New book moots Community Land Reserves for LIG housing

Any FSI increase should be directly linked with proportionate increase in the amenities and open spaces is the other key recommendation by urban planning experts who released the new book studying and comparing Mumbai’s urban planning with other top world cities

Mumbai:

Mumbai, India - Oct. 27, 2023: Jagan Shah(Panelists), Gautam Chatterjee(Panelists), Shirsh Patel(Writer) ,Vidhyadhar Phatak( Panelists),Oormi kapadia(Writer) and Jasmine Saluja (Writer) , during book release of "6 metros" and panel discussion held at Mumbai Press Club ,CSMT in Mumbai, India, on Friday, October 27, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Mumbai should reserve the land for affordable housing and create dedicated Community Land Reserve (CLR) areas to address the housing needs of low income groups across the city, and any FSI increase should be directly linked with proportionate increase in the amenities and open spaces are two of the key recommendations made in a new book by urban planners released last week.

“6 Metros: Urban Planning and Implementation Compared” co-authored by well-known urban planning expert Shirish B Patel, and urban designers Oormi Kapadia, and Jasmine Saluja, co-founders of urban planning agency Plural, was released at the Press Club by Gautam Chatterjee, retired IAS officer who worked closely with Maharashtra’s housing policy and the first chairman of Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) on Friday. The book compares urban planning parameters and its implementation in mega cities London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Delhi NCR and Mumbai. Also present at the function were Vidyadhar Phatak, former head of MMRDA’s planning division and Jagan Shah, architect and director of Delhi-based Artha Centre for Emerging Cities who also participated in a panel discussion after the book release.

In 2050, India is poised to undergo a significant urban transformation, with two-thirds of its population is expected to reside in urban areas and the lack of a clear plan for city extensions and new cities forms the dynamic context to the new book.

The book’s first volume titled Signposts examines the planning processes and implementation, looking at the governance structure, tools and methods, frequency of planning and its implementation on the ground in these cities. The book examines strategies for land management, local area planning, social/public housing, open spaces, essential amenities, and infrastructure.

The comparison is done on the basis of 10 different planning parameters like land use and zoning, transit, housing, urban density, urban form and fabric etc. The second volume titled Mappings provide raw data of planning parameters, their brief history.

The comparisons between the cities throws up some interesting data. “For example, Tokyo does its planning at two levels, one at the national level and physical planning at the ward level where the mayor his council are involved in the planning for each ward. In Mumbai, the Development Plan and the Development Control Regulations look at Mumbai as one homogenised entity, and we lack the scale of local area planning completely,” pointed out Oormi Kapadia

Mumbai has the lowest planned open spaces per capita ammong the six metros. Compared to 19.6 sq m per capita in London and 20 sq m in New York, Mumbai has merely 1.2 sq m per capita. Hong Kong (5.8 sq m), Tokyo (3.8 sq m) and Delhi (4.8 sq m) fare comparatively better than Mumbai.

Delhi fares worse than Mumbai when it comes to unplanned housing. While London and Tokyo have 100% planned housing, New York and Hong Kong have 99% planned housing and just one per cent unplanned housing. Comparatively, Delhi has 40% planned housing and 60% unplanned housing, while Mumbai has 59% planned housing and 41% unplanned housing.

Similarly, when it comes to land use and zoning, Hong Kong uses only 25% of its land as urbanisable land area and reserves 75% for natural forest and open spaces. Mumbai classifies 81% of its land as urbanisable land area, and only 19% is reserved for natural resources. Urban density comparisons between Tokyo and Mumbai indicate that the family size in the Japanese city stands at 1.94 people per household and its smallest housing unit size is 40 sq m, while Mumbai has a density of 4.66 people per household, and its smallest unit size stands at 21 sq m.

“In terms of housing tenement density, Tokyo (52.9 du/ha), and Mumbai (54.3 du/ha) are comparable but if you look at the population, Mumbai has double the population density of Tokyo going by the famil size,” said Kapadia.

The book argues that government land is public land, owned by the people, and should be used in the highest public interest and the governments have responsibilities beyond those of private developers, including allocation of land for public purposes such as roads, parks, schools, and healthcare facilities throughout the city.

“6 Metros” recommends creation of designated areas known as Community Land Reserves to address the needs of low income groups and emphasize their well-being and equitable living conditions of all citizens. The book suggests that this allocated land for affordable housing should be taken off the market and reserved specifically for this purpose.

“The book presents examples like Machizukuri, a Japanese community development ordinance that empowers communities to influence public projects. Such a legal framework enhances community involvement, a model that holds great promise for Mumbai,” says Jasmine Saluja

The other key recommendation involves amenity determined population. “If other cities if the density increases, the corresponding open spaces and amenities also increase. But in India, FSI mostly dictates development and the amenities and open spaces are not directly linked to the policy. We suggest an approach that only through amenities, the densities should be planned in certain neighbourhoods,” Kapadia said.