‘Promoting sustainable transport within townships’

With the Indian real estate market expected to grow at about 30% over the next decade, private housing sector currently contributing to about 5-6% of the country’s GDP. And with the National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy of 2007 stating that at least 50% of the population will live in urban areas by 2041, there is a need to guide sustainable mobility and infrastructure within townships that are coming up in peripheral areas.

In a workshop organised by Embarq India, town planners, architects, mobility experts as well as developers discussed the concerns with regard to sustainable mobility and special residential zones. According to the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), an SRZ is a notified region with special development rules to promote large scale, Greenfield, affordable housing projects for the country’s masses. SRZs would have a minimum number of dwelling units in a maximum prescribed size and each would require adequate social infrastructure.

According to Embarq, the concern is in the question: How are these developments envisioned? With townships being located in an area ranging from 60 acres to 500 acres, it is important that they encourage a culture of walking, bicycling and public transport.