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Zonal Conferences |
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SOUTH ZONE PLANNERS’ CONFERENCE
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South Zone Planners’ Conference of the
ITPI was organized in collaboration with
the University of Mysore on 12th June,
2010 on ‘Metropolitan Governance,
Heritage Conservation and Education’
at Rani Bahadur Auditorium, University
of Mysore, Manasgangothri, Mysore. The
Conference was inaugurated by Shri B.A.
Qutinho, IAS; Metropolitan
Commissioner, Bangalore Metropolitan
Region Development Authority,
Karnataka. In his inaugural address Shri
Qutinho noted that the level of
urbanization would increase further and
as per projections by 2051 it would be
more than 50 percent. Therefore, the
demand on resources and infrastructure
would increase manifold deserving
better governance of towns and cities.
Efficient governance is critical for
metropolitan areas as 38 percent of
urban population is predicted to settle
in metropolitan areas. He also
underlined that nowadays it is difficult
to draw the line between urban areas
and rural areas. Rather rural folk have
become very vocal in making demands
for modern amenities and facilities. He
hoped that planners and delegates of
the South Zone Planners’ Conference
would suggest suitable models of
metropolitan governance after taking
into consideration various models being
practiced in the country and aboard
including London, Washington, New
York, etc; so that options for adopting
the same for Hubli-Dharwad, Mangalore
and even for Mysore can be considered.
He said that he was keenly looking
forward to receiving the
recommendations of the Conference.
| IN THIS ISSUE |
| South Zone Conference |
1 |
| World Environment Day |
5 |
| ITPI Activities 2009-2010 |
8 |
| ITPI Regional Chapter Activities |
10 |
| International Conferences and 12
Workshops |
12 |
| National Seminars and Workshops |
13 |
| Know Your Former Presidents |
16 |
Shri B.A. Qutinho, IAS, Metropolitan Commissioner, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development
Authority, Karnataka lighting the Inaugral Lamp. Present on the dias (on his left) are Shri
Pradeep Kapoor, Secretary General ITPI; Prof. V.G. Talawar, Vice Chancellor of the University
of Mysore; and Prof. K.V. Aiyanna, Director, IDS, Mysore; and (on his right) are Shri B.
Mahindara, Council Member ITPI; and Shri D.S. Meshram, President ITPI.
Tracing the history right from
Mahabharata, Prof. V.G. Talawar, Vice
Chancellor of the University of Mysore
in his Presidential Address, argued that
examples of governance being followed
by various civilizations should be
revisited for learning lessons for present
day context. With reference to
conservation of built heritage he stated
that monuments and buildings of
heritage value are not being properly
maintained in terms of methods of
construction and use of building
materials. Therefore, there is an urgent
need of guidance and advice required
by the concerned agencies from
planners and other experts so that the
monuments do not loose their original
character and glory. With reference to
metropolitan governance he noted that
various agencies are involved in
planning and development but proper
attention has not been paid to planned
development of extensions and periurban
areas, and no provision has been
made for adequate road width, parking
and pedestrian pathways. Adequate
attention is also not given for long term
planning due to which lot of congestion
and traffic jams take place. There are
norms, standards and regulations but
people generally tend to ignore them.
He ended his talk by suggesting that
town and country planning community
present in conference should come
forward with practical suggestions and
concrete recommendations.
Audience of the South Zone Conference
Shri D.S. Meshram, President, ITPI in
his address stated that as per 2001
census 28 percent population of the
country lived in urban areas which is
likely to cross 50 percent by 2051. He
further added that 38 percent of urban
population lives in 35 metropolitan
cities, which is likely to increase to more
than 75 percent by 2051, exerting
tremendous pressure on present
infrastructure which continues to
remain inadequate and over strained.
This scenario calls for good governance.
He also noted that governance has been
defined by the UNDP as exercise of
political, economic and administrative
authority in the management of
country’s affairs at all levels. With the
increasing focus on urban governance,
and based on its own experience in
working, the UN-HABITAT initiated
global debate and argue that good
urban governance is characterized by
the principles of sustainability,
subsidiarity and priority, equity,
efficiency, transparency, security and
accountability.
Sustainability is an important part of
urban governance principle implying that
cities must balance their social,
economic and environmental needs of
the present and future generations.
While subsidiarity is responsible for
service provision at the closest
appropriate level; it also consists of
efficient and cost effective delivery of
services. In fact subsidiarity is a device
for geographical decentralization of
urban services. This is expected to
maximize the potential for inclusion of
the citizenry in the process of urban
governance. Equity of access to
decision making processes and basic
necessities of urban life is one of the
important criteria for urban governance.
The principle of equity necessitates
sharing of power which in turn leads to
equity in access to and use of resources.
Efficiency in the delivery of public
services and promotion of local
economic development is yet another
important aspect to facilitate financially
sound and cost effective management,
administrative and delivery of services.
Transparency and Accountability are
essential to facilitate understanding of
planning provisions and also to help
those who would be benefiting from
these decisions and actions of
government and other agencies by
ensuring wide dissemination of relevant
information. He also pointed out that
74th Constitution Amendment provides
for composition of Metropolitan
Committees, which could be a leap
forward for good governance.
Yet another aspect which will be
deliberated in the conference is
‘Heritage Conservation’. In fact
conservation of heritage not only
involves man made heritage which
includes built environment like historical
monuments, architecturally important
precincts, and buildings, etc; but also
natural heritage like natural
environments comprising of hills and hill
slopes, rivers, lakes, forests, etc. In
heritage conservation, therefore, it
would be essential to identify towns,
precincts, buildings, natural areas, etc.,
which merit conservation and
accordingly need to be listed based on
their historical and cultural value, which
need to be preserved and conserved
not only for the present generation but
also for the future generations.
Shri Meshram further stated that rapid
urbanization has changed the face of
our cities and towns drastically, more
so in the last few decades. Due to rapid
urbanization historical monuments
which have left their imprints on the
character, form and face of our towns
and cities are getting defaced. It needs
no emphasis to state that the issue of
urban conservation and resolution of its
associated conflicts are not new and
are being discussed and debated for the
past several decades. However, these
issues have not yet been resolved.
Questions like – should old areas be
preserved or should they make room
for new developments; how much and to what extent it is possible to freeze
development in a Conservation Zone;
should cultural heritage be preserved
or allowed to decay; what impact new
developments taking place in the
vicinity of such areas would have on
conservation areas; can a balance be
achieved so that both new and old
areas can be harmonized and blended
with each other, remain unresolved. All
these issues need to be addressed
thread bare. While summing up his
address he noted that metropolitan
governance and heritage conservation
needs to be given due weightage in
planning education by revisiting the
syllabus and curriculum.
In the inaugural function welcome
address was given by Prof. Krishne
Gowda, IDS, Mysore and a vote of
thanks was extended by Prof. K.V.
Aiyanna, Director, IDS, Mysore.
Technical Session - I on ‘Urban
Governance’ was chaired by Shri Aniyan
Mathew, Vice President, ITPI. In this
session three presentations were
made. Dr. Amita Prasad, IAS Director
General, Administrative Training
Institute, Mysore made a presentation
on ‘Metropolitan Governance’ in which
she emphasized that the 74th
Constitution Amendment provides for
decentralization of powers to urban
local bodies, under which it is
mandatory to constitute Metropolitan
Planning Committees for the
preparation of Metropolitan
Development Plans for metropolitan
areas. The amendment provides for
core functions like roads, bridges, water
supply, public health amenities; besides
welfare functions like slum
improvement, urban poverty, alleviation,
cultural aspects, etc; and also
development functions like, urban
planning, regulation of land use,
planning for economic and social
development, etc. She made the point
that all these functions can not be
performed without the involvement and
participation of people. She also raised
the issue of capacity building of local
bodies so that efficient governance
could be achieved. She also added that
multiplicity of agencies with overlapping
jurisdictions is one of the major
impediments to good governance of our
metropolitan cities - for example there
are 19 agencies involved in Bangalore
and 21 in Mumbai. She also stressed
that by improving techno-legal system
along with making regulatory
frameworks more transparent, positive
steps towards good governance could
be achieved. For example, use of
information technology would improve
urban governance. She also saw
relevance in exploring the possibility of
extensive use of planning instruments
for good urban governance.
Prof. Dr. Abdul Razak, Professor in the
Department of Planning, School of
Architecture and Planning, Anna
University, Chennai made a presentation
on ‘Metropolitan Governance – Spatial
Planning and Management’. In his detail
presentation Dr. Razak basically
concentrated on three issues namely
(i) Emerging Peri-urban World, (ii)
Changing urban boundaries, and (iii)
Multiple Planning Agencies. Yet another
issue he emphasized was city
development plans and master plans.
He argued that CDPs do not contain
information and analysis in total context
of development of city and these
documents are prepared merely for
obtaining financial assistance under the
JNNURM. On the other hand, Master
Plans are statutory documents because
these are prepared under the provisions
of relevant Town and Country Planning
Acts. He also flagged the issue of
multiplicity of agencies in urban
governance with conflicting functions.
He further emphasized that by adopting
latest technological innovations like e-
Governance through ICT, e-citizen
forums and e-society could help deliver
better urban governance.
Shri M. Sivashunmugam, Senior Town
Planner, Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authority made a
presentation on ‘Metropolitan
Governance – Emerging Issues from
Infrastructure Perspective’ and
explained his view point by taking up
an example from the Metropolitan Area
of Chennai. He specifically examined
institutional structures for governance
at state level and at local level i.e.
Chennai. He contended that there are
80 departments involved including
village panchayats and stressed the
need for creating singular structure for
governance, which is accountable to a
metropolitan development agency. He
further underscored the need for
unified development of metropolitan
areas including peri-urban areas.
While concluding this session Shri
Aniyan Mathew remarked that risk
management and disaster mitigation
also needs to be addressed along with
climate change. Dr. T. M. Mahesh,
Professor, IDS, Mysore was the
Rapporteur in this session.
The second technical session was
chaired by Shri Pradeep Kapoor,
Secretary General, ITPI who in his initial
remarks requested the key speakers to
specifically give their views on physical,
legal and financial aspects of heritage
conservation.
Shri M.S. Nagaraj Rao, former Director
of Archeology and Archives in his
presentation pointed out that Mysore
is not only the commercial capital of
Karnataka but is also the intellectual
centre of Karnataka. Defining the
heritage in a simple manner he stated
that heritage is what we inherit from
our ancestors. Further he added that
we do not belong to past but past
belongs to us, as told by Mahatma
Gandhi. He also stated that Maharaja
Palace is one of the finest examples,
which is not starving of funds, for its
maintenance. He further noted that not
only few buildings or monuments need
preservation but all components of
heritage are required to be preserved.
He also gave a list of components in
Mysore which need to be considered
for preservation and wondered how
ITPI Newsletter, Number 7 x 3 4 July - September 2010
only two buildings have been selected
for conservation under the JNNURM. He
appealed to the concerned authorities
to consider all these buildings and
monuments for preservations under the
JNNURM.
Dr. Kodira A. Kushalappa, IFS (Retired),
Former Regional Chief Conservation of
Forest, Bhopal made his presentation
on ‘Conservation of Natural Areas of
Mysore City’ and stated that Mysore
was an excellent example of garden city
and natural areas. Identifying various
components of natural areas which are
required to be preserved, he charted a
strategy making prescriptions for
conservation of these components. For
example, towards conservation
strategy of Chamundi Hills, he
emphatically argued for removal of
eucalyptus trees because they consume
more water and also suggested to
create ‘Village Forest Committees’ for
conservation of forests. Towards lakes
strategy, he argued for opting for desilting
of tanks at certain intervals and
prevention of sewage and silage water
to enter in tanks and water bodies.
While concluding his presentation, he
also outlined the strategy for parks and
trees and suggested to preserve all
trees which are over 100 years old and
to desists from unmindful cutting of
trees.
Ms. Vasant Sobha Turaga, Conservation
Architect and Urban Regional Planner
from Hyderabad made her presentation
on ‘Need for introduction of Master of
Planning degree course with
specialization in Heritage Conservation’.
In her presentation she clearly identified
the need for starting master’s
programme in planning and also
discussed details of syllabus and
curriculum.
Dr. A. Ravindra, former Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and
presently Advisor
Urban Development to Chief Minister, Karnataka delivering the Valedictory Address
Dr. S.G. Vombatkre, Major General
(Retired) representing Mysore Grakara
Parishat traced linkages between
heritage conservation, natural areas and
education. He stated that heritage
conservation is a constitutional
obligation and highlighted that ever
growing urbanization coupled with
industrialization is affecting our social
and cultural values and therefore a
development model being practiced in
our country needs to be revisited and
reworked. Quoting the experience of
widening of roads in Mysore, which
entails felling of fully grown trees, and
limiting or removing pedestrian
footpaths. This amounts to destruction
of our heritage. Therefore, he called on
the planners’ community to adopt proactive
means for conservation of our
trees.
Dr. N.S. Rangaraju from the Department
of Ancient History and Archeology, while
making his presentation on ‘Heritage
Conservation in Mysore City with special
reference to Jailakshmi Villas Mansion’
informed that Government of Karnataka
has declared Mysore as the heritage city
and 236 structures have been listed for
conservation. He also gave
demonstration of excellently conserved
monuments without disturbing their
original form.
Dr. B. Shankar, Associate Professor, IDS,
Mysore was the Rapporteur in this
session
In the Valedictory Session Dr. A.
Ravindra, former Chief Secretary,
Government of Karnataka and presently
Advisor Urban Development to Chief
Minister, Karnataka in his address noted
that in terms of absolute number, 300
million people live in urban areas in our
country, which is more than the
combined population of all European
countries. He further emphasized that
there is no need to conceive
urbanization in a negative sense
because development and urbanization
go hand in hand as could be seen from
high level of urbanization (70 to 80
percent) in developed nations.
Quoting the example of Singapore,
which has resolved the problem of
housing shortage by constructing social
housing, Dr. Ravindra opined that social
housing has not been adequately
addressed in our country. On the issue
of urban sprawl and fringe area
development, he called on the planners’
community to dwell on the issue of how
we should regulate unauthorized
constructions and unintended
developments. He also called on the
planners’ community that planning be
conceived in a holistic manner rather
than treating it in a traditional manner.
On the issue of good governance, it is
essential to decentralize power but
there are various agencies or bodies
with overlapping jurisdictions. On one
hand decentralization calls for sharing
of power, but the fact is that those who
has power do not want to share. It is also a fact that those who do not have
the power they want empowerment.
How much power should be
decentralized at city level is yet another
issue. He also mentioned that planning
and governance are interrelated and
planning instruments can be gainfully
utilized for improving urban governance
besides more professional should come
into politics and improve governance.
On the issue of protecting heritage
buildings, he stated that it is good but
asking for additional FAR for the same
amounts to making business with
heritage.
In the Valedictory function, a welcome
address was delivered by Prof K.V.
Aiyanna, Director IDS, Mysore, and a
vote of thanks was extended by Prof.
Krishne Gowda, Professor IDS, Mysore.
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2010
Haryana Regional Chapter
On the occasion of the World
Environment Day, Haryana Regional
Chapter of ITPI, organized a workshop
on ‘Contemporary Environmental
Issues: Challenges in Urban Planning’
on 19 June 2010 at Bahadurgarh
Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Prof. H. Ramachandran, Head,
Department of Geography, Delhi School
of Economics, Delhi University, in his
Key Note address underscored that
environmental issues assume much
more importance, as the same has been
enshrined in the 74th Constitution
Amendment Act, specifically in regard
to areas such as urban forestry,
protection of environment and
promotion of ecological aspects. For
environmental pollution, industry plays
a major role. Therefore, he called on
the planners to integrate environmental
planning with industrial planning. In this
context he quoted the example of
shifting of hazardous industries from
Delhi to Bahadurgarh, and argued that
shifting of such industries from
metropolitan cities to small towns is not
advisable as the voice of the people
from small towns does not reach higher
authorities housed in Delhi.
Prof. Ramachandran also lauded the
aspect of developing towns on the basis of functions they perform rather than
preparing Comprehensive Plan for a city
covering all aspects. To underscore his
point he discussed the example of Hong
Kong which is being developed as a
Shipping and Cargo Hub. He also raised
the issue of displacement of people
from their land to make room for large
projects specifically located in
peripheral villages which are in
transition from rural to urban. Social
environment also merit consideration in
spatial planning, because it caters for
the poorer sections of the society and
slum dwellers. Accordingly, he
suggested that we should start new
Postgraduate Programme in Slum
Planning and Development on the
pattern of Environment Planning. He
further stressed for better
implementation of Development Plans
to make planning meaningful and
successful. He said that implementation
of a plan should be taken up in right
earnest by all actors involved in
implementation. He also noted that
before we solve the existing problems
new problems crop up; therefore
planners have to be pro-active and
visionary.
The Planners Newsletter of Haryana Regional Chapter is being released on the occassion of
World Environment Day ‘2010.
Present on the dias are Prof. H. Ramachandran, Head,
Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics,
Delhi University; Shri D.S. Meshram,
President ITPI; Shri K.K. Yadav Chairman, Haryana Regional Chapter;
and Shri Ashok Sarin,
Secretary, Haryana Regional Chapter(from rigth to left)
Shri D.S. Meshram, President ITPI, in
his inaugural address pointed out that
environmental concerns in India are as
old as Indian civilization itself. However,
the primary environmental concerns in
the past as evident from the history
were mainly related to public health and
sanitation. During the Indus Valley
Civilization, existence of baths, covered
drains and drainage of waste water
indicated their sensitivity to health and
sanitation. During the Mughal and
British periods, sanitation received
much attention. However, after
independence deterioration of
environment due to fast industrialization
and urbanization started. Although
water supply and sanitation were
attended to through government plans,
but control of pollution and environment
as such were not emphasized. As a
result, pollution level in the environment
increased to alarming levels, especially
in the large urban areas. Year 1972 marks the watershed in the history of
environment management in India,
when a national committee on
Environmental Planning and Coordination
was established in the
Department of Science and Technology,
followed by the enactment of ‘The
Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act 1974’, and ‘The Air
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
1976’. Government policy to promote
environmental issues while undertaking
any developmental activity has made it
necessary to introduce the
environmental aspects in planning and
development. In the wake of Bhopal
gas tragedy, Government of India has
enacted Environment (Protection) Act
1986, under which Environmental
Impact Assessment has been made
mandatory.
Shri Meshram further added that slowly
but surely water crises are brewing up,
which will affect the mankind and its
survival. Although water is a renewable
resource, its depletion is gradually
increasing due to imbalance between
water use and available water
resources. Even though poor
management of water is one of the
main reasons, according to UNDP,
Climate Change is affecting the
hydrological cycle which in turn is
significantly distressing fresh water
production and its distribution. Water
scarcity in urban areas is alarming. In
Chennai water shortage is so acute that
people are dependent upon tankers for
water supply. Rivers passing through
cities are heavily polluted due to
industrial wastes and sewage. Water
bodies outside cities are tragically being
turned into sewage ponds in the
absence of planned sewerage networks.
In fact cities are the drivers of climate
change as they are the main source of
green house gases. Concentration of
carbon dioxide has been attributed to
burning of coal, oil and gas being used
for running industries and vehicles. This
ultimately results in rising of
temperature responsible for the loss of
forests and biodiversity, low agricultural
yield and droughts. It is therefore
pertinent to attempt lesser emissions
of less green house gases, which will
result in less warming. This can be
achieved by burning less fossil fuels;
introducing technological innovations in
energy sources that will replace fossil
fuels; introducing technological
improvements in lifestyles so as to
reduce amount of energy used on
transportation, heating, cooling and
lighting; appliances that run on
electricity; and industrial production;
etc. Shri D.S. Meshram suggested that
alternative sources of energy can be
adopted where energy sources are
renewable. These sources include wind
power, solar power and hydropower,
biomass such as wood, straw, and other
plant material and nuclear power.
Reducing emissions of gases other than
CO2 by stopping deforestation;
capturing the powerful green house gas
methane (CH4) from the rotting organic
wastes in garbage dumps and land fills
as fuels, etc. As far as cities are
concerned, CO2 can be reduced through
interventions like reducing the need to
travel, introduction of efficient public
transport systems, discouraging
personalized modes of traffic, reducing
trip length and reducing number of trips
through ICT (Information
Communication Technology), etc. One
is not required to go to grocery shop,
the same can be home delivered by
using bicycles or by walk where orders
could be placed through telephone or
e-mail. While concluding his address
Shri D.S. Meshram called on the
planners to attempt ‘Green Planning’
and also to prepare Development Plans
of towns and cities which consume less
power, less electricity, less water and
do not pollute the environment.
Welcome address was given by Shri K.K.
Yadav Chairman, Haryana Regional
Chapter. Inaugural session was followed
by two Technical Sessions. Technical
Session – I was chaired by Prof. H.
Ramachandran, Head Department of
Geography, Delhi School of Economics,
Delhi University. In this session
presentations were made by Dr.
Sanjukta Bhaduri, Head Department of
Urban Planning, SPA, New Delhi and by
Mrs. Anjala Krishan Sharma, Assistant
Prof. Sushant School of Arts and
Architecture, Gurgaon.
Technical Session – II was chaired by
Shri S.D. Saini, Chief Town Planner
(Retired), Haryana and presentations
were made by Prof. Sarup Singh,
Professor and Head (Retired) Guru
Ramdas School of Planning, GNDU,
Amritsar, and by Shri Vipin Bajaj, Senior
Vice President, Bahadurgarh Chamber
of Commerce and Industries. The vote
of thanks was extended by Shri Ashok
Sarin, Secretary, Haryana Regional
Chapter.
Delhi Regional Chapter
The Environment Day 2010 was
celebrated by the Delhi Regional
Chapter by organizing the Workshop on
‘Climate Change and Town Planning’.
The key speaker on this occasion was
Prof. Meenakshi Dhote, Head
Department of Environmental Planning,
School of Planning and Architecture,
New Delhi. In her presentation she
mentioned that rapid expansion of
urban areas specifically metro-cities are
increasingly consuming scarce
resources. With reference to hill towns
she specifically remarked that majority
of our towns in hill areas are growing
on slopes, leading to sever deforestation
and called for sustainable development.
The Workshop on ‘Climate Change and Town Planning’ is in the progress on the occassion of
the Environment Day 2010.
Climate change is the cumulative effect
of human activities, responsible for
creating heat islands and invited the
planners community to plan for climate
resilient cities, which has less effects
on our environment which can be
achieved through mitigation and
adoption measures. While highlighting
these facts, she was also of the opinion
that strategies can not be limited to
urban areas but need to be extended
to region and rural areas as well.
Spatial planning can play a major role
while responding to climate change through the instruments of (i) Land use
planning ensuring efficient and balanced
use of resources; (ii) planning compact
cities; and (iii) reducing green house
gas emissions by proper sitting and
design; and transportation.
After presentation by Prof. Dhote, the
senior professional like Shri S. C. Gupta,
Addl. Commissioner (Retired), DDA;
Prof. Asesh Moitra, Director (Retired)
SPA, New Delhi; Shri B.C. Dutta , Chief
Regional Planner (Retired), NCR
Planning Board, New Delhi; Shri
H.R.Suri, Past President, ITPI; and Shri
P.S.Uttarwar, Shri R.Srinivas also made
their view points on the various issues
like scarcity of water, heat generation,
reduction in green house gases, rising
sea level, incidence of slums and
environmental improvement of slums,
etc.
Shri D.S.Meshram, President ITPI, in his
presidential remarks stated that
planners while responding to climate
change, needs to plan climate resilient
cities which consumes less water ,
powers and other natural resources
and create less air, water and noise
pollution. On the issue of migration and
expansion of urban areas, specifically
metro-cities, Shri Meshram stated that,
in the democratic country it is not
possible to stop the migration,
therefore, planners needs to cater to the projected population during the plan
period. Quoting the example of Delhi
he stated that by 2001, the population
of Delhi was 1.32 crore, while MPD 2021
has been prepared for 2.30 crore
population. To house such a human
mass, the expansion of town is
essential. However, efforts needs to
be made to plan climate resilient cities.
On the issue of water scarcity, he
quoted that as per WHO report the
population of the world tripled in 20th Century while the demand for water
grew to six times. Yet another issue he
lamented was of environmental
improvement of urban slums, where
poor people live. Shri Meshram stated
that poor people not only live in slums
but also live in other areas of towns
and cities. Poor people migrate from
rural areas in search of employment to
urban areas and settle there, even
though the environmental conditions are
not better than the areas they come
from. Therefore, it is not that cities and
towns make them poor. And, therefore,
planners need to be proactive so that
slums are not created, through
appropriate interventions; instead of
waiting for slums to erupt and then
initiate the program of environmental
improvement of slums.
The inaugural address was given by Shri
Sirish Khodankar , Chairman, DRC, New
Delhi and the subject was introduced
by Shri Paresh Duria, Secretary DRC and
vote of thanks were extended by Shri
Chandu Bhutia, Treasurer of DRC. On
this occasion Jakaranda sapling was
also planted by Shri Meshram, President
ITPI.
WEST ZONE CONFERENCE ON ‘GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE CITIES’
The Institute of Town Planners, India
organized the West Zone conference on
‘Green and Sustainable Future Cities’
on 3rd April 2010 at Sports Club
Ahmedabad. While inaugurating the
Conference Shri Nitinbhai Patel, Hon’ble
Minister for Urban Development
Department, was happy to note that
the ITPI organized the West Zone
Conference at Ahmedabad, on the
important theme of ‘Green and
Sustainable Future Cities’, coinciding
with fifty years celebration of ‘Swarnim
Gujarat’. Tracing the history Shri
Nitinbhai stated that earlier resources
were limited and therefore we had to
dependent on natural resources, while
in the present day context innovative
ideas, latest technologies and innovative
plan implementation techniques have
become available. He pointed out that
these opportunities need to be
harnessed for the benefit of majority of
the population. Quoting the example
of internet and computer facilities, he
mentioned that even day to day needs
and requirements can be made available
without actually visiting shops. At the same time he also cautioned that the
natural resources like water and land
are limited and even through the
application of latest innovations and
technologies it may not be possible to
increase the supply of these natural
resources. Therefore, natural resources
are required to be used judiciously so
that these scare resources could be
passed on to the future generations.
| IN THIS ISSUE |
| West Zone Conference |
1 |
| International Conferences and
Workshops |
3 |
| National Seminars and Workshops |
4 |
| World Expo 2010 |
5 |
| Regional Chapters Activities |
5 |
| News from Planning Education Institutes |
6 |
| Know Your Former Presidents |
8 |
As the supply of land is limited, the
planners’ community needs to take into
consideration that land is required to
be used optimally for urban
development. We have to be mindful
that land is also available for forests
and agriculture purposes.
On the issue of water, Hon’ble Minister
stated that water from Sardar Sarovar
could be beneficially used not only for
agricultural purposes but also for
greening our cities and towns. If water
is available in Sabarmati River Front
Development Area it would even reduce
the temperature giving relief to the
citizens of Ahmedabad during summer season. He also desired that the
planners’ community to disseminate
information on green house effects
among the masses and make them
aware about environmental
considerations. He also underscored
that in the developed countries there
is no shortage of resources specifically
with reference to land. However, in
India, land is not in plenty and
population overwhelms. Therefore, we
have to develop indigenous models
instead of adopting western models. He
once again congratulated the ITPI for
selecting Ahmedabad as the venue for
the West Zone Conference.
Shri Nitinbhai Patel, Hon’ble Minister for Urban Development Department, Government of
Gujarat, lighting the Inaugural Lamp. Present on the dias (on his right) are Shri D.S. Meshram,
President, ITPI; N.K. Patel, Council Member ITPI; and (on his left) Shri N.V. Patel, Chairman,
Vadodra Urban Development Authority; Shri K.M. Panchal, Chief Town Planner, Government
of Gujarat; and Shri P.K. Ghosh, former Vice-Chairman, DDA
Shri Ashokbhai Bhavsar, Chairman,
Gandhi Nagar Urban Development
Authority gave a brief account of actions
initiated by GUDA towards green city
development and efforts being made by
GUDA, including mandatory provisions
of solar energy application in public
buildings. He also elaborated on the
issue of global warming and was of the
opinion that town planners have a vital
role to play through the instrument of
master plans / development plans to
address the issue of global warming.
Shri N.V. Patel, Chairman, Vadodra
Urban Development Authority stated
that the magnitude of challenges of our
country are very vast. India being the
second most populous country i.e. three
times more population than USA,
therefore, we cannot adopt the models
of western countries. He also
highlighted another issue of planning of
integrated train and bus services and
also of dedicated corridors for service
trenches. He was also of the opinion
that due to scarcity of land, it is
pertinent to opt for vertical growth. He
also advised to grow more and more
trees in the cities.
Shri Surendra Kaka, Member of
Parliament and former Chairman,
Ahmedabad Urban Development
Authority, also addressed the
Conference and shed light on the
development of Ring Road through public and private partnership. He
emphatically pleaded that preparation
of Development Plan is important but
its’ implementation is even more
important. He commended efforts of
Government of Gujarat towards
achieving urban development through
the instrument of Town Planning
Schemes and added that over 100 such
schemes are in various stages of
implementation. Yet another landmark
decision of Government of Gujarat is to
amend the Gujarat Town Planning Act.
Shri D.S. Meshram in his Presidential
Address focused on the theme of ‘green
city’ and noted that it is not only limited
to garden cities for providing green belt
around the city but encompasses much
larger issues including designing of
green buildings, creating sustainable
energy production and consumption
systems to avoid heat islands, etc.
While sustainability aspect foresees
conservation of resources for next
generations to come, and therefore it
is essential to use natural resources
such as land, water and air more
judiciously.
On the issue of global warming he
highlighted the aspect of excessive heat
generation due to human activities for
production and consumption of power,
forgetting its side effects i.e.
contribution in global warming. To
emphasis his view point he quoted the
example of bearing capacity of a town.
In this reference he lamented that there
is one school of though which belives
that bearing capacity can be increased
through certain measures for example
if water is one of the aspect then supply
can be accelerated, but the question
arises at what cost? Similarly it holds
good for power and other resources.
Coming back to the theme of conference
i.e. green and sustainable future cities,
Shri Meshram raised the question,
whether it is possible to plan future
cities which consume less water, less
power; consume less natural and
manmade resources, less land, etc. In
this direction he pointed out that
planners and other professionals should
explore the possibility of finding the
middle ground between ‘bottom up’ and
‘top down’ planning processes. These
concepts could be adopted for the
development of our towns and cities.
During the technical sessions Shri P.K.
Ghosh, former Vice-Chairman, DDA
presented his views on revitalization of
older cities along with future cities and
underlined the issue of urban to urban
migration of white collar people. Yet
another aspect he highlighted was that
of more spending on travel out of hard
earned money by the EWS due to spread
of towns. He desired that the planners
need to think in terms of high rise
buildings because these will reduce the
costs of transportation and time as
well. On the issue of future cities he
asked whether 4 BHK is the answer for
compact city. While summing up his
presentation he noted that ‘If we desire
to save green spaces in the cities then
we have to earmark planned areas for
slum and squatter dwellers’.
Prof. Shishir Rawal, former Professor of
North Carolina State University, USA
raised the basic issues like: Are we
willing to live as simple as trees? Are
we working for planet or towards self
interest? When planet is ready to have
a pact with us, why we are neglecting
the planet? He also lamented the aspect
of vertical transportation in high rise
buildings which generate more heat
than horizontal spread.
Dr. Jana Dreikhauser, Urban Designer
from Auroville was of the opinion that
high tech is more costly in terms of
maintenance and disposal. She also
advocated adopting sustainable city
designs. She also said that planners
have significant role to play in changing
our living environments to meet the
challenges of 21st century.
Shri Jagdev Nansey, Planner, focused on
measures to protect and conserve
urban trees to increase the urban tree
cover while Prof. Shivanand Swamy, Associate Director, CEPT University
made presentation on Bus Rapid Transit
System in general and Ahmedabad
BRTS in particular.
Welcome address was given by Shri
N.K. Patel and vote of thanks were extended by Shri K.M. Panchal, Chief
Town Planner, Gujarat who also
requested the ITPI Council to accept
the request of GRC for hosting the 59th
Town and Country Planners’ Congress
in January 2011 at Ahmedabad.
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