HYDERABAD: A recently published study in the ‘Journal of Urban Planning and Development’ points out that Urban Sprawl Index (USI) score can help Hyderabad achieve sustainable and smart urbanisation. It also suggests that USI will help in mitigating impacts of the present form of unplanned growth like urban flooding, pollution, extreme climate events and even socioeconomic problems like unemployment.
USI is mathematically calculated using various parameters to form an idea of a city’s urban sprawl, which basically means expansion of a city and migration of its population from its central urbanised area to outskirts. USI is used in some developed nations like USA for urban planning. However, the formula developed in USA cannot be used in India. For the first time, researchers developed a formula based on Indian urban settings. USI for Hyderabad has been calculated to be 48.14 between 2010-15. Around six to eight parameters were calculated to arrive at the score, most important being population density, rate of urban expansion and knowing rate of urbanisation in different directions from core city area. The USI score for Hyderabad between 1991-2001, when calculated, came to 10, which indicates rapid urbanisation in the city.
Tells about city’s urban sprawl Dr. Venkata Ravibabu Mandla, lead author of the paper and associate professor at School of Science, Technology and Knowledge Systems at NIRD and PR, said, “With increasing urban sprawl, environmental and socioeconomic problems and their impact on citizens also worsens.
Hyderabad’s USI score of 48.14 is very high. It is a matter of concern as it shows that we are reaching maximum possible growth.” He further said, “While in developed cities the USI score of 100 or above is considered to be maximum, with the limited natural and financial resources and high population density in India, I believe that USI score above 60 will prove disastrous for Indian cities including Hyderabad. USI score for other metro and Tier-II cities can also be calculated and a cut off can be set.”
An example of Hyderabad’s staggered urban sprawl is between 1989-2014 when an urban growth of 30-40 per cent was observed towards northeast and northwest areas of Hyderabad like Kapra, Alwal, Ramachandrapuram and Nizampet, whereas it grew by over 50 per cent towards southwest and southeast areas. How can USI help? “In order to make the growth sustainable we need to forge the concept of USI score with the strategy of developing “RURBAN areas”, says Dr Mandla. RURBAN expands to Rural-Urban areas as conceptualized by Union government, which are clusters located close to cities but are not part of the core city area.
Dr Mandla says, “For example, USI scores of areas that have been recently inducted in GHMC like Kapra, Rajendranagar and Serilingampally can be calculated and a final USI score can be set. Development which breaches this score in future can be restricted to ensure that the urbanisation is not damaging these regions.”