Urban modelling for enhancing master plan making: SIMPLAN for Ahmedabad, India

The Center for Transportation Policy Operations and Logistics and Center for Emerging Market Policies

at the School of Public Policy, George Mason University

invite you to the

Brown Bag Seminar on

Urban modelling for enhancing master plan making: SIMPLAN for Ahmedabad, India

with

Dr. Bhargav Adhvaryu

Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Department of Urban Planning, UCLA

Associate Professor & Head, M.Tech in Infrastructure Engineering and Management Program, CEPT University, India

Monday, June 18 from Noon – 1:00 PM

George Mason University
Arlington Campus
Founders Hall, Room 118
3351 Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22201

Please RSVP to cemp@gmu.edu if you will be able to attend (This is not a commitment but just a gauge for planning purposes).

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 finalising 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 urbanising and is at a crucial juncture in its development. The urbanisation 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 capitalise on the potential advantages appropriately, then in the next few decades the negatives of urbanisation 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.

Speaker Bio

Dr Bhargav 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.