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Directions for GIS in Urban Planning
Infrastructure planning
Land-use plan identifies roads in different categories (e.g. arterial, major, highway etc.) that are to be developed over the plan period. Next stage is to implement those proposals. Quite a few of the existing roads in the urban areas thus need widening. For all such road network expansion work, land acquisition becomes critical. Ownership database under the GIS would prove very handy in such matters. Moreover, use of innovative measures like Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) and Accommodation Reservation (AR) for development of road and other reservations can be evaluated in both visual and analytical terms by the standard GIS utilities such as buffer generation, overlaying and clipping,
Planning for utilities like water supply, sewerage and storm water drain within the framework of Development Plan is an equally important task. Augmentation of their capacities in relation to the projected population and economic activities in different urban pockets is a major responsibility of the urban local body. This gives rise to design challenge that can be adequately addressed by GIS functions. Some of these provisions are made by other specialized agencies like water supply and sewerage Board and sharing of GIS database by various departments of a local body or with different agencies can therefore prove economical.
Solid waste management in urban areas is emerging as a major issue. Identifying new dumping sites, evaluating the residual potential of the existing sites, formulation of waste collection and transportation strategies are some of the critical components of this task and GIS can substantially assist in these activities [5].
Planning Disaster Mitigation Measures
Natural disasters like earthquake, flood and fire and now man-made disasters like building collapse due to faulty design and use of sub-standard material and terrorist attack can paralyse the city life and economy to a large extent. Contingency planning is necessary to meet such likely disasters. Appropriate spatial database showing the historic monuments, transport terminals, office complexes and other important places and transport network in their vicinity can help identifying the escape routes and rushing the relief measures by network analysis utilities normally available in a standard GIS software package.
Urban Renewal Planning
Presence of a large chunk of land under obsolete use is a common feature in big towns and cities in India. Closing down of medium and large manufacturing units, textile mills and market yards are such examples. GIS would facilitate assessment of redevelopment plans for such areas keeping in view their citywide impact. In particular, planning the landscape and visualising the effects of regeneration proposals would be simplified.
Planning of Urban Services
Spread of computer and the use of the Internet are expected to increase in future in our urban areas. Posting of planning information on suitable web site by the urban local bodies would therefore become essential. Access to modern and responsive service will be the demand of the urban residents in future.