Delhi Master Plan 1962 Analysis

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DELHIMASTER PLAN AFTER 1962

THEORY OF SETTLEMENT

MIPHAM NAMGYAL | SHRAVAN KUMAR M.


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It is futile to plan a citys appearance, or speculate on how toendow it with a pleasing appearance of order, without knowing

what sort of innate, functioning order it has.(Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities)


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It is futile to plan a citys appearance, or speculate on how toendow it with a pleasing appearance of order, without knowing

what sort of innate, functioning order it has.(Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities)

WHAT IS A MASTER PLAN ?"A Master Plan is the long term perspective plan for guiding the sustainable planneddevelopment of the city. This document lays down the planning guidelines, policies,development code and space requirements for various socio-economic activities

supporting the city population during the plan period. It is also the basis for allinfrastructure requirements."


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BRIEF HISTORY

HIGHIGHTING IMPORTANT CHRONOLOGICAL

EVENTS

1638-48: ShahjahanabadShahjahan as Emperor.

Red Fort, Jama Masjid built.

1803: British East India Company Invasion.

1911-31: Sir Edwin Lutyens designs New Delhi

1912: Capital shifted from Kolkata to New Delhi.

1931: New Delhi Capital inaugurated and Delhi

Improvement Trust constituted.

1947: Independence and partition of the country.

Immigration of half million population to

Delhi.

1948: Rehabilitation townships planned.

1957: DDA constituted.

1962: First Delhi Master Plan passed.

JAMA MASJID

LUTYENS NEW DELHI


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THE SPRAWL OF REHABILITATION TOWNSHIP

The partitioning of India brought itsown problems.

Delhi witnessed one of the largestimmigration in human history.Approximately half a millionsoughtrefuge in Delhi; which was notprepared for doubling of its populationin just 2months.

A total of 36 rehabilitation townshipswere planned and developed on all 4sides of Delhi.

These included Nizamuddin, LajpatNagar, Malviya Nagar, Patel Nagar,etc.

These townships were planned on thebasis of 80 sq.yards (66msq) plots foreach family; modest single storyasbestos cement sheet roofed houses.

These houses were offered at a subsidized price of Rs.2000 to Rs.10,000 with facilities of long termpayments.

These were emergency projects with no time available for immaculate planning. Delhi started expanding in all directions without any overall plan; the congestion continued and

the city grew haphazardly.


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The partition fractured the old elite coalition that managed the Delhi Improvement Trustand it came to an end in 1950.

The DIT suggested setting up of a single planning and controlling authority for thedevelopment of Delhi.

It also suggested developing of the city under the frame of a Master Plan.

Hence the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was set up by the Government in 1955; itsobjective being to promote and secure the development of Delhi according to plan.

A massive planning process undertaken by the Nehruvian administration to imagine a new

city with the support of Americas Ford Foundation. A foreign team of planners led by Albert Mayer was recruited as the Master Plan

consultant.

Ford Foundation support and expertise enabled Nehrus attempts to foster the Delhi MasterPlan as a version of mother art-the utopian architectural signature of a new sovereignnation dreaming of an Indian modernity.

This planning process was to introduce a prominent regionalist American paradigm toIndian urban design in the form of Delhi, namely an English garden city set in a region - anetwork of decentralized new towns, with green areas and open spaces, with cellularneighborhoods, sub-centers and district centers and most importantly zoning.

The First Master Plan for Delhi,1961- 81, was published by DDA in 1962, envisageddevelopment of urbanisable area of 448sqkm by 1981, catering to an urban population of4.6 million.

MAKING OF MASTER PLAN


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GARDEN CITY CONCEPT

The garden city movementis amethod of urban planning that wasinitiated in 1898 by Sir EbenezerHowardin the United Kingdom.Garden cities were intended to beplanned, self-contained

communities surrounded by"greenbelts", containingproportionate areas of residences,industry and agriculture.Albert Mayer adopted this conceptin case of Delhi Master Plan 1962and called for an urban planningbased on rigorous ZONING.

1889 plan for Port Sunlight, England

Source: [ONLINE] Available at: http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=7264.
http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=7264http://archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=7264


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DELHI MASTER PLAN 1962BASIC PLANNING PRINCIPLES:

The idea was not to develop colony bycolony, but zone by zone. The thinkingwas that each zone should be self-

sufficient: have its own social,educational and health infrastructure.(Sengupta, Ranjana. (2007). DelhiMetropolitan: The making of an unlikelycity.1st ed. India: Penguin Books.)

The Plan was a regionalist modelwhich worked to manage thesprawlof the city through a greenbelt and neighbouring towns thatcould deflect the population inflowsinto Delhi.

The city was broken up into various

planning divisions, as well as cellularneighbourhoods, sub-centers anddistrict centers, to contain social life,commerce and work.

The 1962 Master Plan expanded theurban area while simultaneouslymanaging it through strict zoningand demarcation of urban and rural

forms of life.

KEY POINTS:


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The plan orchestrated an ambitiousseparation of industry, residence, andcommerce.

In the 1962 Master plan industrialproduction was broken into a hierarchy

where a shift was mandated todesignated areas, with various timelimits. The zones included areas forextensive, service, and light industryand "flatted factories" and work-cum-industrial centers for "non-nuisance"small and household enterprises, to be

set up near places of residence,limiting travel time. Heavy industry was not permitted in

Delhi as it would not fit the non-industrial "form" of the city - it would bebased in the regional towns. "Noxious"and village-like trades and industrieswere prohibited by the Master plan and

had to be removed from the city. Commerce was organized in wholesale

markets, central business districts, sub-central business districts, and districtcenters, the latter to be built by theDDA. Some wholesale markets were tobe shifted out of the old city.

SOURCE: http://www.dda.org.in/planning/map_mpd_1962.htm

Land Use Plan


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To accommodate the 12.2 million urban populationby the year 2001, the Second Master Plan envisagedexpanding the urbanisable area of Delhi to 688 sqkm.

MASTER PLAN 2001

Ecological balance to bemaintained.

The Central city area to betreated as Special Areaand will be developedcarefully.

Urban heritage to beconserved.

The urban development to below rise-high density.

The plan proposedurbanization of further 18000-24000 ha. To accommodate

the additional population inurban extensions like Dwarka,Rohini and Narela sub cities.

The concept of Mixed Use tobe adopted for furtherdetailing of Zonal Plan Level.

SOURCE:http://www.dda.org.in/planning/map_mpd_2001.htmLand Use Plan


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Third Master Plan of Delhi, projectedpopulation of 23 million by the year 2021 onabout 978sqkm of total urbanisable area.

MASTER PLAN 2021


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The Interim General Plan for Delhi wasreleased in 1956.

The First Master Plan for Delhi,1961- 81, waspublished by DDA in 1962, envisageddevelopment of urbanisable area of448sqkm by 1981, catering to an urbanpopulation of 4.6 million.

After 1981, the master plan faced a setbackbecause of the Asian Games in 1982 whichhad its own plans for urbanization andbeautification of the city.

The Second Master Plan was published in1990 expanding the urbanisable area ofDelhi to 688 sqkm to accommodate the 12.2million urban population by the year 2001.

The Third Master Plan was published in 2005.It projected population of 23 million by theyear 2021 on about 978sqkm of totalurbanisable area.

MASTER PLAN SCHEDULE


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Data insufficiency and contradictions: The land use figures that have beenprescribed have not been substantiated with any line of reasoning as to why such adistribution should be preferred over any other.

Tone of the document: The MPD is a legally enforceable document, supposed toprovide clear guidelines on urban planning and infrastructure yet this document reads

more like a policy document and not a clear legally enforceable text.

Conceptual Flaws: The plan repeatedly states that the problem of in-migrationinto Delhi is a chronic one. But the solutions suggested are to limit migration bydiscouraging labour intensive units from coming up in the capital. It proposes adeliberate clamp on the growing economy of the city and limiting it possibly only tosupposedly less problematic administrative uses.

There is a great demand for the kind of services rendered by the migrant labourers,

ranging from rickshaw pullers to hawkers, construction labourers to domestic help.These people form a vast network of people providing informal services andcontributing very actively to the economy. Limiting this is simply not a feasible option.There is a great demand for the kind of services rendered by the migrant labourers,ranging from rickshaw pullers to hawkers, construction labourers to domestic help.These people form a vast network of people providing informal services andcontributing very actively to the economy. Limiting this is simply not a feasible option.

Shortfalls of MasterPlans


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Ignorance of new theories and concepts in urban planning: In tryingto preserve the old structure of the city it prescribes greater growth in the suburbs andshifting of economic activities out to these areas to tackle the growing population.

Increasing suburbanization leads to a large growth in the number of vehicles, problemsof pollution, congestion and parking.

Policy on Special Areas: In its policies for Special Area (Walled city, Pahar Ganj,Karol Bagh) and urban villages, the plan in its eagerness to maintain their essentialcharacter and preserve this urban heritage, forgets to take into account the needs ofthe actual residents of these areas.

As per MPD 2001, when the move to transfer industrial units within the walled city toother areas was passed, the affected people were left in a lurch. New shops and landswere not allotted to them on time, they did not have adequate infrastructure in the

new areas, users were asked to cough up higher rentals. Slum Rehabilitation Policy: Till March 2005, DDA had acquired land totaling

upto 69,890 acres. Of this, about 1475.85 acres of DDA lands are under encroachmentby JJ clusters. There is no clear policy on slum resettlement given in the plan despitethe figures revealing that it is a chronic and growing problem


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Zoning Regulations/ Development Controls:

Plans for only 7 zones have been approved and notified whereas plans for zones G westDelhi, H North West Delhi I, M North West Delhi II, and P Narela are still at variousstages of approval. In fact, it is ironic that with the master plan for 2021 about to comeinto operation quite soon, DDA officials are still in the process of formulating zonal plansfor MPD 2001.

Another significant drawback of land use regulation, besides it being an infringement onthe right to private property, is its impact on housing development and its pricing. Theinevitable outcome of these regulatory constraints is that a large and increasingproportion of urban land development in developing countries is being undertakenoutside the formal, officially sanctioned process.


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There are three major waves of regularisation in Delhis history. A hundred andtwo colonies were regularised in the first wave in 1962 itself as part of the first master

plan. The second wave was in 1975.

Source: Planned Illegalities: Housing and the 'Failure' of Planning in Delhi 1947-2010 | Gautam Bhan - Academia.edu. 2014.


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Delhi Master Plan 1962 Analysis

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