Difficulties of control through planning

First, when compared with taxation (where this is possible), planning lacks flexibility as regards individual preferences. This applies particularly to zoning of flats in Kochi through structure plans. The City Corporation had tried in vain to create exclusive zones for particular development projects but couldn’t implement the plans mainly due to the lack of sufficient powers to implement certain proposals. Not only that, in a majority of the cases, the government had to bow down to the wishes of the local people.

For instance, part-time married women workers might be excluded from employment due to the high transport costs and the time taken in traveling to a factory located in an industrial zone. Thus a firm classified as ‘industrial’ and relying heavily on such labor might be prepared to pay additional rent (including a tax) for a site convenient for its employees, and this would be justifiable if the extra benefits to the firm exceeded the external costs. Moreover, structure plans may impose rigidity over time since the highest and best use of a land resource may alter with income changes and transport developments.

Secondly, planning may not take sufficient account of certain benefits, which exist in the current land-use situation. Thus in the past, structure plans to deal with the environmental problems of inner-city areas have not fully allowed for the loss of job opportunities in such small firms which survived through lower rents, the higher cost involved in traveling to work, the extra cost and inconvenience involved in obtaining odd-job services, the destruction of social contacts, the loss of community spirit, and the elimination of variety, e.g. in employment, shopping etc.

A recent trend that is being witnessed in Kochi is the dominance of the business priorities over all other aspects. A development of a land site is solely determined by its proximity to an existing business area or the possibility of the site under development in itself becoming a major business hub in the future.