found 02 - open/ equitable/ efficient

As a resolution to identify and describe fundamental interactions of the individual and the urban environment, the government institutes Development Plans. Development Plans apportion amenities, opportunities, domains and spheres, within which the individual within society can relate, subsist and prosper. With the exponential rate of Mumbai’s growth, classical planning has failed to trace and respond to what now constitutes a crisis of massive proportions. Instrumental rationality and conviction in zoning / land acquisition in the archaic comprehensive plan has proven to be unfavourable when contending with the development of sustainable urban communities. With new perspectives on the role of public participation, the Urban Design Research Institute anticipates a reformation in the planning regime and looks to broader inclusionary policy interventions to deliver a transformed approach to understanding and planning urban agglomerations.

open – equitable – efficient

In 2014, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai will declare a city-wide proposal that it seeks to implement. Rampant inadequacies, scarcity of planners and advisory workforce will coerce the planning process to engage international conglomerates. The fallacy lies with international participation’s deficiencies to grapple with and negociate local dynamics or absorbs evaluation by citizenry. Neither will it respond to democratic principles, nor offer a broad or liberal framework for clarification and alteration. Spatial and strategic development planning will have extemporaneous masses clueless. With the institution of the 74th Constitutional Amendment, there is an attempt to evolve an interface to address considerations, theories, practices etc and transcend the formalised planning barrier and establish commonality across the demographic. Thus through a network of concerned citizens and action groups, we look to (open, equitable, efficient) as an instrument to negotiate concerns that plague the city. In establishing an interconnection between systems, schematics, statistics and human beings it hopes to synergise and impact a constructive approach to seek answers to themes it considers vital to the city.

• open
  // non-closed : accessible : uninhabited : unencumbered : unrestrained //
  Metropolitan Mumbai symbolises the promise city for the disenfranchised, the city that affords hope. Ingress into the city cannot be moderated on political grounds. City-wide policy is expected to operate in response to growth patterns and confront significant issues of distress migration with devices to accommodate emergent economies and social structures. Regionalist agendas within the context of an urban locality cannot be considered.

• equitable
  // ethical : receptive : non-discriminatory : unequivocal : just //
  Planning is subjected to shifting urban forms and needs to adapt and allow interactions between internal elements. Equitable planning warrants equal opportunities and sustenance models for livelihood across various economic and social biases. Distribution of resources will be governed by necessity that seeks to ensure availability to sections at which it is most essential.

• efficient
  // adaptive : dynamic : appropriate : adequate : capable //
  Where the inadequacies of planning become most prominent is at the onset of implementation. Execution of development needs a consistent and deterministic approach with appropriate drivers for statistical and economical efficiency to deliver on promises of equitable supply of amenities. As with most current scenarios, efficiency cannot assume a character of deprivation to guarantee effectiveness.

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Education

• achieve 100% literacy in the Mumbai
• affordable educational facilities of repute made available to all
• bridging linguistic divide through education

As the city asserts itself as an international center for commerce and industry it places a serious demand on prerequisites for qualified professionals and even manual labour. Growing literacy rates (77% in 2001) are promising but the overall standard of schooling and instruction needs to be overhauled. Fresh proposals and infrastructure reservations for schools, colleges and educational facilities need to be initiated. As leading institutions plug into the city, the ailing education system fails to respond with relevance creating chaotic procedures for enrolment into higher education. The reservation or quota system and conflation of various educational boards and mediums disrupts the sound functioning of the education system, a resolution to which needs to be found. Learning differences and development disabilities are concerns that need to be addressed by accessible special schooling institutes of repute.

Energy

• reliable power supply to the city through more responsive grids, with peak load efficiency
• power generation from renewable energy sources
• cleaner greener energy production and distribution system

Energy infrastructure is incapable of meeting growing demands and has take steps to upgrade to more efficient distribution networks. While most southern sections of the Island City and Western Suburbs receive uninterrupted power, divisions or sectors of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai experience power surges and load shedding on a daily basis. The city needs to plan for a more responsive policy to manage efficiency at peak load thus maintaining equitability of energy supply. Additionally, Mumbai is expected to look beyond conventional sources of energy production and invest in policies to harness alternative sources to power the city.

Environment

• reducing carbon emissions, pollution and preserving/ conserving natural environments
• remediation of brownfield sites and conscientious redevelopment
• incentivized development and the creation of sustainable urban communities

Policy has to endeavor to create cleaner and more efficient urban communities. Unbridled development comes with the generation of a host of environmental concerns extending from waste management and disposal to pollution and health hazards arising from failure to remediate brownfield sites and toxicity. There needs to be a strategy to address environmental issues and mechanisms to ensure enactment of policy. Interventions should look to incentivize developers and create benefits to incorporate catchment systems and measures to utilize solar, hydro and wind energy. Conservation of natural scenery and features need to be addressed and responsive frameworks should look towards protection of natural environments.

Governance

• transparency in approach
• establishing accountability and interaction with citizens
• efficient and receptive frameworks for fluid governance

The engine of city governance is greased by a bureaucracy who escapes accountability. With spiraling project costs and ever extended deadlines, the citizens deserve more transparent governance and information should be made accessible in the public domain. Authorities need to address concerns of citizens more efficiently for which interactions with elected representatives is crucial. An efficient framework for public-private partnerships is vital for fluid governance. The role of stakeholders is expected to be exhibit clarity rather than ambiguity. Macro and micro level governance should be comprehensive and project a consolidated vision for enterprise. Flood control with outlandish administrative interventions bears testament to yearly losses of life, livelihood, trade, infrastructure and property. It needs to be modeled to react to suggestions and influences to better equip the city for mitigation and emergency services.

Health

• effective and inexpensive health care for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
• accessible casualty medicine and specialty healthcare for the masses
• greater investment in the public healthcare system and reduction in inequalities

Health care has to fulfill qualitative and quantitative standards. It is required to be an accessible, equitable healthcare system for the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Public healthcare has to meet the challenge of scaling-up to meet the demand for health care facilities. Though the city has a respectable public health system, it needs to respond in areas of casualty medicine, specialty health care and greater accessibility to health care for the masses. An appropriate system of monitoring and evaluation needs to be established. There needs to be a greater investment in the public healthcare system with a reduction in inequalities.

Housing

• provision of affordable formal housing stock of 15 million
• creation of mass rental housing schemes
• rehabilitation schemes for slum dwellers through appropriate strategies

With Mumbai’s north-south axial expansion and the paucity of land, more efficient planning is pivotal to the accommodation of urban growth. Housing typologies within the city do not address the concerns of the middle class and citizens from the economically weaker sections. This has resulted in a severe shortage of affordable mass housing. In the absence of the provision for rental housing migrants are forced to reside in informal housing communities deprived of amenities, where living conditions are almost inhuman. Creation of rehabilitation schemes for slum dwellers by evolving appropriate strategies is vital. Quality of life is an elemental prerequisite for housing typologies and cannot be ignored along with open space requirements. Communities are fundamental to social structure in Mumbai and housing should incorporate their sentiments where possible.

Livelihood

• equal opportunities for all
• creating job security and sustenance for local informal economies
• greater access to low interest credit facilities and investment opportunities

The creation and security of employment opportunities are fundamental to generation of income and sustenance. Development Planning needs to create an understanding of employment and its relation with the housing sector and transport infrastructure prior to constructing new employment opportunities. The predicted formal employment rate will see a rise from 50% to 70% by 2031. The informal sector represents a large section of the population and the fissures between informal and formal need to be comprehended and incorporated. Marginalized sections of society require better access to low interest credit facilities and investment opportunities.

Open Space

• ensure that all citizens live within a ten minute walk of a park reservations for zoological gardens, green belts nature reserves and sanctuaries
• decongesting the city through release of land parcels for recreational and community facilities

With rising density, Mumbai has less than 2 sqm as open space per person, which is the lowest of any metropolitan city. This is a concern that needs to be addressed as it represents a means to check environmental congestion and human wellbeing. One of the factors that gravely reduce accessibility to open space is encroachment not only by dwellings and hawkers but also institutions that impinge of public land and render it inaccessible for public use. Planning needs to detail possibilities of releasing parcels of land toward recreational infrastructure and community facilities made available to all. Existing open spaces need to be maintained with security arrangements to curb encroachment. Educational institutions need to include playgrounds and recreational areas for students or be granted access to public playgrounds. Reservations and proposals are required for zoological gardens, green belts nature reserves and sanctuaries.

Transportation

• improve travel time by adding transit capacity on congested routes, develop new axes of commuting
• establish water as a means of mass transport to Navi Mumbai and the hinterland
• decongest road networks and curb vehicle nuisance though efficient traffic management and appropriate parking infrastructure

The public transport system in Mumbai is among the most efficient in the world and accounts for 92% of passenger travel in the city with 8% comprising private vehicles which utilize 60% of road space. However it has much to aspire to as population explodes further and exerts an immense stress on frequencies of trains and buses, with a projected increase (in number of trips) of 150% by 2031. The city is in dire need of an increase in capacity on congested routes and the enforcement of traffic violation and road ethics. The city cannot ignore private vehicles and needs to develop an agenda to curb vehicle nuisance with parking infrastructure or more appropriate modes of public transport that fulfill demands of vehicle owners. Being a coastal city, Mumbai has never completely explored water as a means of transport to establish connections with Navi Mumbai and the hinterland.

Water

• upgrade of water infrastructure and adoption of more relevant filtration technologies
• efficient distribution network minimizing losses
• develop capacity and critical backup systems to ensure sustained water supply, distribution and long term reliability

Water being one of the most fundamental necessities of human beings is still a luxury as 30% of households do not have a single tap within their premises. The politics of water are closely linked with political ambition and water supply is leveraged with votes. Pipelines are penetrated to access water on a daily basis resulting in wastage and contamination. Water infrastructure is in need of an upgrade which should adopt relevant technologies for filtration and an efficient distribution network minimizing losses. The city needs to develop capacity and critical backup systems to ensure sustained supply of water with reliable water networks. Water to be made available to all.

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dated 23/07/2009

project guide _ pankaj joshi I project coordination _ ian nazareth, isaac mathew, shilpa ranade I additional research _ anita nair