KEY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

A Case of Large-Scale Township Projects in India

Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 11

1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 16
1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................ 16
1.2 IDENTIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE GAPS.................................................................................... 18
1.3 RESEARCH RATIONALE ............................................................................................................. 19
1.3.1 Why operationalization of environmental sustainability? .............................................. 19
1.3.2 Why study Large-scale Townships? ............................................................................... 21
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................. 23
1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 24
1.6 RESEARCH PREMISE ................................................................................................................. 25
1.7 SCOPE OF WORK ....................................................................................................................... 27
1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH............................................................................................... 27

2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPTS AND

PRACTICES .......................................................................................................................................... 30
2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW OVERVIEW .............................................................................................. 30
2.2 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM ................................................................................ 31
2.2.1 Concept of Sustainable Urban Development ..................................................................31
2.2.2 Strong and Weak Sustainability Paradigms ................................................................... 33
2.3 SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION THEORIES .................................................................................. 35
2.4 URBAN METABOLISM CONCEPT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY ................................ 40
2.5 EMERGING TOWNSHIP SUSTAINABILITY MODELS ....................................................................42
2.5.1 Eco-city Model: Managing Resource Loops ..................................................................44
2.5.2 New Urbanism Concept: Compact Physiology .............................................................. 45
2.5.3 Transit Oriented Development: Mixed-use Corridor development ................................ 46
2.5.4 Smart City Model: Integrating Technology with Urban Lifestyle ..................................47
2.5.5 Low Carbon Developments: Reducing Energy Demands and Carbon Emissions ......... 48
2.6 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT ....................................................................48
2.6.1 Life Cycle Assessment Method ....................................................................................... 50
2.6.2 Sustainability Indicators Assessment Approach ............................................................. 53
2.6.3 Performance Rating Systems for townships ................................................................... 56
2.7 CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE EXISTING TOWNSHIP LEVEL ASSESSMENT TOOLS ................... 58
2.8 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN PRACTICE: NEED FOR CASE STUDIES............................. 61

3 CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK: LARGE SCALE TOWNSHIPS DEVELOPMENT

PERSPECTIVE IN INDIA .................................................................................................................... 64
3.1 SPATIAL-URBANIZATION PERSPECTIVE: LARGE CITIES AND LARGER PROJECTS ........................ 65
3.2 POLICY AND PLANNING PERSPECTIVE: PROMOTING PRIVATIZATION........................................ 67
3.2.1 National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy .................................................................70
3.2.2 State Township Policies..................................................................................................72

4
Manju Baisoya Pundir
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
 KEY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
A Case of Large-Scale Township Projects in India

3.3 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY PERSPECTIVE: REGULATORY FRAMEWORK ..................................... 74

3.4 SUSTAINABILITY PERSPECTIVE: PERFORMANCE RATING SYSTEMS .......................................... 76
3.4.1 Green Initiatives at Building Level ................................................................................. 76
3.4.2 IGBC: Green Township Rating System (IGBC-GRTS) .................................................. 78
3.4.3 GRIHA- Large Developments (GRIHA-LD)................................................................... 81
3.5 DECISION-MAKING PERSPECTIVE: STAKEHOLDER AND MARKET INFLUENCE .......................... 83
3.5.1 Neoliberal Ideology ........................................................................................................ 83
3.5.2 Stakeholder Influences ................................................................................................... 86
3.5.3 Decision-making for Sustainability ................................................................................ 88

4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................91

4.1 RESEARCH METHOD ................................................................................................................. 91
4.2 DEFINING LARGE-SCALE TOWNSHIPS FOR THIS RESEARCH ........................................................ 95
4.3 INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING ............................................................................................ 97
4.4 TOWNSHIP CASE STUDIES ......................................................................................................... 98
4.5 IDENTIFICATION OF KEY STAKEHOLDERS ...............................................................................100
4.6 FIELD WORK...........................................................................................................................100
4.7 EXPERT OPINION SURVEY ......................................................................................................101
4.8 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS ........................................................................................102
4.9 RESEARCH OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................104

5 CASE STUDIES: OVERVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES IN

TOWNSHIPS .......................................................................................................................................105
5.1 TOWNSHIP CASE STUDIES: PROJECT DETAILS ........................................................................106
5.2 INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING: KEY ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES ........109
5.2.1 Masdar City, UAE ........................................................................................................109
5.2.2 Hammarby Sjostad, Stockholm .....................................................................................113
5.2.3 Sonoma Mountain Village, USA ...................................................................................116
5.2.4 Tianjin Eco City, China ................................................................................................119
5.2.5 Punggol Eco-Town, Singapore .....................................................................................123
5.3 INDIAN TOWNSHIP CASE STUDIES: KEY ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES ........126
5.3.1 Lavasa Hill City ...........................................................................................................126
5.3.2 Magarpatta City ...........................................................................................................129
5.3.3 Marg Swarnabhoomi ....................................................................................................131
5.3.4 GIFT City, Gujarat .......................................................................................................133
5.3.5 Esencia Green Township ..............................................................................................136
5.3.6 Wave city, Ghaziabad ...................................................................................................139
5.3.7 Amanora Park Town, Pune ..........................................................................................142
5.3.8 Nanded City, Pune........................................................................................................144
5.3.9 Mahindra World City, Chennai ....................................................................................145
5.3.10 Palava City, Mumbai ...............................................................................................148

5
Manju Baisoya Pundir
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
 KEY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
A Case of Large-Scale Township Projects in India

5.4 OBSERVATIONS ......................................................................................................................151

6 CASE STUDIES ANALYSIS: CATEGORIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL

SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES ......................................................................156
6.1 KEY PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITION ....................................157
6.2 DERIVATION AND SCORING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES ...................160
6.3 RESPONSE STRATEGY 1: PLANNING DESIGN AND LAND USE ..................................................164
6.4 RESPONSE STRATEGY 2: LANDSCAPE, ECOLOGY AND BIODIVERSITY ......................................168
6.5 RESPONSE STRATEGY 3: WATER CONSERVATION, EFFICIENCY AND REUSE .............................170
6.6 RESPONSE STRATEGY 4: WASTE AND MATERIAL MANAGEMENT.............................................172
6.7 RESPONSE STRATEGY 5: ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLES ..........................................174
6.8 RESPONSE STRATEGY 6: EFFECTIVE, GREEN AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION .........................176
6.9 RESPONSE STRATEGY 7: CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 179
6.10 RESPONSE STRATEGY 8: ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR.................180
6.11 CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................182

7 OPINION SURVEY ANALYSIS: INFLUENCES IN SUSTAINABILITY DECISION MAKING

189
7.1 RESPONDENTS PROFILE .........................................................................................................190
7.2 PRESENT STATUS AND GENERAL OPINIONS .............................................................................190
7.3 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY DECISIONS: THE BUSINESS CASE ....................................192
7.4 KEY DRIVERS FOR ES PRACTICES IN TOWNSHIPS ...................................................................195
7.5 KEY BARRIERS FOR ES PRACTICES IN TOWNSHIPS ..................................................................197
7.6 SUGGESTED TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE ES TRANSITION ...............................................................199
7.7 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................202

8 SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSIONS: AN ASSESSMENT AND DECISION-MAKING

FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN TOWNSHIP PROJECTS .......204
8.1 ADDRESSING KNOWLEDGE GAPS.............................................................................................205
8.2 A CONCEPTUAL ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY EVALUATION TOOL FOR TOWNSHIP
PLANNING ........................................................................................................................................207
8.2.1 Structure .......................................................................................................................208
8.2.2 Usage............................................................................................................................209
8.2.3 Replicability and Scaling..............................................................................................210
8.2.4 Timeframes ...................................................................................................................210
8.3 APPLICATION FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN TOWNSHIPS ..............211
8.4 A POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK BASED ON MLP IN TRANSITION THEORIES ............217
8.5 OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ................................................................................219

9 ANNEXURES ............................................................................................................................221
9.1 LIST OF MAJOR UPCOMING LARGE-SCALE TOWNSHIPS IN INDIA ..............................................221
9.2 INITIAL LIST OF 25 TOWNSHIPS CONSIDERED FOR CASE STUDIES .............................................225
9.3 UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS FOR PROJECT OFFICES/SITE .......................................................227

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Manju Baisoya Pundir
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
 KEY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
A Case of Large-Scale Township Projects in India

9.4 ONLINE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FORMAT FOR FIELD EXPERTS .............................................228

9.5 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES IN CASE STUDIES ....................................233
9.6 LIST OF 75 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES AND GIVEN SCORE .......................242
9.7 SCORING MATRIX FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES IN CASE STUDIES.......245

10 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................253

List of Tables
Table 1: International performance rating systems for large-scale township projects ........................... 56
Table 2: IGBC-GRTS rating categories and credits ............................................................................... 79
Table 3: GRIHA-LD rating categories and credits ................................................................................. 81
Table 4: Case Study Project Details .....................................................................................................107
Table 5: Sustainability Practices: Planning, Design and Land use .......................................................166
Table 6: ES Practices: Landscape, Ecology and Bio-diversity.............................................................169
Table 7: ES Practices: Water Conservation, efficiency and Reuse ......................................................171
Table 8: ES Practices: Waste and Material Management .....................................................................173
Table 9: ES Practices: Energy Efficiency and Renewables .................................................................175
Table 10: ES Practices: Effective green and Public Transportation .....................................................178
Table 11: ES Practices: Carbon emission reduction and Environmental Management ........................179
Table 12: ES Practices: Environmentally responsible social behavior.................................................181
...................................................................................190

List of Figures

Figure 1: Conceptual understanding of operationalization of ES Paradigm .......................................... 25

Figure 2: Cross-cutting Area of Research .............................................................................................. 26
Figure 3: Literature Review Overview ................................................................................................... 31
Figure 4: Different representations of sustainability concept .................................................................32
Figure 5: Urban environmental issues in different stages of economic development ............................ 35
....................................36
Figure 7: Transition and regime shifts ................................................................................................... 37
Figure 8: System transition leaps ........................................................................................................... 39
Figure 9: Planning Large-scale Townships A system approach.......................................................... 40
Figure 10: Urban metabolism indicator framework for urban settlements ............................................. 41
Figure 11: Key models of sustainable township planning: Emerging Metaphors ..................................43
Figure 12: Lifecycle assessment concept for building activity .............................................................. 51
Figure 13: PSR framework for environmental indicators by OECD ...................................................... 55
Figure 14: Performance Assessment systems at Building level in India ................................................ 77
Figure 15: Neo-liberal urban development process ................................................................................ 84
Figure 16: Internal and external stakeholders in Real estate Projects .................................................... 87
7
Manju Baisoya Pundir
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
 KEY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
A Case of Large-Scale Township Projects in India

....................................................................88
Figure 18: Drivers of corporate environmental proactivity ....................................................................90
Figure 19: Research Approach ............................................................................................................... 92
Figure 20: Research Methodology ......................................................................................................... 93
Figure 21: Defining a township level of development ........................................................................... 95
Figure 22: Location of township 10 case studies in India ...................................................................... 99
Figure 23: Masdar City Aerial View and Street ...................................................................................110
Figure 24: Land use plan, Masdar ........................................................................................................111
Figure 25: Hammarby Master Plan and Aerial View ...........................................................................113
Figure 26: Hammarby Model for Infrastructure Planning ....................................................................114
Figure 27: Hammarby Land use plan ...................................................................................................115
Figure 28: Sonoma Mountain Village Master Plan and View ..............................................................118
Figure 29: Neighborhood planning, Tianjin Eco City ..........................................................................120
Figure 30: Tianjin Eco City Aerial Image ............................................................................................121
Figure 31 : Tianjin Masterplan Image ..................................................................................................122
Figure 32: Punggol Eco-town Concept Plan and Aerial View .............................................................124
Figure 33: Part of Masterplan for Punggol Town ................................................................................124
Figure 34: Public transit connectivity, Punggol ...................................................................................125
Figure 35: Lavasa Hill City Image .......................................................................................................126
Figure 36: Dasve Masterplan ...............................................................................................................127
Figure 37: Drip irrigation and organic slope protection at Lavasa .......................................................128
Figure 38: Magarpatta Site Plan ...........................................................................................................129
Figure 39: Magarpatta City Image .......................................................................................................130
Figure 40: Interactive public green spaces Magarpatta ........................................................................131
Figure 41: Marg Swarnabhoomi Master Plan Image............................................................................132
Figure 42: Regional economy focus in planning, Marg Swarnabhoomi ..............................................133
Figure 43: GIFT City Images ...............................................................................................................134
Figure 44: TOD planning, GIFT City ..................................................................................................135
Figure 45: Esencia Green Township Images ........................................................................................137
Figure 46: Wave City master plan and aerial Image ............................................................................140
Figure 47: Central command center, Wave City ..................................................................................141
Figure 48: Amanora Park Town Images ..............................................................................................142
Figure 49: Bio-digester, solar streetlights and wind energy installation at Amanora ...........................143
Figure 50: Master Plan Image of Nanded City, Pune ...........................................................................144
Figure 51: Nanded City Development Image .......................................................................................145
Figure 52: Mahindra World city, Chennai Images ...............................................................................147
Figure 53: Palava City Aerial Image ....................................................................................................149
Figure 54: Neighborhood planning concept, Palava City .....................................................................150
Figure 55: Interrelationship of key principles in achieving sustainability ............................................154
Figure 56: Hierarchal classification of Sustainability responses ..........................................................158

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Manju Baisoya Pundir
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
 KEY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
A Case of Large-Scale Township Projects in India

Figure 57: Derivation process of Key ES practices ..............................................................................161

Figure 58: Case comparison scores: Planning and Land use ................................................................165
Figure 59: Scoring for ES Practices: Planning, Design and Land use ..................................................166
Figure 60: Case comparison scores: Landscape, ecology, biodiversity ...............................................168
Figure 61: ES Practices: Landscape, Ecology and Bio-diversity .........................................................169
Figure 62: Case comparison scores: Water conservation, efficiency and reuse ...................................171
Figure 63: ES Practices: Water Conservation, efficiency and Reuse ...................................................172
Figure 64: Case comparison scores: Waste and Material Management ...............................................173
Figure 65: ES Practices: Waste and Material Management .................................................................174
Figure 66: Case comparison scores: Energy Efficiency and Renewables ............................................175
Figure 67: ES Practices: Energy Efficiency and Renewables ..............................................................176
Figure 68: Case comparison scores: Effective green and public transportation ...................................177
Figure 69: ES Practices: Effective green and Public Transportation ...................................................178
Figure 70: Case comparison scores: Carbon Emission reduction and EM ...........................................179
Figure 71: ES Practices: Carbon emission reduction and Environmental Management ......................180
Figure 72: Case comparison scores: Environmentally Responsible Social Behavior ..........................181
Figure 73: ES Practices: Environmentally responsible social behavior ...............................................182
Figure 74: Focus of each township on different strategies ...................................................................183
Figure 75: Total aggregate scores for all townships .............................................................................184
Figure 76: Focus of response strategies in Case studies .......................................................................185
Figure 77: Distribution of common and exceptional practices for each response strategy ..................186
Figure 78: Perceived willingness to include sustainability targets in master planning ........................191
Figure 79: Stage of project to achieve maximum reduction in environmental loads ...........................192
Figure 80: Environmental sustainability as market opportunity .........................192
Figure 81: investor behavior and relation of ES to occupancy ...........................193
Figure 82: ....................................194
Figure 83: ......................................194
Figure 84: Perceived drivers for implementation of ES initiatives in townships .................................196
Figure 85: ...............................198
Figure 86: .......................................200
Figure 87: Mapping of perception of key drivers and barriers .............................................................203
Figure 88: Research contribution towards transition framework .........................................................207
Figure 89: Hierarchical structure of Response Strategies and Practices .............................................208
Figure 90: Graphic Representation of the Conceptual Evaluation Tool ...............................................209
Figure 91: Stages of transition .............................................................................................................212
Figure 92: Conceptual understanding of driver and barriers in transition process ...............................213
Figure 93: Application Framework for environmental sustainability in townships .............................216
Figure 94: Conceptual understanding of MLP with respect to sustainable township planning ............218

9
Manju Baisoya Pundir
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
 KEY PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
A Case of Large-Scale Township Projects in India

There is no need to protect the environment; there is a need to build a world where
environment does not need any protection.

10
Manju Baisoya Pundir
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal