Urbanization-The Shadow Tree
In response to the discussions on UrbanisationThe stature of the country has been a major focus of the urbanisation. The country’s rapid development has raised major fingerprints on to the cities.
“Tree” – The branches of the urbanization like – urban infrastructure, affordable housing, transportation, funding and governance structure are the heart of the urban boom. The development of the sectors is always the primary concern that has been and has to be addressed.
“Shadow” – The source of development is obstructed by the externalities which in turn affects the growth of the cities.
“The Shadow Tree” – There is a need for higher attention given to these branches of urbanization to underline the externalities of the development.
The discussion of “How do we better our cities” highlights these concerns that are to be addressed and taken forward by the Big Head of the country (The Prime Minister.)
The bunch of suggestions talked about is –
- Strengthen the national urban renewal mission.
- Increase FSI.
- Permit Charter Cities.
- Cities agencies to raise own funds.
- Disclosure of city government decisions.
- Redevelop slums for low-cost housing.
- Divert public sector land via auctions.
- Eliminate prior approval to turn agricultural land into residential land.
- Eliminate stamp duty and automate registration for small apartments.
- Invest in urban transport.
- Strengthen the national urban renewal mission – The urban infrastructure of the country is the primary concern whereas the investments put into these sectors are identified to be insufficient. The provision of infrastructure is seen isolated, but raising the resources can also to some extent satisfy the need. It is predicted that the urban centers would double their population leading to the invitation of more and more infrastructure.
But I think, just with the transfer of funds to the cities and providing infrastructure does not ensure the functioning and ability to provide the resources and services to the need. There should be a linkage between how is it distributed to where is it distributed at what scale.
- Increase FSI – as said by Mrs.Shailaja Chandra, if we see the world average, the FSI is 10, whereas in India it is 4. The gap between the western countries and India is explained as difficulty in an adequate amount of water requirement. I agree with it, as this adjoins the lack of optimal use of resources and trying to extract the resources and supply to the existing scenario which cannot be reached in the later stages where there could be possible of a double population.
- Permit charter cities – This talk about the self-running body which guides the city to function seems to be interesting to think about but might face difficulties in reality. The political influence of the leaders might not meet the necessities of the establishment of the charter cities.
- Cities agencies to raise own funds – In relation to the urbanizing cities and charter cities the urban development, resource allocation and provision of infrastructure would need a major push to raise funds or rather provide incentives that would create straight competition between cities as said by Mr. Nayyar. I think this would work to some extent at least in a few emerging cities like – Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, and Chennai which are majorly IT-driven states which could initiate to raise their own funds.
- Disclosure of city government decisions – The transparency in the functions of the government can definitely create a lot of awareness among the citizens of India to understand what is actually going on in the political and governance structure. The nature of displaying the function through e-services is a smarter way to reach the people and get responses vice versa.
- Redevelop slums for low-cost housing – As said by Mr. Mohandas Pai, improving or rehabilitating the existing slums should not disturb the economic activities of the slum dwellers which might disturb the lifestyle of the dwellers. Along with it, it is also observed that shifting their housing to another place does not resolve the issue. For example in Hyderabad, The Rasoolpura slums have been shifted to nearby open spaces with low-cost housing under the Rajiv Gruha scheme. The dwellers refused to move as their economic base would be disturbed. This major issue has to be taken into consideration.
- Divert public sector land via auctions – Large chunk of land holdings are with the state government, cantonment and railways. This public land can be diverted to other land use purposes rather trying to extend the city limits. The release of these lands would help to provide few services within the city limits to enhance the structure of the city growth. Political parties should join together and cooperate to divest publicly the landholdings.
- Eliminate prior approval to turn agricultural land into residential land – The town planning mechanism of land pooling has actually provided with an opportunity to distribute the land holdings, whereas the conversion of agricultural land to residential land should be examined well. As India is the agricultural base country, the landholdings under agriculture play a prominent role. The conversion of land is not a small thing to just convert. The fertile land and wasteland considerations should also be observed.
- Eliminate stamp duty and automate registration for small apartments – Stamp duty is a tax levied that can be minimized or rather given differential taxation. As said by one of the audiences, the taxation should be raised and distributed based on the number of properties owned by a person and reduce to the people who do not own a property. This gives opportunity and encouragement to the citizens which ultimately raises the importance of affordable housing.
- Invest in urban transport – Cities should have at least one reliable transport, this was the statement made by Mrs. Shailaja Chandra. But it is to be observed that many cities like Delhi, Kolkata which are providing great public transport means are still suffering from congestion. Also, the ratio of private vehicles to the public has not reduced. So where are we missing out? Why is it that efficient public transport is still not identified as the soul of transportation?
All these concerns rise to new questions. What are these talking about? Didn’t we know about them before? Have we been this ignorant on things to let go of?
I think it is not a wholesome fault of the government, it is the heads under it who manipulate the laws and it is we who are ignorant of what is happening around us. The urban planning sector has a lot of potentials to develop the phase of India. All the parties irrespective of their political differences have to come together to form a united class to develop the nation.
Out of all this, the transparency, the PPP and the availability of resources are the key issues to be dealt with at a higher concentration. Imagine the rate of exposure and understanding of transparency of the government doings can bring to the citizens. Every bit of it is questionable, appreciable and acceptable. The urbanization or boom is whole and soul related to the economic growth of the nation. The availability of the resources and optimal use of these scarce resources is a major concern that has been ignored. What is the growth without the resources? If you don’t have ample resources with us how do you fulfill the need and how can you provide basic needs to the citizens. Just providing infrastructure without estimating the availability of resources would create chaos in the later stage.
As now the holdings of the urban development sector is strong and “The Smart Cities” concept is on to the role, the cities are going to change with new hope.