SDZs to the rescue
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Sustainable Development Zones can help booming cities handle their urban growth problems
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The concept of Sustainable Development Zones (SDZs), which will be better equipped to accommodate new developments and population increase and have adequate infrastructure to back growth, has been mooted by Jaigopal G. Rao, architect and chairman of a technical advisory group on urban planning for Kerala.
Mr. Rao says the growth of cities is inevitable in the present form of development. As the city spreads, so do people and vehicles, setting the tone for urban sprawl.
As Mr. Rao puts it, the three big evils — increasing automobile usage, vast commuting distances and the urban sprawl — have to be minimised.
Welcome space
The crux of urban planning lies in making cities a welcome space and not an exasperating experience of going through a dense and unfriendly concrete jungle.
The SDZs is a land-use-cum-financial model for promoting balanced growth. A city or a town may be divided into a number of such zones, depending on the expected investment opportunity, present land use, population density and carrying capacity of the land. A typical SDZ can be optimally designed to take a population increase of 12,000 people in 20 years.
Activity zones
Dividing each SDZ into zones based on activity is the next step in planning. A town can be divided into small modules and infrastructure such as water and electricity supply for the population in the area taken care of. There also needs to be an idea about the number of vehicles coming in and going out of this module. A standard needs to be developed for a module.
The idea is to provide an inner city development focus and not to spread out development. Mr. Rao calls the main area of an SDZ as the High Density Pedestrianised Core, where about 60 per cent of the people are involved in daily activities such as going to work, going to school, shopping for essentials, everyday essential services, recreation and sports and cultural activities, all of which will be within a walking distance of 500 m.
This area will have a high floor-area ratio of five with coverage of less than 25 per cent. Hence, it will have large open areas and playgrounds within this half-a-kilometre distance.
‘No vehicle’ zone
There will be no automobiles in the area — only cycles and tricycles for goods, the disabled and the elderly. Parking facilities will be provided on the periphery.
Mr. Rao suggests that top infrastructure be provided in the core area with good road links from the main road and mass rapid transport lines.
The local authority can sell the developed land in the high-density area to builders to develop mid- and high-end housing and mixed-use facilities.
The local body can meet the cost of purchase of land for housing the economically weaker sections, for service areas such as solid and liquid waste management, rainwater storage and other developments.
Economically weaker sections need to find accommodation, recreation and education near their workplaces. Hence, a built-up area of an average 75 sq.ft. a person should be planned at a FAR of 2 as the economic weaker section (EWS) zone.
A no-development zone (NDZ) must conserve natural heritage features such as forests, wetlands, beaches, coastal areas, paddy fields, rivers, lakes and ponds. Private owners of such areas can be given compensation for transfer of the development.
Land for service areas is important as there need to be space for footpaths, streetlights, storm-water lines, water tanks, pump houses, water supply main lines, decentralised solid waste, sewage and liquid waste treatment areas and buffer zones for unavoidable hazardous industries or chemical storage and transfer.
Parks, playgrounds and community open spaces can be in and around the high-density core.
After land is reserved for developing infrastructure, the rest of the SDZ can be demarcated as a low development zone (LDZ) with a FAR of 1 and less than 33 per cent coverage.
These areas can have villas, automobile workshops and other small industries which need land. Earthy building should be encouraged with own solid- and liquid-waste treatment facilities.
SHYAMA RAJAGOPAL
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