An Approach to Redevelopment Case Study - Bhopal
 Ms. Shivani Singh

A city is a living organism and has its own genius.  Planning for human settlements is a continuous proces because the settlements are organic in nature, never static, always sensitive to socio-economic and political change which is reflected in their spatial and physical fabric.  There can be two approaches to accommodate future growth of the city:

q New development by increasing existing urban sprawl.
q By redeveloping the old and bosolete urban areas so as to utilise the land resource to its maximum potential.

Redevelopment is a planning tool which can play a crucial role when land pockets within the city lack coherence with the city fabric.  Such areas generally exhibit high land value which further justifies redevelopment.  The basic difference between renewal, revitalisation and redevelopment is that the former two try to restore the old character and rebuild what has been lost in time while redevelopment is futuristic, it plans to accommodate the present and makes provision for the future needs, and to provide an environment that meets the social, psychological and the physical needs of the people.

In order to make redevelopment successful it is very important to take the community into confidence and to discuss with them their perceptions on redevelopment of the area.  As redevelopment projects without people’s participation invariably turn into case studies of failure, it, is important to first organise the community so that interaction on a day-to-day basis becomes easy.  This can be effectively done by forming Neighbourhood Committees in the project areas.  The community can participate actively and more directly in the policy decisions.  These neighbourhood committees can also be made responsible for the maintenance of services.  They will also ensure that there is justice to all in the new plan and resources are utilised optimally.  These committees can also mobilise some funds which can be helpful in the provision and maintenance of social infrastrucutre; to build a sense of ownership among the residents in the project areas.
 

Bhopal Case Study

Cities are physical manifestation of the people and their activities.  Organic nature of any traditional city is the outcome of that city being the will of its people, specially the ones which have a historic character.  Bhopal is one such example.

Being the capital of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal is growing at a relatively rapid pace with an increase in urbanisation around it.  The population is also growing due to inmigration not only from within the state but also from seven neighbouring states which calls for more pragmatic policies to absorb the population flows while maintaining the aura of Bhopal’s own identity as a city of immense natural beauty.

Discussed below are the steps involved in the process of redevelopment: 

Delineation of Study Areas

There were two criteria to select the areas:

q Dominantly residential
q Areas which were developed before an official plan was made for the city i.e. before 1962
 
Based on these factors, three areas which fell under these categories were:

i.   Jehangirabad:  Representing living areas which have deteriorated with time due to over stressing of infrastructure, overcrowding, ongoing development, no building controls, dilapidated structures and obsolete landuses.  It has a degraded social and physical environment as a whole.

ii.   South T.T.Nagar:  Low density areas located on prime land in the heart of the city, housing the public sector employees and having mostly unorganised open spaces, which are incidental and can be termed as negative areas as they encourage encroachment and are prone to becoming garbage dumps. 

iii.  Malviya Nagar:  Located in close proximity to the CBD and the Sub-CBD, because of which these types of areas show rapid change in landuse.  The dominant market oriented landuse takes over but due to lack of services to cater to the transformations, these areas become utter chaos. 
 

Selection of Priority Area

After the three areas were selected a stress index was calculated for all three and a “Quality Of Life” analysis was done by taking the following factors: 

Physical Parameters - Water supply, sanitation, road width, type of structures, maintenance level, percentage of slums, drainage, occupancy rate and incompatiable landuses.

Social Parameters -  Crime rate, social security, health and education.

Economic Parameters -  EWS households and tenure status.

The results of this comparative analysis revealed that Jehangirabad and South T.T.Nagar were ripe for redevelopment while Malviya Nagar required only policy interventions to arrest the existing chaos.

As Jehangirabad is a privately owned area, while South T.T. Nagar is on Government owned land, it was a more challenging job to work out detailed plans for the redevelopment of Jehangirabad area.  However some interventions required for Malviya Nagar and South T.T. Nagar are discussed below. 
 

Possible Interventios for the Two Secondary Areas

Malviya Nagar

q Amenities to be provided as per standards for commercial and Semi Public areas. 
q Instead of allowing a certain landuse for such areas it is better to specify the incompatible landuse, thus making it a more open and flexible approach.     
q The market forces should not be ignored as landuse is a self regulatory process, the dominant or more efficient use takes over.  This is a process of development, so it should not be overlooked and efforts should be made to accommodate the uses which emerge with time.
q Road Widths should be increased, by acquiring the setbacks of the plots of the defaulters, who have changed the landuse, and paying them necessary compensation.
q Centralised parking lots to be provided in vacant land pockets, and making the area mainly pedestrian
q Incompatible landuse should be shifted out and space thus created should be utilised in a more efficient manner.


South T.T. Nagar

q The Master Plan of Bhopal recommends that this area should be redensified in order to utilise the available land resource better, so that more Government employees can be accommodated in this area.  The recommendation may be implemented.
q As the economic life span of existing structures is over, they can be replaced by G+3, G+4 structures instead of the single storeyed existing ones with huge setbacks.
q When this area is redeveloped, it can accommodate inflows of population from other high density areas.
q Land should be reserved for social infrastructure like the schools, hospitals, post-offices, etc.
q The road pattern should be made more efficient and not more than 15% of the land should be under circulation.

Changing residential area to commercial area

T. T. Nagar  - a low density area


Detailed proposal for Priority Area-Jehangirabad

Interventions Required

q Structures to be made habitable, by carrying out repairs, demolitions and reconstruction.
q Decongest the area and create lung spaces.
q Rectify the street pattern and improve the circulation.
q Provide physical infrastructure to conform to the minimum standards prescribed.
q Provide social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, community cetnre.
q Mixed landuse to be retained and only incompatible landuse to be specified.
q Organise the informal sector and allocate land pockets to them.
q Relocate incompatible and inefficient landuse
q Proposed plan to have increased Floor Area Ratio and also have provisions made for in services provided.
q New construction to conform to building bye-laws and development controls.

 

Potential of Jehangirabad

This area is the transition area between the old and the new Bhopal, and is located within the radius of 2kms. of the CBD and the sub-CBD.  The land value of this area is very high.  The absence of a commercial centre in this particular district supports mixed landuse for this area.  The percentage of rented houses is low.

In order to bring about the required interventions the area was divided into two categories based on 3 criteria.

q Width of the road facing the properties should be at least 12 mts.
q Income category - 60% households in the MIG or HIG category.
q Overall street pattern of the proposed layout, which was to retain the peripheral properties and to reconstruct them on the present location.

Category I was the area conforming to these conditions.  The rest of the area fell under Category II.


 Process For Category I 

“Owners to redevelop their own properties”.  If the owners fail to do so within the stipulated time frame they are liable to be penalised by the neighbourhood committees.  To facilitate the process, Government can offer incentives like:

q Free technical guidance
q Provision of loans at lower interest rates and through a one window process to be arranged by local bodies in coordination with institutions like HUDCO.
q Provision of services at no profit, no loss basis
q 20% increased FAR
q 25% built area for non residential but compatible landuse.


Process for Category II

q Government will act as a facilitator and appoint an NGO to co-ordinate the process of redevelopment.  The NGO will help form neighbourhood committees, who will in turn help to create awareness amongst the residents and help them realise the benefits of the programme.  Government will also provide temporary locations for rehabilitation of the people during reconstruction.
q The large plot owners will contribute to the pool of land to provide infrastructure.  Compensation for the land acquired should be paid to the plot owners, by the government agency.
q Part of the pool land to be reserved as remunerative land, which is sold at market price, to met the cost of services provided and for the maintenance of the same.  thus the community can become self-reliant, and not be at the mercy of the authorities for achieving better physical and social environment.
q Private builders can be involved in this process after co-operatives are formed and the residents have consolidated the land, as per the approved plan of the area.  Private builders can be given incentives like increased FAR as land values are very high.

In Bhopal, the competent authority to carry out redevelopment is Slum Improvement Board in coordination with Bhopal Development Authority.  q

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