Tag Archives: Environment

Chapter 09: Land Use Statistics

What is the land utilisation pattern in India? Let us have a look and understand the sources of information for some key categories. This chapter is part of a series on Hierarchical Spatial Planning Framework

This chapter is specific to Indian scenario. Still, some sections might be relevant to other regions and countries as well.

Various ministries and departments at the National as well as the State Government maintain information on existing land use statistics for their own planning purposes. It is important to understand how these statistics look together at various levels of governance. Such a collation of land use statistics and envisaged/proposed plans is expected to give an interesting insight into the land use scenario for the state as well as the challenges ahead.

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Chapter 10: Sectoral Policies and the Land Acquisition Process

Ever wondered what various sectoral policies point to? Indian states have such a complex governance system and so many policies, let us look at a select few for two states in India (one highly urbanised and the other being one of the least urbanised). We will also understand the steps if somebody wants to have access to land to setup a project. There are links to policy details. Some may find it boring. Some may be extremely interested. Mind it. This chapter is part of a series on Hierarchical Spatial Planning Framework

The presence of complex governance systems with multiple sectoral departments means that each departments is in-charge of various development measures. It is highly likely that each department has specific policies or other forms of guiding documents for planning interventions. Some of these policies/guiding documents are expected to directly have an impact on land use, whereas some of them would result in planning processes that affect eventual land use (indirect impact on land use). As most of the departments have such policies in force and decisions are made abiding by these documents, it is important to understand and consider them during the formulation of the land use planning policy for any state or country.

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Chapter 11: Department versus Land Use Theme Matrix

Ever wondered? Which department has what control and relationship with each land use category? Let us have a look. This chapter is part of a series on Hierarchical Spatial Planning Framework

The presence of a complex governance system with multiple sectoral departments and the complex substructure of each indicates that different departments have different mandates functions and powers as far as land use and utilisation is concerned. Whereas some department may have powers and functions covering financial, planning, influencing land use outcomes, other departments may only be affected by decisions of other departments. Furthermore, the powers and functions vested with a department or the lack thereof, may or may not be restricted to a certain category of land use. Hence, it is important to evaluate the roles of various department’s vis. – a – vis. each category of land use.

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Chapter 12: Working Group – Why and How?

This is where we bring all the departments together. We setup the working group and define the agenda for each theme. This chapter is part of a series on Hierarchical Spatial Planning Framework

Whoa… We have come a long way. We have spent close to 15 months to come so far.

We are now aware and in agreement with the need of Hierarchical Spatial and Land Use Planning (Click here). We also agree on the significance of a state land use planning policy (Click here and here). We have also seen the importance of Cooperation strategy and the approach that we can adopt for preparing such a policy. (Click here).

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Chapter 14: Spatial Representations of Key Challenges

We are now well into the details for each sector. We have so much information on land use change and sectoral challenges. Let us spatially represent them and use the power of visualisation. We do this with two examples. This chapter is part of a series on Hierarchical Spatial Planning Framework

We have been working for the past 24 months now and undertaken an extensive study of our state. We have looked at the baseline scenario in terms of governance structure, department roles and their mandates, we have developed a good understanding of Land uses and its statistics for our state, we have also analysed the policies and strategies in detail.

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Chapter 16: State Spatial Strategy

We look at the evolution of state spatial strategies through the lens of the three pillars of sustainability i.e. environment, economy and society with two proposals/examples. We also get links to the details for of the two proposals. This chapter is part of a series on Hierarchical Spatial Planning Framework

For addressing the challenges and issues economic disparity, water constraints, or other sectoral conflicts and land use planning challenges as discussed earlier in Chapter 14, a state level spatial strategy can ensure that use of land is in general driven by its most economical and least environmental impact.

A state spatial strategy would ideally advocate assigning priority areas for economic development, no development as well as conservation and augmentation of water. This can improve economic competitiveness along with more equitable income distribution as compared to a scenario of continued water scarcity.

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