Preparation of a State Perspective Plan has been proposed by the participants of a national seminar on ‘Kerala Urbanisation 2031' organised by the Town and Country Planning Department here on Friday.
Senior Town Planner Jacob Easow and Deputy Town Planner K.Baiju, who presented the results of a study on the urbanisation trends in the State conducted by the department, said that with an urban content of nearly 50 per cent, the State had undergone a high level of urbanisation during the past 10 years. There is an extension of urban areas and this has paved the way for dilution of the economic base. The urban areas have spread into agriculture land. Hence, what is needed is a selective concentration of urban and rural areas. The State has to strive for an integrated development of both the urban and rural areas. High-quality housing, commercial establishments, and public utilities will be the future requirements of the State. This should not lead to reclamation of agriculture land. Urban development should be contained.
They proposed the formation of urban clusters alongside major road formations, which would develop as urban corridors in the next two decades. The five corridors are Thiruvananthapuram- Kollam, Pathanamthitta- Kottayam, Alappuzha- Ernakulam- Thrissur- Palakkad, Malappuram- Kozhikode, and Kannur-Kasaragod corridors. More corridors will be developed in continuation, but they will be having the facility to provide quality services to the public. In addition to the corridors, 20 medium towns and 86 small towns have been proposed for the decades ahead.
They also proposed the formation of a settlement policy comprising the urban, rural and land use policies.
