Planners need to keep pace with changes: Smt Sarada Muraleedharan

Planners national meet concludes on high note

Trivandrum / January 11, 2025

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan. 11: In a scenario where changes are happening so fast civic planners need to be agile and keep pace with the changes and come out with sustainable solutions to address multiple challenges, said Smt Sarada Muraleedharan, Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala, here today.

She was addressing the valedictory session of the 73rd National Town and Country Planners Conference, organised by the Institute of Town Planners, India (ITPI), with the support of the Local Self Government Department here.

The idea of planning needs to move beyond concepts to come to grip with real issues and formulate responses that work on the ground, she said, referring to multiple issues being faced by Kerala society including the waste management.

While there is no dearth of master plans that seek to address each critical issue their real test is how effective they are on the ground, she said.

Smt Sarada Muraleedharan also distributed the National Best Thesis awards instituted by ITPI for post-graduate, under graduate and female students on the occasion.

ITPI president Shri N K Patel, Shri Rajesh PN, Chairman ITPI, Kerala Regional Chapter, Shri Pradeep Kapoor, Coordinator (Techno Admin) ITPI, and Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Vice President ITPI also spoke.

The meet, whose focal theme was “Intelligent, Digital Spatial Planning and Governance’, covered a range of live topics relating to urban and country development including technological advancements.

Meanwhile, in a  technical session on ‘Blue-Green Economy for Resilient Future,’ experts noted that extreme heat affects productivity imposes stress on urban infrastructure and they called for adopting a climate-sensitive urban design for the country and ramping up the heat management policy.  

Shri Rajneesh Sareen, Programme Director, Sustainable Habitat Programme, CSE, New Delhi, said Indian cities should adopt heat-resilient urban planning and design, integrating green-blue infrastructure and nature-based solutions.

Ms Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, CSE, New Delhi; Dr Banhi, Chakraborty, Ex-Faculty, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, IIT Kharagpur; and Dr Reshma Vilasan, Assistant Professor, Nitte School of Architecture, Planning & Design, Bengaluru, also spoke.

In another session on ‘Techno-Urbanism,’ Shri VK Paul, Director, School of Planning and Architecture, said it’s the responsibility of the planners to use all the spatial data available to rejuvenate public spaces through designs that comply with human sensibilities.  

Shri N Sridharan, Former Director, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal,  planners should address the issue of digital divide across socio economic classes,  ages, sex and region while designing spatial governance.  

Shri KV Abdul Malik, Chief Town planner (Vigilance), Kerala, said data analysis is important for planning.  

VK Phatak, Former Principal Chief, (Planning Division), MMRDA and Dean Faculty of Planning, CEPT, also attended.  

In a session on ‘Local Democracy and Spatial Planning in Kerala,’ Shri S M Vijayanand, Former Chief Secretary and Chairperson, Sixth State Finance Commission, Govt. of Kerala, said it is important to strive for a spatial planning where every citizen has the ‘right to city’.

Smt Shiji E Chandran, Chief Town Planner, LSGD (Planning), Govt. of Kerala; Shri Jacob Easow, Former Additional Chief Town Planner, Kerala; Dr Ajith Kaliyath, Urban Chair Professor, KILA; Dr Mohammed Firoz, Associate Professor, NIT Calicut; Shri Baiju K, Senior Town Planner (Retd.), Kerala; and Shri Uday Chander, Dy Director, MSRDC, Mumbai, also spoke.  

ITPI is the premier institution of qualified urban planners in the country, promoting dynamic, inclusive and integrated town and country planning practice, education, research and institutional mechanism for vibrant, sustainable and resilient spatio-economic development of towns, cities and regions.

Ends