cityform india: achieving sustainable development in India’s rapidly growing cities
The rapid demographic growth in and around Indian cities is changing the physical dimensions – the size, shape, density, land uses, spatial structure and building types – of its cities. Increased urban development puts intense pressure on existing urban infrastructure to support quality of life. Urban growth often manifests itself as overcrowded and very high-density urban forms, claimed to contribute to crime, physical and mental illness and poor living conditions. The current physical form that intense urban growth takes is therefore generally considered to be unsustainable.
CityForm-India aims to facilitate the sharing of experience, expertise and knowledge to identify arising research challenges and opportunities within the context of India’s rapidly growing cities. The principal goal of the CityForm-India research network is to conduct long-term collaborative research into sustainable urban form in rapidly growing cities in India.
CityForm-India started as a dialogue between some of the key partnering institutions two years ago. In 2008 the team, led by Oxford Brookes University and the National Institute of Urban Affairs, organized a conference in New Delhi to bring potential partners and stakeholders together for a day to discuss the issue or urban growth, urban form and sustainability. Currently, CityForm India consists of more than 20 academic partners from India, UK, Europe, US and Asia as well as a number of stakeholders in urban development and professional bodies from India.