In India, over 909 million people lived in rural areas in 2023, a decrease from 2022.

By contrast, the urban population has been witnessing continued growth, defined by the consistent trend of migration from rural to urban areas.

In the coming decades, the urban corridor would not only sprawl across rural demographics but also mark a paradigm shift in consumption patterns and, most importantly, the use of land.

This is precisely why a simple but often overlooked and yet crucial assessment metric or measure acquires significance: land footprinting.

What Is Land Footprinting

Land footprinting is a comprehensive measure taken to assess and identify the total land area, both domestic and global, required for any urban undertaking. This includes the area needed for buildings and infrastructure, besides resource production.

The land assessment exercise serves as a yardstick for earmarking the total area required for a particular purpose — be it urban infrastructure or agricultural needs. This comes in handy during sustainable planning and policy-making.

The urban and peri-urban population in our country is projected to go up to 60 per cent by 2060. This would build pressure on the requirement for land. As a matter of fact, when we are looking at the demand, we need to take into consideration land footprinting: we need to know the requirement of land for each of the applications or future uses 

— S.B. Dangayach, Founder-Trustee, Innovative Thought Forum

According to Dangayach, there has been no formal, scientific, or rational study undertaken so far to assess the requirement of land for our urban terrain.

"So, we have to quickly commission and carry out a thorough study on the land footprint. Once we have done that, we will know the actual demand in terms of housing, urban infrastructure, transport, industries, and such," he underscores.

Echoing the views of Dangayach, real estate educator Mohammed Hussain Shaikh terms India's urban story a success, but challenges lie ahead.

Cities are driving economic growth and innovation. However, inequalities persist, and this has to do fundamentally with migration, which is directly proportional to urban development

— Mohammed Hussain Shaikh, Real Estate Educator

In order to bridge this gap, India needs to adopt an inclusive approach, wherein the development goals should not be hinged on eviction, but upgradation of informal settlements during land acquisition for urban infrastructure.

Lessons From The Globe

China is an exemplar of a sustainable model in urban planning - not just in terms of mitigating detrimental factors such as air pollution, but also in utilising its resources responsibly. The country has employed a comprehensive, data-driven method of land footprinting, involving the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models, to keep track of its resources. It has also made use of satellite imagery and national databases to map the land use within its jurisdiction to calculate productivity as well as consumption. 

For A Sustainable Future  

Land footprinting exercise would pave the way forward in this inclusive approach towards a sustainable urban landscape that is not only accommodative but also heterogeneous.

By 2036, India's towns and cities will accommodate 600 million people or 40 per cent of its population — up from 31 per cent in 2011. Besides, the urban areas will contribute almost 70 per cent to the GDP.

In such a scenario, quality housing and urban infrastructure become crucial, and the country cannot afford to retract from its development commitments, which could be met only with a comprehensive urban planning model — land footprinting, the fundamental metric on which such a model is grounded, must go hand in glove with inclusion to bridge the widening gap that persists at the moment.