%0 Journal Article %J Habitat International: a Journal for the Study of Human Settlements %D 1993 %T Inner City Renewal: Lessons from the Indian experience %X

The rapid growth of cities in recent decades has put urban planners in an unenviable position of ‘desperately trying to cope’, a position that has made for a tendency to place the problems of urban development in a perspective of quantity rather than quality, of provision rather than upkeep. A preoccupation with the design and development of new areas has come to be typical of planning agencies throughout the developing world. Whenever upgrading works are carried out, it is as one-time projects conceived as cheaper substitutes for providing new housing. This apart, maintenance and upkeep of existing, particularly old, areas has been relegated to the back seat.

This has at least something to do with the relative simplicity of tasks of planning new developments as compared to the intimidatingly complex nature of issues related to interventions for old areas. These include, in addition to the more comprehensible problems relating to structure and infrastructure and falling within the domain of ‘housing planning’, a number of lesser understood problems relating to market factors, redevelopment interests, rent control, etc., and falling out of this domain into the wider area of ‘urban planning’. Inner city renewal interventions currently in practice in countries such as India are, indeed, geared to the ‘housing planning’ rather than the ‘urban planning’ dimension of the inner city problem and are conceived not very differently from, say, upgrading strategies for squatter areas or substandard peripheral developments.

While conventional upgrading is undoubtedly an important part of inner city renewal, it is, nevertheless, only a part. Interventions in inner city areas need to include much more and, in paying due attention to this wider comprehension, to include conventional components in not so conventional ways. What such interventions could be like is the subject of this article which appraises India’s experience with inner city renewal through two case studies, analysing the basic factors constraining better performance, and delineating a framework for addressing the inner city problem.

%B Habitat International: a Journal for the Study of Human Settlements %S MPISG %I Architexturez Imprints %C New Delhi %V 17 %P 117-132 %8 1993/01/01/ %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/019739759390049I %N 1 %! Urban Renewal %R 10.1016/0197-3975(93)90049-I