City Planning Essays - Ahmedabad, Urban Planner, Gujarat

City Planning Essays - Ahmedabad, Urban Planner, Gujarat Functioning of City Planning City Planning Department Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation State-Gujarat Gujarat is one of the most developed state in India. The state is capable with vast reserves of mineral and characterized by high industrialization. It features high rate of GDP growth and contributes almost 20% to Indias overall industrial output. Power, construction and trade contribute a major share to the prosperity of the state. Gujarat, with its mission to make itself a vibrant place to live and work, has been implementing several structural reforms in the recent past. With its growing industrialization, presently, the state is all set to achieve an exponential growth curve. To facilitate such economic growth, increasing needs of the people for better quality of life and to cater the growing trade through the hinterland, the state has also drawn an infrastructure road map and intends to develop a world class infrastructure to sustain the rapid pace of economic growth. Gujarat has experienced a rapid rate of urbanization in last four decades. About Ahmedabad Ahmedabad is the largest city in Gujarat in terms of population as well as in area. Ahmedabad is also the seventh largest metropolitan area and third fastest growing cities of India. Looking at its growth rate and rapid expansion, there is an urgent need to reconsider and redirect the development and growth patterns in the next decade. Ahmedabad, since its foundation has been a critical political and economic center of Gujarat and western India. During 16th century to 18th century Ahmedabad was the major hub of trade and commerce. Under the British rule, it became home to numerous textile mills, being known as Manchester of the East. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) Ahmedabad Municipality was established as Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act (BPMC) The AMC area was divided into 43 wards and 5 zones, namely Central, North, South, East, and West covering an area of 190 sq. km prior to year 2008. Spatial distribution of the population within the city over the decades shows that up to 1981 most of the new population added to the city was concentrated within the old AMC limits itself, especially in the Eastern part. Expansion of the peripheral areas began in the 1980s and has continued since then earlier only the Eastern parts and particularly the Eastern periphery registered faster growth rate, but since 1980s even the Western periphery has grown rapidly. In the year 2008, around 180.01 sq. km area had been added on the Western side of the city and 79.66 Sq. km area had been added on the Eastern side of the city, which made the total area of the city to 450(466)Sq. km. This 450(466) sq. km area of AMC is consist of 6 zones i.e. 64 wards. Map - Ahmedabad Municipal Boundary with zone boundary Past Planning Efforts The Bombay Town Planning Act, 1915 mainly provided for the preparation of Town Planning Schemes (TPS) for areas in course of development within the jurisdiction of local authority. Under this act 11 TPS have been prepared amongst which the 1st TPS was the Jamalpur scheme in1920. Due to the rapid industrial growth coupled with increasing level of urbanization during mid-century, the need for an integrated urban development was felt. The need to have a planned development within the whole of municipal limits lead to the enactment of the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954. This act came into force from 1st April 1957. The concept of preparation of Development Plan (DP) within the limits of the Local Body was introduced for the first time in the 1954 Act as the main planning instrument, retaining the TPS for implementation of the DP. Under this act 20 TPS were prepared; also the first Development Plan was prepared in the year 1965 for the Municipal limits of Ahmedabad. The State of Gujarat as it exists today was formed on1st May 1960. It was realized that the preparation of DP for areas confined within the Municipal boundary would not meet the challenges of urban development since the urban growth knows no boundaries. It was felt that if planning activities are undertaken in a more rational and scientific basis with reference to development of areas which are not necessarily restricted to the areas within the jurisdiction of local authorities, it will be possible to create better conditions. It was, therefore, considered necessary to replace the aforesaid Act by a more comprehensive legislation. Thus a more comprehensive planning legislation was enacted titled as The Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976 which