Hill areas remain different, distinct and unique in its physical structure; economic resources and social fabric . Hill areas also remain unique by virtue of of its morphology, heritage and culture. It remains highly susceptible/prone to human interventions. Accordingly, issues related to architecture, built & manmade environment, ecology, land, resources, heritage, culture and management are critical for any hill areas . Development strategies put in place for hill area to overcome the challenges facing these areas must focus on and leverage sound land use practices for creating sustainable built environment, development of alternate sources of energy, conservation of heritage, planned development of tourism related activities, rational settlement system, optimum utilization and development of resources etc. The basic approach to hill area development must be based on the adopting Regional Approach to planning; using principle of development without destruction and design with nature, culture , local environment/ecology, with efforts made to eliminate any damage to the fragile hill eco-system and natural resources.
1. 1
PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF HILL AREAS-ISSUES AND
OPTIONS
*J.K. GUPTA
Hills, as the natural bio-sphere reserves have critical role in promoting national
growth and development. Despite rich in natural resources, hill area have remained
on lower order of development. Stockholm Conference on Human Environment in
1972, has tried to a create awareness among nation’s policy planners, about the
deteriorating environmental quality in hill areas and its adverse impact on growth and
development . Despite richness in natural resources, industrial development in the hill
areas has been of lower order and whatever industrial development taken place has
remained confined only to few pockets and that too mostly on the borders of the
adjoining states, leading to wide spatial and economic imbalances. However, after
making available industrial growth incentives, offered by the Government of India
under the policy framework, to rationalize economic development has led to
growth/shifting of large number of industries to the hill areas adjoining to state
boundary. These industries have come up in a haphazard and unplanned manner
which has adversely impacted the environment and ecology of the state. Large
number of polluting industries have also created havoc with the local/state ecology,
polluting the environment in this process Pattern of industrial growth accordingly
needs to be critically looked into.Uncontrolled tourism has done irreparable damage
to the hill area’s valuable resources with far reaching long terms development
implications. In the absence of proper planning and developmental framework,
tourism related development has been found to be both haphazard and sub-
standard. Current practices have made the state highly vulnerable to natural and
manmade disasters putting the life and property to enormous risk. With state
population of 6.9 million in 2011, urbanization placed at 10.04 %, around half of
population of the state concentrated in 3 districts (out of 12) namely Kangra, Mandi
and Shimla. All the 12 districts of the Himachal Pradesh have annual growth below
1.63% with 1.44 lakh people housed in Shimla, the state capital. As per projections
made, state is likely to have total population of 83.93 lakh in 2021 with level of
urbanization projected to be 12.48 (2021) and urban population standing at 10.45
lakhs.
Development without Destruction
Issues related to architecture, built & manmade environment, ecology, land,
resources, heritage, culture and management are critical for any hill areas and as
such all development strategies must focus on sound land use practices, creating
sustainable built environment, development of alternate sources of energy,
conservation of heritage, planned development of tourism related activities, rational
settlement system, optimum utilization and development of resources etc. The basic
approach to hill area development must be based on the principle of development
without destruction and design with nature with efforts made to arrest further damage
to the fragile eco-system.
European and Swiss Models
2. 2
Two successful models of hill area development are presently available in the world
which include;
(i) European Model and
(ii) Japanese Model.
European countries have tackled the problems of hill areas development by
adopting sound practices of land use planning with the help of land tenure system,
development of hydro-electric power as a major source of alternate energy ,
preventing destruction of forest cover and adopting development of planned and
dispersed tourism. All these factors have been integrated to achieve the objective of
conservation and development. In Japanese model, hills have been made areas of
very low density with only 2% population made to occupy 75% of land areas whereas
balance 98% population have been settled in 25% of land area. Hill areas have
largely been used for conservation of resources, forestry, generating hydro-electric
power, promoting tourism whereas plain areas have been used for housing large
scale economic activities including industry, trade, commerce and housing despite
adverse impact of acute congestion and pollution. Both these models have their own
relevance, advantages, limitations, importance and contexts and can be adopted with
suitable modifications to suite the needs of physical and socio-economic conditions
prevailing in the state of Himachal Pradesh.
Regional Approach
Adoption of a Regional approach would be critical in ensuring conservation,
preservation and development of hill areas without much damage to ecology and
environment. Accordingly indicators like altitude, slope, existing, vegetation, soil
types and average rain fall could be used to classify state into areas ranging from
extremely sensitive, very high sensitive, highly sensitive, medium sensitive and low
sensitive zones with preservation becoming hallmark of strategy for areas of high
sensitivity and development getting concentrated in zones of medium and low
sensitivity. All ecologically degraded areas which have become derelict over a period
of time should become priority area for restoration, reclamation and development
activities. Adoption of Regional approach will also help in integrated development of
urban and rural areas in a mutually supportive manner by minimizing friction in urban
and rural settlements.
Eco-Tourism
Promoting tourism should become the priority area Tourism supportive polices should
be developed by involving local community converging to the economic,
environmental and social development of state and communities. Policy framework
should clearly identify conflicts between use of resources for tourism and for the
livelihood of local inhabitants with attempts to minimize them. The type and scale of
tourism development to be permitted in any area should be commensurate with the
environment and socio-cultural characteristics of the local community. Tourism
should be planned as an integral part of overall area development strategy guided by
an integrated land use plan. In nutshell all tourism related issues must be addressed
squarely within the framework of Eco-Tourism policy and guidelines, 1997 evolved by
the Department of Tourism, Government of India.
3. 3
Heritage Preserevation
Heritage Preservation should be adequately addressed in all hill areas development.
Any strategy which does not include heritage preservation, would be self-defeating
and become counter productive in the longer run. All hill states must put in place
appropriate planning framework, development guidelines and heritage related
regulations to identity the valuable heritage in the state along with strategies for their
conservation preservation and integration with the existing and proposed
development. Concept of heritage areas, heritage zones and heritage cities/towns
should also be put in place to protect the ecology and environment in heritage rich
areas. Adequate incentives need to be built in, to encourage people in preserving
valuable heritage with stringent measures put in place to discourage destruction of
such areas. Development controls for these areas should be sensitively designed so
that no new construction changes the basic character of the area.
Building Design
Considering energy as the major driver of economic growth and physical
development, issues related to energy consumption, energy conservation and
promoting non-conventional and alternate sources of energy have assumed global
concern. With rapid urbanization and growth of population, more buildings would be
required to be constructed to meet the increasing demand of shelter, trade &
commerce, industries, entertainment, institutions, healthcare, education etc.. India is
projected to create annual built up area to the tune of 700-900 million sqm on annual
basis, to meet its increased demand of built up area in urban centres. Accordingly,
level of energy consumption is likely to rise on a compounded pattern. Looking at the
high degree of energy consumption by the built environment, there are enough
options available to bring down consumption level. Research to make buildings
more energy efficient is already underway with future concepts revolving around not
only making the buildings as ‘ Zero Energy Buildings” but creating buildings which are
‘Energy Positive’ so as to minimize energy and carbon footprints of buildings.
For reducing energy requirements, it will be critical to use innovative building designs
solutions. Designing with nature remains the best option to make buildings more
sustainable and least consumers of energy. In search of the best solutions, options
available in hill area should revolve round sourcing sun as major source of light and
heat for meeting the energy requirements of buildings besides using the bio-mass.
Accordingly, only southern, eastern and western slopes in hill area should be
permitted to be used for construction of buildings so that maximum use of solar
energy is made to meet the major portion of energy requirements of the buildings.
Construction of buildings on the Northern slope should not be permitted. Buildings
must be built with minimum footprints in order to cause minimum disturbance to the
site. Existing flora and fauna must be preserved and all existing trees must be
declared as protected trees. Water sources available must be preserved and
conserved to optimize water resources. Walls and roof should be appropriately used
for heat gain and their retention in the building in order to keep the temperature at
most optimum level. In addition, creating solariums, air locking systems and use of
double glazed windows with proper sealing should be used to bring in sun light and
prevent loss of heat. Infact walls and roofs are the critical elements in buildings which
need to be insulated in order to prevent heat loss. Insulation of north wall would be
critical to minimize heat loss in the buildings. Use of solar chimneys and cavity walls
4. 4
are other options which can be used for promoting heat gain and minimizing heat
loss in the buildings. Locally available building materials and building technologies
would require up-gradation in order to achieve the desired objectives of energy
efficiency and safety in buildings. Construction of Dhajji walls needs to be studied in
detail and made more refined to promote safety. Use of low energy light fixtures and
water efficient fittings should be made mandatory to reduce the energy/water
consumption. Appropriate building bye-laws would be required to be framed in order
to promote building designs which are least consumers of energy/water and creator
of green buildings. Similarly all old buildings should be brought under retrofitting in
order to reduce their energy/water consumption and make them more sustainable.
Government buildings must be taken on priority to make them highly energy/water
efficient. Accordingly, in search of appropriate solutions and strategies for promoting
energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings, multi-pronged strategy involving
using site planning, study of macro and micro climatic conditions, building form, area
and volume ratio, landscaping, roof typologies, orientation, space efficiency, cavity
walls, solar chimneys etc. would be required to be put in operation.
Promoting Planned Development
Looking at the entire gamut of development ,state of Himachal Pradesh should go for
planned development based on principle of sustainability .State government must
put in position a strong machinery for evolving and implementing planning and
designing framework. This would require well equipped and state of art Architecture
and Town Planning units, duly supported by qualified manpower and resources, at
the state and local level to evolve appropriate strategies and operational framework,
to make state a role model of planned development. The synergies between
Architecture and Town Planning departments must be explored by the state in order
to make cities beautiful, sustainable,livable and providers of assured quality of life.
Author:
*Ar. Jit Kumar Gupta
#344, Sec. 40-A,
Chandigarh- 160036
Email : jit.kumar1944@gmail.com
