India's urban planning challenge

The McKinsey report on India's urban challenge is welcome for highlighting a relatively neglected part of the growth agenda but is probably off the mark on prescriptions .

In calling for proactive policy to shore up revenues , institutional structures and dedicated funds for cities , the study is spot-on . But then to recommend a massive, China-style increase in investment in cities, so as to reap 'productivity dividend of urban living,' seems misplaced .

What's suggested is that India's per capita annual spending in urban infrastructure rise from $17 today — the figure for China is $116 — to a steep $134. Such a strategy , with the ballpark requirement estimated at $1.2 trillion , would be needlessly costly, capital intensive and plain unwarranted.

What India needs is more sensible urban planning, policies to release land for urbanisation in a manner that does not cause social or political disruption, and city design that eschews urban sprawl and associated energy consumption on commutes.

We certainly need better allocation of resources for housing, reliable public transport and proper urban design, for instance to be able to walk across the road for work and recreation. But growth need not and should not be at high cost.

The McKinsey study projects demand for residential and commercial space pan-India at between 700 million and 900 million square meters a year, 350 to 400 km of metros and subways annually, and between 19,000 and 25,000 km of road lanes as well.

It adds that the targets are up to 20 times higher than actual investments in the past decade. The projections certainly seem a tall order in many respects. However, with forward-looking town planning, it should be possible to better manage urban demand and optimise infrastructure investment.

As India picks up economic speed, we need to be in a position to scale up and boost urban infrastructure. We clearly need to have a proper policy on new towns that go beyond SEZs and manufacturing zones. We also need supply side reforms to better coagulate funds in urban spaces. The way ahead is to have a thriving market for long-term funds.

Model bill for rights of non-motorized vehicles

NEW DELHI: An expert group formed by the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Ministry has submitted a Model Bill for providing welfare provisions and protecting the rights of rickshaw-pullers and others using non-motorised vehicles for earning their livelihood.

HUPA Minister Girija Vyas had constituted the expert group, headed by retired chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal, in January to study the issue and prepare the Model Bill.

"The bill seeks to protect the constitutional right to equality and livelihood of persons engaged in the non-motorized vehicles sector, to provide welfare provisions, including conditions of work and benefits due to them, and promote the use of environment-friendly employment opportunities," the ministry said in a statement.

The Bill also envisages promotion of the use of cost efficient non-motorized vehicles as an integral and necessary part of vehicular traffic and providing equitable road space as well as encouraging alternative urban designs for creating separate tracks for non-motorized vehicles on city roads.

It also has a provision for appointing appropriate authorities for implementation of these functions and other related matters.

The group comprised members representing government, urban planning, law, civil society and technical experts. It examined issues of livelihoods of pliers of non-motorised vehicles and looked into the possibility of drafting a model central bill for their promotion, regulation and welfare.

Vyas assured Justice (retired) Mudgal that her ministry will go through the recommendations in detail and take suitable measures to protect the interests of vulnerable occupational groups covered by the Model Bill.

Further discussions will be held on October 24 with the full expert group.

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON STUDENTS PROPOSE SUSTAINABLE WOOD HOUSING IN BROOKLYN

COURTESY GROW YOUR OWN CITY

With their winning design for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s “Timber in the City” competition, three students from the University of Oregon have imagined wood’s viable potential in prefabricated low-cost housing. Wood construction has been a popular topic at AN recently and the topic of our recent feature, Timber Towers. Benjamin Bye, Alex Kenton, and Jason Rood entered the design competition last year with the mission to create a community of affordable housing and wood technology manufacturing in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Awarded first place, Grow Your Own City proposes the use of CLT (cross-laminated timber) for construction of nearly 183,000 square feet of mid-rise housing, a bike share and repair shop, and a wood distribution, manufacturing, and development plant.

RENDERING OF THE GREEN ALLEY WITHIN THE GROW YOUR OWN CITY COMMUNITY. (COURTESY GROW YOUR OWN CITY)

The site itself was chosen as a residential and industrial area “in flux;” it is a waterfront neighborhoodand competitors were required to balance these elements in a mutually beneficial way. Grow Your Own City designs a mixed-use community of wood production and housing construction, considering a variety of needs. Cost efficient and sustainable, the community is meant to manufacture its own wood, then use onsite development power and technology to build the final product: affordable modular housing units that can be prefabricated in the factory and fit together to form the mid-rise complex.

A “supersize plywood” technology that can be prefinished before construction, cross-laminated timber is stronger than regular wood construction and possesses a low carbon footprint. When forested correctly, wood can be a very sustainable and environmentally friendly building material. Most units include windows on two sides and vary in size from a 325 square feet studio to a 990 square feet three bedroom apartment.

Impressed with the students’ “mature sensitivity to zoning, politics, and concerns of gentrification” unique to this Red Hook site, the jury of architecture professors, green design architects, and a real estate venture praise the project for several specifics of design. A “green alley” allows for biking, timber education, and sustainable rainwater retention and reuse. And the CLT pods are attractive, livable, and realistic for a variety of occupants and their families.

“Overall, the project is strong because it maps out the terrain of the site while remaining consistent to the larger neighborhood in terms of plan, context and materiality,” the jury commented in a statement.

PAYETTE DESIGNS A CURVY RESEARCH BUILDING, PARKS FOR BOSTON’S NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY’S NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BUILDING. (COURTESY PAYETTE AND NORTHEASTERN)

Boston is well known for both its thriving biotech industry and for its high concentration of universities, and now the city’s two largest economic sectors are overlapping with several academic institutions shrewdly expanding their science departments. Northeastern University is one of several schools to hop on this bandwagon. The school just announced that it will build a 180,000-square-foot academic facility, called the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB). Boston-based firmPayette won the commission to design the six-story building along with adjoining green spaces after participating in a six week design competition.

PHASE 1 OF NORTHEASTERN’S EXPANSION (COURTESY OF PAYETTE)

The site of the building sits on the opposite side of Northeastern’s main campus, severed by several rail lines. Payette has proposed constructing what they’ve dubbed “The Arc,” a curved pedestrian bridge, that provides access between the new building and Huntington Avenue, which will also serve as a direct connection between Fenway and Roxbury. A number of landscaped paths and open “tributaries” will link the two separate neighborhoods.

The ISEB will house four academic research departments: engineering, health sciences, basic sciences, and computer sciences. According to the firm, the “building massing has been organized in two main volumes; an east facing laboratory bar and a west facing office form wrapped around a central open atrium.”  The facility will be divided into offices, staff workstations, conference rooms, cafes, and laboratories dedicated to each academic research study.

The building features a glazed curtain wall that will ”be wrapped with an outer skin of fixed solar shading responding to the building orientation.”

This $225 million project is the first component of Northeastern’s larger plan to create 600,000 square feet of space for academic research and to accommodate the university’s plan to add 300 faculty positions.

MODEL OF INTERIOR OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BUILDING (COURTESY OF PAYETTE)

PHASE TWO OF NORTHEASTERN’S EXPANSION (COURTESY OF PAYETTE)

Dubai chosen for World Expo 2020 with HOK-led master plan

 Aerial view of the HOK-led Dubai World Expo 2020 master plan. Image: HOK

  Dubai won the bid to host the World Expo 2020, being the first Middle Eastern city selected in the Expo's 150-year history. HOK, in partnership with Populous and Arup, led the design team that developed the master plan, themed "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future." Their proposal won against those from Brazil, Russia, and Turkey. The 1,082-acre (438-hectare) Expo site will be in Jebel Ali of Dubai, near the new Al Maktoum International Airport Jebel Ali Port.                                  

             

ET Spcl: Urban planning for better cities

The Indian real estate Industry is consolidating its position and strengthening its fundamentals as the economy get sets for traversing a high economic growth trajectory. It is estimated that by 2030 the GDP of the country will multiply five times. There will be 590 million people living in cities, nearly twice the population of USA today and 91 million urban households will be middle class, up from 22 million today. During the next two decades $1.2 trillion capital investment is necessary to meet the projected demand in India's cities.

This is because 700-900 million square metres of commercial and residential space needs to be built and 2.5 billion square metres of roads will have to be paved, 20 times the capacity added in the past decade. In this background the recent Mc.Kinsey global institute's report on India's Urban Awakening has also brought forth some major concerns for Indian real estate industry .

The recently held Real Estate Convention, organised by The Economic Times, was the perfect platform to deliberate upon major issues and discuss concerns related to the real estate sector. The convention brought forth all the stake holders ranging from developers, policy makers, to financiers and customers on one integrated platform. Among other things the speakers in the convention focussed on the challenges that are there in terms of land and transport infrastructure for the future growth of real estate in the country.

In her inaugural address Kumari Sailja, minister, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, pointed out, "India is experiencing rapid urbanization , commensurate with the immerging economy that India is today. About 30 % of our population lives in towns and cities and in next two decades almost half of our country's population would be living in cities and towns. So the challenge in front of us is huge.

To cope with it we need effective urban planning . And the major aspect of urban planning would be transport, infrastructure, industry and housing." In his keynote address Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Urban Development , highlighted the immediate steps needed to be taken. "Government of India is providing a boost to urban infrastructure in partnership with state governments through JNNURM.

But as compared to global levels our efforts are just 30% and global average is more than 50 %. In the next 20 years our urban population will doubled up. It is both a huge problem and an equally big opportunity . What urbanization we have seen till now is just the tip of the ice berg and the time to come is going to be the greatest economic opportunity that should be exploited in such a way as to meet the ends of justice, ends of growth and ends of environment," he said.

NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN

NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN

Chicago approves plan to revive landmark post office.

COURTESY ANTUNOVICH ASSOCIATES

Since 1996, the 2.7 million-square-foot, federally landmarked Old Main Post Office has remained vacant, looming over downtown Chicago’s Eisenhower Expressway as a hulking rebuke to development activity nearby. Over the years, several proposals have been put forth for the renewal of the venerable structure, only to fall.

On July 24, however, the Chicago City Council approved the site for redevelopment. British developer Bill Davies, owner of International Properties Developments (IPD), bought the distressed property in 2009 for $24 million. IPD hired Chicago-based architecture firm Antunovich Associates to transform the old postal facility into a mixed-use complex that will include a renovation of the historic structure as well as the addition of two new high rises to be completed in two phases. “The whole idea is that this can be phased,” said Joe Antunovich. “We’ve shown a way of biting this off bit by bit.”

Phase I, estimated to cost about $1.5 billion, includes the renovation of the historic structure as well as the construction of a new 1,000-foot-tall tower and podium building along the river. This phase comprises 800,000 square feet of retail space, 525,000 square feet of offices, 2,900 residential units, 320 hotel rooms, and a 4,550-space parking garage, 1,300 of which will be automated. Phase 2 will see the construction of a 2,000-foot-tall tower to the west of the post office building and will add 3,500 residential units, 920 hotel rooms, and 1.5 million square feet of office space.

Work could start this fall, with the historic building ready for occupancy 18 months later, though it could take as much as eight to 10 years to complete the entirety of Phase I. Completing Phase 2 could take 20 years.

The renovation of the historic structure maintains the old post office’s grand lobby, which will tie into the glass-clad podium of the 1,000-foot-tall tower. The podium’s undulating glass facade opens onto a two-block-long river walk replete with trees and public plazas designed by Chicago-based Wolff Landscape Architecture.

If the redevelopment does become reality, its success as a mixed-use hub may hinge on its connectivity. Antunovich has talked with CTA about expanding the Clinton Blue Line station to connect directly to the project. His firm also drew up plans for a covered public area within the building to convey Canal Street pedestrians over the Eisenhower Expressway. “It’s this major modal transfer point, with the highways through it and around it, the trains run through it and under it, and a river that runs through it,” said Antunovich. “It’s a real gateway structure. What a great entrance to our city.”