Participatory Planning an Inclusionary...

Participatory Planning

– an Inclusionary Process ?

Ansu Susan Alexander Dr. Amita Bhide

Background

• Urban Planning takes best method to reach specific goals towards development of the city ---- physical rather than social goals.

• Lifeless spaces do not define a city --- rather social relations and conditions do… Need of Social Inclusion

• In India, social structure stratified along various lines… been historically denied access to productive resources and remain largely poor.

• Urban Poor are not just those who are economically weak but are deprived of access to opportunities.

• Exclusion as an outcome of the planning process is omnipresent as we have paved out path towards globalisation of cities or rather ‘World Class Cities’

• Planning considered as an expert driven exercise with no link to ground conditions and people for whom the planning is done.

expressed in form of increase in urban poverty, unemployment and violence

• Therefore, Slums are physical manifestations of Social Exclusion

Public Participation as a Planning Principle

Urban Planning Paradigm Involvement of Stakeholder Community during Planning phase

Inclusionary Method of Planning

Identify Felt Needs of People

Bring Forth Consensus

Empower Locally Disadvantaged Groups

Integrate Local Knowledge Systems into Project Design

Two way Learning Process between the Project and Local People

Political Commitment and Support

Accountability in Local Governance

Participation a process of empowerment of deprived and excluded

Public Participation – the Efforts

Through Participation

Sense of Ownership for Stakeholders in Development Intervention

Varied and Inclusive range of perspectives to learn from

Understand realities of the ground situation of target community

Time consuming to take note of everyone’s needs

Effort to bring diverse opinions to a consensus on a decision

Need of additional meetings and materials to explain process

To bring about Social Inclusion in Planning,

Public Participation in Planning is essential.

Participation within the Country

India Centralised Planning System Top Down Model of Preparation

73rd and 74th CAA in 1992 Constitutional Status on Local Self Government

Institutions

Participation as a notion endeavoured through varied methodologies and

levels of inclusion across the Country.

…..through various agencies

Examples: RWAs in Delhi, Kudumbashree in Kerala, Ward Sabhas in Pune

In this context, Participatory Planning celebrated as key method to

Inclusion

Explore the Participatory Forms of Planning and its Potential

to Social Inclusion

Participatory Methods in Kerala

After the 73rd and 74th CAA, Kerala State Legislatures passed the Kerala

Panchayati Act 1994 and Kerala Municipality Act in 1994.

In the Urban Area, Municipalities were to implement Self Governance

through the Ward Committees within Corporations.

I. Integrated District Development Plan

• As per article 243ZD of the Constitution, each State to constitute a District Planning Committee integrating Panchayat and Municipality plans.

• Mass participation to be taken into consideration while preparing the plan

• Spatial Planning, Sharing of resources, Conservation of Environment, Integrated Development and Infrastructure to be included

• Acc to Kerala Municipality Act, Municipal Corportations and Panchayats to prepare Plans and give to District Planning Committee.

• Local Development Plans Integrated District Development Plan


II. People’s Plan : Annual Plans

• Local bodies allocated the functional and fiscal powers to control resources.

• Ensure People’s participation through decentralised planning process…. Not just through public suggestions but through participation at initial phase of plan preparation.

• 35-40% of State Planning Board fund to be devolved for local level plans.

• Annual Plans were prepared with inputs from Ward Sabhas

Demystification of technical and bureacratic plan preparation

“Making People’s Plan Campaign a success is part of the effort at strengthening class struggle” – E K Nayanar (former Chief Minister of Kerala)


III. Kudumbashree: CDS Action Plan

• State Poverty Eradication Mission to wipe out absolute poverty from the State through Women oriented holistic and participatory approach.

• To be implemented through Local Self Governments

• ‘Development without participation a sin’ – Amartya Sen …. Kudumbashree to follow a demand driven self empowerment approach.

Neighbourhood Group (NHG)

Area Development Society (ADS)

Community Development Society (CDS)

• 2 % of revenue of Urban Local bodies to be kept for Kudumbashree programs

Kollam – the Case Area

• Kollam is one of the 14 districts of Kerala, 7th largest in the State

• District has 71 GramaPanchayats, 2 Municipalities and 1 Corporation

• Within District Kollam Urban Agglomeration

• The Kollam city is a Municipal Corporation since 2000 and a Municipality since 1921 55 divisions

Source:

http://www.census2011.co.in/census/district/283-kollam.html,

http://www.census2011.co.in/census/metropolitan/423-kollam.html

http://www.census2011.co.in/census/city/461-kollam.html

• 103 slums identified out of 55 divisions according to Slum Report Card of Kollam

Kollam

District

Kollam U A Kollam Municipal

Corportation

Population 2635375 1110005 349033

Participatory Plans of Kollam

Integrated District Development Plan

• Kollam District Planning Committee only one in State to take up this initiative Pilot Project for the State

• Prepared Conceptual Framework within which IDDP and LDP was prepared with Technical Support from the Department of Town and Country Planning, Kerala.

• LDP Perspective Plan (Policy Plan, Spatial Strategies for Optimum Utilisation of resources and Infrastructure Plan)+ Execution Plan (Development of Physical and Socio-Economic Dimensions, Land Use Plan, Infrastructure Plan, Strategies for Sectoral Development)

• IDDP Perspective Plan (Settlement Pattern, District Level Policies, Regional Infrastructure Plan)+ Execution Plan (Integrated Development Strategy, Transport Network, Location Criteria for Services, Specific Projects)



• Top Down Grass Root Approach

• Draft LDP Draft IDDP (based on LDP Proposals) IDDP finalised on LSGI Suggestions LDP modified acc to Sanctioned IDDP

• Primary Data collection done at Panchayat and Municipality levels

• Stakeholder Discussions held at Gram and Ward Sabhas – ‘participation’

• In Kollam, 2 years spent in training the stakeholders from DPC members to NGOs and also in collecting primary data.

• Only 12 LDPs prepared. A draft IDDP prepared. None Sanctioned.



• Mass participation mandatory but there is no description to ‘mass participation’.

• The consultations with stakeholders were done only partly and not done in all LDPs. It was said to have been conducted through Ward Sabhas and Division Committees. Councilors of Kollam city do not know much about the IDDP which was supposed to be prepared in consultation with them and their ward.

• The Methodology is very ambitious and inclusionary but at the implementation phase, it fails because of time constraints and lack of interest in conducting such extensive consultations.

• The sole purpose of the Kollam IDDP as of now is to be a framework within which the Development Plan of Kollam is prepared.


Annual Plans

• In an urban area, Division committees function and they meet and decide the inputs to go into the Annual Plan. Division committee members decided by Councillor

• There is a rule that every 3 months a ward sabha is to be convened otherwise the councilor could lose his post. But no such thing is happening as it difficult to convene a meeting of such a huge population.

• Even if there are many points made by the Division committee, it is the councilor who decides what reaches the Town Planning cell for the Annual Plan preparation. It is also said that the minutes of the meeting are filtered to meet the requirements of the councilor.

• Controlled participation in nature as the plans are under deadline and consensus taking becomes a hasty process


Kudumbashree CDS Action Plan

• Kollam ranks 5th in comparison to other district in terms of NHGs formed. 10+ years of functioning in the city.

• Empowerment and leadership within few women who continuously hold on to the power while the rest do not get an opportunity.

• Women forced to be part of the NHGs without being aware of the actual use.

• Political Inclinations Exclude and Include a person

• Kudumbashree is nodal agency for all Centre/State Poverty Alleviation Schemes – easier method of beneficiary identification !!!

• Kudumbashree fails as a bottom up approach – it has moved into a charity mode

• CDS plans do not indicate of people’s needs taken up but that of the top down schemes met out to them.


Rajiv Awas Yojana

• Central Govt Scheme meant for improving living conditions of urban poor and slum dwellers. ‘Slum free India’

• Address and solve the land and housing shortage which leads to informal housing

• Limited within states which agree to give settlement legal titles over dwelling area

• Push for pro poor reforms to earmark local budgets for urban poor.

• State Slum Free Plan of Action to be prepared – Slum and Street Vendors

• Participatory manner is mandated

• Slum free city cell in the urban local body to prepare Plan of Action

• Plan to be integrated with the Master Plan of the city to frame regulations to facilitate Slum Free Cities.


RAY : SMP Palace Colony

• SMP Palace Municipal Colony, Kollam chosen as pilot project for RAY initiative in Kerala.

• 1298 people. 290 HHs. 86% BPL category. Density 327 persons/acre.

• Physical layout hierarchy noticed but lower caste so used to the phenomenon that they barely notice.

• To make plan – cluster development committee was formed. Members are residents who are interested to be part of the committee.

Those who continuously engage with higher officials would join while the voices of the weak would not be pronounced.

• Political Inclination again decided whether to be included or excluded

• Those who are on weaker end refrain from disagreeing with proposals fearing rebuke or neglect.

• General public not even aware of the proposals for their own homes.

Within a Theoretical Perspective

‘Typology of Participation’

- Pretty 1995

Different levels of Participation ranging from just being briefed about the Development Intervention to when people become agents of change independent of external organisation

Within a Theoretical Perspective

Passive

Participation

People participate by being told what has been decided or has already happened.

It involves unilateral announcement without listening to the people’s responses.

The information being shared belongs only to external professionals

Participation in

Information Giving

People participate by answering to their questions which would be needed to

complete their decision making process. But no information of why these are

being asked would be shared.

Participation by

Consultation

People participate by consulting for any specific problem which is previously

defined by external agents. It would be a process of control analysis. No

Information is shared and their opinions might not even be taken on board.

Participation for

Material Incentives

People participate by sharing their resources for experimentation but are not

involved in the process of learning nor have a stake in the process

Functional

Participation

People may participate to meet pre decided project objectives after main

decisions have been made by the external agents.

Interactive

Participation

Learning Process through which local communities take control over decisions

thereby gaining a major stake in the planning process along with external agents.

Self-Mobilisation

People take the initiative independently; develop contacts for resources and

assistance and takes control over decisions. This could also be termed as

Participatory governance.

Theory - Ground

Integrated District Development Plan - Passive Participation and Participation in Information Giving

Annual Plans – Limited Interactive Participation

Kudumbashree CDS plans – Proposed Interactive and Self Mobilisation Participation Passive Participation

RAY plan – Limited Functional Participation

Discussion

Participatory Processes in Kerala are many in number but… in the process, creating further layers of hierarchy?

Elite Capture and Politicisation of the Participatory Process?

Historically marginalised groups find it intimidating to enter a participatory space – their thoughts might be perceived as scarcely relevant

So what are the prospects for change in status quo for these groups?

Participation tags along a word ‘Empowerment’ - is that being fulfilled here… If so upto which level?

Structures of Participation do not ensure Inclusionary Institutions – dependent on level of participation

Circumscribed Participatory Planning ?

Discussion

PARTICIPATION

Main Vehicle of Democratisation

OR

Risk of degenerating into an instrument of politics developing deeper layers of exclusion within the Urban Poor.

Participatory Planning an Inclusionary...

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