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.