The master plan for Delhi 2041 was to be completed by 2021, but its formulation and finalisation was postponed under the pretext of the Covid 19 pandemic even as large-scale construction works across the city have continued full steam. If this could be the case with the country’s capital, imagine the state of affairs elsewhere.

Two out every five state capitals in the country have no active master plans, according to Janaagraha, a leading urban planning advocacy group based in Bengaluru, which recently released its annual survey of India’s city systems listing a number of changes that must be expeditiously undertaken.

The first and foremost of such changes relates to building a spatial development plan, which serves both as a vision and a technical blueprint for a specific urban centre for the long term, usually spanning 15 to 20 years. It allocates land, resources and infrastructure based on numerous assessments and forecasts, especially in the areas of housing, transportation, livelihood, health, and education.

Furthermore, the master plan considers multiple scales, such as street, neighbourhood, municipal, and wider urban development region. It also oversees urban sprawl. The lack of such plans at a time when India is undergoing rapid urbanisation and migration is concerning.

Robust spatial planning is required for cities to be economically productive, environmentally sustainable, and equitable. We have seen systemic breakdowns at various levels in recent years, be it the exodus of millions of migrants from cities following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the recent Chennai floods that brought the city to a halt, or the unduly skewed real estate markets in Mumbai that have made housing unaffordable for a large number of people. All of these occurrences are closely related to the spatial development plan.

“The absence of effective spatial planning poses a significant risk of haphazard and unsustainable growth, a situation more perilous than inaction itself,” said Anil Kumar Roy, senior associate professor at the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, Ahmedabad.

“The key lies in the organisation of spaces, the equilibrium of sectors, and the regulation of functions. However, the pivotal factor in this process is the capability of those entrusted with the task,” Roy said, adding that the Centre should actively promote spatial planning.

“Rather than imposing orders, the Centre should incentivise compliance through measures such as tax rebates and provide clear directives, thereby empowering entities to not only adhere to but also efficiently collect and mobilise resources,” he said.

“A proactive approach from the Centre is critical for incorporating mandatory elements like water harvesting and climate action into plans, ensuring a comprehensive and sustainable urban development strategy.”

Only seven Indian states have mandatory sectoral plans such as sanitation, resilience, and sustainability programmes, as well as a comprehensive development plan, which also incorporates transportation and regulations relating to land use. Currently, only half of the megacities with populations of more than 4 million and major cities with populations of 1 million to 4 million have legislated a sanitation plan.

“Spatial planning can occur at various scales, with a focus on regional planning being particularly beneficial. The incorporation of high-order and low-order settlements, major transportation routes, supporting infrastructure, and the development of surrounding growth centres, such as smaller villages and towns, is crucial,” said Shrawan Kumar Acharya, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for the Study of Regional Development,

It is important to clarify that regional planning differs from city-level planning. There are two perspectives to consider: firstly, each state should engage in regional planning covering extensive areas, and secondly, watershed planning that centres around basins. The term ‘spatial plan’ needs explicit definition and should be established as a statutory requirement, Acharya said.

Countries like Germany, Netherlands, France, and South Korea provide exemplary models. They delineate areas as urbanisable or non-urbanisable, considering the broader regional interests while safeguarding sensitive zones. Currently, there exists socio-economic planning at the state level, but a comprehensive spatial plan is lacking, Acharya added.

The same is true for a comprehensive development plan and a resilience strategy. Surprisingly, just 13 per cent of megacities and 24 per cent of major cities have legislated social development plans. The numbers plummet further when we include mandates for smaller cities, which will become the future growth centres.

What Would It Take To Manage Urbanisation Better?

Citizen Participation: City plans are incomplete if they don’t have a buy-in from citizens. Take, for example, the case of Mumbai. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, with the assistance of people and non-governmental organisations, included a gender chapter in the plan for the first time. What evolved were land parcel reserves to meet the demands of women. These include multipurpose housing for working women, childcare centres, skilled training centres, women's hawker areas, and public restrooms.

Another comparable story can be found in Kerala. It is one of the several states that, through broad citizen participation, has established women component plans and other context-specific kinds of infrastructure by incorporating substantial citizen input into the development plan's formulation.

Furthermore, involvement of citizens allows for improved administrative, budgetary and political decentralisation. In the first year of decentralisation, 2008, local governments in Kerala received 35-40 per cent of the state's annual plan fund, amounting to Rs 1,025 crore – a 50-fold increase from Rs 20 crore in the preceding year.

Ahmedabad is another city that has begun accepting budgeting participation via email, but there is no way to know how much of it is actually included into the plan.

Devolution Of Power: It has been more than 30 years since Parliament enacted the 74th amendment to the Constitution, seeking to empower urban local bodies, but the glass remains less than half full. According to the Janaagraha’s 2023 study, only 40 per cent of Indian states have notified and partially implemented the 74th Amendment Act.

While most states have formed an election commission, reserved seats for women, and elected city councils, more significant roles and powers such as devolution of key taxes, having functional ward committees, constituting metropolitan planning committees, and establishing a state finance commission remain to be done in at least a third of the states.

The low implementation ratio may be attributed to the language in the 74th amendment, which uses the word 'may' rather than 'shall', allowing state governments to opt out of devolution of functions prescribed by the Constitution's 12th Schedule.

Another anomaly relates to the lack of upgrading the status of a settlement that has grown over the years. Only half of India’s 8,000-odd cities and towns hold municipal status and fall within the urban statutes, while the rest are still categorised as panchayats despite being overwhelmingly urban in character.

Such a flawed urban-rural distinction has led to the negligence of urban governance. “It is imperative to reclassify these settlements as nagar panchayats, as they currently face challenges in implementing initiatives like AMRUT and smart cities, contributing to urban inequalities,” said Roy of CEPT University.

“The existing disparity is exacerbated by the unequal distribution of resources, with larger corporations receiving more funding while smaller settlements struggle to mobilise resources, relying heavily on higher levels of government and bureaucracy,” Roy said.

Countries such as Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and South Africa have established legislation that allows local municipal governments to make their own decisions and enjoy planning autonomy across all verticals without overlap or conflict. Article 115, section 2 of the Mexican Constitution, for example, allows municipalities complete control over their assets as well as the right to implement all necessary rules and executive orders.

Metropolitan Governance:Metropolitan areas around the world, including India, are major drivers of economic growth. Metropolitan areas attract capital and skills, catalyse research and innovation, and provide enterprises with size and productivity.

According to a United Nations Habitat study, governance and decentralisation have a substantial impact on metropolitan region productivity. About 44 per cent of India's urban population lives in the metropolitan regions of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune, which account for more than 10 percent of India’s GDP. However, the Janaagraha report mentions that none of the metropolitan planning committees as envisaged in the 74th amendment are functional or existent.

Empowered Mayors And Councils:One of the key arguments for a directly-elected mayoral system is that a direct mandate from citizens strengthens the legitimacy and responsibility of the mayor’s office. Furthermore, unlike councillors who compete for ward/hyper-local problems, a directly elected mayor would be responsible for the entire city. Only 23 per cent of Indian cities have directly elected mayors.

Mayors and councillors play a significant role in resolving "first-mile" service delivery difficulties. According to the Janaagraha report, between 2018 and 2019, 74 per cent and 64 per cent of residents in seven cities contacted their councillors about sanitation and water supply issues, respectively, instead of the civic institution in charge of such service delivery.

However, due to severely limited devolution of functions and powers over funds and functionaries, short tenures in office, and a policy of rotational reservations mandated by the 74th amendment, mayors and councillors in India remain disempowered. As a result, our municipal governments have virtually been reduced to mere civic service delivery services.

The role of mayors and councillors ensures strong responsibility and close proximity to the populace, putting them in the greatest position to ensure timely and effective service delivery. Good spatial development plans are more than just spatial. The elected wing's empowerment and capacity building, as well as maintaining people's voices at the core of the planning process, are critical foundations of democratic urban planning.

Socioeconomic dynamics evolves, demands change, markets change, and legislation and planning systems must be adaptable enough to constantly realign and re-imagine the categories we use to structure our cities.