India Urban Space is advising the Jaipur Development Authority for the development of the Master Plan 2025.
SwatiRamanathan has developed the following principles of a sustainable master plan for Jaipur 2025:
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Today’s plan must envision the city of the future. Greenfield airports that service urban travel needs, transport linkages of road, rail and ports, agro production that provide grain and vegetables, water sources that are shared, stone quarries that build the cities, land fill sites that hold the waste of urban consumption, land for the expanding population and expanding economics– all these require a planning footprint that goes beyond the city alone. A major metro attracts the bulk of migration and corridor development all around it. Jaipur Master plan 2025 challenges the apparent inevitability of this kind of urban growth.
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 adopts a decentralised planning approach of centre city and nodes bounded by the district. This district plan provide a strategic regional vision plan that becomes the basis for all development decisions in the coming 25 years. Any changes to this strategic vision plan must pass a high threshold of debate and reason giving.
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Key natural assets need to be protectively zoned - high yield agricultural land, forests, hills, water bodies & channels, environment and ecological assets. Economic activity must contribute to sustainability without compromising the natural environment. Where ever such assets are in private hands, equitable and enforceable system for economic compensation needs to be in place before the master plan can work.
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 determines areas that require protective zoning and creating policies for compensation for deed restriction of the protected zones
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Planning for water supply as a natural resource is critical. No planning can be done without estimating the demand and identifying the source of supply over a period of 25 to 100 years.
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 outlines realistic long-term plan for water supply for the region and policies for sustainable resources and pollution control
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The Jaipur master plan 2025 looks not just at geographic growth, but also at economic sustainability. The plan recommends points of determinism that act as catalysts for the realisation of the overall regional plan while leaving enough room for flexible planning to accommodate new and changing economies in the district and spontaneous economic activity at the local planning areas. For these points of deterministic planning to be realised, large capital investments will be required which may be beyond the capacity of government.
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 emphasises enhancing the city’s competitive edge, identification of areas for key capital investments, and potential participation opportunities of the market
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Quality of life is not just a good to have, but is the bottom line for economic competitiveness. While cheap greenfield land is viewed as the significant attraction for big business, the reality is that today economic development is attracted by access to skilled human resources, and skilled resources are attracted to cities that provide a great quality of life – thriving culture, a healthy environment and a clear sense of community.
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 promotes investment in institutions that build on local talent and skills that lead to employement, identifying areas for improvement of the quality of the public realm – art, history, culture, boulevards, parks, public buildings, etc. creating a sense of place in neighbourhoods.
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Transport and connectivity plans link people to places, jobs and services. The Jaipur master plan 2025 integrates the transport plan for the city and district as a central component of the planning process. Roads, rail, air, bus, RTS, parking, walking, cycling are part of the transport plan. The transport plan guides the regulations of density and land use.
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 begins with an overall mobility plan and links zoning and land use to this plan
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Providing social infrastructure such as affordable housing, education and healthcare that cater to those at the bottom of the pyramid and the new migrants.
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 outlines policies that incentivise allocation of land for affordable housing, linked to job opportunities and that can be rented or owned by the economically weaker section, locating social infrastructure requirements.
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Master plans must be animated from paper to ground. For this to happen, they must be owned and enforced by the local elected representatives and the residents, especially at the local area footprint. Plans must also be aided by clear and enforceable policies
Action Outcome: The Jaipur master plan 2025 outlines significant policy amendments and clearly defined activity mapping that empower local elected representatives and residents with local planning and enforcement decisions.
