URBAN PLANNING

Just breathe. Take a deep breath and let your body and mind relax. Easy enough to say but a difficult thing to do for a Mumbai resident. Given the severe lack of public open spaces (POS) or, to put it differently, spaces to breathe.  The first day of 2023 saw record crowds flocking to the city’s Zoo and the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), as the city lacks enough healthy options for family outings. The Mumbai Zoo was so overflowing with over 33,000 visitors that at one point during the day, it closed its gates and refused to take in…

The rapid urbanisation of Chennai calls for a better plan for the city's growth. Master Plans play a crucial role in defining the direction of a city's growth. Chennai so far has seen two Master Plans. While the First Master Plan was intended to be in effect between 1976 and 2001, it lasted till August 2008. The Second Master Plan, which has been in effect since 2008, lasts till 2026. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), has started the visioning exercise for the preparation of the Third Master Plan which will span from 2026 to 2046 for Chennai and has…

A major urban planning course correction is underway in Mumbai in the form of the redevelopment of the Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls. While the large-scale redevelopment of the decaying century-old chawls is imminent, there are concerns about the plans to rehouse the 15,593 families living in 195 three-storey chawls spread across 86.98 acres in Worli, N.M. Joshi Marg and Naigaum in Central Mumbai. Though these families have been promised 500 sq ft housing units - two bedrooms, a hall and a kitchen - in skyscrapers, planners are sceptical about the development model chosen for them. The Worli residents will…

As Chennai expands and develops at warp speed, it becomes vital to streamline growth. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has been organising public consultations across the Chennai Metropolitan Area to prepare the vision document for the Third Master Plan (2026-2046). What should be the focus of the Third Master Plan? How can we make public consultations more participatory? What do the people in Chennai want from it? Citizen Matters puts together a panel with six panellists to discuss these issues: CMDA Member Secretary Anshul Mishra, Town Planner K M Sadhanandh, Former Professor and Guest Faculty KP Subramanian of Anna…

The continued prevalence of certain infectious diseases in Mumbai highlights the need for improved urban planning for the city. For over a decade now, Dr Rajesh (name changed) has been seeing his patients complain about the same illnesses year after year at his civic-run dispensary situated inside Kurla’s slums. The most common of them all, he says, is tuberculosis and scabies. Kurla falls under Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s L ward, which registered a total of 1,013 TB cases in 2021. Since 2012, the ward has registered a total of 10,326 TB cases, the highest among all the 24 wards. “I cater…

There are few people more well-versed about urban planning in Mumbai than Shirish Patel. The civil engineer and urban planner has been around for decades, watching the island city grow into the suburbs. He has witnessed the skyward trajectory of infrastructure in the city and at the opposite spectrum, degradation, crumbling under the Rent Control Act, Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA), and over dependence on floor space index (FSI) rules. He designed India's first flyover, at Kemps Corner. And then, along with Charles Correa, he was the one of the first to suggest and draft a plan for…

With traffic and congestion in the city increasing day by day, Koyambedu, which is home to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT), the Omni bus terminus and the wholesale fruit and vegetable market has been facing bottlenecks on a daily basis. In an attempt to decongest the traffic, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has proposed to shift the operation of Omni buses and Mofussil buses that ply to the southern parts of Tamil Nadu to Kilambakkam where a Rs 393-crore bus terminus is being built. The construction of the Kilambakkam bus terminus near Vandalur in Chennai is nearing completion.…

With a timeline of at least 15 years, the Dharavi redevelopment project is not expected to bear fruit anytime soon. Neither the residents, the established businesses, nor the winning bidder, the Adani group, have any illusions of a quick transformation to the area that has evolved over a century; spanning over 250 hectares, 8.5 lakh residents and 20,000 businesses and industries. But change is very much on its way. The Maharashtra government aims to get this long-promised project started in 6 months. The race to kickstart the redevelopment has been on, however, ever since September last year, when the government…

In earlier articles, the author traced the journey on the series of constructions on and development of the Outer Ring road (ORR). In part three of the series, the author reflects on whether the flyovers and underpasses in Outer Ring Road benefit everyone, if they really connect Bengalureans, or are meant only to accommodate private vehicles. This is the third and final part in a series of articles on the constant construction work on Outer Ring Road Part 1: The ups and downs of Outer Ring Road: A view through the years Part 2: The ups and downs of Outer…

In a previous article, the author traced the development and series of constructions on Outer Ring Road (ORR), from the 1980s-1990s till 2015, when the Dr Muthuraj underpass was being constructed at Hosakerehalli junction, under the Nagarothana Scheme. Part two of the series will explore how multiple contradictory construction work has affected commuters. Road repurposing This has to do with uncertain infrastructure provisioning. Since most of these projects are implemented long after they have been planned or constructed on the go, there are no long-term visions for them. Plans keep changing and there is no one master plan that all…