How do you plan for 46 million people?

Delhi is poised to be the biggest urban area on the planet. What challenges does it face, and how will it face them?

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Resource on this topic:
A Sense of Space: The Crisis of Urban Design in India by Ranjit Sabikhi

[cameron]

Imagine you're in charge of planning a fast growing Indian city that's on track to be the biggest city in the world and you propose low density housing LMAO

[aleenascaria]

I've lived in Delhi my whole life and have seen the metro come to life. It was surely a lifesaver from the traffic. I think the metro is one of the biggest feats in the city. It's superbly well maintained and covers all the important points - my home, school, college, workplace. Just walking distance from all my essentials. Because of the ever-increasing population, it just needs more trains and more lines.

[marykatemoloney]

Lived in Delhi for 2 months and was super surprised to see how century-old structures were surrounded by normal city life. I cant imagine having to urban plan when there is so much already existing there. Also, I studied a bit on monsoon flooding there. Turns out, much of their municipal tasks are split up among different organizations (for my project, specifically looked at sewage/drainage responsibilities). I think centralizing these responsibilities could make it easier to efficiently plan and develop.

[TheSeppentoni]

I was in Manila once, and I couldn't handle the mind-boggling sensory overflow of this very big city. I cannot imagine how people can live in these megalopolises. I'm very fascinated and terrified at the same time.

[ayushism]

i am from delhi and i live in the "suburb" of NOIDA, as mentioned in the video, due to lack of commercial spaces in delhi, NOIDA rather than being a green leafy suburb with low density housing is probably the most urbanised part of the delhi metropolitan region with extremely high density housing and a lot of corporate offices and commercial spaces. it resembles midtown manhattan more than any suburb in new jersey! and this is true for the "suburbs" of gurgaon, faridabad and ghaziabad as well! and now we're getting a new international airport in NOIDA so i can imagine the level of traffic we'll have in the times to come!

[libshastra]

Urban Land Ceiling Act ruined Delhi and almost killed property rights. Delhi tried to parcel land equally to everyone and tried to ban sales outright. That law was scrapped sometime in the 90s and that's how Haus Khan was able to be gentrified.

Indians cities are a great example of planning and land use policy failures. They actually make for a great case study.

You should consider making a video on Mumbai. That city has its own challenges, it needs both roads and transit.

[machtmann]

They seriously tried a low density housing solution to a population growing as fast as Delhi? Smh, what else did they expect other than failure?

[alexullrich]

Love videos like these, especially about the developing world. It’s all too easy for our western self-obsession to obscure one’s interest in what amounts to the majority of the world’s population. It would be great to see an African city like Cape Town or Lagos, or even better: a deep dive on how each country’s unique colonial past is reflected in its urbanism!

[rohit_banga]

I am born, brought up in Delhi, and love it to bits. But sadly, it has become unliveable now. The children have reduced lung sizes due to extensive pollution, and a lot of people face respiratory problems. The traffic is super bad, we have had instances when we are just locked up in our general area due to traffic jams on all sides, and it was frightening what would have happened if someone needed to go to the hospital. It is crowded everywhere, and many times we are not able to go to so places where we used frequent, either because of traffic or just plain over-crowding. The food is the best in the world, and I have very fond memories of growing up, but I won't go back unless it is absolutely necessary.

[jerinxavier]

I lived in Delhi _ greater Noida.. i think the NCR regions are absorbing some people out of Delhi. There are lot of opportunities in Noida, greater Noida and these places have better planned roads and infrastructure. I think developing such areas next to the border of Delhi is a good approach.

[russellcoleman]

5:42 As soon as I heard 1960's American planners I braced myself for air pollution

[paulheydarian]

I visited New Delhi in 1985, 86, and 87. It was nice enough back then. I haven't been back since then. We used to stay at the Janpath hotel and eat out at Nirula's in Connaught Place.
I prefer going to Cochin, Mysore, Madurai, and Chennai now, because I love Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The very Southern part of India is where I feel safest and happiest. The people seem calmer and less stressed.

[fallout]

I don't know who thought funneling people into satellite cities without reliable good public transport was a good idea.

[PixiiGER]

I visited Delhi in 2016 and to an European it is just crazy big and so much is going on in the streets. But the metro was actually amazing! Very modern, guge trains build to mainly stand in and I felt like less crowded than the street :) that was an amazing trip :')

[engineeredarmy]

This video was super interesting! We've been talking a lot about how Western Cities are planned, but analysing some of these cities (which are still under planning) and providing a solution is the best use of Urban Planning YouTube channels

[markrichards]

I've been to Delhi. On the way into the city at night the highway median is pretty much shoulder to shoulder with people sleeping in places. It's brutally hot and smoggy, like the hottest day in Houston but add 10 degrees, until the monsoon arrives, when temperatures become much more pleasant, but streets flood quickly due to bad drainage. Traffic is insane. On the highway, cars, donkey carts, camel carts share the roadway with cars, and if a cow wanders into Traffic, everything comes to a stop. On the up side, food is awesome, people are mostly friendly and helpful. I really enjoyed my time in India, would like to go back again. My favorite attraction in Delhi was the bird hospital. If you are walking around and see a ridiculous variety of birds flying around, Follow them. The bird hospital runs on charitable contributions, is really an amazing thing to have in the middle of a huge metropolis. My most lasting impression of India is that, the cultural mindset is completely different from ours. They really go with the flow.

[masterdementer]

I live in Delhi for my studies. It's a nice place overall. You can go to literally anywhere in the city with metro system. The best metro station i liked is Huaz Khas. It's more than just a station. They have multiple artworks, shops and is just larger than other ones. Tho air quality is the worst.

[jredmond]

Love these videos but you have so much to talk about. I'd love to see longer videos. No reason to cut them short and keep it so simple.

[TheReaderOnTheWall]

In the book "Seeing Like a State", James C. Scott rails against the High Modernist design ideas of Edwin Luytens, following LeCorbusier's principles of very wide streets radiating from a central point, designed for control rather than organic growth. In effect, the people of the city began using it in "illegal" ways, needing to break free of the stranglehold that the design principles tried to freeze in time. Slums however, despite proper supporting infrastructure, are organically grown, which densify their uses

In the book "Planet of Slums", by Mike Davis, you can see a harrowing account of the scale of these slums, the brutality of the State against them, the economic exploitation by multinationals, the health and environmental hazards.

Honestly, I'm not sure how planners will be able to do something that will stand the test of time and of the many unforeseen needs of the generations that will inherit it.
I guess the towers they are building could be closer, maybe replacing their downtown golf club with high-density towers with proper public transport infrastructure around it, make it almost free for residents of some slums to move there, bulldoze the previous slum land and put high-rises, rince and repeat.
But, that's my outsider's perspective. I'm sure the best would be to ask the people there what they want, mixed with best practices from urban developpers.

[aneet]

I was born in Delhi in 80s. No matter how good or bad things gonna get, I always love to go back there. Pollution level is very bad so is the traffic. Hope great things happen to Delhi