Even as the State alternates between two options to expand the metropolitan region, A. Srivathsan analyses the impact of the move on neighbourhoods
How much bigger would Chennai get? Will it become a large metropolitan area of 4,400 sq km or a humongous urban zone covering 8,800 sq km?
The state government is currently reviewing two options to decide on the final size of the greater Chennai region. Either way, the existing limits of Chennai metropolitan area are set to expand. The question is whether it would grow to amalgamate Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu. Indications are that it would.
In the last five years, the hinterland of Chennai has grown rapidly and witnessed a steep rise in population. The government planners, after studying this growth pattern, concluded that the present size of the metropolitan area — 1,189 sq km including the core city — was not sufficient to ensure balanced urban development. They have proposed two different-sized regions for planning Chennai’s future.
The first option has Gummidipoondi and Uthukottai taluks in the north, Sriperumbudur in the west and Chengalpattu in the south. This covers an area of 4,400 sq km. In the second option, the north and western boundaries remain the same while the western boundary extends to include Kancheepuram and Uttaramerur taluks. Cheyyar makes the southern boundary. This covers an area of 8,800 sq km (Refer map).
Government sources said they proposed the idea of a larger Chennai region after studying cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. They arrived at the exact area after taking the administrative boundaries of taluks into consideration.
Greater Mumbai urban agglomeration (city and its adjoining outgrowths), which has a population of about 18 million, is the smallest in terms of city region — 4,355 sq km. On the other hand, Bangalore, which has less than half of Mumbai’s population, is the largest urban region in the country (excluding Delhi-National Capital Region). The core city is spread across 771 sq km and the region 8,005 sq.km. The size of Hyderabad region is 7,100 sq km and its population is about 7.7 million.
Rohan Shivkumar, an urban designer based in Mumbai does not dispute the need for a regional plan, but cautions that Chennai cannot blindly follow Mumbai. “Functionally and socially, cities go beyond their boundaries and impact farther peripheries. Hence, planning has to take into consideration a larger area around the city. Mumbai’s experience with regional plan is mixed. While some good has come out of it, it has also paved way for exploitation of natural resources in the hinterlands. Development has been uneven. Chennai cannot blindly adopt the Mumbai model, it has to arrive at its own logic.”
An architect involved in evolving the Bangalore regional plan, who did not wish to be named, said that the larger urban region has resulted in multiplicity of authorities. “Each one is pulling the city in a different direction and regional planning process has not effectively taken off,” he said. “Declaring a large area as an urban region has helped developers most. They can now easily change agricultural land to urban use, which would have been difficult otherwise. It will do well for Chennai to put in place a governance structure before seeking to create super-sized cities,” he said.
It appears, Chennai, which almost has the same population as Bangalore, is keen to mechanically adopt either the Mumbai or Bangalore model rather than arrive at its own criteria. It has also overlooked well-known alternatives to regional planning such as the Randstad, the most studied model in the world.
This region in Netherlands does not delineate a single region around its alpha city — Amsterdam. Instead, it connects four cities — Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Hague — through a high speed transportation network. This allows the four cities to develop without losing their importance or unique features. Equally important, this plan protects the large productive green space between the four cities.
This approach has considerable relevance to Chennai. Instead of developing a Chennai-centric single-region, a polycentric model with separate Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Chennai urban regions, is possible. This alternative can also help network smaller towns such as Sriperumbudur, Tiruvallur and Madurantakam. The vast agricultural land in between could flourish as the food basket of the region.
“Delineating a bigger region would not necessarily solve Chennai’s problems. The city’s future is linked to overall urban development of the State. Unless neighbouring cities are developed and the larger urban network is strengthened, a lasting solution for Chennai cannot be found,” said K.P Subramanian, former professor of urban engineering, Anna University.
Keywords: metropolitan area, regional planning, governance structure, high speed transportation network
Can push to 80000kms also..but considering problems facing areas even at center of city...bringing other areas into the name Chennai is not going to bring anything..will just be a tag
Satellite cities around Chennai are the options. Private Sectors -
Headquarters, schools, hospitals, should be encouraged to move in first
with tax holidays. Of course availability of water & connectivity shall
be the prime concerns. When was that we made the last city?
Already the Chennai corporation which was recently expanded has been struggling to meet even the basic expectations. Our Planners cannot see Chennai beyond Mylapore, Mount Road, T Nagar, Anna Nagar. The recently merged areas with Chennai corporation are crying for attention and the expectations of the people that the facilities would be upgraded has so far remained elusive despite the promise of Chennai mega mission and other such projects. Everything remains on paper and nothing has translated on the ground. The areas remain as they are and even worse one would say - not that they were any way better before. When this is the situation when the Corporation is not even able to manage 434 Sq kms, it is laughable that the Government is considering expanding Chennai mega region to over 8,000 Sq Kms. Such expansion will not help the people in the overall improvement of basic infrastructure but only result in more extortion in the form of taxes and levies.
It is best first to improve all basic facilities such as drinking water,sanitation,parks, educational institutions,good roads and public transport which should be less costly and more convenient for the people of that area in each of the peripheral places in south,west,and north. Then connect them by speedy public transport through metro rails instead of bunching them together with Chennai,as the present civic administration cannot provide such basic facilities even to the already added area or in proper Chennai itself. Development of these areas should not be concentrated one place i.e.Chennai.
This is really a bad option. Why cant they try to develop other cities like Madurai and Coimbatore..?
By increasing the boundaries of the city without solving the underlying problems is only going to magnify the problem.
Almost every European major city has a very good transportation network. It is possible because of the huge population density within a small area.
If Chennai wants to emulate it, it could. The track maintenance has got to be top notch and the track layout should allow for 100 km/hr plus speeds all through.
I recently traversed through Europe and the moment train goes out of the city downtown, the speeds exceed 100 km/hr and in the countryside, the speeds easily touch 150-200 km/hr quite easily.
Yes...localities along GST strech are developing very fast. Atleast
areas till maraimalai nagar should be included in Chennai region
Good for areas between Tambaram and Chengalpattu which are already booming with developments. They deserve to be part of Chennai city.
Agree with Ashok. There is no point in making Chennai larger and larger
when it takes 3 hours to get from one end of the city to another
already.
As rural folks migrate to cities in search of a better life, such expansion may be inevitable. But there are some issues to consider. First, conversion of agricultural land in a country like India is worrisome. I fear that with urbanization of agricultural land, food production will diminish. In future India may have to resort to more imports. Second, the developmental needs/challenges of semi-urban and rural areas are vastly different from that of urban areas. Will this be recognized? Third, the quality of life in Indian cities, including Chennai, leaves much to be desired. Public infrastructure is often in disrepair and sanitation is awful. Haphazard construction (which is a sector with powerful political ties) has turned the city into an eyesore in many places. Parks, greenery and playgrounds that are vital for healthy living are rarely factored into the planning process. It would make more sense to improve the current city before expanding it.
It is high time that both the central and the State government develop
Chennai city by making necessary transportation to neighboring towns
like kanchipuram, sriperumputhur, thiruvallur on the west and
chengalpet, tindivanam, pondicherry on the south. also making good
roads to Ennore Port and Manali on the North and new airport at
sriperumputhur. option two will be better.
these are very essential to achieve this expansion of Chennai. while
doing so care must be taken regarding water and sewerage facility,
proper electricity, schools, hospitals and good town planning.
both politicians and bureaucrats must be selfless to achieve this goal
God bless Chennai.
The city planner also can think of TOWN PLANNING on the model of
SHENZHEN Economic Zone, where a cluster of cities are allowed to
develop with reliable rail and road connectivity to commuters and port.
This has helped not to destroy the unique social and economic
activities of each city in the name of a single mega city. Also ensured
that the population is not allowed to concentrate but dispersed widely.
The Randstad Model was a success because of the fact that the Netherlands is a small country which extends 312 km (N – S) and 264 km (E – W) and The land area is only 33,883 sq. km thus it takes only a few hours to travel from one end of the country to the other. Even though they have a fairly low population of just 15 million, they could not afford to lose their agricultural farmlands which sustains their population. Furthermore their main industrial centre of Rotterdam is just 52 km from the Economic centre of Amsterdam. Hence a single city centric approach was not sensible nor sustainable. I don’t think this approach will be suitable for Chennai. We can go in for vertical expansion of the city by building skyscrapers and high raised apartment blocks rather than resorting to horizontal expansions of the city which would be a threat to our water resources and wetlands. Horizontal expansion would put an even greater constraint on the existing transport infrastructure of the city.
It's best idea and will anybody hear this? It takes 30 minutes drive from Guindy to Nandanam now. Leaders take helicopters to reach Island Grounds but everybody can not.
Randstad model worked for Netherlands well.
But, there are two critical differences between Netherlands and Chennai.
1. Chennai's population is more than 5 times the Alpha City (Amsterdam) alone. Including other proposed towns will mean a very large population using the transportation arrangments being planned. This will mean a 6 way or 8 way road connecting each of these town to atleast two other towns in the network.
2. The funds available for Randstad model was HUGE. But, with the funds that could be available to the TN government (subject to the Union Government's assent and allocation) will not be 2-5% of what was available in Netherlands.
"The region in Netherlands does not delineate a single region around
its alpha city — Amsterdam. Instead, it connects four cities —
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Hague — through a high speed
transportation network." That's smart. This is the best option for
Chennai. Just develop a high speed transportation network from Chennai
to Villupuram, cuddalore, Pondicherry, Vellore and Tiruvallur. Make the
travel time less than 2 hrs for these towns. That will balance
everything.
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