Retrofitting periburbs of Hyderabad

Increasingly, the spatial transformation of Indian cities is market-driven, as opposed to the contrived growth prior to the 1990s. Capital, especially global, in search of cheapest land available has honed-in on the periurban space. Conventionally, periurban areas were located on the city boundaries and were a landing ground for rural residents migrating to cities. Congestion, multiple interactions among strangers, short streets, and mixed land uses define the periurban space. Now, well known suburban characteristics are being superimposed on the periurban and increasingly office parks, malls, apartments and single-family homes (villas) are dotting the landscape. Therefore, the emerging spatial pattern is an admixture of traditional periurban structures and the suburban and the amalgamated urban space is best described as a periburb (periurban + suburbs) and the key challenge is to revitalise such mongrel regions by retrofitting the existing built environment to achieve outcomes valued by citizens. The article is an account of comprehensive planning to retrofit three periburbs located in Hyderabad.

The periburban spatial form is different from the classical low density suburbs located on the periphery of cities (monocentric model) or the emerging nuclei of economic activity (polycentric model), such as ?technoburbs? (Robert Fishman), ?urban villages? (Kenneth Jackson), ?middle landscape? (Peter Rowe), and ?edge cities? (Joel Garreau); therefore, little theory or practice was available to guide the urban planning process and a distinctly Indian approach was used. First, areas showing potential periburban development were identified by dividing the area into 287 grid-squares and logit regression was applied to determine the probability of information technology business development. The given figure shows three identified periburbs.

Second, comprehensive plans were prepared to retrofit the brownfield and greenfield areas located in the periburbs. This required identification of the needs of the citizens, especially the ITzens. The underlying idea was based on Richard Florida?s notion of creative centres driving city growth. Creative centres are defined by the densities of innovative people rather than those of businesses. Recently, Glaeser and Resseger of Harvard University have found that cities promote learning and there is a connection between skill availability and productivity. Therefore, the goal of comprehensive planning for the periburb regions was to morph them into creative centres, which would be the drivers of the version 2.0 of the Hyderabad growth machine. The assumption was that ITzens have different utility functions, as compared to the ?organisational man? of the industrial economy, and these were used to identify the goals of retrofitting.

Stakeholders determined the following goals?reduce travel times by taking work to the ITzens, promote active living by developing parks within walking distances, create proper infrastructure (e.g. roads, water supply, drainage, rail, metro and solid waste management), promote green cities by reducing carbon footprints and connect to the past by preserving heritage areas. In order to achieve the goals, planning was done for the built environment at the periburb and the neighbourhood levels, separately; moreover, at the neighbourhood level direct citizen participation was accomplished through the ward committees and the area sabhas.

The result was a periburban plan at the higher level of aggregation consisting of transport, water supply, sewage disposal, and environment management. Consultants assessed the gaps in built environment depending on the articulated goals. The total cost of the internal infrastructure of the three periburbs was R13,093 crore and that of the external infrastructure R2,189 crore. The expected benefits were also quantified?by 2035, nearly R219,440 crore was expected to be invested and the three periburbs would generate revenues of about R30,170 crore for Andhra Pradesh and provide direct jobs to 15 lakh people and indirect work to 53 lakh.

The existing environment of periburban areas is a mixture of conventional (e.g. larger houses of gated communities using automobile often) and postmodern (e.g. markets located at walkable distances, smaller lots clustered together, neighbourliness, and greater functional, socio-economic and life-cycle integration); therefore, offering opportunities to use the postmodern urban planning ideas developed by Andreas Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Peter Calthrope, Kevin Lynch, and Ted Bressi. For example, Duany and others have suggested that building more and strengthening corner stores is likely to lead to greater retail development that is also well connected to the rest of the neighbourhood. Additionally, they have recommended the construction of neighbourhoods that are connected to one another through grid roads, rather than collector roads, building houses close to the lot line so that people can easily interact with individuals walking on the footpaths, and designing narrower streets to slow traffic and create more neighbourly interaction across the street.

At the neighbourhood level the distinct approach largely relied on New Urbanism principles, neo-traditional development, transit-oriented development (TOD), public-private partnership frameworks and smart growth guidelines. Specifically, the plan of action included looking at the built form (e.g. footprints of all structures), land use patterns (e.g. location and density of retail, office spaces), public open space (e.g. parks, plazas), street design (e.g. circulation systems), and pedestrian access (e.g. one-quarter mile access from shops). Importantly, placing detailed neighbourhood-level plans before the existing ward committees and area sabhas was expected to make them make more informed decisions and empower them to ?become effective in rendering their environment relatively more malleable? and to perceive themselves ?as subjects not objects, as people who develop a vision of a better world and who can act coherently to achieve it?.

The goal of increasing walkability was planned to be achieved through the creation of pedestrian sheds, where all elements of a neighbourhood are located within a five-minute walk. Pedestrian sheds require smaller lot sizes that are clustered together, and an extension is TOD surrounding a transit stop. In TOD, transport is subordinated to development and the strategy is to create mixed use of development around transit stops, so that offices and shops are within walking distance of commuters. Finally, codes were to be developed for the periburbs to achieve the goal of sustainable development, requiring a mix of Euclidean, form-based and performance was likely to directly address sustainability issues like energy conservation and production, climate change, food security and public health.

All in all, urban planning for the periburb areas of Hyderabad had an overarching idea?to transform Hyderabad in to a creative center by retrofitting the brownfield areas (existing built environment) and integrating them with the greenfield (vacant and conservative) using the strategic planning process. The result was a distinct plan prepared for the Hyderabad Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) and presented to the Government of India.

The author has received a PhD in urban development from the University of Cincinnati