MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT IS THE WAY FORWARD

Such models were fundamental to India’s urban past, and now mixed-use developments are once again key to our sustainable urban future

- DIKSHU C. KUKREJA

Today, cities worldwide including India are facing intense pressure to fulfil the ever-increasing needs of their growing populations. Over 67% of the global population will be living in cities by 2050, according to the UN World Urbanisation Prospects. In fact, India’s urban population will rise from 34% in 2017 to 40% by 2030, according to a World Bank study.

Over the last few decades, cities in India and around the world have been grappling with their rising populace by replicating the traditional American urban development patterns—motorcentric cities with segregated land-use zones that cause disconnected and fractured urban expansion, with places of working, living and recreation located in completely different parts of the city.

Over the years, these growth patterns in cities have led to several issues, such as:

● Decreased productivity in citizens due to increased commute time

● High dependency on personal motorised vehicles and consequently, fossil fuels

● Traffic congestion and air pollution

● Threatened ecology

● Rise in socio-spatial inequalities

These problems are evidenced by some of the largest metropolises in the world—from the infamously long commute hours in New York to the much-debated air quality of New Delhi to the skyhigh real estate prices in Tokyo leading to a dearth of affordable homes. A critical thing I would like to emphasise here is that people’s lives are inseparable from the cities they reside in. Urban sprawl and the issues thereof, also have significant negative implications for people’s mental and physical health.