A 65 Acre Transit Supportive Township at Nagpur, India

Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. Green Field Site in a low density neighborhood

Context:
The proposed project at Nagpur, India will be a 65 acre mixed-use transit supportive development located south-west of Nagpur, a city in central India. The site is situated along state highway and is exceptionally well connected by car, transit and only 15 minute’s drive from the City Center. In the immediate context, the site is surrounded by low density single family homes and has four schools within its ½ mile radius. This site will be one of the first ever to be planned as TRD (Transit Ready Development) for a future mass transit metro rail station at Nagpur.

The Masterplan integrates four primary uses into a new neighbourhood: a mix of housing, a town center located along a future transit stop, a mix of retail and commercial uses, and an interconnected network of public spaces.

Challenges:
The constant migration of workers into Indian cities has created enough opportunities for real estate market however scarcity of affordable land within city limits is forcing developers to develop on green field sites away from the inner city areas. The challenge is to develop these Greenfield projects as “communities and neighborhoods” rather than embracing the current trend of developing “individual projects or gated communities”.

Opportunities:
While the new developments on greenfield sites in India are constrained due to lack of any urban context to react to, it also provides an opportunity to “create a self-context for sustainable communities” that are compact, pedestrian friendly, diverse and above all transit supportive. While long term planning, public policies and restoration of existing urban centers and towns will be an obvious response in dealing with these problems, the interim and the immediate priority is to develop the current greenfield sites as pedestrian oriented, vibrant “transit ready communities” and neighborhoods which will inherently form the building blocks of future towns and cities.

Vision/Intent/Goals

• Intent/Goal of the Masterplan is to create one of the first transit ready communities in the state of Maharashtra.
• The vision for the township called for a creation of diverse neighbourhood with a strong sense of community linked by quality public realm with an easy access to parks, town center and transit stn.

Program/Scale

• The Masterplan, based on “Traditional Neighbourhood Design Principles” is designed to create a compact, vibrant & walkable community wherein all residents will be within walking distance of their daily needs including parks & open spaces
• The new community will add approx. 2300 DU’s with five different residential building types including neighbourhood retail, commercial & office and civic buildings.
• Ensuring diversity of uses and building types, the Masterplan consists of approximately 1380 Market-rate Apartments, 634 Affordable units (approx. 25% of Total DU’s), 220 Town homes, 86 Single Family Homes, Community Buildings such as 12,000 sq.ft Community Hall, 6000 sq.ft Day-care, 8000 sq.ft Senior Center, 30,000 sq.ft Supermarket, a 210,000 sq.ft Town Center with boutique Retail, Restaurants, Office Space, a small Cinema Hall and a 620 car “shared parking garage” to jointly serve the Town Center and Transit Station.
• Central focus of the neighbourhood is a mixed use “Town Center” with housing over the shops. The proposed town center focuses on town square which will function as a heart of the community around which series of activities such as retail “Main Street”, shopping mall, offices and outdoor cafes are planned.
• A main street intersects through the town square and will act as farmers market on weekends. Civic buildings like Community/Recreational Hall, Day-care Center and Senior Center are located at the termination of this main street made highly visible by a terminating vista and presence of a clock tower.
• A Transit Station for future Metro rail will be located within five-minute walking distance. The Town center with its dedicated “shared parking garage” (between town center and transit station) will enable “park and ride” facility and thus compliment and support the transit station.
• The network of planned pathways and streets allow the surrounding community and the public-at-large with variety of readily accessible ways to get to the transit stop, the retail and amenity spaces.
• Variety of Parks and open spaces ranging in size and character from neighbourhood parks to pocket parks to town square to civic green are distributed evenly throughout the site as distinct place making elements around which the neighbourhoods are organized. Two public parks with local neighbourhood centers form the civic places of relaxation and enjoyment. Residential blocks are designed in clusters around private courtyards.
• Environmental components like bio swales, stormwater systems and green roofs will be incorporated to enable passive cooling in the harsh climes of Nagpur.

Lessons learned: • The design demonstrates that it is possible to create a context through urban placemaking in the midst of sub urban setting on the outskirts of the cities. Currently over two dozen Indian metropolitan cities are in various stages of feasibility and planning studies to evaluate implementation of potential mass transit systems to move millions of commuters within its cities and reduce automobile dependence. • In such cities where the transit systems are being contemplated and at various stages of planning, it is possible to influence policy decisions of local stakeholders & planning agencies in a positive manner by demonstrating that appropriate densities, site development strategies and careful programming, can create communities and neighborhoods that are transit ready and can be easily plugged into the future transit systems such as metro rail network. Going against the current trend of developing standalone gated communities with clubhouses, swimming pools and expensive entry gates, this was an attempt by the masterplanners to show the developer and stakeholders at large that the same yield, densities and financial objectives can be met, or at times even exceeded through careful planning and tactical strategies based on traditional neighbourhood design principles. Being one of the first TOD sites in Nagpur, completely based on a private initiative, the project successfully demonstrates that the suburban areas can be turned into vibrant communities and urban villages which are self-sustainable and places of residence, employment, & entertainment.

Transect Zone(s): T3 sub-urban, T4 general.
Status: Proposed
Guiding Charter Principle(s): The neighborhood, the district, and the corridor are the essential elements of development and redevelopment in the metropolis.Principle 11. Neighborhoods should be compact, pedestrian friendly, and mixed-use.
Project or Plan's Scale: Neighborhood
Features: Affordable/subsidized housing, Bus transit, Live/work, Mixed uses, Transit oriented development.
Land area (in acres): 65
Total built area (in sq. ft.): 2831400
Retail area (in sq. ft.): 20000
Office area (in sq. ft.): 20000
Industrial area (in sq. ft.):
Number of hotel units:
Number of residential units (include live/work): 2320
Civic uses (type and size): Community Recreational Hall- 12,000 sq.ft Daycare center- 6,000 sq.ft Senior Center- 8,000 sq.ft
Parks & green space (in acres): 3
Residential types: High-rise, Mid-rise/loft, Low-rise flats, Townhouse/rowhouse/maisonette, Small lot detached.
Project team designers: Swapnil Patil, Director (Design)/ Urban Designer, Beri Urban & Environmental Planners
Project team developers: Beri Urban & Environmental Planners

Previous site status: Undeveloped greenfield

Starting/Ending date of construction/implementation: 2015 - 2020