Land Use Planning for Social Infrastructure in Bangalore Metropolitan Area: Issues and Policies

Abstract

1-Spatial planning focuses on the balanced development of the urban areas. The balanced development necessitates physical, land use planning along with the provision of both physical and social infrastructure. The important services such as health and education are single most important services that determine the social development. The current system of master planning has attempted to provide for reservations of land use through designating it as Public and Semi-public land uses. This includes the category of "civic amenities" as stipulated by the development plan prepared by the Urban Development Authority. Provision of social infrastructure is important from the perspective of the Millennium Decade Goals for achieve the social sector goal. Further, the metholodological problems of arriving spatial equivalent of population per unit area as a mere provision of land use for social infrastructure may not fulfil the actual demands. The development of the land by providing a facility in consistent manner is a necessity. The paper discusses the effectiveness of land use reservations for civic amenities while implementing schemes of Master Plan for social infrastructure in the city of Bangalore. The paper attempts to define civic amenities within the planning framework, the regulations in support of the provision in the new areas and finally the implementation review of the earlier spatial documents.