Why do Amdavadis fight over public space?

AHMEDABAD: For a decade now, politicians have been ranting about ambitions to pit Ahmedabad against global cities and improve it’s Quality of Life (QoL). But our city planners and policymakers have defied every benchmark meant for global cities.
Globally, cities are defined by quality urban spaces. By that standard, every Amdavadi has access to a pitiable 1.33 sq m of space, while a person in Gandhinagar has access to 160 sq m! The root of this problem lies in severe underutilization of urban land. A large chunk of this land lies in private hands. In Ahmedabad, only 18.36% land area is under public domain. In world cities, the proportion of land under public streets and open spaces is 35.44%. Why is that?

In Ahmedabad land is consumed as private open spaces — especially as margins and setbacks around buildings — leading to excessive fragmentation. A recent research paper published by department of political science, Auburn University and faculty of planning at Cept University calculated how in four prime commercial areas — Ashram Road, Prahladnagar, CG Road, and SG Highway — buildings accounted for only 28.3% of total land area. In contrast, in the world cities, land utilization is much higher with 53.77% area being under building footprint.

“It is understood that urban land is in short supply due to restrictive regulations, which limits the maximum amount of built space that can be built by imposing maximum building height and Floor Space Index (FSI) limits, as well as minimum ground coverage, margins, setbacks, and multiple other requirements,” claims the research paper authored by Sweta Byahut, Bimal Patel and Jignesh Mehta.
The paper points out how existing land-use zoning, structural road network, and General Development Control Regulations (GDCR) for the city only creates artificial scarcity of land and raises prices. The existing laws “provides for the allocation of a maximum of 15% and 5% of the gross area for roads and public open spaces, respectively, allowing a total of up to 20% of total land area in the public domain.”
The paper adds, “Planning and land development regulations are uniformly applied across Ahmedabad and that there is a disconnect between planning objectives in Ahmedabad’s 2011 Development Plan and its proposals. The plan imposes uniform low density in the city through ‘blanket’ FSI , regardless of location that may vary from central city to periphery and is contradictory to the plan’s compact city objective. This uniformity creates an artificial scarcity of land and raises prices, since it does not respond to market demand.”
Margins and setbacks?
There is widespread misuse of setback and margin spaces. Illegal commercial activity is rampant across these spaces.
Are margins required for fire safety?
The rationale for margins around buildings is to ensure clear access to firefighting vehicles. However, in Ahmedabad, margins are either in disrepair or are inaccessible. In Paris, there are no margins, streets are able to provide parking for vehicles of emergency services.
Are margins required for parking?
Ahmedabad’s GDCRs permit parking in margins. But narrower margins are often used for two-wheeler parking. Spaces for parking are underutilized and people prefer to park on streets.
Common open plots wasted
Most common open plots (COPs) are used solely for parking and do not provide any other community benefit. These are neither well used nor well-maintained.