Is Geographic Information System Key To Urban Planning?

The Pune Municipal Corporation will use geographic information system to track illegal constructions in the city, thus, bringing more properties into the tax ambit. As illegal constructions have been exerting pressure on the existing infrastructure, the geographic information system will help municipal corporations and governments decide where infrastructure should be built, how and why. The system captures, stores and displays information related to geography of a city, and on how urban space is organized in a city.  

Why is it important for urban planning? Cities are very different from each other, and how cities grow and develop have much to do with many factors like the amenities in the city centre, the degree and scale of vehicle ownership in the city, cultural preferences, growth of infrastructure and many factors which are entirely unpredictable. Municipal corporations and urban planners in India rarely have detailed statistical information on such matters.

In Delhi, which is among the most polluted cities in the world, geographic information system can display the most polluted parts of the city, the areas which are more vulnerable to air pollution, and allow urban local authorities and governments to take reasonable measures accordingly. Using geographic information system, urban local authorities can find out the land consumption within the city. For example, if the land consumption per person is high (If the population density per built-up area is low) this means that the travelling time required would be higher than necessary. When vehicle ownership rises in such cities, congestion is the norm. Unless authorities do something about it, this is likely to destroy the core of the city. But, very few cities like London or Singapore have tried to realistically deal with the problem by imposing congestion pricing.

Similarly, using geographic information system, urban planners can find out whether vehicles consume valuable space or not. For example, in New York Midtown where a parked car consumes space meant for 0.42 people, parked cars impose less cost than in Mumbai's Null Bazaar, where a parked car consumes the space of 8 people. It is important to note that even then parking charges in New York Midtown is nearly 40 times than Mumbai's Null Bazaar, though even there, parking is underpriced.

Similarly, geographic information system can find out the nucleus of a city (Where much of the activity happens), and whether it coincides with the central business district. In Indian cities which are dominantly monocentric (With one dominant centre), nucleus of a city tend to be in or around the central business district. But, in more polycentric cities, they tend to be not too close to the central business district. In a monocentric cities, transportation networks should be optimized to allow quick travel from the periphery to the center, while this may not be the case in more polycentric cities. In cities like Chennai, geographic information system can display whether houses and commercial or industrial outlets are near areas which are prone to flooding.

Even though the potential is huge, when used in conjunction with other modern technology, this is largely untapped in Indian cities.