Urban Regulation and Enforcement: A Challenge

Cities are dynamic yet complex creations of human beings. Throughout history, human settlements have developed around the world, following certain norms and principles that varied from era to era. In the modern history of the development of cities (including the invention of motorized transport), the role that legislation, rules, and regulations play in these processes have attained increasing importance. In Asian cities, the problem is unique in that most cities in this part of the world have urban development rules and regulations in place, but they have generally not been implemented or enforced in their true spirit. Institutional weaknesses are often regarded as the main cause of poor implementation of urban regulations. However, lack of awareness about the existing rules and regulations among both laypeople and professionals, lack of transparency in the system, poor monitoring mechanisms, financial constraints, and other problems can also be recognized as root causes. Most urban development legislation is targeted to create healthy living environments in cities, and compromise with and undermining of these norms negatively affect human settlements at large.