Urban development - the skill gap

silkboard - 2-DEC-2008

Time for a boring post. A habitual visitor to MoUD website, I was waiting to put up a small summary of a policy paper that showed up recently. Its called "Capacity building scheme for urban ...". If that was all greek and latin to you, jump to section 3 (page 9) on that pdf, and under "specific capacity gaps", find things that you and me complain about everyday - they don't know how to plan, how to run projects, how to handle public relations etc etc etc.

Planning in India? What a farce.

do-it-yourself - 4-NOV-2008

I always wonder why we face so many problems. No sooner is a problem solved, than the solution poses a new problem. Why don't we have long term solutions?

Fight to save Pune Green Cover & Public Spaces - Last date for sending objections 02 Dec 08

asj - 10-OCT-2008

In late 90s, Pune city limits were expanded by including 23 fringe villages within corporation bounds. As per law, these new areas needed to have a development plan. The intent was to allow development to happen even on hills.

Bangalore Traffic Woes, avoid ad hoc solutions please!

psaram42 - 25-AUG-2008

Bangalore, keeping in pace with other cities in the world, has grown exponentially over the past half a century. The Key question while planning traffic solutions for such a growing city obviously would be “how to account for possible future growth?” Bangalore has a very good example in the Kempe Gouda Towers. Kempe Gouda had in his wisdom estimated the boundaries of Bangalore and built the Towers known after him.

2000 acres for IT park, what about other things?

silkboard - 7-AUG-2008

I am terribly sorry. But I have an issue with developments like these - new IT park on 2000 acres around the city (source: DH). No, I am not going to speak the beaten line of farmland acquisition. I am not anti development at all, but I speak for us, the urban dwellers who lead close to miserable lives in this city today.

The government is setting up a sprawling IT park on 2,000 acres around the City to create the much-needed space for IT firms to expand their activities.

Wonderful news, and the plans look good. But lets do some maths now.

When Vehicles are Prioritised over Humans (Pedestrians)

asj - 9-JAN-2008

I invite everyone to check this slide show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxQl6RSXW9o Though I have made an example of Pune, are any of our other small cities different? What we need is a back to the basics approach ''first footpaths, then roads'' only then will we get our urban planning right.

Bellandur Lake - I

admin123 - 20-SEP-2007

Being among the largest wetlands of Bangalore, the health of Bellandur lake is symptomatic of the condition of the waterbodies all across the city.

A recent study by the Energy & Wetlands Research Group at IISc points out that rampant unplanned developmental activities, untreated sewage, solid waste disposal, and encroachment of lake beds in its catchment have put the Bellandur Lake under extreme environmental stress, impairing the functional ability of the lake's ecosystem resulting in poor water quality, depletion and contamination of ground water, and frequent flooding in the catchment. Lack of integrated planning approaches pose serious threats to the sustainability of the region.

Here are some excerpts from their report: Environmental Impact of Developmental Activities
in the Bellandur Lake Catchment. Authors: Dr. T.V. Ramachandra, H.S. Sudhira, B. Karthick, and K.G. Avinash, Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc

Traffic As A Part Of City Planning

tsubba - 7-SEP-2007

The Hindu carried an interesting story today.

Says K.C. Ramamurthy, Inspector-General of Police and Additional Police Commissioner, “Someone plans the road width, someone sanctions building plans. The traffic implications are dealt by us”.

There was an absolute necessity to involve traffic police at the planning stage itself. Ameen to that. Some more

... About 35 per cent of an entire road length in the city was occupied for parking. “With the number of vehicles growing exponentially, we still have not thought of adequate parking space,” he said. Mr. Ramamurthy said that a person must be able to provide proof that he could afford to and owned the space to park his vehicle. “Only then must he be allowed to own a vehicle,” he said. Government offices where the public did not visit often could be shifted away from the centre of the city, schools could be started early so that traffic burden was eased and building of new truck terminals could be considered as solutions, Mr. Ramamurthy added.