Planners in search of work might want to consider looking in India. As Nate Berg reports, the Indian government is hoping a new technology initiative will catalyze master planning efforts in 7,935 cities and towns across the country.
Facing a surge of nearly 1 billion urban residents by 2050, the Indian government is hoping that satellite imagery and geographic information systems can provide the necessary impetus to get the estimated 75% of the country's major cities and towns that have no master plans to start preparing for a vastly different future.
"As Post Noon
reports, the government is for the first time making available
satellite imagery to the planners and development officials in these
nearly 8,000 towns and cities," writes Berg. "It's part of a National Urban Information
System that is aiming to give municipalities access to the imagery and
to help develop geographic information system databases that will be
able to inform the needs of these areas as they develop over the next
few decades."
"According to The Hindu,
satellite imagery has been used in recent master planning efforts in
the city of Khammam, about 120 miles east of Hyderabad. Government
officials are using this city's plan as a model for how other cities and
towns can use the newly available imagery to inform the future
direction of these places as they prepare to undergo massive demographic
changes," notes Berg.
FULL STORY: Master Planning 7,935 Indian Cities and Towns

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.

Vehicle-related Deaths Drop 29% in Richmond, VA
The seventh year of the city's Vision Zero strategy also cut the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes by half.

Downtown Portland Ready for Maine's Tallest Building
The city of Portland anticipates a major new urban development addition called the “Old Port Square” project.

The EV “Charging Divide” Plaguing Rural America
With “the deck stacked” against rural areas, will the great electric American road trip ever be a reality?

Judge Halts Brooklyn Bike Lane Removal
Lawyers must prove the city was not acting “arbitrarily, capriciously, and illegally” in ordering the hasty removal.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Borough of Carlisle
Smith Gee Studio
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)