Cataloguing Wards of Delhi for effective Local Area Planning using Geographical Information Systems

Increased urbanization in an unprecedented manner has resulted in the splitting of urban areas into small divisions for the administrative convenience and effective planning purpose. In India, ward is the smallest administrative unit and has been in attention since 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. This act provided for autonomy to the ULBs to be responsible for the planning, implementation and operation of municipal services at local level. As per the Master Plan of Delhi 2021, all the wards shall have a Local Area Plan (LAP) to meet the needs and aspiration of the local people. The LAP is deciphered at the individual ward level in case of Delhi. There are 272 wards in Delhi and the population of these wards varies from 5000 to 200000. Hence, it is gathered that one approach or framework for urban management at local level may not be suitable for all wards of Delhi and also it is technically not achievable to have 272 individual LAP in the light of both financial and material resources shortage. With this background, the study is conducted and authors have attempted to list the criteria for spatial categorization of wards through literature review with the view to catalogue the wards in Delhi. This will enable planners to formulate strategies suitable for various wards catalogued under one category leading to effective utilization of common resources As a pilot study three important planning criteria - population density, building density and development pattern - were identified from literature studies and Geographical Information System (GIS) application and correlation analysis statistical used over these three criteria to catalogue the wards in Delhi. Consequently, 272 wards of Delhi were catalogued under 9 different categories. The findings are suggestive that physical planning attributes are important tools to define the vast spatial built areas into categories that are more conducive for local planning in comparison to the administrative boundaries delineated on the basis of population only. This may give stimulus to the operative planning at local level and shall enable policy makers and planners to design the strategies which are more efficient in terms of resources, time and are more effective and implementable at ward level. The originality of the study is in the fact that no such study has been conducted in the Indian context that attempts to catalogue built and unbuilt spaces based on physical planning attributes.