Estimating Housing Infill Potential: Developing a Case for Floorspace Pooling in Ahmedabad, India

ABSTRACT

This paper demonstrates a rapid and inexpensive methodology (using minimal data) for estimating housing infill potential and develops the idea of residential floorspace pooling to deliver the infill. Estimates are based on surveying 11 km2 of the residential land in Ahmedabad. The analysis suggests that Ahmedabad has a huge potential for infill development, which could accommodate significantly more than its new housing requirements for 2031, within the existing footprint of the city. The second part of the paper discusses development of the idea of floorspace pooling as a tool to enable supply of the new housing infill floorspace in the market.

KEYWORDS:

• Housing infill development
• floorspace pooling
• developing countries
• Ahmedabad
• India

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Such as the one developed by the City of Portland, Oregon, USA (see https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/49254).

2. Floor space index, which is the same as floor area ratio (FAR).

3. The transit-oriented zone (TOZ) buffer includes plots within 200 m on either side of the existing bus rapid transit system (BRTS) and the metrorail system (called Ahmedabad Metro, which started trial runs in Feb 2019 and a 6.5 km stretch was opened on 4 March 2019).

4. http://bis.org.in/sf/nbc.asp.

5. http://www.indiacode.nic.in/acts-in-pdf/2016/201616.pdf.