How can India urbanise when planners are in short supply?

Cities

Two specialists in post-Budget discussions with this author expressed their worry that the last diagnostic study in urbanisation took place way back in 1982. Hitesh Vaidya, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), and V Suresh, specialist in housing and urban infrastructure, wanted this addressed. India is growing from the current 30 percent to about 50 percent urbanisation soon.

A few months ago, the Niti Aayog study concluded that urban India is already housing 11 percent of the world’s population, which is expected to contribute to 73 percent of the country’s economy by 2036. But the volume of planners required to grow this urban footprint is in short supply.

In Budget 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid out the government’s vision for the next 25 years, by when India turns 100. She also referred to the shortage of urban planners, and the steps to address it:

• Set up a high-level committee consisting of urban planners, economists, and institutions which would make recommendations on “urban sector policies, capacity building, planning, implementation and governance”.
• States would be supported in modernisation of building bye-laws, town planning schemes, and transit-oriented development to “facilitate reforms for people to live and work closer to mass transit systems.”
• “Five existing institutions in different regions will be designated as centres of excellence. These centres will be provided endowment funds of Rs 250 crore each. In addition, AICTE will take the lead to improve the syllabi, quality and access of urban planning courses in other institutions”.

That, I believe, is one of the fundamental problems in India’s urbanisation. The changes have to be at the city level. The Niti Aayog report acknowledged this. “Almost half of the 7,933 ‘urban’ settlements are census towns, that is, they continue to be governed as ‘rural’ entities. Small and medium towns face vulnerabilities due to rapid growth and inadequate planning. Moreover, several studies have indicated that the current definitions of ‘urban’ are not reflective of the extent of urbanisation that the country has already witnessed”. What has not been brought into the formal planning process cannot be addressed.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Reforms Mission (JNNURM) created in 2005 in the aftermath of the devastating Mumbai floods, and the 100 Smart Cities programme of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government were acknowledgements that urban India’s problems needed to be fixed in mission mode.

The smart cities movement allowed private entities to participate in the small pockets that were designed to become study areas in the chosen cities. By executing these projects, the capacity at the implementation levels would have been enhanced. “Unless we allow Indian firms to participate and gain expertise, we will never be able to make urban planning a mass project in India for Indian firms,” says PR Mehta, Chairman of the National Accreditation Board for Education and Training, (NABET).

We need armies of urban planners, not just strategising and drawing up master plans, but also getting their hands dirty in execution of projects in every last census town. The Union government’s role has to be to enable the cities and towns to plan and execute independently with help from the state governments. Only then will municipal officials be able to execute locally in tandem with local experts and under the watchful scrutiny of citizens.

It could be the next big employment opportunity for planners, legal and financial experts with specialised knowledge in urban affairs, architects and builders, material manufacturers, and the municipal governance sector.

The spatial planning exercise of projected urbanisation will help India plan its urbanisation. It will also be able to assess the need for capacity building at various levels. Making finances available, and plugging leaks is important. Globally, cities are able to raise bonds in the market with sovereign guarantees. That can only become a reality when the underlying projects are well executed, and bankable.

It is in the hands of the authorities and planners whether India’s urbanisation shines as an example of a huge challenge addressed well, or it becomes another missed opportunity.

E Jayashree Kurup is Director, Cities and Real Estate, Wordmeister Editorial Services LLP and Communications Advisor, National Institute of Urban Affairs.

Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.