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MODULE 2

SUSTAINABLE
PLANNING
PRINCIPLES

SUSTAINABLE
PLANNING

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AIM OF SUSTAINABLE PLANNING

• Planning to ensure:
• Internal generational equity
• Focus on tackling poverty
• Poverty the primary cause of degradation & distortion of space
• Equal distribution of resources according to common needs of all
• Intergenerational equity
• While undertaking any activity, responsibility for future generations & their needs to be kept in mind
• Trans border responsibility
• Global environmental responsibility

SUSTAINABILITY IN PLANNING
• Developmental strategies & practices that ensure livable, self-sustaining communities
over the long term.
• Sustainable urban planning is multidisciplinary, with innovative & practical
approaches to landuse and its impact on natural resources
• Sustainable solutions include green buildings, open spaces & walkways, walkability,
alternative energy sources etc
• Sustainable landuse planning helps improve the welfare of people & their
communities, shaping urban areas and neighbourhoods into healthier, more efficient
spaces

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PLANNING DIMENSION

LANDUSE INFRA TRANSPORT GOVERNANCE MANAGEMENT

Residential Green infra Public Transport Decentralization Monitoring

Schemes

Business Efficient Infra Reduce Carrying Capacity

Mobility
areas Inequalities

Public services Infrastructure Facilities Political Rights Control

management

Effective use Policies Strengthening Stakeholders

of land Civil Society

Open spaces/parks Local, Operation &

regional & maintenance
global
linkages

PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN

PLANNING Regional Scale
Principles City/Zonal Scale
Environmental Quality & Ecological • Promote environmental quality and • Ecological security framework
Restoration conform to limits on carrying Sponge city
capacity • Ecological restoration
• Conform to water resource
development
• Assess impact on air quality and
plan for climate change adaptation
Plan for ecological restoration
Land Development and Integration of • Conform density to master plan • Land development must conform to
Urbanization and Industrialization • Promote local employment and the functions and industrial aspects
sustainable economic growth of master plan
• Focus on mixed-use development, • Planners and developers may follow
integrated with large-scale Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
infrastructure guidelines
• Build up green finance mechanisms • Public service facilities
• Incorporate innovation and
entrepreneurial spaces

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Principle Regional Scale City/Zonal Scale

Livable & Healthy Cities • Create dynamic urban spaces • Design of public spaces
• Follow city and landscape design • Design of slow-traffic spaces
guidelines • Development of smart communities
• Build continuously interconnected • Planning of green space systems
slow-traffic systems
• Build smart cities

Environmental Protection & Resource • Promote green buildings and green • Promote green buildings and green
Recycling communities communities
• Accelerate construction of water • Accelerate construction of water
recycling systems recycling systems
• Reduce and reuse solid waste Promote • Reduce and reuse solid waste
renewable energy • Promote renewable energy

Social Inclusion and Cultural Promotion • Promote social equality and public • Barrier-free design
participation in planning • Public participation in planning
• Preserve local cultural features • Preservation and promotion of local
cultural elements

WHY SUSTAINABLE URBAN

PLANNING?
• Cities centres of social & economic activity
• Rise of mass production & consumption
• Mass waste generation
• Cities are ecosystems
• Combination of biotic & abiotic elements
• Increasing urban population increasing the ecological footprint of the cities

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PLANNING STRATEGIES
• Compatible linkages between economic, social & environmental dimensions.
• Integrate forward & backward linkages in planning
• integrate land use, infrastructure, transport, governance, and management
having regard to economy, social, and environmental dimensions

ROLE OF PLANNERS IN
SUSTAINABLE PLANNING
• Urban dynamism
• Fast changing urban form and characteristics
• Need for efficient infrastructure & services
• Planners to revitalize cities, to make them recoverable, recyclable and self maintaining
• Address population growth, environmental degradation and resource scarcity
• Guide rational use of land for sustainable urban form

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SUSTAINABILITY &
LIVABILITY
Liveable Cities

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• By far the greatest and most admirable form

of wisdom is that needed to plan and
beautify cities and human communities
- Socrates

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LIVABLE CITIES
• Urban livability is the extent to which a city can satisfy the physical & psychological
needs & demands of its residents.
• A livable community is one that is safe & secure, has affordable & appropriate
housing & transportation options & offers supportive community features & services.
• Enhance personal independence
• Foster residents’ engagement & participation

• Livability is the QOL of the communities dwelling in a specific environment

• Includes built & natural environment + psychological factors (emotions + perceptions).

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MEASURING LIVABILITY
• Measured by factors that provide QOL
Subjective Factors Objective factors
Personal, emotional, spiritual factors that cannot be Measured & expressed as numbers
measured or expressed as numbers
Linked to belief, traditions, spiritual connections to 1. Climate
family, friends & cultural groups - Mild, temperate climate

2. Environmental Quality
- Clean water, air
3. Infrastructure
- Availability of services & facilities
4. Safety & Stability
- People value feeling safe & stable
5. Access to healthcare & education
- Improve standard of living

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LIVABILITY FRAMEWORK
• Compactness
• Make a community walkable, decreases automobile use, create socially vibrant public realm
• Integration of Landuse
• Helps older adults to live closer to work, community activities and services they need.
• Housing Diversity
• Helps ensure that appropriate housing is available for each stage of life
• Transportation Options
• Helps older adults remain independent, mobile & engaged in their surrounding community

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URBAN PLANNING & LIVABILITY

• Livability in and around a space affects whole community regarding health, economy,
education, social life and culture
• Planners to embrace relationship between urban form and urban life
• Planners to identify & retain the qualities of urban form essential to guarantee sustainable
development.
• Cities to be planned to guarantee certain intrinsic abilities to face change
• Urban form needs to be seen as more than a space, but as an interconnected process
between time & space
• Spatial heterogeneity
• Landuse decisions
• Urban form & street configurations have a cumulative effect on emissions

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GLOBAL LIVABILITY INDEX

• Yearly assessment published by Economic Intelligence Unit
• Ranking of 140 global cities for urban QOL
• 30 qualitative & quantitative indicators spanning 5 broad categories
• Stability (25%)
• Healthcare (20%)
• Culture & Environment (25%)
• Education (10%)
• Infrastructure (20%)
• Classified on the basis of:
• Acceptable
• Tolerable
• Uncomfortable
• Undesirable
• Intolerable

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MOST LIVABLE CITIES 2024

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INDIAN CITIES IN GLOBAL

RANKING
• Delhi and Mumbai tied for 141st place with a score of 60.2 out of 100
• Chennai (59.9)
• Ahmedabad (58.9)
• Bengaluru (58.7)

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INDIAN CONTEXT

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EASE OF LIVING INDEX INDIA

• Launched by MoHUA in 2018
• Helps cities systematically assess themselves against national benchmarks and
encourage them to shift towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and
management.
• Key objectives of the Index
• Generate information to assist evidence-based planning;
• Catalyse actions to achieve broader development outcomes including the Sustainable
Development Goals;
• Assess outcomes achieved from various urban policies and schemes; andServe as a basis for
dialogue between citizens and urban decision makers.

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EASE OF
LIVING
INDEX, INDIA
• Aims to quantify ease of
living indicators based on
• QOL
• Economic Ability
• Sustainability
• Citizen perception

• 79 indicators
• 57 core indicators
• 22 supportive indicators

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LIVABILITY FRAMEWORK OF INDIA

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WALKABILITY AND
CONNECTIVITY

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WALKABILITY & WALKABLE CITIES

• Ease and safety with which an area can be traversed on foot.
• Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking, encompassing the presence of
safe and accessible pedestrian pathways, proximity to essential services, and overall urban
design.
• Walkable cities use planning, design and density to maximise walking and minimize driving.
• A walkable city fulfils 4 basic conditions
• Security
• Functionality
• Attractiveness
• Convenience

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WHY WALKABILITY?
• Poor quality of urban spaces dedicated to pedestrians (pavements, footpaths etc).
• Streets not be limited to cars & parking spaces; their potential be utilized.
• Walkability is connected to QOL issues, offering environmental & economic benefits
• Benefits of walkability
• Improves level of safety on streets
• Decrease environmental footprint; reduce
• Air pollution
• Noise/vibrations
• Improve attractiveness of public spaces
• Improves local economy/ local tourism
• Healthy & active cities
• Balance transport system load

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WHY WALKABILITY?

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WALKABILITY
INFLUENCERS
• 5 D’s
• Density
• Diversity (of landuse) – variety
of walkable destinations
• Design – pedestrian oriented –
better street connectivity
• Destination accessibility
• Distance to transit
• Ewing & Cervero (2010)

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IMPLEMENTATION
Scale Actions
Planning Scale • Pedestrian-centric planning
• Compact city structure
• Preventing large areas inaccessible by pedestrians (continuity of walking
trails)
• BGI
• Place-making – attractive pedestrian areas
• Avoiding blind footpaths
• Disabled-inclusive pedestrian infrastructure/public spaces
• Integrated public transport nodes

Street Scale • Places for business & cultural activities

• Wide pedestrian paths
• Increasing pedestrian crossings/FOBs
• Removal of parking spaces on pavements
• Increased pedestrian safety
Detail Scale • Good quality of pavement surfaces
• Placement of installations and architectural elements
• Horticulture
• Maintenance of street furniture, pavements etc

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WALKABILITY SCORE
• Walk Score
• 0-24 points - car-dependent (almost all errands require a car)
• 25-49 points - car-dependent (most errands require a car)
• 50-69 points - somewhat walkable (some errands can be accomplished on foot)
• 70-89 points - very walkable (most errands can be accomplished on foot)
• 90-100 points – “walker’s paradise” (daily errands do not require a car)

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INCLUSIVE
CITIES

WHO ARE THE CITIES FOR?

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INCLUSIVE CITIES
• Inclusive cities are those that value all people and their needs and contributions
equally.
• UN-Habitat defines inclusive cities as one that promotes growth with equity.
• It was defined as a place where everyone, regardless of their economic means,
gender, race, ethnicity, or religion, is enabled and empowered to fully participate
in the social, economic, and political opportunities that cities have to offer.
• Participatory planning and decision making are at the heart of the inclusive city.
• Working poor have access to secure and dignified livelihoods, affordable housing, and
basic services such as water/sanitation and electricity supply.

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ELEMENTS OF INCLUSION
• Spatial
• urban inclusion requires providing affordable necessities such as housing, water
and sanitation. Lack of access to essential infrastructure and services is a daily
struggle for many disadvantaged households

• Social
• equal rights and participation of all, including the most marginalized.
• Social barriers

• Economic
• creating jobs and giving urban residents the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of
economic growth is a critical component of overall urban inclusion.
• The World Bank

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STRATEGIES FOR INCLUSION

• Adopting multi-sector solutions for a multi-dimensional issue
• Combine spatial (access to infra, housing), social (citizen engagement) and economic (jobs, opportunities
for all, skill building, skill availability)
• Combining ‘preventive’ and ‘curative’ solutions:
• Proactive planning & upgrading of infra

• Sequencing, prioritizing and scaling up investments:

• interventions may need to be sequenced and scaled up or down based on context, priorities and needs.

• Harnessing communities’ potential as drivers of inclusion:

• Local communities are in an ideal position to plan and prioritize their own needs.

• Strengthening capacity at local level:

• It is important to ensure that local governments have the political backing, devolved powers, necessary
tools and sufficient resources to make urban inclusion a reality.
• Fostering Partnerships

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UNIVERSAL ACCESS
• UNCRPD
• RPwD Act
• Incheon Strategy
• Make the Right Real
• Harmonised Guidelines & Standards for Universal Design Accessibility, 2021

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7 PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN

• Equitable Use
• Design is appealing & provides the same means of use to all individuals
• Provisions for privacy, security & safety are equally available
• Flexibility in use
• There is choice in methods of use
• Accommodations for right or left handed use
• Allow for accuracy & precision as well as adaptable to the individual pace
• Simple & Intuitive use
• Use of the design is easy to understand
• Any undue complexity is removed
• Perceptible information
• Ambient conditions do not affect use
• Consider individual’s sensory abilities
• Provide contrast between essential information & its surroundings
• Tolerance for Error
• Consider & minimize hazards & the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions
• Provide fail-safe features
• Low physical effort
• Allow user to maintain a neutral body position
• Minimize repetitive actions & sustained physical effort
• Size & Space for Approach & Use
• Provide a clear line of sight to important elements for any seated or standing use
• May reach to all components comfortable for any seated or standing user
• Accommodate variations in hand and grip size
• Provide adequate space for the use of assistive devices or personal assistance

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PLACEMAKING

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PLACE-MAKING
• a place can be defined as a small, three-dimensional urban space that is cherished by the people
who inhabit it.
• Placemaking means creating places and focuses on transforming public spaces to
strengthen the connections between people and these places.
• Placemaking is a process centered on people and their needs, aspirations, desires, and
visions, which relies strongly on community participation.
• Placemaking shows that the creation of places transcends the material dimension and involves
aspects such as sociability, uses, activities, access, connections, comfort, and image, to create
bonds between people and a sense of place.

• Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use to inspire people to collectively reimagine and
reinvent public spaces, strengthening the connection between people and the places they
share.

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DEFINITIONS
• “A hands-on approach for improving a neighbourhood, city or region” with “community-based
participation at its centre…that results in the creation of quality of public spaces.” (PPS,
2007)
• Placemaking refers to a collaborative process of shaping the public realm in order to maximize
shared value. More than promoting better urban design , placemaking facilitates use, paying
particular attention to the physical, cultural & social identities that define a. place (UN-
Habitat, 2016).
• In planning, placemaking solutions incorporate
• Good design
• Community engagement
• Transport links
• Spaces for people to gather

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QUALITY PLACES
• 3 characteristics
• Mass, density and scale appropriate to place on transect
• Human scale – designed for people
• Walkable – pedestrian oriented; and bikable.
• Quality Places should be
• Safe
• Connected
• Welcoming
• Allow authentic experiences
• Accessible – ability to easily circulate within, along and between public places
• Comfortable – address perceptions about cleanliness, character and charm
• Quiet – unless they are designed to be otherwise
• Sociable – have a physical fabric where people can connect with one another
• Promote and facilitate civic engagement.

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INGREDIENTS FOR QUALITY

PLACEMAKING
• Proper Physical Form +
• Proper Mix of Land Uses & Functions +
• Proper Mix of Social Opportunity
= Quality Activities in Quality Places and a Strong Sense of Place

Form – creates the Stage

Activity – is the Play
Response – is how you Feel about the Play Economic – if
good, the Play makes Money (and so will businesses
nearby)
Sense of Place – is strong if the above are true.

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TYPES OF PLACEMAKING
Type Details Examples

Standard • Process of creating Quality Places that people want to live, Façade improvement, residential
work, play & learn in. rehabilitation, residential infill
• Requires engaging and empowering people to participate
in the project
• Incremental projects over a long period of time

Strategic • Targeted to achieve a particular goal in addition to Sustainable, human-scale,

creating Quality Places pedestrian-oriented, bicycle-
• QPs that are uniquely attractive to talented workers & friendly, safe, mixed use, broad-
create circumstances for substantial job creation & income band enabled, green spaces.
growth
Creative • Shape the physical & social character around arts & Museums, orchestra halls, public art
cultural activities. displays, transit stations with art
• Animates public & private spaces, rejuvenates structures themes
& streetscapes, improves local tourism
Tactical • Deliberate, phased approach to change that begins with
short-term commitments
• Short-term projects to transform underused public spaces
into exciting labs by leveraging local partnerships

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PLACES & PLACE • Urban places are embedded in the built environment but come into
being through reiterative social practices
MAKING

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KEY
PRINCIPLES OF
PLACEMAKING
1. The Community is The Expert

2. Create a Place, Not a Design

3. Look for Partners

4. They Always Say, “It Can’t Be Done.”

5. Have a Vision

6. You Can See a Lot Just By Observing

7. Form Supports Function

8. Triangulate

9. Experiment: Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper

10. Money Is Not The Issue

11. You Are Never Finished

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