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THEME PAPER
homes; none of the Higher the informal economy (HPEC, for Indian conditions, with large
Income Groups(HIG) resides in 2011). Informal housing and numbers engaged in home-based
kutcha houses. Paradoxically, workplaces do not find a work and street vending. The
10.1 percent of houses remained place in the outdated model lack of legal recognition to the
vacant (Census, 2011).This of spatial planning followed informal sector urban planning
indicates the failure of market and implemented in India. has led to frequent evictions
forces in correcting for the The master planning model of the urban poor from homes
weaknesses in urban housing implemented in India is rooted and workplaces in the name of
markets. Lack of affordable in the 1947 Town and Country master plan enforcement and
housing is amongst the major Planning Act of the United world-class city. Master Plans in
challenges of urban policy in Kingdom. The UK changed its India conceive a grand vision and
India (McKinsey 2010; HPEC planning paradigm in 1968. end-state spatial form, unrelated
2011; Judge et al. 2014; Mohanty However, India continues to to the real urban economy. The
2014, 2016). follow it in the original form. technocratic master plans rely
There is an urgent need to find a This model is not linked to the on a non-participatory process.
way out to ensure that the poor income distribution structure of They treat areas with similar
and low-income groups have cities and ignores the fact that a characteristics as ‘conforming’
access to land tenure, affordable large segment of the population for the high and middle-income
housing and basic services. in cities belongs to the poor segments while regarding
Experiences suggest that most and low-income groups. It also slums in the same area as ‘non-
state governments have failed to does not integrate inclusion conforming’ and ‘illegal’.
provide an adequate quantity of into planning, financing, and
governance in cities. It fails to HOUSING AND THE
subsidized public housing; they plan for “informal city” and NEW URBAN AGENDA
have not made adequate pro-
poor housing finance available recognizes only the formal If cities must be sustainable,
and also not carried out effective sector. housing must be placed at the
site-and-service programs, The city master plans have failed centre of urban policies. With
including slum redevelopment to provide adequate space for rapid population growth, high
and rehabilitation schemes to the poor to live, work and vend. levels of poverty and pervasive
bridge the widening supply- The land allocation process urban inequality, it is evident
demand gaps in lower-income adopted by the Government that housing is inseparable from
housing segment of the market. planning agencies ignores the urbanization and should be a
Urban land markets have needs of the urban poor for socio-economic imperative. The
failed the poor; the urban housing and informal activities housing policies put in place
planning process has also been carried out in non-conventional over the last 20 years through
exclusionary. workplaces. While the master the enabling approach have
plans have invariably allocated not succeeded in promoting
FAILURE OF MASTER space for shopping malls and adequate and affordable housing
PLANS high-end commercial activities, (UNhabitat.org). Governments
Nearly one-fourth of the urban they have failed to allocate have backed away from direct
population in India lives in space for informal markets and supply without giving sufficient
slums and around 80 percent of vending zones. The master plans consideration to the markets and
urban workers are employed in have also neglected mixed land- regulatory framework to enable
use zoning, which is appropriate other actors in the process to step
10 HUDCO-HSMI Publication
