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11. WHY THE LARGEST PLANNED CITY FAILED?
from F.Y.I MAGAZINE
Why the Largest Planned City Failed?
- Minoti Mehta
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The city of Mumbai houses a population of over 20 million making it the 4th most populated city and one of the most populous urban regions in the world. The city being the economic capital has seen an explosion of population growth in the past 20 years due to the migration of people from other parts of the country seeking business and employment opportunities. The population density is estimated to be around 20,500 persons per square kilometre with a living space of 4.5 square metres per person.
With this ever-increasing population surge, Mumbai urban agglomeration extends its northern limits to house more people. Due to the high population density, the land rates in the metropolitan area of the city are very high. For cheaper habitation options, the migrants settle in the northern parts of the city far from their work places which leads to long commutes on the city’s busy mass transit system. The rural to urban migration has also led to the growth of the slums. The percentage of people living in the slums is estimated to be as high as 41.3% in the city. To help the situation of the rapid population growth and the deteriorating quality of life due to the organic growth of the city, the twin city of Navi Mumbai was proposed in 1970. When this new city was proposed, it was meant to settle a population of at least 4 million to try and contain the rapid growth of the old city and create more job opportunities. Navi Mumbai, planned by Charles Correa is one of the largest planned cities in the world. It was well-planned and used a mixed-use planning approach to avoid a Mumbai-like situation of activity concentration. Navi Mumbai has a nodal pattern of development based on the principle of decentralization. It breaks the concentration of population and activities in a particular area and balances the land use in every single nodal township.
However, unlike the situation Even though Navi Mumbai was planned during the time when Mumbai’s population was just 20-25% of what it is today, it was still successful in reducing the population density of Mumbai but only to a certain extent. The original idea of creating a twin city on the eastern side of the old city to stop the growth on the northern side failed due to the lack in proper mass transit systems
connecting the two cities.
The creation of a new city did not help with the problem of long commutes. In fact, it is still easier to commute using the local railways to travel from the northern most part to the southern side of the city than travel between the two cities. A similar yet slightly contradicting situation is seen in another planned city of India. Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier, was India’s first planned city. The city in itself was very well planned using a grid pattern to divide the areas into different sectors. The only reason it failed was because it didn’t plan for the future. The green belt on the periphery of the city limited its growth. This called for the development of the cities of Mohali and Panchkula. However, unlike the situation between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai,
the introduction of the two new cities did help Chandigarh vastly. This was solely due to the fact that the three cities are very well connected to each other.
Planning cities in India has always been a mammoth task. As an individual unit, these cities make up among the best places to live in but as a whole, they fail to solve the issues of the urban population. With the addition to catering to the problems of climate change and designing more eco friendly cities, it is absolutely necessary to plan for the future in terms of population growth, connectivity and infrastructure as well. If the cities keep failing at its urban planning level, no amount of ideas and solutions for a sustainable development
“My dream melted into ideas, Ideas of a distorted realm, Hazy and scattered their organization, Groups without formation. They merged into each other, Like two stars colliding, Clays of gradation mashed, Creating and destroying.
The give and take made me realise, Realise that it was not a dream at all, But a realm with diversity, Where scattered were the pieces, Pieces of an identity.”
-Hrishikesh Patil
