Paper make an attempt to understand the planning related issues and options for the mega cities with focus on capital City of Lahorein Pakistan, its growth and development post 1947 and the options which can be leveataged to make the city sustainable and livable. Paper looks at the good practices used in the planning of capital city of Chandigarh and also at the option of decentralising these cities. Look at the size, economic role and its criticality in the development of the state/region, --suggestion has been made to plan and devlop these mega cities in the regional/ national context.so as to enable them to play their designated role. However, these cities need to be made resilient to make them withstand any manmade/natural disasters. These cities despite their criticality and importance remain diffficult to manage and govern.

1. RE- INVENTING AND RE-DEFINING URBAN PLANNING FOR
PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE MEGACITIES
* Jit Kumar Gupta
1 Introduction
1.0 Cities have been integral part of human history and most complex creation of mankind. They have
existed in the past and shall continue to exist, define, script and showcase the unending story of
human growth and development. They are like a journey that never ends. They are the past, the
present and the future Their evolution, ascent and glory is largely determined by three major
developments, which have their genesis in growth in size, number and spread of human
settlements; increase in the proportion of population that lives in urban centres and transformation
of the society based on large proportion of population making urban centres as place of residence
besides following a pattern of life which has its origin and character in urban environment.
Combination of these three major developments has created a system which is both powerful,
deep seated and self- reinforcing. It has rapidly changed the spatial organization and economy,
which has impacted both local and global environment.
1.1 Cities as economic and social system in
space, involving large concentration of
population; concentration of Industry;
principle centers of economy and polity;
large consumer market and highly trained
workforce, represent most viable and
suitable places with significant, social and
economic achievements. As engines of
economic growth, cities are known to contribute disproportionately to economy and social
transportation by providing economy of scale and proximity that allows industry and commerce to
flourish. They are also known to be major providers of employment and centers of excellence and
innovations. They also offer optimum location for services and facilities, which require large
population threshold and markets for its operational efficiency. Despite housing large population
at higher densities, cities are known to offer opportunities and quality of life better than its rural
counterparts.
1.2 Looking at the Indian context urbanization is, primarily and essentially, characterized by its
massiveness, population, poverty and pollution besides duality and contradictions. Despite the
fact that level of urbanization merely stood at 31.11% in 2011, number of urban dwellers were
placed at 377 million. For the first time in the demographic history, Urban India added more
population (91 million) as compared to Rural India (90 million) during the last decade (2001-11),
putting India on the fast trajectory of urbanization. Considering the massive differential between
urban and rural growth rate (2.1% against 0.7%), number of urban dwellers will share parity with

2. rural population by 2050. Next four decades are
likely to witness enormous growth in terms of
numbers of urban centers, their size and
population. It is estimated that by 2050, number
of Metro Cities will go beyond 100 and ten
million plus cities will number 8 with Mumbai,
Delhi and Kolkata occupying distinct places and
rating among the largest urban centres at the
global level. In the given context, urban centers
are likely to emerge as major settlements, housing large proportion of Indian population. Urban
India besides housing large population concentrated in a limited area, will also make sizeable
contribution to the national and global economy.
1.3 ‘Report on Indian Infrastructure and Services, March 2011 (MOUD)’ states that:
‘ Estimates by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), available for a few years, indicate that share of urban areas
to GDP increased from 37.7 per cent in 1970-71 to 52 per cent in 1999-2000.The Mid-Term Appraisal of the Eleventh
Five Year Plan puts the urban share of GDP at 62-63 per cent in 2009-10. The document further projects this share to
increase to 75 per cent in 2030. In the coming decades, the urban sector will play critical role in the structural
transformation of the Indian economy and in sustaining the high rates of economic growth.
1.4 McKinsey Global Report-April,2010 titled ‘India Urban Awakening :Building Inclusive Cities’-
projects the Urban scenario of India by 2030 in terms of :
 590 million Indians would be living in Urban India- twice the present US population
 70% of India’s GDP will be generated by cities
 80% Revenue contributed by cities
 Urban India ensuring 4 fold increase in per capita income
 5 times the number by which GDP would multiply
 Net increase in working age group in Urban India to be of the order of 270 million
 70% of new jobs (170 million) would be generated in cities
 91 million urban households joining the elite middle class(income ranging between 2-10 lakhs per
annum)-- up from 22 million
 68 Cities joining the select band of Metropolises-Europe has only 35 metropolises at present.
 $ 1.2T capital needed to meet projected demand of infrastructure and services in Urban India
 700-900 million square meters ofresidential/commercial space needed annually to meet the needs
of living, working, leisure, trade and commerce, industries, institutions etc- a new Chicago to be
created every year.
 2.5 billions Square meters ofroads to be paved --20 times the space created during last decade, to
meet the travel needs of Urban India.
 7400km (350-400 kms /year) of metro to be constructed, 20 times metros created in last decade, to
meet the mass transportation needs in urban areas.
 200 million Rural Indians living close to top 70 cities of the country would benefit from the
prosperity, employment and wealth generated by Urban India.
 75% of urban India living in bottom segment with earnings placed at Rs 80 per day.

3. 1.5 With high degree of positive correlation between urbanization and GDP, it can be safely
visualized that urban centers will be major drivers of Indian economy and story-writers of its future
growth and development. This calls for critically and objectively looking at the urban centres in terms
of their pattern of growth and development and evolving strategies which would make them
economically productive, operationally efficient, socially just and environmentally sustainable.
1.6 Despite showcasing distinct advantages cities contain both order and chaos. State of World Cities
in its overview and key findings rate cities, ‘as embodiment of both beauty and ugliness bringing
out the best or the worst in mankind. While cities drive national economy by creating wealth,
enhancing social development and providing employment but when not planned and governed
rationally, they can also be breeding grounds for poverty, exclusion and environmental
degradation. Globally, in majority of cases, urban centers have not been growing in a planned
and rational manner. Emerging urban scenario on Indian canvas is that of duality and
contradictions where large number of slums are over-shadowing the city growth; where slums and
state-of-the-art buildings are rubbing shoulders; where poverty and prosperity compete with one-
another; where unplanned development has emerged as the order of the day; where informal
sector govern the growth and development of cities and where basic amenities and services are
eluding the majority of urban residents. Majority
of urban centres continue to face problems of
acute housing shortage and rapid uncontrolled
growth resulting into haphazard expansion with
sub-standard infrastructure, adversely impacting
the quality of life of majority of urban residents.
The existing inadequacies have further resulted
into inefficient traffic and transportation besides
uncontrolled rapid growth and proliferation of
informal sector. Poverty and environment have
emerged as the major issues and greatest threat to the urban dynamism. In addition, urban
centres are fast emerging as large consumers of non-renewal resources and energy, adversely
impacting the sustainability, both at local and global level. They are also generating enormous
amount of waste which is grossly polluting water, air and land based necessities, essential for
human existence, growth, development and survival.
1.7 Looking at the entire context, Indian urbanization can
be called a urbanization of poverty, urbanization of
population and urbanization of pollution marked by
large concentration of people in a small area. Rapid
growth of urban poverty; inadequate and inefficient
state of service provision and delivery; unregulated
expansion and large scale pollution, have emerged

4. as some of the major concerns of urban growth and development. The present state of affairs of
urban sector can be largely attributed to the way urban centers are being planned, developed,
managed and governed. In the Indian context, urban planning and governance are conspicuously
ineffective and resultantly inefficient. Poor urban governance has at its roots in the poor urban
planning. Urban planning which is considered as the key to overcome majority of the urban
problems is, by and large, absent in the majority of urban settlements. Most of the urban centers
are being planned and developed by proxy. Therefore, in order to leverage the inherent potential
of urban centres, it becomes critical that urban centres are effectively and efficiently governed
through a well defined and innovative system of planning and development. Effective, efficient
and people centric urban governance can be put on professional pedestal only through the
mechanism of planned development. In this context, role of physical planners, architects and
planning, architectural professions assume critical importance to usher an era of high quality of
urban planning, growth and governance.
2 GOOD GOVERNANCE AND URBAN PLANNING
2.1 Urban Governance as an issue, as an
option and as a strategy to leverage the
inherent potential of urban centres has
been well recognized and has assumed
critical importance in the context of ever
growing role and importance of urban
centers in the overall economic growth,
employment generation and contribution
such centres make to the national/state
wealth. Accordingly, good urban governance ranks high on the agenda of all welfare
governments. With urban centers growing larger and larger, urban governance becomes critical
because of the impact it has on the life and liberty of innumerable urban dwellers. With cities
becoming centers for large investment, concentration of population and providers of specialized
services and amenities, their effective and efficient functioning assumes added importance.
2.2 With India following a policy of economic liberalization, globalization and deregulation, urban
centres in general and large urban centers in particular are attracting lot of investment. Urban
centers are fast emerging as the hub around which entire Indian economy and polity gravitates.
Accordingly, it would be essential that appropriate and supportive environment is created in these
centers to attract investment, promote national economy and wealth, provide employment,
eradicate poverty and ensure appropriate quality of life to make them more productive and
sustainable. If urban centres have been termed as engines of economic growth, urban
governance can rightly be called wheels of such engines. Effective urban governance helps in
removing spatial disparities by promoting convergence, minimizing division in society among rich
and poor, reducing environmental costs by minimizing dependence on the conventional sources

5. of energy and protecting intangible assets involving cultural heritage etc .Urban governance,
accordingly, becomes more relevant and critical, because capacity of a nation to pursue its goals
of economic, physical and social growth is contingent upon its capacity to govern its towns and
cities effectively and efficiently.
2.3URBAN PLANNING
2.31 Urban settlements are vital because they
define the agenda for human living and
working. Accordingly, the overall objective and
focus of urban planning and governance is to
improve social, economic and environmental
quality of urban settlements and the living and
working environment of all people, particularly
of the urban poor. Based on this premise in
1996, the Habitat Agenda identified, adequate
shelter for all and sustainable human
settlements as the international priorities.
Subsequently, UN General Assembly in its special session and World Summit on Sustainable
Development in 2002, stressed the need for, promoting more sustainable urbanization through better
urban planning and governance. Considering that urban planning is both central and critical to
promote better governance of urban settlements, proactive role and importance of urban planning is
accordingly stressed. Urban Planning has the capacity and capability of promoting sustainability and
leveraging planned and rational growth besides making connections between people, economic
opportunities and the environment. It also has the potential to reduce poverty and promote quality of
life for all the urban dwellers through the generation of social and economic opportunities. Urban
planning has enormous potential and capacity to usher an era of rational growth and planned
development, provide space and platform for affordable living and ensure basic services and
amenities and quality of life in urban centers to even poorest of the poor to lead a dignified life.
2.3.2 Looking at the existing scenario of ever increasing and all pervasive poverty; growth of slums on
a scale never known before; high degree of traffic congestion and obsolescence prevailing in
urban settlements; acute shortage of basic amenities and services existing in the towns and
cities, haphazard and unplanned development emerging as the accepted pattern of growth, a new
regime of urban planning emerges as the basic necessity to improve the developmental
framework of urban centers. Urban Planning has been found to have considerable effectiveness
and impact in leveraging smart, inclusive and harmonious cities through:
i) Reducing new slums formation through selective slum up- gradation and ensuring
adequate supply of land for development of affordable shelters in safe and accessible
locations. Promoting pro-poor and inclusive urban development besides creating

6. institutional innovations; policy reforms and institutional strengthening; effective policy
formulation , implementation , monitoring and evaluation are few drivers to reduce slums.
ii) Reducing vulnerability to natural disasters through carefully siting and planning urban
settlements and designing them as energy efficient and green settlements by addressing
key issues of climate change.
iii) Creating Environment friendly cities through adopting a new regime of transportation
based on least priority for personalized mode of transport, using more efficient and
economical city forms, making cities more compact and humane, creating sustainable
built environment besides putting in place legal and governmental systems which are
promoters of state of art planning and development besides good governance.
iv) Building sustainable economic growth based an adopting livelihood focus in the urban
planning, helping in the process reducing urban poverty and rural-urban migration by
creating appropriate level of gainful employment opportunities. Re-planning declining
cities and derelict areas and reusing/ recycling urban land leading to sustainable
economic growth and better cityscape and quality of life.
v) Creating safer and crime-free cities by adopting planning based on inclusiveness and
partnership and providing a comprehensive framework for different interest groups to
work together for a common purpose. Planned reconstruction and a governance
approach used in the post- conflict reconstruction in strife-torn cities , have been found to
be highly effective to create and promote sustainable communities.
vi) Enhancing quality of life in human settlements by addressing human, social, cultural,
environmental and natural aspects of settlements and infrastructure through the
mechanism of urban planning, recognizing that poverty remains central to planning of
urban settlements.
vii) Generating Resources by leveraging the inherent potential and capacity of urban
centers to generate resources for development of basic infrastructure and services and
providing amenities which are critical to human sustenance, quality living and rational
growth. Planned development has capacity to usher a new era in the regime of
generating fiscal resources through the mechanism of using land as a resource, levying
development charges both internal and external, land use conversion charges, granting
development rights, trading floor area ratio, transfer of development rights,
accommodation reservation, granting air space/advertisement rights etc.
viii) Creating land bank in urban centers through the mechanism of framing land pooling and
distribution schemes by involving land owners as co-partners in the planning and
development process. Town Planning Scheme in states of Gujarat and Maharashtra can
be taken as role-models for promoting planned development and creating land banks for
providing housing for the poor and laying down road network beside creating open
spaces and institutional sites and generating resources for physical, social, hard and soft
infrastructures.

7. 3 RE-INVENTING PLANNING
3.1 Promoting planned development and
involving Town Planners and Architects
have amply demonstrated that good urban
planning and designing can lead to good
urbanism and usher a new era of quality
living, better community life and good
governance. Areas developed under
mechanism of planned development have
clearly shown that they offer better quality of life and environment as compared to un- planned
parcels. Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, New Delhi etc are few examples of planned development
which have amply demonstrated the effectiveness of urban planning. Master Plans and
Development Plans prepared for various cities have considerably redefined the destiny of existing
towns and cities and have put them on the path of rational growth and development. Innovative
Building Bye-laws and Zoning Regulations/Development Control Regulations have also helped in
promoting rational use of land and enabled construction of buildings which meet the basic
requirement of quality living besides ensuring air, light and ventilation within the buildings.
However, despite numerous efforts made, inherent, potential/strength and genesis of art and
science of planned development has not been fully appreciated and put in operation in leveraging
the rational growth and development of urban centers. Most of the sufferings, maladies and poor
quality of life prevailing in Indian cities have their roots and genesis in the gross neglect of urban
planning. No city can ensure assured quality of life unless it is backed and supported by a
comprehensive, integrated, effective and efficient mechanism of urban planning.
3.2 However, in order to make urban planning supportive and promoter of harmonious and
sustainable cities, we have to look for new, innovative and better options and put in place a new
planning regime in operation. It needs to be appreciated that present form and pattern of physical
planning and town planning will not be able to meet effectively challenges of 21st century defined
by rapid and massive urbanization of population; urbanization of poverty; urbanization of pollution
and natural manmade disasters. Planners need to revisit their planning tools, planning processes
and planning options/ strategies in the changed context. They need to be made more focused,
innovative, effective and efficient in order to meet the emerging urban dynamism and
challenges.
3.3 Master Plans /Development Plans have been extensively used by urban planners to usher an
era of planned development and redefine future growth pattern of the cities. But in practice, these
plans have emerged as the major roadblocks in the planned growth and development of the
cities. Master Plans have been known to be rigid, consumers of enormous time and resources,
based purely on land use, addressing merely physical issues, difficult to interpret etc. In the
process, Master Plans have put the planning process on the backfoot with planning chasing the

8. city growth and development. With
considerable time taken for
preparation, approvals and following
detailed and cumbersome procedural /
legal requirements, cities continue to
grow in the absence of the planning
framework in an illegal manner, with
the result majority of Master Plan
proposals become obsolete, outdated
and accordingly non-implementable.
Rigidly defined Land Use and
Development Control Regulations often fall under public criticism, resulting in more violations than
compliance. Agencies involved in planning are invariably far removed from ground realities, cities
and citizens, leading to formation of non-realistic proposals. Agencies involved in implementation
lack technical and financial resources for effective implementation. The existing administrative
and financial capacity and dichotomy in planning has led to non-implementation of Master Plans.
This calls for re-looking at the intent, content and scope of Master plans which need to be
redefined for bringing in more flexibility; making them less consumers of time and manpower in
their preparation; imparting required level of dynamism to meet the emerging needs of the cities
and making cities user friendly and promoters ,rather than controller, of development. Master
plans, for their formulation, should focus on conservation of energy as the basis for making cities
and their operation, energy efficient. Plan should make city more compact to reduce travel
demand, promote urban sustainability, reduce carbon footprints and reduce global warming.
Master Plans should redefine and re-order the transportation options with priority going to
Pedestrianization, Cycling and Mass transportation in this order with least preference for
individual vehicles. Evidence has shown that compact and well-regulated cities with
environmental friendly public transport systems have a positive environmental impact. Mechanism
of preparing Master Plans should promote local ownership by making informal sector integral part
of city planning and development process for its effective implementation. This would call for a
new regime and order of planning to be put in place for preparing better Master Plans, by
involving all the stakeholders, in a transparent and objective manner to ensure better quality of
planned development of cities.
3.4 Scope, intent and content of Legal framework guiding the planning profession and practice also
needs to be, critically and objectively, relooked into in order to make it supportive of the new
planning goals and better urban governance. Legal frameworks needs to be simplified and
redefined to provide numerous options to planners to bring flexibility into the planning and
development mechanism, minimize the time frame for plan preparation, plan approvals and plan
implementation. Multiplicity of planning laws needs to be avoided with unified and comprehensive
legal framework put in place. Multiplicity of agencies, created to regulate planning, growth and

9. development of urban centers, also need to be avoided and rationalized in the legal framework.
Building bye-laws need to be reframed in order to make them promoters and supportive of quality
development. Existing laws have done more damage than good and have emerged as major
roadblocks in the promoting construction of state of art, energy efficient and sustainable cities/
buildings. These laws accordingly require critical review and rationalization along with Building
bye-laws which need to be simplified and made user-friendly and promoters of better quality and
safer built environment.
3.5 Framework of Planning and Architectural education also needs to be relooked, in terms of its
contents, intent and syllabi with its contours redefined to make it supportive of new regime of
planning and designing practices and profession. New subjects need to be put in place in order to
meet emerging challenges of urbanization. Education should be able to contribute in producing
better Architects and Town Planners with capacity of understanding and appreciating ground
realities and emerging challenges and should be capable enough to put in place innovative
strategies and options which would promote state of art planning and development of cities .
New breed of Architects and Planners should be able to underline and understand the needs,
aspirations and requirements of urban settlements and people living therein, and address them
appropriately and effectively. They should also be able to quantify the emerging
challenges/threats to urban centers and evolve policy options for meeting those
challenges/threats effectively. In addition, they should be able to redefine an agenda of futuristic
vision and development for the urban settlements. Urban governance should be made integral
part of the planning education in order to enable the planners and architects appreciate and
understand the genesis of planning and governance besides their inter-relationship and
integration
3.6 For urban planning to be more effective and efficient, it will be important that local planning
functions must be devolved at the local level. In addition, it will be important that well
resourced planning organizations are created at the metropolitan and municipal levels to
promote state of art planned development. The agencies created must be fully equipped to
innovate with latest planning options, technologies and models in order to answer any challenge
posed by fast changing urban world. Effective co-ordination and collaboration between national,
provincial and local authorities can help in achieving harmonious regional and urban
development, provided they share a common vision and demonstrate sufficient political will.
3.7 Research and development has been found to be totally missing in the field of urban planning
and designing, which has led to the decay of the planning/designing process and its getting
outdated within a short time span. Continued focused research and development will hold the
key to urban planning to innovate, evolve new models, frame appropriate strategies and options
in order to make urban planning effective, efficient and productive in the area of city planning and
city governance. All Planning and Development Authority must have R & D cells to undertake

10. the task of research and development. Dedicated and exclusive funds must be allocated for
research and development in the budget of such agencies which can be used by research
agencies or planning/architectural schools based on specific proposals/projects submitted. In
addition to creating efficient planning agencies and research cells, it will be critical to ensure tight
execution and putting in place an enforcement mechanism for effective implementation of the city
plans duly supported by a transparent system of exemptions and sufficient public participation.
3.8 Urban planning in India has largely suffered due to prevailing acute shortage of quality trained
planning professionals. In order to build large reservoir of qualified urban planners, it will be
desirable to create 6 to 8 world class planning institutes on the pattern of Indian Institutes of
Technologies (IITs) to train 3000 to 4000 planners annually. In addition, all existing
planning/architectural schools must be upgraded and strengthened, with dedicated allocation and
induction of additional resources on continued basis, to enable them to improve quality of the
planning profession and professionals. These schools should also be asked to run dedicated
short term courses on regular basis for the in-service professionals working in the state
governments/ urban local bodies, in order to make them aware of the latest innovations and best
practices being used in the field of urban planning, designing, development and management.
This would help in bridging the ever widening gap between demand and supply of trained
planners/architects in the country. For improving the quality of planning/architectural education, it
will be critical to grant autonomy to the institutions/ schools engaged in imparting planning
education from Engineering institutions. However, active co-operation and collaboration of
Planning, Architecture, Engineering, Law, Revenue and Management institutions would be
essential for promoting value addition to the planning education.
3.9 World Planners Congress, Vancouver, 2006
defined a new regime of urban planning as
the underlying mechanism for promoting
effective urban growth and development.
Position paper prepared for the Congress, calls
for putting in place a new urban planning
approach to be based on following ten major
principles:
i) Sustainability: Based on integrated, social, economic and environmental
considerations in human settlement planning taking into account impact of today’s
development on future generations.
ii) Integrated Planning: Involving economic, physical and environmental planning, set in
an institutional framework to deliver efficiency and effectiveness that support rather than
undercut each other.

11. Iii) Integration with Budget: Ensuring integration and providing appropriate linkages to
public and private budgetary processes for effective implementation and mobilization of
resources.
iv) Planning with Partners: Involving all stakeholders including government, private
sector, voluntary agencies and civil societies to foster voluntary collaboration. New urban
planning works on the premise that planning is less an instrument of government and
more a process of good governance; making city planning more participatory; making
planning accountable to public through public scrutiny; bringing objectivity and
inclusiveness in decision making; and making urban planning more rational, dynamic and
performance oriented.
v) Subsidiary: Through clearly defined rules of different parastatal agencies;
decentralization to enable local bodies to play the leading role; involving community
based organizations on matters that can be determined at local level and integration of
processes to create efficiency and effectiveness.
vi) Market Responsiveness: Through understanding of land related market demand
particularly of the poor; creating opportunities for private sector; anticipating impact and
reducing risks. Plans having credibility are bound to receive good market response and
succeed.
vii) Access to Land: By making land market more efficient, affordable and dynamic to
meet the needs of all sections through the creation of an equitable system of land
ownership and land management by recognizing the reality of existing slums and informal
settlements and their right for up-gradation and shelter.
Viii) Appropriable tools: Recognizing that rigid urban controls are not feasible/ desirable
in rapid urbanization. Controls must be made strategic, affordable, effective and sensitive
to meet the growing urban dynamism/ needs of the poor while conserving essential
ecological resources.
ix) Pro-poor and Inclusive: Through the recognition of rights to the city of poor, old,
children, women, homeless and the low-income group of people and changing from ‘area
based’ to ‘ area focus’ approach to protect and safeguard the interest of have-nots.
x) Cultural Variation: Through replacing uniformity imposed by existing Master Planning
Model by including cultural priorities and preferences; replacing outdated legal regimes;
and capacity building through skill development for professionals, community based
organizations and training of politicians
4 CONCLUSIONS
4.1 21st century has rightly been called the Century of the City, with urban settlements housing
more population than rural areas. With majority population living in urban areas, issue would be how
urban planners and policy makers would harmonize the various interests, diversities and

12. contradictions dotting the urban canvas. Cities are not just conglomerate of brick and mortar, they are
living entities symbolizing dreams, hopes and aspirations of society. For achieving and making them a
reality , cities have to be rationally planned and developed .Cities which are not properly planned
have proved to be burden on natural resources threatening quality of air and water besides adversely
impacting natural and living environment. Well-planned and well-regulated cities have proved their
worth in making urban centers more sustainable by reducing energy demand, optimizing land
utilization, enhancing quality of environment, reducing pressure on natural resources, harmonizing
physical, social, environmental and cultural aspects of city and human living. Thus urban planning
assumes critical role and importance in making cities dynamic, healthy, prosperous, livable,
sustainable, inclusive and harmonious.
4.2 Urban planning, being people centric, has its prime concern and focus on looking and promoting
the welfare of people, improving their social, physical, economical and environmental conditions
besides improving their quality of life. In addition, planning aims at creating supportive conditions
and environment which helps people to perform their basic functions of living, working, care of body
& spirit and circulation in the most effective and efficient manner. Looking critically and objectively at
the entire context, it can be fairly concluded that effective urban planning holds the key to the future
growth, development and prosperity of cities and nations. Promoting planned development, working
with all stakeholders in a co-operative/co-ordinated /collaborative manner, offers the best option of
leveraging economic, sustainable, rational and inclusive growth of urban centers and communities.
Lack of serious policies to manage planned development of Urban India will jeopardize urban growth
besides risking employment generation. In order to enable the urban planning to play its desired and
designated role, it will be critical that operational mechanism of urban planning is objectively looked
into and made more responsive to the urban dynamism. With urban centers holding the key, future
growth and development of the cities will be contingent largely upon the proficiency, efficacy and
efficiency of planning profession and professionals.
5.0 BIBLOGRAPHY
 Devas Nick and Rakody Carole (Ed) : Managing Fast Growing Cities.
 Gupta J K :Redefining Strategies for Leveraging Urban Infrastructure Development
 McKinsey Global Institute: India’s Urban Awakening: Building Inclusive Cities, Sustaining
Economic Growth -- April, 2010.
 Ministry of Urban Development ,Government of India: Report on Indian Urban Infrastructure
and Services --March, 2011
 Government of India :-Census of India 2011-
 IndianInstitute forHumanSettlements Report :,November, 2011,--Urban India 2011: Evidence,
 State of World Cities-2008-09:-Overview and Key Findings-U N Habitat
Author:
* Jit Kumar Gupta
Chief Town Planner,
Sahara Prime City Limited
# 344, Sector 40-A, Chandigarh-160036- India
E mail: jit.kumar 1944@ gmail.com