It?s not just fancy roads and buildings that make a city livable. There?s a lot more by way of amenities that add life to it. ?By focusing on infrastructure that enhances quality of living, like parks, play grounds and thoroughfares, a city makes the grade,? said Kiran Karnik, president, India Habitat Centre.

More than half of the world?s population (three billion people) lives in cities, according to ?Integrated City Making? ? a report by the Urban Age programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). In India, approximately 300 million people live in urban areas today and account for over 30% of the population, contributing to over 90% of the GDP. It is estimated that India?s urban population is likely to triple in the next two decades, according to the report.

Over the last 50 years, while the country?s population has grown 2.5 times, in the urban areas it has grown by five times, illustrating the fact that city life is an integral part of the economic development process and the country?s progress. Therefore, the manner in which we urbanise is largely going to determine our future.

?A city is more about the people that live in it. And while planning a city, it?s the people that should be thought of first, then the infrastructure needs to be developed,? says Sanjeev Sanyal, regional chief economist, Deutsche Bank and also steering committee member Urban Age and Urban Habitats Forum. A case in point Sanyal mentions is of numerous flyovers being built across the country without sparing any thought to pedestrian walking areas on them.

Similarly, the relatively new areas of Gurgaon, New Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore may have witnessed a deluge of real estate investment over the last decade, but they have failed to create livable urban spaces that really work.

?Gurgaon, a flashy boom town that has emerged almost overnight with shopping malls, condominiums and swank office towers, despite it being touted as ?planned? development, is hardly people-friendly. This is because it neither has a meaningful municipal waste disposal system nor a proper public transport network. As a result, the city, still half-built, already suffers from serious traffic snarls, power shortages and water-supply constraints,? said Sanyal. ?No proportion was maintained between commercial, retail and residential development. It was made free for all,? says SC Jain, partner, Architects Bureau. He feels that with this pace of haphazard development is Gurgaon, it won?t be long before it becomes the second Chandni Chowk.

Hardware vs software

Hardware and software are the terms often associated with the field of computers. But in the field of urban development, hardware is often associated with toll roads, large highways, office blocks among others, whereas software relates to the people who inhabit the city. ?The hardware may be necessary, but by itself, it does not create vibrant urban eco-systems. If poorly combined, it just creates soulless landscapes that serve neither the social nor the economic needs of citizens. Therefore, our future cities need to have the element of livability,? said Sanyal.

The soft infrastructure often tends to be forgotten, feel urban experts. ?The cultural institutions that help a city grow are often forgotten,? says Karnik. Lack of museums in the urbanised and growing cities and the absence of cultural hubs has been a cause for worry.

Phillips Rode, executive director, Urban Age, and associate, Cities Programme, LSE said that there is an urgent requirement for re-prioritising various elements of urban strategy in India. ?India needs to shift its focus from urban `hardware?-oriented development. For a city to work, it must focus on the people who inhabit it and not the buildings,? said Rode. India?s urban agenda is a global issue, considering India is the second most populous country in the world. ?The cities here are faced with issues of social equity, of overloaded infrastructure and environmental sustainability. The way Indian cities will deal with these problems and how the upcoming cities will be planned can have a decisive impact on the world at large,? said Rode.

City planning is a long-term activity which anticipates future needs of society. ?Providing infrastructure after people and activities are in place is fate accompli eg. Unauthorised colonies,? says Dr. Neelima Risbud, professor at School of Planning & Architecture.

The study

The four Indian cities studied (Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore) have a population of almost 35 million people (nearly 78 million including wider metropolitan regions, and National Capital Region), and an economy valued at nearly $360 billion within their agglomerations. These cities grew at different rates in the 1990s. Delhi?s population grew by 70%, Bangalore?s by 38%, Mumbai by 21% and Kolkata by 4%.

According to the report and findings of the study conducted, the growth of these cities was explosive in the last decades of the 20th century, largely driven by people moving from the countryside to work in rapidly industrialising cities. This growth has slowed in recent years, but it has left the cities with intense strains on infrastructure. Roads that were not designed for cars are choked with traffic, with consequences that include increased local pollution, reduced economic efficiency, and a contribution to the global challenge of climate change. Drainage and sewage systems are also overloaded, leading to considerable fatality rates from floods and disease (especially as weather patterns change as a result of global warming).

The cities studied are seeking to use land use and transport planning to secure a more integrated and efficient form of urban development. ?But all face systemic and behavioural challenges,? said Rode. He further added that rapid urban growth has overtaken the planning process, resulting in reactive and often outdated plans. ?Land use and transport planning are conducted as separate exercises, leading to new development without transport, and transport infrastructure that fails to further cities? long-term visions. Also, responsibility for land use and transport planning is fragmented between different agencies and different tiers of government,? said Rode.

?Today planning and plan implementation are getting divorced. Short term visibility is given importance over long term sustainability. There is need for continuous appraisals, greater awareness, debates amongst citizens about urban issues. We need to take bold and sustained actions ? both long term as well as short term for improvement,? says Risbud.

Let us hope better planning in the future will help mitigate these problems.