Density is good for any city for several reasons: better connectivity, smaller carbon footprint and more improved mixed-used development. And Mumbai stands at an advantage for all these reasons but we are still getting it wrong. The density has never been used as planning tool in a reasonable manner which has amounted to super congestion and suffocated streets and lowest possible public spaces. Not to discount the floor space area per person consideration given a complete miss. Higher FAR or FSI is good to have denser development but only if it is coupled with other related infrastructure, amenities (biking lanes, public parks, sports grounds just to name a few) and non-negotiable minimum floor space area per person. So, allowing taller buildings enabled via higher FSI but add minimum road widths, pedestrian paths, public spaces, zero tolerance for single occupancy vehicles and good public transport facilitation in any mixed use development. Allowing vendors and informal economy which adds to the vibrancy of the neighborhoods but within restrictions of timings, encroachment on roads and sidewalks. This is achievable only if countered only in one way, allow taller buildings with higher FSI but curb lower floor space area per person legally.
In doing so, Mumbai should not be looking at any city and replicating the model without addressing the unique context of its own. hence, cities which have been successful in density should be studied but not copied blindly in their implementation. Mumbai is one of the most diverse cities which hinges on a great sense of entrepreneurship and density plays a big role in it but it has never been celebrated for its positives and it has never addressed the dysfunctional features in a holistic way hence suburban sprawls in outskirts of Mumbai are not making the city functional in terms of commute and connectivity. For an average Mumbai resident, its a nightmare to travel to work on an everyday basis. This is a great folly of intentional exclusion of citizens based on economic divide. So its usual to hear, South Mumbai residents not feeling they belong to Mumbai altogether or Suburb dwellers feeling they are somehow less in value or even eastern residents feeling isolated from western residents are all extremely real urban issues in Mumbai. Unless we address to dissolve these extreme polar mindsets, Mumbai will remain fragmented and fragile at best. No amount of FSI increase is going to relieve the City of its perils unless it addresses related parameters alongside.
This post is part of the “Great FSI Debate “. What’s your view? Submit your opinion to info@theurbanvision.com along with a bio & pic.
