Urban Modeling for Master Plan Making- A Case of Ahmedabad, India

[Asavari]

Please join us in the IURD conference room (316D, Wurster Hall) on
Friday, June 8th, from noon to 1pm for an IURD Visiting Scholars
Roundtable Series event: Urban modeling for enhancing master plan
making: SIMPLAN for Ahmedabad, India by Dr. Bhargav Adhyaryu.

Abstract:

Planners are usually faced with the decision of what planning policy
to pursue in order to achieve the best possible future! Using models
that simulate urban dynamics, it is possible to test and assess
alternative planning policies, thereby making the decision process
more objective and transparent. Examples are the full-fledged and
complex land use—transport interaction models, which have been
successfully applied in many cities of the developed world,
demonstrating its effective use in assessing alternative planning and
transport policies before finalizing their master plan. However, in
the developing world, building such complex models is challenging due
to lack of data availability and resource constraints. Addressing
such constraints, a SIMplified PLANning modelling suite called SIMPLAN
has been developed for the case study city of Ahmedabad, India.
SIMPLAN is built using available census and some basic employment
related sample survey data, and contains four sub-modules for spatial
trend analysis, residential location, modal split, and alternative
policy assessment framework.


India is rapidly urbanizing and is at a crucial juncture in its
development. The urbanization phenomenon has both positive and
negative effects. It could be argued that appropriate urban
development policies and planning methodology can use the potential
positives to foster better equity of benefits from the booming overall
growth. On the other hand, if India does not capitalize on the
potential advantages appropriately, then in the next few decades the
negatives of urbanization could amplify, worsening city living and
become a stumbling block in its economic growth story. It is believed
that using a methodological planning framework such as SIMPLAN, cities
in the developing world can prepare their own tailor-made policy that
best satisfies their objectives, making the planning efforts count for
improving the quality of life in cities.


Bio:

Dr. Adhvaryu heads the M.Tech in Infrastructure Engineering &
Management (MIEM) program at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India where
he teaches courses related to cities and transport; transport
infrastructure; and quantitative research methods. He also
coordinates and directs the Centre for Sustainable Cities—a centre
recently set up at CEPT to promote cross-disciplinary research with
focus on developing countries and comparative case study learning and
international collaborations. Dr. Adhvaryu is a Fulbright Visiting
Professor at the UCLA Department of Urban Planning and is co-teaching
a course on Sustainable Cities in China and India for the Spring 2012
quarter.

His research and practice interests span a wide variety of interlinked
areas such as sustainable cities and transport; transport
infrastructure planning, design, and management; enhancing development/
master planning using analytical tools and techniques; land use—
transport interaction modelling and incorporating economic aspects
into models of cities.