Urban Planning in the Third World

The Chandigarh Experience

Madhu Sarin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000691092
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping

Originally published in 1982 Urban Planning in the Third World is concerned with some of the critical issues underlying urban planning in the Third World. Taking the specific case of Chandigarh, planned or rather 'designed' by Le Corbusier as the new capital of Punjab following Partition, the author describes the development of the city, showing how concepts inherent in the master plan and the policies pursued in its implementation not merely ignored, but totally excluded a major section of the population from 'legal' housing and employment. The book sets a distinct theoretical framework, examining the Indian context at the time of Independence, the Western origins of the planning concepts applied in the city, and the process by which Le Corbusier finalized its master plan in a matter of days. The book also examines the social forces determining the temporary resolution of inherent conflicts in the plan and examines the growth of non-plan settlements in the city and the impact of the plan on the lives of the settlement residents.

1
Introduction

This book is concerned with some of the critical issues underlying urban planning in the Third World. Although essentially based on a detailed study of the new town of Chandigarh in India, together with a review of a number of other new towns, it is hoped that much of the analysis will help to highlight the fundamental nature of the conflicts and contradictions confronting urban planning in the Third World in general. The advantage of focusing on the new town situation is that it makes possible an analysis of the impact of planning intervention as an external factor influencing the settlement process.

As practised in market economies, urban planning has consisted of the imposition of a framework of rules, presented as being neutral, and legitimized on the grounds of being in the 'public' interest. However, within the urban Third World, characterized by extreme social and economic inequalities, it is not difficult to show that the neutrality of planning is a myth. Invariably, its impact on different sections of the population is far from equal. But evidence of this alone does not help in identifying the means by which that situation could be transformed. This study is an attempt to add to the understanding of the role of planning in perpetuating the differential distribution of wealth and power in Third World urban areas; the instruments it provides for legitimizing the status quo; and the historical and economic factors which are its mainspring. In analysing the mechanisms by which planning contributes towards worsening the conditions of the working poor, emphasis is placed on identifying the alternative social and economic parameters on which it must be based if this situation is to be changed. Within this framework the problems of housing and employment, particularly the possibilities for their resolution through a more pragmatic approach towards squatter settlements and the so-called 'informal' sector of employment, will be considered in greater detail.

In 'developed' Western countries, whatever expectations people have of urban planning, it is soon evident even to the casual observer that these are not being met. Debates, often heated and sometimes emotional, reflect a state of crisis in the field. Recurrent themes hold planning directly or indirectly responsible for the problems of inner city decay, for inhuman concrete jungles with high rates of crime and vandalism, for the isolated and frustrating life of the housewife in sprawling suburbs, and the destruction of community networks. Planners and planning are frequent targets for public resentment and attack.

Not surprisingly, many Western observers are dismayed to find the reproduction of similar environments in the 'planned' parts of Third World cities and in Third World new towns in particular.

In countries such as Britain and Holland, where the State has been playing an increasing role in the provision of such basic necessities as housing, the characteristics of corporate organizations of both the government and private sector are blamed for destroying 'individual freedom' and 'local autonomy' [see, for example, Turner (1976) and C. Ward (1976)]. What is less frequently discussed is the degree to which local autonomy, particularly in low-income areas, is really possible within the socio-economic frameworks of these societies.

In the Third World, the preoccupations with respect to urban problems are very different. Articulate sections of the population demand more, rather than less, planning action by State agencies. There are appeals to government to intervene in the deterioration of the urban environment caused by the lack of planned infrastructure and services. There are demands to remove the 'eye sores' or 'ugly blotches' of slums and shanty settlements, which are seen not only as marring the 'beauty' of cities, but also as breeding grounds for disease, immorality, crime and other social ills. The problems of dismal environmental conditions and extremely low standards of living are commonly perceived in terms of a need to 'educate the poor' about hygiene, nutrition, education and civic responsibility. Public authorities are pressed to provide cheap but 'modern' housing. When public housing is provided, however, allegations of corruption, bad management, poor standards and unfair allocation abound. Hawkers and street traders are seen as requiring control so that they do not 'litter the streets, selling unhealthy foods and creating traffic problems.' There is relatively little of the criticism, so preoccupying Western urban dwellers, of the monotony of mass housing or the problems of community severance.

While neither of these typical, but contrasting attitudes towards planning reveals very much about the structural nature of urban problems in the two different contexts, they do reveal a good deal about the ruling perceptions in them — and it is these perceptions which dominate public policy formation. They are inevitably founded in the ideas and ideals of the dominating sections of society, and in this context it is important to remember that low literacy rates and problems of sheer survival exclude many in the urban Third World from participating in such discussions. In fact, it is not uncommon to be unable to communicate even the meaning of the term 'planning' to an average citizen.

The planned new towns manifest the contrasts and contradictions of Third World cities most markedly. It is difficult to find a single example where planning has succeeded in meeting its stated goals and objectives. Duality of social and spatial structure - a theme prominent in discussions of Third World cities - is more pronounced in them than in the older 'unplanned' urban centres. In Tema, the new town and port planned in 1950 as the heavy industrial sector of the Accra/Tema Metropolitan Region in Ghana, about 50 per cent of the population lives in the unplanned settlement of Ashaiman, outside the master plan area (Mitchell, 1975:2). By 1964, 57 per cent of the population of Brazilia, planned as the new national capital of Brazil in 1957, was living in satellite towns built in contravention of the pilot plan, and a further 10 per cent was living in squatter settlements (Epstein, 1973:10). The case of Chandigarh, planned or rather 'designed' as the new capital of Punjab in 1951, is no different. By 1971, leaving aside those totally homeless or living in neighbouring villages, 11 per cent of the population was living in partially or totally illegal settlements (Census of India, 1971a). Ciudad Guayana, planned in the early 1960s as part of a major regional development programme of Venezuelan Guayana, by 1974 had 39 per cent of its housing stock developed totally outside the planning framework and a further 22 per cent in semi-planned areas (MacDonald and MacDonald, 1977:34).

The case of Ciudad Guayana is particularly remarkable. Here attempts were made to incorporate 'incremental improvement' of dwellings by the low-income households within the planning framework (Corrada, 1969). At the same time, its planning was a product of combining local technical ability with that of a large team of 'experts' from the Joint Centre of Urban Studies of MIT and Harvard University. Receiving the attention of sociologists, architects, planners, demographers, anthropologists and others using computer-aided studies (Rodwin, L. and Associates, 1969), Ciudad Guayana did not suffer from the simplistic planning approach blamed for the distorted outcomes of other Third World new towns. However, its emerging social and spatial structure is equally, or perhaps more distorted than that found in other new towns. This lends strength to the argument proposed here that the resolution of Third World urban problems does not lie in substituting one set of planning techniques by other more 'sophisticated' ones. A start in that direction can only be made by identifying the alternative socio-economic parameters on which planning must be based if it is to contribute towards improvement for all sections of the population.

The living conditions and standards of infrastructure and construction in the 'non-plan' areas of the new towns manifest the very problems that planning was supposed to overcome. What is more, and what appears to be a greater anomaly, the agencies responsible for enforcing the respective plans have not only been unsuccessful in achieving their objectives, but have to varying degrees themselves participated in enabling the unplanned areas to continue to exist. Effectively, this has meant their defacto acceptance of a dual set of standards for the two components that have emerged – plan and non-plan. Thus, the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) has slowly been directing a small proportion of the public resources for infrastructure and services to Ashaiman. Not only this, TDC has actually 'planned' the layout of future growth there (Mitchell, 1975:15). The satellite towns of Brasilia have similarly been 'planned' and managed by its Development Authority (Epstein, 1973:70). The residents of Chandigarh's 'labour colonies' have no less been living in areas 'authorized' and laid out by the authorities. The relationship between the apparently separate components of these new towns is intrinsically one of integration and unity, but on very inequitable terms. The unplanned parts are second class partners to the planned; the hallmark of their condition being manipulation, insecurity and dependence.

If such developments are taken as an indication of the 'failure' of planning for Third World requirements, what remains inexplicable is why such planning ventures are on the increase and why more and more new towns continue to be planned and built on the basis of the same parameters. Nigeria is in the process of building a new national capital. Tanzania, a country committed to socialist ideals, is building its new capital at Dodoma, planned by Canadian consultants based on critieria no different from those used in Chandigarh or Brasilia*. Egypt, facing severe economic problems, is building a number of new towns in the Canal Zone. The list could be continued. Planned new towns fall mainly into the categories of new capitals, industrial or commercial centres, or those built for strategic or geo-political reasons.

*For a discussion of how some of the urban planning proposals by foreign consultants in Tanzania are based on assumptions of a social structure which are irreconciliable with socialist aims, see Bienefeld (1970; 44-8).

However one of their most significant aspects, and one which seems to have escaped the notice of those who dismiss them as aberrations or unique and bizarre ventures, is that their creation has frequently coincided with an increased State participation in urban and regional planning. Indeed, some of the new towns, particularly the most spectacular and well publicized ones, have represented major landmarks in this direction. State support for new town projects has been accompanied by an evokation of national pride and this nationalist sentiment has in turn been used for legitimizing and increasing the acceptability of planning as a new and major instrument for State control and regulation of urban areas.

While public opinion has been moulded in favour of the desirability of planning per se, the impossibility of its achieving its stated goals has gone by relatively unscrutinized. For example, simple economic analyses are sufficient to show that the high standards chosen for planned development cannot be obtained for all sections of the population†. At the same time, by granting privileges to those groups seen by the State as necessary to economic development within the the new framework (post-colonial) of world capitalism, planning and planned new towns have been instrumental in the creation of new social classes. The nature of these social classes, be they private industrialists, public technocrats, or members of the defence establishment, has depended on the historical, political and social factors operating in the particular context. The point of departure for a meaningful analysis of the function of urban planning in the Third World lies in these factors.

†For a good study along these lines, see Prakash (1969).

Against this background, it is useful to look briefly at the most common explanation for the distorted results of planning practice, and the alternative proposals put forward. The obvious inequalities and the contrasts between high-standard 'planned' areas and their inevitably low-standard 'unplanned' appendages have largely been explained in terms of the 'inappropriateness' of Western planning models transferred to fundamentally different contexts. While this assessment can hardly be disputed, its apparently logical extension, namely that the application of planning models and techniques based on prevailing socio-economic conditions and ethnic life styles would resolve the most critical problems of the urban Third World, has very severe limitations. What it is unable to account for is first, why what appears to be such an obvious solution is resisted so vehemently by the authorities concerned and secondly, why wherever at least some effort has been made in this direction, as in the case of Ciudad Guayana, are some of the same problems reproduced?

Among the alternative strategies emerging from this approach are the upgrading of squatter settlements, the provision of housing sites with minimal services, and encouragement of employment within the informal sector. These essentially attempt to amend planning frameworks to enable them to reflect the status quo, with all its inequalities, rather than changing it. The 'needs' of different sections of the population become defined in terms of what they can afford to pay for. Thus the housing 'need' of an impoverished labourer is best met by an improvised shack and the employment 'need' of one unable to find any other job can be met by polishing shoes.

If Third World governments resist changing their policies in this direction it is considered desirable to persuade them to do so. Agencies such as the World Bank even attempt to pressurize them by making loans conditional upon such changes. Although these policies seldom suggest the allocation of a higher proportion of total resources to meet the needs of the majority of the population, they do bring that majority within the ambit of State control and management through minimal welfare intervention. The resulting image of State parternalism works as a palliative for the political organization of the base of the population. However, in so far as this approach does not attempt to alter the socio-economic relationships which produce large-scale deprivation and poverty, its limitations are clear.

What then is a more useful conceptual framework within which we can not only analyse the forces shaping the outcome of such planning, but also identify the processes by which it can be transformed? And, where does urban planning fit within the wider processes of development (or underdevelopment) taking place in the Third World? Further, what has been the impact of urban planning on the life situations of the working poor? If, as is proposed here, planning serves the interests of the wealthy and powerful, while militating against those of the already deprived, what are the mechanisms by which it does this? Finally, what is the role of planners in this process and what are the preconditions which must be met if their intervention is to be made more positive?

First, it is essential to identify a framework within which the state of underdevelopment can be defined in relation to that of development. One of the major problems in analysing even a very specific situation today is the close integration of different parts of the world through a complex structure of economic and political relationships. It is thus necessary not only to determine the relationship of that situation with its national context, but also with that of the international one. This is important as the interpretation of the nature of these relationships will have a profound influence on the diagnosis of the problems under discussion and, therefore, the potential for their resolution by the alternative strategies now being proposed.

Without going into a detailed review of the different schools of thought on the characteristics of underdevelopment and the nature of problems confronting Third World countries, it is useful to outline the two main, opposing approaches to the subject.

Dualism is a theme of much of the literature on underdeveloped countries, not only in discussions of urbanization, but also of regional characteristics, minority and ethnic relations, and cultural and economic development [see, for example Boeke (1953), Higgins (1961), Ellsworth (1962), Dasgupta (1964)]. The most recent addition to this theme, arising from an increased preoccupation with the problem of high rates of un(der) employment, is the model of two sectors in the economy — the so-called formal and informal sectors (Hart, 1973). The underlying error of the dualist approach is to look at the social segments which manifest these contrasts as if they were isolated from one another. Thus, solutions sought to problems of squatter settlements and slums relate to them alone, while support for the informal sector is sought through strategies based only on its apparent internal and external characteristics. As Epstein has expressed it,

The dualist picture of contemporary national societies is often projected into an image of history that is a contemporary version of 19th century evolutionism - what Hoetink (1965) refers to as 'new evolutionism' of the unilinear variety. While making some allowances for differences between individual countries and regions, this unilinear school describes contemporary world history as the progression of each country from underdeveloped or traditional to developed and modern, and postulates a series of two or sometimes more stages through which all countries are alleged sooner or later to pass. Thus, the more 'traditional' of the dual segments is seen as historically more archaic or less advanced, and it can see in the less traditional of the two segments the image of its own future. (Epstein, 1973:1-2)

Rowstow, perhaps the most well known of these unilinear theorists, postulates five stages: (1) traditional society; (2) the preconditions for take-off; (3) take-off; (4) the drive for maturity; and (5) high mass consumption (Rostow, 1960:2-12). The logical conclusion of this perspective is to interpret the visible characteristics of economic inferiority as a reflection of 'lag' or of not having 'caught on' to the singular path of modernization. The concept of marginality, which is rooted in this view, has led to various development strategies aimed at 'integrating' the so-called marginalized sectors with the modernized core of society*. Writers...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Historical Setting
• 3. Origins of the Planning Concepts Applied in Chandigarh
• 4. Preparation and Framework of the Master Plan
• 5. Conflicts and Contradictions Implicit in the Master Plan
• 6. Development of Chandigarh, 1951—1981
• 7. Growth of Non-Plan Settlements
• 8. The People of the Non-Plan Settlements
• 9. Housing and Investment in Non-Plan Settlements
• 10. The Growth of Non-Plan Employment
• 11. Employment in Non-Plan Enterprises
• 12. Points of Departure for Positive Change
• Bibliography
• Index