CPR-CSH Workshop on Rethinking Urban Land Use Planning in India by Vaidehi Tandel of Department of Economics, University of Mumbai.
Date: Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Time: 3.45 p.m.
Venue: Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110 021
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Planning in Indian cities is under pressure to adapt to the dynamic urban condition but is constrained by the technical and bureaucratic process of master/development plan making. As a result, plans are neither able to adequately meet infrastructure requirements nor address the increasing informalization of shelter and livelihoods in cities. Why don’t Indian cities look like their spatial plans? How does planning respond to informal development? What should be the nature of planning in Indian cities? These are the key questions explored. To illustrate the divergence between spatial plans and actual land use, an empirical study of land use in a suburban area in Mumbai is undertaken and the reasons for this divergence are discussed. We find that master/development plans based on technical principles with micro level detailing are unable to foresee and adapt to the economic dynamics and spatial restructuring in Mumbai and are partly undermined by “occupancy urbanism” (Benjamin 2008). Finally, we articulate a re-thinking of urban planning in India so that plans are better able to reflect the requirements and needs of the citizens. The presentation is based on a co-authored paper by Vaidehi Tandel along with Abhay Pethe, Ramakrishna Nallathiga, and Sahil Gandhi.
Vaidehi Tandel is currently a doctoral student at the Department of Economics, University of Mumbai. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the political economy issues in the governance of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. She has published co-authored papers in peer reviewed journals and has co-authored a chapter in a forthcoming book. She also has worked on projects commissioned by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, World Bank, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, and Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. Her research interests lie in the areas of New Institutional Economics, Urban Economics, Urban Studies, and Political Economy. She can be reached on vaidehi.tandel@gmail.com.
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This is the forty eighth in a series of Urban Workshops planned by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), New Delhi and Centre for Policy Research (CPR). These workshops seek to provoke public discussion on issues relating to the development of the city and try to address all its facets including its administration, culture, economy, society and politics. For further information, please contact: Jayani Bonnerjee at jayani.bonnerjee@csh-delhi.com, Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha@cprindia.org or Marie-Hélène Zerah at marie-helene.zerah@ird.fr
