Conceptual Framework for Slum Free City Planning: An Urban Environment Management Approach

Abstract

The status of the environment in an urban setting is a consequence of many interconnected factors. The local context characterized by existing natural resources, urban development & urban services, socio-economic structure and above all the population and demographic trends that influence the demand for these services. The status of current provisions of these services and the capacity of these services in relation to demand, determine the likely environmental impact. Ultimately, the main concern in the process of growth and development is sustainable provision and equitable distribution of welfare and services synchronous to available resources. Intra-city inequality characterized by exclusion manifests as urban poverty and slums. More often slums have been treated purely as an alien problem rather than socio-economical or inclusionary issue. Traditional approaches to attend the issue of slums had been ineffective in the absence of a pragmatic strategy coherent with Urban Environment Management (UEM) approach. UEM approach is a well established approach to manage urban issues in an integrated way in its complete horizon whether they are bio-physical, socio-economical or inclusive; however was not used in its full capacity to deal with slums. This paper attempts to develop a conceptual framework for slum free cities planning using UEM approach taking the case example of India.