Integrating spatial development with infrastructure provision along an envisioned transport corridor: A conceptual framework and its application to India

Abstract

In recent years, scholars of urban studies have advocated strategic spatial planning as a way to better integrate infrastructure provision with spatial development in the Global South, especially given escalation in large-scale development projects under neoliberalism. This paper outlines a conceptual framework that applies a multi-method approach to policy evaluation so as to identify gaps in policy integration. In particular, content analysis is used to analyze consistency between policy documents, while GIS analysis and regression analysis are employed to identify and describe the current status as well as the potential future impacts on spatial development. Applying the framework to the case of an envisioned transport corridor in India, the study shows how spatial planning instruments remain detached from infrastructure funding policies, the national government’s spatial development initiative is isolated from that of state governments, and the expansion of built-up area outside municipal boundaries is escalated by state government funding for urban development and decentralization planning. The findings lend support for specific institutional reforms of national- and state-level planning to ensure the integration of spatial development with infrastructure provision.