ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the trajectory of modern urban planning in India, changes ushered in during the 1970s till the 1990s when issues of environment, and social inclusion and their impact on the urban form gained prominence to the pursuit of Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that calls for inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities as a globally accepted framework. As the planning process became more and more participatory, new experiments across the globe popularised varied innovations in planning practices. With the help of diagrammatic illustrations of 6 scenarios- Transit oriented Development, Heritage precincts, public space and streetscapes, urban renewal, land use changes and resettlements of large slums this chapter suggests drawing on the principles of participatory planning and good urban places. It also defines the meaning of informality especially as understood in the urban context of India and extends the discussion to slums as the most talked about, popular geography of informality and completely forgotten in the smart city narrative. The discussion concludes with an operational framework drawing from a case study of Gazdar Bandh, a slum settlement in the heart of a commercial precinct in Mumbai.
