The GIZ- Land Use Planning and Management (LUPM) project has partnered with Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India with an objective to apply instruments of integrated spatial planning and land use planning in Indian states. It is vital to understand existing spatial planning processes, institutional structures, and legal framework to recognize the challenges and identify possible solutions. In this regard, a two-day workshop ‘Connecting Mosaics 2016’ was organised by GIZ- Land Use Planning and Management (LUPM) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on 8-9 June, 2016.
Mr. Georg Jahnsen, Director of the Land Use Planning and Management Project has set the context for the workshop.
He broadly defined spatial planning as any construction on the ground that effects the spaces and redefines the land. In a city, land and space are linked and connected with each other. Each element in a City is mosaic-like embedded in a bigger quarter. For example the floorplan of a building has several mosaics which form a building, these form a neighbourhood, quarter, region etc.
Mr. Jahnsen emphasized that a spatial planning at various levels can only be managed through a big public structure of cooperation. This workshop provides the opportunity to take a closer look at this cooperation system in India and to understand the culture of spatial planning in India. In his final remarks, Mr. Jahnsen welcomed all the experts and requested to utilize this opportunity to delve into aspects of how spatial planning is done? How different states practice spatial planning? What experiences are good and where there is room for improvement? What strategies will be useful to bring the culture of spatial planning to peri-urban and rural areas?
Photo above: Group image of all participants
Photo below: open discussion in a "Fishbowl format".
>>> Link for further details of the workshops outcomes