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In pursuit of an integrated city
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To prevent urban sprawl, the Master Plan for Bangalore proposes a compact city to promote investment and mixed land use zoning, writes J. Malarvizhi
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What matters: Regulating the growth pattern in cities is crucial
The process of preparing the Master Plan for Bangalore has its set of admirers. Civic authorities in Chennai recently held a discussion on the details of the plan to see what lessons the metropolis could draw from it. The Chennai Draft Master Plan has recently been sent to the State Government for approval.
The Geographic Information System (GIS) database and information collected from various government agencies have informed several of the Bangalore Master Plan proposals. However, the private organisation that has prepared the plan has also proposed the idea of a compact city to ‘promote investment’ and mixed land use zoning – proposals that allow the market to decide how the city should change.
The task of preparing the Master Plan and conducting some of the surveys needed for it was given to Groupe SCE India Pvt. Ltd. in Bangalore. Using GIS-enabled planning and information from transport and land use surveys and government departments, the organisation mapped the social and physical infrastructure of the city.
Inputs
Predominant land use, population density, property tax across wards, areas under-served by essential services, road network, sewerage and water network and bus routes were among the inputs collected and mapped.
The population projection for Bangalore in 2010 is 10 million. Roughly 40 per cent of immigrants to the city are assumed to be from the rural areas, based on national-level statistics. A large percentage of population is in the 20 to 40 age group – a population segment that has seen a sudden spike in the last decade. Change in income across segments is equally drastic — the first of five quintiles of population was making five times as much as the last in 1995, while it is currently 18 times.
Undulating
Some parts of Bangalore have a population density of about 800 per hectare. Paris is among the few international cities that compares with about 600 per hectare. The physical terrain of Bangalore is undulating, with a network of valleys and a series of lakes and tanks. Of more than 200 lakes that existed originally, 80 remain. Development has taken place on watersheds, including a government housing scheme.
Following the mapping of urban development through 1973, 2005 and the projection for 2010, it was found that without planning, Bangalore would continue to be developed asymmetrically. The city is currently developing in ‘fingers’ emanating outward from the city centre.
There is insufficient connectivity between the arterial roads that run along these fingers and layouts on the periphery do not link together at all.
There is a push for development in the North, an arid area without water, due to anticipated improvement in infrastructure. There is a similar push for development in the South-East, due to the growth in the IT sector. The Bangalore-Mysore infrastructure corridor is also attracting development. Meanwhile, a higher number of facilities are available at the city centre. For instance, all the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses cross the centre. More than 40 per cent of daily commuters are by bus and less than five per cent by car.
- To prevent urban sprawl, the plan proposes a compact city — a departure from earlier development plans that promoted construction on the periphery of the city.
- A higher density in the core areas and the city centre is presented as preferable, based on comparative studies with international cities, proving compact cities to be more beneficial for investment.
- The plan also proposes an integrated city scenario where land use is integrated with transport networks. Existing zoning regulations for Bangalore have defined very specific land use for each property.
- The “need to look at city as a dynamic entity,” Groupe SCE believes, can allow changing land use with each area treated so as to “strengthen existing use and accommodate changes that could occur.” This essentially allows mixed-use zoning, a proposal greeted with dismay by some sections of the local press.
Metro Rail
Among the inputs that the Master Plan could not take into account was the alignment of the Metro Rail, as it has not yet been defined. The route of the proposed rail transit would have significant impact on development in the areas it crosses. Proposed satellite towns have not been integrated with the Master Plan. Each satellite town has been given specific industrial use and some have been proposed in completely dry areas.
After the process of data collection, analysis and identification of issues, the Bangalore Master Plan was put up for public display and given to a review committee. A number of non-buildable zones were proposed to protect environmentally-sensitive areas, though this was significantly reduced after public discussion.
In contrast, much of the Chennai Master Plan, developed by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), used information collected at the ward level and maps of the city to present proposals for development.
A year-long transport study was commissioned by the Authority shortly after the Plan was put up for public discussion. Little time was allotted to data collection.
There is also an absence of information, especially of watersheds and flood plains of Chennai’s seasonal rivers. The CMDA officials present at the discussion of the Bangalore Master Plan said that it would take a few years for Chennai to acquire GIS-enabled planning technology. Gaps in the quality of information and proposals put forward by the Chennai Master Plan were evident in comparison with the Bangalore plan.
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Property Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
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