Regional Event - Workshop on Urban Planning & GIS for Cities in Rajasthan

In partnership with the Department of Local Self Government, Government of Rajasthan and the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, IUSF hosted the Workshop on Comprehensive Development Planning for Cities in Rajasthan: Challenges and Opportunities on the 20th and 21st of June 2008 in Jaipur.

Inaugurated by Honorable CM of Rajasthan, the deliberations emphasized the critical importance of planning, usage of new technologies and innovative approaches for urban management, and most importantly, leadership and commitment from leaders of cities.

Key issues highlighted at the event were:

• Led by the city’s leaders, every city – large or small must develop a realistic and clear vision of what it wants to achieve in the long term
• To address spatial inter linkages of all issues, all plans must be represented on mapsLand use planning and transport planning – both exercises should be simultaneously carried out
• Small towns will need to lay emphasis on pedestrian movements and Non-Motorized Transport
• GIS should not be just a one-off exercise, but must be applied in urban development and day-to-day management to support decisions
• RUIS is an important program and the city’s leaders should support its implementation. The ULB has a major role in providing information and on-the-ground support for implementation of RUIS
• Innovative approaches should be used to deal with the issue of land assembly, which is a critical constraint for implementing large projects.
• Intensive and detailed project preparation work I necessary before launching any project implementation on the ground. Institutional arrangements should be clearly defined at the start of a project
• Funds under various programs, including JNNURM / UIDSSMT should be accessed to build organizational capacity

The major outcome of the workshop was the higher level of preparation of the leadership of over 50 cities and town across Rajasthan to undertake implementation of RUIS and preparation of Master Plans for their towns.

Download the Final Report