Policies and issues in urban development in Sri Lanka: an examination of the inter-domain gaps

Abstract

This paper focuses on the issues with the current policies in urban development in Sri Lanka. Although much has been discussed on urban development related issues for many years, more attention of both the policy makers and the research community is needed since no significant improvements in connecting research, policy and practice are observed within the sector. Finding solutions for the problems at the roots of these issues is not an easy task, but a discourse on them is timely for improved awareness of those who are interested and affected. In order to contribute towards that, attention is drawn to the issues surging from the gaps in three areas: urban management, traffic management and adaptation to climate change effects, which are among the main concerns for present day urban development in Sri Lanka. In order to conceptualize the complex relationships between the policies, practices and research findings, the paper adopts a simple rational model of actors involved in the policy formulation processes which are divided into four mutually exclusive domains: research communities, interest groups, policy makers and the society. The paper highlights that many of the issues are surging from the gaps in between these four domains and hitherto the problems associated with the transfer of knowledge emanate from research findings, inevitable ground realities that are not reflected in policies, conflicts between the policy intentions and the social interests, and the perceptual differences among researchers, policy makers and the social groups.