Town Planning

Design of towns today | Sustainable Town planning

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What is town planning?

The difference between town planning and architecture should be noted. The town planning expresses an era. The architecture reveals its spirit.

Evolution of planning

In the ancient times, the primitive men used to stay in tribes and they formed groups for mutual protection for carrying out business activities and maintaining a social life. The location of the settlements was decided taking into consideration the ease of defense, climatic factors, business facilities etc.

radial network london
Combination of concentric and radial pattern | London

As such cities, are as old as civilization as seen from the verbal connection between the words ‘city’ and ‘civilization’. By civilization, we mean urban civilization. There were obviously human groups before that period.

Designing towns today

Today, designing towns is not as easy as it used to be in the past. We have to deal with problems that did not exist in the past.

The requirements for the design of towns today:

Road network for cars

Town planning professionals have to consider the planning for the next 40 years while they plan the road network for the new city. Designing the road network itself constitutes a lot of complex calculations including increase in population density, wealth, increase in the number of private vehicles, public transport etc.

Public transport

We have to hire transportation planning professionals in order to establish an efficient public transport network for the automobiles. But this is not possible only with the help of transportation planning professionals. Town planners and transportation planning professionals have to work hand in hand in order to complement the road network with the new public transport.

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What is the role of a Master plan?

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City Master plan | Urban and Town Planning

In a metropolitan city, Master Plans lay down the space requirements for the coming years; sometimes decades. The plans suggest future width of roads that are already existing. They also suggest new roads. For the additional population that is expected to arrive in coming years, the plans provide for new residential areas along with amenities and services. The plans also reserve sites for future schools, colleges, hospitals and Bus Depots, shopping centres in areas which may be totally uninhabited today.

A master plan is a long term perspective plan. Mid-term plans such as the Mega City Project and the Green belt project are formulated within the framework of such Master Plans. All the Green belt Project zones are made special reservations in the Draft Master Plan.

If an existing road which is only 12km wide today, is proposed in the Master Plan as 30 metre wide, it does not mean that all the structures existing in its way will be overnight bulldozed. It only means that all future construction must be allowed after leaving the 30 metres width. The actual road widening may be a specific project by the concerned local body.

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Problems in the city of Brighton | Sustainable Development

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 Sustainable Urban Development in the United Kingdom

Movie Dialog:

Mr. Henry (the old man): Hello Benazir! How are you?
Architect Benazir: Hello Mr. Henry! I am good. Nice to meet you.
Mr. Henry (the old man): I am so glad that you are an Architect! There are some important issues to discuss. I was looking forward for a discussion with you regarding the so called eco towns.
Architect Benazir:Oh great! I would love that!
Mr. Henry (the old man): What are eco towns?
Towns which are ecologically sensitive are called eco towns.
Mr. Henry (the old man): Does that mean we have to compromise on our lifestyle?
Architect Benazir:Well, I do not know if you would call it compromising your way of living but its entire intention is to make human life more comfortable and save it from destruction.
Mr. Henry (the old man): Alright!That sounds good. So, how different are eco towns from our conventional towns and cities?
Architect Benazir:Ecotowns will fully support pedestrianization and cycling activity and focus on enhancing public transport.
Mr. Henry (the old man): Pedestrianization and cycling?? Hold on to that. Aren’t we having enough of it at Brighton right now?The streets have been narrowed down by drawing 2D cycle pictures on the road making it uncomfortable for cars and buses.
Architect Benazir:I don’t understand what you mean? Could you give an example?

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Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)

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MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) is responsible for the formulation of MUTP. It envisages investment in suburban railway projects, local bus transport system, construction of new roads, building bridges, pedestrian subways and traffic management activities.

World Bank assists MMRDA to help bring about improvement in traffic and transport system in Mumbai.

WHY IS MUTP necessary?

Mumbai is a metropolitan city. The city faces innumerable problems such as traffic, transportation, commuting due to inadequate infrastructure and other facilities. Lack of wider roads or new roads has created chaos in the city of Mumbai. There are constant traffic jams because of slowed vehicular traffic causing excessive pollution and congestion. The problem of parking problems is huge. The government has taken many attempts to solve the issue of road congestion but has not been very successful in achieving the goal. MUTP will give a new vision towards controlling and development of smoother and better transport systems in Mumbai.

MUTP Partners

  • Government of Maharashtra
  • Indian Railways (IR)
  • Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority
  • Brihanmumbai Muncipal Corporation
  • Brihanmumbai Electric supply and Transport

Problems with MUTP (Mumbai Urban Transport Project)

The government needed land for the execution of the project. So they started acquiring land by moving the land encroachers. In return, government provided the slum dwellers with houses (low cost housing) in another distant area.

The slum dwellers had to go through a number of problems. People went on a hunger strike to catch the attention of the government to fulfil their demands.

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