Owning a piece of real estate is a strong aspiration for many. Many actively invest in real estate through individual plotted layouts, and many more aspire to own even a small piece of land. As our cities grow, new roads get laid, and in anticipation of the reach of essential services such as water, sewage, and electricity, potential real estate prospects start to prop up. Just driving past any city, we can see how this exuberance is displayed in the many advertisements for the ‘nagars’, ‘cities’, ‘enclaves’, and so on and so forth. One can even say that the city expands without deliberation through these kinds of plotted layouts rather than through any planned vision.
Plotted layouts and the city’s expansion
The most predominant and familiar method by which peri-urban areas are developed and cities expand is through these individual plotted layouts. Often left to the means and devices of enterprising real estate developers, these layouts are typically laid out without proper urban design or without a vision of the kind of built environment they create. But how did this approach become the standard for urban growth?
Plotted layouts – origins
The roots of plotted development trace back to the English Bungalow—a standalone residential structure surrounded by expansive gardens and enclosed by compound walls. These bungalows were often set within acres of greenery. Indeed, remnants of the bungalows can still be found in some of the older parts of the city developed during the colonial era. In recent years, however, many of these bungalows have been demolished to make way for apartment complexes, capitalising on their large plot sizes.
The concept of individual plots with standalone buildings and surrounding setback spaces also stems from colonial notions of health and hygiene. Regulations mandated these designs to ensure adequate light and ventilation throughout the building.
The current problem with the plotted layout approach
The colonial intent of providing light and ventilation was the driving factor to create independent plots and setbacks within them. It’s reasonable logic if the plot sizes were generous and the density manageable. Yet, when plot sizes shrink to as small as 700 sq.ft., as is often the case in many of the current real estate developer layouts, the original intent of these setbacks—ensuring light and ventilation—is lost.
When plot sizes shrink to as small as 700 sq.ft., as is often the case in many of the current real estate developer layouts, the original intent of these setbacks—ensuring light and ventilation—is lost!
Moreover, with minimal oversight beyond basic regulations, setback areas are frequently built over or encroached upon. This results in neighbourhoods lacking characteristic open spaces and narrow roads congested with private vehicles. However, as our cities become denser, it becomes important that the rare and costly resource – serviced urban land – is used judiciously and effectively while improving livability.
The uncontrolled development of these real estate-driven plotted layouts reflects a failure of good urban planning
The setback spaces, originally intended for light and ventilation become the problemWhere can children play? Where do people gather? Could this be a good neighbourhood?
Plotted developments reflect a failure of development authorities to ensure well-designed urban environments. It is also a symptom that highlights the lack of vision we have of our built environments. Instead, it only parcels land, without any thought on the overall output.
Plotteddevelopments reflect a failure of development authorities to ensure well-designed urban environments
Plotted developments reflect a failure of development authorities to ensure well-designed urban environments. It is also a symptom that highlights the lack of vision we have of our built environments. Instead, it only parcels land, without any thought on the overall output.
But what if there are better ways to design our neighborhoods—one that balances density, livability, and open space? What if the unregulated real estate sector could be regulated to create livable and well-managed cities? All that needs a high level of urban planning effort from the development authorities, and above all, a clarity of vision and aspiration from the people on what kind of neighbourhoods they would like to live in.
Can we make our cities humane and livable?
There are several alternatives to plotted development layouts that we see, which would result in well-developed urban neighbourhoods which can be a separate post in itself.
Alternative building volumes to plotted developments
Morbi is a small town in Gujarat! But with close to 1000 factories and exporting to about 180 countries worldwide, the total volume of vitrified products produced in Morbi is next only to China. Most reputed brands we see or hear about mostly get their products made in Morbi’s ceramic factory. On a visit to a factory, it is not uncommon to see boxes with the branding of several well-known local and international companies along with unbranded ones. Most tiles can be acquired at a cost of less than 30% at which they retail, provided we can buy such a large volume.
What types of vitrified tiles are available?
There are three main types of vitrified tiles available on the market. Their properties and their application vary.
1. Glazed Vitrified Tiles (GVT) Tiles
These are the most widely available tiles. As the name suggests, they contain a very thin layer of glazing – the design – printed over a ceramic base. The tiles come in matt or gloss finish and are often the cheapest. They come in sizes ranging from 1×1 foot up to as much as 4×10 feet
Advantages:
Since the design is printed, there is usually a huge variety of patterns and colours to choose from. Patterns can mimic natural materials such as marble, granite etc. in appearance
Disadvantages:
The glazing surface is less than 1mm thick. When used in areas of heavy footfall, the top glazing layer could disappear due to wear and tear. This exposes the ceramic base below.
2. Double-Charged Tiles
Double-charged tiles are made by fusing two layers of pigments directly over the ceramic base. The pigment layer is about 3 or 4mm thick and, hence, resistant to wear and tear.
Advantages:
Since the top layer is thick and not printed but actually of pigments, it is more resistant to wear and tear and surface-level damage. Therefore, this type of tile is recommended in areas of heavy footfall such as in public buildings.
Disadvantages:
Since it is the mixing of pigments and not printing, the design options are limited. Also, its sizes are limited – usually about 2×4 feet.
2. Full-Body Tiles
Full-body tiles are made of a single material. The colour and pattern extend throughout the tile and are also the most sturdy. It comes in various finishes such as gloss, rustic, stone, matt, etc. It is the closest alternative to natural stone in the vitrified tile segment.
Advantages:
Since the colour, design and pattern extend throughout the tile, it wouldn’t matter if it is scratched or chipped. It has a wide variety of applications including countertops, apart from floors and walls. Since it has the same material throughout it can be cut to different sizes and several designs can be worked out.
Disadvantages:
It is often the most expensive of the options available.
How are they made?
The industrial manufacturing of vitrified tiles is elaborate. A decently sized factory can churn up to 2 lakh sq.ft. of finished tiles every single day!
Here is a photo journey from one of the factories manufacturing GVT tiles which is similar for the most part for the types as well.
The environmental cost of the large-scale vitrified tiles industry
Large-scale industrial production comes with an equally large environmental cost! The ceramic industry is an extremely energy-intensive one. Morbi has a very high concentration of Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) pollution. Furthermore, given the raw materials which are fine sand, Morbi faces an extremely high instance of fine particle pollution with fine particle pollution of almost 5 times than the limit advised by WHO. The constant cover of dust is a testament to this.
The environmental cost of our building materials
Furthermore, polishing and cleaning require significant use of water which is mostly left out untreated leading to groundwater pollution. Additionally, most of these industries are run by migrant labor from Bihar and other central states. Are there significant safety measures, facilities, social amenities, and safety measures in place for the labour force?
FIne particle pollution in Morbi is 5 times more than WHO approved safe limits.
In any large-scale production, there are often also large-scale environmental and social impacts. This would be the same with other building materials as well. The trip to Morbi was an eye-opener where we got to see the other side of the material that is often showcased in shiny shop interiors.
The building industry, by default, imposes heavy costs on the environment.
But can it be minimised?
Can we be conscious of our material use?
Can we find alternatives that cause less environmental impact?
Can we look at a circular economy that focuses on material reuse?
A building stands for decades, spanning generations. Consider a house, for example. The initial construction may appear as a significant upfront investment in both cost, material, and effort. However, the journey of maintaining a house over its lifetime—managing electricity, water, repairs, periodic maintenance, and adapting to changing needs—demands ongoing resources, energy, time, and financial costs.
By setting clear goals and implementing simple design resolutions from the project’s inception, we can create a sustainable home that offers long-term benefits, in terms of good living, sustainability, and financial savings. Let’s explore some straightforward goal-setting and design strategies:
1. Evaluate and Build for Evolving Needs:
Our homes evolve with us. They change with us as we grow and our personal needs change. A house we build when we are young and have younger children has different needs than when we grow old and when our children have moved elsewhere. Start by assessing current needs and design with flexibility in mind.
A smaller initial footprintwith room for expansion ensures space adapts as requirements change. A smaller, more efficient footprint will give us the possibility of a garden with space for at least 2 large trees.
2. Embrace Passive Climate-Friendly Design:
With rising temperatures, our reliance on energy-intensive air-conditioning grows. Passive design solutions, like careful material choices and natural ventilation, reduce cooling needs and create healthier indoor environments. Simple steps like planting native trees provide natural shading and cooling benefits.
3. Nurture Local and Closed-Loop Energy & Waste Cycles:
We can imagine our houses as small machines. They take in electricity to run most of our equipment. A household consumes raw materials from outside, be it water, food, and other products and generates waste that has to be disposed of, outside. These are linear systems wherein raw materials, resources, and products are consumed and waste generated which needs to be removed by some external agency.
Instead, these can be made into circular loops. The electricity required can be generated locally through solar panels. The wastewater can be recycled and reused for gardening and non-potable uses such as cleaning and flushing. The kitchen waste can be composted and used in the roof terrace vegetable garden.
This closed-loop approach minimizes external resource dependency and waste generation.
Architect Le Corbusier famously said, “A house is a machine for living in.” But making it into an environmentally friendly, sustainable machine for living starts with these foundational principles.
In later posts, we would explore methods, products, and design strategies that would align with the above resolutions.
Let’s create spaces that promote sustainable, healthy living!
Buildings, even simple ones, use up immense resources. The world’s construction industry consumes well over 60 Gigatons of building materials per year.
That is 60,000,000,000,000 Kilograms per year!
It is estimated that 40% of this comes from raw materials! Our natural systems are irrevocably being changed to accommodate human settlements and enterprise. Most of these materials are transported over vast distances to reach the construction sites, adding further to the environmental costs of doing so.
Quite understandably, these numbers are large, abstract and difficult for us to comprehend or visualize. But let’s break this down to the scale and size of a small, average residence of about 200 sq.m. (2200 sq.ft.) built as an RCC framed structure with burnt brick infill walls. This would be typical of the majority of construction happening in India. A more elaborate building will of course weigh more.
With rapid economic growth and an even faster change in our lifestyles, the lifespan of our buildings is also decreasing at an alarming rate. More buildings are demolished much earlier than their natural life spans, further increasing the amount of construction & demolition waste (CDW). India produces 150,000,000 tonnes of CDW of which only 1% is recycled
What can we do?
While a lot of systematic change is required to tackle this, we – as architects, constructors, and clients – can start and contribute in every small way possible.
By being judicious in our material use.
This can be done by careful design where enough time is spent on achieving material efficiency
By finalising most design decisions before construction even starts and by keeping any changes after that to a minimum
Opt for light-weight alternatives. For instance, internal partition walls can be dry-wall constructions instead of conventional brick construction
Embrace technologies such as BIM (Building Information Modelling) to design and project management
By reusing and opting for recycled materials. Doors, windows, bricks, and even steel from RCC can be recovered and reused
By sticking to locally available materials as much as possible and wherever feasible
By building for the long term with a focus on flexibility and adaptability by design.
Buildings are invariably going to consume materials, a lot of materials. A sustainable building is also one that has been in use for a very long time. This can be achieved by being diligent with demolishing old buildings. Instead, opportunities for adaptive reuse can be explored. Where new buildings are concerned, designing with the intent of making them flexible and adaptable to future needs with minimum modifications is a sensible approach.
These are by no means a comprehensive list. We will discuss the material consumption and innovative architectural design responses to address the same!
When it comes to assessing the quality of our built environments, children are like a canary in the coal mine. The quality of lives children lead indicates the quality of the neighborhoods and the city.
As adults, some of the fondest memories of our childhoods are of spending the holidays and the entire evenings after school on our neighbourhood streets, freely playing with other children of age groups similar and different from ours. Yet the sight of children playing on the streets is increasingly becoming a rarity. The space children inhabit, especially outdoors, has been constantly shrinking. Simultaneously, compound walls that separate the houses from the street have become taller and opaque; the houses have become more inward-looking, causing a schism between the inside (considered safe) and the outside (considered unsafe).
Why? Is it because they are spending more time indoors, connected to home entertainment and the internet? Is it because we have become more risk-averse as a society? Is it because our outdoor spaces have become less safe and unaccommodating for children to safely and freely inhabit them? The answer is a combination of all the above.
Our neighbourhood streets are completely taken over by vehicles leaving little or no place for any other activities. Source
There is growing evidence that the quality of the built environment has a strong influence on the growth and development of children in early childhood, which in turn influences them as adults later. Research has shown that when children play and spend time outdoors, it improves their physical health and well-being; when children develop friendships among peer groups, it helps them develop a sense of social cohesion, self-identity, and autonomy. Children need to be allowed more opportunities to roam free and play outside without interference from adults, a behaviour that can be facilitated by good neighbourhood design.
“If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.”
-Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia (1998‑2001, 2016‑present), a specialist in urban and transportation policy
An alternative vision for neighbourhoods:
Which is a lively and better neighbourhood and where would you like to live?
Jane Jacobs, the visionary American activist, championed humane and vibrant neighbourhoods as a means to nurture well-being, a sense of community and social interconnectedness, and economic vitality. According to her, good neighbourhoods are made of the following characteristics:
Density
Density can be crudely defined as the number of people within a given area. A good neighbourhood maintains a healthy balance in density, avoiding both overcrowding and sparsity. A good density of low-rise buildings ensures that neighbours are relatively closer to each other.
Converging Paths:
A good neighbourhood creates opportunities for people to cross each other as they go about their everyday lives, indirectly creating opportunities for them to interact. In our traditional neighbourhoods, the daily vegetable vendors, the roadside temples, or the open verandahs of older houses provided those opportunities.
Mixed Use Developments:
A good neighbourhood will serve more than one primary use and therefore more than one set of people. A mixture of residences, workplaces, and places of leisure such as restaurants etc., will ensure that there is a constant presence of people at different times of the day and night. Furthermore, our buildings should look out onto the streets and the neighbourhood. All of these contribute to what Jane Jacobs terms as ‘Eyes on the Street’ – a sort of community security. Most of our traditional settlements had these – verandahs and thinnais as the outward-looking spaces, gossiping adults in these spaces provide the Eyes on the Street where children often play. We need to reinvent and integrate these into the buildings that we design today.
Safe Streets:
Streets, for many of us, are the only kind of public space that we have immediate access to. Streets are, therefore, places for social encounters. Children, pedestrians, and residents of various age groups draw equal if not more ownership rights over streets than motor vehicles and traffic. On-street parking and speeding traffic are a poor use of neighbourhood streets! Encouraging pedestrians and children to use neighbourhood streets through traffic reduction, traffic calming measures, and dedicated footpaths allows them to take up ownership and responsibility.
Small Steps, Big Impact: What Can You Do?
Neighborhoods are made of individual buildings. As clients and as architects, through several individual projects, we can influence the kind of neighbourhoods we create. Some of them include:
Rethink those compound walls: We can start by thinking beyond what happens within our plot boundaries. Reduce the height of your compound walls and make them porous. If you can, eliminate them and replace them with hedge plants or mesh to show the division.
Create neighbourhood-facing transition spaces: Have a front verandah or portico that acts as a transition space between the private house and the public street. This kind of space also allows you to keep track of your neighbourhood from the safety of the house. In the case of apartments, wide, generous balconies can serve as outdoor rooms.
Encourage some mixed-use magic: Imagine mixed-use neighbourhoods with local grocery and repair shops, small community halls, workplaces etc.
Reclaim Streets: Imagine streets not merely for vehicles but as primary public spaces where people meet, gossip, relax or go for a stroll, children play, celebrate etc. Accordingly design streets with minimal vehicular movements, and with lots of adjunct spaces such as pocket parks, plazas, shade, places to sit etc.
Architects are trained to think of the larger picture!
Architects, by their training and disposition, are inclined to think of larger issues that go beyond individual projects. If not all, most architects share their deep concerns about the built environment, be it of sustainability, community, etc. and see each project as a step to nurture overall good-built environments.
Your building isn’t just a structure; it’s a seed for a thriving neighbourhood. It is therefore imperative to pause and ask: What makes a good neighborhood for us and the generations to come? While buildings may have a physical lifespan of decades, their influence on a community can last much longer. To create truly successful neighbourhoods, we need to focus on building for both present and future generations.
