Urban development in India, as in most of the world, has long been the prerogative of a select group of decision makers .This has led it to becoming a top down, zoomed-out process that is largely disconnected from issues at the scale of the average, individual citizen. The Neighbourhood Improvement Plan (NIP) as developed by EMBARQ India in collaboration with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) through its locally elected representative and the residents of the neighbourhood, is an effort towards the realisation of the 74th Amendment Act of the Indian Parliament, which seeks to decentralise urban planning and management, and create a collaborative approach to city planning.
The report serves as a guide to collate the vision of a neighbourhood through a participative process and translate it into specific, measurable and buildable projects for and by the neighbourhood. It defines precise areas of urban analysis and methods that support the creation of clear, achievable goals. It is envisioned that it could serve as an important case study for such initiatives in the future and hopes to empower resident groups to think and design improvement initiatives for their own local areas.
If you have any questions or comments or would like to know more about the subject, contact Sudeept Maiti at sudeept.maiti@wri.org.