India’s Real Estate Boom & Architecture

And this one, since we have been talking about Government intervention and its pros and cons … city planning, including the aesthetics and architectural vision of a city, are the government’s responsibility.

In all the emerging markets, a real-estate boom is raging. Nowhere is this boom more pronounced than in India and China. You have recently read my piece, As India Builds, on India’s architectural destruction, tearing down old houses, and building new ugly ones in their places. You have also read Jorge Freyer’s piece on India’s enormous 500 Million strong consumer market. Can you imagine the housing needs of this emerging middle class?

It would be fair to assume that India will build at a furious pace over the next 30-50 years.

During my recent trip to Rome, I found myself thinking a lot about how India should build, in the context of how it has been building so far. In Rome in particular, but in Italy in general, I found a very good benchmark and example that India could follow.

Ofcourse, multi-storied apartment complexes will abound in the urban areas. But I prefer that they look more like this:

or this:

and not like this:

If you are interested in this topic, you can read my more detailed notes alongside pictures in my Flickr set, which I prepared for discussions with an architect in India.