“Digital India is a new face to Incredible India”

HSA project: Institutional Campus of NSIM, Patalganga, Maharashtra

Indian cities are known for their diversity and fullness of life. Even in its chaos there is a certain charm that most fine alluring. These dynamics are now fast evolving as we embrace a new definition of development and progress. Smart, Sustainable and Contextual: if our cities strive to exemplify these three goals we could pave a new form of urban life that best celebrate our diversity, and even our chaos.

So we asked, architect Hiten Sethi, CEO of Hiten Sethi Architects, to give his viewpoint on the future of our cities. Sethi has spearheaded many noteworthy projects including the Navi Mumbai Municipal Civic Headquarters in CBD. He talks to us about the positives in Indian cities, the need for contextual growth, high density and its solution and, finally, how can we realise the dream for a Smart, sustainable and contextual future.

What positive changes have you witnessed in Indian cities?
Hiten Sethi: Growth in India has extended itself to being a global phenomenon. Our country has been looked upon as a land of opportunity and unutilised resources. A mega plan to change the face of Indian socio-economic fabric with creative concepts of Smart cities and urbanisation is known to all. These changes pose certain challenges but also provide opportunities to urban designers and planners. It has led to the process of inventing and reinventing logic − to implement cohesiveness in urban planning.

The out-of-the-box thinking of creating 100 independent Smart cities in regions with unexplored potential is a brilliant step towards effectiveness, great lifestyle and growth. Existing urban Indian cities have also geared up to imbibe factors such as − efficient infrastructure and connectivity; accessibility to education, health, social services and cultural activities; and optimisation of resources.

Indian urban cities are moving towards a Smart and sustainable environment. With realisation of deteriorating eco-system, climate change and tectonic plate movements, we are in a process of continuous upgradation, leading to stability and readiness in case of possible natural disasters. Traffic congestions and other issues related to different modes of public transportation are being addressed through various schemes/development plans. Newer urban concepts like TODs (Transport Oriented Development) and Walk to Work are being addressed on priority.

Urban cities have become hubs of entrepreneurships and innovation and can be termed as engines to our economic growth. There is a major merging of villages to become councils, merging of councils to become municipalities − thus leading to growth of cities.

HSA project: NMMC headquarters at CBD

Do you feel that we often overlook the ‘contextual’ aspect of development in our cities? Why and how can we avoid it?

Sethi: Contextual harmony gets compromised because urban planning and architecture gets referred to as two different aspects of development, which unfortunately results in a different language altogether in the end.

Urban planners evaluate economic, cultural, social and environmental dimensions to ensure the growth of the city in the future. With so many dynamics to be considered including the fast changing environment, the essence gets lost with ever-changing and ever-lasting aesthetic impressions created by architects from time to time. Social and cultural context itself changes randomly. The growth in GDP has resulted in better lifestyles and affordability. This, in turn, has posed challenges to existing infrastructure and skylines.

Mumbai from 1960-70s was designed for a population of 7 million and the whole infrastructure was anticipated accordingly. Mega migration forced the city to become a land of 22 millions. This resulted in growth of slums and urban decay. We’ve been reacting to this situation for long, and realised that now is the time to re-look our policies and schemes, so as to absorb and stabilise this growth. Redevelopment schemes, affordable housing, rental housing etc., have created an impression on the city with its high density and urban forms.

All these redevelopment schemes seem to focus majorly on a specific development. An effort needs to be made to focus on a broader context, by synergising these kinds of developments into a single language and vision of the city, which can give rise to a new face. There is a desperate need to address the basic needs of water, sanitation, electricity, public transport and housing.

The effective implementation of policies, with a detailed roadmap facilitating ease-to-do-business, needs to be laid out. This simply means that the regulatory environment has to be more conducive to the starting and operation of any of these infrastructure needs. Efficiency of urban planning should be the topmost priority and resources should be allocated to maximise the benefit.

Compact city models area being looked at as a global solution to achieve sustainable urbanisation. These models would address the need for contextual urbanization with optimised use of land, preservation of agriculture lands, efficient travel times, infrastructure, expenditure with faster execution and streamlined horizontal working amongst statutory authorities.

“… effort needs to be made to focus on a broader context, by synergizing… developments into a single language and vision of the city, which can give rise to a new face.”
Hiten Sethi, CEO, HSA

What solutions would you recommend to resolve issues related to density in urban cities?
Sethi: Propelled by economic growth, urban cities are undergoing a major transformation to accommodate the effects of lopsided development. Ever-increasing densities has led to deterioration of urban lifestyle and extreme pressure on existing infrastructure.

The solutions to these issues are multi-layered and complex. However, the basic thought would start from conserving biodiversity of any city. National policies and strategies, which encourage Smart growth and sustainable urban development, should be promoted with immediate effect.

High density is a well-known fact, however, it need not necessarily be a deterrent to sustainable growth. These overgrown cities can breathe new life by adopting the above concepts, which seems to be a logical solution to meet the challenges of high density in urban cities. The concept revolves in shrinking the urban growth area with high density and according high land value to agricultural lands and limiting its use.

However, there are many ways in which density can be planned to limit environmental damage.

Some of these ways are:
1. Reducing land use by increasing FSI/FAR and encouraging mixed land use
2. Encouraging people to live in apartments and cluster developments will conserve semi-urban and agricultural land use
3. Clustering of civic amenities and public transportation will help in optimising cost and energy
4. Supporting walkability and cycling will lead to less pollution and a more sustainable environment
5. Prompt implementation and execution of Smart growth policies by undeviating statutory laws.
6. Encouraging public participation and strengthening the social fabric.

HSA project: National Cancer Institute, Nagpur, Maharashtra

How can we realise and implement the ‘Smart, sustainable and contextual’, dream for our cities; Both at the grassroots and large-scale level?
Sethi: A Smart, sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies with multilayered themes to ensure easy service of urban operations and services, ensuring efficient delivery and quality life for citizens with respect to its economic, social and environmental parameters.

Digital India is a new face to ‘Incredible India’. Digital technology enables us to create intelligent and Smart cities with a central command room managing power, water, transportation and public safety. Implementation of any concept requires a strong documentation of existing logistics and resources with respect to regional context, patterns, analytics, disciplines, habits and challenges. We need to define our sustainable development goals (SGD) for Smart and sustainable cities. The pillars of a Smart sustainable city are based on objectives of SDGs.

The SDGs touch all aspects of human behavior and existence by providing efficient environment, healthcare, waste management, social inclusions, energy management, sustainable transport systems, eco-friendly neighborhoods, Smart communications, platforms or incubators for skill development centres, specialised business parks, hubs and finally e-governance and citizen services.

Sustainable urbanisation has become a key policy point to administrations across the world. Communication technology has a very crucial role to play by increasing environmental efficiency across industries enabling and adopting innovations in intelligent transport system along with intelligent water, energy and waste management. City stakeholders need to understand the responsibility of co-ordinated action to follow the path towards becoming Smart and sustainable city.

In the present context of any city there lies a complex management structure, which needs to work in harmony and achieve the desired vision. Smart cities would establish a nodal agency that would work with city officials, police and other policy makers to ensure that development and existence is aligned towards the Smart and sustainable vision.

To achieve this, following factors can be considered at both grassroots level and at large scale too:
1. Financing
2. Good governance and accountability
3. Integrated planning and execution
4. Sectorial policies and legislations
5. Public and private corporations
6. Education training and development

Lastly, we must feel responsible for the community’s sustainability and ensure environmental, economic and social stability for our future generations.