A GRASS ROOT ORIENTED URBAN PLANNING APPROACH TO UPLIFT THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACET OF A CITY USING 2D AND 3D GIS: CASE STUDY ON MEHMEDABAD CITY, INDIA

Abstract. Being a developing nation, India is facing an array of problems owing to the huge population shift from rural to urban areas, thereby leading to an increasing urbanisation trend since the 1980s. As a result, the process of urban planning in India is extremely tedious and requires lots of manual intervention. Although the recent developments in GIS have immensely helped urban planners, extensive ground survey is still a big challenge in the context of Indian cities. In this work, the study area has been chosen as Mehmedabad which is a Tier-3 city in the state of Gujarat. A rigorous grass root oriented ground survey involving each and every household of Mehmedabad has been utilised for both requirement elicitation and site-suitability purposes. With the aid of both 2D and 3D GIS, a city development plan has been proposed for the year 2031. The planning process incorporated population projection, water supply demand, sewage discharge and road network analysis for building robust development control regulations which were essential to improve the socio-economic aspects of Mehmedabad. Additionally, cost estimations for each of the proposed sectors have been carried out so as to maintain an appropriate budget for uplifting the existing infrastructures of the city.