CityForm-India: Sustainable urban form in Indian cities

Dr Nicola Dempsey and Dr Shibu Raman with Dr Seema Dave

OISD: Cities

Contents

• Background information• Urban forms in India • Some issues for India’s rapidly growing

cities • What has research got to do with it? • CityForm-India

India’s population: 1.15 billionChina’s population: 1.3 billion

Some facts and figures

• Total population: 1.15 billion

• Urban population: 286 million– 2/3 of population live in rural areas

• There are 35 metropolitan cities – A metropolitan city in India has at least 1

million residents

1981 1991 2001

Number of metro cities 12 23 35

Population (millions) 42 70 108

Proportion of urban population (%) 26 32 38

Growth of metropolitan cities in India, 1981-2001

Refs: CIA World Factbook (2008); Ministry of Urban Development (2006)

Some facts and figures

• Median age is 25 years

• Population by age

Number % of total

0-14 years 363,610,812 35

15-59 585,638,723 57

60+ 76,622,321 8

Ref: Census of India (online source: www.censusindia.gov.in/)

Some facts and figures

• Labour force (2003) – Agriculture: 60%

– Industry: 12% – Services: 28%

• Unemployment rate: 7.2% (2007)• Population below poverty line: 25%

(2007)

Estimates taken from CIA World Factbook (2008)

Some facts and figures

• Census (2001): 1.9 million homeless • Action Aid (2003): 78 million homeless

• 40 million people living in slums– 1m+ live in Dharavi, Mumbai (largest slum in

Asia)

• 360 million people living on <$1/ day

Ref: Unicef (2005); Shaw and Satish (2007); Dave (2008)

Some facts and figures

• 3,000 registered planners (IITP)

– 1 per 100,000 urban residents – 20,000 RTPI members (1/ 3,000

residents) – e.g. for 1 per 5,000 residents,

Bangalore would need 5,000 planners

– Approx 400 urban & regional planning graduates per yr

• 15% take up government planning posts• Real skills shortage

Refs: Ramanathan (2008) in Town & Country Planning, 77(2): 90-92

Some planning restrictions

• Land-use regulations – Floor Space Index (FSI)

• Very low in India - Mumbai: 1.33; Gurgaon: <4• Dubai: 8-34; Hong Kong: 8-20; New York: 30• Planned high-density devt is currently impossible• This has led to widespread urban sprawl

– Urban Land Ceiling Act (1976)• Restricts amount of land owned w/in city limits• Has been repealed in some states

– Rent Control Act• Rents frozen since 1947• New Acts have been passed in some states

Ref: Dave (2008)

A wide range of urban forms

Shimla

New Delhi

New Delhi

Old Delhi

Delhi

Mumbai

Mumbai

Some issues for India’s rapidly growing cities

Edge growth

• Edge growth (privately financed)– Shift of activity centres– Gated developments/ townships

• Expensive enclaves

Real infrastructure problems in Gurgaon

Unplanned settlements

• Challenges – Poverty alleviation– Clustering of informal settlements– Pressure on basic infrastructure

Mumbai

Transport

• All manner of transport methods– Some more hazardous for health than others– Some more sustainable than others

Transport

• Transport infrastructure differs widely– Mass Rapid Transit Systems– No public transport linking gated devts

Metro construction, Delhi

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Delhi

Translating this into research

Need to examine SUF in India

• Patterns of urban growth

• Policy implications• Delivery and implementation

mechanisms • Urban governance• Poverty and migration

• Infrastructure provision• Relationship between urban form and

sustainability– Lack of existing empirical research

Exchanging the knowledgeExchanging the knowledge

CityForm-India

• Why is OBU involved?– Adopt integrated approach as used

by CityForm UK– In-house expertise on social equity/

sustainability by OISD:SUE

– Strengthen this expertise • within context of rapidly growing

developing countries

www.city-form.org

Real potential to be exploited

• Collaborative India-UK research could:– Constitute the first holistic examination of

sustainable urban form in India– Form an international interdisciplinary

research team– Involve a combination of multidisciplinary

research methods– Incorporate urban form as the common link

in the study of sustainability for the first time

www.city-form.org

CityForm-India

• An important research question needs to be asked:– To what extent and in what ways does

urban form contribute to sustainability in rapidly growing cities in India?

• Built environment experts will come together in an international research exchange on sustainability and urban form

• Key research networking events are planned for 2008-9 and beyond

www.city-form.org

Thank you!