**4. Participatory planning: a collaborative venture**

The driving force of town planning in India today is towards people and technology centered rather than the conventional government and finance centered. The transformation from centralized to decentralized system of town planning in India is institutionalized and demands more on objective learning environment rather than the subjective learning environment in the town planning schools. The innovation in education system is a must to cope with the tremendous change in the aspirations of modern society, greater access to better information and communication technology, and high-powered infrastructure facilities and services in cities. The provision approach (the government sector project planning) vs production approach (the private sector project implementation) towards building city infrastructure and rebuilding neighborhoods becomes evident in the city planning approaches in India.

Conventionally government-based town planning practices avail support of academics in making development plans/master plans for towns and cities. Later the practice changed into consultative groups making plans with management agenda.

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

cutting-edge thinking [6].

rounding rural areas.

very limited due to a variety of reasons [7].

maximum economic, social, and aesthetic benefits.

assistance to the state governments to set up town planning departments. The creation of town planning departments is meant for preparation of Comprehensive Master Plans for the fast-growing cities and towns. This was supported by a legislative framework based on the Model Law formulated by Town and Country Planning Organization (TCPO). The need for master plan has been clearly defined in various town planning acts of the states and other relevant legislations. Basically, it is a statutory instrument for controlling, directing, and promoting the sound and rational development and/or redevelopment of urban areas with a view to achieving

Urban planning conventionally has been viewed as land use planning through Master Plan Approach or Development Plan Approach following the zoning regulations, the development control regulations, and bylaws which are the legal tools of intervention in urban development, creating exclusions of the people and their needs and aspirations. In India the local governments gain importance when the country enacted the 73rd and the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA), in 1992. This amendment targeted at a redistribution of powers to enable local bodies which are closer to local issues to respond more quickly and efficiently. However, the practices in participatory planning in Indian cities become disjointed and failed to implement decentralization processes. The people involvement and participative planning in India is collaborative between the government and citizen towards the development of their local areas. According to the World Bank, participatory planning is "a process that convenes a broad base of key stakeholders, on an interactive basis, in order to generate a diagnosis of the existing situation and develop strategies to solve jointly identified problems." Urban planning needs an overview of the situation and public interest that must lead the decision-making. It has been demonstrated that the state alone can deliver this and that markets cannot. In the past, the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state has been at the forefront of the innovative planning ideas. It is the time city planners get proactive and regain their

The regional planning approach followed in Indian cities carry rich historical legacy and geographical diversity. They offer an array of economic and cultural profile. The urbanization process in India has resulted in the development of urban conurbations or polycentric urban agglomeration and metropolitization. The Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines of 2014 acknowledge the symbiotic relationship of the rural and urban areas and emphasize on the regional planning approaches as a guide for future development. This approach will maintain a rural-urban continuum and facilitate regional hierarchy by integrating and strengthening the urban centers and sur-

People participation in urban governance has become a concern for many in recent times in developing countries. Many examples and methodologies towards people participation in development and governance have been evolved and upscaled in the last two decades. However, most of the efforts have been used in the rural development planning contexts, whereas very few in urban contexts in India. The existing legal framework of urban planning and governance in small and medium municipalities does not support people participation. The efforts from civil society organizations to promote people participation in urban planning are also

Participation has always been a concern in development practice, particularly since the 1960s. In the early years, many practitioners worked with communities at a local level as individuals or in small groups. During the 1980s, the focus on participation was upscaled. This was reflected in the introduction of decentralized planning and the creation of participatory institutionalized structures through the

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The shift was evident from the academic-based planning practice to corporate sector both as national- and international-based making of plans for cities and towns. But the implementation part of the plans is with the government. The planning education play an important role in importing knowledge, training, research, and consultancy work in the field of town and country planning and development. In practice, the emergence of local and multinational corporate sectors venture into preparation of development plans/master plans is due to the slow growth of academic and learning environment in planning schools in India. Also the organizational climate in planning schools in India both in terms of administrative and academic activities changes the planning practice as corporate and academic collaborative activities. The joint ventures, that is, the academics joint with the corporate sector and practice planning profession as consultative mode is more prevalent in India. This is evident from the program implementation of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission such as preparation of city development plans and detailed project reports for many cities in India.

Participatory planning in the wake of globalization and invention of information and communication technology that facilitates the people involvement in planning is easy as well as saves time and cost. The creation of opportunity by the planning agencies and local government towards public participation is essential and important. In this process the planning education should integrate the people collaborative efforts in educational exercises as well as take actions towards local area development. In this regard the following sections state the practical experience in doing collaborative urban and regional planning exercises.
