Envisioning Koba as the CBD of the Twin Cities

Since 1965, the Development plans of Gandhinagar have opened land in the south to support the regional growth and rising development in the southern periphery of GNA due to its proximity to Ahmedabad. This is also evidenced by the spatial growth over the years in the southern and eastern directions toward Ahmedabad along with the creation and expansion of new jurisdiction boundaries. Keeping this and the adjacencies of the neighboring jurisdictions in mind, the southern edge of the city has a higher pressure of development. Key projects such as the proposed metro and the Gift City are also pushing development in the area. Yet, the development on the southern fringe of the city is rather fragmented and the potential for development is still under-utilized. Transit-oriented development can be an effective tool to activate potential and catalyze growth in the area. This will bring parity of development and strengthen the link between the two cities pulling people to settle and develop in this area. In our Urban Expansion and regeneration studio, we will thus focus on preparing micro-level plans through the mechanism of Town Planning Schemes by integrating multi-disciplinary aspects of Transit-oriented Development to achieve a sustainable Urban Development of Koba, Gandhinagar.