Sunday, April 25, 2021

Ever growing Bengaluru Periphery and Ineffective Planning/ DH panorama

 

Bengaluru is one of the fast-growing cities of India. With   urbanization and increase in  population, people are migrating   from other states to Bangalore city causing urban sprawl. Peri-urbanization has brought some important changes in the fringe areas of Bengaluru. Land use land cover changes is a major challenge of Bengaluru periphery. Land use in urban and peri-urban areas has grown with the increasing population and urbanization.  Prior to the industrialization, cities and towns were not developed , however the modern cities of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries sprawled into the countryside, resulting in the structural changes due to the demands of urban dwellers. The peri-urban areas exhibit an intimate relationship between the city and its surroundings.

Peri-urban phenomenon of  countries like U.S, China, Thailand, Indonesia and Chile shows that peripheries of each countries are different. According to Kundu, peripheries of the U.S is considered rich , however in the case of India it is a degenerated periphery. Hence there arises a question why do countries develop such fundamentally different types of peri-urban spaces  ? In Indian cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Jaipur peripheries are different .Bengaluru is one of the best examples of peri-urban transition in the recent past .Peri-urban growth of Bengaluru  is attributed to population growth, IT  corridors and industrial developments.

Bengaluru became one among the million cities of India since 1961. Bengaluru has emerged as a fastest changing city and the major reason for the transition is the growth of industrial and IT corridors .However the rapid transition has led to unplanned growth and management especially in terms of infrastructure and services. The area of the city recorded significant increase by 92.1 percent and the population by 37.8 during 1991-01. The spatial expansion of the   urbanized area has increased from 226 sq.km in 1995 to 710 sq.km. Such an explosive growth cannot sustain without   sound city planning.

The matter of major concern is the lack of ability to absorb exodus population in the name of IT and the giant leap that is taking place in the recent past. The physical spread of the city is mainly attributed to the following factors   such as institutional establishments, large scale industries, IT corridors, growth of Infrastructure and Transportation facilities. The city has expanded much more  in the last two decades because of the growth of IT corridors, places like ITPL, White field ,Electronic city and Manyata Tech park regions are the typical examples .That had leads the out growths to the immediate neighbourhoods demanding more housing and infrastructural facilities. The physical spread of Bangalore is attributed to establishment of transportation facilities, airports, metros etc. Gradually more developments are taking place in area beyond the Central Business District. Bengaluru periphery is acting as an engine of economic growth due to the setting up of   industries and IT parks in the peripheral areas.

Bengaluru city has undergone different phases   of economic growth .In   the first phase (1951-61) growth is due to the public sector undertakings with the employment generation avenues. The second Phase (1960-70) is mainly because of the industries and state-run businesses. The third phase was due to the off shoot of private sectors since 1980s. The fourth phase is since 2000, this is due to the growth of IT and other services. This phase continues till the present day of  Bengaluru.(Heitzman ,2004 and Sastry,1988). Some writers have compared the unprecedented growth of Bengaluru with the situations of Delhi and Paris. At present area beyond the 198 wards of BBMP is considered as the peri-urban Bengaluru (as per BMRDA).

 

The peri-urban cluster of Bengaluru include the above eight Taluks.An empirical research   is done for the East Bengaluru periphery Hoskote region  and South Periphery Kanakapura region. Research   shows that   there is a rapid transition in the East Periphery Hoskote Region compared to the South Periphery in the case of Bengaluru city. Hoskote  has close proximity to Whitefield that is a major IT hub of the city. There is a surge in demand of residential units, nearby areas such as Hoskote is also on the continuous spree of development to feed the rising demand from Whitefield. Peri urban   transition sets forth in the form of transition in the usage of land as a resource and it leads to various further changes. Peri urban transition takes place because the city slowly progress towards the rural country side. However in the case of Bengaluru city, the pace of transition is very high due to the rapid   industrial, IT and infrastructural developments.  The analysis   reveals that there is declining core and expanding periphery   in the case of Bengaluru Metropolitan City.

There is a  rapid land use changes in and around peripheries of Bengaluru city. The land use changes is mainly due to the recent upsurge in urban growth   and concentration of  IT industries in the periphery. Hence there is spatial expansion and rapid spread of the population in the peripheries.  Peripheral areas have gradually become the engine of economic growth   with the   establishment of IT industries in the peripheral areas   of   Bengaluru. However, this rapid expansion of the peri urban interface is a challenge to the development.  They include the   competition of land resources for agricultural and non -agricultural uses, inflated land values ,unrestricted and uncontrolled expansion causes adverse environmental conditions  thereby a substantial cost to the environment.

Although   most   economic costs are figured into the land use decisions, most environmental externalities are not. These environmental externalities lead to considerable social cost to the society   and   leads to inefficient results. The fundamental challenges include market failures- environmental externalities and lack of   proper city planning in the context of expanding periphery of the Bengaluru city.  The state of urban sprawl in the Bengaluru city highlights the threat for effectively managing the urban sprawl.

Unlike the developed countries  where there is a strong institution for policy enforcement, the problem of rapid spatial expansion in Bengaluru  and other cities of India is observed to be an outcome of ineffective planning ,inadequate policy enforcement. Therefore,   in the present context   we need to arrive   at an integrated spatial planning support system   and   sustainable urban planning   and policy measures.

  /http://www.deccanheraldepaper.com/ 12.11.18/DH Panorma

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Pandemic - Happiness Conundrum

                          What does happiness mean to us when   the  ferocity  of covid wave  hit the lives  of the people ?  Not a single d...