The waterfront engine : proposal for a 21st century Delhi

Abstract

Delhi, a 14 million people megacity, has a huge open space area available in its heart along the banks of the Yamuna River. At the same time, Delhi, which would like to become a fully-fledged global city, does not have a real modern business district yet, which explains why companies are moving to business-friendly neighbouring States such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, even as these companies would be much useful for the economic and social development of the capital of India. The banks of the Yamuna appear like an ideal location for a new business center. Or is it really? Research shows that creating a business-oriented waterfront along the Yamuna would be a valuable option and would bring in more revenue to the city than other solutions for the site, but only if certain conditions are respected in terms of environment, infrastructure and politics. Soil improvement and earthquake engineering techniques, renovated systems of transportation, water supply and treatment and electricity generation, mixed land use as well as institutional reforms and an intelligent real estate strategy are all necessary conditions for creating a waterfront that will be both attractive and sustainable. These conditions create minimu and maximum thresholds for development, between which conditions vary and create three different designs: a "Central Park model", a "Lutyens model" and a "Singapore" one. Key-Words: Delhi - Yamuna - floods - waterfront - global city - megacity - soil improvement - economic development - real estate - capital city - development project.