School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi

About: School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi is a education organization based out in New Delhi, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Smart city. The organization has 278 authors who have published 347 publications receiving 1665 citations.

Determinants of growth in non-municipal areas of Delhi: rural–urban dichotomy revisited

Abstract: The current discourse on urbanization calls for new approaches to capture the peculiarities of growth in the global South. This paper takes the National Capital Territory of Delhi as a case study and adopts a mix of methods (field survey, ordinary least squares regression and geographically weighted regression) to highlight the emerging gradient of urbanization within official rural areas. The results show a certain catching-up effect in which the settlements with low population and employment rate grow faster than more urbanized settlements. Settlements with low basic infrastructure provision (such as schools and medical facilities), which are mainly census towns, tend to grow more slowly than villages with better infrastructure provision. Additionally, local characteristics of growth vary spatially depending on the distribution of socio-economic, demographic, and infrastructure variables. To avoid the unplanned transformation of villages into urban areas in Delhi and similar regions of the global South, this paper recommends moving from master planning towards strategic spatial planning, implementing integrated planning and governance of non-municipal peri-urban areas, and reforming spatial plans and development policies based on scientific methods.

Flood Vulnerability Assessment using Geospatial Techniques: Chennai, India

Abstract: Timely and accurate damage assessment due to floods is crucial for the authorities to respond. Damage assessment and vulnerability mapping of Chennai flooding 2015 is presented. Objectives: The key objective of the paper is to quantify the extent of inundation, the damage incurred to the built environment, road and railway networks by mapping the flood vulnerable areas based on watershed analysis. Methods/Analysis: Landsat-8 OLI, Sentinel-1 and CartoDEM-3 R1 data of the study area during the flooded period were analyzed using geospatial techniques such as Normalized Difference Water Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Built-up Index, Iso-Cluster Unsupervised Classification and Spatial Analyst tool. Findings: The results showed that 18% of the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) (including 56 sq.km of the built fabric, 3742 km road length) was inundated directly affecting 21% of the total population. Novelty/Improvement: Based on the results, the study area is classified into low, medium and high vulnerable areas. Suitable directions for effective disaster management are recommended. Keywords: Disaster Management, Inundation, Vulnerability Mapping, Watershed Analysis

Measuring Urbanization Around a Regional Capital : The Case of Bhopal District

Abstract: Many villages in India seem to possess urban characteristics. The Indian definition of urban area is restrictive and excludes numerous localities. This paper consequently explores what is potentially an urban area. A literature review of various definitions of the notion of urban and urbanity enables to develop indicators susceptible to enter a multi-dimensional approach going beyond the census definitions. It suggests a palette of indicators (demographic, social, economic, spatial, infrastructural and administrative) to categorize rural and urban localities. This methodological tool is then applied to a set of eight villages around Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. The study identified two types of urban areas, those under the influence of Bhopal (suburban type) and those with a large degree of autonomy (growth-centre type). The results show that even in a sub-metropolitan environment, localities are very diverse and that factors of transformation depend on multiple factors ranging from accessibility and location to situated historical capital. Finally, this working paper demonstrates that studying urbanization only within the Census classified urban local units is certainly limiting and a broader approach may help us better understand the spread of urban characteristics in India even in small settlements and micro agglomerations.

Role of non -motorized transport in distribution of goods in the metropolitan city of Delhi

Abstract: Freight transport plays a vital role in metropolitan economy of Delhi. The goods traffic moving in and out of Delhi is increasing at an average annual growth rate of 10.97%. While LCV forms the backbone of goods movement along with goods auto rickshaws in Delhi for longer leads the non-motorized modes are increasingly becoming important for shorter leads for distributing goods particularly in wholesale markets located in the Walled city besides selected wholesale markets located outside the walled city. This present paper is an attempt to highlight the role of NMT modes such as cycle rickshaws, handcarts, animal carts, cycle rickshaw and head loads in five case wholesale markets located in walled city of Delhi dealing in foodgrains, textiles, autoparts, electrical and hardware respectively besides two wholesale markets of timber and fruits & vegetable market at Kotla and Okhla in South Delhi respectively.

Recent advancements in practices related to desalination by means of nanotechnology

Abstract: The commercially used proficiencies for desalination such as osmosis (forward as well as reverse) utilise synthetic membranes, which provide several restrictions such as decreased water flux, biofouling, low membrane life, reduced hydrophobicity and short salt removal. Therefore, to astound these kinds of limitations, nanotechnology has been fused with these techniques. Several nanocomposites have been operated in amalgamation with conventional techniques for improvising the outcomes. Nanocomposites possess various beneficial belongings such as extraordinary hydrophilicity, high photocatalytic and photo degradative activities along with brilliant self-cleansing and antifouling properties. The membranes grounded on nanocomposites in arrangement with desalination techniques not only boost the water flux but also aids in the exclusion of salt ions and are found to be substantially more stable in comparison to standard membranes. Also, these nanocomposite membranes are highly cost effective, flexible to operate and persist high salt elimination capacity which makes them further more worthy of incorporation with the desalination techniques. This paper primly concentrates on the recent nanotechnology-based practices to enrich the outcomes of desalination on the footings of nanocomposites, developed practicing distinct forms of nanomaterials. A classification for various forms of nanomaterials used for building nanocomposites have also been illustrated. Special emphasis has been given on the usage of nanocomposites constructed from several nanomaterials such as nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanoshells, nanofibers, nanocapsules, nanosheets and quantum dots, and how these nanocomposites have been utilised for desalination.