The optics of satellite towns

Develop satellite towns on the outskirts of the city, was a clarion call given by the ex-mayors during their recent meeting with BBMP administrators and similar messages were put forth by leading architects and planners in various forums.

It was in 1902 that Ebenezer Howard propounded the idea of "satellite towns" through his book, "garden cities of tomorrow". He defined satellite towns as those habitats with a population of 58,000 connected by fast roads and railways near the parent city that is separated by a green zone or green belt!

How can we conceive satellite towns in the outskirts of Bengaluru especially when subsequent master plans have erased almost 830 sq. kms of green belt or agriculture zone of outskirts?

The Lakshman Rau committee in the 1950's proposed five satellite towns for Bengaluru, viz., Kengeri, Yelahanka, Dobaspet, Chandapur and Hosakote, and they are now an integral part of the city, as the designated green belt disappeared.

Kengeri Satellite town remained underdeveloped till the year 2000 due to the nauseating smell of Vrishabhavathi river and mosquito menace. The residents there still feel that they are in satellite town, due to the vast vacant lands of Bangalore University that acts as a buffer to Bengaluru.

It's amusing to see that the earlier proposed "Ring towns" that were termed as "Counter magnets" around Bengaluru, viz., Magadi, Ramanagaram, Kanakapura, Doddaballapur are now labelled as satellite towns. The Satellite Town Ring Road Planning Authority (STRRPA) connects these proposed Satellite towns/ Ring towns along its entire 204 Kms stretch comprising of 331 villages. The Draft Master Plan-2031 had proposed seven (7) Special Economic Zones along the Intermediate Ring Road, which may evolve as Satellite towns, upon its development. However, proper development control should be unleashed to avoid any urban sprawl in the proposed stretch.

Even the proposed Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMIC) that envisaged to construct expressway integrated with five self-sustained townships, could have decentralized Bengaluru to some extent, if it was implemented! The delay in project approval caused distortion to the very vision of the project, as both the authorised and unauthorised urban sprawl has emerged all along the corridor. This may lead to the creation of an "unstructured megalopolis", merging Bangalore and Mysore in the near future.

Why is the state concentrating on Bengaluru's decentralization alone? Today, the broadband infrastructure is reaching the Gram Panchayath level, ushering the development in smaller towns and cities across the state. Hence, every emerging city in Karnataka should come up with "satellite towns and rurban towns" proposals (on PPP Model) integrated with "satellite forests or botanical/healing gardens or horticulture corridors ", to curb any urban sprawl in their respective region. To counter the delay in the development of socio-commercial infrastructure, these satellite towns could be located adjacent to an existing town or a vibrant Pattana Panchayath (Town Municipality) or a tourist potential area and should be developed in one single phase!

The government should come out with "new township act" to promote satellite towns, with an intension to expedite various approvals till the groundbreaking of the project, through flexible rules without compromising the broad principles of planning. The Government should do everything to reverse the ratio of project approval time: project development time from the existing 80: 20 to 10: 90 (in many cases), for the effective implementation of projects on time.

It's quite common that certain experts suggested shifting the population to new habitats and decentralise Bengaluru. Is it possible? In 1950s China adopted the principle of rustication- reverse migration willingly or under coercion people were sent to live and work in rural areas, to achieve decentralization of their cities and it didn't fully succeed!

Hosur became a vibrant industrial town as it used the facilities of Bengaluru, but pays the majority of its taxes to its parent state Tamil Nadu. The same is not true in the case of Bidar located adjacent to Hyderabad. Our state government should do everything to make its border cities and towns significant enough to propel economic development in its hinterland! Hence, we need a robust urbanisation policy that recommends a perfect algorithm of spatial pattern for propelling the economic growth of our towns and cities.

(The writer is an urban planner)