Unit 2

Types of Different City Forms with their Important Exmaples

SR.NO. CITY FORM NAME OF THE CITIES
1. Grid Iron Early Greek and Hellenistic
cities; New York; Philedelphia;
Salt lake city; Kazakhhstan;
Almaty; Tel El Amara, Egypt;
Alexandria, Egypt; Mohenjodaro;
Turin; Glasgow; Chandigarh;
San Francisco; Islamabad;
Karachi; Baghdad
2. Linear Stalingrad; Leningrad; Navi
Mumbai; Calcutta; Madrid
3. Fortified Star Palmanova; Florence; Early
Italian cities
4. Urban Star (radiocentric Copenhagen with its finger plan;
form with open spaces Moscow
between the outreaching
corridors of
development)
5. Finger Copenhagen
6. Ring (Donut like) Dutch cities of Haarlem;
Amsterdam; Utrecht; Rotterdam,
Hague and Leiden;
San Francisco bay region, USA;
Delhi
7. Radial Rome; Early Roman cities;
Versailles; Karlsruhe
8. Ring Radial/Spiderweb New Delhi; Mysore; Washington
DC
9. Poly-centered Detroit
10. Ring San Francisco
11. Galaxy (many centres
with their own clusters
but dispersed transport)
12. Baroque Radial Canberra; Detroit; Dresden;
Washington DC
13. Core Dallas
14. Organic Boston; Quebec
15. Cosmic significance Nagoya, Japan
16. Sheet (vast area with Tokyo, Japan; Los Angeles
little or no articulation) or
Dispersed Sheet
17. Articulated Sheet (sheet
accented by one or more
central clusters and
several sub clusters)
18. Radiocentric city (streets Washington D.C, Pre-industrial
are organised in Baghdad, Paris, Moscow, Milan,
concentric circles around Madrid
a central point)
Unit 3

Following the rise of empiricism during the industrial revolution, the

rational planning movement (1890–1960) emphasized the
improvement of the built environment based on key spatial factors.
Examples of these factors include: exposure to direct sunlight,
movement of vehicular traffic, standardized housing units, and
proximity to green-space. To identify and design for these spatial
factors, rational planning relied on a small group of highly specialized
technicians, including architects, urban designers, and engineers.
The rational planning movement developed a collection of techniques
for quantitative assessment, predictive modeling, and design. Due to
the high level of training required to grasp these methods, however,
rational planning fails to provide an avenue for public participation.
Although it can be seen as an extension of Oglethorpe's plan for
Savannah or William Penn's plan for Philadelphia, the roots of the
rational planning movement lie in Britain's Sanitary Movement (1800-
1890). During this period, advocates such as Charles Booth and
Ebenezer Howard argued for central organized, top-down solutions to
the problems of industrializing cities.
In keeping with the rising power of industry, the source of planning
authority in the Sanitary Movement included both traditional
governmental offices and private development corporations. In
London and its surrounding suburbs, cooperation between these two
entities created a network of new communities clustered around the
expanding rail system.Two of the best examples of these
communities are Letchworth in Hertfordshire and Hampstead Garden
Suburb in Greater London. In both communities, architects Raymond
Unwin and Richard Barry Parker exemplify the elite, top-down
approach associated with the rational planning movement. From
Britain, the rational planning movement spread out across the world.
In Paris, architect Le Corbusier adopted rational planning's
centralized approach and added to it a dedication to quantitative
assessment and a love for the automobile. Together, these two
factors yielded the influential planning aesthetic known as "Tower in
the Park". In the United States, Frank Lloyd Wright similarly identified
vehicular mobility as a principal planning metric. However, where Le
Corbusier emphasized design through quantitative assessment of
spatial processes, Wright identified the insights of local public
technicians as the key design criteria in his Broadacre City. The
rational planning movement declined in the later half of the 20th
century as it lost touch with public. Key events in this decline include
the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, USA and
the national backlash against urban renewal projects, particularly
urban expressway projects.
As already explained, in the early twentieth century, Britain's
Ebenezer Howard had a substantial influence on suburban planning.
Howard's ideas for a self-contained "garden city" as an alternative to
overcrowded London inspired Forest Hills Gardens, built in New York
City in 1913 by the Russell Sage Foundation as a demonstration
community, and several federally sponsored communities for defense
workers during World War I in cities such as Camden, New Jersey,
and Newport News, Virginia.
In 1927, Henry Wright and Clarence Stein planned America's first
garden city,
Radburn, New
Jersey, the "Town
for the Motor
Age." The plan
utilized
superblocks, a
large residential
planning unit free
from vehicular
encroachment,
providing
uninterrupted
pedestrian access
from every
building to a large
recreation area within the center and pedestrian underpasses at
major arteries. During the depression of the 1930s the Resettlement
Administration applied the planning principles of Radburn to the
design of three new "greenbelt" towns—Greenhills near Cincinnati,
Greendale near Milwaukee, and Greenbelt, Maryland, near
Washington, D.C.

Unit 4

Regional Planning

Regional planning is a category of planning and development that

deals with designing and placing infrastructure and other elements
across a large area. Regional planning zones may encompass
several towns, cities or even parts of different states, each of which
could have their own planning offices in the realm of “urban planning"

URBAN and RURAL INDIA

Urban Area – Census of India

• An urban area can be defined as:

All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or

notified town area committee;

• All other places which have features as

– a minimum population of 5000;

– at least 75% of the male working population engaged in non-

agricultural pursuits and
– a density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. Km. And
predominantly urban way of life (urbanism)

• Apart from urban area and urban agglomeration rest is

considered as Rural Area.

Different Types of Plans

Town Planning Schemes
The basic concept of Town Planning Scheme is pooling together all
the land under different ownerships and redistributing it in a properly
reconstituted form after deducting the land required for the open
spaces, social infrastructure, services, housing for the economically
weaker section and road network.

• This areas are already under the pressure of the urban

development.

• The process enables the local authority to develop land without fully
acquiring it and gives it a positive control over the design and the
timing of the urban growth.

• T.P. Schemes are joint venture between the local authorities and
the owner of the plots who voluntarily agree to pool their land,
redistribute that land among them and share the development costs.

• The method is extensively used in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

• To achieve the objectives of the Development Plan. Town planning

schemes are prepared giving micro level planning for smaller areas of
about 100 hectares.

Objectives of T. P. Schemes:

• Pooling of land.

• Reconstruction of plot boundaries.

• Provision for social and physical infrastructure.

• Redistribution of reconstructed plots amongst original owners.

• Automatic acquisition of land for public purposes.

• Recovery of Betterment contribution to recover the cost of

development.

Contents of Final Scheme:

– Decide land value of O. P. (undeveloped)

– Decide land value of F. P. (undeveloped and developed)
– Determine amount to be payable or recoverable from owner.

ZONING

Zoning is a device of land use regulation used by local governments

in most developed countries.

• The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses

of land, based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses
from another. Theoretically, the primary purpose of zoning is to
segregate uses that are thought to be incompatible.

• In practice, zoning is used to prevent new development from

interfereing with existing residents or businesses and to preserve the
"character" of a community.

Zoning may include regulations on the

• kinds of activities which will be acceptable on particular lots (such

as open space, residential, agricultural, commercial or industrial),

• the densities at which those activities can be performed (from low-

density housing such as single family homes to high-density such as

high-rise apartment buildings),

• the height of buildings,

• the amount of space structures may occupy,
• the location of a building on the lot (setbacks),
• the proportions of the types of space on a lot, such as how
much landscaped space, impervious surface, traffic lanes,
and parking must be provided.

Most zoning systems have a procedure for granting variances

(exceptions to the zoning rules), usually because of some perceived
hardship caused by the particular nature of the property in question.

Basically,urban zones fall into one of five major categories:

residential, mixed residential- commercial, commercial, industrial and

special (e. g. power plants, sports complexes, airports, shopping

malls etc.).

HOUSING
Housing generally refers to the social problem of ensuring that
members of society have a home in which to live, whether this is a
house, or some other kind of dwelling, lodging, or shelter.
Issues in Housing
Costs are being driven by a number of factors including:
• demographics shifts
the declining number of people per dwelling
Growing Density Convergence, Regional Urbanization
solid population growth (for example sky-high prices in CORE
areas as a rising population pushes up demand).
• supply and demand
a shortfall in the number of dwellings to the number of
households
smaller family size
the strong psychological desire for home ownership,
• shifts in economic policies and innovations in financial instruments
reduced profitability of other forms of investment
availability of housing finance
low interest rates
mortgage market innovations
• public policy
deregulation
land use zoning

Rural Housing Boards

With a view to solve the rural housing problems, the States have
established Rural Housing Boards and such boards build houses to
cover generally the rural requirements with particular attention to the
needs of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker
sections of the society. Rural housing is based on three principles:
 1. Economic Development
2. Improvement
3. Self-help

Agencies for Housing

1. Government: includes Central government, State government,
postal department, income tax department, railways, local
authorities, etc
2. Co-operative housing societies: Bombay was the first to take
initiative and the first housing society known as Saraswat Co
operative Housing Society was registered on co-partnership
system in 1915.
3. Individuals:private enterprise

GRUH
Gujarat Rural housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (GRUH) was
incorporated under the Companies Act in 1986 and has been
promoted by Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (HDFC)
and Aga Khan Fund for economic Development (AKFED),
Switzerland. It is also recognised by National Housing Bank (NHB) as
an eligible housing finance company.

Housing Finance
HUDCO, HDFC, and LIC Housing Finance Limited are notable
housing finance organisations.
Housing Finance Market in India
Affordable housing is housing deemed affordable to those with a
median household income as rated by country, State (province),
region or municipality by a recognized Housing Affordability Index. In
India, it is estimated that in 2009–10, approximately 32% of the
population was living below the poverty line and there is huge
demand for affordable housing. The deficit in Urban housing is
estimated at 18 million units most of which are amongst the
economically
weaker sections
of the society.
Some developers
are developing
low cost and
affordable
housing for this population.

Informal housing

The term informal housing can

include any form of shelter or settlement (or lack thereof) which is
illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not
afforded protection by the state. As such, the informal housing
industry is part of the informal sector. To have informal housing status
is to exist in ‘a state of deregulation, one where the ownership, use,
and purpose of land cannot be fixed and mapped according to any
prescribed set of regulations or the law.’ Typically, the informal
occupant or community will lack security of tenure and, with this,
ready or reliable access to civic amenities (potable water, electricity
and gas supply, sanitation and waste collection).
Common categories or terms for informal housing include slums,
slum settlements, shanty towns, squats, homelessness and
pavement dwellers.

SLUMS

The central government in its Slum areas Improvement and

Clearance Act,1956 has adopted the definition of slum as any
predominantly residential area where the dwellings which by
reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement of
design, lack of ventilation, light of sanitary facilities or any
other combination of these factors are detrimental to safety,
health and morals.

Some of the charactertistics of slums include their downtrodden

appearance, fire hazards, poor health and sanitation, low incomes,
criminal activities, over-crowding, social isolation, etc

Causes of slums

• Decentralisation
 • Unemployment and growth of population
• Lack of education
• Improper use of land
• Industrialisation (housing for labourers not taken care of)
• Lack of zoning
• Migrants
• Inadequate powers of loacl authority
• Improper maintenance, inadequate repairs and lack of services

Slum Clearance
The process of improving existing conditions of slums is known
as the slum clearance and the main four objects of taking up
slum clearance programmes are:
• Bring down disparities in living standards of people of various
classes
• Prevent occurrence of epidemics
• Provide basic minimum standards of essential amenities for a
healthy living
• Remove ugly spots or slums from map of the town or city
There are two methods of slum clearance:
1. Complete Removal method: In this people who are dislocated
are to be provided alternate housing facility. This is often
accompanied by rehabilitation or resettlement.
2. Improvement or Upgradation method: Transit camps are set
during ongoing upgradation

Works of Improvement
 • Construction of open or covered drains
• Necessary repairs
• Opening up or paving of courtyards
• Provision of additional or improved fixtures or fittings
• Provision of bathing places, water taps and light points,
• Provision of latrines
• Realignment of replotting of streets
• Removal of rubbish and debris
• Structural additions and alterations
• Miscellaneous including the demolition of any building or its part
for executing any work mentioned above.

Unit 5
EMERGING CONCEPTS OF NEW CITIES
Eco-city
It is a city built from the principles of living within environment means.
The ultimate goal of many eco-cities is to eliminate all carbon waste
(zero-carbon city), to produce energy entirely through renewable
resources, and to merge the city harmoniously with the natural
environment; however, eco-cities also have the intentions of
stimulating economic growth, reducing poverty, using higher
population densities, and therefore obtaining higher efficiency, and
improving health.
The concept of the “eco-city” was born out of one of the first
organizations focused on eco-city development, “Urban Ecology”.
The group was founded by Richard Register in Berkeley, California in
1975, and was founded with the idea of reconstructing cities to be in
balance with nature. They worked to plant trees along the main
streets, built solar greenhouses, and worked within the Berkeley legal
system to pass environmentally friendly policies and encourage
public transportation.

Eco-city criteria
Several sets of criteria for Eco-cities have been suggested,
encompassing the economic, social, and environmental qualities that
an eco-city should satisfy. The ideal "eco-city" has been described as
a city that fulfils the following requirements:
• Operates on a self-contained economy, resources needed are
found locally
• Has completely carbon-neutral and renewable energy production
• Has a well-planned city layout and public transportation system that
makes the priority methods of transportation as follows
possible: walking first, then cycling, and then public
transportation.
• Resource conservation—maximizing efficiency of water and energy
resources, constructing a waste management system that can
recycle waste and reuse it, creating a zero-waste system
• Restores environmentally damaged urban areas
• Ensures decent and affordable housing for all socio-economic and
ethnic groups and improve jobs opportunities for disadvantaged
groups, such as women, minorities, and the disabled
• Supports local agriculture and produce
• Promotes voluntary simplicity in lifestyle choices, decreasing
 material consumption, and increasing awareness of
environmental and sustainability issues

In addition to these, the city design must be able to grow and evolve
as the population grows and the needs of the population change.
Each individual eco-city development has also set its own
requirements to ensure their city is environmentally sustainable;
these criteria range from zero-waste and zero-carbon emissions,
such as in the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city project and the Abu
Dhabi Masdar City project, to simple urban revitalization and green
roof garden projects in Augustenborg, Malmö, Sweden. The
International Eco-Cities Initiative recently identified as many as 178
significant eco-city initiatives at different stages of planning and
implementation around the world.
Leading examples include auroville, India; Curitiba, Brazil;
Freiberg, Germany; Stockholm, Sweden and Adelaide, Australia.

Challenges: Despite the established benefits of ecocities, actual

implementation can be difficult to attain. Existing infrastructure, both
in terms of the physical city layout and existing local bureaucracy, are
often major obstacles to large-scale sustainable development. The
high cost of the technological integration necessary for eco-city
development is a major challenge. Also, Cities that want to become
more sustainable are faced with retrofitting existing structures and
concurrent management of sustainable urban expansion and
development. The costs and infrastructure needed to manage these
large scale, two-pronged projects are great, and beyond the
capabilities of most cities. In addition, many cities around the world
are currently struggling to maintain the status quo, with budgetary
issues, high rates of poverty, transportation inefficiencies, and rapid
population growth encouraging reactive, coping policy.While there are
many examples worldwide, the development of ecocities is still limited
due to the vast challenges and high costs associated with
sustainability.

Smart city
It is an urban development vision to integrate multiple information and
communication technology (ICT) and Internet of Things (IoT)
solutions in a secure fashion to manage a city’s assets which include,
but are not limited to, local departments' information systems,
schools, libraries, transportation systems, hospitals, power plants,
water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement, and
other community services. The goal of building a smart city is to
improve quality of life by using urban informatics and technology to
improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs. ICT
allows city officials to interact directly with the community and the city
infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city, how the
city is evolving, and how to enable a better quality of life. Through the
use of sensors integrated with real-time monitoring systems, data are
collected from citizens and devices - then processed and analyzed.
The information and knowledge gathered are keys to tackling
inefficiency.

ICT is used to enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban

services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to improve
contact between citizens and government.Smart city applications are
developed with the goal of improving the management of urban flows
and allowing for real time responses to challenges.A smart city may
therefore be more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a
simple 'transactional' relationship with its citizens. Other terms that
have been used for similar concepts include cyberville, digital
city, electronic communities, flexicity, information city,
intelligent city, knowledge-based city, MESH city, telecity,
teletopia, Ubiquitous city, wired city.

Sectors that have been developing smart city technology include

government services, transport and traffic management, energy,
health care, water, innovative urban agriculture and waste
management. Major technological, economic and environmental
changes have generated interest in smart cities, including climate
change, economic restructuring, the move to online retail and
entertainment, ageing populations, urban population growth and
pressures on public finances.The European Union (EU) has devoted
constant efforts to devising a strategy for achieving 'smart' urban
growth for its metropolitan city-regions. The EU has developed a
range of programmes under ‘Europe’s Digital Agenda".

Characteristics
It has been suggested that a smart city (also community, business
cluster, urban agglomeration or region) uses information technologies
to:
• Make more efficient use of physical infrastructure (roads, built
environment and other physical assets) through artificial
intelligence and data analytics to support a strong and healthy
economic, social, cultural development.
• Engage effectively with local people in local governance and
decision by use of open innovation processes and e-
participation, improving the collective intelligence of the city’s
institutions through e-governance,with emphasis placed on
citizen participation and co-design.
• Learn, adapt and innovate and thereby respond more effectively
and promptly to changing circumstances by improving the
intelligence of the city.

Examples of Smart City technologies and programs have been

implemented in Milton Keynes, Southampton, Amsterdam,
Barcelona and Stockholm. An important cluster of Smart City
technological companies exists in Israel with Tel Aviv being
awarded the World Smart City Award in 2014.

Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by

the Government of India with a mission to develop 100 cities all over
the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable. The Union
Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for implementing the
mission in collaboration with the state governments of the respective
cities. The government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has a vision of developing 100 smart cities as satellite towns of larger
cities and by modernizing the existing mid-sized cities. These cities
were nominated by all the states and union territories based on Stage
1 criteria, prepared smart city plans which were evaluated in stage 2
of the competition for prioritizing cities for financing. In the first round
of this stage, 20 top scorers were chosen for financing during 2015-
16. 40 cities each will be selected for financing during the next rounds
of competition.

Transit-oriented development (TOD)

It is a mixed-use residential and commercial area designed to
maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features
to encourage transit ridership while dissuading the ownership of
automobiles. A TOD neighborhood typically has a center with a
transit station or stop (train station, metro station, tram stop, or bus
stop), surrounded by relatively high-density development with
progressively lower-density development spreading outward from the
center. TODs generally are located within a radius of one-quarter to
one-half mile (400 to 800 m) from a transit stop, as this is considered
to be an appropriate scale for pedestrians, thus solving the last mile
problem.

Many of the new towns created after World War II in Japan, Sweden,
and France have many of the characteristics of TOD communities. In
a sense, nearly all communities built on reclaimed land in the
Netherlands or as exurban developments in Denmark have had the
local equivalent of TOD principles integrated in their planning,
including the promotion of bicycles for local use. In the United States,
a half-mile-radius circle has become the de facto standard for rail-
transit catchment areas for TODs. A half mile (800 m) corresponds to
the distance someone can walk in 10 minutes at 3 mph (4.8 km/h)
and is a common estimate for the distance people will walk to get to a
rail station. The half-mile ring is a little more than 500 acres (2.0 km2)
in size.

Transit-oriented development is sometimes distinguished by some

planning officials from "transit-proximate development" because it
contains specific features that are designed to encourage public
transport use and differentiate the development from urban sprawl.
Examples of these features include mixed-use development that will
use transit at all times of day, excellent pedestrian facilities such as
high quality pedestrian crossings, narrow streets, and tapering of
buildings as they become more distant from the public transport
node. Another key feature of transit-oriented development that
differentiates it from "transit-proximate development" is reduced
amounts of parking for personal vehicles.

Opponents of compact, or transit oriented development typically

argue that Americans, and persons throughout the world, prefer low-
density living, and that any policies that encourage compact
development will result in substantial utility decreases and hence
large social welfare costs. The other criticism is that it has the
potential to spur gentrification in low-income areas. In some cases,
TOD can raise the housing costs of formerly affordable
neighborhoods, pushing low- and moderate-income residents farther
away from jobs and transit.

Many cities throughout the world are developing TOD policy.

Portland, Montreal, San Francisco, and Vancouver among many
other cities have developed, and continue to write policies and
strategic plans which aim to reduce automobile dependency and
increase the use of public transit. Examples include Curitiba,
Brazil; Gautemala; calgary and Edmonton in Alberta; Toronto,
Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; Vancouver, New Jersey; Salt lake
City, Utah; Pittsburg; San francisco Bay Area; Milton,
Queensland; LOHAS Park, Olympian City, Tung Chung and
Union Square in hong Kong; Stedenbaan, The Netherlands;
Paris, etc

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is an area in which business and

trade laws differ from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within
a country's national borders, and their aims include: increased trade,
increased investment, job creation and effective administration. To
encourage businesses to set up in the zone, financial policies are
introduced. These policies typically regard investing, taxation, trading,
quotas, customs and labour regulations. Additionally, companies may
be offered tax holidays, where upon establishing in a zone they are
granted a period of lower taxation.

The creation of special economic zones by the host country may be

motivated by the desire to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).The
benefits a company gains by being in a Special Economic Zone may
mean it can produce and trade goods at a lower price, aimed at being
globally competitive. The operating definition of a SEZ is determined
individually by each country. In some countries the zones have been
criticized for being little more than Chinese labor camps, with workers
denied fundamental labor rights.

Free zones and Entrepôts have been used for centuries to guarantee
free storage and exchange along trade routes. Modern SEZs
appeared from late 1950s in industrial countries. The first was in
Shannon Airport in Clare, Ireland. From the 1970s onward, zones
providing labor-intensive manufacturing have been established,
starting in Latin America and East Asia. These zones attracted
investment from multinational corporations.The term Special
Economic Zone can include:
• Free trade zones (FTZ),
• Export processing zones (EPZ),
• Free zones/ Free economic zones (FZ/ FEZ),
• Industrial parks/ industrial estates (IE),
• Free ports
• Bonded logistics parks (BLP),
• Urban enterprise zones.

India was one of the first countries in Asia to recognize the

effectiveness of the EPZ model, with Asia's first EPZ set up in Kandla
in 1965. In order to overcome the shortcomings experienced on
account of the multiplicity of controls and clearances; absence of
world-class infrastructure, and an unstable fiscal regime and with a
view to attract larger foreign investments in India, the Special
Economic Zones (SEZs) Policy was announced in 2000. The Special
Economic Zones Act was passed by GoI in May 2005.The bill came
into effect on 10 February 2006, providing for drastic simplification of
procedures and for single window clearance on matters relating to
central as well as state governments. The remaining part of India,
not covered by the SEZ Rules, is known as the Domestic tariff
area.

Indian SEZs have created over 840,000 jobs as of 2010-11. As of

2011-12 fiscal, investments worth over US$36.5 billion (INR 2.02
Trillion) have been made in these tax-free enclaves. Exports of Indian
SEZs have experienced a growth of 50.5% for the past eight fiscals
from US$2.5 billion in 2003-04 to about US$65 billion in 2011-12
(accounting for 23% of India's total exports).

Special Economic Zone as per Central Sales Tax, 1956 --> A

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographically bound zone
where the economic laws relating to export and import are more
liberal as compared to other parts of the country. These are like
a separate island within the territory of India. SEZs are projected
as duty-free area for the purpose of trade, operations, duty, and
tariffs.
SEZ is considered to be a place outside India for all tax purpose.
Within SEZs, a unit may be set-up for the manufacture of goods and
other activities including processing, assembling, trading, repairing,
reconditioning, making of gold/silver, platinum jewellary etc. As per
law, SEZ units are deemed to be outside the customs territory of
India. Goods and services coming into SEZs from the domestic tariff
area or DTA are treated as exports from India and goods and
services rendered from the SEZ to the DTA are treated as imports
into India.

The objectives of SEZs can be explained as:

• Generation of additional economic activity;
• Promotion of exports of goods and services;
• Promotion of investment from domestic and foreign sources;
• Creation of employment opportunities;
• Development of infrastructure facilities.

The incentives and facilities available to SEZ developers include:

• Exemption from customs/excise duties for development of SEZs for
authorized operations approved by the BOA.
• Income Tax exemption on income derived from the business of
development of the SEZ in a block of 10 years in 15 years
under Section 80-IAB of the Income Tax Act.
• Exemption from minimum alternate tax under Section 115 JB of the
Income Tax Act.
• Exemption from dividend distribution tax under Section 115O of the
Income Tax Act.
• Exemption from Central Sales Tax (CST).
• Exemption from Service Tax (Section 7, 26 and Second Schedule
of the SEZ Act).
There were about 187 SEZs by February 2016. 634 SEZs have been
approved for implementation by the Government of India (as of June
2012). Examples include Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone;
Sricity Pvt. Ltd.,Chittoor; DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon; Unitech Reality
Projects Ltd., Gurgaon; Infosys Ltd. SEZ (Mangaluru), Mangalore
Special Economic Zone, Cochin SEZ, etc.

Special Investment Regions (SIR)

Special Investment Region (SIR) is a concept similar to Special
Economic Zone. However, this is a unique term applied in the territory
of one of the states in India called Gujarat. The Gujarat government
has enacted a legal framework for the SIR – The Gujarat Special
Investment Region Act – 2009 (GSIR -2009) which has come into
effect from 2009.
SIR refers to an existing or proposed Investment Region with an
area of more than 100 sq. Kms or Industrial Area with an area of
50-100 sq. Kms declared so by the Government of Gujarat under
Section 3 of the GSIR -2009 as a SIR to set up world class hubs
of economic activity.

By giving SIR status, Gujarat Government proposes to develop the

investment region /industrial area as global hubs of economic activity
supported by world class infrastructure, premium civic amenities,
centers of excellence and proactive policy framework. "Economic
Activity" is defined in the GSIR Act to mean the activities and services
including but not limited to industrial, manufacturing, commercial,
financial, processing, packaging, logistics, transport, tourism,
hospitality, health, housing, entertainment, research and
development, education and training, information and communication,
management and consultancy, corporate offices, etc;

While Special Economic Zones are primarily developed by private

parties, only Gujarat Government is empowered to establish,
develop, operate and regulate the Special Investment Regions (SIR).
A four tier administrative mechanism is set up for establishment,
operation, regulation and management of the SIRs. The
administrative mechanism comprises of an Apex Authority -the
highest policy making body (Gujarat Infrastructure Development
Board -GIDB), a Regional Development Authority (RDA) for each
SIR, a Project Development Agency (Government has already
formed such a project development company in the name of “Gujarat
Industrial Corridor Company” (GICC)) and project specific special
purpose vehicle (SPVs).
e.g Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR). It is yet to get node
for Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance from State government.

State of Art Residential Zone (SRZ)

SRZ is a notified geographical area that is free of domestic taxes,
levies and duties (both for the creation of, operation and
maintenance of the SRZ) with special development rules to
promote large scale, greenfield, affordable housing projects for the
country’s masses. The SRZ may have a prescribed minimum
number of dwelling units with a maximum prescribed size, and
each SRZ would require adequate social infrastructure including
schools, medical facilities etc.”
Put simply, a SRZ is a unique Zone which contains catchments of
residential properties which have been accorded fiscal benefits in
order to bring down the cost of housing and create a massive
deliberate Urban Agglomeration that services the local
commercial activity and vice versa. The key idea is to create an
interdependent living system which is not only self-sufficient but
also has the potential to grow and inject growth into geographical
areas around the SRZ. The components of SRZ are:

• Affordable Housing: Bringing good quality low cost greenfield housing to

the mass market supported by a sustainable living infrastructure
with integrated schools, medical facilities, play grounds etc
with Income to Dwelling Unit Ratio not more than 1:4 through
optimising responsive space standards, specifications and
technology.

• Uniform Infrastructure & Housing Plan: The SRZ would bring

housing activities under one umbrella leading to better
organization and implementation.

• Employment & Per Capita Income: Massive employment

generation in and around the SRZ leading to an improvement in
the per-capita income and the GDP In addition, various forward
and backward linkages will create additional employment
opportunities
 • Economic Growth of the region: a large concentration of
population would generate allied benefits with business activity
rapidly proliferating around the peripheral areas of the SRZ. It
also provides opportunity for home based activities.

• Controlling Slum Population: Presenting Slum residents with

an option of affordable housing

• Planned Urban Development: Systematic Urban

Agglomeration instead of an Organic one resulting in better
redistribution of resources and upliftment of living standards

• Lesser Time for Development: The time taken for sanctions

and approvals may be reduced significantly by genuine single
window clearances leading to a faster rate for project
completion

While the basic purpose of an SEZ is to bring in economic

prosperity to the region by creating conditions that attract
establishments to set up organized commercial micro markets
with waiver of various duties, exemptions from taxes, State and
Central levies etc, they create the right reward management
systems which motivate investors, developers, State and
Central Governments as well as other beneficiaries to invest in
land and contribute directly to economic properties.