1. Have Cities a Future
2. Integrated enclaves: The only route to sustainable urban development
3. Integrated Townships
4. In favour of elegant density
5. The Wonderful World of Modern Townships

Have Cities a Future

Is urbanisation destroying our cities? Many fear that as cities grow more urbanised and dense, the infrastructure demands and social changes arising as a natural corollary will lead them to decline and, maybe, self-destruct.

Jane Jacobs wouldn't agree. Jacobs is a writer and activist whose thinking revolutionised city planning around the world (The Death and Life of Great American Cities, written in 1961, is arguably the most influential and inspiring American book on the inner workings and failings of cities). Jacobs is an advocate of 'mixed-use' urban development. She feels that to create community vitality and 'cities that work', urban areas should integrate business, commercial, social and residential uses, and ensure that people of different ages inhabit these spaces.

According to Jacobs, "Vital cities have marvellous innate abilities for understanding, communicating, contriving, and inventing what is required to combat their difficulties... Lively, diverse, intense cities contain the seeds of their own regeneration, with energy enough to carry over for problems and needs outside themselves". As for population density, she believes a high concentration of people is vital for city life, economic growth and prosperity.

Ramesh Ramanathan, founder of Janaagraha (a Bangalore-based movement that advocates citizens' participation in city development and administration), is also concerned about the economic, environmental, social and philosophical fallout of urbanisation. In his column in the Financial Times, third week March, 2005, he writes, "Beyond the good or bad of urbanisation, a third question is, can anything be done about it? The past two centuries of world history have had one singular, unmistakable trend-increasing urbanisation. In 1950, less than 30 per cent of the world's population were urban dwellers. 2007 will be a watershed year-beyond that, there will always be more of us living in cities than villages".

What will this projection mean to our cities? According to Ramanathan, "All cities have an elan vital, a survival instinct that comes from a combination of public-spirited individuals, economic interests, political power; it is this energy that prevents a city from dying. Cities have constantly reinvented themselves. However, this requires that they be allowed to 'find' their destinies, and reshape themselves".

Integrated enclaves:
The only route to sustainable urban development

As city populations swell, civic authorities are hard pressed to provide the infrastructure required to meet current needs-let alone those of the future.

Bangalore's present population of 6 million is expected to cross 10 million by 2020. Bangalore is already facing problems created by water shortages, congestion (both human and vehicular), expensive real estate and a generally frenzied pace of life.

One solution-gaining popularity all over the world-is the concept of integrated enclaves: enclaves that combine residential, business, social and commercial spaces. Integrated enclaves encourage a city to grow in a sustainable manner. They create new pockets of urban activity, and by doing so help 'decongest' the city. And enclave campuses give residents the luxury of excellent amenities, complete security and a high-quality environment. It's not surprising, then, that enclaves are now the preferred choice of city dwellers everywhere, including Bangalore.

Brigade Group is the pioneer of integrated enclaves in Bangalore. Brigade Millennium in J.P. Nagar, raised existing benchmarks of excellence, to become a landmark project on Bangalore's cityscape.

Now we will be extending our track record with two new enclave projects that are large,richer and more inspiring than any other we have undertaken so far. The first is Brigade Metropolis, a 36-acrtrack record with two new enclave projects that are larger, richer and more inspirie integrated enclave on Whitefield Road. The second is Brigade Gateway, which covers 40 acres in the Malleswaram-Rajajinagar region. Both projects are trend setting in nature and have been conceptualised by the best architects, engineers and landscape designers.

Integrated Townships

Convenience, affordability and lifestyle have become the priorities of a customer-a trend that has played a pivotal role in the development of integrated townships that offer its residents the promise of a quality lifestyle, tailored to suit every budget.

Townships cost more than individual buildings, yet they are an important segment-a concept that is here to stay. This has bought in the FDIs, with more foreign industries investing in such projects. Townships offer a congestion-free environment in today's cities.

Designed as gated communities, townships feature offices and campuses (educational and health related) alongside residential complexes; not to mention well-maintained lawns, parks and open spaces, tree-lined avenues, clubs, malls and other public utility areas as per the State bye-laws. They also have fully functional services such as captive power plants, centralised gas piping, adequate water and electric supply, and underground sewage and drainage systems.

The Government should decide to have at least one township in every municipality as administration of such townships become easier.

A predominantly western concept, townships will suit Indian sensibilities if they are planned, keeping in mind the Indian psyche and living habits. Since developers would need a large number of customers, they have to cater to all sections of the society-not just an IT or biotech sector. The challenge is whether developers would be able to style this into something Indian-deliver the western class with an Indian touch.

In favour of elegant density

Urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) suggested a revolutionary idea in 1961: That dense, mixed-use neighbourhood are the key to the health and survival of a city. She believed that density provides critical mass; means good stores and services; encourages street life and activity (which, in turn, facilitate safety). Her ideas inspired generations of urban planners in cities across the world. Los Angeles (LA) is just one example…

LA is the quintessential symbol of urban sprawl; where life is, quite literally, driven by the automobile. To quote an article in The Economist (29 March-4 April), "Rare are neighborhoods where basic needs can be met without hopping into a car or bus that, estate agents tout the few where they can as walkable".

But things are changing; and so dramatically that it has been compared to rewriting the DNA code. Last summer, zoning codes in the city were changed to permit apartments to be built in and around downtown LA. This March, the city council rejected a plan to build houses on the city's frontier. The message was simple: the city has to grow upwards, not outwards. Other cities in the US are following suit.

The phrases that define today's urban planning and thinking-like zero commute housing, neighbourhood ecosystems, social capital and elegant density-may have been created to describe life at Brigade Metropolis and Brigade Gateway: two very vibrant neighbourhoods-inthe- making at Bangalore.

The Wonderful World of Modern Townships

A high standard of living and quality of life-within the reach of a middle class family.

Development of self-contained, integrated township is perhaps one of the best ways in which cities can grow. A well-planned Modern Township serves the society in several ways:

• By being self-contained, it contributes towards easing the pressure on the city's systems.
• It serves as a micro model to show the quality of life that can be achieved with proper town planning.
• It shows that large sections of the Indian population can start enjoying a near-first-world standard of living without having to wait for a few decades.
• It raises level of civic consciousness and facilities community living otherwise not possible in a city in general.

Township-strength in numbers
With a thousand or more families living on a self-contained campus, a township derives its strength from the numbers .Civic maintenance, facilities and security of the relatively larger number of residents that live in a township.