What Delhi's Infrastructure Has To Do With NYT's Gardiner Harris Packing Bags

New York Times journalist Gardiner Harris recently left Delhi because he found the city too polluted for his children. He is right - Delhi is the most polluted city in the world, according to the WHO. Of the 25 most polluted cities in the world, 13 are in India.

Many attribute pollution in Delhi and other Indian cities to urbanization, population growth and greater vehicular intensity. But, there is a near-unanimous consensus among environmental scientists and economists that in large global cities, environment has improved with urbanization, population growth and vehicle ownership. Urbanization and population growth have, in fact, contributed to improvement in environmental quality. According to WHO, Delhi's atmosphere is 8-20 times more polluted than that of large world cities with comparable vehicular intensity.

It is true that urbanization comes with its own set of problems. But, with good infrastructure and tall buildings that are results of urbanization, first world cities were able to get around them. For instance, infrastructural growth facilitates migration to suburbs, reducing crowding. When there are better roads and railways, people need not live in the city to have access to its amenities.

Clearly, Delhi's problem is not urbanization. Delhi is polluted because it is not urbanized enough. A number of apartments in Delhi are in smaller structures due to low FSI, leading to greater space congestion. In Delhi, low floor space index does not allow developers to build taller buildings. In Delhi, the FSI (Floor Space Index) is in the range of 2, but many urban planners think that it should at least be 8.

Contrary to this, in cities with high FSI, it's easier for developers and governments to construct tall buildings, enabling people to live closer to offices and encouraging them to walk to work. A well-developed social infrastructure, thus, allows people to spend time in restaurants, cafes, shopping malls or mass transit, sharing utilities like electricity and air conditioners. Therefore, in cities with vertical growth, pollution and energy consumption tend to be much lower.

While it's true that people living in the city close to each other foster greater transmission of diseases, cities in the developed West have nearly eliminated the problems associated with dense living by investing in infrastructure. For example, in 1900, life expectancy in New York was 7 years lower than in the United States. But, today, it is two years higher. Pollution has declined with greater urbanization in New York and comparable cities because even though carbon dioxide emissions are greater, the air is cleaner with clean roads, better sanitation and water supply in place.  In 1854, over 125 people died of Cholera in London because of contamination from a baby diaper in a well. Such instances are almost non-existent in modern day London. But, according to a study of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, more than 70% of water supplied by Delhi Jal Board is unfit for consumption because of contamination from leakage from sewers and other reasons.

In the past four decades, with greater urbanization, vehicle ownership per head in Delhi has grown tenfold. Yet, its civic authorities are yet to fix social infrastructure and other amenities that will facilitate cleaner living standards for its people. Contrary to this, New York with all its vehicular pollution is still a city where residents prefer to walk or take mass transit than drive and consume gasoline. The scene is very different in smaller American cities where people live farther from offices and mass transit systems owing to comparatively less developed infrastructure. A good social infrastructure with taller buildings and healthy amenities facilitates sustainable and clean living.

This hasn't yet happened in Indian cities like Delhi because of restrictions on development of real estate in India.

On PropGuide, read more about ecologically friendly homes across the world.