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SPATIAL PLANNING BEYOND BOUNDARIES
Mr. GEORG JAHNSEN, Mr. ABHISHEK AGARWAL, Mr. FELIX KNOPF, Ms.
TANAYA SAHA, Ms. SUMANA CHATTERJEE, Mr. SHRIMAN NARAYAN, Ms. ELKE
MATTHAEI
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Germany
Land Use Planning and Management Project, India
Georg.Jahnsen@GIZ.de
Paper prepared for presentation at the
“2018 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY”
The World Bank - Washington DC, March 19-23, 2018
Copyright 2018 by author(s). All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this
document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice
appears on all such copies.
Abstract
Spatial Planning in India is still mostly limited to the urban agglomerations. With a strong urban
growth a new type of urbanism arises, that seems to be neither rural nor urban. This so-called
“Peri-Urban” growth encompasses a large amount of valuable land, and if not regulated, causes
high costs for the construction of public (technical) infrastructure and leads to conflicts with other
land uses such as agriculture or with environmentally protected areas. Consistent and systematic
spatial planning at the level of the region can be an important contribution to plan the rural-urban
linkage and to prevent negative consequences of the aforementioned current spatial
developments. In this regard, the Land Use Planning and Management Project, jointly
implemented by the Indian Mistry of Rural Development and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, wants to revive Spatial Regional Planning as
provisioned in the Constitution of India.
Key Words
Spatial, planning, region, rural-urban-linkage, land-use
Introduction
The relationship between rural and urban areas is changing and the rural-urban divide is fading,
with increasing flows of people, goods and services between the two and the emergence of new
migratory and livelihood patterns. This is driven in parts by high urbanization rates in many
developing countries, and particularly by urban growth in the continuum of rural areas with
villages, towns and cities of fewer than 500,000 inhabitants. Boundaries between rural and urban
areas are becoming less distinct, and urban and rural characteristics and activities can lead to
diverging territorial needs and divides between governance functionalities.
Realising the full potential of these blurred boundaries is a challenge for policy-makers and
planners. Spatial planning and integrated land use management can be used as mechanisms to
foster rural-urban interlinkages and promote integrated development. Overcoming the rigid
rural-urban dichotomy is also a precondition for the achievement of many of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and is firmly integrated into the New Urban Agenda.
The Indian Government has recognised the importance of addressing rural-urban interlinkages
by launching the National Rurban Mission in 2016. The Rurban Mission is based on the premise
that comprehensive development cannot take place unless even the remotest places are
developed as growth centres. Nevertheless, spatial planning in India is still mostly limited to the
urban agglomerations, despite rapid urbanization and peri-urban growth. Consistent and
systematic spatial planning at the regional level is therefore an important contribution to address
the increasing spatial complexities of the rural-urban linkage and unlocking the development
potentials of urbanization for rural areas.
Under the Indo-German Corporation, the Ministry of Rural Development with its Department of
Land Resources and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are
jointly implementing the Land Use Planning and Management Project in India. The project
focuses on spatial planning at the regional scale and at the District level. The objective of the
project is to improve the system of land use planning in India in order to enable and ensure that
Indian state planning institutions apply policies and instruments of integrated spatial and land
use planning.
Rural life in India Today
Mahatma Gandhi’s “India lives in villages” stand true even after 50 years. There is substantial
migration from rural to urban areas in India. However, according to Census of India 2011, still
almost 68% of India lives in rural areas. India has over 17% of world's population, but
encompasses only 2.4% of world’s geographical area. With India slated to become world's most
populated country by 2022, it is estimated to be home to a population of 1.70 billion people by
2050 and is anticipated to grow further until 2070 according to the UN estimates.
Urbanization is linked to economic growth and regional development. However, development
in India is concentrated in certain large cities; the rural hinterlands are deprived of growth,
resulting in spatial disparities across the country1. Thus during the past seven decades of its
independent rule, policy dynamics seem to have taken a toll on rural India. The rural India has
taken a backseat in almost all aspects of socio-economic analysis. India seems to have created an
economy of rich cities and poor villages, surging urban areas and decaying rural areas.
The per capita availability of agricultural land has declined from 0.5 hectares in 1951 to 0.15
hectares in 2011. With increase in population and possibility of shrinking land mass due to
increased coastal erosion and floods due to climate change, the per capita availability of land is
expected to reduce further to 0.20 ha in 20352.According to the Land Use Statistics (2012-13),
issued by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), there has been a gradual
increase in the area of land under non-agricultural uses. During the period 2001-02 to 2012-13, the
area under non-agricultural uses has increased by 2.60 million hectares (11 per cent).
1 Jain, M. and Pallagst, K. 2015. Land Use Beyond Control. disP – The Planning Review, 51:3, 29-43. 2 State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India
The report on State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16 by MoA&FW, GoI indicates that the average
size of operational land holdings in India has dropped from 1.33 ha in 2000-01 to 1.15 ha in 2010-
11. The marginal (less than one hectare) and small (one to two hectares) size of land holdings
account for almost 85% of total operational land holdings.
The results of the Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers/Agricultural Households (2013) undertaken
by the National Statistics Survey Organization, Government of India, shows that positive net
monthly income i.e., difference between income from all sources and consumption expenditure—
accrues only to the farmers with land holdings of more than 1 hectare. It is apparent that marginal
holdings are too small to provide the farm household with sufficient returns and incomes. This
correlates with the World Bank estimates that 70% of the Indian poor (approx. 770 million people)
are from the rural area.
Indian Growth Story
In recent years many have questioned the equivalence of economic growth with growth in well-
being and the quality of people's lives. It is believed that wealth creation does not necessarily lead
to broader improvements in the quality of life. In numerous cases, nations have similar GDP
levels or average income levels, yet differ substantially in levels of national health and education.
At the same time, some poorer nations fare better than many richer nations in terms of life
expectancy, infant mortality, and other indicators of well-being.
Indications from the Economic Census of India
The Economic Census of India reveals that though there is an increase in the rural to urban
migration, it is more of a distress move than opportunities in towns and cities. This argument is
strengthened by the fact that the share of enterprises, or “establishments” as the census calls them,
in urban areas increased marginally from 39% in 2005 to 40.52% in 2013 whereas the share of
employment in non-agricultural establishments fell from 89.18% in 2005 to 82.57% in 2013.
There are serious concerns about the performance of agricultural sector in India. Agricultural
sector has shown less than 2 percent per annum growth during the past decade. The share of
agriculture and allied sector in GDP has come down sharply from 52% in 1951-52 to 13.9% in
2011-12, whereas, share in workforce remained high at 54.6%, declining to only 39.6% during the
same period. Such disconnection between employment growth and GDP growth is due to lack of
non-farm employment.
In such a precarious situation, there is concomitant need for shifting population from agriculture
to other sectors. This requires growth in pace of urbanization.
Urbanization in India
The urbanization in India has reached from 10.8% in 1901 Census to 31.16% in 2011 census. As
per the Census 2011, there are 7,935 towns in the country. There are 468 towns with population
greater than lakh out of which 53 has a population of one million or above each. These Million
Plus cities are the major urban centers in the country. With 160.7 million persons (or 42.6% of the
urban population and 13.3% of total population), these cities occupy merely 0.2% of land area
and produce 32% of GDP3. Among the Million Plus Cities, there are three very large cities with
more than 10 million persons, known as Mega Cities. These are Greater Mumbai Urban
Agglomeration (UA) (18.4 million), Delhi UA (16.3 million) and Kolkata UA (14.1million).
As per the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is as follows:
1. Statutory Towns: All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or
notified town area committee, etc.
2. Census Towns: All other places which satisfy the following criteria:
a. A minimum population of 5,000
b. At least 75 per cent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural
pursuits
c. A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.
Statutory Towns are notified under law by the concerned State/UT Government and have local
bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, municipal committees, etc., irrespective of
their demographic characteristics. Census Towns were identified on the basis of Census 2001
data.
In addition to above urban fringes and expansion areas are also addressed as per the census in
terms of:
1. Urban Agglomeration (UA): A continuous urban spread constituting a town and its
adjoining outgrowths (OGs), or two or more physically contiguous towns together with or
without outgrowths of such towns. An Urban Agglomeration must consist of at least one
statutory town and its total population (all the constituents put together) should not be less
than 20,000 as per the 2001 Census.
2. Out Growths (OG): A viable unit such as a village or a hamlet or an enumeration block
made up of such village or hamlet and clearly identifiable in terms of its boundaries and
location. Some of the examples are railway colony, university campus, port area, military
camps, etc., which have come up near a statutory town outside its statutory limits but
within the revenue limits of a village or villages contiguous to the town. While determining
the outgrowth of a town, it has been ensured that it possesses the urban features in terms
3 Planning Commission of India, Estimates 2011
of infrastructure and amenities such as all-weather roads, electricity, taps, drainage system
for disposal of waste water etc. educational institutions, post offices, medical facilities,
banks etc. and physically contiguous with the core town of the UA.
Experts are of the opinion that ‘’China and India will contribute more than one third of the global
urban population increase between 2014 and 2050. Four of India’s cities with 5 to 10 million
inhabitants presently are projected to become megacities in the coming years (Ahmadabad,
Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad), for a total of seven megacities projected in the country by
2030.4
Current rates of urbanization and urban growth accompanies both development prospects and
challenges. While the ‘XI Metropolis World Congress: Cities for All (2014)’5 pinpoints how the
current situation (2011 Census) poses severe challenges of urbanization in terms of ‘’every sixth
person in Urban India lives in slum… every eighth person in a slum is a child (0-6 years)… every
fourth person in India is poor’’; the McKinsey Global Institute Report on India’s Urban
Awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth (April 2010) 6 , highlights
prospects of urbanization that India can look forward to in the year 2030, in terms that India’s
GDP will multiply five times, there will be ‘’270 million people net increase in working age
population… 70 percent of net new employment will be generated in cities’’.
The challenge/ solution is therefore not to stop urbanization from happening, but to regulate the
phenomenon through effective planning tools like spatial regional planning, that go beyond
urban boundaries and serves to reap benefits of urbanization now and in future.
Urbanisation Economics in India
It is estimated that the current contribution of Urban India to the GDP is about 63%, whereas the
current level of urbanisation is about 31.16% (Census 2011). It is further estimated that with the
shift of population towards urban areas, 70% of net new employment and 70- 75% of India’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) would come from urban areas.7 India is expected to witness over 300
million new urban residents by 2050.8 According to UN projections, urban population in India is
expected to rise to 583 million in 2030 and subsequently to 814.4 million by 2050.
4 Source- United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352); accessed from https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/publications/files/wup2014-highlights.pdf on 30.01.18. 5 Accessed from https://www.niua.org/sites/all/files/cites_for_all.pdf on 30.01.18 6 accessed from https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/global%20themes/urbanization/urban%20awakening%20in%20india/mgi_indias_urban_awakening_full_report.ashx, on 30.01.18 7 https://www.ibef.org/industry/urban-market-india.aspx 8 World Cities Report 2016- Urbanisation and Development: Emerging Futures' by UN Habitat
The migration of people from rural areas to urban areas is not restricted by the boundaries of
states. Hence, urbanisation trends are more of a national phenomenon, and so are the secondary
and tertiary sector economic opportunities generated by urbanisation and development projects.
Judicious Use of Land Resources
Migration to urban areas and non-farm employment has become priority for economic
development in India. Government of India is increasingly focussing on developing economic /
industrial corridors and improving urban areas for habitation purposes. Such developments are
being promoted in partnerships with the community, national and international private sector,
bilateral and multilateral agencies, as well as central government various schemes like Smart
Cities, AMRUT, HRIDAY, PMAY – urban, major and minor port projects, NIMS, Logistics Parks,
SEZs, IT Parks etc. and other planning socio-enviro-economic planning approaches. At the same
time, the government is focussing on improving rural economies and rural infrastructure with
schemes like integrated watershed management, PMGSY, PMKSY, Rurban and developing other
rural and agri-infrastructure on hub and spoke models and network concepts.
Judicious use of land resources has become foremost significant in all sustainable and
developmental purposes. Experiences with disasters over the past few decades has necessitated
the Government of India to promote enhanced use of spatial land use planning as a tool for
guided development as compared to ad-hoc allocation of land for various development projects.
It is expected that this would lead to better consideration of socio-enviro-economic aspects
leading to sustainability.
Spatial and Land Use Planning in India
Land use planning is already being practised in India. Roughly a quarter of the 8000 Indian cities
have an urban masterplan. However, most of the rural areas in India do not benefit from a
consistent spatial planning, which is the responsibility of the state governments, and affects
roughly 70 per cent of the Indian population. Planning authorities are limited to urban areas,
neglecting the current challenges of unauthorised development at the periphery. A common
response to the expanding urban boundaries is the creation of new entities, such as Metropolitan
Development Authorities (e.g. the Mumbai Metropolitan Region or Chennai Metropolitan
Region). In addition, bigger scale visionary planning of corridors, transit axis or big industrial
regions across the country are being planned for at national level. The biggest gaps in spatial
planning in India therefore exist in those areas that are not covered by either Master Plans or
special plans at national level. Sectoral spatial and land use plans are also prepared for eco-
sensitive zones, and economic and investment zones. Generally prepared and guided by sectoral
/ line departments, most of these plans are sporadic and in pockets, lack efficiency, integration
and interaction with each other leading to constraints in successful implementation.
World over, Integrated Spatial Land Use Planning is known to result in accrued benefits leading
to Sustainable Development that finds the right balance between economic aspects (agriculture,
mining, industries and commerce etc.), social aspects (urban as well as rural settlements, equity
of distribution etc.) as well as the environmental aspects (natural resource management, disaster
prevention and mitigation, forest, climate change etc.).
Quality of Urban and Rural Life in India
A big part of the growth is happening in a form that is described in India as “The Urban Sprawl”,
“The Peri-Urban”, or “The Rurban”.
The year 2014 marks India as the home for 857 million rural population - the largest in the world9.
But do all these rural areas resemble the same character of life and physical entity? Interestingly
not. If a person without knowing administrative jurisdictions, walks through an urban sprawl, or
from a city towards peri-urban, or through a census town or notified rurban area, it is generally
impossible to distinguish which is urban and which is rural, as designated in Census of India.
These areas in India are multi-faceted but specific in some aspects. They are multi-faceted as every
area has a different story to say about their growth factors. The growth of these areas can be
understood in three distinctly visible categories:
1. Around/ close to metropolis or large cites
2. Along National or State Highways or Railways and
3. Old cantonments or at strategic trade locations used in historic times.
Specific characters are rapid transformation from temporary huts to permanent houses without
building regulations, majority of workforce in service sectors (trade and business); economy
dependent on either nearest big cities/ towns or in other districts/ states in India; open
overflowing drainage, unused lands turned into unmanaged solid waste dumping sites, narrow
motor-able or un-motor-able roads, minimum social infrastructures (health and education), etc.
The quality of life in these areas are exactly similar to those in small and medium towns of India,
but is devoid of planning regulations and level of service delivery attended by urban local bodies
and authorities in statutory towns. Peri-urban villages, rurban areas or census towns, villages
growing in urban sprawl are only governed by rural local bodies which lack funds and
empowerment to cater to urban service delivery standards and planning regulations. Therefore,
though the quality of life goes urban, but development goes haphazard, unregulated, unattended,
exceeds carrying capacity of land, infrastructure, and sometimes leading to negative growth.
9 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352) accessed from https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/publications/files/wup2014-highlights.pdf accessed on 30.01.18.
This shows that today’s growth in urbanization leads to a mix of urban and rural life in India. A
big percentage of urban growth has the form of patches around the city-centres that are often
disconnected from each other. Although these patches have urban characteristics, they are not
characterized as urban areas and thus lack institutional structures and capacities to tackle
challenges in regard to infrastructure planning and service provision. As a result, high rise
buildings and residential complexes with high densities occur in rural areas - often without
including basic infrastructure like roads, electricity, freshwater or sewage in planning. Therefore
cities and villages suffer from this development, as it becomes increasingly difficult to determine
where cities end and where the landscape and the village start.
Figure 1: Local Market on National Highway, Ganjam District, Odisha Source: Felix Knopf
Peri-urban areas and urban sprawls around large cities or metropolitan areas grow exponentially
in area and population, and are generally characterised by a parasitic development completely
dependent on its urban core. If we take a look of Hyderabad city, in erstwhile state of Andhra
Pradesh, and now in the state of Telangana, ‘’the Population of Hyderabad in 2014 was over 7.6
million increasing at an average annual rate of 2.7% since 1999. The population of Hyderabad in
1999 was about five million increasing at an average annual rate of 2.8% since 1990, when its
population was about 3.9 million. The Urban Extent of Hyderabad in 2014 was over 72 thousand
hectares, increasing at an average annual rate of 3.7% since 1999. The urban extent in 1999 was
about 42 thousand hectares, increasing at an average annual rate of 7.1% since 1999, when its
urban extent was about 21.7 thousand hectares.’’ Below images depict significant land use
dynamics of Hyderabad’s urban extent in 1990 and 2014.
Image Source: http://www.atlasofurbanexpansion.org/cities/view/Hyderabad
Above images explain how rapidly urban sprawls encroach on rural agricultural lands in over
two decades. Urbanization being an organic phenomenon, it becomes very important to plan well
in advance regulate uses of land.
India’s smart city initiative is one such example that strives towards sustaining, reviving and
reaping benefits of the process of urbanization, and spatial planning is one of the tools through
which this is foreseen. Greenfield cities under Smart Cities initiative, for example, Dholera city in
the state of Gujarat, are planned ground up. This kind of planning prior to haphazard settlement
growth provides complete scope to regulate and direct urban growth and urbanization trajectory
with planned allocation of prioritized land uses. There are agitations related to such green-field
planning as well, specifically for gated residential societies that segregate common mass of the
society further leading to class differences. Greenfield industries is also debated to segregate city
from industries specifically for those cities whose growth is led by industrial developments.
Reinstating the fact that India’s urban areas are multi-faceted, it is therefore the city character that
guides whether one should go for green-field planning or city revival i.e. brownfield planning.
Whatever the approach may be, it is always agreed upon that planning and regulation should be
in place prior to settlements growth, which is not the current trend in urban and rural areas of
India.
Spatial planning in India today
1990 2014
It is estimated that of the 7935 urban settlements of India, only 1233 urban settlements have
approved master plans and preparation of 653 master plans is in process a total of 24% urban
settlements10. This planning generally has a good effect on the construction, investment decisions,
availability of basic infrastructure for the citizens.
In most states of India, The Department of Town and Country Planning or the Directorate of
Town Planning has the mandate of spatial planning in both planned areas as well as non-planned
areas. However, the mandate function in reality is restricted to building permits and is far away
from spatial planning in both planned and non-planned areas (as in the case of Tamil Nadu). The
state department of town and country planning in Tamil Nadu plays the role of approval only,
whereas the details of plan are actually done at local level with/ without help of external
consultants or experts. Moreover the Tamil Nadu has only 5% of the area (excluding Chennai
Metropolitan Development Area CMDA) as planned area with master plans of two types: single
urban local body or a cluster of ULBs with adjoining rural areas within a “Local Planning Area”.
Similarly there are states (e.g. Odisha), where Department of Town planning is only responsible
for planning in Urban Local Bodies where powers and functions of pre-existing Development
Authorities are not there.
Currently planning in Tamil Nadu is done in 3 levels: the Visionary Plans (Vision Plan 2023) with
economic investments specified for various projects (Corridors etc.) with no spatial maps in scale;
the Master Plan in 1:10,000 scale (as well as lower scale like 1:4000 in places required) and Detailed
Development Plan in 1:4000 scale (or lower scale 1:1000 as per need). The big corridors in Tamil
Nadu are generally commissioned by studies to expert consultancy firm in planning field.11 In
Odisha, plans are made at two levels, the Vision Plan exists as a Perspective for development of
state in the form of statements and Master Plans in the form of spatial plan in a scale of 1:10000
or less.
Urban Master Plan in Tamil Nadu is prepared by the Local Planning Authorities for areas called
as Local Planning areas. There are two types of Local Planning Areas:
1. Single Local Planning Areas where development of town is mostly confined within the
town boundary and the concerned municipality is declared as Single Local Planning
Authority to carry out planning functions and
2. Composite Local Planning Areas, where towns have grown beyond their boundaries.
10 Source: “GIS-base Master Plan Formulation”, TCPO, MoUD, available from http://tcpomud.gov.in/Divisions/URIS/Brief_Note_on_GIS_based_Master_Plan.pdf 11 The Corridor Development Plan for Tamil Nadu Southern Districts Industrial Corridor prepared by Mahindra Consulting Engineers limited in 2012
Such towns combined with their adjoining areas are identified as Composite Local Planning
Authorities.12 Hence Urban Master Plans are prepared for these Local Planning areas. Master Plan
is a key Development Plan which emphasizes on zoning regulation for judicious use of urban
land. It provides land use allotment for residential, commercial, industrial, public-semi-public,
traffic and transportation, parks, play fields and open spaces, etc. The Master Planning process is
initiated by the Local Planning Authority either though spatial planning consultants/
consultancy firms/ institutions or done in house. The process involves preparation of existing
land use maps; integrating requests for any development from individual or institution or
company; forecasting population of the area; estimating land use requirements following Urban
and Regional Plan Formulation and Implementation Guidelines and formulas as advised by
consultants. The major lacking in the planning process is the participative approach and demand
assessment. As a result of which the plans take very long for approval as there are objections from
public and requests for reclassification. Even if approved Plans become failure when reclassified
to a large extent based on public demands.
Similar issues exist in the Planning arena of Odisha where planning is made by consultants
selected by the department of Town Planning or the Development Authorities. The process of
each consultant largely varies and hence it is difficult to document one single process of planning
in the state. Also, scope of public participation is limited to the flag end of the planning process,
which does not leave any space for incorporating their demands in the plan. Their participation
is limited to only raising objections and giving suggestions.
The “Town and Country Planning Organization” (TCPO) at national level has been functioning
as a technical wing of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. It worked
for several central government programme like ‘Urban Infrastructure Development for Small and
Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for
filling the gaps of infrastructure in urban areas, ‘National Urban Information System (NUIS)’,
under which there are the National Urban Observatory (NUO), and ‘Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for cities. TCPO provides broad guidelines
for all of these programmes to the states to apply to cities for utilizing the grant under these
programmes from national level. One of the guidelines prepared for guiding the urban and
regional developments across India TCPO has come out with ‘Urban and Regional Development
Plan Formulation and Implementation’ (URDPFI) guidelines. The URDPFI guidelines specifies
the scope, purpose and contents of each plan. It also provides a compilation of all types of spatial
planning practices across different sectors in the country. It provides formulae for population
12 Act Provision of Town and Country Planning Department for Curtailment of Indiscriminate conversion of Wetlands into other uses”, by Town and Country Planning Department, Chennai, available from http://www.spc.tn.gov.in/pdfs/wetlands.pdf
projection and parameters for delineation of region. Currently for master planning both the states
of Odisha and Tamil Nadu follows URDPFI guidelines.
The guidelines for regional planning needs to be more elaborate and specific to the state priority
and hence needs further customization. The guidelines for master planning also omits the process
step of demand assessment calculations which gives rise to land requirements of different sectors.
Spatial Planning in Urban Fringes
So far, most of the rural areas in India do not benefit from a consistent spatial planning - which
affects roughly 70% of the population of India. Planning authorities are limited to urban
agglomerations, neglecting the current challenges of unauthorized development at the periphery.
The fact that building in the rural periphery outside the jurisdiction of a building authority
became more attractive for constructors and developers in terms on financial and time benefits
highlights the need for an extension of planning beyond urban boundaries.
During the 5th TNA meeting on 18th December at TIFFAC, New Delhi India's habitat ecosystem
was summarized as under: 1. Urban Habitats - 7935 Towns and Cities, 2. Rural Habitats - 640,000.
Out of these only about 510 urban habitats have some forms of master plans in place and merely
about 35 have GIS based master /land use plans in place. Other major shortcomings include:
1. Absence of a clear a spatial planning framework or hierarchy (from Regional Planning-
Strategic- Development/ Master to Local Area planning) and
2. Lack of technological upgradations/applications in urban planning practices. As it was
further discussed, there is an urgent need of a national level deliberation on this aspect
and identifying meaningful ways towards transformation of urban planning approaches
in India.
New mobility patterns are causing the described sprawled growth of urban-like structures. A
common response to that is to create new forms of entities, such as Metropolitan Development
Authorities that are covering a bigger scope of the cities region (such as the Mumbai Metropolitan
Region or Chennai Metropolitan Region). The use of land is additionally being defined by bigger
scale visionary planning of corridors, transit axis or big industrial regions across the country. In
this setup the question arises how rural areas might benefit from spatial planning in the future,
and how such a spatial planning should look like?
Figure 2: Development near Bhubaneshwar Source: Georg Jahnsen
Planning in Rural Areas
As per Census of India, the rural population is about 833 million, accounting for almost 68% of
the total population. During the 2001-2011 period and there has been an increase in the absolute
number of villages by 2279 units.
Large parts of rural areas in the country are part of a cluster of settlements in proximity of each
other. These clusters tend to illustrate spatial interlinkages and potential for growth with
similarly economic drivers and derive locational as well competitive advantages. The
Government of India, has termed such clusters as Rurban Clusters and has proposed a National
Mission known as Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM), aimed at developing over
300 such clusters by providing economic, social and physical infrastructure integrated by spatial
planning approaches.
New ways for Indian spatial planning
The government of India envisions that all States and Union Territories of India should possess
and use a fully functional and standardised Integrated Land Use Planning and Management
System, which promotes adoption of comprehensive and inclusive land utilisation strategies
involving all stakeholders leading to strengthened decision making for sustainable utilisation of
land resources. Under the Constitution, not only provision for Economic and Social Planning
(Entry 20 List III, VII schedule); but provision for District level and Metropolitan planning (74th
Amendment, (Art 243ZD for spatial planning for district and Art 243ZE for co-ordinated spatial
planning for Metropolitan area) already exist.
A regional planning approach in India can help to establish or facilitate a system of spatial planning in
urban and rural areas and areas which lie somewhere in between, the so called peri-urban. The 74th
amendment of the Indian Constitution formulates this provision of a regional planning at the level of the
District. Presently, most of the 640 Districts in India focus on a District budget planning.
Enriching this with cross-sectoral maps and a spatial strategy for a time horizon of about 10-15
years would be a game changer in order to define the use of land for the whole country. In this
regard it is not a coincidence that just recently the Prime Minister has requested its 640 District
Collectors across India to elaborate and deliver visionary ideas for the District Level. Spatial
district plans define the land use and provide a planning base of the whole area on a higher level,
regardless of whether it is called urban or rural. In that way, it overcomes the urban-rural
dichotomy by choosing a scale of 1:50,000 or above. Although the aforementioned Metropolitan
Development Authorities already work at this regional scale, this level and scale of work is still
new and uncommon for India, especially when it comes to rural areas.
Land Use Planning and Management Project of GIZ
“There is a need for an integrated spatial and territorial planning that keeps the
urban and rural areas at the regional level in focus. India's urban-rural regions are
shaped by extreme disparities in development and are deprived of adequate basic
services and housing. This underlines the need for a strong urban economy that
supports the regional balance of the city and the country. Such a paradigm shift
requires a systematic and consistent planning approach on all scales”.13
Under the Indo-German Corporation the Ministry of Rural Development with its Department of
Land Resources and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are
13 LUPM. 2017. "Spatial Planning beyond boundaries". Documentation: Dialogue on a Regional Planning approach at the District level. New Delhi, GIZ.
jointly implementing the Land Use Planning and Management Project in India. For over 60 years,
GIZ has been working jointly with partners in India for sustainable economic, ecological and
social development. Despite the country's rapidly growing economy, poverty and other socio-
economic issues remain a challenge. The burgeoning population and accelerated urbanisation in
the country have resulted in an environment at risk. Despite Sustainable Urban and Industrial
Development, Environment and Management of Natural Resources as well as Energy are the
main thematic areas of GIZ in India. The Government of India has launched numerous important
initiatives to address the country’s economic, environmental and social challenges, and GIZ is
contributing to some of the most significant ones. For example, it supports key initiatives such as
Smart Cities, Clean India and Skill India. GIZ, in close cooperation with Indian partners, devises
tailor-made, jointly-developed solutions to meet local needs and achieve sustainable and
inclusive development.
Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is providing technical
cooperation to the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Government
of India, for promoting Integrated Land Use Planning and Management in India at state level. As
part of the agreement GIZ has agreed to support two states (Odisha and Tamil Nadu) with
technical assistance towards formulation of state land use policies, development of spatial
planning instruments/tools/framework and guiding documents, Human Capacity Development
(HCD), organizational and institutional development. GIZ would also demonstrate application
of the land use policies and guidelines by providing technical assistance in preparing a district
level spatial land use plan in each state and vertically integrating it to a larger regional spatial
land use plan for Tamil Nadu and a smaller town / rural area spatial land use plan for Odisha.
The objectives of this collaboration is strengthening overall culture of a democratic and
integrative spatial and land use planning at all levels by enhancing the capacities of State
planning institutions in applying standard land use planning and management instruments in
selected areas within the two pilot states by utilising the technical assistance as provided by GIZ.
As part of the project interventions, the Coordination shall ensure achievement of following
indicators:
1. State planning institutions apply the policy framework and planning instruments [1] for integrated
spatial land use planning and management.
2. State departments apply new coordination mechanisms for better coordination and integration of
various sectoral planning processes.
3. Equal consideration of ecological, economic and social aspects in a transparent process as part of
developing plans for the Demonstration Projects by State Planning Institutions.
4. Evident participation of women and underprivileged groups as part of developing plans for the
Demonstration Projects by State Planning Institutions
According to the Constitution of India, Land is a subject matter of the states in India. Hence, Land
Use Planning and Management project is working along with two pilot states, Tamil Nadu and
Odisha. Key partners in the states are state government departments which are administrating
and developing land and which have the mandate and capacity to introduce a spatial planning
instrument at regional scale. In Odisha, the Revenue and Disaster Management Department is
mainly concerned with land property rights and has a high stake in land development. While the
mandate of the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department is limited to urban areas,
it has the vastest experience and most suitable capacity for spatial planning. Under the H&UD
Department, the Directorate of Town Planning has been established as the nodal agency for all
urban planning related activities in the state and is majorly entrusted with the preparation of
urban masterplans. Both of the Departments are leading the Land Use Planning and Management
project in the State of Odisha.
In Tamil Nadu, a similar structure is followed: Here, the H&UD Department is the Authority for
the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP). As the name says, the mandate is not
limited to urban areas only, but covers the full territory of the state. The Planning, Development
and Special Initiatives Department in Tamil Nadu is responsible for the preparation of the Five
Year and Annuals Plans. State Planning Commission (SPC) is a sub-department and
administrates all sectoral strategies for the state. While Department heads (Secretaries) are
steering the project at management level, SPC and DTCP are the main partners for technical
implementation.
In the focus of this project is a spatial planning approach on regional scale at the level of the
District which is the administrative subdivision of a state and headed by a District Collector.
While many Districts have planning cells which prepare development plans, district plans in
most of the cases are not spatial. The budgetary planning approach does not cater to the need of
regulating and steer developments spatially.
In each of these two States a Land Use Policy will be drafted under the project. Norms and
Standards for Regional / District Planning will be formulated in an interstate expert working
group. These Norms and Standards will be directly showcased and used for two concrete
Regional Plans in Tamil Nadu and Odisha (Ganjam District in Odisha, and Coimbatore Region
in Tamil Nadu).
Land Use Policies
World over, spatial governance is observed in terms of following hierarchy and functions:
1. Policy Guidelines
2. Strategic Plans
3. Zoning and Boundary Plans
Public policy primarily uses spatial and land use plans and environmental and building code
regulations to affect land use. These instruments function by restricting usage of land, but cannot
influence how individuals and businesses would like to use land. In most cases, they do not offer
efficient, community and market driven land use patterns to emerge.
Many other policies and schemes – not directly related to land use planning systems, create
incentives to use land in certain specific ways. However, it is not necessary that such policies
correspond to the objectives of land use planning systems. In many cases, the planning systems
simply fail to achieve their objectives due to overwhelming pressures from contradicting land
developments promoted by other policies.
It is believed that a good public policy on land use planning would:
Link tax policy incentives to land use policies
Link sub-national / state level fiscal systems, schemes, projects that directly impact efficiency
of land use policies
Integrate demographic and economic trends with due consideration to the fact that all
settlements are interdependent
Integrate all sectors and levels of government so as to promote convergence and overcome
sectoral silos
Strengthen the concept of regional considerations in planning approaches
Create institutional and/or co-ordination mechanisms based on strengths of the state and
governance system prevalent in the territory
It can be said that
“A good Land Use Planning Policy would be a spatial governance tool that balances
considerations to all sectors at all levels of governance”
Norms (Standards for Regional Planning, Pilot / Pioneers for India)
“Norms are Spatial Planning instruments for Regional Plan means a collection methods and
approaches in the form of standards and guidelines used by the public and private sector to
influence the distribution of people and activities in spaces of a region for sustainable
development. It also encompasses coordination of practices and policies (SoPs, inter-sectoral
coordination mechanism) affecting spatial organization (the sectoral departments, spatial
planning departments).These instruments help stimulation and steering of regional
development.”
Human Capacity Development
Planners for India
Growing urban India and a constantly growing number of urban, infrastructure and construction
projects means a challenge to the public administrative workforce in the field of spatial planning
in India. India needs a big amount of well trained (spatial) planners. The Town and Country
Planning Organisation of the Government of India / Ministry of Urban Development estimates
in its latest URDPFI (Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation)
Guidelines from January 2015 a total requirement of “85.000 - 90.000 additional planners in the
country at various levels of planning framework, which roughly works out to 1 Planner per 14,000
population.”
Figure 3: Understanding Revenue Maps at Tehsildar Office, Ganjam District, Odisha Source: Felix Knopf
Human Capacity Development Approach in the project
With the Indo-German cooperation on The Land Use Planning and Management, trainings for
spatial planning at state level is envisaged to be developed in both of the states. The
aforementioned academic system for spatial planning produces planners mostly for the private
sector. Planners in Government institutions are mostly trained by practice and can apply existing
planning instruments and laws. A detailed Capacity Assessment within the two states has shown,
that, when it comes to innovation and appropriation of reforms and new planning approaches,
government planning institutions lack of properly trained planners. The assessment has also
revealed that in both of the states there is currently no regular training offered for spatial planning
officials in the state government. Rapid urbanization and industrial growth require increased
control of land development and enhanced balancing of sectoral interests. Spatial planning
beyond boundaries of urban jurisdictions and beyond boundaries of sectoral departments must
respond to the new challenges. Capacities of respective government institutions not only in
quantitative terms, but also in qualitative terms. In Tamil Nadu, the Government is about to
introduce a common cadre of Town Planners. In the meantime, a training on spatial planning will
be designed and conducted under the project. A state training institute (Tamil Nadu Institute of
Urban Studies) is charged with introducing this training to the annual training curricula. Similar
in Odisha, where not only planners of the Directorate of Town Planning, but also district planners
and revenue officers are part of the target group for training on spatial planning.
The Training on Spatial Planning is part of a wider Capacity Development Strategy as part of the
Indo-German cooperation. As spatial planning is both a cross-sectoral and a multi-level domain,
as many levels and sectors within in the government structure must be addressed. The strategy
targets three groups:
1. Decision makers: These are secretaries from relevant departments which are crucial for
decisions with spatial implications. Topics are awareness for the need regional planning
and development and models for necessary cross-sectoral cooperation to balance
opposing interests.
2. Planners: The above mentioned training on spatial planning for technical staff in the State
Government.
3. Local representatives: Spatial planning finds its physical manifestation always at the local
level in terms of built environment, infrastructure, environmental zones, etc. Local
authorities from villages are to be trained on "spatialize" village development plans and
map existing resources and future needs of the local community.
Key Lessons Learnt
Since the project started in March 2016, several lessons have already been learned at various levels, which
contribute towards bridging the gap between the rural-urban continuum.
Planning should be State-specific but harmonized:
o There are 29 States in India, all of which are culturally, economically and environmentally
diverse. Furthermore, land use planning is mandated to the State level. Therefore, it is
difficult to introduce a National Land Use Plan and nationally determined norms and
zoning ordinances.
o Most States use different terminology to describe and have a different understanding of
what constitute ‘development plans’, ‘economic plans’ and ‘regional plans’.
o There are different boundaries- geographic and political
Linking spatial planning with development (economic) planning:
o Gathering data and creating maps is not planning. Spatial planning should be part of
governance processes and closely linked to development plans that take into account the
economic, social and environmental trajectory of specific areas.
o It is important to link district plans to regional and State development plans to ensure that
rural areas are adequately planned for and to create benefits from rural-urban
interlinkages.
Spatial planning can be a leverage for change:
o Spatial planning is an instrument for planning and can be used for holistic territorial
development, but needs to be embedded within policy-making processes.
o Spatial planning and land management cannot be separated, especially not when there
are complex governance structures and many stakeholders. Land management can
ensure the convergence of “bottom-up” and “top-down” planning through the
enforcement of the plans.
Importance of multi-stakeholder forums:
o Spatial planning requires taking into account all sectors and cooperating with many
different stakeholders.
o Setting-up such mechanisms takes considerable time and a strong and committed
steering structure.
It takes time to raise awareness on the importance of planning at different levels (not just
urban/master plans).
Introducing new levels of spatial planning requires long-term capacity development and
significant resources (technical and financial).
Conclusion
In general, spatial planning is a tool that helps to make decisions by the public hand with spatial
effects more transparent and more inclusive. A systematic spatial planning offers chances to make
the technical infrastructure more sustainable and less expensive. Spatial Planning is a process of
shaping the built and natural environment around us. It is about the management and
development of space in order to create better places, responding to the needs of society, the
economy and the environment. Spatial planning can contribute towards equitable rural and
structural transformation by providing policy-makers with information to help them identify and
prioritise necessary sectoral interventions. In other words, spatial planning is an instrument that
plays a significant role in identifying complementary and sequenced development priorities in
full recognition of cross-sectoral synergies within the rural-urban, or the ‘rurban’ continuum.