Volume I
June, 2014
Ministry of Urban Development
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi http://moud.gov.in
Planning for development is an envisioning process which requires a sound assessment of the ground realities and providing options for sustainable development within the bounds of the demographic, physical, socio-economic, jurisdictional and financial aspects. It is a continuous process and must incorporate a regular evaluation of implementation. However, plans have been criticised to be rigid and static having little regard to investment planning efforts and taking very long time in the process of formulation and approval.
During 1995, a National Workshop on Master Plan Approach: Its Efficacies and Alternatives was held, which examined the entire process of urban development planning and implementation and as a recommendation of this Workshop, the first national level planning guidelines ‘Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation’ (UDPFI) were framed in 1996 by Institute of Town Planners, India.
UDPFI Guidelines, 1996 provided a framework for plan preparation and implementation process. Since 1996, many developments have taken place in the field of urban planning, especially in view of emerging needs and requirements of urban settlements due to rapid population growth, globalization of economy and phenomenon growth in the information and communication technologies. The towns and cities have become more dynamic in nature and are subject to unprecedented changes in terms of requirements of infrastructure and other basic services/ amenities. Besides, new emerging aspects like regional development, inclusive planning, sustainable habitat, land use and transport integration at planning stage, Service Level Benchmarks, disaster management concepts, and governance reforms have given a new dimension to the planning process.
To address these emerging aspects, it was felt that the revision of the UDPFI Guidelines should be taken up. The ‘Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation Guidelines (URDPFI)’ were conceptualized as the outcome of widespread consultations with the planning peers in the various Ministries, Experts, Professional and Academic Institutions and other stakeholders. The URDPFI Guidelines have been framed to incorporate the provisions of the legal and policy guidelines of the line Ministries, best practices of the States and the planning systems in vogue. A participatory consultative approach has been followed in order to revise the guidelines to holistically understand and proactively involve the Government of India Ministries/Agencies and State Governments for guiding Urbanization.
In line with the approach, the key following actions were undertaken: