New Urbanism in India: Urban Living, Sustainability and Everyday Life

Duration: 03/14 – 10/16

As India visualises 100 new cities and rapid growth is re-shaping the urban landscape, New Urbanisms in India: Urban Living, Sustainability and Everyday Life will add significantly to current knowledge on the ways that contemporary urban development is reshaping the human environment.

Through in-depth, ethnographic fieldwork in a new urban development, the research team are exploring the ways that ‘walkability’, diversity and other principles of New Urbanism are being integrated into the design and experienced by children and their families. Qualitative methodologies include: interviews, focus groups, participatory workshops and guided walks. An innovative mobile app ‘Map my Community’ has been designed and launched to supplement data collection; to further understand people’s use of the built environment, movement and their feelings and experiences of urban space.

This is a unique opportunity to gather empirical evidence of the experiences, issues and needs of children and families living in and moving through a new city development in India. Key themes include: everyday routines, green space and nature, sustainable design, mobility and access, risk and safety and internationalising urban design.

Project Website PI Twitter

Sophie Hadfield-Hill (Principal Investigator, Lecturer in Human Geography)
Cristiana Zara (Research Associate)

Development of methodologies and tools to gather data in communities on mobility, urban design and child-friendly spaces through qualitative research and the use of a mobile ‘app’.

Engagement of British and Indian practitioners through workshops to support networking and knowledge sharing.

Collaboration with a private company to ensure that the research findings are integrated into future urban development.

Living on the land of urban transformation