Enumerate three challenges to planning of an area.
Answers
Answer:
Developing country? Although the term looks homogeneous, there are vast differences exist among developing countries in terms of their level of urbanization, public investments in infrastructure and policy reforms. But if one need to say overarching issues in urban context in developing nations there are primarily three.
First and foremost lack of capital and public investment in urban development and infrastructure. The revenue of urban local bodies are astonishingly low in most of the cities leading to inadequate provision of basic services. It also leads to privatization in infrastructure delivery which in turn impact in price rise of utilities and exclusion of poor. Therefore it is essential that cities develop innovation methods to increase their revenue base and gear up public investments in basic infrastructure.
First and foremost lack of capital and public investment in urban development and infrastructure. The revenue of urban local bodies are astonishingly low in most of the cities leading to inadequate provision of basic services. It also leads to privatization in infrastructure delivery which in turn impact in price rise of utilities and exclusion of poor. Therefore it is essential that cities develop innovation methods to increase their revenue base and gear up public investments in basic infrastructure.The second most pressing challenge these developing country cities face is concentration of poor in certain districts of the cities generally termed as slums and squatters. The phenomenon is labelled as urbanization of poverty as the people who live in these spaces are mostly rural poor migrated into cities to earn their livelihood. Low income of these communities lead to poor quality of housing and inability to pay for basic services giving shape to poor quality and unhealthy neighborhoods. The way out of this vicious cycle is better land management by the city authorities and provision of serviced land to poor at subsidized rates as well as up gradation of existing house and service quality in slums.
The last but not the least issue is extremely poor capacity of urban local bodies in terms of their institutional setting, professionalism and citizen networking. Majority of the cities in developing world have several institutions providing services and working in isolation. They do not have adequate number of skilled manpower, neither they have professional attitude and work culture.
Over and above that most of the public organisations are poor engages with citizens leading to conflict in development. Due to this inability majority of city development plan preparation and implementation are done by consultants resulting in higher cost of development and lower ownership levels.
For a change cities need to fastrack institutional reforms, integrate governance systems and innovate with interactive platform for citizen engagement.
Explanation:
1. Urban Sprawl
In the past two decades, Indian cities have grown tremendously—not only in population, but in geographic size. For instance, Delhi’s urban area has almost doubled in the last 20 years. This has led to an increase in average trip length from 8.5 kilometers to 10.4 kilometers, and this commuting distance is projected to increase further in the coming years. Sprawling cities and reliance on automobiles have contributed to traffic congestion, air pollution, rising greenhouse gas emissions, and poor public health. Ensuring that India’s cities of the future are both livable and sustainable requires that decision-makers find ways to shorten commuting distances and decrease urbanites’ reliance on automobiles.
2. Traffic Safety and Accessibility
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 percent of the world’s road fatalities (130,000) occur in India alone. Traffic crashes occur every minute, and a life is lost every 3.7 minutes. Crashes have a significant negative impact on the nation’s economy, costing the country the equivalent of 3 percent of its GDP between 1999 and 2000. These startling numbers mean that city leaders and other decision-makers must consider issues of safety not only on the road, but also in the surrounding environment. Safety and accessibility are key components of ensuring that cities become secure, sustainable places to live.
3. Future Real Estate Development
As more and more people move into India’s cities, these people will need safe places to live, work, and commute. There’s already a projected shortage of 18.78 million households in India between 2012 and 2017. Real estate developers will inevitably aim to fill this gap, which means that they’ll have a massive influence in shaping what India’s cities look like in the future. Will the private sector invest in developments that provide access to sustainable transport, or will they follow a business-as-usual path and perpetuate problems of urban sprawl, pollution, and unsafe roads?