Revisiting Masterplan for ULBs

Why in news?

Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa, stressed at the Urban-20 City Sherpas’ meet that a master plan is crucial for any city to manage urbanisation.

A master plan is a dynamic long-term planning document that provides a conceptual layout to guide future growth and development.
It includes analysis, recommendations, and proposals for a site’s population, economy, housing, transportation, Community Facilities, and land-use.
Master plan consists of future directions of development, policy and implantation of the same.
It sets out how a particular area can develop and redevelop into the future.

A master plan is an instrument of governance for urban local bodies (ULBs).
Master Plans may not be the panacea but is crucial for any city to manage urbanisation.
It has an important role in determining the shape of the urban environment.
Master plans blur the program particular plans to improve urban areas.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has recommended that master plans in cities should be revisited for the improved governance of cities.

Master plan is an archaic concept whose sales-pitch is more spectacular than its performance.
Dated instrument - The legal and institutional frame of the master plan remained unchanged without accommodating later sensibilities for urban service rationalities.
Spatial vision - A master plan is simply a spatial plan of land-use allocation supported by bye-laws and development control regulations.
Burden on ULBs - The ULBs are cultivated and shaped by the agenda of regulating spatial growth and remain slaves to the master plan.
The edifice of urban governance is built around this spatial vision and provision of urban services.
Spatial plans - The statutory and spatial nature of the master plan can pose constraints on the programmatic plans, especially the spatially associated ones.
Most water-body related projects negotiate the challenges of encroachment of floodplains as encroachments in ex-post.

Close to 65% of India’s urban settlements do not have master plans, according to NITI Aayog.

Absence of Master plans - There is no set criteria for mandating a spatial plan to regulate urban growth.
The approach is ad-hoc, to be notified by State governments.
For a variety of reasons primarily lack of human and financial resources, such notifications of mandatory spatial plans are delayed.

Urban planning in India must be reimagined urgently to accommodate these emerging demands and sensibilities of urban governance.
Recent moves such as Gati Shakti and Model Rural Transformation Acts are a reflection of this growing demand but are remote and limited.
Acceptance - Acknowledging that the master plan instrument is limited and address the expanded scope of urban governance through new ways.
Best practices - Many States have tried supplementing the inadequacies of the master plan with innovative bye-laws.
These Indian cities offer enough experiences to learn from.
Focus Areas - The incapacities in urban planning and governance highlighted by the 2021 report of the NITI Aayog must receive priority.
Cooperation - The Centre must work with the States to reconsider the spatial planning framework in India.

Sherpas

A sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state or head of government who prepares an international summit, such as the annual G7 and G20 summits.
Between the G20 & G7 summits there are multiple sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out.