Modern day challenges faced by Town Planning Professionals

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE EXAMINATION – PART III (2013)

Challenges faced by Town Planners & the Directions to develop the skills

to face such challenges

Assignment

Submission Date: 26.10.2013

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1. Town & Country Planning in Sri Lanka

The discipline of town and country planning has a broad set up of activities

more over focused on practical planning issues in the country. Town Planner

has the ability to identify and solve the problems and issues of various firms

such as urban and rural land uses, urban and rural complimentarily in

development, industrialization, energy, transportation and telecommunication,

shelter and growth and development engineered through devolution of power

to sub national levels. Planner has the ability to integrate all these factors in

order to create sound land use system in a meaningful manner.

With the introduction of Town & Country Planning Ordinance no. 13 of 1946

together with the Town & Country Planning Department gave the legal power

to the planner to identify his active role in the society and legal base for

resolving planning related issues in the society. So with this amendments town

planner has had more opportunities to involve on urban development strategies

as well as to integrate local, regional and national level policies and plans. The

planning in Sri Lanka has been focused on urban areas with the introduction of

“Urban Development Authority” in 1978, together with the „Urban

Development Authority Law‟ no. 41 of 1978.

As Sri Lanka is one of the fastest growing nations of South Asia, economic

gain based urban development is a vital requirement to place its name in the

region as well as in the international arena. So the pressure on urban areas,

especially the spatial distribution is increasing while the role of the town

planner is becoming more and more critical to see the balance between

economic growth and depression on resource availability. The town planner

has multi tasks in this background where as to facilitate the urban development

with minimum effects to the land & natural resources. There are new concepts

developed in various placed in addressing various issues, so the town planning

in Sri Lanka also has to absorb the modern concepts in addressing such

phenomena.

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2. Emerging Trends of Urban Development

Similar to the every developing country, Sri Lanka is focusing towards the

urban development strategies to improve the livelihood of the citizens through

accelerated economic growth. The historical livelihood pattern of Sri Lanka

used to be an agrarian economy, so the urbanization is quite controversial with

the traditional livelihood pattern. Most of the areas of the country (so called

“rural” areas) have the self-sustain economy with given priority to agriculture.

Singapore is a country with 100% urban character with using modern

economic strategies for the development. But Sri Lanka has to follow a

different urban development strategy to be competitive in the international

market.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian cities are in a

fast developing stage and the urbanization created so many issues that have to

be tackled by the town planners to have sustainable cities for future. Based on

ADB‟s concept of developing nations, we can look at the current situation of

Sri Lanka as a fast developing country with urbanization trend with growing

urban centers as it named „Cities are engines of economic growth‟ by “CCED-

Sri Lanka Case Study” report. About 48% of the population of Sri Lanka, or

just over 9 million people, live in urban areas (Indrasiri, 2006). Urban

populations are growing at around 0.5% p.a., which by comparison to the rest

of Asia is moderate. However, with the restoration of peace in the country,

urban development trends would change, which will call for effective urban

management practices to be adopted across the whole country if Sri Lanka is

to avoid the problems associated with urbanization elsewhere in the South

Asian Region.

There are 51 cities in Sri Lanka having a population of over 50,000 and 16 of

which have over 100,000 people, 3 cities between 100,000 and 500,000 and

one (Colombo) over 650,000. These 16 cities mentioned above are located in

the Colombo Metropolitan Region of the Western Province (WP). The total

estimated population of these 51 cities based on the Census of Population of

2001 over 5,740,000, which is about 63.7 percent of the total urban population

of Sri Lanka. (ADB 2010)

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3. Challenges faced by Town Planner with Urban Development

Urban areas related issues are common to any country. Every country faces

similar problems with the achievement of developed levels. With the

increasing trend of urbanization, the countries faced continuous degradation of

natural resources as well as the pollution related issues which may cause the

task of town planner more vital. This is similar in Sri Lanka where rapid

urbanization has to be managed with the involvement of not only planners, but

also other professionals who are engaged in the development activities. The

continuation of the same problem shows the management issues and negative

attention on the ground level situation. Sri Lanka faces this problem for a long

time especially with the commercial capital Colombo. With the urbanization

trend and increase of services within the core areas of the town create lots of

congestion, pollution and many socio economic issues. Different governments

came into power and given plaster solutions for this problem, but the problem

exist for long for past few decades. Reason for these temporary solutions is

due to less knowledge of politicians to treat the root cause of issues instead of

the symptoms. Sometimes it‟s less attention on actual situation from the

ground level perspective by the officials. However, lack of direct intervention

of town planner on the problem solving exercise is significant in these cases.

Major challenges faced by the town planners today are the issues due to

haphazard development within the urban areas and management issues with

the institutional set up. But, when we analyze the ad hoc development in

Colombo and other urban areas, it can be seen the integration of above all

factors, institutional deficiency, and loop holes in the legal system as well as

the attitudinal problems of the people. This happens with the land use changes

in urban areas. Spatial planning perspective explains the land use changes with

the demand on land for the highest and best use. Based on the profitability and

utility values of the people, industrial, commercial land uses are dominated in

urban localities. Small land plot sizes, high rise development, decrease of

agricultural uses are common changes in land use activities in urban areas. So

to manage this conversion of land use, spatial planner‟s intervention is

necessary in both the town and country level.

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The problems created by this unstable situation, unless corrective action is

taken on systematically planned basis, can be expected to manifest in several

ways such as:

1. Land encroachments into available state land which will include in

environmentally sensitive areas by causing severe adverse effects;

2. Land encroachments in the urban periphery, which is extending even

in to available private lands;

3. Further fragmentation of agricultural land, either by private sector

developers or by the state sectors, where necessary, to procedures by

enforcements of the Land Acquisition Act; (irrespective of appropriate

urban development in terms of plans which deal in to ad hoc land

development)

4. Unplanned urban expansion (urban sprawl).

There are lots of issues raised with the urban development in the environment.

Traffic congestion in main arteries, road accidents, insufficient road width for

increasing vehicle population, poor traffic management systems are some

problems related to road infrastructure. Some may argue that those are the

issues needed to handle by traffic engineers OR transport managers. But the

transport management is also under the scope of planning. The recent

development of flyovers also proved to be an issue related to lack of planning

concerns on the spatial distribution and location specific measures. (Peiris

2011)

Also vehicular emissions, greenhouse gases (GHGs) create air pollution and

urban heat islands which has heavy impacts on urban areas. Colombo city is

facing this problem and this created Colombo as the 10th

worst city to stay in

the international arena. (Global Livability Index, “The Economist”, 2011)

High density population is one reason for this problem. Average population

density in Sri Lanka is about 300 persons per km2, but its 2000 persons per sq.

km in Colombo city. This much high population density not only creates

transport and other infrastructure issues, also the socio – economic problems

with health, education related problems are also significant. The population

concentration exceeded the threshold levels in Colombo, same as many district

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capitals in Sri Lanka such as Gampaha, Kalutara, Matara, Badulla and Kandy.

Rural-urban migration with more infrastructure and services in urban centers

has to be managed by professionals and experts in the subject as town

planners.

Poor drainage maintenance, urban floods, chemical and solid waste disposal

into the inland water bodies create water pollution and dead water bodies in

the middle of the towns. This creates lot of environmental problems,

epidemics as well as reduction of aesthetic values. Beira Lake is an example

for pollution due to unplanned urbanization. Kelani River is the most polluted

water body in Sri Lanka due to the urban activities of Colombo and suburbs.

So these issues create heavy long term issues where planning intervention is a

must to prevent the disastrous events. The communities in the urban areas are

responsible for these issues in one end and the ruling party has the

responsibility on the other end. However the town planner can integrate the

both parties because he has the knowledge and ability to bridge the

perspectives of various stakeholders. Colombo city achieved the development

level which has been exceeded its carrying capacity to serve the people within

the existing resources. So Colombo is now declining city where spatial

planners must allocate the land uses up to the best compatible uses. Next step

is to analyze the negative draw backs of the institutional set up of current

urban structure which failed to solve the existing urban development issues.

According to the ADB, the main challenges identified due to the uncontrolled

urban development are as follows, and the planner has the responsibility in

handling such dilemma in order to overcome them.

Rapid urban population growth

Rise of megacities

High urban poverty level

Inadequate basic services

Environmental degradation

With the increasing trend of urbanization, a developing country like Sri Lanka

is facing difficulties in searching of better distribution strategy. In addition, the

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peri-urban areas in many big cities are rapidly expanding. This affects the

availability of services which now is experienced by Colombo. With lack of

available infrastructure, people tend encroach and live with basic services,

even lower than the basics. Almost 25% of Asia's urban population is poor,

and the rate is increasing, as there is a continuous influx of poor people into

cities (ADB Report). This makes real challenge for the planner to deal in

urban poverty as an issue where new strategies to provide shelter, water

supply & sanitation, health & safety are going to be elements at risk from the

planning point of view. With an increasing population density, especially in

slums areas, environmental and health problems are rising. In addition to

mitigating air and noise pollution and controlling wastes, managing the

consumption of non-renewable resources have become more serious concerns

for the planners to consider in urban development.

Key challenges

Sustaining urban areas as engines of growth

Cities are focal points for economic activities, and engines of economic

growth. They are centers of excellence for education, health care, culture,

technological innovation, entrepreneurship, social services, government

administration, and communications with the world. They create opportunities

for jobs, employment and livelihood. They are as well focal points for rural

hinterlands to alleviate rural poverty.

Managing urban growth

The rapid rate of urbanization needs to be effectively managed to ensure that

the potential economic and social development arising from urbanization are

optimized to reduce poverty, improve the quality of life and protect the

environment.

Bridging supply and demand gap on infrastructure services

There exists an enormous gap between demand for infrastructure services and

capacity to finance urban development. In 2004, conservative estimates

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suggested about $250 million per year in infrastructure investments would be

needed to support urban growth over the next 25 years.

Strengthening urban management capacity

Capacity of cities to manage urban growth and development, including

preparedness to respond to disasters, needs to be strengthened. Project-based

approaches with short time horizon adopted in some cities are unsustainable

and did not effectively address long-term goals.

Decentralizing urban administration

Many governments have decentralized responsibilities to local governments.

This gives local governments more strategic role in planning and decision-

making in urban development. However, funding may not have always

matched with devolved functions. Decentralization also requires collaboration

between the central and local governments.

Responding to globalization

Globalization has thrust cities into new frontiers making it more imperative for

cities to be globally competitive.

4. The directions to Develop Skills of Town Planner to overcome such

Challenges

As it has been identified by many organizations on the current issues in Sri

Lanka, the ground level situation may be even worse. So the town planner has

to develop the critical thinking ability to overcome such challenges in order to

make the specified area livable and economic gain. The current trend of urban

development is defined as to make cities more competitive and create engines

of economic growth. Whatever the solution suggested by the planner, should

not only uplift the economy and livelihood of the specific urban center, but

also should create path to withstand in global competition of the cities as well.

This is the real challenge for the planner to identify the development potential

as well as to forecast the future trends of global economy as well. There are

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few suggestions has been suggested and practiced in many cities where

planner‟s multi-dimensional capability will useful to adapt the cities to

overcome the upcoming challenges.

The challenge for Sri Lanka is how to make its cities more competitive and

attractive to investors and developers to support more decentralized

sustainable economic development and growth. Paradoxically, the Colombo

Metropolitan Region (CMR) will remain as the center point and main driver of

economic development for the country for many decades to come. To take

pressure off the rapid development occurring in Colombo National Capital

Region, it will continue to generate much of the capital, human resources,

technology and advanced services needed to rebuild the regional and city

economies of many other part of the country shattered after such a long period

of hostilities and natural disaster. However, despite the obvious success of the

CMR economy, it is under performing and there is need for the region

to enhance its overall competitiveness, productivity and economic

performance. How to do this is the challenge for the planner and it requires

special skills from various disciplines and insights.

There are various concepts has been adopted for the cities to overcome the

challenges by various organizations such as ADB, UN HABITAT, etc.

Green cities

The planning efforts should be given to promote local land use and

transportation patterns that encourage the development of zero or low-carbon

transport; energy-efficient infrastructure; and local government initiatives that

encourage low-energy and zero carbon directions. Also the importance of

greenery has to be identified and urban regeneration projects to restore the

environmental patches where required is also a must.

Inclusive cities

The planners‟ task here to make cities livable with the existing limited

resources. To do this, the compact development is suggested to facilitate the

urbanization while integrating the urban services and infrastructure into the

specified locality. It will support investment focusing on local infrastructure,

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community facilities, transport infrastructure, habitat and shelter, and support

for livelihood and commerce. To become cities inclusive, the planning should

provide quality, high capacity public transport linking people to jobs and

affordable, well-serviced high density, mixed-use development.

Competitive cities

Competitive cities attract investment and create jobs that reduce poverty and

unemployment. They generate productivity gains by maximizing the

advantages of their location and\or proximity to natural resources, efficiencies

from the clustering of companies, and supporting infrastructure. City cluster

economic development or CCED is a region-based urban development

approach that enhances the ability of cities to achieve sustainable economic

growth by fostering the development of industry clusters. CCED takes

advantage of economies of scale in an urban agglomeration, therefore

increasing the intensity of economic activity, and generating more jobs and

income opportunities. As part of its City Cluster Economic Development

(CCED) agenda, planning intervention should support inclusive economic

development by targeting assistance to the development of successful industry

clusters through interventions in infrastructure, skills development, research

and development, specialized finance and regional cooperation. (eg: CCED

report by ADB, in association with „AusAID‟ and „SEVANATHA‟ urban

resource center)

Partnerships for urban progress with Private Sector

The development of cities requires high end investments, capital flow to make

sustainable cities in the future. To do this, public or state sector cannot itself

finance, so the encouragement of private sector is also a task of town planner.

With the economic gain, the balance between the nature and development is a

task of modern town planner which requires management skills to prove the

logic to the private investors.

So the private sector should be invited through providing facilities such as Tax

concessions, raw material provision, low cost transportation facilities,

highways, ports, airports in closer-by locations for private sector

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developments. Also they are needed to convince for providing urban spaces,

recreation and housing facilities as well as local employments as balancing the

cities‟ economic growth with sustainability.

Other than the above, planners have the responsibility of managing the

development through monitoring the growth and evaluating its impact to the

society as a whole and maintaining the competitiveness of the city with global

scenario. The planners‟ intervention and innovative thinking is matters most

here. The development should be guided based on following concepts such as,

Stakeholder partnerships/ Linking with Regions

Formulation of city development strategies

Inter-local cooperation

Cities as ecosystems

Out of all above strategies, the planners‟ role will be the integrated part to deal

with upcoming issues with a visionary thinking. To face the upcoming

challenges, the planner should always be future oriented and risk taking &

confident decision maker. The decisions of town planner must not orient

towards the examples from West or a Developed Nation. The strategy should

rise from the planner himself with the development from existing cultural

base. The challenges must be faced with the examples from familiar

environment of the people, not an alienated concept. But the real challenge is

to implement the available concepts in the ground level. Most of the cases,

planners were failed in implementation, but that has to be strong for facing &

creating a better livelihood for the developing urban community. So the skill

of planners should entirely focus on practical behavior of people, and

application of the “concept of change” in more absorbent phase.

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REFERENCES

Asian Development Bank, 2010, City Cluster Economic Development

Sri Lanka Case Study, Manila, Philippines.

Choe, K. & Laquian, A. 2008, City cluster development: toward an

urban-led development strategy for Asia. Mandaluyong City, Phil.:

Asian Development Bank, 2008.

Asian Development Bank, 2010, Competitive Cities, Manila,

Philippines.

United Nations Human Settlement Programme, 2010, Planning

Sustainable Cities; UN Habitat Practices & Perspectives, UNON,

Publishing Services Section, Nairobi, Kenya.

Suri, S.N. 2007, Making Indian Cities Liveable: The Challenges of

India’s Urban Transformation, ISOCARP, New Delhi, India.

Freire, M. 2006, Urban Planning; Challenges in Developing

Countries, International Congress on Human Development, Madrid,

Spain.

Chipungu, L. 2011, Insights into Urban Development Control

Challenges: A Case Study of Operation Murambatsvina/ Restore

Order in Zimbabwe, The Built & Human Environment Review,

Volume 4, Special Issue 2.

Asian Development Bank 2013, Urban Development, Available from:

<http://www.adb.org/themes/urban-development/main.htm>. [20

October 2013].

Peiris, M.T.O.V. & Kumarasinghe, R.S.U. 2010, Role of Town

Planners in Urban Development of Sri Lanka, Available from:

<http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2010/07/04/spe12.asp>. [04 July

2010]

Peiris, M.T.O.V. 2011, Flyovers as a Traffic Management Measure; A

Case Study of Dehiwala Flyover, Available from <

http://archives.dailynews.lk/2011/10/21/fea03.asp>. [21 October

2011].

http://www.adb.org/themes/urban-development/main.htm

http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2010/07/04/spe12.asp

http://archives.dailynews.lk/2011/10/21/fea03.asp

Modern day challenges faced by Town Planning Professionals

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