US civic planners to visit JJ college

Around 20 planners from the American Planning Association (APA), San Francisco, will visit Sir JJ College of Architecture next week to get an understanding of the planning and development process in the city. “They are on an educational tour and have already visited Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. They are coming to our institute next week to get an academic point of view on how planning is carried out in a city like Mumbai,” said Rajeev Mishra, in-charge principal of  Sir JJ College of Architecture.

“Mumbai implements planning policies in a high density zone, which is very challenging. This concept is new to the APA planners. Hence, they are keen to know the practices in our city and South Asia,” said Mishra. Besides exposing the planners to the city’s urban design and planning policies, they will also be shown the projects currently being implemented. These will include talks on busy places like Nariman Point and how they function, and a mill redevelopment project, among others.

The primary objective behind this exercise is to sensitise the planners to the situation in Mumbai and subsequently build a long-term association with them so that it benefits the students of Sir JJ College of Architecture. “It’s important to first make them understand what’s going on in Mumbai. We can then build a relationship with the San Francisco government and engage in academic activities with them,” he said.