Study Title: Exploring Residential Built-Up Form Typologies in Delhi: A Grid-Based Clustering Approach towards Sustainable Urbanization Author: Aviral Marwal, Elisabete Silva University of Cambridge
Abstract Urbanization in developing nations is a multifaceted issue that presents opportunities and difficulties for sustainable living. Beyond its relationship to economic growth, it's crucial to have a more thorough comprehension of urbanization to tackle its various challenges. This can be accomplished by characterizing and assessing urban form, which significantly affects socio-economic and environmental well-being. The knowledge of urban forms in cities in developing countries is limited in academic literature, largely due to the difficulty in analyzing the extensive diversity of micro-scale urban form features. This study aims at uncovering different residential built-up form typologies in Delhi using a grid-based clustering algorithm and evaluate their impact on sustainable urbanization. The k-means clustering algorithm measures and visualizes variations in urban form by dividing residential areas into 100x100 meter grid cells and assigning attributes of accessibility, built-up density, and street design. The results reveal the presence of six unique built-up form typologies in Delhi, with only 19% of residential areas classified as sustainable. The study highlights the need for interventions in unsustainable areas to achieve sustainable urbanization, including providing services, improving street design, creating open spaces, and enhancing pedestrian-friendly street networks. These findings not only add to the limited literature on urban morphology in developing cities but also provide a deeper understanding of the pace of urbanization.