The fast-paced horizontal urbanization poses great threats to the ecology. Therefore, some people say that it is a good idea to encourage vertical growth in urban areas.

• How do you see this idea?

As a matter of fact, faster horizontal urbanization is ecologically dangerous. However, vertical urbanization as an alternative idea does not sound that practical in many ways. Of course, it can solve a few problems. Let me see.

At the face of this idea can solve a handful of problems. First of all, upward growth of cities will be able to accommodate huge number of offices, families and businesses like super markets and malls. For example, a commercial complex can house hundreds of offices, and so is the case with a residential complex where hundreds of families can stay in. Obviously, this move can save a lot space: fresh lands in the semi-urban and rural areas that, otherwise, would get converted into urban sprawls sooner than later. So, vertical urbanization is good to a limited extent.

But, urbanization involves huge development exercises, and there are projects that demand vast landed areas. For example, all urban developments cannot be carried out one on top of the other. Rather, some urbanization exercises demand fresh lands. Railway expansion, airports, industrial estates and power plants and waste management units are a few examples of them. Besides this, free flow of sanitation network, communication cables, power grid and research and academic facilities come up periodically, and the same call for horizontal urbanization greatly. Needless to say, there is great need for growing sideways.

In short, vertical urbanization is able to solve a couple of problems suffered by the ecology. But the real issue lies in how people are going to blend both these options so as to meet the rising need for urbanization.

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