Hyderabad: The ‘Real’ Urban Planning Drivers of Growth

During conversations on Hyderabad’s transformation, the crucial role played by Floor Space Index (FSI) deregulation, regularization of buildings/layouts, and road widening (see      figure) is often overlooked. Let us see how these three operated together to transform the urban landscape of Hyderabad in the past 25 years.

Floor Space Index (FSI) Deregulation

Simply put, FSI is the extent one can build on plots both horizontally and vertically. In 2006 in Hyderabad, FSI was deregulated and made a function of location and frontal road width. For example, projects abutting roads wider than 30 metres could achieve FSI levels up to 4.0, subject to compliance with ancillary conditions such as setbacks, coverage and parking requirements.

This removal of rigid limits on FSI fired up the real estate market. As road width determined FSI, tall buildings cropped up on wider roads. This changed the skyline of Hyderabad with high-rises in the western corridor, juxtaposed with a sea of mid-rise development elsewhere. Economic geography and market forces, rather than inflexible plans and decisions, determined where and how Hyderabad grew.

Road widening

Road widening was in vogue in Andhra Pradesh since the 1990s. The implementation was, however, sporadic. This changed with FSI’s deregulation, and road widening was implemented in what is called “mission mode”.

The defining feature of road widening was that property owners were not paid compensation, but allowed relaxations - in setbacks, height, and so on. Later, an automatic conversion of residential to commercial/office was allowed on some key roads. These two changes led to the large-scale construction of commercial complexes and apartments by builders along major roads. The transformation is most visible in upmarket areas of Banjara/Jubilee Hills and along arterial roads of Cyberabad. 

Building/Layout regularization

Buildings constructed in violation of building by laws in Hyderabad and illegal layouts were regularized through successive amnesty schemes. These regularization (later called penalization) schemes generated hundreds of crores for the government and provided stability from demolition for lakhs of property owners. The confidence that more amnesty schemes will regularize minor violations triggered a building spree and altered the overall appearance of Hyderabad.

Floor Space Index deregulation, regularization of buildings and road widening are rather unconventional ways to get over the rigidity of plans and planning approaches. While these may seem to be at odds with conventional planning and even may be construed as anti-planning, they are best understood as a distinct development regime where the vested interest of entrepreneurs was married with the vested interest of society at large.