Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 15 X 2, April - June 2018

Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 15 x 2, April - June 2018 Editorial The first five papers of this issue were presented by the respective Key Speakers in the 66th National Town and Country Planners Congress held at Hyderabad during 2-4 February, 2018. The first paper was written by S. Chithra on the theme “Sustainable Environment and Master Plan – A case Study of Chennai Metropolitan Area” in which she highlights large scale urbanization and resultant factors that have led to tremendous pressure on environment causing deterioration of environment. She shows the key challenges involved in environment planning of cities as they are related to build environment. She suggests that city planning has to strike a balance in developments by conserving natural resources and at the same time supporting varying requirements of cities. The second paper on the theme “Urban Environmental Commodification – Development Constructs and Impacts: A Case of Urban Floods in Chennai” is written by Priya Sasidharan. The author notes that with the advent of unbridled urbanization, expansion and sprawl, and urban serviced land is transformed into its catalytic potential as a priced market commodity. Planned development interventions that should spearhead responsive urban integration become precursors to unauthorized accelerated exploitation. Urban greed and quest for cheaper land extends its frontiers engulfing the fragile ecosystems – green, blue and brown parcels. Physical delineation, functional demarcation and social connotation referring to natural resources is caught in a quagmire of controversy, delay in master planning process and non-coordinated data sourcing and sharing. The paper concludes by emphasizing preparedness of Chennai city in terms of braving the cyclone prone monsoons, which have planned and unplanned destruction of natural systems. She recommends to prepare action plans not in a reactive mode but prepare for making cities resilient. S. P. Bansal in his paper titled “Integrating Environmental Concerns in Development Plans: Lessons from MPD”, highlights that in India urbanization is increasing fast, whereas, this process of urbanization is an opportunity for progress of the country, it is also posing a serious environmental threats. Extreme climatic events of intense rainfall, flooding, draught, heat waves, cyclone and high speed winds, etc.; have compounded problems of inadequate city infrastructure. However, the author advocates that well planned and effectively governed and managed cities together with mitigation measures towards climate change would be most challenging tasks of the twenty first century in India. The paper concludes that the only alternative is well planned and effectively governed and managed cities. V. R. Hegde authored a paper on “Urban Flooding – Can we Design the Difference?” In this paper he argues that floods are natural phenomena that have been affecting human lives since time immemorial. However, the phenomenon becomes a disaster when it has an impact on human settlements and activities indicating the importance of natural science and social aspects of floods. Urban flooding occurs due to societal actions in providing inadequate drainage. High intensity rainfall causes flooding when the carrying capacity of the sewage system and storm water drains exceeds its design capacity. Current research indicates a trend of more intense precipitation, which could cause more flooding if not properly planned. Urban planning therefore, should include long–term strategies with best practices and forecasting systems. The paper on “Urban Flooding – Case Study of Hyderabad” is authored by B.V. Subba Rao underlines that major cities like Paris, Bangkok, Dallas, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata,Chennai and Hyderabad are no exception to the phenomenon of urban flooding. Indian metropolitan cities are experiencing increased intensity and frequency year after year, causing huge economic and considerable human losses. Causes for urban flooding are generally attributed to climate change impact. However, the facts indicate that lack of early preparedness, absence of water centered infrastructure and unregulated growth cumulatively aggravates the crisis. The paper makes an attempt to review existing urban development, brings out lacunae and gaps in existing system and suggests strategies to reorient development plans towards making “Flooding Resilient Cities”, through a case study of Hyderabad city. The next two papers in this issue focus on urban flooding but these were not presented at the Congress in Hyderabad. The paper on “Preventive Measures for Urban Flooding in Bhopal, Madhya Cover Design by Diwakar S. Meshram i Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 15 x 2, April - June 2018 Pradesh” is jointly written by Jagdish Singh and Rajni Taneja. In this paper authors underline that mechanism of urban flooding is essential to understand the location specific issues. In the recent years due to global warming flash flood frequencies have increased creating havoc in urban areas. Bhopal has witnessed flooding during 2006 and 2016. The root cause of this flooding is the extensive spell of rains in few hours and absence of roadside drains, encroachment on nallahs, unauthorized constructions and unauthorized colonies, blocking the drainage of this excessive rain water. To overcome this phenomenon planned approach towards sustainable and resilient planning inclusive of master plan needs to be adopted. The paper also states that measures are required to be taken to overcome impact of excess rains occurring in few hours by preparing location specific road maps so that after effects of surplus storm water generated could be harnessed for future in the form of ground water recharge, and rain water harvesting, etc. Pratap M. Raval in the paper on “Addressing Urban Flood through Spatial Distribution of Potential Storm Water Recharge Zones in Development Plan” argues that densely compacted cities can increase flooding risks for local residents, besides sprawling, suburban development can also lead to flooding. Current urbanization pattern and climate change have large caused urban flooding. This paper also discusses the importance of managing storm water sustainably by recharging groundwater sources. It indicates the potential of storm water harvesting, when properly managed, as a tool to counter depleting water sources and partially controlling urban floods. The paper suggests that groundwater recharge potential map for a sub watershed in Pune city should be prepared, which could be useful for development plan preparation by using GIS. A jointly written paper by H. S. Kumara and S. Gopiprasad on “Rapid Urbanization and Infrastructure Financing for Mega Cities: Indian and Chinese Experiences” discusses that mega-cities with a population of over 10 million have a significant position in the urban system of the countries. Mega-cities are characterized by population size, growth and structure that are distinctive. Infrastructure plays crucial role in servicing large populations, mitigating negative externalities and in supporting a larger region of these mega-cities. Adequate financing of the mega-city urban infrastructure is vital for better living conditions and to support economic activities both within the city and its region. Select Chinese and Indian mega cities are compared with respect to growth and population to understand rapid urbanization and corresponding investments. The next paper is written jointly by Rajdeep Kaur and Ashwani Luthra on “Inclusive Infrastructure Assessment in Slum Environs of Amritsar City”. Infrastructure plays a crucial role in improving the livability conditions of the society and its economic development. Availability of transport, electricity, safe water and sanitation and other basic facilities have tremendous impact on improving the quality of life of inhabitants, especially in the case of poor. Urban poor play an important role in urban economy. They are indispensable to cities as they keep the city dynamics going by providing various services. They in fact provide urban services and facilities but their own life is endangered by poor facilities available to them. They are the worst sufferers in the context of housing, which lacks safe, secure and healthy shelters and absence of supporting infrastructure such as piped water supply and sewerage, drainage, electricity, adequate sanitation and solid waste management and less accessible educational and health facilities. The last paper is also jointly written by Ramakrishna Nallathiga, and Suyog Jadhav, Tejashri Mane, and Aniket Lohar on the theme “Development Planning and Environment in Coastal Zone: Conflicts and Violations in Mumbai”. The authors highlights that metropolitan area of Greater Mumbai is one of the large urban areas in India, administered by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The area of Greater Mumbai is surrounded on three sides by the seas: by the Arabian Sea to the west and the south, the Harbor Bay and the Thane Creek in the east. Mumbai falls under CRZ and has all the CRZ areas within city limits. The CRZ legislation effectively reduced the land available for development. Accordingly, this paper focus on conflicts and violations between development planning and environment taking case study of Mumbai. Dr. Ashok Kumar Editor ii Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 15 x 2, April - June 2018 Content Sustainable Environment and Master Plan of 1 Chennai Metropolitan Area S. Chithra Urban Environmental Commodification

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