Framework for Implementation of Compact City Concept in Indian Cities

Abstract

Due to the rapid urbanization in develo** countries, the cities are seen as a cause of environmental degradation, resource depletion, and pollution, in addition, they create congestion, degraded housing, poor infrastructure, crime, and unaffordability. On the positive side, cities support economic growth and provide opportunities. With changing times, there is a need to reform the conventional urban planning approaches for sustainable urbanization. ‘Compact city’ is one such sustainable approach that can restrict the negative impacts of urbanization. The main components of compact city are densification, intensification, and urban containment, which facilitate sustainable transport and use of land, create social sustainability, and increase economic viability. The compact city concept is much advocated by developed countries; however, in the Indian context, with already high urban densities, it is important to explore the potential and the way in which the compact city concept can be adopted. The study presented in this paper reviews the compact city concept and tries to explore its applicability in the Indian context. It tries to evaluate urban compactness in terms of density and accessibility for Pune city. The study proposes improving the public transit system and increasing FSI around Central Business District (CBD) to achieve compact city goals. It further explores the positive and negative impacts of each component of the compact city and finally provides an approach with a framework in which the compact city concept can be adopted for the studied city.