no human existed in the physical space. The Trust was not a democratic institution where a citizen has a say but controlled by appointed officials, who could proceed ‘unencumbered by accountability to namesake representatives of local self-governing institutions.’ [15]. Subsequently, these Improvement Trusts were extended to other large cities across India—Agra, Kanpur, Nagpur, Delhi, Calcutta and so on. Undoubtedly there was always frictions between the elected municipal governments and the appointed and controlling government servants concerning the division of functions and responsibilities and as a rule, the appointed won. This initiated the process of the multiplicity of authorities that became

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a major issue of governance after independence’ [17]. For improving slums and for access to better living conditions for the poor, the Bombay Improvement Trust was a failure which I may call under mindless cruel physical planning. In the name of slum improvement, many houses were destroyed without providing any alternatives. The Municipal Corporation had rooms inside houses destroyed to create interior chowks through administrative coercion. To create needed urban space, some residents were displaced. Residents compensated for the loss by them build many storeys, resulting in overcrowding. There was also a rise in house prices, so the poor could not afford them eventually. They left or they cramped even more tightly into the remaining space. The Trust was unable to provide adequate new housing on the city’s outskirts. Poor residents also could not pay the systematic collection of rent demanded by the Trust; they often preferred private owners with whom they could negotiate or delay payments. There was acute conflict over land and the planning efforts were marginalised and vested interests determined incremental growth in the island city. The state power over land was never dominant to ensure that planning initiatives were implemented. The condition of Calcutta was unlike Bombay. Richards, the first chairman of the Calcutta Improvement Trust, wrote a report ‘On the Condition, Improvement and Town Planning of the City of Calcutta and Contiguous Areas.’ revealing his frustration in dealing with the lack of planning. He noted that the city possesses no streets. There are but two small areas in Calcutta having a normal street system. About 2,500 acres are provided only with highly irregular lanes and passages. It would require the creation of 110 miles of ordinary 30–40 Ft streets to bring Calcutta into line with even the old built-up sections of European cities [18]; for a fuller discussion of Richards’ report [19]. There was little vacant land to sell off for development. The CIT saw its mission mostly as destroying slums or at least opening them up to circulation of traffic and ventilation of air. The British Town Planning Act of 1909 began to influence Indian planning, but the context of Britain and India was different. This legislation called for purchasing land on the outskirts of cities and developing it for the “respectable” poor with a steady wage; they would then abandon their inner-city homes for the next generation of the poor. ‘It was an idea based on the possibility of rising real incomes for the poor, orderly and controlled administration, and the efficacy of private initiative. …Conditions in Indian cities could not have been more different’ [20]. Industrialisation in India was minimal through most of the nineteenth century. The industrial revolution was allowed to bypass India by British colonialists so that they can suppress India and rule an economically weak Indian colony. Town planning in the late 1880s and 1890s was more ‘a matter of asserting the Imperial presence by the construction of impressive buildings for colonial rulers and their officers,’ mimicking the buildings the native kings made [20]. In municipalities, extraordinarily little professional expertise existed for drafting and implementing town planning [20]. The key personnel in India were sanitary and civil engineers, who cleared slums or built straight roads through them disregarding dwellings there; filled up tanks to get rid of mosquitoes with no understanding of the ecology of lakes and ponds, and made sure civil lines were well taken care of with water and sewerage services paid

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for by taxes on the entire city population a form of exploitative urban development and municipal administration and social planning (not socialist or communist) was virtually non-existent to take care of the majority urban dwellers. The Bombay Town Planning Act of 1915, the first town planning legislation in India, gave the Bombay Municipal Corporation powers to prepare Town Planning Schemes for urban development or redevelopment and present them to the Governor in Council of the City of Bombay. It called for zoning, building regulations, acquisition of land for public purposes, and the collection of funds for local improvements. The need was felt especially strongly because of the chaotic growth of Bombay’s textile mills and the workers’ housing that surrounded them. The initiative is vested in the local authorities, although the State Government could in special cases direct the local authorities to undertake Town Planning Schemes [14, 21]. Other provinces followed, UP in 1919, Madras in 1920. All the plans were physical in orientation and had no mention of economic development or social change. The plan implementation got divided into local governments and Improvement Trusts. The local governments were empowered to draw up planning acts that called for the use of eminent domain; compensation for the land acquired would be negotiated, but the government had the final say as per the land acquisition act. The Bombay legislation (Vide Bombay, Government of India, (1925) Bombay Town Planning Act, No. 1 of 1915. Town Planning Scheme: Ahmedabad No. 1 (Jamalpur) (Final) (Poona: Yeravda Prison Press)) for the first time in India called for land pooling made possible. Each landowner to be affected by the acquisition of public facilities would surrender a part of his land to the government and keep other parts. The land remaining after the government’s acquisition would be re-parcelled out in proportion to the value of each person’s land to the whole. It was presumed that landowners would approve of this process because the value of their land, even though reduced in size, would nevertheless increase under the new road or other facility introduced into the area. No one was completely dispossessed; the value of the land increased; the government did not purchase land or become a landlord. In the short run, this method was time-consuming, requiring a great deal of consultation with the landowners, but, in the long run, it created less resentment and fewer protests. Nevertheless, after some time, the process of land pooling gave way to the use of the eminent domain, even in Bombay Province. Eminent domain appeared so much easier to use. In the last decade, however, Gujarat has returned to using land pooling [21]. The town planning schemes improved the site plan and got more access to electricity and water supply and sewage lines to Jamalpur and Kankaria, areas just adjacent to and outside the walls of the old city, were generally popular and passed easily. On the west bank of the Sabarmati River, however, farmers objected to new development plans that took away their land. Vallabhbhai Patel, who felt that the city had to expand, persuaded them to comply. On the other hand, Patel felt that the plans for pulling down the city walls and replacing them with a ring road and an electric tram line were too expensive. Besides, he appreciated the symbolic importance to the Muslim community of retaining the walls, which had been built in the time of the Gujarat Sultanate, and of preserving the Muslim cemeteries at their base. This

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project languished for two decades before it was implemented, without the tram line. Later, Patel also opposed plans for a road through the walled city, on grounds that Indians had not been consulted; road construction was, therefore, put off until 1933. Social and political considerations were also part of the agenda of the Indian National Congress and in 1924 the INC presided over the election to the Ahmedabad Municipality of Kacharabhai Bhagat and two other Dalits, its first ‘untouchable’ mill worker representatives [22]. In 1915, Patrick Geddes arrived in India, to bring to India his innovative Cities and Town Planning Exhibition. Geddes stayed on in India until 1924, the last six years as a professor of Civics and Sociology at Bombay University. He managed to get the Madras Government in 1915 to appoint the first official town planner in India, H.V. Lanchester, architect and editor of The Builder [23]. Geddes’ ideas were rooted in planning for the community rather than in the physical planning of buildings and roads by professional engineers. Geddes saw British planning as the problem, not the solution with unrealistic activities of the British engineers and sanitarians with their belief in wide, open thoroughfares, the wholesale destruction of slum areas, flushed sewers, etc.; whilst Improvement Trusts rarely had the powers to make a comprehensive impact on the total environment of the city’ [23, 24]. Geddes proposed cheap and ameliorative solutions. A few of the princes invited Geddes to make new plans for their capital cities, and some did establish Improvement Trusts. Geddes’ ideas endured, but they had to wait for a time and place in which community, rather than zoning, would be the focus of planning. A few European trained urban planners came to India after Geddes. Linton Bogle, a graduate of the first British university department of civic design at Liverpool, came and wrote a treatise on Town Planning in India in 1929, following his experience as Chief Engineer of the Lucknow Improvement Trust. Bogle wrote of the need to address the appalling conditions in the slums. He used public health indices—a death rate of 501/ 1000 infants under one year of age in Bombay; 464 in Cawnpore; 330 in Calcutta—to emphasise the need for immediate action. He cited the dense overcrowding in the large cities, the lack of space for recreation and play, the need for larger residences. Bogle was an engineer, and most of the remedies he proposed took the form of physical planning, including zoning and increased room for wider roads [23]. In his introduction to Bogle’s manual, Radhakamal Mookerjee, of the University of Lucknow, proclaimed the need for social planning as well as engineering, in part because all of the industrial cities had enormous surpluses of the male population who might be seduced by ‘the thought of running away to liquor shops and brothels where there is more room space, more light, and more company’ [24]. Depression in the 1930s and then World War II brought about a pause in Indian planning, as elsewhere. The construction of New Delhi as a new national capital, which continued even through the depression, was a major exception. The publication of a report in 1946 by the Health Survey and Development Committee under the Chairmanship of Sir Joseph Bhore recommended the creation of a Ministry of Housing and Town Planning in every Province, well equipped Provincial Directorates of Town Planning, the appointment of an expert in the Central

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Ministry of Health to advise on and scrutinise Town Planning Schemes in different provinces seeking financial support from the centre, and creation of Improvement Trusts in all large cities. After independence in 1947: the shortage of professionals, the non-existence of comprehensive town planning legislation in almost all the States, and lack of organisation of town planning department were keenly felt. In 1951, the Institute of Town Planners, India, was created with 19 founding members now with more than 5000 members. It is now the most-wealthy professional body in India with the establishment of Institute Buildings in most of the states which was based on clever use of town planning principles of self-generating institutions growth. The central and state governments began establishing planning legislation and town planning departments at the state level. The preparation of Master Plans for major Indian cities began in the 1950s as a coordinated set of proposals for the physical development of the whole city rather than for parts of it—as the Town Planning Schemes had been— and going beyond problems of crisis management into consideration of future as well as present needs. Town planning emerged in England as a response to the problems posed by the industrial city in the nineteenth century. In India, the town planning and urban development were for reasons of governance, and to reduce threats posed by epidemics, was more piecemeal and partial, hampered by indifference to the problems of indigenous zones of the city, inadequate finances, and ineffective legal measures. By the twentieth century, the influence of professional town planners, the growing nationalist interest in municipal politics, and the interventions of indigenous elites altered the scenario. Many Indian cities, however, continued to bear the marks of a legacy of cities divided on racial and class lines and planned (or not planned) accordingly.

4 Cities, Master Planning and Planners in India The first Indian Town Planner in the British Colony India was a British citizen, a civil engineer cum editor of a journal appointed in 1915. He is not the first Indian Planner of India. The first and the earliest Harappan cities in the prehistoric era are planned by someone who may be the first planner in India. City planning in the Vedic period is considered a respectable profession meant for people with extraordinary accomplishments, as discussed in Manasara the Vedic treatise on city planning. In the British colony of India, there existed a demand for urban planners which dramatically increased after independence, but a great shortage is felt in recent decades than any time before. The planning is changing in the digital age and the planners must be re-educated and be made worthy of this digital age. Further, they need to update their professional knowledge base continuously. City Planning was multidisciplinary from the very inception with economists, Sociologists, and other related social sciences and lawyers participate along with Architects and Civil engineers. The current scenario suggests computer scientists, IT professionals, Electronic engineers and manufacturing engineers shall be part of the planning team of a city

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that aspires to be a digital city of the twenty-first century. As indicated elsewhere the need of Urban planners were met by the Government Departments or those working in Urban Improvement Trusts, Town Planning Departments, Municipalities and later Urban Development Authorities. The state Government decides on all planning activities often not even consulting the stakeholders as if it is like the civil engineering profession. Planners are also required at the state level and district level since state urban development policies, urbanisation strategies and legislations are framed at the state level and district planning work are undertaken at the district level and Metropolitan Planning is conducted at metropolitan areas and Master Planning cities of all sizes where Municipality is constituted. Further specialised planners like Transportation Planners, urban Conservation Specialists, Housing specialists, Urban designers, Environment and ecology Planners are all required at the state, district, and metropolitan level or above. Planners are also required at the National Level in the Ministry of Urban Development and organisations like Town and Country Planning Organisations. The state and union government domination in urban planning as a departmental work changed after the enactment of the 74th constitutional amendment which stated the responsibility of Urban Planning and Regulation goes to local self-government with constitutional statuses such, for example, Municipalities and Municipal Corporations. They are independent of the State Government urban Planning department and can ask in principle any consultant to do the job if money is allocated by the finance commission for that task in reasonable quantity and at their description and local bodies are encouraged with less of bureaucracy at the state level. Many Municipalities turned to private consultants for their planning needs and there was a growth of consultant planners ever since. Many international and Indian companies started Planning firms in India. These companies also utilised the academic resources for planning projects much easier than the Government department with their many sets of rules and regulations and hierarchy of sanctioning authorities and so on which constraints open collaborations of academics in Planning projects in Government departments with outside professionals. Instead of leaving academic institutions to make their own rules of consultant practices, the Government is trying to make these institutions more and more bureaucrats that do not allow free availability for the private sector the academicians for planning projects. This is at a time when India has more planning opportunities and fewer planners. As of now, there are about 5000 registered Planners which means one planner for every 75,000-urban population. while the urban agglomerations are more than planners available as can be seen in the statistics given below. The statistics are presented below so that one can make an informed judgement of how planners may be deployed for the growing demand for Master Planning in India in the twenty-first century. The demand pattern of Master Planning in India is based on the supply of candidate’s cities by size for Master Planning which requires an analysis of cities size distribution. Constitution envisages urban regulation for all cities and how this can be met? Smaller the cities, it is possible for one town planner to meet the professional demand but class 1 cities with population 100,000 + and metropolises with

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one million population, megacities with 10 million population and meta cities with 20 million population and above requires more number of planners as well as planners with specialisation per city. Being multidisciplinary work in nature, he may have to get other disciplines for his work as discussed. First, it is important to study the phenomenon of urbanisation in India as its magnitude in the absolute number of cities to decide on Planner manpower. Then assess the demand for Planners professionally trained and how they should be instituted and deployed to meet the supply of urban centres with demand for planners in a market economy of India with a past of strong socialist orientation under a disproportionately large bureaucracy and redtapism. Then we must assess how a multidisciplinary team can be easily assembled, mobilised or instituted. Then we must assess how far city planning professionals can be privatised and what is the ideal mix of private consultancy firms and public government departments. Along with professional inputs for planning discussed, the local resources in colleges, schools and other institutions can be mobilised for participatory planning. This call for planners as professional leader of this work as a person suited to work as a mobiliser and organiser for community action. Do we impart such capabilities in planning schools in India? Are Government planners doing or capable or allowed for such orientation of planning which is the needs of the country in the twenty-first century. The population as per the last 2011 census of India: is 1210.2 million, the level of urbanisation: about 31% and the urban population in the absolute term is 377.10 million. Although the per cent in comparison with the western nations looks small, the size of the urban population is comparable to the total population of the United States and many more countries combined in the world. The rural–urban split of the population in the last few censuses namely 1951 to 2011 is given below. In recent decades there has been an acceleration in the number of urban habitats as well as in urban population in comparison to those in rural areas. The growth pattern of the urban population from 1901 to 2011 is tabulated below (Table 1). Although annual exponential growth does not show appreciable change the percentage of the urban population is increasing steadily. It can be concluded that the growth of urban population is above population growth and normal but the percentage of urban is rapidly increasing necessitating more urban, Master planning. Additional details of cities are given in Table 2. In the process of urbanisation in India, the number of cities got multiplied faster. Within 110 years the number of cities with 100,000 population and above-called class 1 cities grew from 24 to 468 and the number of urban agglomerations 1827 to 7935. All of which needs a Master Plan which is not provided for. In the 2011 Census, 475 places with 981 OGs have been identified as Urban Agglomerations as against 384 UAs with 962 OGs in the 2001 Census. Can the planning demand required be met with 5000 registered planners?

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Table 1 Urban population in India, 1901–2011 Number of towns in each category Census year

Class I

Class II

Class III

Class IV

Class V

Class VI

Total

1901

24

43

130

391

744

479

1811

1911

23

40

135

364

707

485

1754

1921

29

45

145

370

734

571

1894

1931

35

56

183

434

800

509

2017

1941

49

74

343

498

920

509

2190

1951

76

91

327

608

1124

569

2795

1961

102

129

417

719

711

172

2270

1971

148

173

558

827

623

147

2476

1981

218

270

743

1059

758

253

3301

1991

218

270

743

1059

758

197

3696

2001

393

401

1151

1344

888

191

4368

2011

468 (53 Metros)

546

1321

1091

474

133

4041

Source [24, 25] Note: Metro = Metropolitan cities Class 1 100,000 and above, and Metropolitan cities 1 million and above Class II 50,000 to 99,999 Class III 20,000 to 49,999 Class IV 10,000 to 19,999 Class V 5,000 to 9,999 Class VI less than 5,000

Table 3 illustrates the growth of the urban population in terms of size and number of urban agglomerations from 2001 to 2011. The urban population shows a spurt from 1971 to 2001 and 2011 while rural population growth is slowing down in growth. The class-wise distribution of statutory towns/cities as per Census 2011 is as follows (Table 4). Most of the urban settlements experienced haphazard and unplanned growth, nonconforming land uses, mushrooming unauthorised colonies and land conversion from agriculture to urban resulting in environmental degradation and resulting in a poor quality of life. The main reason for all is many of these towns have no Master Plans or the Master Plan executed so far has not given the city a better outcome desired by the city population. The major issue is how can these demands be met. If planners services can be imported from outside the country can they make Master Plans which satisfy the ways of life and work of the citizen who follows Indian culture? Are the imported planners’ experts in Indian culture? Table 5 studies in detail how different categories of towns changes during the 2001 and 2011 census.

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T. M. Vinod Kumar

Table 2 Details of Towns in India 1991 to 2011 Census years

Number of towns/UAs

Cities with a Urban population of 1 population (in lakh and above millions)

% Urban population

Urban annual exponential growth rate

1901

1827

24

26

10.8

–

1911

1815

21

26

10.3

0.03

1921

1949

27

28

11.2

0.79

1931

2072

33

34

12.0

1.75

1941

2250

47

44

13.9

2.77

1951

2843

71

62

17.3

3.47

1961

2365

95

79

18.0

2,34

1971

2590

139

109

19.9

3.23

1981

3378

204

159

23.3

3.79

1991

4689

273

217

25.7

3.11

2001

5161

350

285

27.8

2.74

2011

7935

468

377

31.2

2.76

Source (1) Computed from Census of India Part II A (ii) Towns and Urban Agglomerations classified by population in 1991 with variation since 1901 (2) Census of India 2011, Final Population Totals, Registrar General of India, New Delhi

In the Tables 4 and 5, the class size distribution of towns from 1901 to 2011 shows the number of urban agglomeration which can be defined as city as against municipal boundary itself is rapidly increasing over the last two censuses of India. Many UAs/Towns and Out Growths (OGs) merged during this period. The decadal growth of the total urban and rural population is tabulated in Table 5. It can be seen that the decadal growth of rural population percentage is reducing but the urban population decadal growth is only +0.3%. This calls that Master Planners need to care for integrated urban and rural areas in the immediate future. Population statistics of urban and rural and decadal growth and 20 years growth is given in the above table. The last decade 2001–11 showed greater urban growth and the rate of growth of rural population growth declined considerably. Table 6 shows classes of Towns in 2001 and 2011. For Master planning Statutory Towns and Class 1 Towns are most important and they are tabulated below for 2001 and 2011. Can we meet the master Planning demands of these towns by 5000 registered planners in India and what about future candidate towns? The Census 2011 enumerates, 7,935 towns in the country. The number of towns has increased by 2,774 since the last Census. Many of these towns are part of UAs and the rest are independent towns. The total number of Urban Agglomerations/Towns, which constitutes the urban frame, is 6166 in the country. The population of UAs/Towns can be summarised as follows:

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27

Table 3 Urban Population in India 1901 to 2011 Census year

No. of towns/UA

Total population in million

Urban population in million

Rural population in million

Urban population as a percentage of total population

1901

1830

238

213

26

10.8

1911

1815

252

226

26

10.3

1921

1914

291

223

28

11.2

1931

2066

279

246

34

12.0

1941

2253

319

275

44

13.9

1951

2.822

361

299

62

17.3

1961

2.334

439

360

79

18.0

1971

3.567

548

439

109

19.9

1981

3,347

683

524

160

23.3

1991

3,769

846

629

218

25.7

2001

4,374

1,027

742

285

27.8

2011

4041

1211

873

377

31.6

Source Census Note 1. Urban Agglomeration is treated as one unit 2. The total population in 2001 includes an estimated population of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where census could not be undertaken 3. The total 1991 population of India includes an interpolated population of Jammu and Kashmir 4. The total population of 1981 also includes an interpolated population of Assam where the census could not be conducted

Table 4 Type of towns/UAs/OGs number of towns S no

Towns agglomerations and outgrowths

Number of towns 2011 Census

2001 Census

1

Statutory towns

4,041

3,799

2

Census towns

3,894

1,362

3

Urban agglomerations

475

384

4

Out growths

981

962

Source [26]

1.

2.

The total urban population in the country as per Census 2011 is more than 377 million constituting 31.16% of the total population and every urban citizen requires the services of a professional planner. Class I UAs/Towns: The UAs/Towns are grouped based on their population in Census. The UAs/Towns which have at least 1,00,000 persons as a population are categorised as Class I UA/Town. At the Census 2011, there are 468 such

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T. M. Vinod Kumar

Table 5 Population census 2001 to 2011 and decadal growth rural, urban and total The person in million nos

Decadal growth in a population (%)

Year

2001

2011

1991–2001

2001–2011

Total

1029

1210

21.5

17.6

Rural

743

833

18.1

12.2

Urban

286 (27.81%)

377 (31.16%)

31.5

31.8 (+0.3%)

Source http://mohua.gov.in/cms/number-of-cities--towns-by-city-size-class.php

Table 6 Cities and towns by city class size Population size Class 1 towns

100,000 above

Number of UAs and towns 2001

Number of UAs and towns 2011

333

465

35

53

Total towns all classes

5161

7935

Statutory towns

3799

4041

Census towns

1362

3894

Out of above more than10,000,000

Source [27]

3.

4.

5.

UAs/Towns. The corresponding number in Census 2001 was 394 which requires the services of a professional planner. 264.9 million persons, constituting 70% of the total urban population, live in these Class I UAs/Towns. The proportion has increased considerably over the last Census. In the remaining classes of towns, the growth has been nominal and requires the services of a professional planner. Million Plus UAs/Towns: Out of 468 UAs/Towns belonging to the Class I category, 52 UAs/Towns each has a population of one million or above each. Known as Million Plus UAs/Cities, these are the major urban centres in the country. 160.7 million persons (or 42.6% of the urban population) live in these Million Plus UAs/Cities.18 new UAs/Towns have been added to this list since the last Census. Meta and Mega-Cities: Among the Million Plus UAs/Cities, there are two exceptionally large UAs with more than 20 million persons now in the country, known as Meta-Cities. These are Greater Mumbai UA (18.4 million), and Delhi UA (16.3 million). The largest UA in the country is Greater Mumbai UA followed by Delhi UA.. which held the second rank in Census 2001 has been replaced by Delhi UA. The growth in population in the Mega Cities has slowed down considerably during the last decade. Greater Mumbai UA, which had witnessed 30.47% growth in population during 1991–2001 has recorded 12.05% during 2001–2011. Similarly, Delhi UA (from 52.24% to 26.69% in 2001–2011) and

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29

Table 7 Growth of metropolises in India 1901–2011 Census years

Number of metropolises

Population in millions

Decadal increase (%)

The population of metropolises as a percentage of India’s total population

The population of metropolises as a percentage of India’s total urban population

1901

1

23

0.6

5.8

1911

2

2.8

82.8

1.1

10.7

1921

2

3.1

13.4

1.3

11.1

1931

2

3.4

8.9

1.2

10.2

1941

2

5.3

5.7

1.7

12.0

1951

5

11.8

21.3

3.3

18.8

1961

7

18.1

54.0

4.1

22.9

1971

9

27.8

53.8

5.1

25.5

1981

12

42.1

51.3

6.2

26.4

1991

23

70.7

67.8

8.4

32.5

2001

35

107.8

52.8

10.5

37.0

2011

52

159.6

48.9

13.2

42.3

Source (1) Computed from Census of India 1991, Part-II A (ii)-Towns and Urban Agglomerations classified by population in 1991 with variation since 1991 (2) Census of India, 2011 Final Population Totals, Registrar of India, Census

Kolkata UA (from 19.60% to 6.87% in 2001–2011) have also slowed down considerably. All major statics given is mapped in t = figure below. Figure 3 gives the spatial distribution of urban settlement in 1991 and metropolitan and megacities in 2011. The western half of India is having more mega and metro cities than the eastern part. Break up of class 1 cities in India which include mega cities Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and remaining metro cities is given in Fig. 3. Among the urban population, the largest per cent of people in India live in megacities. Table 8 computes these figures for states. With an extremely high share of the metropolitan population of urban Kerala, it is important to concentrate on metropolitan development in Kerala to reap the harvest of rapid economic development. Table 8 tabulates the metropolitan areas by states in 2011. Figure 4 represents the towns and cities in 1951 and the number of metropolitan areas in 2011. It can be seen unlike China the western part of India has more megacities and metropolitan cities than the eastern part. There is also near equitable distribution of mega and metro cities all around the Indian Union, unlike China.

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T. M. Vinod Kumar

Fig. 3 Levels of Urbanisation and Metropolises in India 2011. Source [28]

The rapid pace of urbanisation poses an unprecedented managerial and policy challenge for sustainability calling for more able Master Planners of cities better equipped and better trained. Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo said in a written reply in 2020. Planners in India have one urban planner for 75,000 urban people. There are

Metropolises

Kochi UA, Kozhikode UA, Thrissur UA, Malappuram UA, Thiruvananthapuram UA, Kannur UA, Kollam UA

Kanpur UA, Lucknow UA, Ghaziabad UA, Agra UA, Varanasi UA, Meerut UA, Allahabad UA

Greater Mumbai UA, Pune UA, Nagpur UA, Nashik UA, Vasai Virar (Mun.Corp.), Aurangabad UA

Ahmedabad UA, Surat UA, Vadodara UA, Rajkot UA

Indore UA, Bhopal UA, Jabalpur UA, Gwalior UA

Chennai UA, Coimbatore UA, Madurai UA, Tiruchirappalli UA

State/Union territory

Kerala

Uttar Pradesh

Maharashtra

Gujarat

Madhya Pradesh

Tamil Nadu

Table 8 Configuration of metropolises in 2011

4

4

4

6

7

7

No. of metropolises

13,278,580

6,428,127

29,927,857

29,927,857

14,025,098

12,139,860

Population of metropolises

34,917,440

25,745,083

50,818,259

50,818,259

44,495,063

15,934,926

State urban population

48.4

42.6

45.2

45.2

22.3

47.7

State % urban population

38.0

55.0

55.0

58.9

31.5

76.2

(continued)

% Share of metropolises

Smarter Master Planning 31

Hyderabad UA, Vishakhapatnam (M.Corp.), Vijayawada UA

Jamshedpur UA, Dhanbad UA, Ranchi UA

Jaipur (M.Corp.), Jodhpur UA, Kota (M.Corp.)

Raipur UA, Raipur UA, Bhilainagar UA

Ludhiana (M. Corp), Ludhiana (M. Corp) Amritsar UA

Kolkata UA, Asansol UA

Patna UA

Faridabad (M.Corp.)

Andhra Pradesh

Jharkhand

Rajasthan

Chhattisgarh

Punjab

West Bengal

Bihar

Haryana

M Corp-Municipal Corporation Source [25]

Metropolises

State/Union territory

Table 8 (continued)

1

1

2

2

2

3

3

3

No. of metropolises

1,412,050

2,049,156

1,530,140

2,802,428

2,187,780

5,186,157

3,662,372

3,662,372

Population of metropolises

8,842,103

11,758,016

29,093,002

103,991,346,375

5,937,237

17,048,085

7,933,061

28,219,075

State urban population

34.9

11.3

31.9

37.5

23.2

24.9

24.0

33.4

State % urban population

16.0

17.4

52.6

26.9

36.8

30.4

46.2

38.6

% Share of metropolises

32 T. M. Vinod Kumar

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33

Fig. 4 Urban Areas in 1951 and Million Plus Urban Agglomeration in 2011 in India

about 5,000 registered urban planners in the country or one per every 75,000-urban population. Though this ratio may be low compared to that of developed countries, the adequacy of urban planners needs to be seen in the context of the scale of urbanisation in India, In summary, we enumerate the following. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Total Number of Cities and Towns: 7933 Total Number of Master Plans: 2738 (34%) Total Number of Statutory Towns: 4041 Total Number of Statutory Towns having Master Plan: 1938 (48%) Total Number of Census Towns: 3892 Total Number of Census Towns having Master Plan: 800 (20%) Percentage of Urban Population in Statuary Towns 85% Percentage of Urban Population in Census Towns 15%.

The governing terms of reference of the 12th schedule 74th constitution amendment call for all Municipal local bodies to prepare Master Plans and Govern urban regulations based on that. The above facts show they are not doing that because of several constraints enumerated, but they cannot ignore it. Now, what can be done? 1.

2.

3.

Planning departments in every state are not expanding. to meet this gap in manpower for Master Planning. Do we want it to expand the Government planning department or privatise planning? The Municipalities need not use Government departments to prepared Master Plans and so the case for expanding planning departments to meet this task is not tenable. Although few national and international consultancies are active in India, they are not able to adequately meet the demand for planning.

34

T. M. Vinod Kumar

4.

The budget available for consultants to plan to adopt the current Institute of Town Planners Professional fee document is not provided for in many municipalities. The Government planning support system of urban mapping which started in the 8th five year plan period has not yet covered all cities with the lapse of many decades in between mainly due to less objective achievements of a total government-run project and not involving private companies. The output came generally very late. Why not use the private agency for urban mapping as well as cadastral survey mapping. While Master planning is transiting to digital planning many more disciplines like computer science for E-Governance support and urban information system, electronics engineers specialising in IoTs, Mechanical engineers for Industry 4 applications in Master Planning along with conventional collaborators like Economist, Sociologist, ecologist, law and geographers shall be part of the Planning service company. State and central government finance commissions are not giving sufficient budget to local bodies to hire the best talents from within or outside India to execute their constitutional responsibilities. Municipal administrations seem less autonomous even though they are constitutional bodies to be more under state government and it should change for independence in Master Planning. The only way out is summarised below

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e. f. g.

Reduce the Government Planners to 10% present strength and post all of them to the state headquarter to manage the legal process of planning and prepare Urban Planning policies. Research set up like Niti Aayog may be instituted at state levels to support urban and regional planning in respective states and give research-based direction. Form at the national level, a public–private Planning Services Company like the successful model of Kochi International Airport company to perform all planning services starting with digital cadastral maps and ending up with E-Governance and all types of digital planning with the remaining 4500 registered planners under virtual office system to give e-serving of Master Planning to all cities. The equity participation for the above company is less than 49% shall be from Central and state and local self-government levels. The remaining equity shall be from private individuals or organizations including planners themselves. Institute of Planners India and all planning schools shall be represented in the technical and executive board of the company. The company shall not have a large brick and mortar office, but a digital virtual office shall replace them and service can be digital. The state-level branch of the Planning Service Company shall operate in virtual offices at the state level using the network of consultants largely on a job basis scattered all over India.

Smarter Master Planning

h.

35

The details of this company need to be worked out by a competent group of professionals drawn from the Institute of Town Planners India, State and Central Government Planning Officers and leading Planning Schools in India.

5 Critique of Master Planning The Master Plan is available as a report generally found on the website of a Municipality freely downloadable and consists of content like what is discussed earlier in the chapter. It generally has two maps of colour coded, one of existing land use and the other the proposed with its rationale and underlying concepts explained in the report. It further elaborates the regulation of urban development in different parts of the city as zonal plans regulations; in some cases, as colour coded and annotated maps or left as the directive statement in some cases. It further deals with local economic development, demography, slums, housing, poverty, physical infrastructure and social infrastructure in addition to all that is discussed in previous sections. The earlier preoccupations of British Colonial days discussed earlier in the Chapter seem to be extended in the Master Plans. Statistics of Downloads and views of the readers are not kept on the website and the website, by and large, is not meant to discuss the Master Plan. It is not a report read by all citizens but used by concerned Government officials, planners, architects and engineers and other stakeholders. People generally consult it with the help of a Town Planner when they must build for a certain purpose such as houses, shops and industries. The preparation of the plan is generally done by a team of experts led by Urban Planners in consultation with Government officers dealing with the subject matter and elected members of the Municipality. Public meetings and mass media coverage of Master Planning opens the process to public consultations. Earlier experience of preparation of Master Plan did not consult people but was solely a Government office activity directed by State Head Quarter office. In the recent time after the 74th Constitutional Amendment, planners try to involve stakeholders with consultations which are mandatory to record officially for plan sanction. Many studies [29–58] are there enumerating the shortcoming of the Master Plan and it is summarised in this section. Most of them are written based on urban planner’s own experience of preparing a Master Plan and watching its various process by experienced authors but there are also academicians looking at these aspects in the references given. Sometimes the same conclusions are reached by many authors. Therefore, I have summarised their conclusions of these papers in a summary form below without presenting statistics of opinion by authors with some exceptions. This will form the basis for one of two volumes for the book for Smart Master Planning focusing mainly on selected domain studies. 1.

Master Plan as a guide for planned development ultimately become a sort of document which was less amenable/accommodative to the unforeseeable changes in the city requirements such as flood or COVID 19 pandemic.

36

T. M. Vinod Kumar

2. 3.

Disaster management is not given importance in Master Planning. Master planning methods adopted over the last few decades in India have not produced a satisfactory physical environment [35] and have not been effective in the outputs as well as outcomes [56]. The planning process in the past has been unduly long mostly five years some more than 10 years and largely confined to the detailing of land use aspects. Functionally, master plans paid inadequate attention to the provision of cityspecific major infrastructure like metros rails. Once it is implemented the structure of the city as envisaged in the Master Plan is no more valid. Environmental conservation was neglected and there was no ecosystem planning. Financing issues and commitment did not figure in Master Plan including strategies to circumvent any related issues and made Master Plan unrealistic proposals without the budgetary commitment from State and Central Government and stakeholders in private sectors [56]. The master planning approach did not exhibit a holistic view of urban development that integrates city economic development, social change and cultural development and did not deal with interconnecting all these aspects spatially. For example, master plans cannot be translated into socio-economic development plans creating cultural change and integrated development. The physical planning exercises in Master Plan generally were restricted to core urban areas without much integration with the peripheral areas and rural hinterlands. Attempts to adopt an integrated development plan approach, based on national, state and regional strategies and recognition of the spatial and functional linkages between settlements of different orders have not been made in Master Plans. In the process of plan-making and plan implementation, no adequate attention to the integration of land use and transport, planning has been made. The fact that transport is a key determinant of land use and “leads” development is sometimes ignored. The shortcomings of the Master Plan approach are in the resulting design, conceptual issues and procedures that are resulting in unacceptable delays and the evil of delays are not questioned by the public. The Master Plans are too static incapable of addressing emerging issues from time to time as it appears, and they take an exceptionally long time to prepare and are too infrequently updated. Master Plan is subservient to vested interest and there have been case-by-case relaxations in the plan to serve vested interests. Proposals/estimates have not kept pace with the unprecedented growth and future requirement of cities. Master Plans are generally silent on costing and financial management for infrastructure provisioning. No specific set of incentives were outlined in terms of financial assistance to implement the Master Plan.

4. 5.

6. 7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14. 15. 16. 17.

Smarter Master Planning

18. 19.

20. 21. 22.

23.

24. 25. 26.

27.

28.

29. 30.

31.

32.

33.

37

Master Plan instead of becoming a tool for regulated development has become a platform for stakeholder dissent (as experienced in Master Plan of Delhi). Zoning and Development Regulations are cumbersome to follow, vaguely stated to call for controversies and long court cases and result in weak enforcement. Master plans rarely provide guidelines on the techniques of implementation Master plans are often based on the unrealistic appraisal of the economic potential of the planning areas and, in some cases, on the needs. Master plans seldom provide detailed land use and elaborate and unambiguous land use regulation or suggests control by Community or elected representatives and NGOs, Academics and the Business community are not involved in the planning process meaningfully [58]. The Master plan details out the urbanised and urbanising areas under its jurisdiction and suggests land use up to the neighbourhood level. This minute detail for 20 years has resulted in a lack of flexibility and has hindered individual self-expression. The plan projects and ‘end state’ scenario for 20 years is not realistic for short and medium-term actions. The plan is mostly static and not amendable to quick mid-course corrections. Inordinate delays in Master Plan preparation and approval of zonal plans and urban land management schemes and, besides, difficulty in obtaining possession of land sought to be acquired for the purpose is the main hindrances to a speedy and successful implementation of the Master Plan. The efficacy of the master Plan is adversely affected by the divergence between the presentation of urban growth envisaged 20 years ago and emerging urban growth reality. The mechanism for public participation is ineffective in the process of development planning, in both its preparation and implementation. It is more top-down than a bottom-up approach. Master Plan preparation is undertaken with a very weak information base especially on socio-economic parameters, housing and environment. The plans prescribe impractical densities and layout high standards to improve the quality of life in a city. These are generally higher than what the city population, particularly the poor, can afford. Estimates of financial outlay do not match the development works envisaged in the Master Plan. The strategies for raising resources required for plan implementations are never an integral part of the plan. Urban planning in India has been overshadowed by its spatial content instead of the realisation of social and economic objectives. Town planning exercises tended to concentrate on the physical order and environmental quality of the city and were isolated from the mainstream development planning, decisionmaking and implementation strategies. The absence of machinery for systematic and continuous collection of data on the movement of land and tenement prices undermines the implementation of the Master Plan.

38

34. 35.

36. 37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

T. M. Vinod Kumar

Through a significant portion of the development is due to the initiative of the private sector, this factor is not recognised in the Plan. The regulatory mechanisms in the Master Plan are to enable better management of the city. but too restrictive controls are costly enough to provide incentives for breach rather than compliance. The root cause of the urban maladies has been the divorcing of the plan preparation from plan implementation, and Ineffective plan Monitoring: An institutional and information system does not, generally, exist for plan monitoring. Since the budgetary system does not explicitly consider the requirement of plan implementation, the problem of resources is not periodically highlighted. Master plans or Development plans have been taken as given from the past colonial system prevalent before the independence without enshrining the good features after independence especially after 1991 such as the market economy. The result of this traditional planning approach in the form of master plans is turning out to be frustrating. Urban planning in the past was primarily influenced by central planning principles of the post-independence era and the characteristics of the communist planning of the now-defunct Soviet model. The idea was everything on City Planning is decided by Planning Commission for the Nation and Planning Board for State and Master Plan of the city is expected to follow that in the way it is to be implemented as suggested by these Planning bodies. Now the Planning Commission is no more, and the Planning Board have doubtful life, but no alternate approach is suggested. What was left at local self-government was arithmetic of central planning for allocation of central funds at city level by some formula which will not make comprehensive city development. This, unfortunately, do not allow local initiative and innovation by local stakeholders. The negative empowerment of bureaucracy over municipality by communist planning act as a retardation mechanism for urban development. In the liberalised era and globalised world, the planning processes must serve the economic and social objectives of the global society through the creation of a growth enabling physical spaces and infrastructure in cities. This changing context itself calls for identifying alternative approaches and strengthening existing planning mechanisms and institutions at the city level. There are no efforts to link the short term or investment plans with the existing Master Plan. For example, every state has an annual budget and plan but there is no connection between the annual plan and Master Plan. One of the reasons for this disjuncture between the Master Plan, investment plans and governance structure is that the first one is a very long-term plan and the medium-term zonal plan is never given due importance and flexibility. Land use designations are usually determined or justified on one of the three principles in the Master Plan: as responsive to existing conditions, to enable smooth traffic flows, or as a part of some larger conceptual plan for the city [34]. The distribution of various land uses has been made even to reduce traffic congestion inside the old city and to reduce the number of commuting trips in

Smarter Master Planning

43.

44.

45.

46.

39

the peripheral areas. The local level conceptual plan, i.e. micro-level land use planning is completely lacking in the Master Plan. The land-use plan is responsive rather than act as the location of many of the land uses are determined by the existing condition or character of the land. For example, the illegal growth of residences near the industrial area land surrounding the industrial area has been declared for mix residential and commercial development. Likewise, the location of transportation nodes, private bus stands, and the truck terminus is also compromised in the Master Plan. The master plan is highly bureaucratic in its processing and also designoriented as it is prepared by the planners, engineers and architects of the Town Planning Department who are very much interested in sketching out aesthetic layout plans of the city and have little concerns of differing socio-economic needs or its changing character from one part of the city to another. For instance, delimitation of planning zones seems to be arbitrarily done because the basis of delimitation is not clear and erroneous. There lies a considerable difference regarding socio-economic structure and level of development of existing land use in each zone. For example, the old city zone covers the oldest part of the city at one hand are highly dense and in contrast, the sparsely developed areas are the newly developing areas. These differ from each other in many aspects and have their own needs and problems which require different approaches and methods of planning to tackle the planning issues and strategies. The approaches and methods applied for the old city cannot apply to sparsely developed areas. Hence, putting together two heterogeneous areas to form a planning zone is erroneous as well as unscientific for urban development. The story is the same for the rest of the planning zones except the peripheral zone which is entirely rural. Therefore, the planning standards adopted cannot be uniform but change realistically from one part of the city to another. A planning zone has been defined as an area where the community is selfcontained in terms of employment, housing, and other community facilities. This is a highly unpractical approach to land use planning in which coordinated and integrated land uses and functions of the city has been completely overlooked. Further, the urban society of a specific area cannot be made fully contained in terms of employment, schooling, and health care facilities particularly in Indian cities The short-term measures to bring about improvement in existing conditions particularly in the old city area is ambiguously mentioned with refraining phrases of relocation, provision of community facility, conservation, reconstruction and redevelopment. Such measures need a huge amount of money and people’s active participation about which the Master Plan is silent. One Master Plan in India took an Inordinate time of sixteen years (from 1973 to 1989) in preparation and approval of the Master Plan and, in obtaining possession of land sought to be acquired for the very purpose. All these while, several changes, i.e. increase in population and economic activities, growth of socio-economic facilities, a boom in the service sector of the economy, decline in manufacturing activities due to shifting and dislocation of road alignment

40

47.

48.

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away from the city, change inward boundary and so on occurred in the city. Consequently, the city’s development has been taking place without proper implementation of the Master Plan. Lack of public awareness and public participation in preparing and implementation of Master Plan has negatively influenced the realisation of its objectives and goals. Hence, the Master Plan is more top-down than a bottom-up approach to planning Master Plan has been prepared for a projected population and in many cases, the projection was not correct when plans are reviewed.

The master planning approach in urban planning has received little success and so there is a case for smart master planning. Major causes and factors attributing to partial fulfilment of objectives of the master plan include excessive time consumption in plan preparation, approval, sanctioning of financial resources and acquisition of land with outmoded Land acquisition legislation, lack of trained staff and other requisite planning support resources, appropriate legislations, lack of coordination between government institutions and accountability, poor governance, widespread corruption, lack of will and responsibility and above lack of public cooperation and participation. The timely solution of the above impediments is essential for the preparation of a good plan and its successful implementation. Further, the top-down approach of master planning must be reverting to a bottom-up approach ensuring active public participation in planning and decision-making processes. Here, the role of government institutions should be as a facilitator in urban development. The partial success of the master plan indicates that it needs much more positive and concerted efforts for full implementation rather than questioning the relevance of this approach as some academicians do. Further, short, or medium-term action plans must be formulated attuned to the long-term master plan for the avoidance of failure and increasing its effectiveness. As far as Master Plan is concerned, it has been implemented with partial or minimal success. It is because a few proposals lacking in ground realities and coherence. It also indicates lacunas in plan preparation processes and administrative hindrances in the implementation of the plan. These shortcomings need to be eliminated through concerted efforts to avoid failure of the master plan in future.

6 Towards Digital Master Planning of Cities We have discussed the past Master Planning efforts and their shortcomings, which is under great disruption today and now it is time to discuss the future of Master Planning. The outcome of the Master Planning during the colonial period as well as the post-independence period has been largely disappointing. There is nothing to showcase to the world about its achievement. We are unable to find through Master Planning how cities are made into engines of economic development and for rapid social and cultural changes. Instead, what we see there is the ugly hydra of

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bureaucracy that makes citizens and entrepreneurs immobilised depleting their all initiatives. Bureaucracy is there in its full force as discussed during the plan-making and its implementation is mostly self-serving but not for the citizen or city. Cities cannot function without urban regulations and Master Plan act as the legal instrument for urban regulation and therefore you cannot remove Master Planning however imperfect it may be, but bureaucracy can be minimised and partially eliminated which saves money to Government in terms of their salary and upkeep if the citizen can own Master planning and do self-regulation using science and technology using a bottom-up process. There are two approaches in front of us. One is tweaking all the shortcomings reported in the previous section one by one. The author feels it is impossible because our past largely British made legislations for the benefit of Britain used by presentday Urban Planning in India as the land acquisition act cannot be reformed in the past by Parliament. The alternative suggested by parliamentarians was more bureaucratic and complicated and counterproductive. It is likely the past will continue and instead of Master plan preparation taking 13 years to complete will take 23 years for a 20year plan and implementation perhaps 230 years or there can be planning holidays. This is all because the framers of legislation in parliament and assemblies have not researched the subject matter adequately and come out with a rational means. The Amrut project of the Ministry of Urban Development GOI insists on Master Planning based on GIS and remote sensing which can overcome some part of delays in Master Planning if well organised with private sector participation. When the use of remote sensing for accurate maps and application of GIS as a tool to making land use and zonal plans the disruption was mild. GIS was used in the past wrongly to substitute cartography. This is not the appropriate use of GIS in Master Planning which is to visualise descriptive and predictive land use and transportation models and other innumerable routine functions. This is not much of disruption since Remote sensing maps were used in the past also in some cities. Cloud computing, ubiquitous connectivity, the internet of things, artificial intelligence/machine learning/deep learning, blockchain, augmented reality, virtual reality, and wearables, is the future of digital Master Planning. This I call great disruption. Here the disruption is total. The Master Plan for cities and regions is practised around the world, such as the design of new towns, metropolises, or residential development—the Master Plan guides the development project from concept and design, through to implementation. Even as further details of the design and construction emerge, the Master Plan is a baseline that is updated and improved upon but less prevalent in the digital realm. Digital master Planning is all about using ICT infrastructure, science and digital technologies, to translate the urban vision of the Master Plan into a coherent design and implementation framework to help Municipalities achieve their constitutional responsibilities. For Akira Consulting the Digital Master Plan consists of 10 core components [59–63] as outlined below (Fig. 5).

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Fig. 5 Digital master plan. Source [63]

1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Vision: Outlines an aspirational description of the target state the Master Plan of a future date, together with specific goals and success metrics. Digital Experience Mapping: Describes the expected experiences of staff, customers, partners and other stakeholders, as well as the digital touchpoints that enable and support each of these experiences. Digital Services: Describes the individual services to be delivered as part of the target design. They may include telecommunications and networks, computing infrastructure, enterprise and business applications, integration technologies, analytics, cybersecurity and data protection, etc. Services are clarified in terms of priority, business ownership, required levels of service and where they sit on the scale of must-have to nice-to-have. These services represent the translation of the vision into a scope that can be implemented. Architecture: Details the key principles and application-, infrastructure-, integration- and data architecture needed to implement and support the Digital Services. Cyber Security: The reference framework, standards and policies, tools, and operational model to protect the ICT infrastructure, systems, and data. It also addresses the resiliency of the architecture and its ability to support business continuity. Sourcing Model: Designates what should be implemented and managed externally vs in-house? What are the main categories of technology products and services that need to be sourced? What is the landscape of possible providers for each category? What are the responsibilities between providers and customers? The sourcing model provides a strategy for who does what during planning, implementation and ongoing support. Business Case: Based on the Digital Services and Sourcing Model, what will it cost? What are the potential sources of revenue/monetisation? How does the cost model change between build and operate? Organisation and Governance: This describes the target organisation model, roles and responsibilities and skills development needed. It also details the governance model internally and with providers and partners.

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10.

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Innovation Labs: Ongoing innovation, throughout the programme and beyond is essential to avoid stagnation. Establishing an innovation lab provides the capability to run accelerated proofs-of-concept for emerging technologies or targeted solutions. For example, an IoT scenario or AI use case. Potential technology providers should be involved at this stage to demonstrate POC scenarios and use cases on their technology platforms. Project Planning: A detailed project plan which describes the tasks and key project milestones to achieve the goal. What are the possible risks and challenges? How will quality be assured across the programme?

Where is it applicable? The Digital Master Plan works well with greenfield projects that do not have the burden of legacy systems, infrastructure and provider agreements. The Digital Master Plan can be a stand-alone scope or integrated with the physical master plan, representing the digital layer. For example, Sidewalk Labs [61] has integrated the physical and digital layers into an “urban innovation platform” as part of their proposal for the Toronto Quayside neighbourhood development project. However, it can be even more powerful to drive a Digital Transformation initiative by first designing the target state, unencumbered by existing constraints, just as a start-up would do. The transition from the current state to the future design can then be built into the master plan. Applications of the Digital Master Plan may include – – – – –

New site or district design Mega and major events City-wide initiatives Stadiums and entertainment venues Digital transformation.

The digital master plan is a Living Plan. The need to continually update and improve the Digital Master Plan accepts the fact that technologies are changing rapidly and business priorities shifting. New uses for blockchain, analytics and artificial intelligence may need to be incorporated. Emerging technologies that were initially not considered should be evaluated and tested as the plan evolves. Business priorities, organisation structures, stakeholders or external dependencies may have changed. These changes and improvements may impact budget, timelines, sourcing models or organisation while remaining true to achieving the desired vision and goals. The digital Master Plan integrates all the elements needed to achieve a seamless and inspirational digital experience. It backs up the vision with a robust design and implementation plan. It enables key architectural principles to be agreed upon, infrastructure and systems to be prioritised, and the most appropriate sourcing model and provider landscape to be established. Most importantly, it lays out a clear plan of execution to reach the destination, while minimising the risk of going off-track or stagnating mid-way.

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The digital master plan is not static but dynamic, unlike the existing Master Planning practice. The digital Master plan evolves on user experience. The better the newer user experience the old digital approach to a component of the master plan is forsaken. Innovations drive the digital master plan. It is difficult to borrow digital master planning from one country to another or one city to another since a digital master plan is to be designed concerning an individual country, federal state or city. Three examples of digital Master planning from three countries are presented below before we elaborate briefly on the author’s approach to digital master planning with a case study of the Kozhikode Metropolitan area in one of the case studies of this book.

7 Digital Master Planning Case Study Barcelona Barcelona is the second-largest city in Spain with a population of 1.6 million in the city and 5 million in the Barcelona metropolitan area. The city’s experience in digital master planning is based on its involvement in many information technology-based projects such as 1.

2. 3. 4.

Open data initiative that is designed to offer all of the city’s data (or at least of all of it that can be provided legally) to anyone that can use it to make a product or service [64]. Many e-Governance projects. Many projects facilitate citizen participation in planning. Initiation of special projects on ICT to transform an economically depressed neighbourhood in the city centre.

The Municipal Institute for Informatics (IMI), a department of the city government, gave leadership to all the above activities. The city has ten districts, and a similar number of service departments. IMI is a part of the central administration, and its services are available to all ten districts and service departments. The IMI owns Barcelona’s citywide fibre network, which includes 500 wireless access points and the city’s servers. The district and service department managers are driven by efficiency and cost savings. Early estimates have suggested that the city has saved 20–30% on telecoms Opex and Capex, while savings of up to 25% have been made on the cost of introducing new city services. A common platform to execute these projects than decentralised to different districts gave more efficiency and less cost per district. For example, transportation problems that call for control traffic congestion and pollution by reducing the use of private cars utilised a network of CCTV cameras and sensors and have connected them through its unified network. This has proved to be far cheaper than connecting through a public provider. Barcelona has its fibre and Wi-Fi network and its Wi-Fi network available to citizens. Currently, each service department has its platform, but there are plans for a common platform to be rolled out across the whole city. The model for the platform

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has been based on Apple’s App Store, and the city will provide software development kits so that developers can create their apps for the platform. The private companies also participated. For example, logistics companies have been given access to parking metre data (both real-time and historical), which has enabled them to plan their routes better. There was no unnecessary sensitivity to the misuse of data in democracy. The platform includes the mechanical sensors and actuators (remote controls), which already exist in public escalators, moveable bollards, and air quality and traffic monitor was integrated to a larger platform that will manage and control all of these functions, allowing the city to automate some of its processes such as cycling down the local power station on days when air quality and local weather conditions demand it. Two underlying concepts related to the Digital Master Planning of Barcelona are strategic digital cities based on strategic decision-making in the utilisation of ICT and digital planning of the city. ICT the basis of the strategic digital city was available and accessible to most of its citizens, incorporating services based on technology to improve city management and the relationship with citizens who benefit from this “digital phenomenon”. The strategic digital city provides tools that improve the internal processes and public services provided to society (such as connectivity, information availability, technology, monitoring, infrastructure) that promote the participation of the population [63, 64] and reports that “despite obstacles and implementation difficulties, digital city projects have started an inexorable process of municipal modernisation with positive effects on the quality of services and access to ICTs”. The concept of the strategic digital city had many objectives. It deliberately gave access to the Internet to all, easily sorting out the issues of social digital inclusion. Further, the citizen was involved and motivated in the processes of Municipal government that arouse their interest and motivation of citizen to actively participate in the strategic digital city of Barcelona. Relationship between the digital planning of the city of Barcelona and the strategic digital city The urban planning of Barcelona relates to the needs of the population and the uses of digital city tools gave efficiency in service delivery that paved the way for better relations with Municipal Government. The relationships between strategy and information technology help to provide individuals with tools for improvement in cities. Barcelona is identified by intelligent management, able to respond quickly or even anticipated the needs presented by its citizens [66, 67]. “The term ‘digital cities’ has been used as a contemporary expression of an urban ideal that adds a better quality of life, information, communication and efficient management of services and public spaces. Thus, the use of strategies and information technologies serves as a platform to facilitate information and communication. Therefore, the digital city addresses the possibility of providing public services and information to citizens in broader virtual realities” [68]. The “Barcelona City Digital 2017–2020” plan, presented in October 2016, is a municipal road map to promote the urban innovation of intelligent management,

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to improve the quality of life of citizens, and promote a more pluralistic digital economy. “It is based on the transformation and digital innovation of the public sector and companies, government, universities, communities and organisation of people with clear public leadership and citizen”. The digital planning of the city of Barcelona and its relations with the strategic digital city is diagrammatically presented below. Barcelona City Digital is based on four pillars, as shown in Fig. 6, 1. 2.

Barcelona city in common, which deals with social transformation and public innovation through technology, for a more open and efficient city. Barcelona is a democratic city that focuses on technology as a facilitator for a more participatory, collaborative, and transparent city, that is, for a more democratic city.

Fig. 6 Scheme of the Barcelona City Digital Plan 2017–2020. Source [67]

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Barcelona circular city, which raises the questions about sharing common resources for a more sustainable city and Barcelona creative city, which points the questions about the arts, science, and technology to productive co-creation.

Information technology, information, strategy, and public services, which are the pillars of this concept. It provides tools that improve internal processes and public services provided to the society, such as connectivity, availability of information, technology, monitoring, infrastructure, and the promotion of population participation. This series of benefits to the population results in the increase in the quality of life with the provision of services through the internet, through the participation of the citizen in the management of the city and the consequent contribution in the administration of the rulers [68, 69]. Analysis of information technology The Barcelona Digital City 2017–2020 plan utilise technology for social change and public service delivery innovation. This allows users to interact and communicate [70]. Barcelona Digital City intends to develop a data infrastructure of the city that is open and possible to be shared, as well as develop a strategy involving citizens, companies, communities and universities, with some well-defined policy lines democratisation. Also, the government promoted citizen debates to discuss and submit proposals on the city’s technological strategy. Analysis of strategies The strategy of the Barcelona City Digital Plan was to improve the government and city; companies and social organizations; and citizenship. This plan aims at “transformation in the public administration.” This digital transformation is a strategic objective of the Municipal Communication Institute, to improve and streamline management processes and services for citizens, using information technology to benefit Barcelona. This is facilitated by defining open standards for digital services, and the regulation of digitization of the public sector. The Barcelona Digital City Plan aims to provide, strategically and progressively, all neighbourhoods of the city infrastructure, resources, incentives and programs by providing each community or neighbourhood resources to enable citizens of all ages and conditions to make technology a means for improving public services and for more equitable and sustainable economic and social development [71]. The relationship between digital city strategies using information technology gives citizens innovative tools for city improvements, and the ability for enhanced interaction between citizens and government since the city is now physically and digitally integrated with digital inclusion to benefit all. “Barcelona aims at the digital transformation of the city by using the technology of information through strategic projects, which aim to improve and streamline management processes and services to citizens, using information technology and

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strategy to benefit the inhabitants of Barcelona. Thus, information technology and, consequently, a strategy is increasingly present in the lives of the people of this city.”

8 Greater Springfield’s Digital Master Plan for a New Town Near Brisbane Australia [72–76] The Greater Springfield in Brisbane Australia is a New Town. This is the first city conceived, designed and built and then a Digital Master Plan is superimposed. This is meant to make the city smart in a systematic and integrated manner. From the very inception of conception, design and planning, Information Technology is considered as the key pillars of Greater Springfield and forms an important component of the emerging city’s master plan. Currently, the most significant driver for smart city development is improving city infrastructures such as energy, water, and transportation systems. Some smart city project has been initiated to the above elements, but overall smart city development is still largely in various degrees of planning. The physical infrastructure now in place in Greater Springfield is first class, with the road, rail, schools, a hospital and retail all in place. Based on the physical infrastructure, the virtual infrastructure can now evolve quickly and provide the fusion between “the physical world and the online world”. This connectivity and intelligence, based upon real-time data about interactions, will create opportunities for improved liveability and creation of new value.“By building a digital platform, other businesses can easily connect their business, build products and services on top of it, and thereby co-create value. In such a networked eco-system, digital governance is required to establish the conditions that those parts of the community can come to create and consume value. Few developments globally other than Greater Springfield can say that it has its digital master plan. A plan which ensures that adaption, creation and adoption of digital technologies and processes are considered exponentially as Greater Springfield grows into an efficient and cost-effective destination to live, learn, work or play”. “The focus of the plan is to facilitate further innovation in Greater Springfield, long-term sustainability, enhanced citizen-focussed governance and job creation. In doing so, it will improve the functioning of the city, making it a better place to live, work learn and play as well as to visit. It will advance the attractiveness of the city and amenity for homeowners and businesses who can see the benefits of being at the leading edge in an environment suited to tech companies and digital start-ups” (Fig. 7). Greater Springfield’s digital master plan seeks to bring together the best of human imagination and radical efficiency in information transmission, to enable greater creativity and community centred value. The digital master plan is designed to position Greater Springfield as a leader in cutting-edge technology infrastructure. The building blocks of a digital infrastructure include an interconnected network of infrastructure and services. This network provides the connectivity and capability to

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Source: [73] Fig. 7 Concept plan of greater spring field digital master plan. Source [72]

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integrate services for the citizens and businesses in Greater Springfield. The digital network is an enabler for the Internet of Things or digital technologies. As the city becomes entirely powered by digital technologies, it can begin to be a platform of virtual interaction between people and things; allowing culture and code to connect, collaborate and collide. Greater Springfield can evolve quickly and provide the fusion of both the physical and digital worlds. This connectivity and intelligence, based upon real-time data about everyday interactions, will create new value opportunities and improving the liveability of the city. Greater Springfield community will have access to more intelligent platforms to assist their lifestyle, with access to data for personal health, business performance, self-improvement, and education. This interconnectivity is at the very heart of Springfield—a living, breathing ecosystem of data. 360-data can feedback into products and services—allowing a personal offering like never (Fig. 8). 1. 2. 3. 4.

Health: Digital health records will support the new economic zone and provide researchers with richer health and activity data for their studies. Digital: Today, co-working spaces provide the city with a physical location in terms of adaption and adoption of digital technologies and processes. Education: An educated, motivated and inspired workforce understands the benefits of living in a master-planned, digitally connected community. Governance: “Policies and frameworks will support various stakeholders to interact and extract value while complying with important legal requirements” [72].

Source: [73] Fig. 8 Aerial photo of greater spring field in 2018. Source [72]

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9 Case Study Dublin Digital Master Planning Dublin Ireland “The Digital Masterplan for Dublin is designed as a journey towards the ultimate Digital City,” said Lord Mayor of Dublin, in June 2013. The Digital Master PlanFormulation and Structure was executed by Mayor through Digital Dublin Leadership Forum. This Digital Leadership Forum chaired by the Lord Mayor of Dublin was established to undertake the following • Develop further a Dublin Innovation Eco System and incentivise innovation • Build an International and European Innovation system through City collaboration • Act primarily through the Quadruple Helix (Citizen, Business, Education, Government) • Make Adoption the key to realising innovation • Promote intersectional Innovation using Dublin City as Testbed Promote Innovators and Entrepreneurs as Heroes. The Digital Dublin will be built by and around “Digi Dubs”. The “Digi Dub” is the digitally active and engaged citizen who uses digital technologies in daily life—at home, at work and school. Digital Masterplan Structure The Digital Masterplan is structured with a few key components: (1) (2)

A vision, as a mission statement and a set of guiding principles that inform and underpin all digital activities. Two innovative toolsets are combined to deliver an approach to planning and execution of digital initiatives: a.

b. (3)

A Digital Maturity Scorecard (DMS)—developed by Dublin City Council in conjunction with Intel Labs Europe, NUI Maynooth (the Innovation Value Institute) and Dublin City University. The DMS will be used to benchmark Dublin’s digital standing internationally. The Dublin City Council Beta Project mechanism to continually prioritise, prototype and evaluate innovative ideas.

Actions to be pursued to achieve digital excellence in the Dublin region are grouped into 7 logical action blocks for ease of understanding and implementation. These Actions include a. b.

Big Ticket Actions identified through the Digital Leadership Forum, of critical and high impact. Enabling other actions that will be implemented for the delivery of the Masterplan.

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This document is a summary of the key elements of the Masterplan—full details of the Masterplan published on [77]. Digital Vision, Mission Statement and Principles The Digital Masterplan for Dublin guides the city for the adaption, creation of digital technologies and processes for the efficient management of the city, its resources, and activities. The deliverable of the Masterplan is further innovation, long-term sustainability, enhanced governance and job creation. Vision “To co-create Dublin as a global leader in innovation where technology is harnessed, adopted, adapted and created to develop economic competitiveness and cohesive and sustainable society.” Two Innovative Toolsets for Digital Dublin The Digital Maturity Scorecard The Digital Maturity Scorecard (DMS) is an analytical tool to benchmark internationally to help deploy resources. The DMS defines six layers of digital activity that the city must build up to international and best-practice standards to become a truly Digital City as follows:

City Governance

Building Ubiquitous City Networks

Leveraging Urban Data

Fostering Digital Services Capability

Digital Access and Skills Proficiency

City Impact Realisaon

Actions pursued as part of the Digital Masterplan will relate to one or more of six digital city service domains which impact the quality of life in the city region:

Economy & Innovaon

Community & Cizenship

Culture & Entertainment

Movement & Transport

Urban Places & Spaces

Environmental Pracces

It is essential to match technological solutions to the challenges of modern urban living, job creation and retention, maintaining a globally competitive and attractive business environment, enhancing civil society, enhancing the potential of new creative and smart economy industries, addressing infrastructural and social problems, improving the quality of the environment and the physical and virtual connectivity of citizens and business. The impact of actions carried out under the Masterplan will be evaluated against the DMS. The DMS essentially looks at Dublin’s level of digital maturity on a scale of 1-5. The goal is to transform the city and thus move up this scale. The Scorecard will be refined and developed through the application (Fig. 9).

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Source: [78] Fig. 9 Maturity scoreboard. Source [77]

Only through collaboration between citizens, business, research and academia and local government can the city arrive at its destination as a global Digital City. That collaboration works along with a roadmap of change and Innovation as represented in Fig. 10.

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Fig. 10 Road map to digital excellence in Dublin Ireland. Source [77]

Digital City

Enabling Innovaon

Digital Places, Processes and People

Digital Vision & Principles

Digital Benchmarkingand

Digital Leadership

Maturity Digital Planning and Acons

Source[78]

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Source [77] Action details This section is organised as follows: (1) (2)

The Big Ticket Actions The second part describes actions under each Action Block.

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Big Ticket #1—Fibre to Every Home Fast, reliable and cost-competitive broadband infrastructure is critical for all Dublin homes for remote/home-working. Broadband enables higher overall growth by allowing firms to cast their net wider when looking for suppliers or seeking new market opportunities to increase their customer base or looking to more effectively link business functions, e.g. sales, design, manufacturing, supply chain, stock control and accounts—particularly across many geographical locations. The only broadband delivery technology sufficiently developed to provide room for the likely bandwidth growth patterns in the region is fibre. Fibre rollout should be prioritised within the City Region. The market must be incentivised to invest in Dublin to guarantee full fibre optic coverage. This plan proposes that a minimum of 100 Mb symmetrical broadband be delivered into every home in the Dublin region using Fibre. Until now the key challenge with fibre deployment has been what is known as the “last mile”—the cost of the infrastructural work associated with getting the fibre over the final part of the journey from a shared local supply point to the home. The Telco industry estimates that there is an average unit cost of e1,500 per dwelling involved in delivering this “last mile”. The state investment would be delivered via a tax credit to be set against the new Local Property Tax and would cost up to e117m a year over three years to be divided between local and central government. This would, in turn, create opportunities for telecom operators to partner together to deliver fibre in the most efficient way possible. The companies delivering Fibre under the initiative will have to sign up to a Public Service Obligation (PSO) to ensure that delivery would include the provision in disadvantaged areas and to individuals who are under age, circumstances or health cannot participate in the shared cost model outlined above. This will involve a commitment to deliver for every five connections under the shared cost model one connection for free. The Digital Agenda for Europe acknowledges the socio-economic benefits of broadband and highlights its importance for competitiveness, social inclusion and employment. This proposal would ensure comprehensive Fibre to every home coverage in the Dublin region; it would futureproof the region’s residential data network for years to come and it would generate a substantial number of civil/construction jobs in the short term. Other points for consideration: • Symmetrical 100 MB fibre capacity should be provisioned as soon as possible in one pilot residential area which is currently a broadband “black spot” within the city. The delivery of eHealth and education services should be then piloted in this area • Carrier-neutral ducting should be installed during all significant public infrastructure works in the Region such as roads, water, and sewerage and that all current and future ducting are recorded and mapped • In line with national policy State-owned infrastructure should be explored and leveraged for fibre provision in line with national policy

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• Planning regulations should be reviewed immediately and updated to ensure comprehensive provision for fibre within all new builds. Big Ticket #2—Digital Accelerator District Innovation is key for progression to a digital future as it encompasses the facilitation of research, collaboration across the triple helix, open data share, idea creation and commercialization, smart cities and creative citizens. While there are excellent incubators around the City it is fair to say that Dublin lacks a single ‘go-to’ point for Digital Acceleration that is of a large enough scale for a city with such a tech profile. To this effect, a new Digital Accelerator District (DAD) was proposed which will be of the appropriate scale to localise and link ideas, innovation, skills, talent, mentoring capabilities and finance. This will complement existing companies, spaces, and initiatives like Launchbox, i.e. Dogpatch Labs; the NDRC; the Centres for Science Engineering and Technology (CSE); The Digital Hub; and the Guinness Enterprise Centre that have filled this space to date. Dublin hopes to partner with one or more of the above entities in the development and operation of the DAD. Further DADs will be developed as demand and opportunity arise. To incentivise the accelerated growth of viable digital businesses is proposed to break the space within the DAD into three zones and to provide a rates structure as follows: – Zone 1—Year 1 of start-up—0 rates – Zone 2—Year 2 of start-up—50% rates discount – Zone 3—Year 3 of start-up—25% rates discount. This will require the Central Government to provide the necessary flexibility in local business rate schemes to permit the Local Government to financially incentivise targeted locations in accelerator districts. Fledgeling businesses will be actively expected to move through the DAD zones, or they will lose their discounts and ultimately their place in the DAD. Dublin will also work with other infrastructure providers (electricity, water, broadband) to seek the provision of a similar discount mechanism. Big Ticket #3—Maximising Local Supply Chains to Multinational Corporations (MNCs) The Digital Leadership Forum pledges to push the agenda of Irish indigenous companies in developing their relationships with MNCs based in the Dublin region. The proper fiscal and regulatory environment must be created for indigenous SMEs to thrive and trade and as part of this process to enter the high-end (R&D, IP-intensive activities) supply chain and consciousness of large MNCs. Provision of high-end activities is an “import substitution” for locally based MNCs. MNCs in Ireland source about e80bn in goods and services globally of which e11bn comes from Irish businesses. The joint IDA/Enterprise Ireland team is

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targeting an increase in this figure in 2013 by identifying 65 multinationals that offer the potential for Irish companies and through increased participation by Enterprise Ireland clients on inward investment itineraries of IDA companies. It is estimated by DJEI that if multinational companies based in Ireland included more Irish companies in their global supply chains then just a 5pc increase in spending locally by multinationals would generate e500 m in the local economy in Ireland in 2013. Dublin city is proposing to partner with SME representative organisations (e.g. ISME, IIA, SFA, Chamber of Commerce), to develop a web-based portal for Dublinbased multi-nationals to auction packages of digital/innovation/R&D work to the local SME market. This Action should deliver: (1) (2) (3)

Greater access to local MNC supply chains for SMEs and a corresponding growth in business An innovation supply route for the local MNC community Enhanced MNC links for the SME representative organisations.

To complement the big-ticket item to Maximise Indigenous Supply Chains, it is proposed that a minimum spend of 30% on new local government ICT and digital services should be directed to SMEs. Strengthening the use of digital by the SME base is an important part of going digital on a mass scale. Big Ticket #4—The Dublin Storefront and Shop Window The objective is to support and expand the work being undertaken by different organisations in developing the use of digital systems and an online business presence by Dublin and Irish Business. The Irish Internet Association and the City/County Enterprise Boards have been active for some years in this area. Recent work under the “Activating Dublin” initiative of the Chamber of Commerce will provide a toolkit that could become a standard for getting Dublin/Irish SMEs trading successfully online or expanding their current online presence. A key challenge, however, is to devise a shared basis for future expansion of these initiatives and a means by which success and ongoing business challenges of expansion and continued usage can be monitored, supported and evaluated beyond the initial web presence or adoption of digital technologies and processes. There is a need to build on this work and to create an eCommerce and digital adoption support platform that will particularly target businesses in the non-ICT sector such as Food and Accommodation, Construction, and small start-ups. These are businesses that just need to plug in and get going. They are also businesses that could reduce cost and improve efficiency by developing digital back-office driven processes, e-procurement and the use of digital technology in terms of customer and financial management. The Forum is cognisant of the fact that the platform should not become an innovation blocker that is, directing high potential concepts and businesses away from their bespoke e-commerce propositions. The Platform, however, should provide a means of ongoing support and monitoring of business success and digital expansion.

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There is also an opportunity to build such a platform in a way that provides opportunities for the skill enhancement and experience building of young unemployed individuals across a range of disciplines. This could be achieved by a redefined Job Bridge initiative that provides for a longer period and direct opportunities for linked experience with participating in small business. Considering an ESRI estimate that over 70% of exports will be traded services by 2025, without intervention there is a risk of Ireland and Dublin falling behind and losing global competitiveness and attractiveness. The UPC Digital Business Index shows that 3 in 10 Irish businesses are ‘Digital Leaders’, while 1 in 7 is ‘Digital Laggards’: with the balance falling into the category of ‘Digital Followers’. CSO Information Society statistics show that from 2009 to 2012 there has been notable uptake in internet usage and website development across the main sectors of the Irish economy. Nonetheless, there are shortfalls. For example, in the accommodation and food service sector internet usage and website ownership was relatively low in 2012 with only 66 per cent of enterprises having a website or homepage, though this was an increase of 12 per cent on 2009 figures. Moreover, CSO Information Society statistics from 2012 show that only 23% of Irish SMEs are selling online with just over half using eCommerce to make some purchases. Dublin city anticipates that a coordinated drive involving local and central government with a reliance on extensive private sector involvement will deliver a substantial update of e-commerce trading particularly in the SME sector in the Dublin region. The Dublin Storefront will also facilitate the development of a ‘Created in Dublin’ brand that can be opened to all Dublin firms trading online and not just those trading via the Dublin Storefront. The Dublin Storefront will ideally be built and operated through a business-based organisation or association (e.g. Chamber of Commerce, Irish Internet Association) with funding support from the Government (local and national), staff resources to include internships, and funding from the businesses who become members by way of annual fees. Big Ticket #5—Digital Sister Cities Virtual Network This will involve a redesign and remodelling of the website www.citieslinked.com. Targeted at Sister Cities committed to International collaboration around digital society, economy and innovation it will provide a means to connect civic government, businesses, education and innovators globally. It will be a portal that combines web and social media tools with events/information and project partner search across the participating cities. It will help cities co-create the digital future by way of common actions in business, education, and city test-bedding of new services and products. Participating cities will be required to allocate a dedicated Digital Co-operation Manager to ensure participation. The Network of Digital Co-operation Managers will meet bi-annually. The Digital Co-operation Managers will be responsible for the promotion of the Virtual Network, recruitment of companies, departments of government, education institutions and

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innovators to active membership of the Network and support for member engagement. This will involve developing the beta project approach, research and business co-operation matching and networking seminars locally among members. Dublin will internationalise, through this web-based portal, the Beta Project concept in its sister cities so that testing ideas can be shared, and testing realised across like-minded sister cities. This will also allow the innovators who designed the innovations to expand the potential “reference proof of concept” and hasten the route for successful innovations to market. The Digital Maturity Scorecard (DMS) will be shared with sister cities and will be a first step in the standardisation of international digital benchmarking. This, in turn, will allow cities to put in place realistic targets and adopt processes and technologies borrowed from each other. The portal will be used to refine, record and share this benchmarking. Big Ticket #6—Available as Digital Available as Digital is a commitment by Dublin City Council to ensure that all services are available in digital format. City Council will lead by example and will encourage other public sector bodies to sign up to an Available as Digital Charter with targeted commitments and deadlines to develop digital versions of all public services, engagement and information. All public services and business should provide their services as digital. The Masterplan is seeking to fill digital services gaps, working on best practice models to digitise all services. This action complements the “Knowledge is Power” Action Block, seeking to achieve higher levels of digital literacy and actions to increase access to high-quality broadband. The interoperability of services and the concepts of big data and the internet of things are core facilitators of going digital. How? Big data allows evidence-based decision-making and the creation of new digital services. The internet of things is part of creating a digital mesh where all types of daily actions and interactions, places and things are linked through sensors, devices, and continual streams of communication. As part of this initiative to go digital by default and as part of the drive to create a Digital Commonage the Masterplan will develop and adopt a set of ‘Digital Design Principles.’ These will be similar to the Government Digital Services UK (GDS) design principles (https://www.gov.uk/designprinciples). It is intended that these will, in time, be adopted by all Government agencies in the city resulting in standardised government digital/web access for all. Big Ticket #7—Co-Creating Future This will involve the commitment by Local and National Government complemented by Business Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to establish programmes to support the development of cocreation skills in communities, government organisations, young people and adults. To facilitate skill development particularly among communities and groups, a dedicated fund to support voluntary organisations delivering coding and advanced digital skills would be established from public and private funds. This would be

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administered through the Digital City Team to fund and support targeted skills development in areas such as programming, coding, computer science, information technology, gaming, data mining, creative media and social media. To develop an experience for graduates to enable market entry into jobs, it is proposed to seek a special extended Job Bridge internship to train and employ recent graduates as Enhanced Digital Skills facilitators. An initial team of 10 such facilitators (interns), for 18 months, will be recruited and supported by delivery, management, and training at a cost of approximately e200,000. They will develop a programme and work with schools, youth groups and senior citizen groups within communities. This initiative will be delivered and managed by an appropriate Education/Youth/ business agency (e.g. VEC, Foróige, CYC, IIA). Other Actions Action Block 1: “Organising for Action” This is a critical enabling action that requires resourcing commitment from Dublin City Council to enable Masterplan actions to be pursued and realised. Establishment of a digital city team

To match skills in Dublin City Council and across the leadership forum with the digital needs of the city and the Masterplan actions and to establish a digital city team to execute the masterplan and deliver actions To identify technical skills within the existing City Council resource pool which can be harnessed to deliver the Masterplan

Business accelerator team

To cluster innovation initiatives and support technology business start-ups and expansion

Digital funding

Seed funding for key actions and resources must be allocated by the Local and National Governments. The region will also seek external means to develop solutions to its urban challenges. This will involve working closely with research institutions, SME’s and MNE’s to develop research proposals that will benefit citizens and businesses alike

Unified city region portal

The redesign and use of www.Dublin.ie as a one-stop portal for information about events, digital developments and organisations across the Dublin region

Supporting a repository of digital events and digital mapping

To build an interactive digital repository for all digital events that are happening in the city region Mapping digital activity and organisations that promote and enhance digital. This would include a digital mapping of international connections that support digital development. This should be an element of Dublin, i.e. portal (continued)

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(continued) Research programme

A programme of research and events in partnership with business, statutory agencies and education designed to highlight by evidence and research critical issues of infrastructure, legislation/regulation, policy and investment that must be addressed to ensure the future development of digital, technology and media businesses in Ireland

Support for digital and creative initiatives

Funding and resource support to digital initiatives that have global and local value in developing new business, opportunities and profiles for Dublin. The recent Fusion initiative led by the Irish Times is one such example

Action Block 2: Creating Awareness and Building Participation Innovation Dublin festival

The Innovation Dublin Festival is ongoing and will further incorporate and showcase enterprise on digital innovation across the city. This action will develop the festival, extend its international promotion and branding, and brand-related events throughout the year. The festival website will develop a directory of innovation leaders and initiatives

Digital champions—leaders who inspire

Identify Digital Champions who inspire across the six urban domains of the Dublin City Development Plan and the Digital Masterplan Work with business and EU institutions to hold an annual Innovation Luminary Award event in Dublin

Develop citizen participation and digital governance

To further democratise decision-making through extending the Your Dublin, Your Voice citizen panel and to evolve new digital methods to engage citizens. To extend information and knowledge and engagement with the democratic and administrative decision-making systems throughout City stakeholder organisations

Deploy social media tools and strategies to engage citizens

A social media roll-out programme will be delivered by the Digital City Team to engage further with citizens on topical issues, events and opportunities

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Action Block 3: Building the Digital Commonage Explore new infrastructure, e.g. spectrum playgrounds—including white space

The spectrum playground (wireless transmission frequencies) may lead to the testing and trialling of new infrastructure and equipment that will enable the communication systems of the future. However, it is the services and applications that sit on these systems that will make them successful. The aim is to accompany the spectrum playground activities with a series of open workshops for rapid prototyping of new services and applications that might exploit the new infrastructures

City Watch App and Sensors—trial and evaluation

This App allows citizens to instantaneously report faults or problems in their area; issues of public safety or concern; to take pictures or file reports. Citizens will receive points for engagement. Further sensor networks will be rolled out, and initiatives around data analytics developed, in conjunction with business and education

Expand and develop open data through Dublin ked

To make public and commercial datasets open for public consumption, research and commercialisation. To bring more data online with a focus on real-time data Agree to actions to secure future data centre provision by way of ensuring power supply while also building data and analytics through sensors and software development

Expand the digital laboratory to be a city-wide beta

Prioritising, trialling and validating new and existing ideas which have a strong digital genome in test locations and virtual space across the city. It will be built from the top down by policy, the middle out by the ideas and projects of the City and the bottom-up by citizens and businesses through trialling

Dublin public wireless broadband—Mesh the City

To provide good-quality, free public Wi-Fi/ 4G in core city areas

Expand the sensor networks in the city landscape

Harness the data potential of sensors by locating sensors within the landscape and buildings of the city

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Action Block 4: Expanding and Innovating the Economy. Digital business city

Promotion and awareness of the advantages of going digital in business supported by research and identification of market opportunities in different economic sectors

Internships to build experience

An Internship programme to provide experience to graduates that will enhance their capacity to obtain jobs in the technology sector

Start-Up CEO support group

A Start-Up CEO/Founders group to support and assist new business start-ups to grow and access funding. A dedicated Technology Business mentor panel will be established with the help of businesses to support start-ups in the sector. The Panel will be managed by the LEO

Establishment of a Dublin regional enterprise forum

The formation of a Dublin Enterprise Forum in respect of the small firms’ sector would have as one focus using ICT to drive competitiveness and realise this through a Finance Digital Dublin sub-forum chaired by the LEOs in the Region and consisting of micro lenders, banks and representative organisations as appropriate This Forum would match those with capital, experience, networks and other resources with small companies with long-term potential

Annual start-up Dublin declaration

A survey of start-up activity in Dublin and identification of opportunities annually

Dublin as an investment and start-up location programme

A programme of trade/promotion events to encourage international start-ups, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and companies looking for a European access location to consider Dublin

Single portal for investors, companies, and mobile talent

A single portal and support service networking Innovation hubs/nodes, enterprise support services, property and infrastructure information, schools/facilities/housing options and education services aimed at overseas companies and individuals

Critical infrastructure charters

The development and agreement of critical infrastructure charters for priority delivery based on research and industry or agency identification that can cluster economic development in niche technology industries and geographical areas of the region. These charters would have targets and deliverables and would be agreed with utility and transport companies and endorsed by the national government. One key area for immediate attention is electricity distribution to support the attraction of data centres (continued)

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(continued) Global media and awareness campaign

A global media and awareness campaign would be developed in partnership with business and statutory economic national agencies. Using social and traditional media and harnessing meetings, events and activities of the city Stakeholders internationally it would promote Dublin as the “Place to be Innovative”, the by-line being Innovate in Dublin

Action Block 5: Shaping a Better City Trialling of digital technologies and services in A series of new technologies will be trialled communities, homes, and businesses across the housing stock of DCC and within Dublin businesses. The city will look to pilot new initiatives across its housing stock in the areas of energy (for example, Glenn Dimplex Quantum home heating trial in Dublin City and Fingal), delivery of education and health services, access and so forth. The Beta Project mechanism will be used to realise innovative new ideas for this action Digital adventure carnivals and streetscapes

A proposal for a travelling ‘Digital Carnival’ that will visit Dublin City schools, community centres and libraries on a year-round basis to foster curiosity and confidence in new emerging technologies and boost digital participation and understanding in local Dublin communities Build on the Digital Carnival to create phase by phase a digital and interactive “adventure” landscape in Dublin streets and public spaces. Augmented Reality, Wi-Fi zone-based messaging, digital interactive signage and gaming models to support interaction could be deployed

Signing up to the green digital charter

Actions to be selected and trialled as Beta Projects

Digital safe cities

Using technologies to make our city a safer place as part of the UN Women Safe Cities Global Programme

Digital water—D2 O

Innovative technologies to manage all aspects of the water system (continued)

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(continued) Deliver hackathons and creative data events

To run hackathon events to address city and organisational challenges. This action will maximise the use of skills within the city and provide the focus for the informal gatherings of developers and designers already happening within Dublin. It is furthermore proposed to develop and validate the concept of a Code Café(s) using Beta Projects

Action Block 6: Global Positioning Global city benchmarking

To measure impact and assess performance compared to competitor cities. To identify best practices within each domain to set targets and establish international standards. To extend the use and application of the Digital Maturity Scorecard

Using the DMS to evaluate the ongoing success The Digital Maturity Scorecard (DMS) will be applied in sister cities and will see a first step taken in the standardisation of international benchmarking. This, in turn, will allow cities to put in place realistic targets and adopt processes and technologies borrowed from each other Attracting events and cconferences and leading Attract technology events and conferences and missions ensure that technology and digital business is central to all overseas missions from the City

Action Block 7: Knowledge is Power—Skills and Co-Creation. Getting our people coding

Develop and roll out a programme of Dublin CoderDojo events at Dublin City Council libraries

Digital Dublin day

Holding an Annual Digital Dublin Day with centres in each area of the City

Computer loan scheme

Developing and testing through libraries an equipment rental scheme to support access

Develop entrepreneurial skills among young people

Support initiatives designed to develop enterprise skills among young people including Biz Kids in the Dublin region

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9.1 Smart Master Planning: Innovations and Case Studies Kozhikode Metropolitan Area Study: Current Influence on Cities Digital Master Planning efforts are socio-cultural and local economic constructs and hence unique. Therefore, what we discussed in the last few sections for Dublin or Barcelona or Springfield cannot be copied to another city. Once copied rest assured it will never work. However, it was worthwhile to discuss so that one can postulate workable models of digital master planning based on local resources including human resources. So, it is important to build it based on the endowment of the city and the socio-cultural and technological possibilities currently available. The author and his team tried to build their method of executing digital master planning and is discussed in this book. What follows is an introduction to these four chapters. Taking into consideration all aspects discussed above, metropolitan cities are ideal places where digital master planning can be initiated in India which does not exist as of today. There were 53 metropolitan cities in the 2011 census with one million and above population in India. There is also a constitutional body called the Metropolitan Committee who has got a legitimate share of the consolidated fund of the Government of India and the respective State Government under which this effort can function. This number 53 is likely to increase. Out of 53 cities, seven of them were in a relatively small populated state, Kerala. In Kerala, once census 2011 data is mapped based on the definition of urban agglomeration given in the Indian Census, five out of seven metropolitan agglomerations is merged to form a Kochi-Kannur megacity of near 10 million population. This megacity is internationally well connected by three international airports and one seaport in Kochi along with few minor ports like Beypore in Kozhikode and many other fisheries harbours. A case study presented in this book is from this megacity. Kochi Kannur focusing on Kozhikode Metropolitan Area. With a majority, Kerala population including low income-daily wage earners like unskilled labour, carpenters, coconut harvester, electrician and plumbers, domestic servants and hawkers like those market vegetable and fish at the household level are smartphone owners and uses extensively internet-based cash payments by unified direct bank transfers. During the COVID days, students from primary school to higher secondary school use smartphones for online teaching in Kerala although internet coverage is not satisfactory. There is an emerging trend of small and medium enterprises seamless integration of digital information technology throughout the built and manufactured environment in Kerala befitting a likely heralding of industry 4 through digital master planning. The diffusion of computing power available to the ordinary citizen of Kerala and ubiquitous computing with the people of Kerala are ready for digital master planning while institutions like Municipality and providers of Master Planning skills seems not ready yet ready unless they get trained rigorously on digital master planning and other related disciplines like computer sciences and electronica and information technology jointly execute digital master planning. Our

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chapter in this book will showcase an approach not known before and suitable for the Kochi-Kannur megacity. The Marxist-led Left Democratic Front LDF Governments and the opposition UDF the united democratic front in Kerala was always confronting wealth creators whether it is a large farmer or industrialist under socialism or communism. This is achieved through the high level of political mobilisation that jacks up labour wages in comparison with other states in India by strikes and bandh against any entrepreneurship. The politicians were supported by a colonial ruler-type British legacy bureaucracy with a high level of corruption in which politicians are a party. There are many court cases some criminal and others civil pending against them and in a democracy court case takes many decades to settle and these corrupted are free until final judgement is made by courts after many decades. All these made Kerala the most backward state in industrialisation in South India in particular and whole to India in general. Kerala missed the first, second and third industrial revolutions because of several reasons including colonial rule and the only way out is the digital master planning and digitally powered fourth industrial revolution by the smart community. The rampant educated unemployment in Kerala made educated and skilled people of Kerala migrate under distress to many counties for gainful employment. Go to any country and you may find a Kerala migrant there sending money home which is the backbone consumption-based and not productionbased money order economy of Kerala in the absence of industrialisation. The limited number of Kerala entrepreneurs do not consider Kerala as a favourable destination for establishing their industries and established industries in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka away from Kerala’s trade unions and almost daily strikes and bandh supported by local political parties. This can only change when Kerala Governments honour the wealth generators and give entrepreneurs an environment to usher in the digital economy in Kerala. Average people are ready but not the ruling dispensations. The case study we present shows how a smart economy can be empowered at the community level to overcome the genetic defects of the Kerala economy and Governance. The digital Master Plan under smart community and the smart economy is the goal of our case study. We present some insight into the case study in this part. The “digital master plans” are attempts to mobilise the local community including all stakeholders around common visions, goals, and road maps to digitally adapt to the economic pressures, within local social, economic and political constraints. Digital industrialization like Industry 4 at a community level is well ushered in a digital master planning regime than conventional 19th-century master planning under the 1920 Malabar Town Planning Act of Kerala practised in Kerala until recently. Minimal Government at near-zero administrative cost and maximum Governance through E-Governance and E-Democracy can usher in the digital revolution and fast pace industrialisation in Kerala and this means vast changes in political ideologies now existing in Kerala. Multitudes of TV channels and Newspapers are divided among the political parties as their paid or unpaid spokesmen and it is difficult for a citizen to make up their mind on emerging environmental, developmental and

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social issues. Replacing Representative Democracy with direct democracy using EDemocracy for Master Planning is a worthwhile approach to embark on digital master planning when the truth is difficult to understand about emerging issues. Creating least cost and easy access to high bandwidth fibre to home internet to all (i.e. above and below poverty level) is already underway nationally and at the state level. Extensive use of IoT for urban surveys eliminating humans will bring down survey costs and undue delays in Master Plan surveys considerably and create speedy production of results of surveys and mapping for master planning. Further Model-based cloud computing treating data and models in an equal way and march towards artificial intelligence and the use of Blockchain. All these are explored in the case study. What are the goals of digital Master Plans?

9.2 Digital Master Planning Goals 1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Minimal Government at near-zero administrative cost and maximum Governance through E-Governance and E-Democracy Replacing Representative democracy with direct democracy in local selfgovernment using E-Democracy for Master Planning for items where Indian constitutions provide households to decide under the 12th schedule of 74th constitutional amendments. Creating least cost easy access to high bandwidth fibre to home internet to all (i.e. above and below poverty level) Extensive use of IoT for urban surveys and also urban interventions eliminating humans Machine to Machine system to execute 12th scheduled items. Model-based cloud computing treating data and models in an equal way and march towards artificial intelligence and the use of Blockchain

9.3 Domains of Digital Master Planning 1. 2.

Scenario driven Spatial Decision supports for E-Governance and E-Democracy for 18 tasks given in the 74th constitutional amendment. Making these 18 tasks smart with the use of assistive technologies and systems of IoTs and ICTs the list is given below. Table list of 18 items in 12th schedule.

1

List of 18 items in 12th schedule

Scope of work to make it smart

Regulation of land use and construction of land buildings

Smart Zonal Plan based on the sample Test case Katangal Smart Global Economic Community and other one Smart Economic Community Mukkam (continued)

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(continued) 2

Urban planning including the town planning Smart Master Plan Process and Content

3

Planning for economic and social development

Smart Work area Plan

4

Urban poverty alleviation

E-Urban Land Management (E-ULM) (E-ULM) and Poverty alleviation

5

Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes

Smart Water

6

Fire services

Smart Fire service

7

Public health sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management

Smart Public Health

8

Slum improvement and up-gradation

Smart Slum up-gradation

9

Safeguarding the interests of the weaker sections of society, including the physically handicapped and mentally unsound

Smart safeguard

10

Urban forestry, protection of environment and promotion of ecological aspects

Smart Urban Forestry

11

Construction of roads and bridges

Smart Mobility

12

Provision of urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens, and playgrounds

Smart Infrastructure

13

Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects

Smart cultural and Educational facilities

14

Burials and burials grounds, cremation and cremation grounds, and electric crematoriums

ICT enabling and facility Management

15

Cattle ponds, prevention of cruelty to animals

Smart animal Facilities

16

Regulation of slaughterhouses and tanneries Smart slaughterhouse facilities

17

Public amenities including street lighting, parking spaces, bus stops and public conveniences

Smart Public Amenities

18

Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths

Smart Urban Information System

3.

Further Digitisation of Surekha the annual planning software used in Kerala using GIS for participatory decision support. Screenshots of website explains the Sulekha (Figs. 11, 12, 13).

4. 5. 6.

Digitisation of Master Plan and not map Digitisation of zonal Plans and not maps Digitisation of Urban Land management in process management. The process is discussed in Smart Economy in Smart Cities book and few screenshots of the website that interrupt in the process is given in Figs. 14 and 15.

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Fig. 11 Sulekha website

Fig. 12 Login page for Sulekha website

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Fig. 13 Scope of Surekha in decentralised planning

Fig. 14 Home Page-E-ULM Umami business plan for urban land

9.4 Constitutional Urban Areas Receiving Grants from Consolidated Accounts to the Following Areas They are enumerated below. In the Master Planning, these are allowed to be implemented based on Smart Master Planning while preparation of Master Plans is a joint effort of smart community locally and all the above institutions. The smart community will use their resources to implement economically productive activities. 1. 2.

Wards under ward committee Cantonment under Cantonment Board

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Fig. 15 Structure of E-ULM interactive website

3. 4. 5. 6.

Towns under Municipality/Town Committee Cities under Municipal Corporation Metropolitan Areas under Metropolitan Committees The district under the district Planning Committee.

9.5 Smart Master Planning Objectives (a) Smart Master Plan Objective: 1.

Ways and means for the fulfilment of 12th schedule using ICT, IoT, EGovernance and E-Democracy and Machine to Machine system of implementation.

(b) Approaches: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Delivery at least cost by reducing administrative cost and simplification of procedures to access municipal service through digital means Consumer access delivery at least cost and effort Integration of smart planning, governance and implementation Use of ICT, IoT, E-Democracy and E-Governance.

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9.6 The Summary of Smart Master Planning for Kozhikode Metropolitan Area The three official Master Plans of Kozhikode were prepared in the past namely Master Plans (1962–)1981, 2021 and 2035 were based on the Malabar Town and Country Planning Legislation 1920, borrowed from the Madras Town Planning Act being practised then by British Colonial rulers of India. The present Town and Country Planning Act 2016 came into being later. There was no intention in the legislation to make Kozhikode a bigger global economic superpower than it was before British rule, and incorporation of Master Plan related technologies and innovating approaches available then. The approach followed in the Smart Master Planning of Kozhikode Metropolitan Area case study is a digital Master Planning that differs from the earlier approaches of the three official plans. The earlier three official Master Plans were never prepared solely for one Municipality or Municipal Corporation like Kozhikode but for planning, the area comprises adjacent municipalities and village panchayats keeping in mind city is part of a region. No census in India recognises this planning area. For the Master planning of Kozhikode in this exercise, we adopted the Kozhikode Metropolitan Area 2011 census which is accepted by the census of India, the Indian Constitution, Election Commission and Finance Commission for the sharing of Tax from state and central revenue. This approach ensures that urban development of metropolitan areas is regional planning incorporating many census towns in an integrated fashion and is based on the Indian Constitution, the concept of Multilevel planning and the concept of integrated regional development of cities. The strength of Kerala historically lies in the strength of people as a community for the common cause and the ability for community action which Britishers were afraid of and therefore absent in Master Planning based on 1920 legislation. The social and community actions last few hundred years on temple entry movement of the lower caste, education and health care development initiated by Christian priests like Chavara Achan (and many who all later became saints ordained by Rome;) advocated wherever there is a palli or church there should be a pallikudam or school. There was no end to such social movements in Kerala spearheaded from time to time by Narayana Guru, Chattambi swami and many more like Muslim Educational Society, SNDP, Nair Service Society and Kerala Shastra Parishad. The full literacy movement planned family movement and land reforms all are the product of community action. Based on all that Master Plan was conceived as a mass movement involving community and institutions mostly local. The high Human Development Index, low infant mortality rate and global mobility of people of Kerala are all by-products of this community action and initiative in the past. The adjective smart for these communities in recent times is legitimate and based on the fact Kerala is the first state who declared fully computer literate and smartphone ownership is more than 100%.

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The Master Plan in practice and our proposed master plan differs. The Master Plan practised in Kerala essentially is a land-use proposal to be implemented in the plan period of 20 years through regulation and development. Our approach to Master Plan states that Master Plan is a development and regulation of an aggregate of communities which we call smart communities in Kozhikode Metropolitan Areas. For regulation, we require an unambiguous physical zonal plan map and for development for these communities a clear action program. For this to happen we seek the initiative of local communities with the help of authorities in multi-level as discussed who works parallel. These smart communities have a geographic space that is easy to identify. This is centred around a nucleated road junction where you will see many shops, cinema theatre, banks, schools, offices, bus stops and so on. The same is repeated in the next junction. The community can be delineated by the perpendicular bisector of all such junctions. Here it is found people use all the nucleated facilities in the junction daily or periodically. Where one community ends the other neighbouring community starts. The Kozhikode Metropolitan Area is having many smart communities. They can be classified into three broad categories and can be innumerable and diverse types within these three categories. Smart Economic Community example case study Mukkam. This is the most common type of smart community which develops as per the development of local economic activities. Smart Global Economic Community example case study Kattangal. Here the economy is global as well as local. The smart community collaborate with the institution locally who have the potential to be an entrepreneur to produce and market global products and services in a participatory fashion. Special Economic Community example junction near the proposed Railway station of semi high-speed railway station in Kozhikode. This is not studied but is easy to implement. Many of these smart communities have privately owned land and the publicly owned land are an exceedingly small and insignificant part. Even the publicly owned land like the road is voluntarily given away by local inhabitants for roads that are maintained by Government. This is the same as all built-up areas in the community. So, we do not advocate Government acquisition of land and government build development in the community, but other non-cash-based land management approaches are used based on E-ULM discussed above. The study believes in community-based area development of the smart community. Here the community include all households and all institutions who will collaborate voluntarily to plan, manage, and govern the development. An analysis of the Master Plan 2035 of the Kozhikode area shows it is a Proactive Area Development Plan for Kozhikode Planning area potential and committed or investigated projects. Based on that a land-use plan proposal for 20 years is made and it is regulated by zonal regulations. No one including the Government of Kerala or Municipality can guarantee that this development will take place in the next

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20 years with committed finances since such commitments are beyond the Municipal Corporation. Instead of a Reactive Area Development Plan for Smart Community who are committed to implementing the proposal with limited help from Government is adopted. In this only committed and financed government projects will be included and the duration of the plan will be 5 years or less and thereafter revised. Besides, the study proposes that broad land use and infrastructure plans may be prepared for Kozhikode Metropolitan Areas based on all committed and proposed projects by state and central governments indicated. Since sufficient expertise exists it is not attempted in this study. The study recommends preparing an approach to implement the constitutional obligation of implementing the 12th Schedule by Metropolitan Area Committees and other Municipalities and Panchayats. The smart community plan will have a Concept Plan, Zonal Plan and Alphanumeric Zonal Code GIS.E-Urban Land Management Solutions for the smart communities. We would like to reduce the time to plan, manage and implement to near zero for all 12th schedule items and so advocate Machine to Machine (M2M) Communication system. M2M Automatic Communication system for 12th schedule implementation will be demonstrated by innovative total System design for planning, managing and implementing of 18 items of 12th schedule for Mukkam and Kattangal. The existing Master Plan Administrative Process of Kozhikode will be studied to find the delays and a web-based Smart Master Planning administrative process will be proposed for transparency. Automated Data City, Cloud Computing System and Model-Based Management to integrate the M2M communications will be proposed. The Design of User-friendly Interactive Web design for master Planning 12th Schedule that gives the total solution to all citizens will be developed. This is detailed out in four chapters.

References 1. https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf 2. Vinod Kumar TM (ed) (2020) Smart living for smart cities” case studies. Springer, Singapore chapter 1 3. Vinod Kumar TM (ed) (2014) geographic information system for smart cities. Copawl Publishing, Delhi Chapter 1 4. Vinod Kumar TM (ed) (2018) “Smart metropolitan regional development economic and spatial design strategies” Case studies. Springer, Singapore chapter 1 5. Vinod Kumar TM (ed) (2019) Smart environment for smart cities. Springer, Singapore chapter 1 6. Vinod Kumar TM (2010) Calicut, July 31st 2010 at Kozhikode science centre keynote address delivered at development seminar 2010 Kozhikode urban area master Plan 2031 to embark on the third statutory master Plan of Kozhikode 7. Dossal M (2010) Theatre of conflict, city of hope: Mumbai 1660 to present time. Oxford University Press, New Delhi

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37. Vaidya C (2009). Urban issues, reforms and way forward in India. Working Paper No. 4/2009DEA, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India 38. Watson V (2008) Introduction, draft chapter for the global report on human settlements: revisiting planning, Report to the UN-HABITAT, Nairobi 39. Ansari JH (2004) Time for a new approach in India. Habitat Debate. 10(4):15 40. Jain AK (2003) Viewpoint: actioning new partnerships for Indian Cities. Cities 20(5):353–359 41. Jain AK (2003) Making planning responsive to, and compatible with, reforms. Cities 20(2):143–145 42. Amitabh K (2003) Politics and economics of land policies: Delhi’s new master plan. Econ Pol Wkly 38(34):3530–3532 43. Amitabh K (2004) Provision of tenurial security for the urban poor in Delhi: recent trends and future perspectives. Habitat Int 28:259–274 44. Ramakrishna N (2009) From master plan to vision plan: the changing role of plans and plan making in city development (concerning Mumbai). Theor Empirical Res Urban Manage 4(13) 45. Watson V (2009) The planned city sweeps the poor away…..”: Urban Planning and 21st-century Urbanization. Progress Planning 151–193 46. TCPO (1995) Master plan approach: efficacy and alternatives, town, and country planning organization, New Delhi 47. Patharkar AR (1995) Master plan approach and its alternatives. http://urbanindia.nic.in/mudfinal-site/programs/urbandevelopment/nurm.htm 48. Cities Alliance (2006) The role of city development strategies, guide to city development strategies. Cities Alliance, Washington DC. 49. Cullingworth BJ, Nadin V (2001) Town and country planning in the UK. Routledge, London 50. Dossal M (2005) A master plan for the city: looking at the past, economic and political weekly, September 3, 2005, pp 3897–3900 51. Meshram D (2006) Master planning approach: constraints and prospects. In: Rao PSN (ed) Urban governance and management: Indian initiatives. Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi, pp 108–124 52. Nallathiga R (2006) Envisioning city transformation: the case of Strategic Vision Plan for Mumbai. Paper accepted for presenting in the International Ecocity6 conference to be held on August 5–12, 2006, at Bangalore 53. Tiwari DP (2002) Challenges in urban planning for local bodies in India. Retrieved August 20, 2006, from http://www.gisdevelopment.net/application/urban/urban00037pf.htm 54. Sivaramakrishnan KC (2002) Future of big cities, report on the structure of urbanization in India. Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi 55. Cities Alliance (2006) The role of city development strategies, guide to city development strategies. Cities Alliance, Washington DC 56. Meshram D (2006) Master planning approach: constraints and prospects. In: Rao PSN (ed) Urban governance and management: Indian initiatives. Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi 57. Tiwari DP (2002) Challenges in urban planning for local bodies in India. http://www.gisdev elopment.net/application/urban/urban00037pf.htm. Retrieved on 20 Aug 2006 58. UNESCAP (1994) Guidelines: sub-national area planning and sustainable development of secondary cities in countries of Asia and Pacific—a methodological approach. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific, Bangkok 59. Townsend and Lorimer: Digital Master Planning (https://marroninstitute.nyu.edu/uploads/ content/Working_Paper_25_Digital_Master_Planning.pdf) Sidewalk Labs: Toronto Quayside Vision Submission 60. https://sidewalktoronto.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2017/10/Sidewalk-Labs-Vision-Sections-ofRFP-Submission.pdf 61. https://sidewalktoronto.ca 62. https://www.alkiraconsulting.com/creating-a-digital-master-plan/ 63. https://www.alkiraconsulting.com/why-iot/ 64. Kabanov Y, Karyagin M, Romanaov V (2017) Politics of O-en Data in Russia, Regional and Municipal perspective Chapter 15 in Editor T.M.Vinod Kumar E-Democracy for Smart Cities, Springer

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65. Bouskela M et al. (2016) Caminho para as Smart Cities: da gestão tradicional para a Cidade Inteligente. Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento [ Links ] 66. Castells M (2003) A galáxia da internet: reflexões sobre a internet, os negócios e a sociedade. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar. [Links] 67. Ajuntament de Barcelona. Barcelona Digital City (2017) Retrieved from https://ajuntament. barcelona.cat/digital/en [Links] 68. Rezende DA (2012) Planejamento de estratégias e informações municipais para cidade digital: guia para projetos em prefeituras e organizações públicas. São Paulo: Atlas. 69. Rezende DA, Frey K (2005) Administração estratégica e governança eletrônica na gestão urbana 70. Aurigi A (2005) Making the Digital City: the early shaping of urban internet space. Hampshire, Ashgate 71. Oliveira DPR (2005) Sistemas de informações gerenciais: estratégias, táticas operacionais. 8. ed. São Paulo: Atlas. [Links] 72. Overview (https://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/technology/) 73. The Narrative (https://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/technology/digital-city/) 74. Digital Master Plan (https://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/technology/digital-master-plan/) 75. Polaris Data Centre (https://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/technology/polaris-data-centre/) 76. IDEA City (https://www.greaterspringfield.com.au/technology/idea-city/) 77. www.digitaldublin.ir

T. M. Vinod Kumar had 49 years of experience in Urban Planning, as a teacher, researcher, and adviser/consultant and worked in India, China, Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Hawaii USA. He was Dean of Studies, Head of the Department of Urban Planning, Head Centre for Systems Studies and Analysis, Centre for GIS and Remote Sensing, and Centre for Urban Studies of School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi; Visiting Professor National Institute of Technology, Calicut, and institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia and Professional Associates, East-West Resources Systems Institute Honolulu, Hawaii, Fellow Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, Project Manager in Council for Social Development, New Delhi, Regional Program Coordinator at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Planner-Engineer at the Ford Foundation. He is the author of many books and journal articles. He coordinated and edited “Geographic Information System for Smart Cities” (Copal:2014), “E-Governance for Smart Cities” (Springer:2015) “Smart Economy in Smart Cities” (Springer:2016) and “E-Democracy for Smart Cities” (Springer:2017). He coordinated international projects “Smart Metropolitan Regional Development: Economic and Spatial Design Strategies” Springer:2018),” Smart Environment for Smart Cities” Springer:2019), “Smart Living for Smart Cities Case studies” Springer:2020” Smart Living for Smart Cities Community study and Ways and Means” Springer:2020)), “Smart global Megacities Collaborative Research-Tokyo, Mumbai, New York, Hong Kong-Shenzhen, Kolkata” and Smart global Megacities Collaborative Research-Chennai and Kochi-Kannur”.

Amravati

Innovative and Inclusive Land Pooling Scheme for the Planning of Amravati and Participant’s Satisfaction J. Vijayalaxmi and Srikonda Ramesh

Abstract Land pooling for a state’s development is considered a feasible option where land is exchanged instead of money because this reduces the pressure on the state’s finances. Division of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana brought in an urgency for the government in planning and developing a capital city from the kickoff in a brief time. In order to enable the smooth exchange of land for the development of the capital, the participation of the land donor and other stakeholders is extremely important. This chapter studies the innovative approach to preparing a blueprint of the chief city of Amaravati through a novel approach to land procurement. Land pooling is used as a tool to acquire land for the design of the new capital city while involving the land owners and agrarian laborers in the entire process of inclusive planning. Having donated their land, we must also look at the feedback of the stakeholders. Therefore, this chapter also looks at the satisfaction and participation of landowners and stakeholders of the villages. Out of 24 villages involved in the planning process, this study takes two representative villages, namely Venkatapalem and Nelapadu to assess the satisfactory levels of all the stakeholders. Field studies and a structured questionnaire survey were conducted with the heterogeneous composition of farmers from the various extent of landholding. Other stakeholders such as unemployed youth, agricultural laborers, and Panchayat members were also interviewed. Social sustainability, physical sustainability, and economic sustainability analysis was carried out using the composite indices method. The findings reveal that the satisfactory level of landholders is directly proportional to the extent of land donated. Unemployed youth were more dissatisfied as the process failed to meet their aspirations of employment opportunities. Surprising back up from 24,000 farmers for India’s biggest-ever consensus-based land pooling of 35,000 acres was the reason behind the Amravati’s creation. This study becomes significant in understanding the participatory strategy and will aid in developing a framework for success in new development areas, redevelopment areas, and renewable areas in metropolitan cities and new towns.

J. Vijayalaxmi (B) · S. Ramesh School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_2

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Keywords Land pooling · Public participation · Participatory mechanism · Sustainability · Urban development · Urban planning

1 Introduction A new archetype for urban development is land pooling wherein owners or a group of people who own a land lend their land for development purpose. It is an important strategy to accelerate the development as the owners become partners in the development process. It is a more sustainable, efficient, and equitable approach than the conventional land acquiring strategy. Participation of land owners is crucial to unhindered development. The division of the two states of India, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, brought in an urgency for the government in planning and developing a capital city from the kickoff in a brief time. A proposal to establish a green field capital city for Andhra Pradesh was mooted by the government. A place between Vijayawada and Guntur city was proposed as a principal city as an environmentally sustainable and people’s capital. An area of 217.23 sq. km and a population of 102,401 lies on the upstream of Prakasam Barrage and on the bank of River Krishna as shown in Fig. 1. Andhra Pradesh’s New Capital is envisioned as the country’s first Smart City. It aspires to be World Class, meeting the level achieved by the global cities like Singapore. Amravati is visioned to be an economic powerhouse, upgrading existing resident villagers’ skills and providing advanced and learning-based circumstances in the technical zone to help them become more globally competitive, as well as attempting to provide them with no additional charge on loans up to 25 lakhs with a motive to generate self-employment. Accommodation will be at the center of its outlining, with the goal of providing all people with cheap and high-quality housing. It will demonstrate the worldwide quality of life standards by providing individuals of all ages with high levels of convenience.

2 Vision of the City’s Capital The city’s capital was planned for a population of 3.55 million by 2050. The regional plan of the new capital city is spread across 835,269 sq. km. (Fig. 2). Of this, the maximum percentage of the land area belongs to private holdings, who are mainly agricultural farmers. The government has been working toward a participatory planning mechanism for effective plan implementation. The challenge is to ensure satisfactory participation of the land owners to enable a livable, sustainable, and inclusive city. This study aims to assess the various participatory strategies for a farmer for

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Fig. 1 The location of Capital City Amaravati (source APCRDA [1])

satisfactory and inclusive planning to facilitate the effective implementation of the master plan. Brief About the New Capital City—Amaravati

2.1 Nature, Size, and Location of the Project The foreseen Capital city, i.e., Amravati City of Andhra Pradesh is situated in the Guntur region, nearly 30 km from Vijayawada. With a total area of 217.23 sq. km and 38,049.48 acres of land to be procured under LPS/LA, the proposed development site is primarily rural in nature. The city being a part of Tadepalli municipality is divided into 24 revenue villages, which are further divided into three mandals: Thulluru, Tadepalli, and Mangalagiri. The site is located on the west bank of the Krishna River, between the Prakasam Barrage and the Mangalagiri Y-junction. K C

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Fig. 2 Regional plan of Capital City 8353.69 sq. km (source APCRDA [1])

Canal Station in Tadepalli is the convenient railway station, while Gannavaram is the nearest airport. Agriculture, grazing pasture, fruit and flower plantations, village settlements, and village ponds are among the current land uses on the site.

2.1.1

Geographic Positioning of Amaravati

The suggested site is approximately 3 km west of Vijayawada. Figure 2 depicts the exact coordinates of the place. While every effort has been taken to accurately show the boundary, slight differences in the boundary may be seen in representation due to technical restrictions. APCRDA has demarcated the official boundary and is now up for the public interests.

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2.2 Transport Connectivity Aerial Network • About half an hour away is the existing Gannavaram Airport. • This airport will be expanded and improved to an international airport in the near future. Expressway Network • The current national highway (NH16) would link the principal city to Vijayawada and Guntur, as well as Vishakhapatnam and Chennai. • In order to smoothen the connection, a new highway alignment has been approved between the capital city of Amaravati and the neighboring city of Vijayawada. • The NH65 will link Amaravati’s capital city to Hyderabad and the port of Machilipatnam. Rail Connectivity • The capital city of Amaravati is well connected to the Railway station at Vijayawada through NH16 which is among the hustling in the country. • Mangalagiri also has a prevailing Railway Station. • A new High-Speed Rail alignment has also been planned to connect the principal city of Amaravati. As seen in Fig. 2, this path follows the designated national highway. • Within Vijayawada, an MRT network is being proposed. This public transit connectivity has the capacity to be expanded into Amaravati’s capital city.

2.3 Developmental Phasing Development of the concept design of Amravati City is being carried out in three stages and will last till 2050. The country’s growth potential, the government’s perception, and the people’s aspirations are the considerations of a phased development. The phases are Catalyzing, Momentizing, and Sustaining. Information about the phases is explained below. Phase 1-Catalyze Phase duration is the first ten years, with the goal of accelerating urban growth within Amaravati’s capital city. Capital constructions will be more in number in order to lay the groundwork for future growth. This phase will catalyze development within the capital by leveraging current and planned infrastructure, like the Vijayawada MRT and the new national highway. This phase will give 850,000 people a variety of housing options. This phase, which accounts for around 39% of the whole Amaravati Capital City Area, will generate 350,000 jobs in the civic, commercial, and industrial sectors.

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Essential Infrastructure • The government management core will be constructed along the north–south arbor which will house the secretariat, high court, legislative assembly, Chief Minister’s Office, and other government offices. • Construction of the suggested Business Park within the SEED Development Area. • Construction of the North–Eastern Regional Center, which will include a transit center. • The proposed establishment of a light industrial cluster next to the SEED (toward west). This cluster’s primary focus will be on advanced light industries. Phase 2-Momentize Urban development is termed as vital and a medium-term development (2025–2035) within Amravati City in this phase. By providing momentum to phase-I, this phase will focus on generating employment centers and also magnification of the housing sector within the stipulated time. It also aims at forging 380,000 more earning fortunes for its inhabitants which is over 9 lakhs. • Essential Infrastructure The administration center, i.e., the North–South ceremonial Arbor will have an area allotted to Residential Infrastructure at its western edge. South industrial cluster development will be in tandem with the national highway. Central Park and water reservoir development within the Amravati City. Visioned MRT network development within the capital city. Building of a pylon at the financial node on the river’s northern bank, near the current Vijayawada city. Phase 3-Sustain Phase-III will concentrate on the city’s distant future (2035–2050) in turn to successfully implement the overall Concept Plan. This phase will maintain expansion while capitalizing on the infrastructure built in prior phases. This phase, which will last over a decade (2035–2050), will primarily support an intermediate and large density population of 2.4 million people within the principal city. As the recruitment centers inside the principal City of Andhra Pradesh become more established, this phase will result in the creation of over 1 million new jobs for the city’s citizens. • Essential Infrastructure Islands on the Krishna River utilized for developing Eco-resorts Recreation node in the north–eastern region for the genesis of the visioned Sports City. Advancement of the national high-speed rail ink. Housing of high-density dwelling assemblage in the western and southern parts of the city.

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2.4 Applicable Legislation and Policies various regulations and legislations relevant to Amaravati—AP Capital City Development Project are illustrated in Table 1. Table 1 Applicable legislation and policies Sl Act/rules no

Purpose

Applicable Reasons for Yes/No applicability

Authority

1

AP CRDA Act, 2014 and AP Capital city LPS (F&I) Rules, 2015

Set out rules for Yes procurement of lands by the governing body

This Act and rules are applicable for procurement of lands and implement development plans with the voluntary participation of landowners

2

The right to fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement, 2013

Set out rules for Yes procurement of lands by authority

This act will be Revenue department and applicable to as land acquisition, collector there will land and commissioner R & R procurement for Amaravati—AP capital city project

3

Environment protection Act, 1986

Nurturing and upgrading the entire surroundings

Yes

As all environmental notifications, rules and schedules are under this act

MoEF. Gol; State gov. CPCB; SPCB

4

The forest conservation Act 1980

Analyzing and prohibiting deforestation activities

No

This act is not applicable as there are no forest areas

Forest department GoAP

5

National environmental appellate authority act (NEAA) 1997

Considering objections with respect to environmental clearance

No

Grievances if any will be dealt with, within this act

NEAA

MA and UD Dept./commissioner. CRDA/District collector, Guntur/Addl. Commissioner’s/Competent authorities

(continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Sl Act/rules no

Purpose

Applicable Reasons for Yes/No applicability

6

Air (Prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1981

Limiting air Yes contamination& transit controlling emission of air department. Pollutants as per the prescribed standards

This act will be applicable during construction; for obtaining NOC for the establishment of hot mix plant, workers camp, construction camp, etc

7

Water prevention and control of pollution act, 1974

As per set Yes norms limiting water contaminants by limiting their discharge

This act will be SPCB applicable during construction for establishing construction camp, workers camp, etc

8

Noise pollution (Regulation and control Act) 1990

Set norms by MoEF for unpleasant sound during dawn and dark

This act will be SPCB applicable as unpleasant sound due to transit activity on the project routes required for examining future years and mandatory safety measure need to considered in design

Yes

Authority SPCB

3 Participatory Approaches in Development Planning Public participation in Urban Planning is an alternative to the conventional top-down decision-making and implementation approach. It is an interactive and collaborative approach and allows the general population to participate in the various aspects of development planning [2–4]. It is beneficial in the long run as public participation in the planning stage will factor in the public’s opinions and requirements resulting in a more customized plan and participation in the implementation stage. This will quicken the implementation pace and encourage the public to utilize and maintain the provided resources [5–8].

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One of the most common type of participatory approach is conducting surveys to gather feedbacks on the current planning methods and improving it accordingly. This is the basis of most of the smart cities [9, 10]. Other approaches include contribution of services and resources [11]. An example of contribution of public services is the Swachhaa Bharat Mission (SBM), a flagship solid debris administration policy by the Indian government where Swachh Bharat citizen communities were created to promote public participation [12]. Contribution of resources can be material or economic. Conventionally, economic resources are taken in the form of taxes from the public for community development. An alternative to this is contribution of resources like land pooling [13]. Different terms are used to define land pooling planning by various outliners and researchers from one nation to the other, such as land modification, redivision of land, land readjustment, shared growth, and land consolidation [14–19]. Land pooling is a juridical tool and land administration mode used to alter land areas in urban, sub-urban, and rural areas. This helps in developing the infrastructure, services, and amenities as well as revitalizing and enhancing the disorganized growth [18]. This technique improves government–community relationship and land-use efficiency. These methods when used in town planning schemes can accomplish physical planning goals as they improve economic value of land and real estate market [16]. In India land pooling has been adopted to implement Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) through the formation of City Development Plans (CDPs). However, the CDPs did not include the economic aspect in the implementation, and therefore, failed to address the socio-economic proceedings [20]. The method of land pooling and reconstitution was also used for urban planning in Indian state of Gujarat where the revenues from previous similar projects was used for funding. Plots were reserved for the poverty-stricken for affordable housing and basic services. The resolution of landowner disputes was separated from the policy making and approval process and a comprehensive grievance redressal process was established and early development of infrastructure and services was done to gather support from the landowners [21, 22]. The Land Pooling and Urban Renewal carried out in Lagos State, where time and cost implications were the major influencing factors in the planning process, was a satisfactory method to the landlords than land possession mode [23]. Unlike land acquisition, in land pooling, the land is either reshaped or readjusted, so as to make it habitable for the inhabitants, and then given back to the landowners [20–22]. There is an increased importance of collaboration manifested in the makeover of the units and programs at national level which has also affected town planning [24, 25]. For the first time, the preparation of domestic plans was successfully introduced through collaboration in the 2007 Delhi Master plan. DMP [26] has been influenced by the intentness of Public Participation. UNCHS [27] articles suggests that participation was not only in the favor of ruling bodies to take in account their clients for finalizing the layouts, but also allocating the charge of development efforts. Rakody and Schlyter [28] acknowledged that public collaboration is the essential key for the ruling parties to validate their power. Governments make use of collaboration tool for political purposes rather than making

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fair use of the original implication [29]. As the name suggests, participation should include equity and fairness for arriving at better results. For satisfactory results, people have the right to prior information and right of opinion and their viewpoints on the decision-making on behalf of the entire public [30, 31]. Proceeding on the ladder of hierarchy of a region, significant changes are encountered in terms of change of scale of engineered framework, complications and irregularities in authorities, and means to take into account participation [32]. Therefore, due to the above-mentioned reasons there is a need to legalize the planning policies of a development plan. This thought thus makes a mindful retreat from ‘the consensusoriented public participation’ to ‘the conflict-resolving public participation’ [25, 33]. Features of this manufactured consent in effect by the senators who prefer committee members depending upon self-familiarities in—The case of Kollam, Kerala [34]. People’s perception on citizenship, recognition received by others, will decide their actions in order to deal with their rights of a citizen [35]. These are the models, methods, and strategies that have been proposed by experts in order to understand the success of any development program through participatory mechanism. Amaravati capital is unique in nature as there are 24 villages, dependent on agriculture. The entire agricultural land is proposed for mega green field in the Amravati City on the Krishna riverbank on fertile delta lands. For the purpose of this study, two villages, namely Nelapadu and Venkatapalem are considered as the study area. The development of any city of such scale requires proper phasing, financial plan, employment generation, infrastructure, and prioritization of activities. The most important part of the planning process is integrating the villages and villagers in the master plan and its implementation, respectively, with participatory approaches. Most of the villagers are the donors of the land and land is the only source of their income.

4 Land Assembly Mechanisms in the Study Area—Amaravati The Andhra Pradesh government had to purchase a land measuring 217 km2 for implementing the master plan of the Amravati City. The 2013 Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act (LARR Act 2013), the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Agency (APCRDA) Act of 2014, the Andhra Pradesh Amendment Act of April 2018 (Act 22/2018), and the Amravati’s Land Pooling Scheme (Formulation and Implementation) Rules 2015 govern land acquisition. Three prime aspects of land assembly are to be deployed in making of the Capital City as well as flood management works: (i)

Land Pooling Scheme (LPS)—LPS can be described as a barter system wherein land donation is compensated with a smaller land parcel of urban,

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usable land (returnable plot). Land value approbation as compared to sacrificed land can be predicted with the rise in the development of the capital city. LPS participants receive a range of benefits in addition to the returnable plots. Negotiated Settlements (NS)—Only land and assets located inside the village planning limit are eligible for the land assembly procedure. The government and landowners reach an agreement on an indemnity package that is compliant with the requirements of the 2013 LARR Act and is formalized in accordance with APCRDA Act 2014, in which indemnity is done in terms of land exchange instead of cash. The land traded is in the Amravati City, and the specific location is passable. The indemnity package lists a monetary component to cover the costs of relocating housing development, as well as a rental allowance for relocation while replacement home is being built. Despite the name, the agreement is over the terms of a rectification package prepared in congruity with section 124 of the APCRDA Act 2014 and depending on the Land Acquisition Act by which indemnity for lands acquired (relocation value and subsistence support) is provided following the acquisition.

4.1 Implementation Mechanism for Land Pooling Scheme (LPS Scheme) LPS Implementation Mechanism have multiple steps in the procedure, as well as different consensus and discussions. The prime stages are notification of the LP scheme, holding discussions and hearing grievances/advices, call for collaboration in the LPS, implementation of the expansion accord, establishment of the addition schemes, distribution of redeveloped land parcels, and enrollment of redeveloped plots in favor of land owners and those who surrendered land in favor of APCRDA. According to section 57(4) of the APCRDA Act 2014, the Land Pooling Ownership Certificate (LPOC) shall be convincing testimony of the property’s label in respect of the reassembled plot/land and shall be qualified for relocation of property rights obedience with the provisions of the Registrations Act 1908. The issue of LPOC is an analogous stage of compensation payment under the LARR Act 2013. The beginning stage in land purchase under the LARR Act 2013 is to conduct a social impact assessment (SIA) examine to record the affects and evaluate the land procurement conditions, with the goal of concluding that the benefits of the project exceed the civil expense and bad civil consequence. Once the SIA report has been heeded communally, examined by a specialized panel, and authorized by the government, the Preliminary and Public Notification on LA process is commenced. The lands needed for the Capital City Development Project would be obtained through the LPS/LA/Negotiated Settlement Policy. The essential findings of the SIA, civil hearings, specialized panel recommendations, and proper authority consent of land purchase inputs is being summarized as a document.

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4.2 Implementation Mechanism Under Negotiated Settlement Policy The following are the region of concerns included by the Final ASCCDP: • Resettlement Action Plan for Flood Mitigation Works. The Land Pooling Scheme does not cover 30 acres of land in the village settlement zone. Any land necessary for the construction of roads, metro lines, and other infrastructure within the R1 zone is subject to a Negotiated Settlement. Section-124 of the APCRDA Act, 2014 allows the force to obtain any possession through agreeable discussion, and if the agreeable discussion fails, the requirements of the LA R&R Act, 2013 will be made pertinent in accordance with the development plan. • Once the arbitrating panel and relocated family have reached an agreement on the package supplied by the District Collector, the agreed-upon aid will be included in the arbitratory accord. • Arbitratory establishment strategy is assessed to be no less than the provisions of the LA R&R Act in that land to land lost in village site/habitation is awarded in a created Rehabilitation Center and is optional. Interested parties may come forward to opt for an arbitratory establishment a policy rather than LA. The Competent Authority representing the APCRDA will enter into negotiated settlement through the process of arbitration by the Committee formed by the District Collector, which will include members from land administration and technical fields. The following are examples of indemnity, with back up provided under arbitration policy: i. ii. iii. iv.

Barring common areas and including land to land for footprint area of houses/house. Non-Agricultural land – land to land with as is use condition; Twice the evaluated value of the house/structures as per PWD norms without subtracting deflation and allowing salvage to meet the RP cost; The expense of constructing optional dwellings/shops in accordance with GoAP rules; and People deprived of the legitimate rights to dwellings will be reclaimed under the Government of Andhra Pradesh’s affordable housing initiatives in exchange for paying the structural value.

5 Land Pooling Scheme Land procurement problems can be dealt with Land Pooling Scheme. The best option for securing land for the Capital City’s development concluded by the Andhra Pradesh government is land pooling, the sacrificed land is compensated by small developed portion of land by the authorities. These redeveloped plots would have resourceful services and infrastructure such as citywide Wi-Fi connectivity, paved roads, sewage pipes, and power lines. The authority recognized that by giving landlords partnership in the future capital, they might encourage their buy-in. Making land the principal method of replacement rather than currency would also relieve financial strain on

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the state. A cabinet subcommittee was assigned with developing a system of land pooling. They researched that Chhattisgarh and Gujarat had used land pooling in the past and debated the concept with authorities from throughout the nation. They also went to the villages in the planned development region to get feedback from the farmers. Following the discussions, the panel developed a program outlining how landowners would be reimbursed under the land pooling system. The program began in January 2015 with the goal of acquiring land area of 38,581 acres.

5.1 Social Profits of the Land Pooling Scheme The Land Pooling Scheme guidelines require the following social benefits: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

All landless families in the capital region will receive a monthly pension of 2,550 rupees from a capital region social security fund for a term of ten years. To offer farmers with a one-time renunciation on agricultural loans of 150,500 rupees, as per the authority’s prescribed method. To allow villagers to regularize their home sites by issuing possession certificates to the villagers. To house the homeless as well as those who have lost their homes due to construction. All poor families should be provided with interest-free credits for freelance of up to Rs. 25 lakhs. To offer free health care and education to all residents as of December 8th, 2014. To build senior living communities. To set up NTR canteens that serve subsidized food to the locals.

To ensure that the project was catchall and equitable to individuals being asked to give up their land, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), Amaravati’s urban planning body, developed a comprehensive plan. A draught of the plan was made publicly available to the public, and the general public was given 30 days to provide feedback and raise concerns. Officials from the government toured localities to confer with locals on the layout, size, and location of their refundable land parcels. Plot subdivision plans for communities could be viewed by landowners, who could then ask questions of the officials involved. Incorporating the landowners’ feedback, the CRDA came up with a plan that included their concerns into the amended scheme. Farmers, for example, required that reestablished land parcels to be positioned in proximity as feasible to their existing communities and should adhere to Vastu shastra principles (a historic Hindu science of architecture), such as plotting with the true north as much as possible. Along with plots of varied sizes, they requested the option of either one huge land parcel or several smaller ones, as well as the distribution of land parcel to friends and relatives in conjunction with one another. Within four months following the plan’s launch, 22 of the villages consented to part with their land. For fairness’s sake, the refundable land plots were then allotted using automated lotteries.

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Improvements to the Jareebu Lands Package. The government improved the package for the land pooling scheme on February 26th, 2015, taking into account the views expressed by farmers from Riverfront villages (Jareebu lands) and following numerous discussions with farmers from the capital city. Instead of receiving a 300square-yard commercial plot, farmers in Jareebu lands will receive 450 square yards under the new plan. An improved dry land package is available. According to the government’s announcement on April 25, 2016, the dryland package includes an additional 50 square yards of land as indemnity for LPS farmers. This improvement was implemented following consultation with farmers and consideration of the numerous representations made by them.

6 The Outcome Amravati land pooling has set records for its extraordinary scope and self-sustaining as India’s largest-ever operation of its kind. After just 60 days of application, the power-in-charge was able to convenience 25,000 farmers to part land area of 30,000 acres. The program has resulted in the consolidation of about 33,700 acres as of the end of June 2018. As a result of the praise from the Indian national government, other states like Maharashtra have made attempts to study Amaravati’s land pooling system. About 90% of the land area of 38,581 acres needed for Amravati, the principal of Andhra Pradesh has been ‘voluntarily offered’ by farmers under the pooling scheme, a state supremacy member said. The national power-in-charge think tank NITI Aayog has praised the ‘land pooling’ strategy as a ‘model to the nation’ in land procurement. To help landowners make the transition from rural to urban livelihoods, the state government of Andhra Pradesh has done more than just consult the people. Landlords were sent on an informative tour in 2017 to Singapore which is a model for blue planning the integrated urban development for the Capital city’s vision. The future success of Amaravati’s development will be revealed in the course of time. However, the firm rooting provided by land pooling and communal dialogs augurs well for the future of the visionary city. By replacing money with land as the principal medium of commerce, the state’s finances would be relieved of some of their burden. To ensure that reconstructed land is returned to its original owners and that landowners receive rewards for every voluntary acre they hand over, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) was established, according to him. He went on to say that for every acre of patta land, landowners will receive 1,000 square yards of residential plots and 450 square yards of commercial plots in semi-urban areas. Similarly, he continued, ‘For dry land, 1,000 square yards of residential plot and 250 square yards of commercial plot will be restored for every acre.’

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In addition to these, Rao stated that for a period of ten years, an annuity of Rs 30,000 for dry and Rs 50,000 for semi-urban areas will be provided for crop loss per acre. The advantages include a one-time payout of up to Rs 1 lakh for gardens including lime, sapota, guava, amla, and jasmine, as well as a remission of up to Rs 1.50 lakhs in agriculture loans for each family.

7 Pooling Versus Acquisition In order to create Amaravati, the state government ‘pooled’ in land area of 33,000 acres from individual peasants in Vijayawada and Thullur along the Krishna river’s banks. People hail the city as a groundbreaking land acquisition venture that benefits the local peasants as well as the state. The system is one-of-a-kind since it considers the interests of all the numerous parties engaged in its operation. Current landlords or tenants of the land willingly transfer proprietorship liberties to the responsible authority in charge of land replacement under this arrangement. When that happens, the agency’s responsibility is to do things like build roads, lay sewer lines, and hook up households’ electricity. After then, a predefined amount of the already developed territory is returned to the original residents by the agency. Landowners stand to gain in two ways from this plan: first, better amenities will be available in the area once it is developed, raising the grade of life for the inhabitants; and second, the expense of the plot will hike to match the selling value in market of the owner’s selling price because of these amenities. As a result of land pooling, the primary medium of commerce is now land rather than money. Authorities typically compensate landowners for land acquisitions by paying three or four times the registered value of the property, rather than market value. Due to this, it has been extremely difficult in the past to obtain land from plot owners. Most of the time, the disparity between the two figures would be enormous, and landowners would not receive a fair bargain, resulting in conflict. This is plainly preempted by the land pooling paradigm. Publication of the Land Pooling Package and Enactment of Regulations The cabinet subcommittee, individual farmers, farmer groups, village elders, and learnings and recommendations from the aforementioned workshop all contributed to the government’s announcement of the Land Pooling Policy on December 7th, 2014, which includes a package geared toward farmers’ and other stakeholders’ long-term interests. These sections go into greater information about the contents of the package. The APCRDA Act and the Land Pooling Scheme (Formulation and Implementation) Rules were published on December 30th, 2014. The land pooling initiative was launched on January 1st, 2015, and agreements covering a total area of over 30,000 acres were received from over 25,000 farmers in just 60 days, a feat never before achieved elsewhere in the world.

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7.1 Land Pooling: A Win–Win for All? Land pooling in Amaravati has yet to show its full effects, therefore, it’s impossible to say for sure just yet. The government has promised the people several good things such as old age homes, canteens for the poor (named after Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao, the founder of the Telugu Desam Party), a monthly annuity of 2,500 to dispossessed households and lessee peasant, free education and healthcare, and the year-round application of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for agricultural workers and skill development. According to political experts, Chandrababu Naidu’s political acumen in carefully selecting the region for the construction of the capital city has ensured a seamless acquisition under the pooling system. The Center approved the plan since it does not apply the Land Acquisition Act, which has been criticized for its compensation requirements. The proprietors of this ‘green-field’ metropolis who have handed up their property are not subject to capital gains tax. Even still, as this research shows, the system has not been without its detractors. While the government has authorized 29 villages in Thulluru, Tadepalli, and Mangalagiri mandals to collect lands from farmers, the villages in Tadepalli and Mangalagiri have been fighting the pooling scheme. Villagers in Tadepalli mandal’s Undavalli and Penumaka villages, as well as Mangalagiri mandal’s Yerrupalem and Bethapudi, have demonstrated with banners, refusing to part with their lands. Some of them filed lawsuits in opposition to the land pooling scheme, while others failed to submit the necessary documents consenting to the system. Even still, as this research shows, the system has not been without its detractors. While the government has authorized 29 villages in Thulluru, Tadepalli, and Mangalagiri mandals to collect lands from farmers, the villages in Tadepalli and Mangalagiri have been fighting the pooling scheme. Villagers in Tadepalli Mandal’s Undavalli and Penumaka villages, as well as Mangalagiri mandal’s Yerrupalem and Bethapudi, have demonstrated with banners, refusing to part with their lands. Some of them filed lawsuits in opposition to the land pooling scheme, while others failed to submit the necessary documents consenting to the system. This area’s economy and way of life would be destroyed if the Krishna floodplain were destroyed for Amaravati.

8 Other Land Pooling Experiments Despite the ongoing opposition to land pooling, Amaravati is not the first Indian city to do so. Indian states have used land pooling for a variety of purposes over the years. For road building projects where land acquisition is seen as the ‘greatest impediment,’ Tamil Nadu’s roads department is said to have looked into the strategic notion of land pooling.

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The early development of infrastructure in Gujarat is largely responsible for landowner support for financially viable, politically acceptable, and legally justifiable initiatives (such as roads, water, sewer, and power systems, among other things). Dholera’s 22 villages still have farmers who aren’t convinced that the DSIR is a good idea. The government has also approved the Delhi Development Authority’s land pooling scheme, opening the door to the urbanization of 89 villages. Hence, land pooling appears to be an excellent answer for establishing an acceptable urban development plan that does not separate people from their place of residence by force and actually allows them to enjoy the benefits of development of the acquired property on the face of it. Only time will tell if this can be a really equal paradigm that is optimal.

9 Land Pooling Scheme Social Benefits In registration fee exemption/capital gains, LPOC Certificates have assignable rights. Incorporating residents from villages and outlying areas into the central city. To provide all landless families with Rs. 2,500/- every month for ten years. LPS allows farmers to obtain a one-time agricultural debt forgiveness of up to Rs. 150,000 per household when they give up their farmland. The comprehensive social benefits are shown in Fig. 3. As long as a family qualifies, NREGA benefits are provided for 365 days of the year. Assisting with the housing needs of persons who are homeless

Fig. 3 Social Benefits to the residents of Capital city

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Fig. 4 Returnable land through land pooling scheme

or who have lost their homes because of development. Training in the development of skills, cultivation for tenant holders, agricultural workers and other needy individuals through a stipend to have an alternative source of income. For all poor families to receive interest-free loans for self-employment up to Rs. 25 lakhs. A government order dated May 16th, 2016, issued by the MA & UD (CRDA2) Department, declared the Free Education Policy. This policy was first introduced by the Department of Health, Medical & Family Welfare (I-1) by G.O.Ms.No. 52 dated 12-05-2016. Returnable land makes up 29.9% of the total. commercial products that can be returned 5.71. 31.6 acres of land in the Capital City Region are returnable as seen in Fig. 4 The percentages of returnable residential and commercial lands in shown in Fig. 5 and is as follows: 29.9%—Returnable land. 5.71—returnable commercial. 31.6—returnable land in Capital City Region.

10 Farmer’s Requirements for LPS Returnable Layout Preparation Process • Lottery-based plot allotment through rank. The farmer prefers to get the same category (size) of land parcels adjacent to each other. • Returnable plots may be all allotted within the same village or nearby villages. • Returnable plots should be Vaastu Compliant. Plots should orient true north to the major extent possible. • No road hits or T-Junctions (Veedhisula) to the residential plots. • Jareebu Returnable plots may be provided within jareebu lands to the major possible extent. • Options to select various dimensions of plots. • Allotment of bigger land parcels preferred on larger roads.

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Fig. 5 Capital city—LPS returnable residential and commercial lands

• Different plots in the same village should be transferred collectively.

11 Planning Concepts for the Preparation of LPS Layouts Each town is divided into four neighborhoods, each measuring one kilometer by one kilometer (about 250 acres) and home to about 25,000 people (7000 homes). The neighborhood’s primary school, local shopping, and other services are all within walking distance. Residents live in a total of 6000 homes spread out over an area of 62.5 acres, with each community measuring 12 km by 12 km (1700 households). Assemblage: Each town is further branched between two to four clusters, each symbolizing a compact civilization with its own park and limited path for automobiles as shown in Fig. 6. Within its 15–30-acre boundaries, there are 1500–3000 residents (300–800 families) (Table 2).

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Fig. 6 Planning concept of the neighborhood

12 Key Principles of LPS Planning Residential neighborhood 1.

No through straight roads will be promoted for the ROW 17, 15.6, and 12 m local access roads.

(continued)

Neighborhood facilities and access to Public transport within 10 min of walking distance

2

Concept

Walkable and livable citites through preventing traffic all around the houses

Planning

1

Sl. No.

Table 2 Translation of concepts into schematic planning

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(continued)

Schools, Parks and community centers are placed within 5 min walking distance

4

Concept

Heterogenous sizes of plots (850 types) to suit the requirements of farmers

Planning

3

Sl. No.

Table 2 (continued)

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(continued)

Segregation of vehicular and pedestrian roads

6

Concept

T junctions were avoided using urban plug ins for safe movement

Planning

5

Sl. No.

Table 2 (continued)

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High rise development along the periphery and low rise development in the core

Community Parks and Schools in the core area

8

9

Concept

Integrate the existing village with the proposed development

Planning

7

Sl. No.

Table 2 (continued)

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2.

3.

4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

107

Community Wrapper blocks will be made up of larger (D&E) parcels all around the block, therefore, the value of the property will stay higher even if the plot does not have access from any of the 50 m roads. By closing internal roadways, waste from traffic accidents (Veedhisula) might be prevented (creating cul-desacs). Access to plots will be limited to local roads with ROWs of 17, 15.6, and 12 m; access from 25 m collector roads will be granted only in exceptional circumstances for extremely large parcels—residential patterns are inward looking. Road hierarchy must be strictly adhered to; a 17 m road should not interface with a 50 m road unless there is no other option. The number of entry and exit points on a city block should be standardized at four for a typical 500 m × 500 m block and proportionately adjusted for bigger or smaller blocks. If the city block is flanked on three sides by arterials, an additional 25 m ROW collector road will be built to serve the block. Access to city blocks should be at least 100 m away from the city master plan junction. Relocate S2 and other public amenities from the City Master Plan to allow for a more functional neighborhood structure. For larger blocks, primary school plots will be provided as 0.5 ha size to accommodate 2 primary schools. No Veedhisulas/road hits. To break the monotony, horizontal blocks will be introduced in a few places. Avoid staggered junctions. The CRDA-designated site should have sufficient frontage for access as well as the usable size and proportions for future auctions. Combining two different categories of depths in the same row of plots should be avoided wherever possible. Parcels should be laid in ascending order locally in each block. Leftover CRDA land in parcel layout should be located toward north or east. The allocation of community green should be centralized within a cluster as much as possible. Ideal plot dimension ratio to be 1:1.3 to 1:1.8.

Commercial Layouts 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Larger plots to be laid out along 25 and 50 m roads. The layout should be porous with more entry/exit points. Central green should be introduced within commercial wherever possible Break long continuous commercial stretch with roads/parks/car parks/open space. Sub-divide large parcels of commercial into smaller blocks Allow access from 25 m roads; preferably for large size parcels. Car parks to be located at the entry of the commercial layout with a quick exit out from the car parks

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To break the monotony, horizontal blocks will be introduced in a few places

The predicted long-term impact on livelihoods for clans who surrendered their plots for the project has been or will be impacted. The majority of the inhabitants in the area (both landowners and landless) rely on agriculture for a living, and nearly the whole population is losing their current source of income.

13 Satisfactory Levels Assessment The villagers have partaken their plot under the novel Land pooling scheme in anticipation of a better lifestyle and benefits. It is important to keep them engaged and satisfied for the success of the planning project. Hence, a study to assess the level of satisfaction of all the stakeholders is carried out.

13.1 Study Area The current analysis aims to assess the satisfaction levels of the stakeholders who have participated in the land pooling scheme. Totally 24 villages have been identified by the Government for land pooling for the proposed Capital region. The present study is carried out in two sample villages namely, Venkatapalem and Nelapadu, which are representative of the other 22 villages in terms of occupation and households (Fig. 7). All the 24 villages have agriculture as their main source of occupation, as can be seen from Fig. 8. Both Venkatapalem and Nelapadu are villages under the Thullur Mandal of Guntur District in Andhra Pradesh state and were recently made a part of the Urban Notified Area of the principal city. Venkatapalem is 30 km away and Nelapadu is 32 km away from the District Head Quarter of Guntur. The entire master planning proposal is shown in Fig. 9.

13.1.1

Venkatapalem Village

The total geographical area of the Venkatapalem Village is 712.03 hectares out of which 47.75% of the total area is non-agricultural land and 68.5% of the total area is irrigated from the canals. Transportation like bus stations, railway stations, and national highways are within a 5–10 km radius of the village. Analysis of the demographical statistics, based on 2011 Census data of the study area reveals that the population is 3732 with a total of 1117 houses. Out of the total population, 50.6% are females and 49.4% are males. The total literacy rate is 62.6% and the total

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Fig. 7 Villages that are part of the land pooling scheme

Fig. 8 Occupation structure of all 24 villages of the proposed Capital Region (source APCRDA [1])

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Fig. 9 Study area—Master plan proposal of the 24 villages (source APCRDA [1])

working percentage is 57.7% predominantly in the agricultural sector. The Master plan proposal is shown in Fig. 10.

13.1.2

Nelapadu Village

The total geographical area of the Nelapadu Village is 520.5 hectares out of which only 8.9% of the total area is non-agricultural land and 40.83% of the total area is irrigated. 1326.59 cents are to be procured and an extent of Ac. 91.67 cents is Govt. land. Out of 1326.59 cents, 1286.77 cents have been acquired under Land Pooling. Scheme and extents of Ac. 39.82 cents are to be acquired under LA R&R Act, 2013 Bus service is available less than 5 km away, while other transportation services like railway station and national highway are outside a 10 km radius from the village. Analysis of the demographical statistics, based on 2011 Census data of the study area, reveals that the total population is 1028 with a total of about 300 houses. Out of the total population, 51.9% are females and 48.1% are males. The total literacy

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Fig. 10 Masterplan of Venkatapalem village

rate is 59.6% and the total working percentage is 64.0%. The master plan is shown in Fig. 11. The obvious outcome for the long run on income has been, or will be, affected for the clans who have sacrificed their plots for Land Pooling Scheme although agriculture being their sole source of livelihood for the population as a whole.

14 Methodology Field assessments using a structured questionnaire were carried out to assess the physical infrastructure and satisfactory levels of small medium and large land holders and procure primary data. All the participants could understand English or the local language (Telugu) spoken by the interviewer. The questionnaire had 28 sections

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Fig. 11 Masterplan of Nellapadu Village

that elicited information about the demographic characteristics, their occupation and income, utilization of compensation money, Status of land pooling policy, physical infrastructure, and Physical aspects for social interaction and participation. Information from the Village Panchayat authorities was also obtained through informed consent and a structured questionnaire with 20 sections to elucidate information pertaining to the activities leading to Transformation in Villages. A structured questionnaire comprising of 21 sections was used to collect information from households to understand if work related to transformations had started and progressed. A total of 613 villagers were surveyed in Venkatapalem Village and 589 villagers were surveyed in Nellapadu Village. The sampling consisted of: I.

II.

Farmers who had participated in land pooling. They are categorized as farmers with the following three categories of land holding—up to 3 acres, 3–5 acres, and above 5 acres. Agricultural Labor.

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III.

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Unemployed Youth.

The structured questionnaire incorporated questions to assess the various sustainability indicators, other aspects, and infrastructure of the village as given below: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m. n. o. p. q. r.

Social Sustainability Physical Sustainability Economical Sustainability Participatory Effectiveness for Liveability Supportive features Access to facilities Safety Connectivity Overall Participatory Assessment Physical Infra Assessment Water Quality Assessment Water Network connectivity Assessment Solid Waste Appraisal Modes of Transport Appraisal Safe Access Path Appraisal Social Development Appraisal Educational Assessment Educational Network Assessment. Informed consent was obtained from each of the respondents. The questions were translated into the local language, Telugu, for accuracy of understanding by the respondents.

15 Results and Discussion 15.1 Participatory Land Pooling Strategy The results of the study show that in both Nelapdu and Venkatapalem villages, 45 and 40% of the land donors, respectively, are satisfied with the outcome of their land donation (Fig. 12). This is attributed to the benefits offered by the scheme such as Land Pooling Ownership Certificate, free education policy, free health policy, etc. Forty-three and thirty-four percent of the farmers were moderately satisfied with the Land Pooling scheme since development activities that were promised were not visible4armers (12 and 26%) were dissatisfied owing to the issues such as delay in annuity payment. For farmers with land holding of up to 3 acres, in Venkatapalem and Nelapadu villages, 41 and 54% of the farmers, respectively, expressed fairly good satisfaction with respect to the land pooling scheme (Fig. 13). They expressed their satisfaction specifically with respect to the benefits offered by the scheme such as LPOC, free education policy, free health policy, etc.

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Nelapadu

Venkatapalem

Fig. 12 Level of satisfaction among land donors in Nelapadu and Venkatapalem Village

Fig. 13 Level of satisfaction of farmers with up to 3 acres in Nelapadu and Venkatapalem Village

Thirty-seven and thirty-five percent of the farmers were moderately satisfied with the Land Pooling scheme since development activities that were promised were not visible. The remaining 22 and 11% of farmers were dissatisfied owing to the issues such as delay in annuity payment. The requirements of 3–5 acres farmers are different from other land holding size farmers. The farmers within this category were mainly focusing on issues such as delivering Land Pooling Scheme promises (Fig. 14). Sixty and forty-three percent of the farmers in Nelapadu and Venkatapalem, respectively, with land holding size of 3–5 acres expressed fairly good satisfaction with respect to the land pooling scheme. The survey indicates that 25 and 35% of the farmers were moderately satisfied with the land pooling scheme with incentives such as free additional charges up to INR 25.00 lakhs. The remaining 15 and 22% of the farmers were dissatisfied owing

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Fig. 14 Level of satisfaction of farmers with 3–5 acres in Nelapadu and Venkatapalem Village

to issues such as survey disputes, exemption from the capital gains tax, not resolving issues, etc. (Table 3). Among the farmers with land holding of above 5 acres, 60 and 56% of the farmers of Nelapadu and Venkatapalem expressed very good satisfaction with respect to the land pooling scheme. They expressed their satisfaction specifically with respect to the benefits offered by the scheme such as returnable plots—both residential and commercial. 20 and 33% of the farmers were moderately satisfied with the land pooling scheme due to issues such as the formation of an apex coordination committee with 50% representation from farmers, involvement of gram sabhas, local institutions, etc. The remaining 20 and 11% of farmers were dissatisfied owing to the issues such as alleged pollution due to the construction of secretariat complex, legal considerations and delayed grievance process, etc.

15.1.1

Assessment of Satisfactory Level of Agricultural Labor

Agricultural labor is another category that is affected by the land pooling process since they are primarily dependent on working as laborers in the agricultural fields for their livelihood. During the stakeholder’s consultation, the major issues identified by them included minimizing physical displacement, local employment, strengthening the implementation of social development schemes, involvement in capital region development activities, etc. This section of the population can be regarded as a vulnerable group who are directly affected by the Land Pooling process. Their satisfaction is primarily influenced by job security, economic security, and affordable housing. Different sections of the population are taken for undertaking public participation and satisfaction in the CRDA region. By doing this, the holistic satisfaction level and participation level of the most affected population within the case area has been analyzed and shown in Table 1. Fifty and sixty-three percent of the agricultural laborers from Nelapadu and Venkatapalem villages, respectively, expressed very good satisfaction with respect to

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Table 3 Level of satisfaction of various stakeholders in Nelapadu and Venkatapalem village

Level of satisfaction

Nelapadu

Venkatapalem

Satisfied

45

40

Moderately satisfied

43

34

Dissatisfied

12

26

Land Donor

Up 3 Acres Farmers Satisfied

42

54

Moderately satisfied

37

35

Dissatisfied

22

11

3–5 Acres Farmers Satisfied

60

43

Moderately satisfied

25

35

Dissatisfied

15

22

Satisfied

60

56

Moderately satisfied

20

33

Dissatisfied

20

11

Above 5 Acres Farmers

Agricultural Labor Satisfied

50

63

Moderate

36

17

Dissatisfied

14

20

Unemployed Youth Satisfied

30

31

Moderate

36

30

Dissatisfied

34

39

the land pooling scheme. They expressed their satisfaction specifically with respect to the benefits offered by the scheme such as NTR Canteens, MGNREGA, etc. Thirtysix and seventeen percent of the agricultural laborers were moderately satisfied with the Land Pooling scheme since some of the schemes which were promised were not implemented. The remaining 14 and 20% of agricultural laborers were dissatisfied owing to the issues such as delay in the generation of jobs, getting incentives and delayed processes, etc.

15.1.2

Assessment of Satisfactory Level of Unemployed Youth

Unemployed youth is another section who would have both, opportunities as well as difficulties, in the capital region. This is a vulnerable section that needs attention from the government to make the capital inclusive and participatory. Some schemes

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were introduced by the government such as establishing skill development institutions, preference for local youth in construction and development activities, etc., for mainstreaming the youth into the development activity [36]. Vocational training and skill development schemes are said to be useful for their career but immediate job opportunities are not available in the Capital city. Suitable jobs may be feasible in nearby towns such as Vijayawada, Tenali, and Guntur. The commuting for such seasonal jobs may not yield continuous employment. More than 1/3rd of the unemployed youth in both the villages expressed dissatisfaction since they are still dependent on their parental income. The skill development programs may not be a permanent solution to the livelihood, as there is a need to generate jobs to apply the learnt skills. There is a hope that the capital city will be developed sooner and that is the reason for the 30% of youth to show satisfaction in anticipation of future job opportunities.

16 Assessment of Participatory Consideration for Sustainability 16.1 Assessment of Social Development Factors responsible for social sustainability include development, progress, economic position, social inequality, well-being, quality of life, provision of infrastructure, etc. To have a holistic measure of sustainability as a combination of these factors, the composite indices method is applied. The study of the qualitative considerations for social sustainability in the villages of Nelapadu and Venkatapalem with respect to the social development index, mobility index, and infrastructure index is arrived at by using the composite indices method. The results show that infrastructure-related activities and their indicative index at Nelapadu and Venkatapalem are 7.00 and 7.25, respectively. The mobility index and social index development is higher in Venkatapalem when compared to Nelapadu with 6.5 and 5.5, respectively (Fig. 15).

16.2 Assessment of Physical Sustainability The main objective of assessing the physical sustainability component is to put in place key transit routes and support a combination of 24 villages in the city of Amravati. Accordingly, the construction of city roads and utility corridors has been analyzed. The physical infrastructure has to be aimed to strengthen the existing villages and get the same to integrate into the main city. It is assessed and found that the physical sustainability index of both the villages is 6.45 (Fig. 16). The sustainability considerations are assessed on the basis of the proposed physical development

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NELAPADU

VENKATAPALEM

Fig. 15 Social development index Villages (source Primary Survey)

Fig. 16 Physical and economical sustainability index of both the villages (Source Primary Survey)

plan and proposed physical features and supporting infrastructure of strengthening the villages to integrate among the villages and the proposed capital city.

16.3 Assessment of Economical Sustainability The aim of the government was on creating a unified township to accommodate a large population as Andhra Pradesh is projected to have an increase in urban population of around 42–45% by 2029. The Capital City was destined to become a financial entity. Generation of employment opportunities for all 2.5 million population, 40% area

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reserved for greenery, and 30 km public river-front are other significant aspects. With due consideration to the sustainability, a questionnaire survey comprising of details pertaining to waste disposal, electrical power, connectivity, etc., was conducted. The results of the survey to establish economic sustainability show that the economical sustainability index is 7.3 (Fig. 7). The sustainability considerations are assessed on the basis of the proposed Detailed Project Reports, proposed development plan, proposed industrial areas, and supporting multiplier economy-related activities such as tourism.

16.4 Supportive Features of Venkatapalem and Nelapadu for Liveability The levels of supportive features, based on the response to the questionnaire, in the Venkatapalem and Nelapadu villages, suggest that access to various facilities like market area, health facilities, etc., and Safety are the two primary components that made their village liveable. Well-connected areas, with roads leading to the major junctions (for further commutation to nearby towns) is also one of the aspects which made their village livable. Connectivity and access were given primary priority followed by safety. This is probably, in villages, safety is taken for granted due to the small number of inhabitants (Fig. 17).

16.5 Access to Facilities In order to enhance livability, the villagers suggest that access to market areas is the major factor, as the prospects of the increased economy through selling the agricultural produce become better. In Venkatapalem and Nelapadu villages, 55 and 45% of the villagers, respectively, wanted easy access to market areas. Access to educational institutions and colleges consisting of schools and coaching centers is the second major factor for livability, while access to healthcare was suggested by 10 and 33% of the villagers in Venkatapalem and Nelapadu villages, respectively (Fig. 17).

16.6 Safety Most of the villagers felt that there was negligible theft inside the villages and did not feel the need to strengthen the safety from the robbery perspective. However, the need for the safety of the female population and active policing in case of any other emergency was voiced by villagers of both the villages. Proper streetlights and

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Fig. 17 Supportive features Venkatapalem and Nellapadu Villages (source Primary Survey)

CCTV cameras in crucial locations would suffice most of the safety requirements in both the villages (Fig. 17).

16.7 Connectivity of Activities The villagers emphasized the need for public transport and low-cost transport systems such as shared auto services as most of them were not in an economic condition to own private vehicles. A well-connected junction is at a distance of around 1 km from both the villages (Fig. 17).

17 Participatory Approach in Regional Planning Regional planning depends on the integration of local information from participatory planning into land-use planning. This is a provision for sustainable resource administration [37, 38]. This unification aims at the micro level of management such as farm and community land with the policy-making level done at inter-domestic and domestic level. For this multidisciplinary procedure, skills and modes have been

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Table 4 Participatory techniques at the regional level Information

Participatory appraisal tools

Data

Use in local planning

Use in regional planning

Thematic

Matrices, Diagrams, Semi-structured Interviews

Ranking, main processes, relationships, system components, thematic attributes

System analysis and design; application; models; conflicts; socio-economic driving factors

Planning objectives; weight maps; information requirement; application models; databases

Temporal

Calendars Historical profiles

Land use dynamic; Land use changes; Land allocation; time planning conflicting planning activities alternatives; resource allocation models

Spatial

Sketch maps; transect

Management units; Mapping; land land-use zones; use, planning biophysical data

Spatial database

constructed to analyze and evaluate the effect of various social and economic activities on not only the ecosystem, but also to evaluate the effect of the state of ecosystem on socio-economic activities. In a collaboration background, data assimilation should aid the exchange of information and create harmony among parties at both levels. Further, it should contribute to communicating and negotiating between local and regional stakeholders. In the emergent nations, particularly, several examinations have been performed in the past that indicate that bottom-up planning is more fruitful for upgrading the quality of regional plans and for overall regional development, the conceptual framework or models linking local participatory and regional planning are a bare minimum. The participatory appraisal tools shown in Table 4 can help in the collection of data at the local level and its application in local and regional planning processes. The outcome of the study has yielded to have a comprehensive strategy shown in Fig. 18.

17.1 Development of Resettlement Sites PAFs relocated by the project’s infrastructure are being resettled by providing a relocated land parcel for self-building of a relocated home (as per GoAP standards) as well as reimbursement for strength-related failures. The locations for the distribution of relocated plots are analyzed near current settlements. Roads, power connections, drinking water, drainage, and other amenities are provided at resettlement sites. Resettlement plots are assigned through a lottery mechanism immediately after obtaining permission for the remanded agreement.

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Fig. 18 Data transformation procedure for integrating local and regional planning processes in relation to all levels of participation

The base resettlement assistance amounts have been paid, and the difference between the modified entity prices will be reimbursed soon upon Project authorization. Resettlement places are established inside the same community, and displaced households are predicted to dislocate in less than 1–2 km range. After-agreement assistance comprises, but is unrestricted to, helping folks in gaining access to prime accessories, transferring ration cards and other important files, assisting with school admission, raising consciousness about healthful living, managing common amenities, and providing folks with aid that they might require once they move to recent homes. The scope for NGO services will include after-agreement assistance. The agreement aid with a one-year duration, after which the assistance will be supplied on a need-basis. The expense of agreement-related assistance is included in RAP budgets for the first year, and it will be given with GoAP/APCRDA funding after that. Acre less Agricultural Laborers, as well as landless laborer’s earning in Amravati, were deprived of their livelihood means as plots were utilized for Amaravati’s construction. As a result of land transfers to APCRDA, farmless farmers have been directly harmed by the Amravati’s construction project. The degree to which livelihood resources are sourced domestically to balance the offset from income from agricultural activities is thus a critical consideration for landless laborers, although OP 4.12 only applies to the footprint of the World Bank-financed project, distinguishing between acre less laborers distressed by land assembly within and beyond the World Bank project borders is difficult. As a result, APCRDA has agreed that for the objectives of this project, all acre less households who have applied for pension with APCRDA by July 15, 2018, shall be deemed project distressed households for the purposes of providing income reviving measures.

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According to the RPF, the payment of pensions and other income-based profits would be checked for the list of applied farmless households. The overall number of landless households as of July 15, 2018, was 21,374. Acre less agricultural laborers working in the Amravati area are eligible for a variety of income reclamation programs, which include: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi)

Pension payments of INR 2,500 per month per household for the duration of a decade, with annual adjustments based on the inflation index; Employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for up to 365 days per year; Aid approach to additional-free expense on credits for establishing enterprises; Aid to skill improvement and training opportunities; Arrangements of subsidized food; and Free approach to medical and educational benefits in designated facilities.

17.2 Proposed Solution for Integration of Participatory Approaches in Regional Planning The proposed approach to integrate participatory processes in spatial data handling is by allowing communication between the spatial distributions of specific information issued at one planning level with the other. Taking into account the shared backing between the two levels, the unification is a bi-directional process involving the following stages: (a)

(b)

A bottom-up procedure for a regional planning using a spatial abstraction method depending on the interpretation of the local plot administrative entity appropriate to all stakeholders using local driving factors. These driving factors can be obtained from the participatory methods and household surveys to derive the regional planning units. A regional feedback to assist the lower planning levels, using regional information during the local planning process. For this feedback, the local planning entities need to be explained during the participatory surveys, using georeferencing tools such as topographic maps, global positioning system (GPS) or aerial photographs along with the local knowledge. So, the model (Fig. 18) is to integrate the two levels of the participatory planning process [31].

17.3 Participatory Consideration at City Level Division of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states brought in urgency for the Andhra Pradesh government in planning and developing a capital city from the kickoff in a brief time with an elite framework that would symbolize people’s perfection and ambition of a ‘happy’, ‘liveable’, and ‘sustainable’ city’. And the following would be formulated by adopting a ‘bottom-up participatory approach of planning and

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Fig. 19 Proposed participatory mechanism at the master planning level

governance’ and selecting Land Pooling Scheme as an option for land procurement. Surprising backup from 24,000 farmers for India’s biggest-ever consensus-based land pooling of 35,000 acres was the reason behind the Amravati’s creation. So, the study presents to have a participatory strategy as shown in Fig. 19.

18 Results and Discussion The Land Pooling Process is done through public consultations and the inputs provided by the citizens played a key task in molding the Capital City Master plan and Neighborhood layouts moderately, but to have a comprehensive approach, the participatory mechanism shown in Fig. 20 be adopted for apt and appropriate results so it may lead to have 100% satisfaction to all stake holders.

Fig. 20 Proposed participatory mechanism at the Regional level

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Master plan level proposals The approach has been developed in the form of a diagram to indicate the sequence, task, and relative activities given in Fig. 20, the stakeholders participation and documentation of suggestions, methods of acceptance, sorting of the suggestions by various committees to understand the merit of each case, satisfaction consideration, and final assessment and review feedback given in the form of a flow of participatory mechanism. In view of the above, the following recommendations may further enhance the participatory planning for livability and sustainability for the regional planning level, Fig. 21 for the village level, and Fig. 22 for project-level integration of the following: 1. 2.

Connect the old and the new by making the citizen understand. Build for the people for developing inclusiveness.

Fig. 21 Proposed participatory mechanism at the village level

Fig. 22 Proposed participatory mechanism at project or program level

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3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

8. 9.

10.

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Plan for a variety of uses to satisfy the maximum. Engage the community in participatory works Regenerate in a sustainable manner for all infrastructures. The second participation degree is ‘To Consult’. Its aim is to not only ‘To Inform’, but also gather reviews from delegatory institutions, by characterizing communal questions and dialogs. It can be considered a two-way practice if and when the reviewers agree to share the communal questions as input in their decision-making process. ‘To Discuss’ is acknowledging ‘To Share’ knowledge, but giving a righteous response is clearly the highest level of public collaboration, and can be termed as a crux. Adds responsibility to the public in interpreting questions and arriving at conclusions where location or geography has a role in the issues addressed. Permit a large number of participation of stakeholders in planning, discord settlement, and decision-making environment through a computer-based community collaboration process. The 73rd and the 74th constitutional amendments, (CAA) enacted on 1st June 1993 extends constitutional status to municipalities, and assign delegators from the public to address common public issues on the development where it can be viewed to have inclusivity and participatory considerations for to implement the plan with the satisfaction of the citizen to establish sustainability and livability in Amravati. Most issues of participatory practices are encountered by expansion outliners are similar in planning and development. The chances for mediation are larger in the decision-making process in the planning part for socio-economic sustainability and inclusiveness for achieving the livability in general and for study area of Amravati in particular.

19 Conclusion Participatory and inclusive master planning poses challenges of its own. This study has tried to understand the process, issues, and benefits of an innovative planning concept through land pooling scheme in the Capital city of Amaravati, India. It is one of the largest-ever consensus-based land pooling schemes acquired through public participation of 24,000 farmers involving 35,000 acres of land for the master planning. This study further conducts the assessment of the satisfactory levels of various stakeholders through a primary survey using a structured questionnaire with informed consent. The study revealed that there is still dissatisfaction with the land pooling scheme and inappropriate inclusivity considerations with respect to sustainability and livability. A comprehensive participatory mechanism can be achieved with the bottom-up approach as specified in the above proposed process. It is essential to address the agricultural labor, farmers of less than 3.00 acres, and unemployed youth

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through continuous monitoring to ensure economic sustainability. The success of such projects depends on the inclusive participation of all economic groups. The needy farmers who donated their land live with a ray of hope that the donated land will contribute to the area as a megacity. This takes time and cannot be accomplished overnight. So, a systematic participatory approach with adequate awareness programs and transparent approaches is essential. Considering that the Amravati’s creation with the overwhelming support of farmers and laymen is nation’s biggest ever agreement-based land pooling it is an important exercise in understanding the success or limitations of such schemes. The lessons from this study helps to understand the participatory strategy and will aid in developing a framework for success in new development areas, redevelopment areas, and renewable areas in metropolitan cities and new towns.

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Dr. J. Vijayalaxmi has completed her B.Arch. from School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University in First Class with Distinction. She went on to pursue the M.Arch. Program from School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University in 1997. She completed her Ph.d. as an AICTE QIP Scholar in the year 2008 in the topic of ‘Thermal performance of naturally ventilated residential buildings with varying opening sizes and orientation in hot-humid climate- a case of Chennai City’ from Anna University, Chennai. Subsequently, she was awarded the Erasmus Mundus Fellowship for Academic Profile, and completed her Higher Research in Politechnico di Milano in 2010 in the area of ‘Smart Materials and Nano technology in the Construction Industry’. She has over 25 years of experience in teaching architecture and specializes in Sustainable Built Environment and Climate Responsive Architecture. She is currently the Professor and Dean (Research) at the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, An Institute of National Importance under the Ministry of Education, Government of India and was also the Head of the Department i/c there. She has published many technical papers in peer-reviewed blind refereed International journals and has presented technical papers in many international Conferences including at the Harvard, USA and Politechnico di Milano, Italy. She has traveled widely in her academic quest to countries such as Greece, France, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, The United States of America and Italy. Dr. Ramesh Srikonda has completed his Bachelor of Architecture in 1982 in first class with distinction from JN Technological University, Hyderabad. He joined Anna University for postgraduation in Town and Country Planning and passed out in First class in 1984. He also holds Post Graduation Diploma in Ecology and Environment from Institute of Ecology and Environment, Delhi. He was awarded Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where the research title was ‘Energy Conservation studies in Buildings through Components/Materials and Space conditioning Options.’ He entered into the Central Government Service through UPSC in 1985 in Central PWD and also rendered his services in various capacities such as Chief Architect in Municipal Corporation of Delhi, additional charge as Director, slum & JJ, Central Establishment Department., Delhi, Senior Architect in CCW, All India Radio & Doordarshan, South Zone—India, presently on a new assignment as, Professor of Architecture, in School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, established by Ministry of Human Resource Development, India. He had rendered his services as Head, Architecture Department, Head, Planning department, Dean of Academics, Director (i/c), SPAV. His entry ‘Energy Efficient Housing in India’ for World Habitat Awards—1992 had been adjudged as five finalists by ‘Building and Social Housing Foundation’ Leicestershire, UK. He also got the first place in ‘Idea Competition’ for ‘Urban Extension for Jaipur City’ promoted by JDA India. His Competition entry was adjudged as most promising category ‘A large Township of Jharia coal fields’. He has designed and is associated with various buildings in India. He has also contributed several research (50+) papers and books/chapters related to active & passive solar space conditioning options for thermal conditions in international journals, conferences and seminars in India and abroad. He has delivered lectures and participated in colloquiums on architecture and town planning.

Bhuj

Smart Planning and Management of Urban Water Systems: The Case of Bhuj, India Mona Iyer, Siddh Doshi, Gargi Mishra, and Sameer Kumar

Abstract Indian cities are expected to grow exponentially, with the urban population increasing from 377 million in 2011 to 760 million in 2050. Consequently, cities are likely to face severe water risks as many are already highly water-stressed. An integrated approach for addressing the issues of urban water systems is inevitable for sustainable development. Several urban water management approaches have been devised to mitigate the water challenges, the most recent being water-sensitive and water-smart cities. This chapter explores the different urban water management paradigms and emphasises the need to adapt and adopt the concept of water-smart cities for the Indian context. The components of water-smartness have been formulated based on a literature review. This discussion is followed by an assessment of the water-smartness of Bhuj, a pioneer city for water management practices, located in an arid region of India. The chapter examines that the city fulfilled most criteria of water-smartness but lacked in digital innovations. Several other Indian cities face similar issues in the present times. The chapter concludes with suggestions to improve the water-smartness of Bhuj and highlights key takeaways from Bhuj’s experiences for other Indian cities. Keywords Urban planning · Urban water management · Water governance · Water-smart cities · Water-sensitive cities

M. Iyer · S. Doshi · G. Mishra (B) · S. Kumar CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India e-mail: [email protected] M. Iyer e-mail: [email protected] S. Doshi e-mail: [email protected] S. Kumar e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_3

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1 Introduction Water is a quintessential component of every aspect of our lives. It affects every aspect of our lives. It has innumerable benefits, ranging across sectors, with the most evident being its impact on our health and hygiene. It is vital for social upliftment, providing numerous health benefits, as a driver for economic growth, a means of transportation, an essential component of food production, and a vital component of the environment and ecology. These benefits are often interlinked—the effect on health impacting the socio-economic sector, the use as means of transport helping improve connectivity and access to areas inaccessible by land, improved connectivity improving the economy, and its necessity for food production affecting our health. Its economic benefits can be measured through its potential impact on a country’s GDP—for every $1 spent on water and sanitation services, there is an economic return of $8 to $10 in poor countries [1, 2]. A lack of clean water has severe health implications, which result in economic ramifications. A study by The Economist (2013) estimated a loss of 2.3% in China’s GDP mainly due to health losses, attributed to poor water and sanitation [3]. Similarly, illness due to poor water and sanitation resulted in a loss of 5% of Africa’s GDP [4]. Water is also needed for almost all sources of energy production, ranging from the production of thermal power to the generation of nuclear energy. Despite the necessity of water across various sectors and its need for survival, it is often taken for granted. The unsustainable consumption of water is resulting in water scarcity across the globe. Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2016) estimate that twothirds of the world’s population, i.e., 4 billion people are forced to live in severe water scarcity situations for at least one month every year [5]. The number of people facing severe water scarcity throughout the year is projected to be 500 million [1, 5]. Unsustainable development practices, poor resource planning and management, and user apathy towards the judicious use of resources are the key contributors to the increasing prevalence of water issues. Rapid urbanisation, poor leadership and governance, lack of investment, poor water utility and infrastructure, and climate change are among the primary factors affecting the water availability [6]. Chowdhury (2008) stipulates that the global water consumption is increasing at twice the rate of the population growth [4]. A sustainable solution to the water issues is necessary to ensure access to drinking water, thereby preventing a catastrophe that would have severe implications for both developing as well as developed nations. This chapter discusses the looming water crisis in Indian cities and suggests measures to overcome the various water challenges faced by them. The chapter is divided into four broad sections. The first section gives a broad perspective on the myriad water challenges faced in Indian cities. It also discusses the evolution of the various approaches devised for urban water management and groups them under different paradigms. The concept of water-smart cities is also discussed in this section. Thereafter, the different components of water-smartness, formulated based on literature review, are discussed. This is followed by an evaluation of watersmartness of the different approaches. The second section of this chapter provides a

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perspective on the existing situation of Bhuj. It discusses the city’s spatio-temporal growth, physiology, built and natural environment, and governance. The third section is an assessment of the water-smartness of Bhuj. The various components of water-smartness and their respective indicators, discussed in the first section, have been used for this analysis. This section is divided into three subsections, each discussing one of the domains of water-smartness (planning, services, and governance). This domain-specific assessment was based on the planning and implementation regime of various projects and initiatives that have helped shape the development of Bhuj. The last section of the chapter on the conclusion (4) summarises the findings and provides key takeaways for the readers. It includes suggestions towards improving the urban water management of Bhuj through the lens of watersmart cities. The suggestions also include key learnings from the case study for other cities with similar contexts, to help them evolve into water-smart cities.

1.1 Urban Water Issues in India India, housing 17% of the global population, is among the fastest urbanising countries in the world—comprising the fastest-growing cities in terms of both numbers and rate. Census of India (2011) states that cities account for 33% of the country’s population—an astounding 377 million people living in Indian cities [7]. Among cities across the globe, Delhi showed the maximum annual increment in urban population, while Hosur is the fastest-growing Indian city (7th globally) in terms of the annual population growth rate [8]. Indian cities, especially the small magnets around megacities, are witnessing the fastest growth [9]. The increasing economic opportunities in cities, improved health of citizens, and the better quality of life are resulting in a rapid increase in the urban population. The urban population of India is projected to more than double by 2050, crossing 793 million urban citizens [10]. The freshwater resources in the country are, however, limited, accounting for merely 4% of the global quantity [11]. The rapid urbanisation has been increasing the pressure on the limited resources, with many households forced to rely on private sources of drinking water. Conventional urban planning practices have not been able to resolve the emerging water issues. The major urban water challenges in India include overexploitation, unequal distribution of resources, haphazard development, encroachment of water catchments, rapid sprawl, poor capacity of urban development agencies, and lack of financial resources. The implications of climate change further aggravate these challenges. An assessment by the World Resources Institute revealed that most Indian cities are under high-to-very-high water stress [12]. Several cities are facing a water crisis, some even reaching the brink of “Day Zero”, i.e., the day by which they would run out of water. The NITI Aayog identified 21 major cities on the verge of approaching the Day Zero scenario by 2020 [13], a catastrophe averted in time; WaterAid has estimated that more than 12% of the country’s population is already experiencing the Day Zero scenario [14]. The water demand is expected to be twice

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the available supply by 2030 [13]. Catering to such challenges requires innovative techniques and far-sighted strategies. Numerous strategies have been formulated and applied to address the major issues faced by Indian cities. These have marginally improved the conditions, but the situation remains grim with most cities, especially the rapidly developing secondary cities, unable to address emerging water challenges such as urban flooding, droughts, and calamities that have intensified due to climate change. The rapid urbanisation, changing lifestyles, and the consequent problems need to be addressed through a more holistic approach that enables sustainable and resilient development of cities.

1.2 Water-Smart Cities As discussed earlier, water is a key influence across numerous sectors and domains. Despite its importance, water is often taken for granted. The notion of water being a public good has resulted in overexploitation of water; cities are developed with the lens of engineering solutions that neglect the natural water catchments and water channels. The conventional urban development practices coupled with the consequential impacts of climate change have made cities more vulnerable to water risks, with many facing severe water scarcity. This calls for a more holistic, sustainable approach towards planning our cities. One such approach—“water-sensitive cities”—calls for treating cities as catchments. Such an approach will help develop smart, sustainable cities that are more resilient to water challenges. Traditionally, cities act as consumers of water, designed to extract surface and groundwater and drain stormwater and wastewater outside the city limits [15]. This results in an unsustainable use of water, contributing to numerous urban water issues, including water scarcity, urban flooding, and pollution of water downstream. A smart urban planning approach must ensure that the limited water resources are used judiciously, and the wastewater is treated properly before being discharged and reused to the largest extent possible. Numerous concepts and urban water management paradigms, each comprising several approaches, have been formulated and implemented over the past century to tackle the contemporary water challenges. These vary in their focus areas and specificity [16]. Water-sensitive urban design (WSUD), integrated water resource management (IWRM), integrated urban water management (IUWM), green infrastructure (GI), and water-sensitive city are among the most comprehensive approaches. While IUWM and IWRM widened the water planning approach from the mere provision of water services to considering water as a key resource for cities to thrive, the concept of water-sensitive cities and water-wise cities lay emphasis on a broader approach, wherein they consider cities as a catchment [17]. The concept of water-smart cities is the latest addition to the series of urban water management approaches. It approaches urban development through the integration of urban planning and urban water cycle to cope with challenges related to climate change, resource efficiency, and environmental degradation and towards improving

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Fig. 1 Water-smart cities develop integrative strategies for sustainable development. Source Authors

the aesthetic and recreational appeal in cities [15]. Integrative strategies are developed for ecological, economic, social, and cultural sustainability (Fig. 1). Wong and Brown (2009) formulated three “pillars” necessary for water-sensitive cities, viz., cities as water supply catchments, as providers of ecosystem services, and comprising water-smart communities [17]. They also prepared an urban water transition framework that highlighted the six stages of urban water management culminating with cities transforming into water-sensitive cities [17]. While the cities in the developed nations have achieved the third, fourth, or fifth state, those in developing nations like India are still striving to achieve the second state, i.e., “sewered city”. With the horizon year for attaining the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals fast approaching, there is an urgent need for such cities to adopt innovative solutions and techniques to rapidly advance them towards becoming water-sensitive cities. The water-smart city approach can help them achieve this ambitious goal of fast transition [15]. Hattum et al. (2016) consider the water-smart city approach an overarching approach spanning multiple UWM approaches specified by Wong and Brown (2009); it accelerates the transition in “a smart way” through the creation of business, economic savings, improved liveability, and a strong evidence base (Fig. 2). Infrastructure and urban development have evolved with the emergence of new technologies. The nineteenth century witnessed the Industrial Revolution whose impacts led to an upsurge in urban sprawl. It also aggravated the health issues among workers, which increased the importance of improved water and sanitation in cities. The twentieth century witnessed further sprawl of cities owing to the innovations in mobility. The Garden City movement, City Beautiful Movement, Modernism, and New Urbanism, among others, were an outcome of the emerging challenges

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Fig. 2 Water-smart city approach is an overarching approach spanning multiple UWM approaches. Source Adapted from Hattum et al. (2016) [15]

and technologies of the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The latter half of the twentieth century saw the emergence of the Information Age with the focus shifting to computers and information technology [18]. “Information and communications technology (ICT)” and “big data” gained prominence in the domain of urban development in the twenty-first century, with the emergence of the “smart cities” concept. The smart city concept has evolved ever since gaining prominence. Cohen (2015) mentions three generations of smart cities. The concept has evolved from being one with a tech-centric vision led by private companies (first generation) to one embracing the models co-created by citizens (third generation) [19]. The latter is more grounded in issues of equity and social inclusion [19]. Giffinger et al. (2007) formulated six fields to measure the smartness of cities, viz., smart government, smart economy, smart environment, smart living, smart mobility, and smart people, each field comprising numerous indicators [20]. Indian cities have started focussing on the “smart city” approach through initiatives like the Smart Cities Mission and Digital India programme. The Smart Cities Mission, launched in 2015, aimed at developing 100 cities in India using the smart city concept, which would act as models for other cities to emulate. The purpose is “to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to smart outcomes” [21]. The specific projects and sectors to be covered under this initiative are to be decided by the local bodies. The initiative has highlighted the benefits of data and ICT-based solutions and accelerated the process of collection and digitisation of data on an urban scale. The provisions made under this initiative proved beneficial in tackling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The notion of “smart cities” under the Smart Cities Mission is different from the theoretical understanding of the concept [22]. An assessment by Gupta and Hall (2017) revealed that while “smart living” was the top priority for both citizens and authorities, the citizens did not give due importance to “smart governance”. This has been attributed to a probable lack of awareness about the latter’s importance among the citizens [22]. Further, the vision statements of cities having similar population as Bhuj (population ranging between 1,00,000 and 5,00,000) have given the least emphasis on improving governance,

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while the environment remains the most commonly targeted aspect after “smart living” [22].

1.3 Components of a Smart UWM Approach The role of water in a city extends across water supply, sanitation, public health, environment, and economy. Efficient and sustainable management of water requires the development of smart urban water systems. There is, however, no consensus on the definition of “smart urban water systems” [23]. Li et al. (2020) have listed five “structures” and two “metrics” to characterise smart water systems; the former comprised of different layers, viz., instrument layer, property layer, function layer, benefit layer, and application layer; smartness and cyber wellness are the two metrics defined by them [23]. They state that the relationship among the definitions, layers, and metrics would determine the working of a smart water system. The “layers” form the implementation aspects of a smart water system, while the “metrics” are the methods for evaluation. Li et al. (2020), therefore, stress the importance of data collection, monitoring, and evaluation, along with data privacy, as key elements of a smart water system (Fig. 3). Antzoulatos et al. (2020) use the definition of [24] to describe “smart” systems as those employing the latest in communication capabilities and enhanced functionalities [25]. They reviewed numerous papers and concluded that smart water management systems that foster sustainable development include the four key aspects, viz., water leakage detection, real-time water quality monitoring, water-flow monitoring, and water consumption and demand forecasting. Hattum et al. (2016) state that watersmart cities shall provide two broad solutions—(i) restoration of natural drainage capacity of cities through nature-based solutions, and (ii) closing the urban water cycle [15].

STRUCTURES

METRICS

Instrument layer

Property layer

Funcon layer

Benefit layer

Applicaon layer

Smartness

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ICT component

Components like system aributes

Data fusion in data centres

Features like water quality security and energy saving

Commercial and educaonal applicaons

Real-me input + realme output with minimum lag

Security against the or manipulaon

Fig. 3 Five structures and two metrics characterising smart water systems—as explained by Li et al. (2020) [23]. Source Authors

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Smart urban water systems shall, therefore, encompass the domains of water supply, sanitation, urban resilience, environmental management, and governance. Data collection, real-time monitoring, forecasting, and data privacy have been highlighted as key elements of smart water systems. Other important aspects to be considered are pertaining to the conservation of water resources through nature-based solutions and closing the loop through wastewater reuse. The different parameters and components suggested by researchers can be broadly categorised as three components or “domains” of smart urban water systems, viz., smart water planning, smart water services, and smart water governance. These components can be further divided into sub-components which are assessed using different indicators. The parameters listed by Giffinger et al. (2007) have been adapted with suitable additions for this assessment. The following section elaborates on the three domains and their constituent sub-domains.

1.3.1

Smart Water Planning

The smart water planning component refers to the planning of the built and natural environment of cities. This component relates to the “smart environment” and “smart people” indicators of the Smart City concept devised by [20]. Giffinger et al. (2007) define the “smart environment” indicator as one describing “how a government manages the built and natural environment to improve the quality of life of its citizens and visitors”. The indicators of “smart people” include the measures that help transform the way citizens interact with the public and private sector including businesses and individuals [20, 26]. The smart water planning measures pertaining to a smart environment include strategies towards reducing waste, reducing pollution, improving the disaster resilience of cities, protecting water catchments, recharging water sources, promoting wastewater reuse, and minimising the environmental impacts of development. The measures towards attaining the “smart people” indicators include community awareness (education), capacity-building, and involvement in the planning and implementation process. The regulatory mechanism to attain smart water planning includes zoning, development regulations (also called building bye laws), and regional and local area plans. The interventions and the corresponding regulations need to include the different scales of development, viz., building level, neighbourhood/local area level, city scale, and regional/catchment scale. These have been well-elaborated by Hattum et al. (2016). Further, smart water planning strategies aim to address the components of the urban water cycle through seven broad goals, viz., retention, infiltration, storage, treatment, drainage, reuse, and adaptive management of water [15]. The interventions at the scale of individual buildings or projects include adaptive measures to help reduce water usage, increase the efficiency of use, increase water retention and recharge, and promote the reuse of greywater. Achieving these goals shall require mandate in the form of development regulations. The regulations must instruct the developers to provide for rainwater harvesting and storage measures; a

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minimum specific portion of the plot must be left open and pervious for stormwater to percolate into the ground; architectural interventions such as green walls and green roofs will further help in water retention; the concept of rain gardens can be explored as well. Treatment of stormwater and greywater and its storage must also be made obligatory. This will help reduce the water demand while maintaining a constant supply. The regulations can also provide incentives for the users to recycle greywater within their property. These measures will, therefore, help achieve the goals aimed at improving water retention, storage, infiltration, treatment, drainage, and reuse. Planning of neighbourhoods must also be made “smarter” through local area plans aimed at achieving the seven goals mentioned above. This includes increasing the area under pervious, open spaces, which shall enable groundwater recharge; trenches and tree pits are other examples of interventions to reduce surface runoff and increase infiltration of stormwater. These measures will also help reduce localised urban flooding and overflow of stormwater drains. Local area plans should be prepared with proposals linking green–blue networks and green buffers around the natural streams. Urban design interventions in such areas should create vibrant public spaces; a system of canals can also be developed along the natural streams, to channelise the water towards its natural storage reservoir (i.e., lakes, ponds, tanks, etc.). Such measures will help conserve the water catchments while also improving the liveability of the neighbourhoods. Decentralised water treatment systems at the neighbourhood or ward/zonal level will help reduce the pressure on centralised systems. The treated water can be recirculated across the neighbourhood and used by individuals for irrigation or flushing toilets and to irrigate community parks and gardens, thereby reducing the net water usage. Rooftop rainwater retention and development of neighbourhood reservoirs, bioswales, and infiltration systems will help improve water storage and groundwater recharge, while also improving the liveability of the area. Community buildings and open spaces can also be developed with an underground storage facility to store treated wastewater, supplementing the municipal water supply. Parks can be designed to act as sponges, contributing towards groundwater recharge and preventing urban flooding. City-level planning interventions that can contribute to smart water planning include conservation of natural wetlands and creation of wetlands in peri-urban areas; converting regional parks into sponges absorbing excess stormwater; blue– green corridors designed to conserve natural water channels and to improve the quality of life; preserving urban forests; developing green shores (riverbanks and lake edges). Critical infrastructure such as power stations, water pumping stations, and healthcare facilities should be protected against flooding, while areas such as roads, parks, and green belts can be designed to act as the floodable catchment of stormwater. Larger, regional-scale interventions can include plans and strategies aimed at the conservation of environmentally sensitive areas, water catchments; the strategies should also strive to reduce pollution of soil and waterbodies, the former indirectly affecting the quality of groundwater.

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The multi-scalar, cross-sectoral interventions such as those mentioned above will help reduce water usage, increase water recharge, and improve water quality and availability, through smart water planning strategies.

1.3.2

Smart Water Services

The component of “smart water services” pertains to the infrastructural provisions and the related technologies. Water services form an integral part of cities; they are quintessential for cities to thrive. These include water supply, sewerage, and treatment services. This is also a part of the water-sensitive city paradigm, a milestone for cities to attain the ultimate goal of becoming water-sensitive [17]. The primary focus of most Indian cities has been to provide adequate quantity and quality of water services. Such provisions require data analysis and extensive monitoring. A water-smart city will be able to regularly monitor the water demands of its residents, thereby enabling the authorities to accurately forecast future demands. “Data” and ICT have become the new tools for urban planning agencies to effectively manage cities. Scholars have identified four major revolutions in the urban water management paradigm [27, 28]. The fourth industrial revolution, comprising the fourth urban water management revolution—UMI 4.0—has made real-time monitoring of data possible through ICT and big data modelling. Numerous technological advancements have resulted in better efficiency, improved monitoring, and improved techniques to manage urban water. The use of data analytics for water management is not an achievement of the twenty-first century; its beginnings can be traced back to the nineteenth-century work of John Snow [28]. The digitalisation of data analytics and computer modelling for water management has given rise to a new field—hydro informatics—which can be utilised by water-smart cities to manage their water infrastructure in a more efficient manner.

1.3.3

Smart Water Governance

The conventional top-down approach towards governance is inefficient in achieving sustainable development of cities. Such a governance mechanism does not achieve its objectives, owing to the lack of awareness and active participation of several stakeholders including citizens, civil society organisations, and academia. A large number of stakeholders include not just those at the local level, but also the national -and state-level agencies. Further, city- and micro-level development strategies must be formulated taking into consideration the national- and the state-level strategies. A lack of coordination among the different agencies and in the numerous strategies having common objectives results in poor governance. Water governance in Indian cities has been criticised by experts for several reasons including inadequate capacity, complex governance structures, conflicts over water rights, and lack of expertise among the political leaders and policymakers [29, 30]. These issues resonate with the issues faced by Indian cities and are a leading cause

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of the inefficiencies in the implementation of water management strategies. While numerous visionary policies for improving infrastructure service delivery have been formulated at the central and state level, these are not implemented effectively owing to the aforementioned issues. While there is a visible improvement in water governance in several Indian cities, the urgency posed by climate change, rapid urbanisation, population explosion, and the looming water crisis requires a smarter form of water governance. Smart water governance can be attributed as a part of “smart government” formulated by Giffinger et al. (2007). A “smart government” is one that strengthens connections and interactions between the government and the stakeholders. Methodologies such as “co-creation” and “crowdsourcing” and new technologies and innovations will help foster a smart government [20]. Another aspect worth considering is the complex water governance structure in Indian cities (Fig. 13). The governance approach needs an overhaul, considering the rivalrous and non-exclusionary nature of water as an economic good and the large number of actors managing it. Ostrom’s principles of self-governance can prove effective in formulating a smart water governance strategy for Indian cities [31]. A smart city must give due importance to the theory of nested enterprises and citizens’ participation as envisaged by Ostrom [31]. Thus, “smart governance” involves getting rid of the top-down governance approach. A combination of top-down and bottom-up governance is needed to make water governance “smart”. Water Governance—an overarching component Water governance is both an independent and an overarching component of watersmart cities. Smart water planning and smart water services, while being crucial to the development of smart cities, will not be implemented without “smart water governance”. The implementation of plans and efficient service delivery requires capacity-building of institutions, coordination among the responsible agencies, and active participation of all stakeholders; these are elements of a smart governance framework. The numerous smart city initiatives are, thus, liable to fail in the absence of a smart governance framework.

1.4 Assessing the Smartness of Existing UWM Approaches Numerous approaches towards urban water management have been formulated over the past 200 years. Starting with the modern infrastructure ideal, which originated in the late-nineteenth century, the focus areas of these approaches have evolved from mere provision of services to the Water Wise Cities approach which widened the focus to the conservation of catchments and inclusion of the complete urban water cycle. Based on their scope, the myriad approaches can be classified into four major paradigms—(i) Structural provisions—centralised infrastructure, (ii) water as a resource, (iii) integrated design with nature, and (iv) adaptation interventions for climate resilience.

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The smartness of these approaches was assessed based on indicators chosen after reviewing the literature on the smart cities concept. Fifteen sub-dimensions, conforming to four dimensions of water-smart cities, were formulated, each comprising independent indicators. The four dimensions included smart environment, smart people, smart governance, and smart living. The sub-dimensions and their respective indicators were conceived based on the review of literature on smart cities and the aspects necessary for efficient urban water management (Fig. 4). Each approach exhibited some form of smartness (see Fig. 3). The older approaches, e.g., MII and IWRM, touched upon a few sub-dimensions of smartness whereas the more recent ones like WSC and WWC conformed with a larger number of smartness sub-dimensions. While these approaches conformed to most of the sub-dimensions, the aspects pertaining to “smart living” were barely touched upon. Another missing aspect was digital innovations in governance and master planning. Digitisation of data, open data apps, and privacy of confidential information were some indicators that were not touched upon by either of the existing urban water management approaches. A water-smart city needs to incorporate such aspects for

Fig. 4 Four dimensions of water-smartness and the corresponding sub-dimensions. Source Authors

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Fig. 5 Smartness assessment of different urban water management approaches. Source Authors

efficient and effective water planning and governance. A detailed assessment of each paradigm is discussed below (Fig. 5).

1.4.1

Interpreting the Urban Water Management Paradigms

Paradigm 1: Centralised Infrastructure Access through Structural Provisions (MII Approach) The first major influential paradigm in the planning and management of urban water resources was observed post-industrialisation in the European countries through the Modern Infrastructural Ideal (MII) approach. It emerged in the late-nineteenth century and is based on science and technology-based progress dictating modern urban infrastructure planning. This paradigm, which has long dominated the field of urban water services provision, implies that universal access to the potable water supply must be achieved throughout the city via a single centralised system [32]. Graham and Marvin (2001) describe MII as a widely accepted social and political goal that sought to provide universal, uniform networked infrastructure access globally and continues to underpin normative prescriptions in the global south [33]. MII provisions in the colonies of the Global South tended to adopt similar technologies as that of the Global North. Post-colonial nations started adopting large-scale centralised models in their plans for providing water, sanitation, and waste services with financial and technical support from international partners [34, 35]. However, the goal of universal provision remained elusive mainly due to the lack of financial resources for expanding and sustaining these provisions. Therefore, Kooy and Bakker (2008) along with Silver (2016) have argued that the MII approach provisions were limited primarily to the European urban contexts [35, 36]. Therefore, understanding the premise of the MII approach is crucial particularly for the discourse on

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centralised vs. decentralised vs. hybrid infrastructure planning and management in the Global South context. Paradigm 2: Water as a Resource (IWRM, IUWM, and SUWM) The second paradigm in the urban water domain emphasised the resource value of different water sources (surface water, groundwater, wastewater, and stormwater). It drove the approaches of IWRM, IUWM, and SUWM in the Global North countries. The need for further integration across the urban water cycle and coordination across stakeholders at the city scale marked the shift in the water resource management at the basin scale, conceptualised as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). IWRM promotes the coordinated, sustainable management of watersheds in response to resource deterioration due to fragmented management [37] as found in the earlier paradigm. The Global Water Partnership (GWP) was created in 1996 by the World Bank, UNDP, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) as an international network to foster IWRM as a way to achieve sustainable development. Later, the need to contextualise IWRM for urban contexts was realised and the notion of Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) emerged on the similar principles as IWRM. Originated in the Netherlands in the 1960s, IUWM till date corresponds to the realisation from engineers and planners that some of the limitations of the existing linear centralised treatment systems, especially with regards to sustainable development concerns [38, 39], could be better addressed by applying circular, integrated approaches to UWM [38]. The approach further gained momentum as a prominent paradigm in UWM since the early 1990s [38]. In the UK, Sustainable Urban Water Management (SUWM) rose under the premise that the current conventional approaches to service provision through centralised piped infrastructure were unfit considering relevant environmental, social, and economic criteria [40–42]. SUWM was a manifestation of growing awareness in urban water services towards “community wellbeing, ecological health, and sustainable development”, or the green movement [43]. In Britain, the focus was on the sustainable design of drainage. Thus, the British CIRIA subsequently widened the scope and turned from sustainable drainage to sustainable water (and wastewater) management in connection with land use planning, taking into account social, economic, and environmental aspects [44]. Paradigm 3: Integrated Design with Nature (WSUD, GI, LID, and BMP) The third paradigm shift was observed through the approaches of Water-Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), Green Infrastructure (GI), Low Impact Development (LID) as well as Best Management Practices (BMP), where the focus was to integrate nature-based design approaches in the urban water planning and management. The WSUD approach emerged in Australia to combat and minimise the climate change impacts due to frequent events of heat waves, seawater rises, etc. It is “an urban planning and design approach to minimise the climate change and hydrological impacts of urban development” on the natural environment. A successful and sustainable implementation of WSUD approaches drives a city towards the “Water-Sensitive City”

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status. The approach primarily connects urban planning and design with stormwater management to protect both surface and groundwater resources. Similarly, Green Infrastructure seeks much more comprehensive ecosystem services benefits through architecture and planning by following a multi-scalar approach. The part of the urban landscape providing ecosystem services is often referred to as green infrastructure (GI), defined as “an interconnected network of natural areas and other open spaces that conserves natural ecosystem values and functions… and provides a wide array of benefits for people and wildlife” [45]. Paradigm 4: Adaptation Interventions for Climate Resilience (WSC and WWC) As the global impacts of climate change have been most evident in recent times, the new paradigm emerged focussing on the adaptation interventions for building climate resilience in cities. Based on this school of thought, the notion of Water-Sensitive Cities emerged in Australia, comprising of three key pillars [17] where cities (i) are used as water supply catchments, which relates to diversifying sources and integrating alternative or fit-for-purpose water systems, (ii) provide ecosystem services, for example, featuring green spaces and infrastructure and restoration of environment flows, and (iii) build on water-sensitive communities in which sustainability-aware citizens are empowered, while sector professionals and leaders integrate across disciplines in decision-making. A water-sensitive city is envisioned as the desired goal of WSUD approaches as described in the previous paradigm. In addition to seeking sustainability and resilience benefits (also promoted through previous paradigms), the WSC pillars highlight an important human component, that is, the overall quality of life in the cities, termed as liveability [46].

1.4.2

Positioning Indian Cities on the Urban Water Paradigm

The macro-level spatial planning in Indian cities follows the traditional Master Planning approach introduced by the British during colonial rule. This top-down planning also includes the provision of centralised infrastructure such as water supply, drainage, and sewerage. Urban infrastructure planning in Indian cities is heavily influenced by the two standard documents—Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines (2015) and Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) manuals. Both URDPFI guidelines and CPHEEO manuals were prepared through multi-stakeholder consultation by the Ministry of Urban Development (now called “Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs”) of the Government of India. The city-level trunk infrastructure is planned as a part of the Master or Development Plans based on the normative guidelines as recommended in the URDPFI and demand estimations are calculated based on the CPHEEO manuals for water supply or sanitation or stormwater drainage. For example, the standard practice of estimating demand for water supply in urban areas is 135 LPCD and that of estimating wastewater is 80% of the supplied water. Hence, city planners and engineers are trained to plan

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infrastructure in a positivist manner considering the norms provided in these two documents. Hence, it can be derived that the city-level infrastructure planning in India still follows the Modern Infrastructural Ideal (MII) approach, which is now a century-old approach. This was also the consequence of colonial rule as India adapted its statutory planning framework from the British Town Planning system [47], where this notion originally gained significance. Therefore, Indian cities still have a long way to leapfrog from the traditional MII approach to the currently discoursed WSUD approaches for envisioning Water-wise or Water-Sensitive Cities. The potential of smartly utilising the decentralised measures within Green Infrastructure, Low Impact Development, and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems have mostly remained underutilised in Indian cities, as they require a more bottom-up collaborative engagement of multiple stakeholders, particularly the citizens.

2 Bhuj—The Oasis City Bhuj is a town in the Kutch district of the western Indian province of Gujarat. The city owes its existence to its strategic location in the arid region. The Bhujiyo Dungar, a mound in the region, was the perfect site to establish an easily defensible fort, while the area’s unique geology provided a reliable source of groundwater for the city. The city depends on the Hamirsar lake system, which utilises the unique hydrogeology and still acts as a major source of water in the region. Its population was pegged at 187,279 residents in the year 2011 [48]. Bhuj is, therefore, an oasis in the parched region.

2.1 Demographics and Urban Sprawl Bhuj is a small, but rapidly developing city in the Kutch region of Gujarat. The city’s population has witnessed a six-fold increase in its population from 1951 to 2011 (see Fig. 6). The current population of 187,279 residents is projected to cross 341,000 by 2031 [48, 49] (Fig. 7). Figure 8 shows the city’s sprawl from a small settlement extending 1 km2 in the year 1950 to an expansive settlement spread across 48.6 km2 in 2019. The major growth has been towards the south-east and south-west, with Madhapar and Mirjapar, respectively, acting as the growth magnets and peri-urban centres. The urban sprawl of Bhuj is estimated to increase to 75.6 km2 by the year 2035, including the peri-urban centres within its jurisdiction [51].

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Fig. 6 Evolution of UWM approaches. Source Adopted from Bichai and Flamini (2018) [69]

Fig. 7 Population of Bhuj. Source CEPT University (2017, 2019) [48, 51]

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Fig. 8 Urban Sprawl (1950–2035). Source CEPT University (2019) [51]

2.2 Topography The topography of Kachchh is in the shape of a tortoise shell, where the mount is demarcated by hill ranges running east–west [50]. Bhuj city is located near the foot of Bhujiyo hill towards the south of the Kachchh hill range. The general slope of the land is towards the north. The area under BHADA’s jurisdiction is mostly flat, with the Bhujiyo hill being the most noticeable elevation above the surroundings. Less perceptible mounds can be seen in the western part of the city (Figs. 8 and 9).

2.3 Unique Hydrogeology Bhuj is located over a porous, sandstone aquifer and a cretaceous sandstone belt comprised of sandstone and shale formations, with a few basaltic intrusions. It forms a confined aquifer, reverse-dipping against the general slope of the land, with fault lines on the east, west, and south [51]. The cretaceous sandstone belt below the lake system acts as a sponge recharging the water of the aquifer. This belt, one of the few in the Kachchh region, has an enormous capacity to store water sufficient for year-long municipal and agricultural use. The fault lines on the south, east, and west form a confined aquifer with a reverse dip against the slope of the area (Fig. 10). There are predominant shale formations on the southern and northern parts of the catchment. The lake system’s five receiver lakes are located on this pervious sandstone belt, while the feeder lakes that make up the upper catchment system are located on impervious shale, preventing percolation until the water can be moved

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Fig. 9 Topography—a general slope is towards the north. Source Authors

Fig. 10 Schematic representation of aquifer in Bhuj. Source Arid Communities and Technology, Bhuj; adapted from CEPT University (2016) [50]

into the urban area where it is most needed. When the aquifer is full, healthy and potable water is easily accessible by decentralised methods such as community wells (Fig. 11).

2.4 Climate Bhuj falls in one of the most arid regions of the country, lying on the borderline of hot desert climate (BWh) and hot semi-desert climate (BSh) as per the Köppen–Geiger climate classification [52]. The average temperature in the region varies from 39.4 °C in May to 10 °C in January. The highest recorded temperature was 47.8 °C on

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Fig. 11 Hydrogeological mapping. Source Adapted from CEPT University (2016) [50]

26th May 1886, while the coldest temperature ever recorded stood at −0.2 °C on 28th January 1977 [53]. The city witnesses most of the annual rainfall between June and September, with most of the precipitation occurring in July and August. It has an average annual precipitation of 430 mm (the national average is 1152 mm) with a 65% coefficient of variance in annual rainfall. The potential evapotranspiration is 1500–2000 mm [50]. The scanty rainfall coupled with its high unpredictability and the high evapotranspiration rate has necessitated the development of efficient water management practices in the region.

2.5 Governance Governance in Bhuj is more or less similar to other Indian cities. The numerous stakeholders in the governance of the region can be broadly categorised as centrallevel, state-level, parastatal, state-level, city/district-level, and local stakeholders. The national-level and state-level actors are mostly responsible for funding, monitoring, and evaluating the implementation of projects and for preparing policy frameworks. The local-level stakeholders are more concerned with the preparation of the local development strategies and on-ground implementation of plans. Figure 12 provides an exhaustive list of the key actors involved in the governance of Bhuj and their respective roles across different domains. Water governance in Bhuj is more participatory than in most Indian cities. While the central-level actors are involved in policymaking, formulating legislations, and monitoring and evaluating projects, the district, city and local stakeholders are

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Fig. 12 Climate of Bhuj

involved in the formulation and implementation of strategies and plans. Active participation of NGOs, academic and research institutions, and citizens, in addition to the area development authorities, local bodies, and government departments, has helped implement several projects aimed at water management. Participatory governance has helped Bhuj manage its water resources more efficiently than most other parts of India (Fig. 13).

2.6 Built and Natural Environment 2.6.1

Natural Water Distribution System

The unique hydrogeology of Bhuj has been providing the residents of this arid region with an adequate water supply for centuries. The city gets water from six water catchments, as shown in Fig. 14, viz., Dhunaraja catchment, Tapka catchment, Lakki catchment, Umasar catchment, Hamirsar catchment, and Desalsar catchment. The total catchment area is 81.7 km2 [49]. The estimated runoff from these catchments is 2,720 million litres. Sixty water channels have been identified in Bhuj, of which 43 are functional [49].

2.6.2

Waterbodies

While its unique hydrogeology bestows Bhuj with an extensive aquifer system, the city also has a network of 44 surface waterbodies to meet its water demands, while also recharging the groundwater table. The Hamirsar lake, Chhataradi lake, Desalsar lake, Dhobi lake, and Pragsar lake are the major lakes in the regional watershed. The Hamirsar lake system is the most prominent water system in Bhuj. The Hamirsar lake is the largest lake and the most important source of water in Bhuj. It is a man-made lake, situated in the centre of Bhuj, constructed over 450 years

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Fig. 13 Key actors involved in the development of Bhuj and their roles. Source Authors

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Fig. 14 Water catchments in Bhuj. Source CEPT University (2019) [51]

ago to fulfil the water demand of the city. It is spread over 28 acres and has a storage capacity of 2.5 million cubic metres. The Chhatardi Talaav was a part of the original Hamirsar lake, which was divided into a three-lake system based on the allocated different uses. The Talaav has a storage capacity of 1.5 million cubic metres. The Dhobhi Talaav, with a storage capacity of 0.15 mill cubic metres, is the third reservoir of the Hamirsar lake system (Fig. 15). The lake systems of Bhuj are home to a plethora of flora and fauna. The waterbodies and their surrounding areas are also used as recreational public spaces. However, rampant development and unchecked human activities around many waterbodies have resulted in their degradation. For example, sewage inflow, garbage and wastewater dumping, and vehicle service centres act as the major threats to the ecology of the Desalsar Lake [54]. The Pragsar Lake has already dried up due to the encroachment of its water catchment. Several waterbodies have been polluted owing to similar reasons. The condition of the region’s lakes has been assessed by Arid Communities & Technologies, a local NGO in Bhuj [50]. The assessment found that

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Fig. 15 Location of waterbodies in Bhuj. Source Arid Communities & Technology, Bhuj; adopted from CEPT University (2016) [50]

Table 1 Condition of lakes in Bhuj Condition of lake

No. of lakes

Existing and visible lakes in “good condition” (e.g., Hamisar lake)

29

Heavily silted (e.g., Hamdarai lake) Heavily polluted (e.g., Desalsar Lake)

13

Partially encroached (e.g., Pragsar lake)

11

Vanished/disappear lakes (e.g., Jivanray lake)

76

Source Arid Communities & Technology, Bhuj; adapted from CEPT University (2016)

76 of the original waterbodies in the region have already dried up, whereas 13 are heavily silted or polluted (Table 1).

2.6.3

Vegetation and Green Cover

The arid climate of Bhuj and its hydrogeology restrict the growth of most species of vegetation. The region is situated in close proximity to a desert (Rann of Kutch) and the sea. Despite the harsh conditions, Bhuj has a large variety of flora and fauna. This includes saru, neem, ber, peepal, imli, gugal, vad, and a variety of cacti [55]. Patches of grassy areas are spread across the region.

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Bhuj is home to a rare form of vegetation—inland mangroves. The Shravan Kavadia are the only inland mangroves in India—which have survived the harsh arid conditions, after having been cut off from the sea several millennia ago (Fig. 16). These are situated roughly 40 km from Bhuj city. The main vegetation growing in these mangroves is the Avicennia marina (white mangrove) trees. However, neglect over the last few years has resulted in an infestation of wood-boring insects and the growth of Prosopis juliflora that depletes the groundwater sources vital for the survival of mangroves [53] (Fig. 17).

Fig. 16 The Shravan Kavadia mangroves in Bhuj are threatened due to neglect. Source Patel and Agoramoorthy (2012) [53]

Fig. 17 Rajendra Park is situated in the middle of the Hamirsar Lake. Source Sapan Mehta (2021) [70]

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Built Environment

The developed area of Bhuj spans 48.6 km2 . The total built-up area in the area under the jurisdiction of BHADA is 21.27 km2 . Bhuj is a predominantly low-rise city, comprising mostly low-rise or mid-rise buildings. Large parts of the old, walled city were destroyed in the earthquake that struck the city in 2001. This was considered an opportunity by the planners to create and improve the built fabric and road network in the region. Development in many areas has encroached upon or blocked the natural water catchment. This has resulted in several instances of urban flooding in the past. This has been further discussed in Sect. 3.1.1 (Figs. 18, 19, and 20).

3 Assessing Water-Smartness of Bhuj The connection of Bhuj with water has been evident throughout its history. Located in a semi-arid, water-scarce region, the city has traditionally prioritised water security in its development strategy. The city’s development took place in two ways—first, the gradual, planned development due to natural growth and in-migration; second, instantaneous development due to catastrophes like the 2001 earthquake [55]. Development in the city has always revolved around water, with the exception of the aftermath of the recent catastrophes where the priority was the swift reconstruction of the city.

Fig. 18 Land use–land cover map of Bhuj. Source CEPT University (2019) [51]

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Fig. 19 Bhuj predominantly has low-rise and mid-rise development. Source Sapan Mehta (2020) [70]

Fig. 20 The destruction of the walled city in the 2001 earthquake. Source Left (top and bottom)— Randolph Langenbach; Right—Google Earth Imagery, 2021

When the focus of the authorities’ statutory development plans diverged from water, the civil society organisations like NGOs and local communities made efforts to ensure that water remained an integral part of the city’s development. Therefore, the combined efforts of local planning agencies, civil society, and citizens have helped preserve the tradition of water-focussed planning in Bhuj. Bhuj is not officially an aspiring smart city under the Government of India’s Smart Cities Mission. It has, however, adopted a few elements forming a part of the smart cities concept. This section assesses the water-smartness of Bhuj, one of the few Indian cities which has taken strides towards preserving its water resources. Numerous strategies, plans, and reports aimed at the development of Bhuj were referred to assess the water-smartness of the city. The assessment was done using the same parameters used to assess the smartness of the different urban water management approaches as shown in Fig. 5. Bhuj is blessed with unique physical features, making it an oasis enveloped by a parched, arid landscape. The local physiographic and climatic conditions have compelled the native population to recognise the importance of water conservation

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throughout the city’s centuries-old history. In an era where Global South cities are emulating modern infrastructural ideals pioneered in the twentieth century west, Bhuj has managed to stay grounded in the more contextual traditional practices. The water-smartness assessment of the city evidently shows that it has adopted some, if not all, aspects of the different water-smartness components. The following three Sects. 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 give an elaborate description of the city’s water-smartness.

3.1 Smart Water Planning The smart water planning component relates to spatial planning and efficient resource management. Spatial development in Bhuj has been a unique case post-2001 earthquake. The city received major funding from various national and international organisations for its redevelopment. This was the time when its first Development Plan was prepared by the Bhuj Area Development Authority (BHADA). However, the city’s surface waterbodies suffered because of a significant reduction in their water-bearing capacity due to encroached catchments, debris dumping, poor desilting mechanism, etc. Consequently, reckless encroachment activities and damaged diversion channels resulted in an increased frequency of urban flooding and waterlogging. Moreover, the water quality of the lake started deteriorating rapidly with an increase in TDS values due to the flow of wastewater into the lakes. Two dimensions of the smart city concept are included in the assessment of this component—“smart environment” and “smart people”. This component is critical for the sustainable development of Bhuj. Lying in the arid region of Kachchh, Bhuj cannot rely solely on the scanty seasonal rainfall to meet its annual water needs. Innovative practices and active involvement of all stakeholders are necessary for the city to thrive. Measures to ensure water security extend beyond the mere provision of water services and include interventions in the domain of spatial planning, resource management, and sustainable urban planning. Bhuj was not shortlisted among the 100 smart cities under the Indian government’s Smart Cities Mission. However, it boasts of several interventions that coincide with the concept of water-smart cities. This section assesses the spatial aspects at microas well as macro-scale, including built form and environmental characteristics.

3.1.1

Smart Environment

Sustainable development, at both macro- and micro-scales, and increased resilience are two key attributes that form this dimension. “Smart environment” can be further divided into three working areas, viz., smart resource management, sustainable urban planning, and smart buildings. The development of Bhuj has historically taken environmental conservation and sustainable practices into consideration. The city’s traditional water system ensured a sustainable supply and minimal pollution of waterbodies. The infrastructure was

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laid such that the natural catchment of waterbodies did not get disturbed. The built form did not interfere with the natural streams. Waterbodies were demarcated after an extensive study of the local terrain and water catchments. Their development was a priority for several local rulers. The increasing population, new building typologies, and introduction of modern infrastructure systems resulted in a reduced emphasis on the preservation of traditional water conservation practices. Decades of rampant development buried important water features. It was only after the massive destruction during the 2001 earthquake that these old structures were revealed. For example, Dedka-vav, a stepped well near Kutch Museum, had been completely covered by a restaurant; its existence was revealed only after the earthquake [55]. The assessment of various documents and several interventions aimed at the development of Bhuj revealed that, in the recent past, the city has largely adopted such measures while formulating its development strategies. For example, the new development control regulations (DCRs) have incentivised the development of greenrated buildings. The regulations also promote the reuse of greywater, while also emphasising on the conformity of the development to the Water Act, 1974 [56]. The concepts of green roofs and vertical gardens, elements of “smart buildings”, do not find mention in the development strategies for Bhuj. The development plan for Bhuj further strives to conserve water catchments and waterbodies by restricting the land use [56, 57]. Even the development approved by the area development authority lies on the path of major streams [58]. The 1980s marked the beginning of an “era of [water] insensitivity and abuse of the traditional system” [58]; the authorities permitted development on a part of the Hamirsar lake in the Mochirai catchment. Similar cases of “legal encroachment” have been mentioned which have resulted in instances of flooding during monsoons, obstruction of natural water catchments, and drying up of lakes [58]. The sale of land forming the Pragsar lakebed in 1979 is an instance of negligence on the part of the Bhuj Nagarpalika (urban local body of Bhuj). Further, the lakebed was filled with debris after the 2001 earthquake, which transformed it into flat land. Kutch University is situated on the natural stream of the Tapka Catchment, feeding water to the Hamirsar Lake. An artificial channel was created following the flooding of the university during the monsoons. While this prevented future flooding around the University, the city’s interiors began witnessing floods. One of the objectives of most waterfront redevelopment projects is the revitalisation of the waterbodies. These often end up as merely beautification projects which end up deteriorating the natural water system. The beautification projects around the Chattedi Lake in Bhuj, carried out in 2011 and 2013, have sealed the inlet and outlets of the lake [58]. The above cases are noteworthy examples of the dissonance between land development and water resource management in Bhuj. The transformation from water-centric development to land-centric development can be attributed to the adoption of new technologies and techniques. The increased dependence on piped water supply from distant water sources has resulted in a reduced importance of the local waterbodies and their catchments. Unsustainable water resource management practices in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have deteriorated the catchments and resulted in several instances of flooding and

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drought in the region. Smart water planning has gained momentum once again, only in the recent past, due to the efforts of a few citizen groups and civil society organisations.

3.1.2

Smart People

Smart people, essentially consisting of smart individuals and communities, play a crucial role in developing and maturing a city’s ability to sustainably manage its water systems through participatory approaches. Incidents of tragedy often trigger the necessity in the eyes of people, sensitising them to initiate a continuous process of participatory water resource management. Often to initiate, or compliment the government initiatives, civil society organisations such as NGOs have risen to the occasion and taken measures to conserve and manage water resources for sustainability. Bhuj, being a water-scarce region in arid Gujarat, has rich experiences in these aspects. Local NGOs have played multiple roles in educating, sensitising, and including communities, along with designing technical cost-efficient solutions to address the problems of water scarcity along with occasional flash flooding. Thus, their different roles address the three key sub-components of “smart people”, i.e., education, inclusion, and creativity as discussed in Sect. 1.3. In Bhuj, the involvement of local NGO, Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT), has been significant over the past couple of decades in initiating collective actions, necessary for managing any urban common [31]. This section describes two participatory water management cases from Bhuj—Shivramandap slum and Harmirsar lake—to further discuss the contextual relevance of three sub-indicators of inclusion, education, and creativity as derived from the theoretical framework of Giffinger (2007). The case of participatory water management at Shivramandap slum relates to the three sub-components of smart people—education, inclusion, and creativity for managing urban water through people’s participation. The project was implemented by ACT to manage the water demands of this slum community. The households had low-pressure BNP water supply connection, insufficient to fulfil their daily requirements. ACT with the help of Hunnarshala came up with a traditional, yet innovative solution of reviving the nearby old dugwell system and with the support from local ward councillors and the community. Each household in the Shivramandap slum received a water connection through this approach. Right now, the system is operated by the slum community and they are supplied with a 24*7 water supply. The project achieved success in implementing a sustainable traditional technology innovatively with adequate technical and financial support from multi-stakeholder engagement (particularly the women). Moreover, the women in the area, with the support from Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, formed a self-help group (SHG). A separate water committee called the Madhavrai Pani Samiti was also formed, responsible for collecting a monthly water supply bill of |150 per household [51]. The inclusionary aspect was further ensured by providing two free-of-cost standposts for households that are unable to afford this monthly charge. The Shivramadap

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experience highlights the importance of educating and including local marginalised communities about various traditional and innovative water management techniques and cost-efficient management strategies for sustaining an initiative. The second case of Hamirsar lake presents a city-wide participatory lake management experience. Hamirsar is a 450-year-old man-made lake that has significant historic and cultural value among the people of Bhuj. Post-2001 earthquake, Hamirsar lake suffered issues in terms of reduced water-bearing capacity and poor water quality due to dumping of debris into its lakebed and catchments, inefficient irregular desilting mechanisms, and encroached and diverted natural drainage channels. Also, the mixing of wastewater from the surrounding residential and commercial areas reportedly increased its TDS values. On realising the necessity to save this crucial resource, ACT identified public participation as a tool for its revival and management. The entire participatory process for the lake’s revival was not just one event, but a continuous series of events (2006 onwards) that involved the constant participation of citizens [59]. ACT initiated Hamirsar ek jalgatha, a peripheral walk around the lake and its catchment, for educating the citizens of all age groups about this water heritage and its catchment issues. This initiative gained popularity and sensitised citizens which led to the formation of a citizen group namely Hamirsar Sneh Samvardhan Samiti (currently known as Jalstrot Sneh Samvardhan Samiti (JSSS)). In the Summer of 2008, this citizen group initiated a massive 25-day long lake cleaning and desilting drive which involved multi-dimensional actors including representatives from Police Department, Border Security Force (BSF), State Forest Department, religious groups such as Swaminarayan Trust, school students, youth, and residents from all age groups [59]. In the subsequent years, various creative awareness campaigns were regularly organised by the ACT particularly for children and youth such as drawing competitions, drama, and photography, where participants were asked to envision Harmirsar’s future [59]. Thus, the case signifies all the three sub-components of smart people.

3.2 Smart Water Services The provision of water services is one of the fundamental requirements in cities. However, the rapidly increasing population and limited availability of resources are among the major challenges faced by cities, especially Indian cities. Situated in an arid region, Bhuj faces even more severe issues. Several initiatives at the local and regional levels have helped tackle the water challenges in the city. The following is an assessment of the smartness of the water services in Bhuj. These are evaluated under the “smart resource management” working area of the “smart environment” dimension in our analysis. The new statutory planning regulations seem to have recognised the water challenges and the looming water scarcity in Bhuj. While rainwater harvesting has been a part of the old development control regulations, the new regulations stipulate that wastewater must be treated before being discharged. They also aim at promoting

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the reuse of greywater. The inclusion of treatment and recharge provisions in the mandate point to a shift in the approach towards water resource management. The infrastructural provisions have witnessed significant improvement over the past decade. The city has 100% household coverage in solid waste management; 85.5% population has access to improved water services; 60.2% of households have sewer connections; wastewater extends to 57% of the households [60]. Bhuj has implemented several projects aimed at service improvement. These include decentralised wastewater reuse, decentralised drinking water supply, and stormwater management projects. Most of these have been successful, courtesy of the support and involvement of various institutions, capacity-building programmes, appropriate technologies, and the involvement of a plethora of stakeholders [61]. In addition to the authority-initiated projects, Bhuj has an active network of civil society organisations and aware citizens. Arid Communities & Technology, a local NGO, has been working closely with the Bhuj Nagar Palika on the implementation of groundwater recharge plan for the city [51]. A pilot project was implemented in Jubilee Colony which cost merely INR 3.65 lakh [51, 62]. The Jubilee Colony project has motivated BNP to work on a similar comprehensive groundwater recharge plan at ten different locations [62]. In contrast to the above improvements, many aspects of water service delivery remain in a poor condition. The total NRW of municipal water supply is estimated to be 33% [49]. An intermittent water supply, ranging from once every two days to once in five days [49], is another example of inadequate service provision in the city. Access to water supply in the city has improved with the introduction of piped water supply and the increasing number of municipal connections. Currently, 77% of the city’s water supply, i.e., 31 MLD, is received from the Narmada canal; merely 23% is sourced locally [49]. This increased dependence on external water sources is highly unsustainable. A smart approach would ensure that the city utilises its local resources judiciously instead of depending largely on distant sources. Thus, while the service delivery may have improved significantly in recent years, Bhuj is yet to attain smartness in the water services category.

3.3 Smart Water Governance Smart water governance, as mentioned in Sect. 1.3.3, includes close coordination among different actors, co-creation and crowdsourcing initiatives, and the use of digital technology. Improved accountability and transparency of the authorities also constitute this dimension of water-smartness. These were included in the smartness assessment criteria for Bhuj. Thus, smart water governance can be bifurcated into ICT interventions and institutional participation. The applications of ICT and other digital technologies are among the foremost aspects of smart governance envisaged by Giffinger et al. (2007). Digitisation of records is the first step and among the most basic measures towards improving the smartness of cities. Property records of Bhuj are available in digital format. The city

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maintains an online directory of property tax records, easily accessible to citizens. The drawback of the current system is that the data is openly available to not just the citizens, but to all users. This includes sensitive information such as the name and address of the owner. Thus, this provision is a step forward, fulfilling the “online services” and “open government” criteria of water-smart governance, it may violate another aspect—“privacy”. While the authority’s website does not reveal complete information on the tax amount due, it does reveal the name and address of the property owner (Fig. 21). Complaint redressal is an essential component of smart governance, aiding in the proper functioning of the provided infrastructure and timely augmentation of issues. Bhuj has been divided into three zones for resolving issues. Fourteen technical staff and three supervisors are employed to address the registered issues [62]. Complaints can be lodged through three media, viz., manual, phone, and online systems. The manual and telephonic complaint registration systems have been in place for quite a long. The online complaint redressal portal available on the Nagarpalika website was introduced recently. It is not used frequently by citizens owing to a lack of information

Fig. 21 Property information is publicly available on the Nagarpalika website. Note Sensitive information like name and address have been blurred in the above image for privacy

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and communication regarding the same [49]. Further, the data management system is poor, which reduces the efficiency of complaint redressal. Data availability in Bhuj remains poor in the absence of an app or portal for the same [62]. A portal—Bhuj Bole Chhe [63]—was developed for this purpose but does not function now. Data can only be sourced through a visit to BNP’s office, NGOs working in the city, or through secondary sources like reports, many of which might be obsolete. Transparency and accountability are also crucial parameters in ascertaining the “smartness” of a city. They are indicative of the authorities’ willingness to share information with the citizens and their incorrupt practices. The current trends in Bhuj include some good practices but are not sufficient to make the city water-smart. Coordination among the different actors is essential for effective governance. Bhuj has a variety of actors actively participating in development activities. A comprehensive list of actors and their roles is illustrated in Fig. 12. Several overlaps have been found in the jurisdiction of the formal actors. This is a major cause of conflicts and failure of development strategies in the region [62]. Various informal actors— NGOs and communities in particular—have been actively involved in development activities in Bhuj. Their active participation and initiatives have helped in improving the water-smartness of Bhuj over the years. Civil society organisations (CSOs) like Arid Communities and Technology (ACT), Jal Strot Samvardhan Samiti (JSSS), and Hunnarshala Foundation have been instrumental in reviving the traditional water management practices in the region [62]. Several initiatives have been launched by CSOs aimed at capacity-building and training, improving community awareness, wastewater treatment, flood/drought mitigation, etc. In addition to the NGO-led initiatives, various projects in Bhuj were initiated by the local communities. The decentralised water resource management initiative at Shivramandap is a noteworthy example. This project, implemented by ACT and Hunnarshala Foundation, involved developing a decentralised water supply system providing 24 × 7 water supply in each household of the Shivramandap [61]. The Jubilee Colony water recharge project is another example of a community-led project involving multiple stakeholders. These and other similar projects are exemplary cases of active community participation in Bhuj. The local community has also been involved in ensuring the efficient operations of these projects through regular monitoring. The numerous projects initiated by non-formal actors are proof of the active community participation in Bhuj. Also, these were facilitated/supported by the local authorities. Bhuj, therefore, exhibits good coordination between formal and nonformal actors. Conflicts arising between different formal actors, due to overlapping jurisdiction, contribute to the list of unresolved governance issues. Thus, while Bhuj has adopted a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches to governance, some gaps still remain. Further, the few measures towards using digital technology are not adequate. The city is far from achieving data-smartness. Data privacy and protection, as in the case of property details on BNP’s website, is yet to be assured. Developing a regulatory framework for digitisation at the state/central level would make this easier for cities [64]. Further, Bhuj needs to learn from its successful cases of participatory governance. Several attempts at emulating the success of the Hamirsar Lake and Jubilee Colony projects have failed, due to the inability to communicate the

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Fig. 22 Financial details of Bhuj Nagarpalika. Source Adapted from Pathak (2021) [62]

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urgency of the interventions [59]. A combination of the top-bottom and bottom-up approaches will help accelerate the city’s transformation towards achieving smart water governance. The fate of a proposal is also largely dependent on the finances available for its implementation. Poor financial planning is one of the main reasons for the failed plans of development authorities and urban local bodies in India. Bhuj is no exception to this. An analysis of the budget documents of the Bhuj Nagarpalika from 2014–15 to 2018–19 reveals that its income is marginally higher than the expenditure. This can be attributed to the various grants and schemes of the central and state government [62]. The Nagarpalika has been functioning with a high operating ratio, the ratio mostly being higher than 1 (Fig. 22). Thus, it can be concluded that the urban local body is not financially “smart”.

4 Conclusion The review of literature on the smart cities concept revealed that there is no common definition of a “smart” city. There were, however, a few common elements covered in each definition. These were mostly data-centric interventions, pertaining to the inclusion of digital/information and communications technology. A majority of the reviewed literature emphasised the quantitative aspects, while neglecting the softer aspects like traditional resource management practices. While Giffinger et al. (2007) provided an extensive assessment framework comprising a wide array of indicators, their proposal also seems to focus largely on digital innovations. Hattum et al. (2016) have suggested a more qualitative approach, linking the concept of water-smartness to the water-sensitive city approach proposed by Wong and Brown (2009). This chapter analysed water-smartness through a hybrid lens—combining the data-centric approach with the qualitative approach suggested by Hattum et al. (2016). Bhuj was assessed for water-smartness using indicators formulated using this approach. The analysis revealed that Bhuj, though not a part of the official list of aspiring smart cities under the Smart Cities Mission, exhibits several aspects of watersmartness. The city, lying in the arid region of Kachchh, identified the importance of managing its water resources centuries ago. Its traditional water management practices have succeeded in conserving the local catchments for years. Historical accounts suggest that water resource management was a priority in the development strategies for the city [55, 58]. However, the priorities changed with the demand for rapid urbanisation and the introduction of modern infrastructure post-independence. Many old water storage structures were excavated after the 2001 earthquake; these were encroached upon by modern developments—legal as well as illegal [55]. The last two decades have witnessed a revival of water-centric development in the city. This was mostly due to the active participation of NGOs and local communities, with the support of the local authorities. While the city boasts of an exceptional history of urban water management, the recent development strategies seem to have neglected this aspect. Efforts to prioritise

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the comfort of the residents have ended up ruining the natural resources of the region. Construction—both regulated and unregulated—has blocked the water catchment in several areas. This has resulted in urban flooding and increased water scarcity in the region. Improvements to the water sensitivity of the spatial plans and the development regulations are needed to augment these issues. These can include new “green” development regulations similar to the green building codes like GRIHA and LEED ratings. Ensuring strict adherence to these regulations is equally important. The use of technology in formulating plans will significantly improve their efficacy. For example, GIS applications to prepare base maps and analyse the existing situation will lay a strong foundation for the proposals. Plan-making agencies can use digital applications, e.g., ArcGIS, to formulate development scenarios while making proposals. The appropriate scenario can be selected based on the authorities’ priorities. Such initiatives can be clubbed with the central and state-sponsored missions and schemes, like AMRUT and Smart Cities Mission. Thus, the domain of “smart environment” can be improved in the case of Bhuj. Local communities play a significant role in urban development. Bhuj is one of the few examples of Indian cities with an active local community, working towards sustainable development of their city. Projects like the Hamirsar Lake Rejuvenation, Jubilee Colony, and Shivramandap water management were successful because of the active participation of the community. NGOs and CSOs have been proactive in managing the water resources of Bhuj. They helped improve awareness about the importance of the lake system and acted as mediators between the local communities and the authorities. Further, the capacity-building of the local communities was improved through periodic workshops and events organised by the local NGOs. Thus, Bhuj, with a proactive community, boasts of “smart people”. Bhuj cannot be categorised as “smart” in terms of its water services. While the city has an adequate water supply network, the duration of service is inadequate. This results in an increased dependence on the private suppliers, who get the freedom to charge exorbitant amounts, or on borewells. Both the cases result in an increased pressure on the city’s water resources. Further, most of the complaints raised by citizens in the year 2019 pertained to water leakage issues in different neighbourhoods [62]. Non-revenue water accounts for one-third of the water supplied by the authorities. Metered connections are yet to become a reality in the city. Such issues are evident in the poor condition of water services in the city. Therefore, it can be concluded that Bhuj is yet to achieve smartness in the domain of water services provisions. Governance is among the most important aspects of smart cities. Smart governance requires a close coordination among the different actors, data storage and sharing through a convenient medium, improved transparency and accountability of each actor, data privacy, and improved technical and financial capacity. While Bhuj has shown immense progress in many aspects, significant improvements are needed in this domain. The city has adopted a few digital solutions for governance, but digital smartness is yet to be achieved. Data storage and sharing is still a tedious process, with a few applications of digital technologies. Data privacy, another crucial aspect of smart governance, needs immense improvements. Smart governance also requires transparency and accountability on the part of authorities. The case of Bhuj

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shows limited transparency in governance. The civic authorities had created an online platform for sharing information with the masses, but it ceased to work. The absence of a functional data-sharing platform is yet to be addressed. The online platform for complaint redressal is also not being utilised properly. Further, Bhuj is no exception to the issue of inadequate financial and technical capacities. The municipality is burdened by the high costs of operation and maintenance, while it levies minimal charges from the citizens. The reasons for this vary, but the ultimate loss rests with the municipality. BNP’s operating ratio is more than one. This reflects its poor financial condition. It has to depend on external sources to meet its financial needs. Often, the arrears keep piling up, increasing the financial burden on the municipality. The city has an active group of non-formal actors including the local community and NGOs, who have helped in the proper management of the city’s water resources. The cases of Hamirsar Lake, Pragsar Lake, and the Jubilee Colony are some examples where the informal actors played a vital role in ensuring “smart governance”. Participatory groundwater management is being promoted by the local NGOs with the help of Bhujal Jankars and the local communities in the city and peri-urban areas. Thus, Bhuj, despite various innovative projects and solutions, performs poorly in the domain of smart governance. Bhuj is an example of a city where “smart people” have helped drive the city towards achieving water-smartness. Despite the several drawbacks and inefficiencies in governance, Bhuj has managed to largely conserve its water resources. This has largely been due to the contribution of the non-formal actors like local communities and NGOs, combined with the support of the formal actors. Thus, close coordination and cooperation among different actors have helped conserve the city’s water resources. The local communities’ sense of ownership of the waterbodies was leveraged to promote sustainable and resilient development, while prioritising water management. Thus, while the city needs to adopt better strategies in the domains of “smart buildings”, “smart water services”, and “smart governance”, its “smart people” ensures that the process of its transition is smooth and quick.. The case of Bhuj resonates with different concepts and definitions of smart cities. It fulfils the criterion of a city comprising water-sensitive communities, envisaged by Wong and Brown (2009) and evolved further by Hattum et al. (2016) in their definition of water-smart cities. Further, the application of nature-based solutions towards water conservation resonates with the idea of a water-smart city envisioned by Hattum et al. (2016). The technology-driven notion of smartness is yet to be achieved by Bhuj. Efforts are being made towards achieving the same. With several criteria already fulfilled, and progress being made on a few others, Bhuj is capable of achieving water-smartness in the near future. A combination of nature-based solutions, technological innovations, and traditional water management practices would help the city in its strife to attain water security through smart measures. Key takeaways for other Indian cities Indian cities have been declared as water-stressed [12] and face the looming threat of water scarcity, worsened by the impacts of climate change. The case of Bhuj presents several examples that can be emulated by other Indian cities to achieve

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water-smartness. The city is a prime example of nature-based solutions implemented to preserve its water catchments. Lessons from the traditional water management practices have been utilised and adapted to the modern context. Efforts have been made to supply water to every household in the city, including the informal settlements. These form a vital component of the smart water planning and smart living domain of smart cities. Urban local bodies in Indian cities suffer from a lack of financial capacity and technical acumen. They have to rely largely on funds received through government schemes and initiatives and loans. They often end up piling up arrears, which further deteriorate their financial condition, hampering the prospects of initiating development projects without external support. This can be augmented through collaboration and coordination among different formal and informal actors. Bhuj sets a precedent for such initiatives, as witnessed in the case of Jubilee Colony groundwater recharge initiative, preservation of the water catchments, and participatory groundwater management initiatives in Shivramandap and Hamirsar Lake, among others. Active participation from communities has been crucial to ensure the success of several projects in Bhuj. This can also be attributed to the increased citizen awareness which instilled a sense of ownership and responsibility towards water management among them. The idea of community participation can be taken a step further through the creation of urban living labs, a part of the smart people component of the smart cities concept promulgated by Giffinger et al. (2007). Many international cases of urban living labs exist. These include the LTER sites in Belgium, the Call Copenhagen initiative in Greater Copenhagen, and BruSEau in Brussels, among others [65]. Indian cities should also adapt and adopt the concept of living labs. Some research institutions have started such initiatives as pilot projects. For example, CEPT University has constructed the Net-Zero Energy Building (NZEB) which would enable the development of smarter buildings [66]; IIIT Hyderabad has also set up a living lab within its campus to facilitate the Smart Cities Mission [67]; TERI has started the Project Urban Living Lab with a similar objective as IIIT Hyderabad [68]. Bhuj, through the example of the Hamirsar Lake and the participatory aquifer mapping, can act as a model for existing “smart” interventions. The looming challenges in urban water management faced by Indian cities can be tackled through their transformation to water-smart cities. Indian cities are struggling to adopt the western concepts like smart cities, Big Data, sustainable development, and climate resilience. Their fate rests on whether they are able to adapt these concepts to the local context. This is possible through innovative solutions, which entail a combination of technological interventions with the local traditional practices. The case of Bhuj presents a plethora of lessons which can help Indian cities attain this objective.

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45. Benedict M, McMahon E (2006) Green infrastructure—linking landscapes and communities, vol Washington. Island Press, DC 46. Johnstone P et al (2012) Liveability and the water sensitive city. Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities Science-Policy Partnership for Water Sensitive Cities, Melbourne, Australia. ISBN: 9781921912177 47. Nallathiga R (2006) Development planning or development control—the changing focus of master plan of Mumbai. ITPI J 28–35 48. CEPT University (2017) Rethinking urban water management: lessons from Bhuj (Issue October). https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813168685.003.0016 49. Indian Meteorological Department (2010) Ever recorded maximum temperature, minimum temperature and 24 hours heaviest rainfall upto 2010 50. CEPT University (2016) Moving Bhuj towards water security 51. CEPT University (2019) Urban infrastructure project studio report 2019 52. Bhuj Online (2020) History of Bhuj, historical significance of Bhuj City. https://www.bhujon line.in/city-guide/bhuj-history 53. Patel P, Agoramoorthy G (2012) India’s rare inland mangroves deserve protection. Environ Sci Technol 46(8):4261–4262. https://doi.org/10.1021/es301062v 54. Sahjeevan (2017) The city calls Bhuj vision 2022—towards decentralisation 55. Tyabji A (2006) Bhuj: art, architecture, history. Mapin. https://books.google.co.in/books?id= d16gAAAAMAAJ 56. Urban Development & Urban Housing Department [Govt of Gujarat] (2017) Comprehensive general control regulations—2017—part II (Planning Regulations) 57. Bhuj Area Development Authority (2019) Bhuj draft development plan (Proposed Zoning map) 58. Raman K (2014) From “Bhooj” to “Bhuj”: rise and fall of water resource management system. CEPT University 59. Mishra G (2018) Participatory water resource management : experiences from Bhuj and Bhopal. CEPT University 60. Center for Water and Sanitation (2020) Indicator report of Bhuj 61. Dhwani Shah (2017) Adopting IUWM in India : its importance and implementation challenges : case study : Bhuj. CEPT University 62. Pathak DD (2021) Towards water smart cities : assessment of water resilience and governance in Bhuj. CEPT University 63. Bhuj Bole Chhe (2013) Bhuj Bole Chhe. https://www.bhujbolechhe.org/ 64. World Economic Forum (2020) Technology and data governance in cities (Issue December). http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Technology_and_Data_Governance_in_Smart_Cities_ India_2020.pdf 65. Water Europe, PNO (2019) Atlas of the EU water oriented living labs. In: Mutlu C, Weerdmeester R, Rubini A, Krol D, de León A, Asociados M (eds) Water Europe 66. Rawal R, Manu S, Shah A (2017) Net zero energy building project report. CEPT University (Issue December). 67. Living Lab—Smart City Research Center (2020). https://smartcityresearch.iiit.ac.in/livinglab. html 68. Bogra B (2020) Urban living lab for sustainable and smart cities in India. TERI. https://www. teriin.org/project/urban-living-lab-sustainable-and-smart-cities-india 69. Bichai F, Flamini AC (2018) The water-sensitive city: implications of an urban water management paradigm and its globalization. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Water 5(3):e1276. https://doi.org/ 10.1002/wat2.1276 70. Sapan Mehta (2020) Aerial view of India under lockdown. Bhuj – Kutch. Effect of corona virus pandemic [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vObCGUocd2E&t=1s

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Mona Iyer Dr. Mona Iyer heads the Faculty of Planning at CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Dr. Iyer has over 20 years of experience in research, training, and consultancy in water, sanitation, and waste management sectors focussing on policy initiatives and project development mainly across Asia and the Pacific. She is a member of State and ULB-level committees on water, sanitation, and waste management and has authored several publications on these subjects. She has been a recipient of the prestigious British Chevening Fellowship for Environment Management and the UK and Netherlands Fellowship Programme at IHE, Delft, and UKNA.

Siddh Doshi Siddh is a Ph.D. Fellow for the DST-NWOsupported Water4Change Project at CWAS, CRDF, CEPT University. He is also the Programme Executive for the Master of Urban Infrastructure (Major in WASH) programme at the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, supported by IHE, Delft, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Siddh has a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning specialising in Infrastructure Planning and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. His key areas of interest are Urban Governance, Participatory Approaches in Planning, Urban Infrastructure and Service Delivery, Water and Sanitation, and Urban Informal Economy. In addition, Siddh has more than four years of experience in research, teaching, and independent consulting. He is co-tutoring a Master of Urban Infrastructure studio in Water and Sanitation at the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University. Gargi Mishra Gargi is a Ph.D. Fellow for the DST-NWOsupported Water4Change Project. She is an Urban Planner by training with a major in Urban Infrastructure Planning from CEPT University. Her doctoral research seeks to explore the opportunities to mainstream aspects of water-sensitive planning into the existing practice of spatial planning for secondary Indian cities. This is to contribute to the development of larger fit-for-purpose guidelines and frameworks for water-sensitive cities in the Indian context. Her prior work experience has been in the FSSM sector, supporting small towns of Maharashtra for moving towards ODF++ status.

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M. Iyer et al. Sameer Kumar Sameer is a Research Associate for the DSTNWO-supported Water4Change project. He is an architecturban planner, with a master’s degree in urban planning from CEPT University, Ahmedabad.

Cincinnati

Comprehensive Planning Comes a Full Circle in Cincinnati, Ohio: Insights from the 2012 Plan Cincinnati Sudeshna Ghosh and Sweta Byahut

Abstract This chapter discusses the comprehensive planning process in the city of Cincinnati in Ohio, United States. Master planning and comprehensive planning activities have a century old legacy in Cincinnati, and the most recent Comprehensive Plan of Cincinnati—“2012 Plan Cincinnati” received wide acclaim as well as criticism in the academic and policy arena. There are several success measures of the comprehensive planning process, which are visible in terms of citizen engagement in formulating its vision statement and plan making, its success in instigating redevelopment projects to revitalize its dilapidated inner-city neighborhoods, and adoption of Form-Based Codes to encourage place-making ideas and strengthen traditional neighborhoods. However, there are several drawbacks of this planning process that failed to implement the updated land development codes in accordance with the plan, recognize the needs of its African American population, address the issues of socio-economic and racial segregation over space, manage gentrification in redeveloped neighborhoods, and check large-scale displacement of poor African American population from revitalized neighborhoods that are now becoming home to young, skilled, and affluent population. In this chapter, we explain the comprehensive planning process in Cincinnati and apply Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation to assess the success of citizen participation in the 2012 Plan Cincinnati.

1 Introduction The City of Cincinnati, Ohio has a long history of master planning and comprehensive planning activities, becoming the first city in the United States to legally adopt its Comprehensive Plan in 1925 and become an early planning leader. In 2003, the City of Cincinnati abolished its planning department to become more “developer friendly”, S. Ghosh (B) Department of Geography, Geology, Environment and Planning, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705, USA e-mail: [email protected] S. Byahut Department of Political Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_4

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only to re-establish it a few years later and begin work on the 2012 Plan Cincinnati. Several recent planning approaches in Cincinnati can be deemed successful, such as the redevelopment and transformation of its historic neighborhoods and the adoption of Form-Based Codes (FBC). The 2012 plan revived the planning culture in the city and earned accolades nationally for its focus on strengthening traditional neighborhoods and urbanity. At the same time, Cincinnati has been marked with economic, social, and racial segregation that has dominated the urban landscape, the plan-making processes, and the political dialogue for decades. The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), a non-profit company, has driven considerable redevelopment in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, which at one time was considered to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. However, this success has come at the cost of gentrification and displacement of poor and disadvantaged populations. Citizen engagement and participation in the 2012 Plan Cincinnati has been commendable, but still arguably falls between “non-participation” and “degrees of tokenism” when considered against Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation. To fully achieve the goals of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati, the city needs to be more proactive in adequately addressing the needs of the minority African American communities and promoting equity by empowering communities. Using secondary sources such as a range of planning documents and policies, a review of relevant literature, and news articles, as well as detailed interviews with a Cincinnati municipal planner who was part of the core planning team, this chapter discusses planning approaches for the City of Cincinnati and its attempts to balance its rich planning legacy with its history of racial tension and civil unrest.

2 History and Growth of Cincinnati The City of Cincinnati is located in Hamilton County, Ohio along the Ohio River in the tristate region of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana (Fig. 1). It was founded in 1788 as three settlements at the mouth of Little Miami and Licking rivers. In 1802, these settlements were incorporated as a town with a population of about 700 people, and by

Fig. 1 Map showing location of Cincinnati, OH. Source Google Maps, 2021

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1820 it was incorporated as a city with its population reaching 10,000 people. During this period, the city flourished with river shipping and steamboat manufacturing activities. By the early-1840s, meatpacking and slaughtering activities became the predominant specialization, making Cincinnati the leading center of these activities in the nation and earning the nickname of Porkopolis. By 1850, Cincinnati became the 6th largest city in the US [1, 2], driven by population growth and immigration, much of which was from Germany. Before the Civil War, Cincinnati was an important stop in the Underground Railroad, a network of safehouses and secret routes for African American slaves escaping to Canada and free states in the US. The city became a place offering both a sense of freedom and struggle for the freed slaves. It gave a sense of freedom to the slaves moving to the Free State of Ohio from Kentucky and other southern states and at the same time gave a sense of struggle to the African American population trying to find dignified work and place in a predominant white society [3]. Formation and growth of black “ghettos” in low-amenity areas, such as close to railroads, factories, and other marginal lands, occurred throughout the nineteenth century [4]. Many of these African American neighborhoods are still concentrated in the inner city of contemporary Cincinnati. Rapid economic, population, and urban growth continued throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, with its population reaching a peak of over half a million in 1950. While Cincinnati remained an important and healthy industrial hub, it lost its preeminent position as the manufacturing and commercial leader to other metro regions such as Chicago [5]. Major developments in the late-nineteenth century included the construction of Miami and Erie canals, expansion of railroads connecting Cincinnati with other important cities, construction of many architectural landmarks such as railway stations, museums, and other centers of art and culture, growth of several industrial activities such as iron production, carriage manufacturing, woodwork, cotton mills, cloth, and soap manufacturing. While the population growth was not very significant in the twentieth century, the Cincinnati region witnessed rapid suburbanization after WWII, a decline of manufacturing activities, dilapidation of inner-city neighborhoods, and some significant urban renewal efforts that led to economic and physical restructuring of the downtown or central business district areas. This inner-city decline had a detrimental cost to the Cincinnati metropolitan region, as problems of racial and economic segregation were exacerbated by individual local governments acting in their own self-interest leading to wasteful expenditures, excessive suburbanization, and concentration of poverty in inner-city areas and first suburbs [6]. These high poverty neighborhoods were excluded from quality education, unable to access employment and social opportunities, and were simply left behind. Eventually, in the early twentieth, Cincinnati lost its position among the top 10 largest cities in the United States to cities such as Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, and Los Angeles, who were all growing faster than Cincinnati. Cincinnati, also known as The Queen City of the West, is today renowned for its rich architectural heritage, breathtaking historic buildings, and vibrant neighborhoods that resulted from architectural and urban planning legacies of the mid to late

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nineteenth century. The region boasts a range of cultural assets such as the Music Hall, the Cincinnati Zoo, and the Museum Center, several renowned universities including the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, and Miami University, as well as high quality and specialized healthcare facilities. Urban renewal efforts of the mid- to late-twentieth century transformed the Central Business District of Cincinnati, which today is home to several Fortune 500 companies including Proctor and Gamble, Kroger, Macys, 5/3rd Bank, and many others. As of 2020, Cincinnati is ranked as a High Sufficiency City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network [7]. It has consistently ranked among the top three sustainable metro areas in the country by the Site Selection magazine, taking the top spot in 2017 and 2018 [8]. Recent planning efforts since the mid-2000s have led to successful transformation of the previously dilapidated inner-city Over-the-Rhine neighborhood into a walkable, vibrant, neighborhood buzzing with breweries, restaurants, small stores, local businesses, as well as luxury apartments and condominiums [9]. A new streetcar opened in 2016, connecting downtown and uptown businesses, employment centers, and attractions. Population and Demographics Majority of population growth in the City of Cincinnati occurred in the nineteenth century. The population of the city grew from 10,000 in 1840 to 325,902 in 1900. Cincinnati was ranked the 10th largest city in the US in 1900. The population of the city peaked in 1950 with estimated population of 503,998, after which the population steadily declined, falling to 297,111 in 2010, and marginally increasing to 309,317 in 2020 according to the US Census Bureau [10]. While the population of the city shrunk during the second half of the twentieth century, the suburbs of Cincinnati simultaneously witnessed significant population increase during this phase due to suburbanization (see Fig. 2 for Cincinnati’s metro population change and Fig. 3 for population density map). Cincinnati’s metro region population was estimated to be around 1.7 million in 2020, indicating that urban growth in Cincinnati has shifted away from its urban core. Cincinnati witnessed significant increase in its African American population since the nineteenth century, owing to its unique history as an important center in the Underground Railroad network. Historically, the African American population settled closer to the Central Business District and thus, many African American “ghettos” became established in several neighborhoods adjacent to the downtown area. Figure 4 shows the location of these predominantly African American neighborhoods within the city. Traditionally these African American neighborhoods have lacked economic opportunities, experienced lower quality of amenities and services, and are significantly correlated with urban problems such as, high poverty and crime. Similar to other major American cities, spatial concentration of poverty in specific African American neighborhoods has defined the social landscape of Cincinnati, and continues to dominate as a crucial and controversial issue in its planning and policy arena [11]. As per the Cincinnati Metropatterns study, the Cincinnati region has some of the most pronounced patterns of racial and economic separation in the country,

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Fig. 2 Population Change in Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area from 1950–2050. Source US Census Bureau 1950-2020, OKI Regional Council of Governments (oki.org), https://www.macrot rends.net/cities/22957/cincinnati/population

Fig. 3 Population density in Cincinnati in 2019. Source American Community Survey 2019 5-year estimates, retrieved from www.sociaexplorer.com

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Fig. 4 Proportion of African American population in Cincinnati in 2019. Source American community survey 2019 5-year estimates, retrieved from www.sociaexplorer.com

leading to social isolation that threatens the entire region [6]. A study that traced the changes in the built environment of Cincinnati since its earliest planning, found an astonishing loss of building stock in the Over-The-Rhine neighborhood which was pockmarked with vacant lots in 1991. One area experienced a loss of two-thirds of its buildings, down from 3695 buildings in 1891 to only about 1155 buildings left standing in 1991 [12]. Figures 5 and 6 show median household income and poverty distribution in Cincinnati in 2019 at census tract levels, and the neighborhoods with higher concentration of African American population also exhibit lower income levels and higher poverty levels. Redevelopment, Gentrification, and Displacement Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), the non-profit real estate development company has been instrumental in many redevelopment projects in the center-city area of Cincinnati since the 2000s. 3CDC is strategically focused on revitalization of the Cincinnati downtown and aims to bring underused, dilapidated properties back to use [13]. 3CDC in collaboration with the City of Cincinnati and other public and private agencies has created many successful projects in centercity. Most importantly, it is credited for the ongoing transformation of Over-TheRhine (OTR), considered to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country, leading up to the 2001 race riots [14]. 3CDC has been transforming OTR into a vibrant, mixed-used neighborhood with thriving businesses, restaurants, office spaces, and residential properties with meticulous planning for over a decade. While there are arguably several successful outcomes of these projects, the redevelopment process led by 3CDC has been criticized for bringing about gentrification due to an influx of new, higher income residents and investments. Much criticism has been

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Fig. 5 Median household income in Cincinnati in 2019. Source American community survey 2019 5-year estimates, retrieved from www.sociaexplorer.com

Fig. 6 Proportion of people living in poverty in Cincinnati in 2019. Source American community survey 2019 5-year estimates, retrieved from www.sociaexplorer.com

pointed towards the redevelopment of OTR, which has resulted in the displacement of some long-time African American population from these transforming neighborhoods [15, 16]. Jean-Paul [17] examines the impact of multiple neoliberal policies that have accentuated the political and economic disenfranchisement of the most

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marginalized inhabitants of the OTR, which have led to outmigration of stable lowmiddle income families and dispersion of strong minority community leaders out of the OTR in the process of dispersing poverty. Besides the HUD’s Sect. 8 voucher program that freed the poor to live outside of depressed neighborhoods, Cincinnati’s impaction ordinance enabled landlords to exclude the most marginalized, and its historic district designation economically pressured low-income residents to move out, furthering neighborhood decay [17]. The 2002 Over-The-Rhine neighborhood plan did recognize the displacement threat and incorporated several goals for new investments and historic preservation without displacement, as well as preservation of affordable housing in the neighborhood for its long-term residents. However, more needs to be done. According to the 3CDC’s 2020 annual report, since 2016 it has only managed to add (or is in the process of adding) 457 affordable housing units [18]. To deal with the affordable housing shortage and artificially inflated rents in the urban core, the Cincinnati Planning Commission is currently considering an “Urban Housing Overlay District” that will remove density limitation from several neighborhoods to enable construction of more affordable housing in the city’s core [19, 20]. The city hopes that this would also lower apartment rents in the historic neighborhoods such as the OTR and downtown areas, as well as help create mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly areas. These efforts were met with some resistance from the neighborhoods, as they fear traffic congestion and increased parking demand.

3 Legacy of Planning in Cincinnati The profession of planning gained momentum during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as a response to deteriorating living conditions in the industrial cities of America. There was a need to address the negative effects of rapid industrial development and urbanization on health and safety, which resulted in a push to shift from little and no government intervention to improved planning and better government. Cincinnati was an early champion of planning. The earliest city-wide plan for Cincinnati was the well-known 1907 Parks Master Plan, by Kessler, a prominent landscape architect [21, 22]. This plan proposed a comprehensive parks system, incorporating greenway networks and vistas of the river and the basin area. While it was limited in scope and only some portions of it were actually implemented, it nevertheless demonstrated to Cincinnatians the possibilities of planning. At a time when other comprehensive plans in the United States were advisory in nature, Cincinnati’s City Council became the first in the country to legally adopt their first comprehensive plan in 1925, called The Official City Plan of Cincinnati [23]. According to the powers granted to the City Planning Commission, the entire plan was legally enforceable, and any deviation from the official plan after its adoption required a two-thirds vote of the city council and public hearings. A key objective of this plan was to “plan for the orderly development of the city during the fifty years to come” [24]. This was the time of rapid demographic and economic

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growth, marked with industrialization and migration, as well as the beginning of the automobile era. This plan followed the rational-comprehensive planning approach, which was prevalent during the 1920s and was heavily influenced by engineering and infrastructure planning of the Progressive Era [25]. It focused on improving “public health, safety, convenience, comfort, prosperity, beauty and general welfare” of the residents, and included proposals for comprehensive zoning, transit, schools, parks, building ordinances, etc. The plan also included acquisitions and improvements to public properties. Transportation was an important concern and the plan devoted five chapters to improving streets, traffic, transit, and overall regional mobility [23]. Much of the early success of planning in Cincinnati is attributed to a Cincinnatian lawyer, Alfred Bettman, who prepared this plan along with Segoe and Technical Advisory Committee, one of the earliest planning firms in the country. Under Bettman’s leadership, several concerned civic-minded Cincinnati citizens founded the United City Planning Committee in 1914, which in 1918 became the Planning Commission, of which Bettman was also a member. They strongly believed that the comprehensive plan must be legally enforceable and defensible since planning was an emerging and fragile activity at the time. Cincinnati initially faced several challenges in implementing the plan, however, it worked to overcome them through legal means at the state level to ensure that all developments—including those by non-municipal government bodies, were required to follow the provisions of the plan officially adopted by the Planning Commission, and insulated the independent Planning Commissions from local politics [26, 27]. Bettman advocated for rational planning for city’s growth and development, and as a tool for guiding civic expenditure and reduce municipal corruption [28]. Earlier in 1915, Bettman had drafted the legislation and persuaded the Ohio state legislature to allow creation of local planning commissions and ensure their ability to adopt legally binding plans [24–26, 28]. Later, he also played a key role in the landmark 1926 Village of Euclid v. Amber Realty case that established the constitutionality of zoning in the country. Cincinnati’s next plan, The Metropolitan Master Plan, 1948, was regional in scope and included urbanized portions of Hamilton County in Ohio and Kenton and Campbell counties in Kentucky. This plan envisaged growth and relied on intergovernmental cooperation for managing it, organizing the region’s land use pattern into distinct residential and industrial areas, and proposing better public institutions and public buildings and improved service delivery [29]. There was a heavy emphasis on transportation, planning for transition from streetcars to cars, and introduction of an expressway system. Bettman and other leading businessmen of the city were also instrumental in mobilizing the city’s 1948 metropolitan plan, and supporting the idea of linking regional-based comprehensive planning with public works in the post WW II era. They extensively lobbied the city and the state for several planning reforms to improve the business environment and economic opportunities. This plan proposed large-scale clearing of blighted areas in the West End and Over-The-Rhine neighborhoods, which could then be sold to developers for desired redevelopments. This process nevertheless, destroyed some affordable housing units from these areas [5]. There was a concentrated effort and renewed commitment from the business community around 1960 to address inner-city decline through specific CBD plans

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and revitalization projects, in addition to promoting highways, suburbanization, and expansion. This plan has been criticized for perpetuating the pattern of social and racial residential segregation by treating each community as a single stand-alone unit, proposing to combat population and neighborhood decline without involving community action, and ignoring their interconnectedness [30]. The Coordinated City Plan (Volumes 1 and 2), 1980 addressed the challenges that Cincinnati was facing as a “mature city” at the time due to deindustrialization, declining population, white flight, concentration of poverty, job loss, and decreased revenues due to erosion of the tax base [31, 32]. It is therefore less visionary yet it included detailed analysis of existing conditions within distressed areas and proposed short-range capital improvement programs that could be implemented with constrained resources. It also emphasized conservation, rehabilitation, and asset development in order to improve services, stabilize communities, and avoid expensive replacement and expansion. In 1986, Cincinnati City Planning Commission developed the Cincinnati 2000 Plan: A Comprehensive Development Plan for Downtown. This plan was Cincinnati’s Urban Renewal Plan and focused primarily on downtown redevelopment and addressed the challenges of suburbanization [33]. It paved the way for several revitalization projects along the Ohio River such as, the stadiums and the Banks projects. Faced with budgetary constraints in 2002, and at the behest of a local developer Smyjunas, whose proposed development was denied by the Planning Commission, then Mayor Luken and City Manager Lemmie pushed to abolish the Planning Department from the Cincinnati government structure as a cost-cutting measure and to become more “developer friendly” [34, 35]. Following the recommendation of an advisory panel chaired by Smyjunas, the City Council merged planning into the city’s economic development department and cut in half its $1.2 million budget. This struck a major blow to the city’s rich history of progressive planning. A few years later in 2007, Mayor Mallory hired Charles Graves as the new Planning Director and reconstituted the full Planning Department, entrusting it with the task of preparing an updated Comprehensive Plan [36]. The 2012 Plan Cincinnati [37] was Cincinnati’s first Comprehensive Plan in more than 30 years. It is uniquely different from previous plans, as it is more of a conceptual plan with a strong sustainability focus and structured into four geographic organizing principles and five initiative areas: Complete, Connect, Live, Sustain, and Collaborate. This current plan reflects the transformed planning values and has come a long way since 1925 when Cincinnati city council became the first in the country to adopt its comprehensive plan. The 2012 plan focuses on improving equity of access and inclusion and documents the lengthy and extensive public consultations and citizen engagement adopted during the plan-preparation process. The land development code was developed in a synergistic manner with the plan. This plan has won national accolades, receiving the 2014 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan by the American Planning Association [38]. The following sections describe the plan-preparation process and the key objectives of this plan.

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4 The 2012 Plan Cincinnati The 2012 Plan Cincinnati was the first major city-wide plan for Cincinnati since 1980. The 2012 Plan Cincinnati received national acclaim in the planning community when it won the 2014 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan awarded by the American Planning Association. Overview of Goals and Objectives The 2012 plan achieves many desirable objectives with its integration of several planning tools and planning principles such as, incorporation of Form-Based Codes (FBC) in select areas, complete streets, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), inclusionary zoning, Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), incentive zoning, and crime prevention through environmental design [39]. Cincinnati was an early partner of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities1 and adopted all of its livability principles: Provide more transportation choices; Promote equitable, affordable housing; Enhance economic competitiveness; Support existing communities; Coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment; and, Value communities and neighborhoods. The overall vision of the plan is “Thriving Re-Urbanization”, which was drafted by the Steering Committee after much deliberation process: Thriving Re-Urbanization: The vision for the future of Cincinnati is focused on an unapologetic drive to create and sustain a thriving inclusive urban community, where engaged people and memorable places are paramount, where creativity and innovation thrive, and where local pride and confidence is contagious [39].

The five Initiative Areas of the 2012 plan are: (1) Compete—Be the pivotal economic force of the region (this integrated Economic Development and Business Retention, Arts and Culture, Fiscal Impact, and Institutions elements); (2) Connect—Bring people and places together (this integrated Transportation and Transit, Economic Development and Business Retention, Land Use, Utilities, and Infrastructure elements); (3) Live—Strengthen our magnetic City with energized people (integrated Housing and Neighborhood Development, and Urban Design, Arts and Culture, and Land Use elements); (4) Sustain—Steward resources and ensure long-term vitality (integrated Health, Environment, and Open Space, Fiscal Impact, Historic Conservation, Land Use, Utilities, and Infrastructure elements); (5) Collaborate—Partner to reach our common goals (integrated Intergovernmental Cooperation, Institutions, Utilities, and Infrastructure elements) [39]. The 2012 Plan Cincinnati identified a series of goals, subsequent actions, and specific tasks to be completed within the next 10 years within each initiative area. These action steps were also determined as short-range (1–3 years), mid-range (4–7 years), and long range (8–10 years). The key strategies of the plan include efforts to increase Cincinnati’s population size and diversity, build on current assets through historic preservation, parks, and greenspace enhancements, strengthen the 1

Promoted by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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unique character of Cincinnati neighborhoods, improve the recreational amenities, undertake strategic marketing and branding of the city to better position itself, improve business and economic development strategies, promote walkability and pedestrian-scaled urban developments, strategically improve public spending and cost-effectiveness, improve public health, strengthen community organizations, and overall grow sustainably [39]. Adopting Form-Based Codes (FBC) The City of Cincinnati planners were aware that the overarching theme of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati, “Thriving Re-urbanism”, would not be realized by continuing with their conventional zoning approach. The city hired consultants to draft Form-Based Codes that could be adopted by specific neighborhoods to create compact, diverse, and mixed-use environments. This process was conducted at the same time as the preparation of 2012 Plan Cincinnati. Several detailed studies were undertaken to determine how the FBC could be incorporated in the land development code. The FBC were approved in 2013 and currently several neighborhoods have adopted them [40]. FBC primarily regulate an intended physical form, and secondarily regulate land uses, ensuring maximum compatibility between land uses and urban form, and resulting in high-quality spaces. FBC are based on an urban-to-rural transect, and take into account the context and the neighborhood characteristics, which then guide the intended developments. However, a key failure of Cincinnati’s plan implementation has been its lack of success in adopting the proposed Land Development Codes (LDC). The most important aspect of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati is that it is designed to be integrally connected with the updated Land Development Code (LDC). Work on updating the LDC was undertaken as the preparation of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati was entering its completion stage, which ensured a synergy between the two efforts. The LDC is the most important tool to implement the comprehensive plan as it specifies the minimum standards, criteria, and the procedures for all development. If the LDC were adopted, they would have been applied to all properties in the city in accordance with the zoning districts specified in the zoning map [41]. Since the comprehensive plan itself does not stipulate parcel-by-parcel land use determination, it was meant to be implemented through a detailed and updated Land Development Code. While the city’s planning team spent more than a year drafting detailed LDC, eight years later it is still in a draft stage due to the inability of the city to approve and implement them. Adopting the LDC will guide for the land use and physical development of Cincinnati fully in accordance with the provisions of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati. Integration with the 2018 Green Cincinnati Plan While the acclaimed 2012 Plan Cincinnati can be considered successful in many ways, it has been critiqued for being a typical “traditional” comprehensive plan that does not include ecosystem services as a key organizing principle. While the plan scored high on several indicators including authentic participation, it scored comparatively lower on harmony with nature. Future updates of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati need to address ecosystem services, and incorporate strategies for protecting the natural

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habitats, providing green infrastructure, and better managing streams, waterbodies, and floodplains [42]. However, the authors do commend the plan on including several sustainable strategies that reduce GHG emissions, many of which relate to transportation and land use sectors. The 2018 Green Cincinnati Plan is Cincinnati’s recently updated Climate Action Plan (CAP) that builds upon the sustainability foundations laid in the 2012 Plan Cincinnati [43]. The well-articulated 2018 Green Cincinnati Plan outlines 80 strategies and recommendations focused on eight key sectors: built environment, natural systems, resilience, energy, transportation, food, and waste to meet its long-term goal of reducing Cincinnati’s greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2006 levels by 2050. The plan identifies 26 measurable goals to measure the city’s progress toward sustainability, equity, and resiliency. The 2018 Green Cincinnati Plan includes several aggressive sustainability measures that build upon three of the five key Initiative Areas of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati, “Sustain”—steward resources and ensure long-term viability, "Connect”– bring people and places together , and "Compete”– be the pivotal economic force of the region. This plan builds on the 2012 Plan Cincinnati to create an implementation framework for several of these initiatives, and works with communities to incorporate these strategies within their neighborhood plans to ensure synergy across multiple planning efforts. Cincinnati’s climate action team made commendable effort to include diverse voices during the community engagement process by including an equity advocate and a Spanish community liaison in the team and hosting separate well-attended Spanish language meetings to overcome language barriers to participation. While the planning was led by the mayor-appointed Steering Committee, there were several task forces comprised of hundreds of community members that helped in the planpreparation process, which are also empowered to lead the effort on implementation. Further, in addition to the City of Cincinnati, the 2018 Green Cincinnati Plan identifies the action that needs to be taken by businesses and nonprofits, making it community’s plan as a whole and sharing responsibility [44]. Each of the 80 strategies outlined in the plan articulates “keys to equity”, which is a set of actions needed while implementing that strategy to ensure equity.

5 Plan Cincinnati Planning Process and Citizen Participation Arnstein’s 8 rung ladder of citizen participation is one of the most influential models of citizen participation in a democratic framework, which is as relevant today as it was in the 1960s. Arnstein argued a “critical difference between going through the empty ritual of participation and having the real power needed to affect the outcome of the process”. In this model, levels of participation can vary from degrees of “non-participation” to “citizen power”, and classified into the following eight levels: Manipulation, Therapy, Informing, Consultation, Placation, Partnership, Delegated

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Power, and Citizen Control. The bottom two rungs, Manipulation and Therapy represent “non-participation” where public officials mislead the citizens in believing that they have the power although the process of participation itself denies citizens real power to affect the outcomes. Often, citizen participation in these two categories enable the power holders to educate powerless citizens and manipulate them through a distorted sense of participation. The next three rungs of participation—Informing, Consultation, and Placation, represent “degrees of tokenism” where citizens are more involved than the bottom two rungs. Under these three forms of participation, public officials inform the citizens of their rights and responsibilities (as in informing), citizens are invited to share their views and consult ideas with officials (e.g., through public hearing etc.), and citizens are granted some power through participation in committees [45]. However, Arnstein asserts that these are not forms of citizen power as information flow often becomes one directional (from public official to citizen), consultation with citizens do not assure that their views will be taken into account, and participation can come from only few groups of citizens who do not represent the entire population. According to Arnstein, actual citizen participation happens in the top 3 rungs of Partnership, Delegated Power, and Citizen Control, where the actual power of influencing outcomes is distributed among the citizens, and the public officials share some degrees of control over the process with the citizens [45]. We apply Arnstein’s 8-rung ladder of citizen participation to assess the comprehensive planning process in the city of Cincinnati. In addition, we interviewed planners from the City of Cincinnati who were involved in the 2012 Plan Cincinnati plan-making processes, to corroborate the efficiency and effectiveness of citizen participation in this comprehensive plan. Stakeholder Participation Figure 7 shows the key stakeholders that participated in the comprehensive planmaking process in Cincinnati. The City of Cincinnati public administrators and officials led by the Mayor and Planning Director, worked with the Planning Commission and Steering Committee in the plan-making process. Citizen participation is visible in the Stakeholder Participation process, specifically within working groups that included 400 Cincinnatia residents, local stakeholders and city staff, and local Cincinnati community-groups that were responsible for driving the planning process. Community Engagement Process: A Critical Assessment Figure 8 highlights the community engagement process as observed in the preparation and adoption of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati. It is evident that the public officials and administrators involved the public from an early stage during the planning of 2012 Plan Cincinnati. Such public involvement in the earlier stages and the public feedback process was effective in mobilizing the public and empowering them in greater extent to communicate their vision in the final 2012 Plan Cincinnati, thus aligning with higher rungs in Arnstein’s ladder of participation. As shown in Fig. 8, Plan Elements with preliminary goals were developed through several steering

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Fig. 7 Key stakeholders of the 2012 Plan Cincinnati preparation process. Source Compiled by authors

committee and stakeholder meetings. Community Information sessions were extensively held, where the public hearings were used as an important tool to inform the public about the Comprehensive Plan. This arguably falls under Arnstein’s rung of “Informing”. However, more effective participation was observed in the later stages with Neighborhood Summits and Working Groups. Such initiatives can be compared with Arnstein’s rung of Consultation and Placation. While the 2012 Plan Cincinnati planning process was able to effectively get feedback from the public in these summits and working groups, it is not strongly evident that the “have-nots” or minority and under-represented groups were well represented in these groups and that their opinions were not outvoted. In the Summer Learning Forums and Planting the Future processes, feedback from citizens were adopted in identification of initiative areas and formulation of the plan “vision”. This arguably can be compared with Arnstein’s rungs of Partnership and Delegated Power. The 2012 Plan Cincinnati was effectively able to translate the public’s vision into the comprehensive plan, which is one of its major accomplishments. This was followed by more Working Group Open Houses, where 128 of the initial goals were reduced to 18 final goals. Again, this can be compared to Arnstein’s rungs of Partnership and Delegated Power. Next stages of Neighborhood

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Fig. 8 Community engagement process during the planning of 2012 Plan Cincinnati. Source Compiled by authors

Summits and Investing in the future demonstrates that public officials were willing to share power with the citizens and is therefore an example of redistribution of power. The planners and public officials clearly made efforts in the planning process, which are well documented, to increase participation from those population groups and citizens who were lacking in providing feedback to the plan. Planners from City of Cincinnati were proactive in following up with them, and receiving consistent feedback from the citizens, community-members, and public schools across various neighborhoods from an early stage of formulation 128 initial goals to the adoption of 18 final goals. The stages of Steering Committee subgroups, Draft Plan Open House,

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and Public Hearings for Plan Adaption were effective stages where public feedback was further integrated in the Plan finalization phases. This emphasizes that the public officials were able to share control over the plan-making process with thee citizens to a great extent. All of these levels of participation, thus fall somewhere between Partnership and Delegated Power on Arnstein’s ladder. Overall, in this 2012 Plan Cincinnati planning process citizen participation was observed to be crucial from early stages. Citizens were involved in all stages of plan-making process; and citizen participation can arguably be compared to fall between the 3rd , i.e., Informing and 7th rungs, i.e., Delegated Power of Arnstein’s ladder. Initial stages of the planning process would fall under the lower rungs on Arnstein’s ladder, e.g., Informing and Consultation, as the citizens did not have much power in these earlier stages. However, as the planning process progressed, in later stages citizen participation and incorporation of their needs and views are more evident. It is well documented in the Plan as well as corroborated by planners through interviews with the authors that planners, public officials, and administrators followed up with many sessions in various forms at neighborhood levels to gather inputs from the citizens, and these were included in the final plan. However, a key criticism in the process is participation from minority and under-represented populations, specifically the African American in case of Cincinnati. The degree of citizen participation based on racial background of the participants is not documented in the official plan. It is often argued by activists and scholars that their needs could have been better integrated in the planning process, as issues of poverty, gentrification, and displacement of long-term African American residents from rapidly transforming neighborhoods still persist as a dominant urban challenge in Cincinnati.

6 Conclusion The City of Cincinnati is a quintessential example of an old industrial American city with typical urban challenges of socio-economic and racial segregation over space, suburbanization, decline of inner-city neighborhoods, and issues of gentrification and displacement of population due to more recent redevelopment efforts to revitalize the old and dilapidated urban core. Cincinnati is also unique in its rich legacy of master planning and comprehensive planning activities, dating back to more than a century. However, the city notably diverted its attention from city-wide plan-making activities in the late-twentieth century and early-twenty-first century. Comprehensive planning made a successful comeback in Cincinnati with its 2012 Plan Cincinnati, which won several planning awards for its innovativeness and effectiveness, as well as for engaging the citizens. Cincinnati is also progressive in adopting Form-based Codes to replace traditional Euclidean zoning that promoted spatial segregation and over-consumption of land. Organizations like 3CDC have played instrumental roles in planning for successful revitalization in dilapidated inner-city neighborhoods. While all these planning efforts are commendable, the city still lags behind in implementing the ambitious Land Development Code to ensure that land use changes and

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physical development can happen in accordance with the plan, addressing the needs of minority and poor communities, and alleviating the challenges of racial and socioeconomic segregation over space. Although the 2012 Plan Cincinnati is inadequate in its focus on ecosystem services, the recent 2018 Green Cincinnati Plan builds upon that aspect of environmental sustainability. To what extent the city can find the balance between these conflicting issues will likely impact the transformation of Cincinnati into a vibrant, contemporary, and equitable city of the twenty-first century. Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to Kebokile Nyathi for providing extensive and able research assistance in this study.

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Dr. Sudeshna Ghosh is an Associate Professor of Regional Planning, in the Department of Geography, Geology, Environment, and Planning at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, PA, US. Her scholarly activities focus on community development planning, smart city and resiliency planning, land use planning and planning in the developing world. She also explores applications of spatial modeling techniques for land use change and policy analyses. She teaches planning history, global cities, planning methods and seminar courses. She frequently organizes study abroad courses in India to explore urbanization challenges in contemporary Indian cities. Initially trained in architecture and urban planning from Kolkata and Kharagpur (India), she earned her doctoral degree in Regional Development Planning from University of Cincinnati. She received several small grants for her research work in the areas of small-town economic development and planning for the slum settlements in the developing world. Dr. Sweta Byahut is an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Master of Community Planning program at Auburn University, USA. She earned a PhD in Regional Development Planning from the University of Cincinnati, USA. Her research focuses on improving urban land management, spatial planning, and development regulation in Indian cities. She is also interested in the application of spatial analysis tools in built-form analysis. She recently completed a multi-year grant from the Mississippi Alabama Sea Grant Consortium to determine the impact of landscape patterns on stormwater runoff. Before joining academia, Dr. Byahut has a decade long experience as an urban planner in consulting and applied research in various topics such as planning legislation and policy, development regulation, comprehensive/urban development plans, post disaster reconstruction planning, and urban revitalization.

Gurugram

Be Smart, Be with the Basics of Planning: A Case of Gurugram, Haryana, India Prabh Bedi and Mahavir

Abstract The ‘smartness’ as perceived by the authors about ‘going back to basics’ is based on the ideology of Patrick Geddes. Through the study of one of the most dynamic cities of India, Gurugram, an attempt has been made to bring to light the essence of the master plan in India in this age of Smart Cities. Gurugram is on the trajectory to make itself a super smart city using the new-age automation technology. The authors have questioned the need for the data generated and its granularity by the city automation systems for the purpose of master plan preparation and tried to emphasize the need of the planners to root themselves in the fundamentals of planning to build smart master plans for truly futuristic and smart cities. Keywords Gurugram · Master planning · Smart master planning · Smart city · Patrick Geddes

1 Introduction Master Plans are the statutory documents, driving the development of the urban and its surrounding areas in India. The key focus of the master plan has been land use planning, having an exclusive and top-down approach in plan preparation as well as implementation. Gurugram has been among the fortunate few cities in the county to have had master plans to guide its developments since the late 1960s. The focus of the concerned authorities throughout has been maximizing the opportunities due to increasing land value, negating in most plans the aspects of the environment, people, and the socio-cultural context. The city that has grown in response to the reactive and piecemeal approach of the authorities to the emergent problems has in recent years dawned the garb of smartness by automating monitoring and control systems by installing sensors and cameras while using GIS technology for visualization. P. Bedi (B) Resonance Integrated Solutions, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] Mahavir Department of Physical Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_5

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The data thus collected using technology is mainly used for better management control of the municipal services. The prime questions being asked through this research are about the master plan approach adopted in Gurugram and the learning that can be derived thereof. The authors have further researched that whether the automated data thus collected is useful for master planning and lastly, the aspects that the planners need to focus on to prepare smart master plans which would deliver the smart cities in future.

2 Evolution of Master Planning Philosophy in India Master Plans are the dynamic long-term planning documents that provide a conceptual layout to guide future development [1]. It has been defined by Kulshrestha [2] as a plan of a settlement for a period of generally about 20 years, prepared and approved after following the relevant legal procedures that serve as an instrument to guide its socio-cultural, economic, and physical development through judicious land use planning. A Master Plan is a document and policy guide designed to help communities create a vision of what they want to look like in the future as per the American Planning Association [3]. The master plans have a pertinent role to play in the growth of the urban environment. If not well-conceived, these have been known to cause problems in future. Having its origins in the early twentieth century, the master plans have been the key instruments guiding the growth and development of urban India. These have been the standard instruments of planning to be developed by urban local governments in India [4] which in reality have been resting with the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO) at the center and/or town and country planning directorates/departments or the urban development authorities at the state level. The basic essence of the master plan is to be used as a forward planning tool that anticipates urban development and makes provisions for it in a defined space in terms of the allocation of land for various uses, the regulation of its development, and the provision of civic infrastructure [4]. The Master Plans, sometimes referred to as Development Plans, are culled out of the strategies and policies laid out in the Perspective Plan which is supposed to be within the purview of states and/or national policies and plans. It is conceived within the framework of the approved perspective plan, providing the stakeholders the comprehensive proposals for the socio-economic and spatial development of the urban center. It aims to provide details and intended actions in the form of strategies and physical proposals for various policies depending on the economic and social needs and aspirations of the people, available resources, and priorities. Master Plans assesses the current issues, prospects, priorities, and proposals for the development of urban centers including employment generation, economic base, transportation, housing, physical infrastructure, environmental conservation, ecology, and land use. In India, Master Plans are the pivotal deliverable of planning, a long-term policy document, prepared for a period of 20–25 years focusing on the planned development of urban areas [5]. The plan consists of a document known as a government

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notification and a government notified land use plan. The document includes the space requirements for various uses and allocates land for the same. It spells out the policies and guidelines of the plan. The plan is presumably based on surveys and studies on the present status and the future growth prospects which direct the physical development of the urban area. The Master Plan goes through a process of public opinions and objections and is backed by the town planning/urban development act enacted by the state government. The thrust of the Master Plans in India has been on land use planning [5]. In recent years, focus has been shifting toward the inclusion of economic, social, and environmental aspects. Through its implementation, the intent of Master Plans is to facilitate the orderly and planned development of urban areas in a sustainable manner, which would ultimately result in good governance. The Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines [6] clearly stated that the Master Plans were to be referred to as Development Plans. In 1996, the Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) Guidelines [7] defined four levels of urban development planning framework, wherein a plan for a period of 20–25 years was called a perspective plan. Within the approved framework of the perspective plan, a Development Plan was to be prepared for a five-year period providing the necessary details and intended actions in the form of strategies and physical proposals for the urban areas. This framework was revised in the 2015 Guidelines to include regional plans with a timeframe of 20 years. The perspective plans were to be prepared to develop a vision and provide a policy framework for urban and regional development. The Development Plan, as per the Guidelines, is a statutory plan prepared under the relevant act to prepare a comprehensive Development Plan for urban and peri-urban areas under the control of development authority/metropolitan planning committee for the timeframe of 20–30 years to be reviewed every 5 years. This policy document directs the growth of the urban area with the purpose of improving the physical environment of the urban area as a setting for human activities by making it more functional, beautiful, healthful, and efficient. A master plan covering a horizon of about 20 years presents an overview of the built-up form of a city in its ideal end-state. It comprises a report, existing and proposed land use maps, and an implementation framework. It prescribes for allocation of land for various uses, regulation of its development, and installation of infrastructure. The Plan comprises tools such as zoning regulations for infrastructure development and urban renewal. Other instruments consist of taxation policy, land assembly, and capacity building. The framework [6] defines the fourth level as a local area plan, or zonal plans for a timeframe of 5–20 years to detail the sub-city land use plan and integration with urban infrastructure, mobility, and services to be reviewed every 5 years. It has been observed that local area plans do not get ready for years. In the meantime, haphazard growth occurs; large-scale violations of a master plan become conspicuous. Unauthorized constructions mushroom, especially in urban fringes and areas earmarked for conservation and public spaces. Master plans stipulate an elaborate system of regulation for implementation. Master plans have relied heavily on

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compulsory acquisition of land for plan implementation. The failure of such interventions is obvious. In recent decades, the authorities, especially in Haryana have allowed private developers to acquire/purchase land from farmers for development. A model that has been a catalyst in real estate led urban development of most of the urban areas in the state. Master plans are formal, not recognizing the large informal economies of cities that engage the poor. Neither do these provide adequate space for living, working, and vending by the economically weaker segments. The process that has emerged in India is such that it has sidelined the participation of such segments in the planning of the urban areas. In most states in India, urban development authorities are entrusted with the preparation of master plans. These authorities are parastatals and are not accountable to the people—unlike urban local bodies essentially having a top-down approach. It is pertinent to understand that in India master plans are based on the concept of a completed product, whereas a city’s evolution is a process. Planning is not a onetime activity. Plan making and plan implementation need to be dynamic processes, linked to the functions of the city. For example, as the service sector enhances its contribution to GDP, a substantial increase in demand for floor space will arise in certain locations. The master planning process must be responsive to such evolving demands. Ironically, master planning experiences in India reveal that discretionary changes in land use, FAR, and building permit/use occur on a fairly large scale, in violation of master plans many a time under political influence. Such changes have often reduced the spaces earmarked for conservation. Over the years, the master plans have been focused on the urban settlement at the core and its controlled area, neglecting the role the city has been playing in the region at large resulting in a lack of spatial and functional integration between cities, suburbs, rural areas, and satellite towns. The master plans have further emerged to have a sectoral approach with the primary emphasis being only on land use planning. Primary emphasis of master plans has been on land use planning and the plans have emerged to have a sectoral approach, like land use planning and transportation planning have been pursued as separate processes. The treatment of transportation as a residual in master planning ignores its crucial role in leading economic development. Thus, neither the master plan nor the transportation plan harnesses the power of transportation-land use integration for orderly urban development and economic growth. Being confined to physical planning, master plans fail to provide a robust model for their financing. In fact, they keep economic development and financing outside the model of spatial planning, which is the case with environmental aspects too. The master planning history of contemporary India reveals that till recently, Indian planners were very much influenced by the Western methods and concepts, particularly, the British town planning. The use of master plans for the future development of cities is one important example. On the contrary, Britain from where this concept of master plan was borrowed has been discarded as it has been found to be not at all an effective method of ensuring planning development of cities. It is still a usual

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practice in India though. Master planning has continued to remain a rigid process in the country, with additions and minor alterations to its basic ideology.

2.1 Emergent Focuses Over the decades, since Independence, the emphasis in the preparation of master plans has evolved from that of being singly focused on land use planning to the adoption of alternative models of land assembly to redevelopment and strategic densification to the integration of transportation and land use planning to mixed-use development and to that of being focused on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). In all the scenarios, the focus has been largely driven by land economics and market forces. (a)

Land assembly has been used as a means for delivery of the master plans in certain parts of the country. For more than half a century, the Town Planning Schemes (TPS) have been the predominant mechanism in Gujarat to undertake integrated urban development, providing an effective alternative to the compulsory acquisition of land. Being equitable in essence, it has been found to be more beneficial to landowners. Based on land pooling enabled by law, the TPS promotes planned urban expansion. Master planning in Gujarat has been a two-step process outlined in the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976 [8], namely to prepare a Development Plan (DP) for a designated area followed by the preparation of town planning schemes. The DP is a broad development vision for the city, a dynamic document that is detailed subsequently. The new areas to be developed are clearly marked and divided into smaller areas of about 100–200 ha, typically involving 100–250 landowners. Each such area is called a Town Planning Scheme.

The steps involved in TPS include topographical survey of area; establishment of ownership detail of each land parcel; reconciling survey and landownership records to prepare a base map, defining the boundary of the area, marking original plots on the base map, tabulating ownership details and plot size; laying out roads, carving out plots for amenities, tabulating deduction, and final plot size; delineating final plot, infrastructure costs, and betterment charges; conducting landowners’ meeting; modifying draft TPS; and obtaining approval by the state government. Each landowner gets back proportionately reduced developed land, contributing to reservations and land sale components to meet infrastructure costs. The TPS is known to offer advantages as follows: (i) (ii) (iii)

the planning process has all freedom that a new town offers without burdening it with land acquisition, associated costs, and court litigations; the reduction in land area, costs, and returns of the scheme are spread across all landowners; inclusive development occurs with sizable land being made available for the weaker sections through the planning system itself; and

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(iv)

the local authority is enabled to levy betterment charges on landowners in proportion to land value increment induced due to planning and infrastructure improvements.

The TPS provides for creating a layout or re-layout land, either vacant or already built upon, by allocating land for roads, water supply, drainage, sewerage, street lighting, open spaces, gardens, green belts, recreation grounds, schools, markets, and other designated used. It also caters to the preservation of features of historical or national interest or natural beauty. Every TPS is legally required to reserve land to the extent of nearly 10% of the total area for socially and economically weaker sections. (b)

A typical phenomenon of Indian towns has been increasing sprawl clubbed with a highly congested core, generally called the old city areas which is grayed out in the land use maps of the master plans. Some master plans have also strategized redevelopment of the old city areas.

Science Dictionary [9] defines urban redevelopment as the process by which large areas of derelict and industrial land and rundown housing areas are restored to become thriving communities once more. By involving the community and surrounding neighborhoods in the planning process, urban redevelopment can increase the standard of living in an area and re-establish pride of place. Redevelopment can take on many forms and renewal can have both positive and negative outcomes on a community. It isn’t inaccurate to state that all development, be it urban, rural, or otherwise, stems from changing land use. All land that has been developed, cleared, paved over, or otherwise altered has been done for the benefit of the urban stakeholders. However, in terms of redevelopment, namely urban redevelopment, changing land use benefits not only the stakeholders but also the local ecological systems. As is often the case, dilapidated buildings and lots remain vacant and cause blight, as well as other hazards such as contaminants, reduced safety, and sanitation issues, for example, by altering the land use, from an old fallen down factory to a green space offering an open-air market, a change in land use brings about a healthy and positive change that often brings the community together by offering a public meeting space. A completely different approach to urban redevelopment relies not on rebuilding but on improving the built environment and creating more resilient, self-sufficient communities. Making the core areas of the cities and towns more walkable and bike-friendly, thereby reducing the need and use of automobiles to gradually lessen congestion so as to energize the core areas. (c)

Greenfield development and resultant urban sprawl have been the mainstay of the Indian planning system. Urban sprawl has resulted in more highways being constructed, more fuel being consumed by vehicles driving on these highways, more pollution caused by the vehicles, and more green space being paved over for parking lots for the vehicles. Keeping the urban cores liveable is a key strategy to slowing urban sprawl and thereby protecting the environment, which is possible through densification.

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Density refers to the intensity of population in relation to land [10]. It is an important instrument of planning as a denser city obviates the necessity of expanding city boundaries and encroaching upon fertile agricultural land. Densification prevents urban sprawl and uneconomic extension of infrastructure. Higher densities in city centers and sub-centers facilitate Transit Oriented Development (TOD) that may be rated as environment-friendly. Higher density promotes the more effective provision of local public goods due to economies of scale and as it is a potential source of agglomeration economies. (d)

Planning in Indian cities has not integrated transport, density, and land use. Accordingly, many large cities have not developed centers of agglomeration, supported by sub-centers located at the most accessible parts of the city region. They have been subject to sprawl, hazard growth, and inadequate physical infrastructure.

Transportation and land use have symbiotic relationships. A well-planned public transportation system, with higher commercial and residential densities at accessible locations and mixed land use, facilitates multi-modal travel such as walking, cycling, public transport, and private vehicles. Locations with good accessibility have higher chances of being developed, and with higher density than remote locations. The two-way relationship between transportation and land use is clearly suggestive of land use impacts intended by master plans that cannot be attained, without-integrating with transportation planning. (e)

Transit Oriented Development is a model for planning sustainable urban communities with compact neighborhoods, high population densities, diverse land uses, and abundant public spaces. Transit Oriented Development is a type of community development that includes a mixture of housing, office, retail and/or other commercial development, and amenities integrated into a walkable neighborhood and located within a half-mile of quality public transportation. TOD advocates the principles of (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (xi)

mixed land use. compact design. increased densities. housing opportunities and choices. walkable and accessible neighborhoods. multiple transportation choices. neighborhood centers to foster social interaction. preservation of open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas. strengthening of and directing development toward existing communities. making development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective. community and stakeholders’ consultation in development decisions.

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TOD is today considered a key element of Smart Growth, offering opportunities to address the master planning challenges. It aims at concentrating growth around one or more transit centers or within a transit corridor. The concentration of development functions against urban sprawl, facilitates agglomeration economies, mitigates congestion diseconomies, and assists in the mobilization of value capture finance through increased land and property values. (f)

Master plans have come to adopt a mixed land use approach for the core areas of the city in India. This has been so in many instances, which is found to be more in congruence with the organic growth, development, and change in land use that happened in the city cores. Mixed use became an accepted norm in master plans by way of notifying the pre-existing mixed-use areas as legal rather than enforcing the segregation of the land use as per the previous prescribed master plans. However, a few cases of planned mixed use emerged which are now being promoted as part of the TOD development.

There has been no blanket rule or policy that has been adopted and followed across all the master plans in the country, however, some master plans have led the way like those of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. This has been so due to the fact that as per the Constitution of India, land is a state subject. Master Plans directly deal with land development, hence master planning falls within the purview of the state government and the states have largely followed the regional examples. At the central level, the sole guide for master planning has been the Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation Guidelines, 1996, and later the Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation Guidelines, 2015. These Guidelines provide a framework for plan preparation and implementation and are not binding on any of the state authorities. Master planning in India has been largely land use and physical planning focused, negating the aspects of the environment, social, and economic aspects. It is important to consider the requirements of the end users of these plans, that is the people, their need to live in a healthy environment, which is impossible to plan and provide for without considering the social, economic, and environmental aspects altogether while preparing the master plan. Further, the Master Plans need to be derivative of the existing situation captured through various types of surveys. In that light, it is pertinent to re-adopt the principles and ideologies of Patrick Geddes, the father of modern town planning [11].

3 Philosophy of Patrick Geddes Geddesian ideology was to keep people at the center of the planning process [12]. Patrick Geddes, a multi-faceted personality, was a biologist, sociologist, geographer, and a pioneering town planner. He is known for innovative thinking and changes that he tried to bring about through his plans in the cities around the world. Geddes considered himself primarily a sociologist and it was his intricate social observations

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which formed the prime basis for finding practical solutions for improving the living conditions in the towns. Patrick Geddes’ philosophy was influenced by social theorists like Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, and Frederic Le Play. He advocated Comte-Le Play’s view that the towns should not to be planned in isolations as towns have connections with their surrounding areas which needs to be considered while planning for the citizen of the cities. He adopted Le Play’s theory that family is the central biological unit of human society [13] and modified family to folk or people of the area as central to any planning activity in the city. He was of the view that the concept of biological evolution could be applied to the evolution of society and formed the basis of his seeing his subject as a living organism [14]. This became the reason for his opposing the centralized approach. The Geddes ideology was to keep people at the center of city planning and he feared that with overly institutionalized interventions, local abilities to solve problems in local ways would get destroyed [15]. Work, Place, and Folk based on Le Play’s triad of ‘Lieu, Travail and Famille’ [16] was developed by Geddes which he adopted as the basis of his town plans by essentially integrating people and their livelihoods into the existing environment of the places he planned, considering the surrounding regions as an integral part of the whole. As stated by him, ‘Town Planning is not mere place-making nor even work planning. If it is to be successful, it must be folk planning.’ In all the plans that he prepared and town reports that he wrote, society and local needs have been studied in detail. Drawing on scientific methods, Geddes encouraged close observation as a way to discover and work with the relationship among place, work, and folk. He laid emphasis on the diagnostic survey, sociological approach, and planning for health. Geddes advocated the civic surveys as indispensable to urban planning ad professed diagnosis before treatment. He stated that the surveys should include geology, geography, climate, economic life, and social institutions of not only the city but also its region. Geddes saw the city as a series of common interlocking patterns. Against the backdrop of extraordinary development of new technologies, industrialization, and urbanism, Geddes witnessed the substantial social consequences of crime, illness, and poverty that developed as a result of modernism. The purpose of his theory was to find equilibrium among people and the environment to improve such conditions. In his plans, he laid emphasis on open space and the planting of trees as essential. Being an advocate of the interconnectedness of the city and its region, Geddes came to be known as the father of regional planning too [11]. He professed that the work of the planner is for the forthcoming generations as much as it is for resolving immediate problems of providing required services and amenities to the public for their well-being, which in essence is the purpose of the Master Plans.

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4 History of Master Planning in Gurugram For decades, until the liberalization era of the country, Gurugram (erstwhile Gurgaon, before 20161 ) [17] existed as a small, distant, and discrete town. Gurugram city is located 20 km southwest of New Delhi, India’s capital. Lying in the state of Haryana, Gurugram has always been part of the Central National Capital Region (CNCR), or the Delhi Metropolitan Area (DMA) as it was known earlier. It has grown to be the financial and technical hub of North India. Emanating from the liberalization policy of the Government of India, prestigious automobile factory, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, and GE-BPO led to a spurt in the city’s growth. There had been a marginal increase in area from 1981 to 2001, but between 2001 and 2011 the increase has been from less than 50–185 km2 caused by initial industrial and later service/IT sector leading to large-scale public and private housing development steered by government’s Development Plans. The area is expected to be 338.72 by 2031 as per the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex Development Plan [18].

4.1 Master Plans of Gurugram The first final Master Plan of Gurugram known as Development Plan was published in September 1971 [19], which was modified and republished as a draft development plan along with restrictions and conditions proposed to be made applicable to the controlled area in August 1977. The area on the north-west of Gurugram-Palam Road between the ammunition depot and Gurugram-Delhi border that was kept under rural zone in the Development Plan of 1971 due to the existence of defense land and the uncertainties of the requirement for industrial use was brought under planned development in the Draft Development Plan of 1977 [20]. The draft plan revised the proposed population of Gurugram as well increasing it by 50,000 for 1991 and also projected the population for 2001. The town at the inception of the first master plan was spread over 12.4 km2 and was proposed to expand by an additional 19.60 km2 in year 2001 (refer to Table 1), of which 4.29 km2 was under defense use. The focus between the two plans shifted from the city is an agricultural market town to an industrial town by changing the focus of development in the land to be on industrial use increasing it from 6 to 35%. Zoning regulations were crafted as part of the plan to give its proposals a legal sanctity and authority for implementation. These regulations were to govern the change of land use and standards of development. Further, the development of the sectors was to be guided by detailed sector plans. In the early 1980s, it was noted by the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD), Haryana, that the controlled area demarcated in the draft development plan 1

Henceforth, Gurugram has been used to connotate both Gurugram and Gurgaon in this chapter.

30

Density (ppHa.)

Final DP 2011

Final DP 2007

Final DP 1996

–

–

–

4,000,000 37,512

–

250 (net)

–

Density (ppHa.)

–

–

–

–

1,650,000

–

–

2025

Area (Ha.)

Population

37,098 200 (net)

3,700,000

Density (ppHa.)

–

–

–

450,000

–

–

2021

Area (Ha.)

Population

–

1,000,000 9,881

– 160 (gross)

–

Density (ppHa.)

–

1,000,000

Area (Ha.)

Population

–

– 9,372

– 100 (gross)

–

700,000

Density (ppHa.)

–

–

–

225,000

Area (Ha.)

Population

Draft DP 1982

100,000

64 175,000

–

2001

70

–

– 100,000

1,950

125,000

1991

Density (ppHa.)

Population

NCR Plans

–

– –

100,000

1981

3,200

–

57,000

1971

Area (Ha.)

Population

1,240

Area (Ha.)

Draft DP 1977

37,000

Population

Final DP 1971

1961

Population, controlled areas (Ha) and density (ppHa.) of development plan target Years

Criteria

Plan details

Table 1 Population, controlled areas (Ha.), and density (ppHa.) of development plan target years of Gurugram

–

–

–

–

–

–

(continued)

2031

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Population

Final DP 2012

–

1961 –

1971 –

1981 –

1991 –

2001 –

2021 –

2025

Population, controlled areas (Ha) and density (ppHa.) of development plan target Years

Source Haryana Government, 1971, 1977, 1982, 1996, 2007, 2011, and 2012

Density (ppHa.)

Area (Ha.)

Criteria

Plan details

Table 1 (continued)

250 (net)

33,872

4,200,000

2031

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of 1977 was insufficient due to the demand for land for residential, industrial, and institutional purposes. There was a tendency for unauthorized sale and purchase of land along the controlled area boundary, which necessitated the extension of the controlled area boundaries through a notification in 1980 and again in 1981 [21]. The population growth since the 1971 development plan as per Census of India was 57,000 in 1971 and 1,19,000 in 1981 having exceeded the target proposed population. The dynamic policies of the Haryana government for an increase in industrial activities in the town, locational advantage of proximity to Delhi, and the National Capital coupled with an increase in demand for land further necessitated the need to relook at the plan. Considering the then prevalent factors such as increasing pressure from National Capital, the 1962 Master Plan of Delhi identified ring town [22] (Gurugram) was expected to grow in harmony with the growth of Delhi, the boost in industrial activity with the commissioning of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, expansion of international airport toward Gurugram, increasing land value in Delhi pushing residents of Delhi to buy land for institutional and residential purposes at affordable prices around Delhi, and land speculations, leading the planning authorities in 1982 to revise the projected population to one million for 2001. At the time of this revision, the town was proposed to expand to an area of 93.72 km2 . The zoning regulation of the development plan continued to guide the development of the controlled area. The proposed area did not include the existing town spread over 4.06 km2 and the village settlements spread over 2.75 km2 which depicts the inherent oversight the Master Plans had toward existing settlements. The final development plan notified and published in January 1996 consisted of a marginal change in the total area, increasing it to 98.81 km2 which too continued to exclude the city core and village settlement areas in its detailing [23]. The distribution of the land under various proposed uses too was modified to increase the area under residential use to 63% from the earlier allocation of 48% by reducing the proposed area under industrial, transportation/communication, and green belts. The gross population density which was proposed at 160 persons per hectare was revised to 200 persons per hectare of net density [23]. The zoning regulations defined in the plan continued to govern the development of the controlled area. In 2007, TCPD published the fifth development plan, now called the GurgaonManesar Urban Complex for the target year 2021 [24]. Haryana government had started setting up the Industrial Model Township with Japanese collaborators at Manesar in 1992 through Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation. To capitalize on the vibrant situation, this plan proposed the unified development of the small settlement of Manesar and its surrounding areas located at a distance of 17 km from Gurugram. The unified area that had been developing as a hub for international companies was proposed to accommodate a population of 3.7 million by 2021. The primary basis was the provision of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), to enable Indian entrepreneurs to compete with foreign establishments under the SEZ Act to boost the economy of the state and the region. In this plan, the emphasis continued to be on residential use. The area under the industrial area was again increased to 28% (including the SEZ area). The average net density was proposed at 200 persons per

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hectare, with the key feature of the plan being the reservation of a sizable portion of land under agricultural use, which is the clear intent of urbanization in near future. In 2011, the plan was revised and published for the target year 2025 to accommodate a population of 40 lakhs with a marginal change in the urbanizable area at 375.12 km2 , and the proposed land use distribution was marginally changed to increase the area under industries [25]. In this plan, some more SEZs were notified to give impetus to the Indian organizations. In November 2012, the Final Development Plan—2031 was notified [18]. The prime reason stated for the revision was that the SEZ area was not being developed due to the change in the scenario in the country with respect to SEZ development. The areas earmarked for SEZs were replanned and the target year was changed to 2031 to accommodate a projected population of 42.50 lakhs in 338.72 km2 . The zoning regulations were detailed in each of the plans as a guide to the development of the controlled area under each land use type. From time to time, in the master plan as well as sector level plans, revisions were made in the allocation of the land use, like changing land use from residential to commercial and public-semipublic along the arterial roads. With the formulation of the Transit Oriented Development policy and enactment of its act, relevant revisions were made in the Development Plan as well, by way of demarcating the TOD corridor and zone, increasing the FAR and resultant density. In a span of approximately 50 years since the notification of its first master plan, Gurugram has had seven major plans, averaging a revision after almost every 6 years, which has been more frequent in the 2000s. The authors are of the opinion that the master plan should function only as a broad framework, a guideline, and a vision document to direct the growth and development of the settlement falling within the controlled area boundary as per the policies of the state and center. In defining this framework, the environmental aspects should not be over-ridden by the politico-economic forces, as has been the case with Gurugram. The planners and decision-makers of Gurugram have been insightful enough to revise the plans as per the emergent requirements, so as to minimize haphazard development and to capitalize on most of the fast-changing economic conditions. The plans of Gurugram were prepared by authorities but manifested on the ground by private developers, leading to a dysfunctional city [26].

4.2 Growth of Gurugram Gurugram is among the few Indian cities to have experienced unprecedented and rapid growth. The settlement of Gurugram has been in existence since the times of Mahabharat [27]. It has been under the rule of various rulers and became the East India Company’s territory through a treaty of Surji Arjungaon in 1803 [27]. The town of Gurugram became the headquarters of the administration in 1816. By the mid-nineteenth century, Gurugram was part of the princely protectorate of Pataudi which is now a part of Gurugram (erstwhile Gurgaon) district. Throughout, Gurugram

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developed as a commodities and grain market. The British integrated Gurugram into the Punjab Province where it served as district and tehsil headquarters. At the time of Independence, owing to mass-migration from newly created Pakistan, refugee camps established in Gurugram [27] leading to an increase in its popularity and expansion of the town. Post India’s Independence, Gurugram continued to be a part of the state of erstwhile Punjab until 1966 when Haryana was formed into a separate state. After the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Punjab, Gurugram became an important market hub of Haryana within the old economic setup. By 1965, the authorities realized the potential evolutionary prospect of Gurugram in relation to the power center of Delhi and developed the first master plan. Throughout these slow but major economic and administrative changes Gurugram remained an agro-based feudal society, which depended heavily on the land for economic sustenance [28]. The 1970s mark the beginning of the city’s rapid growth and development journey. But it was not before the 1990s that the population influx led to the city’s growth. This growth spurt has been an outcome of the new liberal system in the 1990s. As the city exists today, its anatomy can be divided into five parts (refer to Fig. 1), Old Gurugram, lying in the west of the National Highway number 48 (NH-48). Gurugram, west of NH-48 around Old Gurugram, was developed by HUDA and private developers like DLF Limited and Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited in the 1970s and 1980s. Thirdly, the areas to the east of NH-48 built from the 1990s onwards until 2010 are termed as DLF area which was largely developed by private developers under the aegis of Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (erstwhile Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA)). Fourthly, the areas now being developed beyond the Golf Course Extension Road toward the west and the railway line toward the east, and lastly, there exist approximately 120 villages that have become urbanized as the city has grown, which are pockets of very high population density. The population of 2021 is estimated to be around 3 million [29]. The population has increased from 1,00,877 in 1981 to 9,01,968 in 2011 which is a 769.34% increase in three decades. In the Census years, 1991, 2001, and 2011, the population was 135,884, and 229,243 which further increased by 293% to 901,968 in 2011. Nearly doubling of population in two consecutive decades between 1941–51 and 1951–61 can be attributed to the mass-migration of people from newly formed Pakistan due to the partition of the country at the time of independence. The continued high growth rate of 50% (1961–71) in the following decade can be due to the bifurcation of erstwhile Punjab and the emergence of the state of Haryana and in 1971–81 due to the planned development of Gurugram as per the first Master Plan of the city. The decade of 1981–91 experienced a decline in the growth rate which again soared. The increase in the population has been triggered due to the setting up of Maruti Suzuki India Limited in the late 1970s. The astronomical increase in population in the late 1990s and 2000s was due to the liberalization policy of Government of India which resulted in foreign investments and boosted the BPO and IT Industry. The increasing population resulted in increased density. The population density in 2001 and 2011 was 77 and 49 persons per hectare, respectively (refer to Table 2). The decline in the density is attributed to the 530% increase in the city area from 29.30 to 184.59

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Fig. 1 Sketch of Gurugram’s Expansion. Source Developed by authors based on Development Plans and having experienced the city

Table 2 Decadal existing and proposed population and density of Gurugram 1991–2031

Year

Population

1991

135,884

2001 2011

Area (Ha.)

Density (PPHA.)

2,413

56

229,243

2,960

77

901,968

18,459

49

2021

3,700,000

37,098

100

2031

4,200,000

33,872

125

Source Census of India, 2001 and 2011, Haryana Government— 2007 and 2012

km2 [30] and [31]. The density is proposed to increase to 100 and 125 persons per hectare by 2021 and 2031 as per the Development Plans [24] and [18]. In an attempt to attract the business and workers to Gurugram, the road connectivity with Delhi was enhanced by upgrading the national highway from a two-lane divided carriageway to an eight-lane road with flyovers at about 4–5 intersections

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across the length of the city. This led to the bifurcation of the city into old and newly developed parts and caused stark variations in cost and standard of living. In its various Development Plans, the old town became a neglected component. As a more inclusive approach, the plan needed to exclude the highway from its plan and move it beyond the controlled area boundary. However, the approach of widening the road has been a part of the Development Plans which led to the widening of one of the major arterial roads; Golf Course Road from a four-lane divided carriageway to a high-speed eight-lane road with underpasses has resulted in segregation and exclusion [26].

4.3 Impact of Master Plan Led Development Urbanization has boosted the economy of Gurugram and its environs immensely but has not been free from the negative impacts. It has led to an increase in the standard of living of not only the local population but has become a home to a large proportion of the migrant population as well. This development has not been bereft of challenges that have been overriding the benefits provided especially in recent years. The biggest challenge of urbanization in Gurugram is environmental degradation, in terms of slums, poor sanitation, solid waste management, and pollution caused due to traffic and mismanagement of water and waste. The most glaring challenge is the yearly waterlogging of the city during the monsoons. The land use of the city area changed from having about 9% built up [32] to more than 66% built up in 2008. During this development period, the drainage pattern of the area was not taken into consideration as is evident today with the disappearance of the water bodies like ponds and streams causing waterlogging in the city during the rainy season. While the Master Plans prior to 2001 indicated the preservation of major water channels (nallahs/drains) for rainwater harvesting and providing drainage in the city, the subsequent Master Plans have been silent on this aspect. During the period of real-estate boom since 2002, construction activities were uncontrolled and led to the blockage of the drainage channels and ponds [33]. The natural drainage channels and ponds were heavily engineered to be concretized and covered the natural basins to create space for real estate development. The main drains of Gurugram, namely Nathupur, Badshahpur, and Chakkarpur and ponds/Jheels like Badshahpur, Chakkarpur, and Ghatta have been completely or partly concretized and covered to make way for roads and real estate development as has been the case with the drains in the northeastern part of the city (refer to Figs. 2 and 3). Gurugram city, lying in a low-lying region, receives water that flows down both from the Aravalli hills and Delhi’s Chhatarpur area (refer to Fig. 2). The environmental conditions and the topography of the area have been overlooked during the plan preparation. This can be comprehended from both the master plan proposed land use plans and the notifications, which have no mention of the natural features.

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Fig. 2 Gurugram’s natural drainage channels, 1982. Source Survey of India, 1982 [34] and Haryana Government, 2012 [18]

Encroachments on the natural drains and ponds have been rampant not just in one or two cases but nearly in case of all the drainage channels making waterlogging an annual feature during monsoons (refer to Fig. 4 and Picture 1). Efforts have been made in the recent years in reviving these drainage channels, however, these have been largely through concretizations of the flow paths (refer to Picture 2) and in some instances have been carved out or created as underground channels due to now existing built forms, not necessarily following the natural flow path of the terrain and water, which still results in waterlogging in most parts of the city. This real estate-driven urbanization in Gurugram since the turn of the century has led to the drying up of the natural drains and ponds which had acted as sponge during the monsoons in absorbing the rainwater and recharging the groundwater. Rampant construction has led to total loss of the natural drainage channels and reservoirs [35], causing a dichotomous situation of excessive water during monsoons in the form of waterlogged streets and scare or no water situation during summers.

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Fig. 3 Gurugram’s natural drainage channels, 2016. Source Base Map World Imagery, 2016 and Haryana Government, 2012 [18]

5 Smartness in the Context of Master Planning In the present day, things in the digital arena are considered smart and anything that has come to be app-based and is on the mobile is ‘smarter’. With the cities being networked every square inch and being observed through sensors and cameras, humongous amounts of data is being created called Big Data. Big Data is understood to be extremely large datasets produced automatically, routinely, and by various forms of sensors [36] that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations [37]. It is estimated that a smart city of a million people generated 180 million gigabytes of data per day by 2019. A study by Sinaeepourfard et al. [38] estimated 8 GB of data collection per day from approximately one million sensors in the city of Barcelona. The resources required for processing this amount of data needs to be meticulously planned and implemented. The question that arises is if this quantum and granularity of data is a requirement for making master plans? The frequency of data generated by the sensors is in some instances per second which is presumably impacting the thinking of planners that the cities are plannable in minutes, hours, or days rather than years, decades, or generations [36]. In the context of India, it needs to be kept

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Fig. 4 Annually waterlogged areas in Gurugram. Source Survey of India, 1982 [34], Haryana Government, 2012 [18] and field surveys

Picture 1 Waterlogged Gurugram, 2016 and 2020. Source Clicked by author

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Picture 2 Encroachment and concretization of drain on Golf Course Road, Gurugram. Source Authors

in mind that the activity of data generation through the business of automation using sensors and cameras is not very old and widespread. It is in a nascent stage and will grow exponentially in the future. The large quantum of data available to planners does provide an opportunity to create patterns and generate trends. However, the question remains if the basis of a few months or in some cases a couple of years of data having a very high frequency of up to a second or a minute adequate for creating scenarios for making master plans panning over 20 years? In many instances, the pattern emergent in the data thus collected may be due to an anomaly, best ignored in the planning process. Only benefit being that its disregard may be an informed and a conscious decision by the planner. Further, aggregating this quantum of data may call for generalization and averaging, again leading to losing the essence of this granularity. The current generation of bureaucrats and politicians want the planners to think fast and plan even faster forgetting the long-term objective of planning. In the country, the recent scenario of preparation of master plans is such that the draft plans are crafted in less than 3–6 months [39] including the time for procurement of satellite images and collection of field data through various socio-economic and household surveys, processing of collected data, analysis along with stakeholder involvement, which speaks for itself about the quality of content of the plans. Even with data being available from smart gadgets installed across the city, the time required for processing the data to churn out relevant scenarios is being understated and downplayed. There have been undertones to prepare the plans for 5 years rather than 20 years as the target period. Probably, so much of data collection is an overabundance, if viewed from a planners’ perspective. As stated by [40], differentiation between essential and desirable

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data is the key to adequately understanding the requirement of data in the master planning process. A related analogy is that of using a very high-resolution satellite image for preparing master plans, which may be essential for site planning or neighborhood planning [41]. Gurugram is the first city in the state of Haryana to have an Integrated Command Control Center (ICCC) with an intent to integrate smart services and become a super smart city by providing public services using technology as a medium. Services like water supply, parking, property management, monitoring, and control of power distribution are some of services that have been taken up in the initial stage. 358 intersections in the city would have 1200 CCTV cameras to monitor and capture the pictures of number plates of vehicles violating the speed limit and traffic signals and the drivers of two-wheelers without helmets [42]. The smartness is expected to be extended to capture the events of road ditches, waterlogging, protests, and demonstrations in addition to monitoring the vehicles engaged in solid waste management. It needs to be noted that all these initiatives of ICCC are toward the delivery of smart services. ICCC has been utilized in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic as well, by way of creating spatial distribution of various categories of COVID-19 cases like active, home isolation, discharged, admitted, and deceased, along with overlays of location of hospital, chemists, blood banks, and containment zones. Spatial visualization on One Map Gurugram [43] of health data related to COVID-19 has been advantageous to the citizens providing data about the Point of Interest near one’s location using the citizens portal. A very useful tool during for the containment of the pandemic, this is not so much based on the real-time data as on the GIS technology. In the name of Smart City, Gurugram authorities have made efforts to improve the well-being of the citizens by installing smart gadgets—sensors and cameras—but have neglected the basics of planning. The gadgets installed are essentially for the authorities to easily manage the city and not to facilitate toward a smart master plan. A more pertinent requirement is to consider all the essential layers as an input for making the master plan, especially the ones related to the environmental conditions of the area, while not negating the social, cultural, and physical aspects. Further, this smart data using smart gadgets is collected typically within the city limits. The peri-urban areas and urban fringes are typically lacking in the so-called smartness, creating a non-uniformity in the data input across the controlled area of the Master Plan, specially the urbanized and the non-urbanized area of the controlled area. Further, the data should be used by the Planner as a basis and an input to facilitate decision-making for making the Plans. The data should be a means to the end that is the Master Plan and not the end itself. The emphasis of the Plan should continue to be on the betterment of the space for its people using the smartness produced by the technology-generated database of the identified granularity. The intent of the Master Plan should be to develop an entire urban ecosystem on the principles of integrated planning. An integrated plan comprises a system of interlinked actions which seeks to bring about a lasting improvement in the economic, physical, social, and environmental conditions of a city. The key to the process is integration, meaning that all policies, projects, and proposals are considered in relation to

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one another. In that way, each city will have its own concept, vision, and proposal that is appropriate to its local context and resources. A smart master plan should be the one with a goal is to achieve a smart (intelligent) physical, social, institutional, and economic infrastructure for a city while ensuring centrality of citizens in a sustainable environment. Planners should aim at developing the entire urban ecosystem, which is represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development—institutional, physical, social, economic infrastructure. This can be a long-term goal. Planners can work toward developing such comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, adding on layers of smartness. A learning from the case of Gurugram is that there is need to combine spatial, environmental, and economic approaches to enable cities function as engines of economic growth while being livable. The planning system must also be dynamic having a participatory and action-oriented approach. The Plan needs to be strategic rather than comprehensive, flexible rather than rigid, stakeholder-driven, and bottomup rather than top-down. Economic principles underscore the role of spatial planning in the Master Plans of Gurugram. The need is for a strategic densification approach rather than spreading development thinly. Environmental principles emphasize carrying capacity-based planning, protecting the natural and heritage resources. Further, the issues of energy security cannot afford a master planning model founded on automobiles as has been the trend in Gurugram. Equity principles call for centering planning on the people, especially poor and low-income groups constituting the majority. City plans must allocate adequate space-to these segments for living, working, and vending at locations having access to public transportation. The observed inadequacies in master planning call for a reversal of the sequence of planning. Spatial planning first needs to access the carrying capacity of city regions determined by-environmental constraints. Conservation of natural and heritage resources should be non-negotiable. Resource conservation plan needs to be followed by delineation of public transportation networks, along with provision of land for mass rapid transit and bus rapid transit systems in the future. Traffic-generating commercial and institutional activities and high-density housing for low- and middleincome groups may be located around transit nodes. This strategy promotes public transport use and-makes investment in mass transit viable. Allocation of land for high-income housing may be the last step in the urban planning process. As urbanization will not wait till sophisticated plans are developed, the time period to prepare master plans needs to be curtailed drastically to 2 years, which would be possible by using various aspects of technology as a tool. The planning process needs to be participatory and inclusive. The difficulties in the public acquisition of land can be overcome by alternative land assembly mechanisms. Emphasis needs to be laid on implementation and not just the preparation of the plan.

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6 Conclusions With the concept of ‘smart’ making its way into the urban arena, relevant practitioners have attempted to apply the concept in this sub-field as well. Smart and smartness have been largely understood as that pertaining to the use of technology, sometimes bypassing the basic planning principles, in the process. The authors perceive the smart master plan to be the one based on principles of integrated planning, which comprises a system of interlinked actions which seeks to bring about a lasting improvement in the economic, physical, social, and environmental conditions of a settlement. Further, the authors profess that smartness in master planning is by ‘going back to basics’ of planning, while adopting smart systems as tools for achieving a dynamic Master Plan. Based on the ideology of Patrick Geddes, each stage of the plan must revolve around the people [6], not only of the settlement but of those in the defined vicinity, evaluated based on their economic, environmental, and social dependence on the settlement. The city of Gurugram, situated in the suburbs of the National Capital, New Delhi, has grown from being a small town to a current-day metropolis in its own capacity. Its development has been guided by a series of eight master (development) plans since 1977, which have largely had a traditional approach to plan making and implementation. During the post-liberalization period, the plans of this city have been inherently guided by the economic forces and real estate market drivers. The city that exists now spreads over 17 times the area planned for in its first master plan and holds a cross-cultural population of millennials and Generation-Z that is not just highly technologically oriented but is attentive toward the deteriorating environmental conditions of their city, contributing knowledgeably toward making it a better living space for its progeny not having the patience to visualize for 20 years; this generation expects quick results at the press of a button. Lessons that can be derived from the case of Gurugram encompass the aspects that Master Plans need to be essentially integrated into the approach with Geddes’ principles of planning for folk at its centrality.

References 1. World Bank (2015) Master planning. https://urban-regeneration.worldbank.org/node/51. Accessed 28 Sept 2021 2. Kulshrestha SK (2006) Dictionary of urban and regional planning. Kalpaz Publications, Delhi 3. American Planning Association (2018) What is a master plan? https://www.planningmi.org/ introduction-mp. Accessed 16 Sept 2021 4. Nallathiga, R. (2015). Assessing the role of master plans in city development: reform measures and approaches. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3000908. Accessed 28 Sept 2021 5. Bhaduri S (2012) Alternative approaches to master plan. Ministry of Urban Development. http://www.spa.ac.in/Alternative-to-Master-Plan-Apporach.pdf. Accessed 17 Nov 2021 6. Government of India (2015) Urban and regional development plan formulation and implementation (URDPFI) guidelines, town and country planning organization. New Delhi

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7. Government of India (1996) Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) guidelines, town and country planning organisation, New Delhi 8. Government of Gujarat (1976) The Gujarat town planning and urban development act, 1976. https://townplanning.gujarat.gov.in/Documents/Gtpud%20amd1.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2021 9. Science dictionary (2012) Definition: urban redevelopment. Science-dictionary.com. http:// www.science-dictionary.com/definition/urban-redevelopment.html. 10 August 2021 10. World Bank (2021) Metadata glossary. https://databank.worldbank.org/metadataglossary/ world-development-indicators/series/EN.POP.DNST. Accessed 19 Apr 2021 11. Goodfriend DE (1979) Nagar yoga: the culturally informed town planning of Patrick Geddes in India 1914–1924. Human Organizat 38(4):343–355 (Winter). Society for Applied Anthropology 12. Geddes P (1918) Town planning towards city development-Indore 1918, Part 1. Reproduced by TNV Indore, Vitastaa Publishing 13. Wilson M (2018) Moralising space. Series: Routledge research in planning and urban design: Routledge, New York 14. Batty M, Marshall S (2009) The evolution of cities: Geddes, Abercrombie and the new physicalism. Town Plan Rev 80(6):551–574. https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/ article/47285. Accessed 10 Apr 2021 15. Clavela P, Young R (2017) Civics: Patrick Geddes’s theory of city development, Robert Young. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.06.017. Landscape and Urban Planning 16. Scott J (2014) Envisioning sociology: Victor Branford, Patrick Geddes, and the quest for social reconstruction. State University of New York Press 17. Biswas SP (2021) Gurgaon to Gurugram, a short biography. Rupa Publications, New Delhi 18. Haryana Government (2012) Final development plan 2031, Town and Country Planning Department. 19. Haryana Government (1971) Final development plan 1991, Town and Country Planning Department 20. Haryana Government (1977) Draft development plan 2001, Town and Country Planning Department 21. Haryana Government (1982) Draft development plan 2001, Town and Country Planning Department 22. Government of India (1988) Regional plan 2001 National Capital Region, National Capital Region Planning Board, Ministry of Urban Development 23. Haryana Government (1996) Final development plan 2001, Town and Country Planning Department 24. Haryana Government (2007) Final development plan 2021, Town and Country Planning Department 25. Haryana Government (2011) Final development plan 2025, Town and Country Planning Department 26. Bedi P (2020) Sustainable transport strategies for Gurgaon in sustainability and the automobile industry in Asia: policy and governance, ed Suwa A, Iguchi M. Routledge, New York 27. Government of Haryana (1983). Haryana District Gazetteers: Gurgaon, Haryana Gazetteers Organisation. http://revenueharyana.gov.in/html/mainchild/gazatteers_gurgaon_ 1983.htm. Accessed 3 Dec 2021 28. Times of India (2003) Guru Gram to Gurgaon. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/ guru-gram-togurgaon/articleshow/102197.cms. Accessed 5 Dec 2021 29. Indiaonlinepages.com (2021) Gurgaon population in 2021. https://www.indiaonlinepages.com/ population/gurgaon-population.html. Accessed 5 Dec 2021 30. Census of India (2011) Town Directory-Gurgaon, Government of India 31. Census of India (2001) Town Directory-Gurgaon, Government of India 32. Gupta RK, Nangia S (nd) Population explosion and land use changes in Gurgaon City region— a satellite of Delhi metropolis. http://iussp2005.princeton.edu/papers/50502. Accessed 12 Jan 2021

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33. Ramani V (2016) Does Gurgaon’s flooding have something to do with its missing drains? http://www.hindustantimes.com/real-estate/does-gurgaon-sflooding-have-somethingto-do-with-its-missingnallahs/story-v0lQy8fMEyAc2RPKKUIWjO.html. Accessed 10 Dec 2021 34. Survey of India (1982) Toposheet of Gurgaon, Government of India 35. Bedi P (2017) Smart planning for urban resilience. Int J Emerg Technol 8(1):541–547 (2017) 36. Batty M (2013) Big data, smart cities and city planning. Dialogues in human geography, Sage Publication 37. Oxford Dictionary (2021) Big data. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/ english/big-data#:~:text=%5Buncountable%2C%20plural%5D%20(computing,or%20use% 20with%20standard%20methods. Accessed 10 Nov 2021 38. Sinaeepourfard A, Garcia J, Masip-Bruin X, Marin-Tordera E, Cirera J, Grau G, Casaus F (nd) Estimating smart city sensors data generation: current and future data in the City of Barcelona. https://www.craax.upc.edu/images/Publications/conferences/2016/medhonet_16_ amir.pdf. Accessed 12 Dec 2021 39. Kumar SS (2021) Master plans of all municipalities to be ready by June 2, in Telegraph Today. https://telanganatoday.com/telangana-master-plans-of-all-municipalities-to-beready-by-june-2. Accessed 15 Dec 2021 40. Mahavir (2005) Focus on essential data, improving plan-making by selective collection of geoinformation. GIM International. https://www.gim-international.com/content/article/focus-onessential-data. Accessed 30 Nov 2021 41. Mahavir (2000) High (spatial) resolution vs. low resolution images: a planner’s view point in international archives of photogrammetry and remote sensing, vol XXXIII, Supplement B7, Amsterdam 42. Smart Cities Council (2021) Gurugram becomes 1st city in Haryana to get integrated command and control centre. https://www.smartcitiescouncil.com/article/gurugram-becomes-1st-cityharyana-get-integrated-command-and-control-centre. Accessed 29 Nov 2021 43. OneMapGurugram (2021) Citizen portal. https://onemapggm.mcg.gov.in/citizenportal/. Accessed 14 Sept 2021

Prabh Bedi is a Geographer, Regional Planner and Geospatial Technology expert. She completed her Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems from Pennsylvania State University, USA. A graduate from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (India) with Master of Planning (Regional Planning), she has over 25 years of experience in planning and geospatial technologies, both in industry and academics. She is presently working as the Chief Operations officer and Director of Resonance Integrated Solutions. She has published articles on NUIS, Smart Cities, urban greens and hydrology in the context of sustainability. Her research interests include information systems, geospatial technologies, NUIS, Big Data, smart cities, demography, hydrology and climate change.

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Mahavir has been engaged Prof. Dr. in teaching and practice of Urban and Regional Planning over last 35 years. He holds degrees in Architecture, and Urban & Regional Planning. He also holds a Ph.D., jointly from the University of Utrecht and ITC, The Netherlands. For over 15 years, he has been holding the position of Professor at School of Planning and Architecture: New Delhi (An Institution of National Importance under an Act of Parliament), where he was the Dean (Academics) and is currently holding the position of Head, Department of Physical Planning. Prior to this, he has headed the Departments of Environmental Planning, Physical Planning and Regional Planning; and Centre for Remote Sensing and GIS. His areas of interest include application of Geo-informatics in Planning, Regional Planning, Planning Techniques, etc. He has several professional projects, research, and publications to his credit. He is on several committees of the Government, notably related to the NCR Planning Board and the GIS based Master Planning for AMRUT Cities. Recently, he was a member of the Expert Committee for Comprehensive Development Strategy for the State of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Kochi

Regional Integrated Approach for Smart Master Planning: A Case of Kochi, Kerala, India Fathim Rashna Kallingal and Kenny P. Joy

Abstract Kochi, the commercial capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala, though a city largely interwoven with water bodies, the urbanism did not grow with the water but rather was side-lined and largely unutilized. Though the city grew beyond its boundaries in terms of physical development, there had been little active efforts or move toward administrative level merging of the city region bringing together the numerous towns around it to form an efficiently working larger city. Conventional master planning mechanisms and processes, which were prevalent in the city to a large extent often perceived this phenomenon through a blurred lens and failed to generate an output which tackled these regional dynamics. In this context, this chapter attempted to evaluate and analyze the approach of town planning process and mechanisms which lead to the development of the city’s master plan document through an extensive literature based as well as consultative study. It further investigated the extent of existing collaborations between the urban local bodies (ULB) and other institutions within the metropolitan area and their role in decision making during master planning. Further, it analyzed the factors of success/failures of Kochi Master plans in achieving the goals of regulatory and area development capability. Subsequently, it suggested innovative solutions and strategies to increase the efficiency of the Master plans to develop a Smart Master planning approach for the city of Kochi. The study indicated that the inactivity or low level of city’s planned interventions after the series of urban planning and design projects spearheaded by various agencies during the 1980s, left the city’s growth for organic haphazard development leading to a weak urban structure with a few centers of activity across its geography. Though the Kochi Municipal Corporation had the power to prepare and execute the master plan for the city, it had to continue to rely on the state departments due to the institutional capacity gap. Similarly, though several smart city schemes and programs in the city dealt with various development projects within the city, it lacked focus on bringing a holistic regional development. As a result, the master F. R. Kallingal Department of Architecture and Planning, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, India K. P. Joy (B) Holy Crescent College of Architecture, Alwaye, Kochi, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_6

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planning process in the city region happened as isolated efforts to form individual local level master plans for the city as well as for the other municipalities around it. The weak collaboration between the ULBs which constituted the metropolitan area contributed largely to the scenarios in the city region. Further to this, the drastic changes brought in largely by revolutionary or disruptive global trends/innovations as well as quicker shifts in activity distribution patterns within the city’s geography has turned master planning processes done through conventional methods to be too myopic or ineffective soon after they are prepared. Therefore, current study put forth smart master planning strategies that would address the regional challenges faced by the city and at the same time speed up the master planning process and thereby improve the efficiency of the Master plans in the city. Keywords Master plan · Regional integration · City development plan · Kochi

1 Introduction Kochi, popularly known as the Queen of Arabian Sea and the commercial capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala, is poised for a major transformation through an array of big-ticket projects including tertiary sector work centres as well as large manufacturing and logistics hubs at various locations within the city region. A city known to be a trading hub with China, Persia, and Europe for centuries has undergone dramatic metamorphosis, especially over the past few decades with shifting urban centres and sprawls toward its eastern and northern ends along with morphological changes catalyzed by the recent insertion of a rail-based Mass Rapid Transportation System (MRTS) into its low dense fabric. The sea, backwater, and a series of streams and canals interwoven into Kochi’s urban geography create a large water edge on the city’s land mass putting control on the city’s growth freely in all directions. Being an off-centered focal point in a large matrix of closely knit network of ten or more small and medium urban centres within the geography of Kerala, popularly known as the rural urban continuum [1], the city of Kochi faces a daunting task of handling infrastructure for a floating population almost equal to its own, on a daily basis. Though a city largely interwoven with water bodies, the urbanism did not grow with the water but rather was side-lined and largely unutilized. This resulted in frequent flooding of the city’s central core and posed big challenges in wastewater management. This led to an urban growth which neglected island settlements closer to the city which could otherwise be connected well with water. In addition to this, the city faced issues related to the solid waste management. Conventional master planning mechanisms and the processes which were still prevalent in the city to a large extent often perceived this phenomenon through a blurred lens and failed to generate an output which tackled these regional dynamics. Inactivity or low level of city’s planned interventions after the series of urban planning and design projects spearheaded by various agencies during the 1980s, moreover,

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left the city’s growth for organic haphazard development leading to a weak urban structure with a few centres of activity across its geography. In this context, current study attempted to evaluate and analyze the approach of town planning process and mechanisms which lead to the development of the city’s master plan document through an extensive literature based as well as consultative study. The study further investigated the extent of existing collaborations between the urban local bodies (ULB) and other institutions within the metropolitan area and their role in decision making during master planning. Further, it analyzed the factors of success/failures of Kochi Master plans in achieving the goals of regulatory and area development capability. Subsequently, it suggested innovative solutions and strategies to increase the efficiency of the Master plans to develop a Smart Master planning approach for the city of Kochi. Current chapter is divided into five sections. The first section introduces the chapter. The second and third sections of the chapter briefly discuss the master planning processes conducted in Kochi in a chronological order, highlighting the role of various actors and the enabling environment in the city. The fourth section discusses the factors of success/failure of Kochi Master Plans. The strategies for developing a Smart Master planning approach for the city of Kochi are discussed in the fifth section. The chapter is concluded by the sixth section followed by references.

2 Master Planning in the Past The Master planning for the city of Kochi and various urban centres within the district are handled by the Regional Town Planning Office, which is constituted under the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), the nodal agency for the preparation of spatial plans in the Kerala state at the state, district, and local levels. The Interim Development Plan for Cochin Region (1966–81) prepared by the DTCP is considered to be the first organized effort in guiding the planned growth of the city [2]. The planning region was delineated into three regions: the Central City formed by amalgamating three Municipalities and adding portions from the nearby grama Panchayats, three Municipal towns and three townships. The Kochi Municipal Corporation was formed in the year 1966 in line with the delineation of the Central City.

2.1 The Role of Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) Subsequently, the Development Plan for Cochin Region 1976 (1971–1991) was prepared by the DTCP, which proposed the delineation of Cochin Region by considering the primary influence zone of the city. The Greater Cochin Development

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Authority (GCDA) was constituted in 1960 with the jurisdiction over the Cochin Region, with powers to develop long term programs and short-term action plans for the region by identifying strategic areas for development in the region. Thus, the major planning activities in the region during the 1970–80s were spearheaded by the GCDA with a vision to tie together the urban centres around the city to form an efficiently working Kochi City Region. Within the framework of this Development Plan, GCDA had prepared many Town Planning (TP) schemes and implemented them during the 1980s including several housing schemes in the region such as the Marine Drive project, Panampillynagar neighbourhood, Girinagar Neighbourhood, and Riverside Neighbourhood at Alwaye. The Structure Plan for Central City of Kochi (1991–2001) was developed by the GCDA, which was a Policy Plan for the development of broad land use proposals for the areas within the city and its immediate surrounding areas [2]. The Structure Plan, which is the General Town Planning Scheme for the Central City, subsequently incorporated several variations and the Plan which was last varied by the government in 2016 is deemed to be the sanctioned Master Plan for the city under the Town and Country Planning Act 2016. The planning and development activities of the GCDA listed its intensity in the 90s and post 2000 and were confined largely to beautification or mending works of streets, walkways, water edges, etc. However, later the agency turned out to be more of an asset management agency than a development authority and made little contribution toward the city’s spatial planning in the past two or more decades. Besides, the Regional Town Planning office, though being the nodal agency for preparation of master plans, has not been able to make any major contribution in structuring or channelizing the development of an organically grown city and region owing to several reasons. Some of these reasons included lack of political support to drive the master plan process faster as well as implementation of them within the local body. This was evident in the case of the draft master plan for Greater Kochi area, which was prepared by the GCDA through DTCP in 2012 but did not proceed further due to objections from few stakeholders [3].

2.2 Enabling Environment for Master Planning in Kochi Though the city grew beyond its boundaries in terms of physical development, there were no active efforts or move toward administrative level merging of the city region bringing together the numerous towns. This was largely due to stiff resistance from local authorities within the region to give off their powers while merging with the city. However, the first and major step toward bringing all the stakeholders together for planning the development of the city was held in the early 2000s, in the form of a visioning exercise to bring together the aspirations and suggestions of various actors for arriving at a vision for the city. These actors included the elected representatives, representatives from residents’ associations and neighbourhood units, ward

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committees and grama sabhas including various institutions in and around the city region.

2.3 Decentralisation and the Role of Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act has devolved powers, authority, and responsibilities to the urban local bodies (ULB) for a set of activities which are listed out in the Twelfth Schedule. As per the list, the ULBs have the power to prepare the master plan for their jurisdiction. The Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) comprises of 74 wards with the elected members (Councilors) from each together constituting the Municipal Council. The mayor is Chief Executive Head, and Secretary is the Chief Executive Officer of the KMC. The Standing Committees (SC) formed into eight sectors including Development, Welfare, Health, Works, Town Planning, Education and Sports, Tax Appeal and Finance and Taxation, etc. comprising of the Councilors and headed by Chairperson play a pivotal role in executing decentralized planning at the local body level. Standing Committees are involved in the plan formulation process and implementation, under the decentralized planning set up in the state. However, due to the institutional capacity gap to prepare and execute a master plan for the city, the KMC continued to rely on the DTCP and the Regional Town Planning office for the same. As a result, the master planning process in the city region happened as isolated efforts to form individual local level master plans for the city as well as for the other municipalities around it through the Regional Town planning office. There is general lack of awareness on the need to collaborate and work toward forming an efficiently working metropolitan region that would collectively benefit all the ULBs by effectively utilizing their strategic location within the vicinity of a growing metropolis like Kochi.

3 Master Planning in the Millennium Post 2000s, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and the later Smart city mission and schemes by the central government catapulted planning activities within the city with more funding made available for developmental activities. As an outcome of the scheme, the City Development Plan (CDP) for Kochi was prepared in 2016, which was approved by the Union ministry [2]. The planning ecosystem in the city went unforeseen change with a lot of international and national experts as well as big consultant firms to execute these highly funded projects. Similarly, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme specifically targeted at smaller towns and thus became a drive

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force for the small towns around Kochi to vie for funds in specific sectors such as waste management, water distribution, and housing for poor. Though, the JNNURM, AMRUT, and Smart city schemes dealt with various development projects within the city, it lacked focus on bringing a holistic regional development. The projects envisaged and executed by these schemes focused on certain key sectors through a ‘piecemeal’ approach with a slew of projects confined within certain identified areas with precinct level interventions. The fresh lease of developmental activities for availing the central government funds brought down further efforts to implement master plans at the ULB level.

3.1 The Role of Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (c-hed), Kochi During the first decade of the millennium, having realized the gaps in the mechanisms and capacities of agencies involved in the planning activities of the city in the conventional institutional setup, a research and development wing was formed under the Cochin Corporation—Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (c-hed)—to function as an institution under the Kochi Municipal Corporation to give academic and technical support in various sectors including urban development and governance, environment, tourism, culture, and heritage. The c-hed coordinated major development projects and events, planning initiatives, international projects and took the role of a knowledge partner and resource center imparting academic support for the budget preparation and economic planning of the city [4]. The national workshop for the formulation of the vision document and strategic plan for the city was initiated under and organized by c-hed in 2003. The c-hed was entrusted with the coordination and facilitation of the Master plan preparation process during 2005–2008, after which it was handed over to the Regional Town Planning office [5]. The c-hed also played a major role in the preparation of the CDP for Kochi city under the JNNURM [6]. The agency later played a major role in supporting the KMC in mobilizing human resources and institutional capacities, which later handled mega scale urban projects such as the MRTS and Smart city projects through effective collaboration with international expertise and consultants which came on board. This move imparted a more holistic approach to the development planning of Kochi city, covering all aspects of the quality of life in the city, rather than a purely land use or physical infrastructure focused planning approach, the erstwhile approach, which was practiced through the conventional planning systems. This holistic approach to city planning was rarely seen in the urban planning history at ULB levels in the country.

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3.2 Role of Other Actors Other major players who took a lead role in the city’s development, especially post 2010, were the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL)—a centre-state public sector company set up for the implementation of the Metro rail- and the Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML)—a special purpose vehicle (SPV) constituted for the implementation of the Smart cities mission in the city. The KMRL dealt with the planning and development activities for strengthening the city’s public transportation systems. Whereas the CSML implemented Area Based Development (ABD) projects and Pan city projects to rejuvenate the urban ecosystem [7]. These agencies along with the numerous international experts and consultant firms which dealt with various verticals under the MRTS project introduced into the urban geography of the city, played a major role in planning and development activities toward improving the quality of life of the citizens. The agencies brought in experts and international consultants on board to drive an integrated development programme through transport systems as well as a series of public infrastructure associated with it. Though in its initial phase of operations and yet to complete all routes envisaged, the MRTS plan is to integrate movement within the city region through an efficient transport corridor and feeder-based system to ensure last mile connectivity through public transport modes (Fig. 1). Presently, facilitation and management of traffic and transportation is done by multiple agencies/departments like Local Bodies, GCDA, GIDA, Roads and Bridges Corporation, PWD, NHAI, RTO, Police, KINCO, KSRTC, Railways, Road Fund Board, Inland Waterways Authority of India. No single agency is solely accountable for providing transport services as well as transport infrastructure, resulting in overlapping functions, functional and spatial fragmentation. Though late, insertion of a pan city region transport infrastructure like metro rail post 2010 pushed for an umbrella agency to handle planning, coordination, integration, management, and regulation of Kochi region’s transport system—Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority, modelled in the lines of the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore. In June 2013, Government order on UMTA was released and further the Bill was passed by legislative assembly on November 2019. Government of Kerala has constituted the UMTA committee for Greater Kochi area which is chaired by the MD, KMRL. Key Functions of UMTA: • • • • • •

Strategic Planning and Policy Formulation Programming Regulatory Functions Project Preparation Project Implementation Financing Functions Operation and Management.

While conceiving the Kochi city region as a single planning unit, transportation integration plays as the key sector as the settlement pattern of the region shows low

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Fig. 1 Organizational structure and role of UMTA

densities, owing to presence of wetlands and local real estate trends at the edge of the city except the major transport corridors. However, the activities of the agency will be largely confined within transport corridor networks and associated land but not on sectors like environment, especially in a geography that of Kochi region where large amounts of wetlands and water bodies are at risk of encroachment or insensitive physical growth.

3.3 Master Planning Process in Kochi The Regional Town planning office practices a methodology in Master planning Process as instructed by the ‘Tool kit’. Secondary and primary data collection process supported by the statistics Department within assist and complete the Tool kit for the various processes in making of the master planning. Though the department of Town Planning follows these stages in a workable schedule, they often used to face delays from the ULBs in getting response after the master plan stakeholder presentations at the town. Lack of a strong political will in mobilizing public opinion toward the master plan suggestions or toward executing the master plan at the ULB level, has to a large level failed master plans at many towns within the region (Figs. 2 and 3).

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Fig. 2 Processes and stages of master plan preparation Source GIZ, Hormann, CRISIL (2021) [8]

Fig. 3 Procedure for preparation, publication and sanctioning of master plan Source TP Kerala (2016) [9]

3.4 E Governance in Kochi The use of E governance in the city is limited to filing purposes in addition to the access to statutory documents such as the Municipal legislation and all byelaws, Government Orders, Citizen Charter, financial accounts and budget documents, Minutes of Council meetings, approved Master Plan and reports through KMC’s active Web portal, which is managed by Information Kerala Mission (IKM). On the contrary, few other cities within the state have advanced in implementing Egovernance. A case example would be the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram, which has implemented tools including a real-time online GIS based portal, which is accessible for the public. An improved control of built environment within the settlement geography of the city is achieved better through transparent as well as efficient Building Approval system through IBPMS. Information is made available to public on DTP schemes of various zones within the city through IBPMS online platform. Online registration of birth, death, marriage, vehicles, etc. makes key demographic and other data updates much quicker thereby assisting in more accurate informed decision making for master planning.

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To establish efficient and responsive systems for good governance and improving public service with comprehensive citizen interface mechanisms, community Information Systems, and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) driven back-end computerization programme covering various functions like monitoring of developmental projects, human resource management, grievance redressal, accounting and budgeting, financial management, and establishing a holistic social security network in local self-governments.

3.5 Policy Support and Institutional Coordination Given Kochi’s multi-institutional framework for service delivery in view of the many institutions and departments involved in service delivery and infrastructure provision including the KMRL, Kerala Water Authority (KWA), Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) among others, the Government of Kerala and KMC have created coordination mechanisms to enable smooth interaction and effective action orientation and accountability for the various components [10]. The roles and responsibilities for various components as identified in the Smart City Proposal would be further formalized through specific MOUs between the SPV and the various line agencies that have a role to play with respect to implementation. At the ULB level, many Smart Citizen Engagement methods were adopted to arrive at planning decisions through a more democratic process, which included ward committees, workshops, focus group discussions, one-to-one interactions, social media and radio, television, and print media. However, these initiatives were confined to certain areas taken from different locations within the city limits and excluded the peripheral regions and the people residing there for obtaining valuable opinions or demands.

4 Factors of Failure This section of the chapter briefly discusses the factors of success/failure of Kochi Master Plans in achieving the goals of regulatory and area development capability.

4.1 Lack of a Regional Approach Toward the Master Planning of the City Kochi city functioned as a single large city region beyond its administrative boundary with interconnected small and medium towns mostly toward north and eastern sides considering the daily inflow and outflow patterns of people and material. The lack of land area for development within the corporation limits had pushed the major

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work centres to the peripheral regions of the city. These regions were not integrated into the master plans prepared over the years. The fact that a dense continuum of physical development had outgrown to suburbs even decades ago emphasized the need to conceive the larger region as the planning unit for the city. Despite demand from activists and residents’ associations to merge nearby civic bodies with the corporation, none of the political front has shown any interests toward this. Map 1 shows how the growth of the city is slowly shifting toward the north and eastern suburbs where large scale work centres are getting created as well as numerous residential projects and the city boundaries are still where it is from the time of its formation. Vested interests, builders, and developers take undue advantage of reduced taxes in nearby municipalities and panchayats and hence is against merger with the city. However, many feel that an expansion would deter the area-specific development of nearby civic bodies. A set of stakeholders believe in keeping Kochi corporation small for convenient handling as even now, corporation often fails to understand the needs of its own localities. The city has managed to spend only ’200 crores despite getting ’2,070 crores worth of projects in that last financial year and wasted around 610 crores under the drinking water scheme. Adjacent civic bodies like Tripunithura have a cultural identity and specific needs. If they merge with the corporation, the entire area will get only few councilors and this might lead to many issues getting overlooked (Table 1).

4.2 Lack of Collaborative Efforts for Integrated Urban Development Due to the lack of a regional approach toward the master planning, the adjacent municipalities worked in isolated groups, which resulted in several individual local level plans with varied aspirations and priorities and at times contradicting vision and objectives apart from the different timelines. There was a lack of collaborative efforts to integrate the closely knit municipalities to form local level and regional plans in line with the common regional vision that would focus on the strong interrelation between these adjacent urban areas as well as the city.

4.3 Institutional Capacity Gaps The city of Kochi being a fast-growing one with great potentials and unique natural setting often did not receive the right planning supports or expertise that could an efficient development pattern within its geography. The last CDP prepared has failed in providing a criterion for including and excluding areas from the urban agglomeration for the purposes of preparing a CDP.

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Fig. 4 Map 1: Projected population growth of surrounding local bodies (Source Structure Plan Document, Kochi)

The appraisal report of the aforementioned also raised the issue of having a discussion with the local bodies excluded and the loss of grants for development of such areas under JnNURM. Lack of effective consultations as stated in the appraisal report of the same with various stakeholders was evident while preparations of the same. CDP was abandoned

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Table 1 Spatial growth of cities within the state and country (with similar size) over Corporation

Year of formation

Area during formation (km2 )

Present area (km2 )

Growth of cities from its year of formation (within Kerala) Kochi

1967

83.52

94.88

Thiruvananthapuram

1940

30.66

214.86

Kozhikode

1962

84.23

118.59

Thrissur

2000

101.42

101.42

Kollam

2000

58.18

73.03

Kannur

2015

78

78

Growth of cities from its year of formation (other tier 2 Cities) Lucknow

1960

79.16

349

Pune

1950

138.65

31.26

Ahmedabad

1950

101.42

464.16

Jaipur

1994

111.8

484.64

Surat

1966

21.95

326.52

Vishakhapatnam

1979

76.32

540

Coimbatore

1981

105.6

246.75

Mangaluru

1980

132.45

184.45

and another master plan preparation during 2015 which too showed major errors, including failure to map areas which fall under the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) and the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and wetland Act as well as the Ancient Monuments Act, meant to protect monuments and marked many residential areas erroneously as industrial areas. Master plans were been revised ever since the 1980s and plans were primarily changed according to funding patterns from state and central governments and external agencies.

4.4 Overstretched Master Planning Timeline The long period taken for the complete process of Master planning was another issue faced by the city, leading to the outdated inputs (primary and secondary data) resulting in outputs (development proposals and strategies) that might not be relevant nor effective during the implementation period. This long period was also due to the highly prolonged master plan preparation and finalization processes at the ULB levels within the region, primarily due to the ‘roadblocks’ created by stakeholders’ varied interests as well as the capacity gap in the ULBs in giving effective response to master plan documents prepared by the Department during the stakeholder consultation.

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4.5 Inefficient Integration of Multi-modal Transport Systems Lack of a strong coordination of various transport modes of Kochi including MRTS, bus, boat etc. has let to inefficiencies in the transport system network of the city. However, with initiatives like the Vyttila Mobility Hub, healthy public transport share and proactive initiatives including the expansion of Smart Card access (planned as a Pan-city initiative), tangible improvements in this area are expected in the next few years.

4.6 Administrative Roadblocks in Completing Master Plan Process The land use maps for many areas within the city used by the department are highly outdated. Since accurate and updated land use maps were necessary for furnishing plans for the Amrut and Smart city projects, there were added efforts to do resurvey at ULB level recently. But in certain highly dense areas like the Broadway area within the CBD of Kochi with mostly shops built to edge and least roadside setback, resurvey was practically not feasible completely due to lack of public cooperation. Lack of a strong political support would have removed such roadblocks in completing such base works master plan.

5 Strategies for Smart Master Planning Approach One of the most inevitable changes needed in the approach toward master planning of Kochi is a shift to regional integration of the closely knit network of urban centres around the city with the city. Though GCDA took an initiative toward this approach decades ago, weak institutional framework to collaborate between local bodies as well as resistance to administrative merging of the local bodies with the city discouraged the state-run regional Town planning department to go further with this approach in planning of the city. KMTA could integrate transport systems within the city region and at the same time has got great potential to tie distributed urban centres in the city region through an interconnected transport network as well as land development associated with it. This would catalyze the regional integration as well (Fig. 5). The capacity gaps in the nodal institution for preparing master plans in a city could be overcome by creating independent research/planning units for different fields under the city administration, similar to c-hed in Kochi, which would bring together qualified professionals and experts in the city from varied fields for the master planning process. In this regard, the services of the existing research and planning institutions and agencies could also be leveraged. Such planning units could

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Fig. 5 Multinucleated city region and hub and spoke intermodal transport network system (Source KMRL, 2020)

be connected through a digital platform. This platform could be further integrated to a multi-stakeholder platform that would establish a common framework for dialogue between the regional actors to facilitate knowledge sharing as well. The drastic changes brought in largely by revolutionary or disruptive global trends and the resultant shifts in activity distribution patterns within the city’s geography has turned master planning processes done through conventional methods to be too myopic or ineffective soon after they are prepared. In this context, an ICT based real time city monitoring systems would be useful to inform the decisions in master planning at the macro and micro levels by incorporating dynamic changes of usage or activity patterns/movement patterns within the city region and analyzing the nature and causes. Similarly, there are several missions, programs, and projects being implemented in the city by several state and non-state actors including bi and multi-lateral organizations. For a city, all such programs and projects would be mostly data driven. Therefore, a data repository installed in the city which would combine all the data and information collected for these projects and at the same time act as the evidence-base for the Master planning process would be an ideal solution in this regard. This repository could also integrate real-time and crowd sourced data for citizen participation including spatial data (GIS based). The city data repository could be further advanced by using digital tools including GIS based spatial tools for real-time analysis, the results of which could then inform the decisions in the master planning process, thereby speeding up the process.

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6 Conclusion Kochi city was once known for its smart development thinking in both in creating well planned precincts like the Marine Drive or well-organized neighborhoods within the city, but also in conceiving city to grow much beyond its boundaries during the 1980s under the active leadership of GCDA. However, lack of a strong political leadership later, institutional frameworks or capacities saw the city losing all its energies in this regard and ended up in an ill planned organically grown uncontrolled city. Current study attempted to understand how master planning process took places in the context and tried to find the major gaps in the system as well as the root causes of them. Lack of a strong regional integration was one of the biggest gaps identified so apart from the fact that it failed to address all sectors of development during the processes. The chapter looked at highlighting this aspect of the city’s master planning in the past and attempted to bring in various smart strategies through which it can overcome them. The chapter also suggested various smart tools used in planning often technology supported to derive better informed decisions during the master planning process.

References 1. Firoz MC, Banerji H, Sen J (2014) A methodology to define the typology of rural urban continuum settlements in Kerala. J Reg Dev Plan 3(1):49–60 2. Department of Town and Country Planning Government of Kerala (2010) Development plan for Kochi City Region 2031 (Draft). In: Development plan for Kochi City Region 2031 (Draft)— Volume I Study & analysis, Thiruvananthapuram 3. Finally, a master plan for Kochi & suburbs in the offing | Kochi News—Times of India. [Online]. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/finally-a-master-plan-forkochi-suburbs-in-the-offing/articleshow/84964651.cms. Accessed 31 Oct 2021 4. Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (c-hed) | An institution under the Kochi Municipal Corporation. [Online]. https://www.c-hed.org/. Accessed 31 Oct 2021 5. Master Plan preparation of Cochin City | Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (c-hed). [Online]. https://www.c-hed.org/?p=1110. Accessed 31 Oct 2021 6. Preparation of city development plan for Cochin City | Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (c-hed). [Online]. https://www.c-hed.org/?p=1113. Accessed 31 Oct 2021 7. CSML—Cochin Smart Mission Limited. [Online]. https://csml.co.in/. Accessed 31 Oct 2021 8. GIZ, Hormann, CRISIL (2021) “Guidebook: Master Planning in small towns in and around metropolitan areas,” New Delhi 9. Local Self Government Department Planning Kerala (2016) “Kerala Town and Country Planning Act”, Thiruvananthapuram 10. Ministry of Urban Development Govt. of India (2016) The smart city challenge stage 2: smart city proposal Kochi. New Delhi

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Ms. Fathim Rashna Kallingal graduated Architecture from Kerala University in 2004 and completed Master of Planning (Urban planning) in 2017 from National Institute of Technology Calicut, India. As an Architect and Urban Planner, she had been working at various places including India and U.A.E. As an academician, she had been visiting several institutions in Kerala as Faculty of Design and Planning. Currently, she is pursuing Ph.D. from Department of Architecture and Planning, National Institute of Technology Calicut. Her fields of interest include regional development and planning, city planning, human development, sustainable development and policy research.

Ar. Kenny P. Joy graduated in architecture from National Institute of Technology Calicut in 2008 and completed Master of Urban Design as well as Master of Urban Planning in 2013 from CEPT university, Ahmedabad. He is a well-trained design and research professional with more than 10 years of experience in a multipronged career balanced between practice, research and academics. He worked with various firms in Kochi and Bangalore. He is also a city enthusiast who is passionate about engaging with the city and its stakeholders to make it a better liveable place.

Kolkata

Integrating Master Planning with Smart City Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities in Newtown, Kolkata Vidhulekha Tiwari, Ahana Sarkar, and Arnab Jana

Abstract The Smart City Mission (SCM) was launched on 25 June 2015 by the Government of India to develop 100 smart cities across the country. The objective was to develop methods for making the cities ‘smart’, replicable both within and outside the Smart City. The SCM aimed to promote inclusive and sustainable cities while ensuring infrastructural development and improving quality of life. Keeping the current rate of urbanisation and technological boom into consideration, this was an appreciable step taken by the government of India. Along with the SCM, several other schemes like the Swachha Bharat Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), etc., were also launched, and these schemes are supposed to work in a coordinated and integrated manner. However, at the same time, it must be understood that the integration of the SCM with the master of the concerned city will also play a vital role in ensuring efficiency and avoiding roadblocks in the completion of projects. If this integration is lacking, then issues are going to arise. The case study of New Town (Rajarhat), Kolkata, was selected to study this phenomenon. New Town was selected in the second phase of the SCM, and it is the only city in West Bengal that is selected under the mission. New Town is a rapidly developing satellite city of Kolkata. It is situated in the North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. New Town is managed by the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), and HIDCO aims to develop infrastructure in the city. New Town is being developed as an IT and residential hub in Kolkata. If we compare the vision and objectives of the master plan (VISION 2025) and the SCM (New Town) of Kolkata, we can easily observe several overlaps and conflicts. The master plans look at a much broader domain than the SCM, which is obvious. However, at the same V. Tiwari · A. Jana (B) Centre for Urban Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India e-mail: [email protected] V. Tiwari e-mail: [email protected] A. Sarkar Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_7

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time, the definition of the common objectives such as quality of life, Mobility and Connectivity, and Inclusivity may differ based on the scale of development. This chapter will give an insight into the conflicts between the Smart City Mission and the Master Plan in Kolkata and will conclude by suggesting integrating the SCM with the master plans of cities. Keywords Smart City · Newtown Kolkata · Quality of life · Livability · Sustainable infrastructure development

1 Introduction Historically, the cornerstone of India’s urban planning regime has been the Master Plan. The British Government established the concept of Town and Country Planning. These master plans are traditionally made for 20 years, with a 5 or 10 years review period. Due to the lack of implementation and reviews, the plans become rigid. In the current scenario, while the socio-economic conditions are changing rapidly due to the fifth industrial revolution, these plans fail to cater to the actual needs of any city. Cities are growing to become complex systems, and managing them merely with the help of human interventions will be difficult. In this scenario, shifting to decentralised governance through local area planning and employing innovative technologies may solve the existing issues. Keeping this in mind, the Government of India devised the Smart City Mission (SCM). The SCM is a pilot project to develop model smart cities, which can be replicated at broader scales. This scheme is meant to bring smart-technological interventions into urban planning and catalyse development. The three strategic components of the Smart Cities Mission are retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield development. Retrofitting aims to improve the liveability in the city by upgrading the existing infrastructure and services. In redevelopment, the entire region is completely rebuilt with an entirely new built environment, and in greenfield development, the new areas around the city are developed. The retrofitting and redevelopment come under Area Based Development (ABD). ABD aims to develop a defined Smart City region in the city. Moreover, the SCM requires the urban administration to develop at least two pan-city infrastructural services through smart technologies. Such developments act as a catalyst for urban growth and development and thus require the Master Plan to be flexible enough to incorporate the changes caused. While going into details, it is realised that the SCM does not promise many out-ofthe-box developments. While the ABD may include certain features which contribute to smart development; the pan-city projects should have been a part of the Master Plan itself. With this comment, it becomes imperative to look into the current system of Master Planning in India. In case the pan-city development through the SCM addresses the objectives of the Master Plan, integration becomes necessary to avoid

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conflicts. However, the conflict increases multi-fold in case the objectives of the SCM and Master plans do not align at all. To study such conflicts, the case of New Town (Rajarhat), Kolkata was selected in this study. The vision statement of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority [1] reads: New Town Kolkata Smart City aspires to leverage its existing and future investments to create a liveable city that is economically vibrant and takes pride in itself.

The Newtown Kolkata Smart City Proposal was submitted in December 2015, with a proposed timeline of 5 years. The strategy of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority [1] is to improve quality of life, create economic opportunities, and improve liveability in a sustainable and inclusive manner. Grounded on citizen aspirations, the strategic focus areas for New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) emphasised on aspects like improved quality of life, enhanced mobility and connectivity, increased safety and security, creating opportunities for women and by formulating and supporting policies. This model is to be developed in such a way that it becomes replicable in rest of the city in future to leverage the investments in and around the city of Kolkata (Map 1). The objective of the two proposed Pan City solutions is to improve liveability by creating a scalable, sustainable and inclusive solution that will enable an improved governance, service delivery, quality of life, mobility, connectivity and safety while creating economic opportunities (New Town Kolkata Development Authority 2016). The pan city development objectives are: • NKDA Intelligent Governance System: which is focussing on providing solutions pertaining to improved Governance, Living, Business Facilitation, Safety and Security, Mobility and Connectivity • Pan City Smart and Safe Mobility Solution: which is focusing on providing solution on improved transportation and mobility The Pan City Project in New Town aims to achieve urban transformation by offering high-class basic infrastructure. Few of the projects in the project are Public Bicycle Sharing System, Setting up and operation of 25 Electric Vehicle Charging Units, Construction of Graded Cycle Tracks, and Community Health Card for Citizen on Blockchain Technology [3]. The Area Based Development Project is being considered as an innovative and effective approach to facilitate sustainable growth by enabling local area development and harnessing technology. The project aims to develop various infrastructural services and systems in the defined area. A few of the objectives are renovation of streets, Radar Speed Sign Devices, Construction of Covid Memorial, etc. [4] The success of the Area Based Smart City Plan would depend on multiple factors, including the capacity of the city administration, citizen participation and buy-in, well-coordinated decision making and implementation and enforcement of policies/schemes/plans in a time-bound manner. However, the primary current risks include inadequate public participation and level of citizen involvement in smart

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Map 1 The location on New Town (Rajarhat), Kolkata. Source [2]

city planning interventions, lack of an integrated and structured institutional framework to bind the smart city initiative in Master Planning of Newtown and dearth of trained human resources, particular skill set and knowledgebase required for smart city project management and implementation. The integration of Smart City Mission in Kolkata would aid in creating a transparent database management system together with a citizen platform for information dissemination and a feedback loop for addressing grievances in real-time mode.

2 Master Planning in India Master Plan is defined as a statutory tool for controlling, directing and promoting sound and rational development and redevelopment of an urban area with a view to achieving maximum economic, social and aesthetic benefits in the Third Five Year plan of India. According to a report [5] by NITI Aayog, master plans are

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statutory instruments to guide and regulate the development of cities and are critical for managing urbanisation as well as ‘spatial sustainability’. The Indian cities are developing at high rates, and their growth is being catalysed by technology and several urban schemes launched by the Government of India. The current master plans in India are not flexible enough to incorporate changes, but the cities grow and reform naturally. The short scope for public participation and lack of a monitoring mechanism ensure that the plan continues to work in a predefined direction. The limitations of power and funds with the city administration restrict the implementation of plans. Owing to the complicacy in land governance and socioeconomic inequality, preparation and implementation of master plans has always been problematic in India. The administration often regularises unauthorised growth in cities, leading to more unintended consequences. The situation encourages further violations while not providing any long-term solution to the problem. Due to the unavailability of the relevant database, the planning is often not precise or detailed. This often hampers the collective vision of the city. With the introduction of a considerable pile of urban reforms through AMRUT, HRIDAY, SCM and Swachha Bharat Mission, the city administration has been trying to reform itself and work in coordination. However, in a scenario where everything ranging from schemes to mechanisms are new, it is not easy for anybody to regularise the systems. The coordination becomes urgent because the SCM is an independent body working in the SPV framework. Coming back to the case study of Kolkata, the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) has prepared the draft perspective plan titled ‘Vision 2025 Perspective Plan of CMA: 2025’ in 2005, which visualises the future urban structure of the city. The vision statement reads: The vision is to provide sustained and improved quality of life through basic urban services in an inclusive manner and create enabling environment for enhanced economic activities by utilising available resources efficiently, in an eco-friendly manner while conserving heritage [6].

The keywords in this statement are quality of life, urban services, inclusivity, enhanced economic activities, eco-friendly, and heritage conservation. Projects worth Rs. 6939 crore have been identified [6] for infrastructural development, while also planning for environment, wetland, urban amenities and heritage, education, health and employment. GIS-based capacity building for municipal bodies, and plan for development of transportation system, water supply, drainage, sewerage and sanitation for next 25 years has been finalised.

3 What Is a Smart City? Efficiency in any system is the purpose of development. In urban planning, efficient urban management can thus be called as ‘smart’ [7]. While a plethora of smart technologies has influenced personal lives in India, imagining about living in a ‘smart

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city’ still remains a farsighted dream for the citizen. Almost each one of us carry sensor in the form of our mobile phones in our hands, and if they can be utilised properly then we can be provided with huge datasets. In an attempt to define smart cities, Praharaj and Han [7] mention how the concept of smart cities has developed as a favoured response to the twenty-first-century urbanisation challenges. Numerous attempts have happened in last decade to define the smart city. Simultaneously, as it was realised that sometimes the aim may differ, expressions such as digital city, knowledge city and eco-city have been used interchangeably with smart city. They elaborate how these definitions have corresponding domain emphases, for example: • Digital city, Intelligent city, Information city, Ubiquitous city, and Wired city have been used to emphasise the application of Information and communication technology (ICT) for sense, analyse and integrate critical information on core systems in running cities. • The terms Entrepreneurial city and Creative city have been used for business-led urban development, entrepreneurship and creative industries. • Smart community has been used for the development of social capital through conscious efforts by communities, with the help of advanced technologies. • A city where achieving higher levels of sustainability has been the aim, the terms Sustainable city and Eco city have been used. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India mentions how there is no universally accepted definition of a smart city, and it depends on the level of development, willingness to change and reform, resources and aspirations of the city residents [8]. The keywords used to define the Smart City Mission in India were: Sustainable, inclusive, core infrastructure, quality of life, clean and sustainable environment, and Smart Solutions. These keywords create an extremely wide perspective to look at. Such definitions also let city dwellers create a wish list of infrastructure and services that describes their level of aspiration. To provide for the aspirations of the citizens, urban planners aim at developing the entire urban eco-system, represented by the four pillars of institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure [9]. While the definitions and terminology may not be the priority, a holistic and precise goal must be defined to ensure that we reach it. From the outset, the SCM seems like a bunch of several short term plans. If the mission is defined as methods which are replicable ‘both within and outside the smart city’, there should have been precise and defined long terms goals. And if the long term goals are not defined for the experimental smart ‘spots’ in a city, then how are the city administrators supposed to develop the city with this consideration? Now the cities have already started the smart city projects, and thus it is becoming apparent that these experimental smart ‘spots’ are actually a kind of pilot projects conventionally known as ‘sandbox initiatives’ [10].

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4 Critiques, Conflicts and Challenges There exists a huge gap in the two kinds of narratives around smart cities. One is solely focused on the technological and entrepreneurial aspects of mission, while other highlights the existing challenges in the Indian cities. At the same time, the discussions on dimensions of policy and planning remain at the backstage [11]. The rapid urbanisation is a result of numerous animate and inanimate factors, which communicate in the framework developed by plans, policies and laws. The difference, conflicts and overlaps in goals of administrative units in a city bars desired outcomes. Praharaj et al. [11] oppose the idea of smart cities being a standalone project and demand for integration. Prasad and Alizadeh [12] have listed a summary of critical smart city literature in their study, under five main themes of citizenship, environment, infrastructure, governance, and economy. Influence of socio-technological disparities among citizen, backed with entrepreneurial urbanisation mindset raises question related to smart citizenships. The Swachha Bharat Mission can be said to have been working successfully in several areas, but if we look at the environmental damage caused by urbanisation, the situation is grave. In such a situation, interventions at regional level are required and the SCM does not account for regional development. While most of the Indian cities lack basic infrastructure, the SCM is aiming for smart infrastructure. The SCM is aiming towards smart governance while our cities do not even have properly digitised data. Moreover, the SCM is working as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), and traditional administrations do not have a good coordination with SPVs. Lack of integration and existence of conflicts between city administration and smart city SPV can prove to be lethal in long term. ‘Governance’ is documented as the most significant category of barriers for smart city development [12]. The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) mechanism of smart city mission is also new to the administrators. While it has various merits and demerits, it is still competing with the traditional system [13]. In this scenario, when infrastructure and governance are lagging behind for decades, building a smart economy over it seems like a superficial plan. Urban informality, followed by bypass urbanism has damaged the urban fabric of India. Williams et al. [14] comment that the SCM has caused splintering development. Splintering development is a term coined by geographers Steven Graham and Simon Marvin which refers to fragmented experience of the city as a result of infrastructure and ICT being developed at specified locations. Aijaz [15] mentions that the slow progress in implementing the Smart Cities Mission is a matter of concern, as only 50% of the projects have been completed at the end of the six-year period of SCM. Unskilled manpower, lack of citizen participation, funding roadblocks, and structural issues with the SPVs are a few of the key causes of why SCM is lagging. The integration of three-tiered governance system comprising of the centre, state, and the local bodies, with the smart city SPV is difficult to establish. Ensuring coordination with an unhindered flow of funds in itself is a challenge. As of 12

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November 2021, the Smart Cities have tendered out 6,452 projects worth |184,998 crore but projects worth only |53,175 crore have been completed. Due to several roadblocks, the period of implementation of SCM has been extended up to June 2023 [16]. In Kolkata itself, tenders worth |596 crore have been issued for 147 projects, out of which work has been completed only for |105 crore for 83 projects [17]. Furthermore, while it comes to implementation, disconnect and conflicts are observed between SCM and Master Plans. Kumar [18] describes that the three basic challenges in Indian urbanisation, infrastructure, environment and governance, are the key challenges in the Implementation of the SCM in India. He argues that the Smart Cities Mission appears to present a disconnect between the actually existing city development and urbanisation, and its primary goal of creating wealth by embedding technology in the built environment without first addressing the basic city problems is flawed. Most of these research demand integration in governance and management before they delve deep into the intricacies of the SCM. But, how is the integration possible if the master plan itself does not exist for approximately 70–80% of the Indian cities [19]. The SCM is aspiring to execute city-wide infrastructure development projects- and area-based renewal, but it does not elaborate how these proposals can be converged with the existing master plans and city development plans [11].

5 The Case of New Town, Kolkata The New Town Planning Area was declared back in 1999 as a residential project. It constituted the erstwhile Bhangore Rajarhat Development Authority, and was designed to be self-sustaining project. In 2007, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) was formed to initiate civic services for the green-field city. In this period itself, various infrastructural facilities were laid out in New Town. In 2017, the town was selected in second phase of the SCM, and was tagged as a Green Smart City. Various revenue-generating assets were developed in the region during 2011–2016, which made the town financially self-sustained [20]. Parallely, the Kolkata Metropolitan Developing Authority (KMDA) had developed the Vision 2025 Perspective Plan of CMA: 2025 [6] back in 2005. This shows that there has been a huge gap between the recent developments and the Master Plan of the city. Efforts have been taken to integrate the SCM with the other urban schemes launched by the central government. For example, constructing of toilets with energyefficient lighting system under Swachh Bharat Mission, development of holistic and integrated Command and Control Platform with CCTV surveillance under Safe City Programme, use of solar power and architecture under the Solar City Programme, installing net metering facilities under National Smart Grid Mission,

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rainwater harvesting and reuse programme, and 24/7 surface water treatment and supply programme [21]. The efforts for convergence of the SCM with these schemes are appreciable. But at the same time, its integration with Master plan of Kolkata is questionable [21]. The SCM uses the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) or the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development (HIDCO) as merely the approving or implementing departments in this case. There is no provision of convergence of the SCM with the Kolkata Metropolitan Developing Authority (KMDA). Convergence is an important step to ensure the development of the city and the coordination between the ULBs and SCM plays a key role in defining the success of the projects. The SCM is still focusing on the basic infrastructural development, which should actually have been done by the ULBs. Moreover, while the tenure of the SCM itself is approaching its end, such infrastructures should have been already developed. This clearly shows that the SCM is leading to a leapfrog development while the Master Plans are not able to incorporate the updated requirements of the city.

6 Master Plan and Smart City Mission in New Town, Kolkata Various conflicts and overlaps can be observed in the vision and objectives of the master plan (VISION 2025) and the SCM (New Town) of Kolkata. The overlaps in the interests of both the agencies may cause difference of opinions over the way in which certain infrastructure is going to be developed. Moreover, the conflicts will directly lead to delays in the development of the city. Table 1 briefly depicts the differences in the vision statements and keywords taken from the objectives of the Master Plan and SCM in Kolkata. These conflicts and overlaps are elaborated in the upcoming subsections. Liveability The Master Plan and the Smart City Mission both focus on the quality of life of the citizens, but at the same time, the scale and method in which they might be dealing with the factor may vary. The SCM also specifically mentions improvement liveability as one of the targets. The SCM is working on this by providing smart services to the local public, such as WiFi in public areas, installing water ATMs, installing smart dustbins, constructing smart public toilets, etc. At the same time, The KMDA is focusing on more significant perspectives by developing city-wide infrastructure in Kolkata (Figs. 1 and 2). No direct conflicts may possibly arise in this sector, but no provisions are there to incorporate the rapid changes in the demand–supply dynamics caused by the SCM in the Vision 2025 Perspective Plan of CMA: 2025. This may lead to several irregularities at the end of planning period on the Perspective Plan (Fig. 3 and 4).

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Table 1 Comparison of vision and objectives of the master plan and SCM in Kolkata Vision

Master plan

Smart city mission

The vision is to provide sustained and improved quality of life through basic urban services in an inclusive manner and create enabling environment for enhanced economic activities by utilising available resources efficiently, in an eco-friendly manner while conserving heritage

New Town Kolkata Smart City aspires to leverage its existing and future investments to create a liveable city that is economically vibrant and takes pride in itself

Keywords from objectives

Master plan

Smart city mission

• Liveability

• Quality of life

• Quality of life • Liveability

• Employment and economy

• Enhanced economic activities • Employment

• Economically vibrant • Leverage investments • Creating economic opportunities • Business facilitation

• Infrastructure and services

• • • • • • •

• Safety and security • Mobility an connectivity • Service delivery

• Environment and ecology

• Eco-friendly development • Environment conservation • Wetland conservation

• Sustainability

• Governance and management

GIS-based capacity building for municipal bodies

• Governance

• Society and culture

• Heritage conservation • Inclusivity

• Inclusivity

Transportation system Water supply Drainage Sewerage Sanitation Education Health

This leads to the conclusion that the Master Plans, Development Plans or the Perspective Plans need to be more flexible to incorporate the changes across the planning period. Economy and Employment The priority of any scheme should be its functionality. The SCM in New Town states that it aims to develop the ‘revenue-generating assets’, but in practicality creating economic opportunities requires much detailed and long term planning. The SCM mentions leveraging investments and the facilitation of businesses as the methods to develop the area’s economy.

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Fig. 1 WiFi-equipped public spaces

Fig. 2 Water ATM in New Town

However, the master plan is concerned simply about employment and enhanced economic opportunities. The creation of employment opportunities can be done in several ways by providing training, providing job opportunities for the skilled workforce, or attracting investments. However, ‘generating employment opportunities’ remains just a statement unless it is defined and implemented.

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Fig. 3 Smart dustbins in New Town

Fig. 4 Smart public toilets

In this sector, both the schemes depict a complete mismatch. While one of the ultimate goals of any scheme is the region’s economic development, both the schemes lack a planned implementation methodology to achieve the region’s economic progress. Infrastructure and Services While the Master Plan of Kolkata is various infrastructural services such as Transportation System, Water Supply, Drainage, Sewerage, Sanitation, Education and Health, the SCM is focused on Safety and Security, Mobility and Connectivity, and Service Delivery.

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This approach of both SCM and KMDA towards infrastructure seems reasonable according to their scope of work. The KMDA is focusing on city-wide infrastructural development while the SCM is focusing on ABD and Smart Infrastructure (Figs. 5 and 6). Smart bicycle sharing system, graded cycle tracks and tactile footpaths for specially abled people have been developed under the SCM in New Town. Twenty Five Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations have also been installed in the ABD project to promote EV among citizen (Fig. 7). In this particular segment, the requirement of Master Plan is to recognise the change in urban dynamics caused due to the SCM. Fig. 5 Smart bicycle sharing system

Fig. 6 Inclusive and safe cycle tracks and footpaths

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Fig. 7 Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in New Town, Kolkata

Environment and Ecology HIDCO [20] mentions that several eco-parks have been developed in the ABD area of the SCM, and these open spaces are functioning as CO2 sinks. While this project does not strictly align with the stated objectives of the SCM, the functionality of the project in itself is questionable. The open areas and green covers have always been working as CO2 sinks, and redeveloping it may not necessarily increase the sustainability of the area. Moreover, as KMDA is able to deal with the city at a larger scale, it can ensure such eco-friendly development and environmental conservation. However, installation of solar lights and solar benches serve as a nice model which can be implemented at a city-wide scale. Here, it can be commented that integration and coordination of SCM with the Master plan of the city can ensure development and sustainability of the city (Fig. 8). Governance and Management The measurable e-governance impacts of the NKDA Smart City Proposal comprise installing emergency systems and automated parking systems. Others include the spatial impacts like an increased footfall in open spaces and dedicated bicycle road length; economic and social impact through the community-based education system and developing incubation centres for entrepreneurs, and environmental impact

Fig. 8 Solar lights and benches

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involving an increase in electricity consumption from renewable energy sources, LED street lighting and use of non-motorised transport. The Master Plan of the Kolkata mentions GIS-based up-gradation of municipal systems, while the SCM looks into the application of ICT in governance. The concept of Smart Technology sprouts from digitisation, but the digitised or GIS-based maps of the area are not available. In this scenario, the implementation of smart governance systems becomes a far-fetched dream. The SCM requires to work with the KMDA to develop a city-wide spatial data bank, with which both the departments will be able to plan, implement and monitor their schemes. Society and Culture The KMDA is concerned about the conservation of heritage in the city but the SCM never mentions it. This may create conflict of interest at several locations, and in that scenario the conservation heritage sites will probably be compromised. The positive aspect here is that both the schemes are focusing on inclusivity, and hence coordination will lead to efficient development.

7 Discussion and Conclusion Urban Planning aims to ensure that the citizen’s quality of life is being improved over time. In the fifth industrial revolution, the availability of data enables the administrators to ensure better planning, implementation and monitoring. To develop such administrative models, the Government of India launched the Smart City Mission (SCM) in 2015 as a pilot project to develop 100 cities across India. However, several other newly launched urban schemes and pre-existing master plans are also working in any city. To avoid conflicts and ensure efficiency, it is required that SCM works in coordination with all of these schemes and the Master Plan of the city. Nevertheless, from the case study of New Town Kolkata Smart City, it can be observed that the SCM is not considering convergence with the Perspective Plan of CMA. The Master Plan of the city has already not been able to target the city’s requirements; the implementation of the SCM is adding to its rate of development. However, in a scenario where neither the Master Plan nor the SCM has achieved their goals, it is challenging to ensure that they work in coordination. To ensure integration, the vision of the city administration needs to be defined. A unified goal can ensure that no conflicts exist and that the responsibilities of various departments are well laid out. The role of the ULBs should be focused on crucial infrastructural development and management. Any lag in such development will cause roadblocks for the implementation of schemes such as the SCM. Moreover, the SCM should focus on achieving the city’s objectives by aiding their projects with the help of smart technologies. Moreover, the SCM should also help monitor the plan through urban informatics. With the advent of digital reform, ensuring efficient

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management and governance has become more accessible, and thus it should also be aptly applied. Finally, the financial plan of implementation of the schemes must be planned and implemented correctly. Periodic evaluation and audits should be done and publically notified to ensure public participation and transparency. Since the plans and schemes benefit citizens, their involvement is necessary for the underlying processes.

References 1. New Town Kolkata, Development Authority West Bengal (2016) The upgraded Smart City Proposal of New Town Kolkata 2. NewTown Kolkata Development Authority Map—NewTown Kolkata Development Authority. https://www.nkdamar.org/pages/map.aspx. Accessed 29 Oct 2021 3. New Town Kolkata Green Smart City Corporation Limited (2019) PAN Projects | Smart City. https://www.newtowngreencity.in/pan-projects/. Accessed 1 Nov 2021 4. New Town Kolkata Green Smart City Corporation Limited (2019) ABD Projects | Smart City. https://www.newtowngreencity.in/abd-projects/. Accessed 1 Nov 2021 5. (2021) Reforms in urban planning capacity in India, Final Report. NITI Aayog, Government of India 6. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority Vision 2025. http://www.kmdaonline.org/home/ perspective_plans. Accessed 27 Oct 2021 7. Praharaj S, Han H (2019) Cutting through the clutter of smart city definitions: a reading into the smart city perceptions in India. City Cult Soc 18:100289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2019. 05.005 8. Smart City Mission, Government of India What is Smart City. http://164.100.161.224/content/ innerpage/what-is-smart-city.php. Accessed 28 Dec 2021 9. Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India (2015) Smart cities: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Goverment of India. https://mohua.gov.in/cms/smart-cities.php. Accessed 26 Oct 2021 10. Bergh JV den, Viaene S (2015) Key challenges for the smart city: turning ambition into reality. In: 2015 48th Hawaii international conference on system sciences, pp 2385–2394 11. Praharaj S, Han JH, Hawken S (2018) Urban innovation through policy integration: critical perspectives from 100 smart cities mission in India. City Cult Soc 12:35–43. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ccs.2017.06.004 12. Prasad D, Alizadeh T (2020) What makes Indian cities smart? A policy analysis of smart cities mission. Telemat Inform 55:101466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2020.101466 13. Maurya KK, Biswas A (2020) Performance assessment of governance in Indian smart city development. Smart Sustain Built Environ (ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE04-2019-0045 14. Williams A, Robles E, Dourish P (2009) Urbane-ing the city: examining and refining the assumptions behind urban informatics. In: Handbook of research on urban informatics: the practice and promise of the real-time city. IGI Global, pp 1–20 15. Aijaz R (2021) India’s smart cities mission, 2015–2021: a stocktaking 16. PIB Delhi (2021) 3,131 smart city projects worth |53,175 crore have been completed. https:// pib.gov.in/pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1776077. Accessed 29 Dec 2021 17. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India New Town Kolkata | Smartcities. https://smartcities.gov.in/node/150. Accessed 29 Dec 2021 18. Kumar A (2017) Can the smart city Allure meet the challenges of Indian urbanization? In: Sharma P, Rajput S (eds) Sustainable smart cities in India: challenges and future perspectives. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 17–39

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19. Indraj, Kumar A, Singh G, Gurjar GL (2019) (PDF) Smart city mission, urbanization and its challenges: a case study of Haryana. Int J Sci Res Sci Technol IJSRST 6. https://doi.org/10. 32628/IJSRST19646 20. HIDCO (2019) The journey of New Town Kolkata. https://www.wbhidcoltd.com/about-newtown. Accessed 1 Nov 2021 21. New Town Kolkata Development Authority (2016) the smart city challenge-stage 2: smart city proposal-New Town Kolkata

San Diego

Citizen-Centric Smart Planning: Case Study San Diego, California Neha Goel Tripathi and Malti Goel

Abstract San Diego is the second-largest in California State and the eighth-largest city in the United States. From a small border town, San Diego has grown to a thriving metropolis of nearly 1.4 million people (2019). San Diego smart city planning began with its first Comprehensive Plan as early as 1908 by John Nolen. The city has a unique history of well-planned development with active citizen participation. Over the years, the city’s economic base has expanded from tourism and defense to include high technology research, manufacturing, and international trade. This chapter looks at the journey undertaken by the city with strategies, goals, and developments in transforming the city of San Diego into a world-class Smart City. Many innovative concepts and technologies are adopted and deployed for improving the resident’s quality of life. Smart projects are undertaken in the city to improve public mobility and provide real-time data to help in better decision-making are discussed.

1 Introduction—San Diego City A smart city aspires to provide maximum comfort to its people by efficiently managing its assets, resources, and services. It encompasses the entire human ecosystem and deploys intelligent controls for smart mobility, smart energy services, and smart buildings [17]. At the same time, Smart Cities require a dynamic management approach toward infrastructure and services. The Spanish established the city of San Diego in 1602. The population was approximately 200,000 in 1940, and 700,000 in 1970. There was a growth spurt from 1940 to 1960 and then later from 1970 to 1990 that resulted in the city growing manifold. As a result, San Diego has grown from a small border town to a thriving metropolis N. G. Tripathi (B) Asisistant Professor of Environmental Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] M. Goel Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 T. M. Vinod Kumar (ed.), Smart Master Planning for Cities, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2386-9_8

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of nearly 1.42 million people in 2021 [11]. Spanning over 600 km, San Diego has a population density of 4,381 people per square mile. San Diego is on a pathway to become smart city through intensive and proactive planning process for upgrading its existing infrastructure to make it sustainable and pollution-free.

1.1 Geographical Setting The San Diego metropolitan area is bounded by development on the north (Oregon), the foothills of the coastal mountains on the east, shares the Mexican border on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west (Fig. 1). Geographically, the metropolitan area consists of a complex topographic succession ranging from a broad coastal plain dissected by local streams and extending from the Pacific Ocean to about 10–15 miles inland. The foothills provide a transition to the mountain and valley topography of the eastern county. There is nearly 150 km of shoreline including bays, lagoons, and the Pacific Ocean. Elevations mostly range from sea level to 600 feet. High points include Mt. Soledad in La Jolla and Cowles Mountain in the eastern part of the City which is nearly 1,600 feet high (Fig. 2). Much of coastal San Diego lies upon a series of sandstone terraces cut deeply in many places by intermittent and perennial streams [30]. San Diego has an arid sub-tropical, with very mild, rainy winters and warm, sunny summers. As per the Köppen climate classification system, the climate of San Diego is classified as a Mediterranean climate. Climatic zones closely correspond to the topographic zones: coastal, coastal hills, foothills, and mountains. Moderate temperatures have annual and diurnal temperature variations of less than 15 degrees Fahrenheit from the average of 61 degrees. The San Diego region has distinct identifiable physical areas (Figs. 3 and 4). The city has a unique and varied topography composed mostly of mesas intersected by canyons. Consequently, many canyons are undeveloped or are only partly developed because of steep hillsides and rushing streams during winter storms. The urban area Fig. 1 Geographical Setting of San Diego city Source

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Fig. 2 Physiography of San Diego, Source Google Map, 2021

Fig. 3 Unique topography of SanDiego, a google earth view of Talmadge Canyon Source Google earth maps, 2021

has developed around the canyon, primarily on the flat, more easily developable mesa tops [5].

1.2 Economy of the City The economy of the San Diego metropolitan area has grown since the 1980s in terms of both its size and its diversity. The high job creation, spurred by defense-related, high tech, and biomedical activities, resulted in many new jobs from 1984 through

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Fig. 4 Intersecting canyons and Mesa of SanDiego Source (San Diego Natural History Museum, 1944)

1989. Service employment, San Diego’s third-largest sector in the 1970s, surpassed both government and retail/wholesale trade during the 1980s. Over the years, the city’s economic base has evolved from tourism and defense to include biotechnology, information technology research, manufacturing (particularly for shipbuilding and repair), industrial machinery and computers, and international trade. Four base sectors that have contributed meaningfully to San Diego’s economy are: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

International Trade Manufacturing Defense Tourism (i)

(ii)

The higher-wage economic sectors include telecommunications, software, biotech, and higher education. The service sector, stimulated by the growth in basic industry jobs has emerged as the largest contributor of employment. Additionally, the city is authorized to operate as a Foreign Trade Zone by the United States government. San Diego’s commercial port and its location on the United States-Mexico border make international trade an important contributor to the city’s economy. Today, San Diego is a center for high technology and biotechnology. High technology growth areas include the biomedical, software, telecommunications, and security sectors. Among all U.S.

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(iii)

(iv)

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metropolitan areas, San Diego has the third-largest concentration of biotech companies. Defense continues to be an important part of the economy with the city being designated as a Navy mega port. Indeed the economy of San Diego is influenced by its deep water port, which includes the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast. According to the 2021 Military Economic Impact Report, defenserelated economic activity grew 5.4% accounting for 25% of the region’s economy [35]. Tourism is a major industry owing to the city’s climate, its beaches, and numerous tourist attractions such as Balboa Park, Belmont amusement park, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and Diego. Tourismrelated activities continue to provide many of the lower-wage jobs in the city.

2 The San Diego City Planning Vision Through the years, all the development plans have shared a somewhat common vision of making San Diego a great city for its citizens. The plans have emphasized and sought the preservation of unique neighborhoods, the development of a diverse economy, and housing for all San Diegans. Moreover, emphasis has been on protection and enhancement of the environment, an efficient and improved public transit system, well-maintained public facilities, and services. The milestone Plans are; (i) (ii) (iii)

The 1908 Nolen Plan, The General Plan 1979, and The San Diego General Plan 2008.

2.1 The Nolen Plan (1908) Concept A Development Plan for San Diego was prepared by John Nolen in 1908. In the ‘ San Diego: A Comprehensive Plan’ for its Improvement, Nolen projected that San Diego would develop into a sizeable city [1]. This showed considerable foresight because, at the turn-of-the-twentieth century, San Diego bore little resemblance to any of the country’s other major cities. Nolen was critical of way San Diego was developing before 1908 and highlighted the mistakes that had already occurred in the city’s development. Furthermore, Nolen was able to visualize the unique possibilities for development that existed in San Diego based on its many natural assets and enviable climate. In the Plan, Nolen proposed the preservation of beaches and open space for the public. His proposal for public plaza, civic center, and bay front (Fig. 5) was seen as a way to encourage increase in population and traffic to the city [18]. Nolen’s goals and vision are relevant

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Fig. 5 Nolen vision for San Diego. Perspective sketch of the great bay front, San Diego. Source Nolen, J., 1908. San Diego, a comprehensive plan for its improvement. Boston, G. H. Ellis co., printers, p. 45

and continue to influence planning decisions that shape San Diego till today. Though the plan was not fully utilized, it has been a significant influence on the development of San Diego’s planning policies till day. Realizing that the plan could not be implemented without public support, Nolen worked with the members of the Civic Improvement Committee to establish a public relations campaign for acceptance of his plan.

2.2 The General Plan (1979) The General Plan for the City of San Diego established a growth management program. The Plan contained a comprehensive strategy to address the public concerns over growth, housing density, and development patterns. It recommended reversing the trend of rapid population growth on the periphery of San Diego, and the declining growth in the central areas of the City [23]. The Plan was approved by the voters in 1967 with the principal recommendation to have the plan reviewed by the Planning Commission and City Council at five-year intervals. In 1974, planning consultants Kevin Lynch and Donald Appleyard produced a document ‘Temporary Paradise’ [3], for the San Diego region. The document served as a major influence on the subsequent comprehensive update of the Progress Guide and the General Plan adopted in 1979. This General Plan provided a comprehensive “blueprint” for the City of San Diego’s growth over the next twenty years. Under the 1979 General Plan, the City was divided into three “tiers” of growth: “urbanized,” “planned urbanizing,” and “future urbanizing” as seen in Fig. 6. (i)

The “urbanized” areas were the established and developed neighborhoods and the Downtown core. The urbanized area is the central portion of San Diego as well as the remaining older sections of the City.

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Fig. 6 Plan showing phased devlopment in updated general plan, 1989, Source General plan, 1989, p. 54

(ii) (iii)

The “planned urbanizing” areas consisted of newly planned and developing communities. The “future urbanizing” areas were largely vacant and ultimately required voter approval to shift to “planned urbanizing” in order to develop [10].

Development of the San Diego Region area during the decade of the 1980s reflected the state’s urban development patterns which were characterized by rapid population and housing growth, especially on the periphery of city. The acceleration of the trend toward economic diversification and pace of development led to high population growth and job growth in San Diego. The region’s population grew by 35%, and the number of vehicle trips per capita increased. As of July 1, 1983, the City of San Diego’s corporate limits contained 206,989 acres of land area (323.4

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square miles). Due to topographical constraints, only 62% of its land was developed [10].

2.2.1

1990 Growth Management Program

From 1987 to 1990, the City Council debated the problems and issues of growth and how growth affects the quality of life, fiscal resources, and the physical and social pattern of development. It came out with 1990 Growth Management Program, to supplement the 1979 management structure to guide growth citywide through a Tier System. Tiers are categories reflecting how development can occur based on the availability of public facilities and services. The Program identified the following objectives for San Diego in updated General Plan 1989 [15]: • Protect environmentally sensitive areas and provide for a linked and continuous open space system. • Protect single-family neighborhoods from incompatible development. • Provide adequate public facilities and services at the time of need to serve new development. • Identify existing public facility deficiencies and establish financing techniques to achieve level of service standards. • Coordinate growth management policies in San Diego with the growth policies of all jurisdictions within the region, including Mexico. • Promote a stable rate of economic growth, a strong and diverse economy and job opportunities, which enhance the wellbeing of area residents. • Establish balanced communities by providing a range of housing for all economic levels and creating employment opportunities for the economic welfare of each community. • Protect and conserve limited water supplies. • Encourage high-quality development in designated redevelopment areas. • The program divided the City geographically into three 3 tiers, namely urbanized, planned urbanizing, and future urbanizing.

2.3 San Diego General Plan, 2008 A century after Nolen’s Plan, a new document The San Diego General plan 2008 was prepared. The Plan aimed to achieve balanced communities and equitable development. It established the strategic framework for how the City grows while maintaining the qualities and the foundation upon which all land-use decisions in the City are based upon. General Plan policies call for working toward environmental justice through broadening public input, prioritizing and allocating citywide resources to benefit communities in need, and striving for equity in environmental protection and the location of undesirable land uses, among other initiatives [11].

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Fig. 7 Key elements of state requirements in the San Diego general plan. Source Derived by authors

The City of San Diego’s General Plan addresses state requirements through the following ten key elements (Fig. 7). The General Plan relies upon the community plans to provide the site-specific guidance that will lead to the implementation of many of the General Plan policies, and the continued involvement of an engaged citizenry to monitor its implementation. In 2015 the General Plan was modified and updated. The city council in 2015 contained further amendments to Land Use, Mobility, Economic Prosperity, Public Facilities, Services and Safety, Recreation, and Noise Elements.

2.4 Citizen-Centric Urban Planning in San Diego The citizens of San Diego have been an integral part of the development and growth by actively participating in numerous Plan visions. In the 1900s when San Diego started developing, there was a steady rise in building permit issuance. In response, the City of San Diego established the Civic Improvement Committee. Since then the Committee has been playing an active role in the development of San Diego. Several documents like the Urban Form Action Plan, the Regional Growth Management Strategy, the Livable Neighborhoods Initiative, Towards Permanent Paradise, the Renaissance Commission Report, and many other documents have been produced by citizen initiative [6]. The recommendations of the CPGs are integral components of the ongoing planning process in San Diego. In 1966, the San Diego City Council formalized the government-citizen relationship with the adoption of Council Policy [12]. This policy recognized community-planning groups as formal representatives for advising the City Council. Over the years, the Community Planning Groups (CPGs) have played

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an active role in providing community input regarding development projects, general plan proving amendments, re-zonings, and public facilities, etc.

3 Sustainability Initiatives by San Diego City The City of San Diego has taken many initiatives and can be considered a leader of sustainability in the United States.

3.1 Environmental Protection Initiatives San Diego has been taking significant environmental protection initiatives since the late 1990s. Environmental groups such as The Sierra Club and San Diego Canyonlands have worked to establish neighborhood-based volunteer groups to adopt and protect the canyons [5]. The San Diego Foundation and other philanthropic organizations and individuals funded many environmental programs to protect the environment. The canyons, are San Diego’s unique character and help distinguish San Diego from other coastal cities. The canyons serve to define neighborhoods and provide a framework for a unique urban setting (they bisect literally every neighborhood in the city). Furthermore, the canyons act as valuable green infrastructure that filter the air, and capture and filter pollutants out of our urban storm-water runoff, before it reaches coastal waters. Many canyons are protected by the City’s “Multi-Habitat Planning Area” (MHPA), adopted as its commitment to San Diego County’s unique “Multiple Species Conservation Plan” (MSCP), a commitment to species conservation.

3.2 Climate Change San Diego City San Diego’s new Climate Action Plan establishes a community-wide goal of net zero by 2035 [7]. The State Department of Sustainability has been created for the implementation of the City’s Climate Action. Updated Climate Action Plan for 2020 aims for creating a more sustainable future for all—elevating equity, renewable energy, and economic opportunity. In 2018, the City of San Diego became one of the twentyfive cities participating in the Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge [33].

3.2.1

GHG Trends for San Diego City

San Diego has consistently shown declining trends in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) for the city. In 2019 total GHG emissions in the City of San Diego (the City)

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Table 1 City of San Diego greenhouse gas emissions Emissions source

2010 Emissions (reported in the CAP. MT CO2 eq)

2016 Emissions (reported in 2019 annual report. MT CO2 eq)

2019 Emissions (MT CO2 eq)

2010–2019 (%) changes

On road transportations

7,086,297

5,542,000

5,296,000

−25

Electricity

3,138,613

2,219,000

2,069,000

−34

Natural gas

2,098,983

2,058,000

1,911,000

−9

383,172

276,000

303,000

−21

Waste water & solid waste Water Total

2777,927

73,000

67,000

−76

12,984,993

10,169,000

9,646,000

−29

Source Energy policy initiatives center 2020 cited in [8], p. 2

were estimated to be 9.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MMT COeq). In 2019 the total emissions were approximately 29% lower than 2010 with GHG emissions estimate, i.e. 12.98 MMT COeq (Table 1). Moreover, The city had an interim goal of 15% reduction by 2020 and it went above that mark to 24% GHG reduction citywide by 2020. From Table 1 it can be seen that in 2019, Emissions from electricity decreased by approximately 34% compared to 2010. At the same time, emissions from natural gas end-use decreased by 9%. As a result, the emissions from building energy use (electricity + natural gas) in 2018 and 2019 were approximately the same. A significant decrease of 76% is evident in Emissions from water. This is due to the fact that local surface water supply was augmented and as a result GHG emissions associated with importing water were reduced. Energy (fossil fuel-based electricity and natural gas consumption) and water-related emissions account for 42% of 2019 Citywide GHG emissions [8]. Projections for emissions in 2030 and 2035 are shown in Table 2, which suggests 63.3% reduction in 2030 from 2019 per capita emissions.

3.2.2

The Climate Equity Index for Inclusive Growth

The concept of climate equity is critical to the Climate Action Plan. The San Diego City is committed to leading on climate equity by involving more community voices in the decision-making process. The University of San Diego Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC) created the first-of-its-kind Climate Equity Index (CEI), a community-driven process to assess the potential impact of climate change on opportunities that exist in an area. The CEI is an innovative tool both in terms of design and development process. San Diego’s CEI assessed all 297 census tracts that intersect with the City and developed standardized indicators to calculate a CEI score from 0 to 100 for each

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Table 2 City of San Diego greenhouse gas emission projections and reductions Year

Business-as-usual emissions projection (MT CO2 e)

Target emission levels (MT CO2 e)

Emissions reduction from CAP implementation** (MT CO2 e)

Emission levels after CAP implementation (MT CO2 e)

Additional emissions reduction or removal needed (MT CO2 e)

2019 10,462,000 (Starting year) 2030

10,522,000

4,194,000*

5,688,000

4,834,000

640,000

2035

10,922,000

Net zero emissions

8,411,000

2,511,000

2,511,000

Source City of San Diego, climate action plan, our climate, our future, p. 16 *Science-Based, fair share target for 2030 (63.3% reduction from 2019 per capita emissions) **CAP implementation includes the impact of federal and state regulations and programs, SANDAG regional actions and CAP strategies emissions projections and reductions are rounded

tract that can be compared to the score of other tracts [7]. Using CEI, Communities of Concern can be identified that have limited availability of alternative modes or live in unhealthy air quality. The CEI recognizes these census tracts with very low, low, and moderate access to opportunity. Based on the result the City utilizes the CEI to prioritize Communities of Concern first.

3.3 Clean and Renewable Energy Program San Diego is fortunate to enjoy 263 days of Sun in a year and is a suitable location for harnessing solar energy. To incentivize the installation of solar rooftops, San Diego launched the Net Metering Programme (NEM) in 1995 [21]. This encouraged the activity in San Diego households and the number grew from 10,000 houses in 1995 to one million in 2020. Since the NEM program was established, solar costs have fallen dramatically. Solar households use solar energy produced during the day when solar power is available and from the utilities at night. Rooftop solar customers receive a credit in their electric bills when their system generates more power than they need, and the excess power is supplied to the electric grid.

4 Smart Infrastructure Development for San Diego Smart City The implementation of smart cities is complex and multi-layered. It involves multiple agencies and collaborative digital planning. A smart city needs to have a unified

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infrastructure for incorporating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to manage in real-time. Smart infrastructure encompasses safety, environmental protection, smart energy systems, smart grid technology, smart mobility, and the use of electrical vehicles. Big data and Machine-to-Machine learning are an integral part of data infrastructure and bring benefits in terms of cost-saving, increased profits, job creation, etc. [34]. From the case study, it is evident that San Diego leverages its strengths and resources in a partnership model to develop and implement smart initiatives to empower citizens and improve environmental quality. It has been actively participating in national smart cities programs. On September 14, 2015, the Obama Administration announced its Smart Cities Initiative, a $160 million investment in a range of research and development activities focused on “Smart Cities.” In response, the City of San Diego partnered with UC San Diego for MetroLab Network, to become a part of the Smart Cities initiative by the White House [34]. This initiative brought together university researchers with city decision-makers to research; to develop analytically based solutions for improving the city’s infrastructure, services, and other public sector priorities. Later on in 2017, San Diego was one of 10 U.S. cities selected to join Envision America in which cities are leveraging technology collaborators and businesses to address climate change challenges and improve city services [19]. The city is also a member of the U.S. Ignite Smart Gigabit Community. The Smart Gigabit Communities (SGC) program provides technical assistance and capacity-building services for smart and connected communities to identify problem areas, benchmark offerings, design solutions, and demonstrate new tech/social collaborations and at-scale deployments. Furthermore in 2017 again the City of San Diego’s advanced Smart City Open Urban Platform (SCOUP) network was a winner of the California Energy Commission’s Energy Innovation Challenge. The SCOUP helps automatically track, benchmark, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy use associated with its municipal facilities [9]. In 2018, the City of San Diego was selected as one of 22 municipalities to take part in a national collaborative exploring how emerging technologies and mobility options can improve transportation.

4.1 Digital Planning Initiatives Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) play a vital role in a smart city. For every parameter related to sectors like transportation, energy, Natural resources, Education, Buildings, Health care, and public safety, a large volume of information is monitored from sensors and gets accumulated (Fig. 8). The digital transformation in San Diego is impacting many aspects of people’s lives. Hence the concept of citizen-centric smart city development demands digitizing the planning process to engage the local community. This helps the citizens to

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Fig. 8 Smart city components of San Diego

understand the implications of technology tools such as data analytics, big data, and machine learning [20].

4.2 Leveraging City Assets for Smart City Transformation The City owns thousands of traffic signal poles, streetlight poles, public buildings, streets, sidewalks, stormwater routes, and other real estate assets that can be used to deploy networks of sensors and devices necessary for smart city applications. Some of these assets are already being used for smart city purposes, while others have significant potential to be put to good use. The demand for smart installations will continue to grow with the widespread development of 5G data networks, as will new demand for the installation of sensors that support autonomous vehicles and other smart city applications. Additionally, the City can use these assets for its future purposes, such as air pollution sensors, public wi-fi access points, and parking management systems by having a clear, shared, public understanding of the value of its infrastructure.

4.2.1

Smart Streetlight Pilot Project

San Diego’s smart streetlight program was announced in 2017, in partnership with GE Current. The project began as a cost-savings effort for the City to replace highenergy use streetlights with more efficient LED light [31]. In 2018, after a brief pilot program, the city partnered with General Electric to retrofit them with cameras and IoT sensors. The sensors could also collect metadata for traffic, pedestrian flow, parking, and environmental pollution data.

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4.3 Smart Energy Transition for San Diego With an increasing share of renewable energy (Table 3), San Diego utility—San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) is developed a super-resilient smart grid, i.e. high-tech upgrade to existing infrastructure. Long-term investment was made by SDG & E for long-term intelligent systems for automated fault finding and restoration. The journey started with replacing analog meters with smart meters. Sophisticated Software helps in emergency preparedness for restoration after an outage and is automated selfhealing. Wireless devices can be used to identify where the fault is thereby making the repair more efficient and faster [25]. Baseline and current state of clean and renewable energy in the San Diego Gas & Electric are shown in Table 3.

4.3.1

Smart Grid in San Diego

San Diego is a global leader in microgrid technology. Smart grid technology is designed to achieve a high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) systems into homes and businesses, it is an intelligent system capable of sensing system overloads and rerouting power to prevent or minimize a potential outage of power over the grid. SDG & E (utility) has launched a community microgrid project, for boosting the state’s adoption of energy storage, and improving wildfire prevention efforts. As microgrids are small grids that can operate in parallel with or independently of the larger electric grid they can keep pre-defined areas powered during emergencies. This initiative by SDG & E helps increase community resiliency in case of disasters [26]. Table 3 Percentage of renewables in SDG & E electricity supply

Year

Renewables in SDG & E electricity supply (%)

2010

11

2011

16

2012

19

2013

24

2014

32

2015

36

2016

43

2017

44

2018

43

Source California energy commission 2019 Note—the Renewable Energy share is for the bundled suppliers only. It does not include Direct Access customers and does not account for behind-the-meter renewable supply

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Colloboration Between Utility and University for Smart Grid Technology

Another significant initiative was taken by the UC San Diego (UCSD) several years ago to become a carbon-neutral campus by 2025. UCSD owns and maintains a 69kV substation, 96 12-kV underground feeder circuits, and four 12-kV distribution substations throughout its 1,200-acre campus. UCSD has a 42-mW microgrid with a master controller and optimization system that self-generates 92% of its annual electricity load and 95% of its heating and cooling load. This helps the university to save money (approx. Us $800,000 per month) by using the generation on its microgrid when compared with the alternative of being a direct-access customer importing energy from the grid [37]. To encourage further the utility (SDG & E) also presented the University with cashback ($7.2 million) representing energy efficiency incentives earned through the implementation of energy efficiency projects from 2010 to 2012.

4.4 Smart Transport Transition for San Diego In San Diego, a city where most of the population uses personal vehicle for transportation, smart city initiatives are encouraged to reduce car use and incentivize high-density development. As a result, newer forms of mobility like e-scooters are encouraged. Using data the officials can get insights into where bike lanes and other micro-mobility infrastructure could be located. The 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP or the Plan) contains a robust transportation network, with a diversity of projects that will provide residents and visitors with a variety of travel choices [24]. The Plan advocates toward a more sustainable future by integrating land use, housing, and transportation planning to create communities that are more sustainable, walkable, transit-oriented, and compact (Fig. 9). The Plan emphasizes on reducing GHG emissions from cars and light trucks. Mobility Choices Goals for San Diego: · Provide San Diegans with more mobility options for commuting and recreating · Provide safe and convenient transportation choices · Promote a healthier, more active lifestyle · Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support clean air for all

Mobility Zones—The City was broken out into four Mobility Zones. Mobility Zones were designated based on VMT-reducing potential of new development. Investments in VMT efficient areas give the City the greatest potential for VMT reductions at the lowest costs (Fig. 10).

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Fig. 9 Smart growth concept plan for San Diego. Source [24], p. 1–7

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Fig. 10 Mobility zones for San Diego city

4.4.1

Intelligent Transportation System

The planning and implementation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are part of the City’s long-range strategy for improving the operational safety and efficiency of the City’s streets and the region’s freeway and transit systems. The plan identifies the City’s existing and future ITS infrastructure operations, and maintenance needs and facilitates the City’s future connections to the region’s developing ITS network.

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Currently, the City is seeking funding to develop the ITS Plan. The City continues to coordinate with SANDAG regional transport authority on the development of the region’s ITS [16]. San Diego’s Vision Zero strategy is to eliminate road fatalities or severe injuries. By using real-time anonymous sensor data, the streetlights can help first responders get to emergencies faster or identify intersections that need improvement for pedestrians and cyclists. It’s all powered by Current, a digital engine used for smart environments developed by GE.

5 Smart Projects Approach for Infrastructural Development An initiative led by Cleantech San Diego-based organization in 2011, Smart Cities San Diego is a collaboration between public, private, and academic organizations in San Diego [32]. Smart City San Diego is a bold, multi-agency collaboration combining the resources of the different departments and agencies namely, the City of San Diego, San Diego Gas & Electric, GE, UC San Diego, and Cleantech San Diego. Together, these leading organizations from government, business, education, and nonprofit are working to drive the existing programs forward, identify new opportunities, embrace additional collaborators, and make the San Diego region a leader in the smart cities movement. The smart Projects approach has been adopted through the following projects.

5.1 Smart Project 1: Solar Smart Community San Diego’s first 100% PV apartment community, Solterra EcoLuxury. H.G. Fenton Co. is nearing completion on the first 100% PV apartment community in San Diego, Solterra EcoLuxury Apartments in Scripps Ranch. The complex of 114 apartments is individually metered even though the solar arrays power the whole building. With normal net metering each apartment has its own dedicated solar array with its own meter and connection to the grid. The solar system was designed to provide 100% of the energy used in the apartments with excess energy produced being used to offset metered energy use at night so tenants may have no utility bill [27]. The apartments also have garages pre-wired for electric vehicle (EV) charging and in-home virtual net metering displays that let them easily monitor their kilowatt usage.

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5.2 Smart Project 2: EV Charging Stations In 2012, Gov. Jerry Brown set a bold vision of having 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road in California by 2025. For the San Diego region to meet a mere 10% of that target—150,000 electric vehicles. San Diego has a high number of registered EVs citywide, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The increasing number of Electric Vehicles leads to increasing demand for EV charging. To support State GHG reduction targets for the transportation sector, former Governor Brown issued two Executive Orders that set zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) and charging infrastructure goals for 2025 and 2030 [22]. The San Diego region is a ZEV market leader because of regional partnerships, policies, and programs that helped to spur EV adoption from the early stages of the transportation electrification movement. San Diego has one of the nation’s highest levels of electric vehicle drivers per capita. Results from a strategically placed infrastructure pilot project show the region’s interest in the technology. Five solar-to-electric vehicle (EV) charging stations located at the iconic San Diego Zoo in the heart of the city’s world-renowned Balboa Park have been increasingly used month over month. The Solar-to-EV project launched by Smart Cities San Diego in September 2012 and managed by SDG&E is one of the first-of-its-kind in the world [36]. The charging stations use energy from the sun to directly charge plug-in EVs, store solar power for future use, and provide renewable energy to the surrounding community. Another key initiative by the city was to establish the Equity Stakeholder Working Group for Electric Vehicles charging infrastructure. This Group consists of over 35 community-based organizations, to provide feedback and guidance on the development of EV infrastructure. From this community-centric planning collaboration, the City identified areas with very low and low access to opportunity face the largest barriers and should be prioritized.

5.3 Smart Project 3: Smart Port In 2014, the Port of San Diego became the first demonstration site in a series of regional public–private smart building initiatives led by Cleantech San Diego and a team of Internet of Things (IoT) technology providers to advance the region’s smart city goals. Combining end-to-end IoT gateway solutions provided by Intel Corporation, OSIsoft, Black & Veatch, Dell, and San Diego Gas & Electric, this smart building project uses sensors to detect energy consumption and translate it into easy-to-manage, real-time data for building operators at the Port of San Diego.

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Inspired by the city’s partnership with General Electric, the Port of San Diego installed 23 audio and visual sensors along Harbor Drive, between Seaport Village and the airport, to collect information about cars and pedestrians.1

5.4 Smart Project 4: Smart Streetlights The San Diego region is working with technology innovators such as GE, Qualcomm Technologies, and others on intelligent lighting solutions. With involvement from Cleantech San Diego, the City of San Diego installed 3,000 LED street lights with adaptive controls downtown—one of the first deployments of this technology in the country [13]. Following the success of that pilot, the city is now on track to deploy the world’s largest city-based Internet of Things platform using smart streetlights. The project includes replacing 14,000 more streetlights with energy-efficient versions, which will reduce energy costs by $2.4 million annually. New streetlights also had remote control LEDs that could be programmed and managed from a central software platform [31]. With the involvement from Cleantech and other Departments, the city installed 3,000 LED street lights with wireless sensors and adaptive controls. The target set was to upgrade to 75,000 street lights, and save 30 million kilowatt hours annually, eliminating 13,000 tons of carbon dioxide, and generating $30 million in economic development.

5.5 Smart Project 5: San Diego International Airport San Diego International Airport is collaborating with Total Communicator Solutions and Samsung to develop a contextually intelligent airport platform that will use smartphones and watches to power both employee efficiency and the traveler experience. Samsung Gear S2 smartwatches will be deployed to San Diego International Airport’s IT team to enable it to more quickly and efficiently respond to and address technical problems throughout the airport’s various touchpoints like flight status displays, self-check-in kiosks and boarding gates [28]. San Diego International Airport has been proactive in sustainability measures and in 2014, it became the world’s first LEED Platinum-certified commercial airport terminal [29].

1

Though the project is no longer in place the focus of the project was to study how the technology can assist and integrated with the traffic studies.

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5.6 Smart City Project 6: San Diego Padres and PETCO Park Petco Park is a sports stadium in San Diego. Petco has collaborated with OSIsoft, Qualcomm, and SDG&E to deploy Internet of Things technologies. This will help the San Diego Padres to monitor their facilities, improve efficiencies, and maximize the value of their current infrastructure. Utilizing Qualcomm’s edge intelligence solutions and the OSIsoft PI System’s real-time data analytics software to monitor electricity, gas, and water use. With the smart system in place, utility managers of Petco Park can monitor potable, non-potable and chilled water, as well as natural gas and electricity consumption. With this type of data, efficient solutions for reducing the consumption of these resources can be mainstreamed in everyday operations. The system has the potential to increase efficiencies, reduce operational expenses by more than 25% in the next five years, and support ongoing efforts to make Petco Park a smarter, more sustainable venue [14].

5.7 Smart City Project 7: The Inclusive Connected Communities Roadmap project—Digital Initiative Collaborative effort between Cleantech San Diego, Black & Veatch, Atonix Digital, and City of San Diego have launched The Inclusive Connected Communities Roadmap project [2]. The initial goal of the project is to identify how technology can meet the needs of communities of concern and empower citizens that previously had limited access to such benefits and limited input in the decision-making process. The project team is holding a series of smart city goal-setting meetings with community leaders in the San Diego Promise Zone2 (SDPZ) to discuss, identify, and vote on the key issues they would like to be addressed, such as: Vocational training, housing, technology, transit, food, energy, health, etc.

6 Key Features of Citizen-Centric Smart Planning in San Diego San Diego has the location and the physical foundation in general for an important, perhaps a great, city. Its people are awake to its needs, and are resolved to meet them. ~John Nolen, 1908 (City Planner John Nolen wrote these words as a preface to San Diego’s first grand vision statement of the twentieth century.)

2

The San Diego Promise Zone is home to some of the most disadvantaged and underserved communities.

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The citizens of San Diego have been an integral part of the development and growth by actively participating in numerous Plan visions from the beginning. The city has launched a tool to encourage citizen participation in decision-making keeping in mind the diversity of the city and increased transparency. The website, called OnBoard, offers residents an opportunity to more easily volunteer their services on matters that help to improve the city. As well as improving the diversity of voices and thought, the site also helps the city achieve its access and transparency goals. Stakeholders are key drivers of smart city solutions. In this context, citizens especially are significant players. An enormously important factor in the success of the smart city initiatives in San Diego was to get the public to accept them. Hence, when developing smart city solutions, the best approach is to define key citizen segments, understand their needs and challenges, and design solutions based on these needs. In a citizen-centric approach, decisions and services are designed with users in mind (Fig. 11). The case study of smart project in San Diego highlighted some pertinent questions and aspects related to other smart city that need to be addressed in transforming to a smart city. The key learning from Smart City approach and Smart Projects are summarized here. I.

Collaboration is the key for successful smart city transition

In San Diego, smart city strategic roadmap was created to establish new and effective ways for knowledge sharing, information gathering, and decision-making through the establishment of a Smart Cities Working Group. The City of San Diego works closely with the County of San Diego, the San Diego Unified Port District, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, Tribal Governments, and other local governments and agencies throughout the region to further develop common goals.

Fig. 11 San Diego smart city model

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Cleantech San has played an important role in San Diego’s transformation into a Smart City. It has helped foster collaborations across the private–public-academic, institutions and agencies. The city collaborates with University of San Diego and many other agencies like Cleantech San Diego, SD&E, U.S. Marine Corps, who have entered into agreements for various smart city initiatives. Through partnership, these organizations are working together to deploy Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, advance urban connectivity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the traditional approach, the cities have used technology to solve specific problems individually within a particular program or department. The growing connectivity and integration of technologies, however, is creating new opportunities for collaboration needed for efficiency and problem-solving. II.

Local innovation system: as an overarching solution

Harnessing a local innovation system, which comprises of local entrepreneurs, local universities and research centers, is key to addressing the challenge of localization for smart cities technology. For example, UCSD Smart Grid transition is great selfinitiative by community. It shows how cities can consider how best to use existing innovation infrastructure to adapt existing infrastructure to smart infrastructure. Similarly, the Petco stadium upgrade is an initiative at the local level. Where they are bringing automation to the sport stadium for energy efficiency. III.

Smart Citizens matter

The high-educated workforce of San Diego has been instrumental in its transition to a smart city. Sherry Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation categorizes levels of citizen power in urban planning activities. The categories range from total “citizen power”, where residents have total control over their agency, to “manipulation”, where agencies manipulate participants with information that they share, without taking any input from residents [4]. San Diego helps us understand how citizens are “conceived and positioned” in San Diego through the example of the smart street light project. The original purpose of the smart sensor and surveillance camera was to optimize parking and traffic and track air quality. However, the police realized that this video footage data can be used to solve crimes. While this was a positive use of data, but the residents voiced concern about their privacy due to the cameras on street lights. This also raised the issue of the use/misuse of data by third-party agencies and regulations governing the data that is generated through the sensors. Hence the last level of engagement that is ‘Citizen Power’ was evident in the case of San Diego. Based on citizen feedback and protest the smart streetlight project was scaled back. IV

Proactive and responsive approach for strengthening long-term smart transition

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In response to same smart street project Real-time monitoring instead of improving urban living in southern California, the streetlights became a tool for citywide surveillance. It came to light that the city’s contract with General Electric had allowed the company to collect and sell to third parties the data captured by the streetlights.3 This project brought out that Departments did not have policies in place to prevent the outright unauthorized use of data that was being collected. It brought to the front the security-related aspects of these massive digital surveillance networks in smart cities. In response to the citizen concerns, the city had to turn off its smart streetlights pending city council’s approval of an ordinance governing surveillance technology. The local government looked into setting the policies governing the current and future use of surveillance technology and set parameters for how it can be used. A nine-member Privacy Advisory Commission (PAC), was created to be informed whenever the city is about to partner on a new type of surveillance technology. The coalition of Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology San Diego (TRUST SD) came together, which collaborated on the legislation and has run public education and advocacy campaigns on the technology. V.

Synergy between climate change and smart city

Smart cities applications and innovations can help in addressing the climate change challenge. San Diego already has a Climate Action Plan roadmap to a cleaner, more energy-efficient city. Climate Action Plan (CAP) is the City’s policy commitment to set clear goals to reduce GHG emissions and details the strategies and actions to make the city a sustainable, healthy, and thriving city. The City of San Diego responded to the California Energy Commission’s Energy Innovation Challenge, a competitive solicitation to fund projects that stimulate innovation in building energy efficiency and developing or implementing climate action plans. The SCOUP provides environmental simulation, automatically tracks, and benchmarks to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy use associated with its municipal facilities. This web-based platform provides a publicly available resource for City residents and other local governments to track the City’s aggressive Climate Action Plan (CAP) progress and learn more about the City’s sustainability-related efforts [9]. Out of 38 submissions, the City of San Diego’s submission of an advanced Smart City Open Urban Platform (SCOUP) network was selected as one of four winners that received funding for its project.

7 Future of Smart Cities The whole world came to a standstill in March 2020 with the SARS-CoV-2 delta virus. At that time, no one had any idea to what extent the virus will affect mankind. There was an impact on every sector, and economies across the world suffered setbacks. 3

The city now has ordinances and a privacy commission aimed at stopping city- government abuse.

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The services and manufacturing units, which had never shut down came to halt, mobility stopped. Smart services in cities and other places came to our rescue and have highlighted the need for sustainability and digital transformation. Data platforms and cloud-based systems enable the cities to gather comprehensive data and make data-driven decisions. Mobile applications and social media allow residents to more easily communicate with the local government. The sensor technology and predictive analytics help cities better align services with resident needs and proactively respond to crises before they arise. In the last few years’ considerable efforts worldwide have gone into transitioning toward the smart or intelligent city. A Smart city’s definitions are often unique for each community and tailored to the specific needs and context of each city. What has also emerged is that Smart City is much more than the simple usage of technology to facilitate. The smart city initiatives in San Diego have leveraged technology in many different ways. The digital technologies and improvement in the quality of life of its citizens are well integrated into the city-wide plans. The city has ongoing smart projects that will help improve public mobility and transport and provide real-time consumption data for many sectors. A continuous and iterative process has been in place in San Diego to identify, deploy and offer new citizen-oriented services.

7.1 Concluding Remarks The San Diego model is studied in this chapter. It is a well-planned city with smart planning attributes from the beginning of the twentieth century. Over the years, the city’s economic base has expanded from tourism and defence to include high technology research and manufacturing and international trade. The key takeaways from Smart San Diego are described and San Diego has been consciously implementing citizen-centric smart planning. The city is rapidly emerging as one of the smartest cities in North America due to several progressive initiatives undertaken that benefit both the economy and the environment. In San Diego, there is a high value on knowledge and the power of civic leadership. Six years ago the City of San Diego partnered with UC San Diego for MetroLab Network, to become a part of the Smart Cities initiative of the White house. The educated workforce of San Diego has been instrumental in its transition to the smart city. In 2020, the city launched the world’s largest smart city platform where thousands of streetlights around the city have been equipped with IoT sensors. The city has adopted unique smart projects’ approach to improving public mobility and transport and providing real-time consumption data for many sectors. The City has established the Equity Stakeholder Working Group for its Electric Vehicles (EVs) charging infrastructure.

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In the context of San Diego, it is evident, the smart city goals have aligned to development city goals. The application of information, communication and telecommunications technologies (ICT) is changing the relationship between citizens and city services. Citizens are increasingly becoming providers of city services and not the users alone. San Diego comes across as a citizen-centric city with stakeholders as key drivers to smart digital transformation and solutions. It has successfully demonstrated that in addition to the dynamic management, integrated communication mechanisms are needed with its citizens for their participation in decision-making and implementation. Acknowledgements First author is very thankful to Prof. PSN Rao, Director, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi for the encouragement in her academic pursuits. Authors acknowledge Climate Change Research Institute for support.

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