REGIONAL PLANNING THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CENTRAL PLACE

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1 ITPI JOURNAL 3 : 2 (2006) ITPI JOURNAL ABSTRACT REGIONAL PLANNING THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CENTRAL PLACE S.R. KUKADAPWAR Faculty in Civil Engineering, Government Polytechnic Nagpur V.S. ADANE Head, Department of Architecture and Planning, VNIT, Nagpur The country has entered into the new millennium with alarming growth in urban population. Total towns and cities are projected to increase to 6,000 by 2021, and 35 million plus cities in 2001 are expected to increase to 70 by Although development plans of over 1000 towns have been prepared and are under implementation, but the urban system is not responding to the requirements of migrant population. To overcome this problem and encourage such a planning process, which would promote sustainable urban growth and regionally balanced settlement systems. It is argued that regional planning should aim at developing larger areas through the establishment of growth foci and by linking the different central places, service centers, growth centers and growth poles in an integrated manner. 1. INTRODUCTION The genesis of regional planning may probably be traced from the Roman history during renaissance period. The first conscious attempt at regional planning date back to early sixteenth century when great genius Leonardo da Vinci through his sketches, demonstrated a scheme for draining the Pontine Marshes (1514). Leonardo also gave a bold proposal to make the Arno navigable by building a broad canal to link Florence with Pistoia. To define regions for planning purposes, administrative convenience assumes paramount importance. This is so because in actual implementation of development plans, the existing administrative boundaries can not be easily ignored. In fact, it is generally these boundaries that have to be accepted as demarcating the threshold for different regions. Political realities and availability of data for specific administrative units makes this practically essential. However, in the enthusiasm of practical (administrative) considerations, one must not forget the importance of the factors of homogeneity and nodality, for neglect of these factors can introduce distortions in the whole planning process. For example, if functional linkages are ignored in defining planning regions we might face a situation where a region so defined includes nodes which have greater interdependence with nodes outside the region. Similarly, for ensuring proper implementation of development plans, the region should have a fairly homogeneous economic structure, as well as topographical and socialcultural homogeneity. Therefore, in actual delineation of regions for planning purposes, it becomes necessary to strike a balance between the considerations of homogeneity, nodality and administrative convenience. Keeping these arguments in view, Keeble defined a planning region to be an area that is large enough to enable substantial changes in the distribution of population and employment to take place within its boundaries, yet which is small enough for its planning problems to be viewed as a whole. Klaassen believes that a planning region must be large enough to take investment decisions of an economic size, must be able to supply its own industry with the necessary labor, should have a homogeneous economic structure, contain at least one growth point and have a common approach to and awareness of its problems. A comprehensive definition of a planning region emphasizing the factors of homogeneity, nodality and administrative convenience in a right perspective is the one given be P.D. Malgavkar and B.M. Ghiara: Geographically, it should be a contiguous unit though it could be sub-divided into plain, hilly tracks, coastal belt, lake area, etc.;

2 The people of the region should have cultural cohesiveness; The region should be a separate unit for data collection and analysis; The region should have an economic existence, which can be assessed from statistical records; It should be small enough to ensure local peoples participation in its development; It should be under one administrative agency; It should not be too small; its geographical size should be big enough to exploit resources and avoid duplication (by way of partially used capacity in neighboring region); It should have fairly homogeneous economic structure i.e. the variation in local proportions of employment and output in agriculture industry and services should be within a narrow range; It should have one or more growth points; and There should be common appreciation of local problems and common aspirations and approaches to their solutions; it should permit and encourage competition but not rivalry or apathy between one area and the other. 2. REGIONAL PLANNING: THE INDIAN INITIATIVE In India the significance of regional planning has been realized many times at different levels of planning. Spatial development for balanced regional growth was stressed in initial national Five Year Plans and accordingly, many regions were identified for development purposes. However, some of the emerging issues from past experiences of our efforts towards obtaining balanced regional development in the country and which need exigent attention are: Satisfactory delineation of the region (geographic and administrative) Distribution of infrastructure facilities and services within a region Adequate functional linkages and access Realistic economic and environmental appraisal Coordination between different agencies at national, state and local levels The 74th Constitution Amendment Act, 1992 has given new turn to the planning process in India. The Amendment requires constitution of a District Planning Committee (DPC) and Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC). The coordinated working of DPCs and MPCs will integrate the spatial planning process of a region in a desirable manner. This will facilitate coordination between the district and metropolitan area. It should also provide a more effective multi level planning environment within the states. However, the efficient mechanism and techniques for preparation and implementation of regional plans in India is still a distant dream. 2.1 Central Place Concept Central place is the settlement, which provides central goods and services not only for their own residents but also for people living in nearby clusters (complimentary region).central place exists because it performs essential services for surrounding areas. The study of central places for balanced regional planning provides an understanding of the functional linkages between different settlements of the region. To carry out comprehensive regional planning it is necessary for planners to know the functional interdependence of various settlements within the region. The central places and central functions while preparing regional plan gives ideas about functional capacity of individual settlements and their influence on its hinterland. Thus intra regional disparity can be easily identified by earmarking poorly served or deprived areas. 2.2 Evolution of Central Places Under uniform conditions, a central place is located in the center of region. The close interaction between central places and other clusters leads to flow of man, money and goods. These flows necessitate transport networks. The networks lead 30

3 to establishment of nodes that is a hierarchy of settlements at different levels and thus complete system develops. There are various factors, which govern the growth of central places such as: Physical factors Cultural Factors Transportation Resource location Political Historical factors Depending upon the central functions performed by central places and the population served, they can be classified as high order centers and low order centers. High order centers stock a wide array of goods and services and serve a large population while lower order stock a smaller range of goods and services and serve a small population. 2.3 Central Place Functions Functions performed by the central place for its surrounding region are called central place functions. These can be named as educational, health, postal, administrative, banks, commercial, transportation, telephone, police, entertainment, tourism, etc. 3. REGIONAL IMBALANCES AND REGIONAL PLANNING IN MAHARASHTRA The Late Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi in her address to the National Development Council in April 1969 recognized the seriousness of regional imbalances when she said, We must also initiate positive measures to reduce regional imbalances as otherwise the tension caused by such imbalances will inhibit the very process of development. Since independence as a result of five year plans, the rich regions have become richer, the poor and backward areas continue in the same state, and regional distress have become accentuated, leading to economic distress and political crisis. Even in the developed state like Maharashtra, the scenario of regional imbalance is also greatly observed, where the regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada remained socially, economically undeveloped compared to the rest of the regions especially from western Maharashtra. The economic backwardness of the region gives rise to social problems like farmer suicides and unemployment. It is well known that natural resources are not uniformly distributed in the country and as per present administrative boundaries. There are areas, which have little or no resources, and there are areas, which have an abundance of them. Areas with high concentration of resources are bound to achieve a higher level of economic prosperity while areas with little or no resources can not attain that level unless development in the resources rich areas deliberately slows down and some resources are transferred to resources poor areas for inducing growth. This type of planning balance will affect production efficiency and loss of opportunities for the nation as a whole. Similarly, past experiences have shown that attempts to achieve regional balance by mere distribution of new industrial and other projects can not achieve the objective balanced regional development. But the strategy of Deliberate Promotion of Central Places can go a long way in reducing both interregional and intra-regional inequalities and promote sustainable development. Once the different levels in the hierarchy of human settlements are integrated and different levels of growth foci (service centers, growth points and growth centers) located in them according to the functional approach, regional disparities may reduce appreciably. Problems faced by nascent and emerging metropolises of the newly formed Maharashtra state attracted timely attention of state government that appointed a committee under the chairmanship of the Late D.R. Gadgil to seek solutions to these problems and come out with recommendations. On the basis of those recommendations, the Maharashtra legislature enacted Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, which added third tier to the planning hierarchy in the state by enabling Government to 31

4 notify regions and to constitute regional planning boards to prepare regional plans for addressing such problems. The Act also included a chapter on New Town enabling the state government to constitute new development authorities to bring into reality establishment of new towns identified in the regional plans. The Act also provides for special planning authorities for addressing problems of undeveloped areas within the jurisdiction of local authorities that in the opinion of state government were in neglected conditions or are being developed in an uncontrolled or haphazard manner. Under the provision of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, the Maharashtra state has taken a lead in Regional Planning and prepared Metropolitan Regional Plans. The objective of the regional plans was to regulate proper and balance urban growth within and around the region occupied or influenced by the major metropolises of the state. However, the plans could hardly be implemented since the Regional Planning Board got dissolved immediately after the preparation and sanction of the plans. The delineation of metropolitan region and control of boundaries of local authorities and implementing agencies could not match. Some of the factors affecting the balanced regional development in Maharashtra State are: Concentration of major urban centers in the western part of the state Disturbance in the occupation structure of small and medium towns and villages Inadequate facilities and services in rural areas Irrigation projects and other development activities causing adverse impacts and affecting ecology of small settlements Delay and shortcomings in plan preparation and implementation process Lack of public participation and awareness in the planning process 4. CHANDRAPUR GADCHIROLI REGION OF MAHARASHTRA The study region is located in the eastern part of Maharashtra. The region comprises of Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts of Maharashtra. It covers an area of 25,923 sq km. Keeping in view the nature of study region, the following central functions have been selected for calculating centrality. These are education, medical, postal service, telephone connection, banks, bus transportation, administration, commercial facility and police facilities. 4.1 Methodology General phenomenon observed is that the settlements with higher population attract the people from nearby clusters by providing variety of goods and services, which are lacking in the clusters. Hence thick population settlements act as a central place in that area. Based on this hypothesis all the settlements above 10,000 persons in the region are considered as central places. Centrality is the measure of importance of a place in the form of its functional capacity to serve the needs of the people in the surrounding areas. Centrality can be expressed qualitatively such as low or high centrality, as well as quantitatively by centrality values that are obtained by converting the functional base of a place into scores on the basis of frequency and importance of the function. The method used for finding out centrality of selected settlement is: The Traditional Method Centrality score of A settlement for function Y = No. of units of function Y in A settlement x weightage assigned to function Y. Therefore, total centrality of A settlement = Algebraic sum of centrality score for all considered functions = Y1 + Y2 + Y Yn Where Y1, Y2, Y3, Yn are various functions considered for calculating centrality of a settlement. The weightage of different function is decided on the basis of hypothesis of every settlement has its own level on the basis of existing central function and its service capacity. 32

5 The traditional method gives centrality of a settlement in the form of certain quantity. The centrality of a settlement for its hinterland is obtained by subtracting the centrality required for settlement itself from absolute centrality obtained by the traditional method. The resulting centrality obtained for excess population of surrounding area is the true centrality of a settlement that proves the validity of that particular town as a central place. To get the centrality for excess population i.e. surplus centrality, firstly, centrality required by individual settlement to satisfy its own needs is calculated. This is calculated by fixing service capacity of each central function and applying it to every settlement, and therefore the strength of various functions existing in individual settlement is checked with respect to its population. On the basis of service capacity of various functional units, the actual numbers of functional units required for a settlement against its population is calculated. The additional functions exist may be considered as functions serving population of surrounding area. The centrality required by individual settlement for its own population is calculated for all settlements above 10,000 persons and it is compared with existing centrality as shown in Fig Sphere of Influence of Settlement An attempt has been made to delimit the sphere of influence of all considered settlements in studyregion to examine their functional relationship with region. The sphere of influence constitutes economic and social zone of control. A brief review of various methods used in calculating the zone of influence indicates that use of empirical methods need intensity field work and it consumes more time and labor. A mathematical model is used to find out zone of influence of considered settlements in study region. where: D= Degree of influence A= Total area of the region Tc= Total centrality value of a settlement C= Total centrality of all considered settlements in the study region R= Radius of circle indicating degree of influence. By using the above model, the zone of influence of each considered settlement is calculated as shown in Table 1 and Fig MAIN FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS Comparison of required centrality with existing centrality shows that out of eighteen considered settlements in the study region (refer Table 1) Table 1. Centrality Scores and Degree of Influence of Settlements Sno. Name of Centrality Values Degree of Settlement Influence R Value in Km Required Existing 1 Chandrapur Ballarpur Waroda Bhadravati Gadchiroli Bramhapuri Ghugus Wadsa Rajura Mul Armori Chimur Sindewahi Nawargaon Aheri Nagbhid Bhisi Chamorshi

6 Fig. 1. Total Centrality of Settlements Fig. 2. Influence Zone of Settlements 34

7 In three settlements, required centrality is greater than existing centrality. These settlements are not able to satisfy the needs of their own residents. Hence theoretically these settlements are not acting as sustainable central places since they are unable to cater to the needs of surrounding region. In three settlements, required centrality is equal to the existing centrality. This means that these settlements are just managed to fulfill needs of own population and have very less centrality and hence are acting as central place at negligible level. In the remaining twelve settlements, required centrality is less than the existing centrality. This means: - These settlements have more functional capacity than required for its own population. This surplus centrality is serving goods and services to the surrounding area and hence is acting as sustainable central places for the region. - Out of settlements, which are acting as central place, many are lacking in individual functions to fulfill their own needs. - The zone of influence calculated for considered settlements covers almost all area of western and central part of the region while eastern and southern part of the region is out of reach of influence zone of considered settlements (see Fig. 2). - The pattern of influence zone shows the imbalance in the study area as large area of west part under double and triple degree of influence which eastern and southern part of region is deprived off from service of single big settlement. 5. CONCLUSIONS Procedure of regional plan preparation and drafting of policy recommendations for the achievement of balanced development of any region should consider the followings. First, appropriate delineation of the region with due consideration for centrality of functional capacities of various settlements should be done. Second, the influence zone of large urban centers especially beyond its municipal limits should be carefully identified for planning purpose of the region. Third, the regional plan policy should evolve a distribution strategy for different central functions. Fourth, the draft development plans of various urban centers within the region should be in conformity with the regional plan. Fifth, the regular monitoring and review of plan preparation, implementation and enforcement mechanism is strongly recommended for the balanced regional growth, development and prosperity of the region. ITPI PUBLICATION Reader Volumes (Rs. 100/- each) 1. Planning Theory 10. Development Management 2. Planning Techniques 11. Regional Planning and Development (Part -I) 3. Transportation Planning 12. Environmental Planning and Design 4. Project Formulation and Appraisal 13. Advanced Transportation Planning 5. Social Formation and Changes 14. Network and Services 6. Statistics and Population Studies 15. Environmental Impact Assessment 7. Land Economics 16. City and Metropolitan Planning and Design 8. Housing 17. Village Planning and Rural Development 9. Ecology and Resource Development 18. Planning Legislation and Professional Practice 35