Call For New Urbanism

Since we are seeing a rapid growth in Delhi, there is a call for new Urbanism, lot of initiatives has been taken at the government and DDA level and we are seeing the concepts of New Urbanism and smart cities being promoted. It is an urban design movement, which promotes walk to work culture, containing a range of housing and job types.

NEW URBANISM is being promoted for Delhi as an initiative by DDA like L- Zone next to Dwarka, which promotes the creation and restoration of diverse, walk to work, compact, vibrant, mixed-use communities composed of the same components as conventional development, but assembled in a more integrated fashion, in the form of complete communities. These shall contain housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks, and civic facilities essential to the daily lives of the residents, all within easy walking distance of each other. New Urbanism will promote the increased use of trains and light rail, instead of more highways and roads. Urban living shall become the new hip and modern way to live for people of all ages.

NEW URBANISM is the most important planning movement of this century, and is about creating a better future for us all. It is an international movement to reform the design of the built environment, and is about raising our quality of life and standard of living by creating better places to live. New Urbanism is the revival of our lost art of place making, and is essentially a re-ordering of the built environment into the form of complete cities, towns, and neighborhoods - the way communities have been built for centuries around the world. New Urbanism involves fixing and infilling cities, as well as the creation of compact new towns and cities.

Our New Smart Cities shall have following features:

1. Walkability

- Most things within a 10-minute walk of home and work. - Pedestrian friendly street design (buildings close to street; tree-lined streets; on street parking; hidden parking lots; garages in rear lane; slow speed streets). - Pedestrian streets free of cars in special cases.

2. Connectivity -Interconnected street grid network, which disperses traffic & eases walking -A hierarchy of streets, boulevards, and alleys. -High quality pedestrian network and public realm shall make walking pleasurable

3. Mixed-Use and Diversity -A mix of shops, offices, apartments, and homes on site. Mixed-use within neighborhoods, within blocks, and within buildings. -Diversity of people - of ages, income levels, cultures, and races.

4. Mixed Housing A range of types, sizes and prices in closer proximity

5. Quality Architecture & Urban Design Emphasis on beauty, aesthetics, human comfort, and creating a sense of place; Special placement of civic uses and sites within community. Human scale architecture & beautiful surroundings nourishing the human spirit

6. Increased Density

-More buildings, residences, shops, and services closer together for ease of walking, to enable a more efficient use of services and resources, and to create a more convenient, enjoyable place to live. -New Urbanism design principles to be applied at the full range of densities from small towns, to large cities

7. Smart Transportation -A network of high-quality metro connecting cities, towns, and neighborhoods together -Pedestrian-friendly design that encourages a greater use of bicycles, rollerblades, scooters, and walking as daily transportation

8. Sustainability -Minimal environmental impact of development and its operations -Eco-friendly technologies, respect for ecology and value of natural systems -Energy efficiency -Less use of finite fuels -More local production -More walking, less driving

9. Quality of Life Taken together these add up to a high quality of life well worth living, and create places that enrich, uplift, and inspire the human spirit.

10. BENEFITS TO RESIDENTS

Higher quality of life; Better places to live, work, & play; Higher, more stable property values; Less traffic congestion & less driving; Healthier lifestyle with more walking, and less stress; Close proximity to main street retail & services; Close proximity to bike trails, parks, and nature; Pedestrian friendly communities offer more opportunities to get to know others in the neighborhood and town, resulting in meaningful relationships with more people, and a friendlier town; More freedom and independence to children, elderly, and the poor in being able to get to jobs, recreation, and services without the need for a car or someone to drive them; Great savings to residents and school boards in reduced commuting costs from children being able to walk or bicycle to neighborhood schools; More diversity and smaller, unique shops and services with local owners who are involved in community; Big savings by driving less, and owning less cars; Less ugly, congested sprawl to deal with daily; Better sense of place and community identity with more unique architecture; More open space to enjoy.

11. BENEFITS TO BUSINESSES Increased sales due to more foot traffic & people spending less on cars and gas; More profits due to spending less on advertising and large signs; Better lifestyle by living above shop in live-work units - saves the stressful & costly commute; Economies of scale in marketing due to close proximity and cooperation with other local businesses; Smaller spaces promote small local business incubation; Lower rents due to smaller spaces & smaller parking lots; Healthier lifestyle due to more walking and being near healthier restaurants; More community involvement from being part of community and knowing residents.

Planning for compact growth, rather than letting it sprawl out, has the potential to greatly increase the quality of the environment. It also prevents congestion problems and the environmental degradation normally associated with growth. Looking forward for such Smart City in Delhi.

The New Town Concept

India’s economy is expanding rapidly. By 2030 it is expected to have grown by five times, buoyed largely by the country’s urban centers. During the same period, the country’s labour force is expected to grow by 270 million workers, with urban jobs accounting for 70% of that growth. Today, India is less than 30 per cent urban and the quality of life in its cities is chronically low. However, with 2/3rds of GDP already generated in India’s cities and rural to urban migration patterns accelerating, the country faces a critical challenge: managing this rapid urbanization in a way that enhances the livability of India’s urban spaces.

There is no doubt that we need to nurture, preserve and renew the urban fabric of Delhi with changing times. However, there would be limits beyond which things would become very difficult to sustain. What was once a village grows into a town, a city, a metropolis, a megapolis and then slowly begins to decay into a ‘necropolis’. This is the right time for Delhi to turn into a Smart City. Planned cities have been built in the past also; we have few examples of planned cities in India, like Chandigarh, designed by French architect Le Corbusier. But the scale of its current push is unprecedented. Among the challenges to getting new cities built or existing cities transformed is the lack of experts who can make such huge projects work and of course attracting private finance.

The ‘new town’ concept, which came up a long time ago took cognisance of the inherent nature of things and tried to overcome urban decay by creating new planned settlements far away from the big metropolitan cities so that population aggregation at one place could be arrested and a more balanced distribution could be achieved. It was believed that this would over time help in building new communities and helps the parent metropolis to remain healthy and survive longer. Regional development became a new area of interest and practice. At times, new towns have also come to be called ‘satellite towns’ as they are attached and function along with a parent metropolis. Delhi has had huge extensions, which are almost like new towns. Some examples are Rohini, Dwarka and Narela as extensions to Delhi. Noida, Greater Noida, Manesar, Bhiwadi, Riwari, Neemrana, Faridabad, etc… are other examples of such new Satellite towns.

What needs to be noted here is the active and prime moving role of the government. Unless and until the government takes a keen interest in this, the procurement of large tracts of land and the development of a town, bearing in mind all the social requirements and making it inclusive will not just happen. Most states in India today have township policies. State governments, instead of themselves developing land, have now started encouraging the private real estate sector to come in and develop towns. More often than not, areas of conflict of interest would come about. The basic motive of profit makes the realisation of the social objective secondary.Unfortunately, most of these private sector real estate initiatives have ended up in developments, which are too small, fragmented, in odd shapes and sizes and mostly catering to the very high income population and far from inclusive.

With the mess that most Indian megacities are in, it is inevitable not only to drastically take steps to rehabilitate infrastructure in existing cities but build new cities to accommodate this burst in urban population. In many cases, if not all, retrofitting old cities with improved infrastructure and playing the 'catching-up' game is a more expensive and difficult-to-implement agenda. It is logical and quicker to build entire new smart cities from scratch instead.

These new cities need to take advantage of new transport infrastructure that is being planned, such as the high-speed rail (HSR). Railway Budget 2012 announced formation of High Speed Rail Authority to run these trains, detailed surveys to be undertaken shortly. Studies have also been commissioned on six corridors after which implementation of these projects would begin. Once completed, HSR will reshape the urbanization process in the country. The urban sprawl presently limited to 30-50 km from the city centre will change into a 300-500 km long conurbations linking central business districts of multiple cities, forming urban economies of global scale and size. Once complete, Delhi will be linked right up to Amritsar via Chandigarh and Ludhiana. People will live in Chandigarh or Ludhiana and work in Delhi with HSR making this daily commute possible within cities. This presents a huge opportunity for setting up new cities along the HSR route.

These cities can be developed as smart and intelligent, focused on becoming engines for innovation and research. Linked with HSR, they will get the momentum to survive and develop independently. The new cities in India would also be frontiers of modern technology and forward looking urban planning techniques developed around HSR stations. These cities would typically house 0.5- 1.0 million residents over the next 10-15 years, spread over around 100 sq km, developed along the Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The real estate potential of HSR would be fully exploited by developing these new cities and, instead, be used as a tool to cross-subsidize the development costs for constructing and operating the HSR lines.

India struggles with a number of significant barriers that continue to hamper the development of urban infrastructure: complex leadership structures, land valuation challenges, capability gaps, and funding shortfalls are all part of the urban challenge that is effectively holding India back from a new round of dramatic economic growth. India also needs to address the current problems of developing good infrastructure, solid waste disposal, flood management, storm water and sewerage system etc. resulting in urban decay, traffic gridlock and thereby a deteriorating quality of life for many of its citizens.

The wave of urbanization that is sweeping across India represents one of the country's greatest opportunities as well as one of its most serious challenges. According to the report on 'India's Urban Awakening' by McKinsey Global Institute, in the next 20 years, India will have 68 cities with a population over one million – up from 42 today. That is nearly twice as many cities as all of Europe. Most cities in Europe and America were established in the 19th century when there was easy availability of land, gas and water. India is a late starter and is far more crowded and complex.

Therefore India requires a far more efficient and sustainable solution for servicing urban areas and can reap the benefits by using technology to learn from practices from other parts of the world. Thus India, too, is on the road to building smart cities—world-class, self-sustainable habitats with minimal pollution levels, maximum recycling, optimized energy supplies and efficient public transportation. The cities would come very much in and surrounding Delhi. In this endeavor to transform the rapidly growing urban areas into smarter cities, a collaborative partnership between government, industry, academia, and civil society will pave way for attainment of this dream. The eco-friendly cities would provide world-class facilities with 24-hour power supply and drinking water, mass rapid urban transportation, with bicycle and walking tracks, complete waste and water recycling, systems for smart grids - digitally managed systems to control energy consumption - and smart metering. The industrial hubs and eco-friendly cities along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) are expected to double employment opportunities, triple industrial production and increase exports by four folds over the next decade.

India is going to experience rapid urbanization involving around 300 million people within the next two to three decades. This means that they will either drift to existing cities, thus congesting them further, or move into new cities. If it is new cities, then they will have to be either cities that are planned, or cities that evolve, more or less in an unplanned manner.

Their key features are compact, vertical developments, an efficient public transportation system, the use of digital technology to create smart grids for better management of civic infrastructure, recycling of sewage water for industrial use, green spaces, cycle tracks and easy accessibility to goods, services and activities designed to foster a sense of community.

The processes of acquiring land, getting government clearances and generating investment have already started. The master plans for these cities are unique in that an effort has been made to look at the future by putting in infrastructure ahead of the demand. Planned for 2040, some of the innovative ideas are - For instance, each city will have underground utility corridors for parking, sewage disposal and communication lines to give it a neat look and leave enough space for facilities that are missing in most existing cities, like pavements, parks and cycle tracks. The transportation axis is designed to discourage the use of private vehicles. The emphasis will be on dedicated bus and light rail corridors. The rule that the planners have tried to follow is that some form of public transport should be available within a 10-minute walk from home or office.

Eventually, the success of these cities will depend on the way they are managed and promoted. This will require a strong administrator who works like a city-CEO, the way most mayors are in many big and successful cities in the world. Such cities can also become benchmarks for other conventional cities to adapt, or risk losing people, as they would move away to these new smart cities.

New Delhi - Evolving Urban Form

Delhi has its own history, culture and identity. Delhi is an economy of agglomeration; it provides various advantages and opportunities for everyone. Delhi is also a symbol of ancient values, aspirations and is scheduled to take its eminent place amongst the leading cities of the world. That is why we see lot of people flocking to Delhi from other parts of the country and even the world, in search of a better future.

Delhi, the capital of the largest democracy of the world, and as the national capital region, it is the second largest metropolis of India. It has the second highest GDP in the country. Located on the banks of the Yamuna River, it is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. Delhi is the proud home of many important government offices, most importantly, the Parliament of India. In the recent years, Delhi has attracted many immigrants, thus emerging as a cosmopolitan city. Today, it is a prominent political and commercial center of India. The Delhi-Agra Yamuna expressway joins Delhi to the beautiful city of Agra, which is a major tourist attraction. The key service industries of New Delhi includes Telecom, IT, Banking, Media, Hotels and Tourism.

It has been a time of ups and downs for Delhi, which has emerged as the largest urban area (area of continuous urban development) in India. Delhi has experienced some of the quickest and most substantial urban growth in the history of the world. Since the 1951 census, Delhi has grown from under 1.5 million people to a population of 22.6 million in 2011. Delhi has been one of the fastest growing urban areas in history and (along with Jakarta, Seoul and Manila) has added approximately 20 million people over the past 60 years. Only Tokyo has added more new residents than these four urban areas, (25 million population).

That is why we have seen growth and development of interstate urban area, which together includes all of the urbanization of the National Capital Territory, which includes the urban core, as well as the adjacent Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna expressway, urban areas in the state of Uttar Pradesh and the Faridabad and Gurgaon urban areas in the state of Haryana. Delhi is experiencing ever swelling urban population. Pressure on Delhi as an urban centre is already intense, gridlocked by traffic and hampered by poor infrastructure and a lack of amenities like parks and effective public transport.Between 2000 and 2011, the strongest growth was in the urbanization in Uttar Pradesh and to the southwest in Haryana.

Gurgaon, in Haryana, abuts Indira Gandhi International Airport on the south side, has emerged as an important corporate and information technology center. Gurgaon grew from 250,000 people in 2001 to 900,000 in 2011.

Ghaziabad, in Uttar Pradesh, is located adjacent to Delhi's Northeast district and is the largest of the urban expanses beyond the National Capital Territory, having grown from approximately 975,000 people 2001 to more than 2,350,000 people in 2011.

Noida, in Uttar Pradesh, is another business center, is a special economic zone and includes software technology park. Noida is located in Delhi’s East district and grew from approximately 300,000 in 2001 to nearly 650,000 in 2011.

Faridabad, in Haryana, is located directly to the south of the National Capital Territory and had the slowest percentage growth among the urban expanses beyond the National Capital Territory, growing from 1,050,000 people in 2001 two 1,400,000 people in 2011. The preponderance of growth in the suburban areas mirrors the trend in the previous census. Between 1991 and 200l, 26% of the growth was in the inner area and 74% of the growth in the outer areas of the National Capital Territory. Even with its somewhat less than expected growth over the past decade, the Delhi continues to be among the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the world. Including adjacent rural areas, the Delhi metropolitan region added approximately 6.0 million people between 2001 and 2010 (growing from 20.4 million to 26.4 million). This compares to the 10-year gain of 7.4 million in Jakarta, 6.6 million in Manila and Shanghai and 6.1 million in Beijing.

The Delhi urban area illustrates the same pervasive urban growth trend evident around the world. As urban areas become larger, they tend to grow most rapidly on their periphery as opposed in the core. As a result, contrary to popular misconception, they are overall becoming become less dense. In Delhi, as well as in all of the other urban areas or metropolitan regions as seen around the world, growth is concentrated in the suburbs and further out on the periphery.

To keep pace and to sustain the tremendous growth that Delhi has achieved, the city needs to integrate its history, the great past and the modern aspirations and developments, which encompasses the political, socio-economic, the environment, the cultural and the globalizing attitude and aspirations of the people. Infrastructure, irrespective of the segment, has to be developed at an unprecedented pace, and investments targeted accordingly. Keeping this aspect of redevelopment and densification of the existing urban areas, DDA has floated its master plan 2021.

L- Zone is an alternative option for development of areas identified by DDA- master plan 2021, for urbanisation. This shall be the address of New New Delhi, in times to come it shall experience a planned smart city with all world class facilities, infrastructure and quality of life.

Campaign That Literally Stopped Traffic

With a different residential project in hand, which had to be sold purely by invitation, and that also to a limited audience, our hands were really bound and were limited in the ways and means by which marketing of the project could be done. We had to devise a new and exclusive marketing strategy to market this real estate product, which could only be marketed to IT company’s employees. We had to create the highest level of awareness to this highly educated and sophisticated community.

As such marketing real estate has seen a dramatic shift in the past decade. “Outbound” real estate campaigns such as print ads, cold calling and direct mailers, have fallen out of favor as technology continues to grow and proliferate. Any traditional method to market this project slowly and gradually was ruled out. We had to find something innovative and different in order to reach our audience.

Our target audience being all IT professionals; it called for a more serious campaign, designed exclusively for them and which could provide an air of transparency, authenticity, and trust to these prospective customers. The simple traditional techniques were totally ruled out and entire structuring of our marketing campaign had to be out of the box.

The main driving force behind our marketing campaign was a direct and straight message through a Safari car, wrapped all around with the project details, very specific and to the point. We choose a TV display inside which would run the presentation of the project, and the lucky draw scheme was clubbed with every booking, thus a display of nicely wrapped gifts along with TV in the boot of the car.







We choose a red carpet to attract our exclusive clientele, and queue managers alongside the carpet to manage the crowd. The sales executives carried the Lenovo ideapads to gather personal client information, made it all jazzy on one side and very classy on the other. The leads would get transferred directly through the server to the main head office.















Got a huge response from the market and project reached successfully to its untapped, niche clientele as well.

Consumer & Market Trends in Real Estate

Real estate in India continues to be a favored destination globally for investors, developers and non-resident Indians (NRIs), driven largely by investor-friendly government policies and increasing globalization.

Being a good employment generation sector, real estate contributes effectively to India's gross domestic product (GDP). The foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector is expected to be much better in the next 10 years from its current status. The real estate sector in India is witnessing rapid growth in the residential, commercial and industrial segments.

Real estate development, once restricted to bigger cities, have shown marked progress in smaller cities and towns owing to availability of banks loans, higher earnings and improved standard of living. The sector's progress is driven by factors such as rapid urbanization, a growing trend towards nuclear families, positive demographics, rural–urban migration, ever-developing infrastructure, higher income levels and housing demand. The real estate sector, with its growing investment opportunities, is expected to boost annual revenues to a great extent.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, as approved by the Union Cabinet is a pioneering initiative aimed at delivering a uniform regulatory environment to protect the consumer, help in quick verdicts of disputes and ensure systematic growth of the sector. The Bill will promote transparency, fair and ethical business practices, relating to transactions, through disclosure of project details and contractual obligations vis-à-vis the project and the buyer, promoting informed choice for the buyers. This will substantially reduce the power asymmetry prevalent in real estate transactions.

The Bill will infuse professionalism and promote planned development of the real estate sector through the promotional role of the Regulatory Authority. The Bill will ensure timely completion of projects, and prevent fund diversion. The Bill provides for a speedy and specialized adjudication mechanism to settle disputes between the promoter, buyer and real estate agents, thereby de-clogging the civil courts and consumer forums, from disputes in the real estate sector.


Another upcoming trend is namely the increasing focus of online property transactions. Traditionally in India, agents are the centre of real estate transactions. Involving face to face contact not only means a much more personal approach, it also reduces the risks of property scams. There is an involvement of the third party as a mediator, to take care of the intricacies. This position of an agent has been a distinctive feature of the real estate business model in India for a long time.

Recently, there has been a change to the role of an agent as middle man, with a number of online resources entrenching their position as the agents’ front window, listing hundreds and thousands of properties for sale and providing advice to buyers. Improved technology is increasing the popularity of virtual tours of properties, blogs with current information on the market and insights and use of social networks. With buying real estate being the biggest financial commitment for most consumers, it is hardly unexpected that home buyers are willing to use what the Internet has to offer to support their buying decisions. The impact of the Internet on the real estate profession should not be underestimated. Agents should utilize opportunities offered online to adapt in their business models and include the use of technology in their business success strategies.

Agents are already embracing the use of the Internet, dedicating a greater percentage of their marketing budgets to online initiatives. Despite the challenges the Internet has brought to the real estate profession, it is doubtful that it will replace agents. Indeed, expertise offered by professional real estate agents and their social networks to other professionals cannot be substituted by online resources. It is important to remember that new technology poses threats but at the same time delivers benefits. Agents need to adapt themselves to this changing consumerism, success lies ahead if they can be more transparent, fair, professional and educated for the transaction.