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Author: Nagesh Battula
The evolution, growth and development of any city is the aggregate of a set of processes that have been effective in that area over a period. And `land’ is at the centre of growth and development.
If we consider any metropolitan city, Bengaluru for example, and trace the journey of its transformation into an IT hub and a dense urban city, the root cause was the availability of relatively cheap land resources.
Looking back at Bengaluru’s growth phase, the availability of acres and acres of cheap land and the government policies to encourage companies to set up their offices and manufacturing units, considerably quickly has contributed to the rapid spurt in growth. With more and more companies setting up camp, there was a need for support services and auxiliary industries to come up. Throughout the last 20 years, the city has grown in pollution and density and is now at a stage where it is getting choked. The only solution is the emergence of new smaller urban clusters.
The problems created by the unsystematic and unrestricted extension of a city give rise to issues like unhygienic slums, polluted environment, uncoordinated development of residential, industrial, and commercial areas resulting in traffic bottlenecks and many other difficulties, all known and felt by the residents of the city. A particular method leads to a particular model.
Hyderabad is also on a similar trajectory. With the city expanding in all directions, this is the right time for landowners and builders to relook at how the city should be 10 or 20 years down the line. Keeping profits in mind, can something better be done?
What if a template is created across sectors – manufacturing, housing, small retail, commercial, etc. – where Triple Bottom Line agenda (People, Planet, Profit) is implemented in real estate projects? How would Hyderabad look like 20 years down the line if this agenda is propagated?
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
