Urban Planning

Urban planning remains one of the most powerful — and contested — instruments shaping cities in the Global South. Beyond the preparation of master plans and land-use maps, planning determines how land is allocated, infrastructure is sequenced, densities are regulated, and public goods are distributed. It mediates between market forces, state priorities, and social claims.

Historically, planning systems in many Global South cities evolved from colonial regulatory frameworks and post-independence developmental models. In recent decades, planning has been reshaped by liberalisation, real estate-led growth, megaproject urbanism, and competitive city strategies. The result is often a tension between long-term spatial vision and short-term economic imperatives.

CIRUS approaches urban planning not merely as a technical exercise, but as an institutional and political process. Planning instruments — master plans, zoning regulations, development control rules, land pooling schemes, transit-oriented development frameworks — reflect underlying political economies of land and infrastructure.