Influencing the Morphological Framework of Peri Urban Expansion in the Indian Scenario

Abstract

The influx of people into urban areas for economic reasons leads to the expansion of cities onto their peripheries, creating peri-urban areas. However, this expansion often occurs haphazardly, resulting in the transformation of agrarian land into a patchwork of built structures and other non-agricultural uses. This unplanned growth, driven by economic factors, undermines ecological, social, and economic sustainability, reducing the efficiency of land use. While historically Indian cities were meticulously planned, contemporary urban expansion lacks a cohesive legal framework to guide spatial development. Consequently, peri-urban areas are shaping the spatial structure of Indian cities without proper oversight. Cities in India have taken up a varied range of planning methods to urbanize their land, ranging from sector model in Gurgaon and Chandigarh, to planning the city from its inception like Amaravathi. Tier I cities due to its enormous population size, make it unfeasible to accommodate all the inhabitants into one large urbanized area, have adopted the concept of satellite towns, distributing and sharing its responsibilities at the same time. Tier II cities however do not have the necessity to adopt to the method of satellite towns. The sector model creates a certain sense of place which may become ubiquitous in practice. Newer extensions of cities like the peripheries of Pune, the urban environment that exists caters to a lifestyle that is car oriented while enforcing a lifestyle different to that of the Indian Cities. The gated residential communities have popped up in large numbers due to the easy consolidation of land, while providing housing to a certain class of society, creating a society that resides in a segregated manner from the rest of the world. Public realm should be accessible to all irrespective of their economic, religious or social status. Our laws and policies have yet failed to provide equitable access of resources to all. The process of urbanization in the peri-urban areas start from the conversion of agricultural land to other uses. Once the land use is changed, the land undergoes transformation and smaller plots are created. These layouts are drawn referring the local development norms for land development. These norms are implicit and ambiguous in nature that result in a range of building forms, which may or may not be appropriate for the communities. Such development does not respect the social structure of the place and are not ecologically sensitive causing irreversible damage to environment. The built environment, resultant of the form is also dependent on the efficiency of construction materials and the prevalent mechanisms in place. What should the ideal morphology of these economically driven peripheral areas should be? How do we envisage the spatial growth of our cities? The underlying goal is to improve the quality of life, which under the purview of Urban Design can be achieved by enhancing the spatial quality of the built environment. This entails investigating the morphological characteristics of settlements, examining the evolution of land parcels and plots, and subsequently, the resulting built environment. The thesis will explore strategies for ensuring desired morphological development through proposed guidelines and legal norms that can be integrated and enforced within our legal framework. Specifically, it aims to tackle challenges presented by periurban development, offering sustainable growth solutions for Indian cities and outlining mechanisms for their integration and enforcement within our legal systems.