The Covid-19 crisis has transformed consumer preferences; the accent is now on safety, security and access to around-the-corner conveniences
Akash Pharande, MD, Pharande Spaces

Townships Redefining Indian Housing

How do you create a perception of safety in a pandemic scenario? To state it simply, by getting more control of your personal space. It is not possible to change everything around us, but we can choose where and how we live. This is one of the main reasons why Indians have started moving out of rented properties and purchasing their own homes. You can control many things in your own home.

But not all homes are created equal. Modern high rises look impressive from the outside - but in a pandemic, how safe is it to live in a vertical mass housing project built on a small plot in an extremely crowded city area? How safe are you and your family in a day and age where social distancing and air purity are so important?

The Residential Formula of the Future
Usually spread over large areas enclosed in segregated compounds, integrated townships are mixed developments that offer a highly controlled, all-inclusive lifestyle. Shopping, eating out, offices, schools, hospitals, and other key businesses are all available. Another format is the residential-only township, which is self-sustained in terms of all basic amenities for daily living. Such townships, which are now extremely popular, offer a variety of housing options from apartments, villas, independent floors, and in some cases, even plots.

Such projects have existed in India for many years, but their demand is increasing because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Because townships are much larger than normal housing projects, they require large land parcels.
Akash Pharande
Townships offer the ultimate value proposition of convenience, safety, space, affordability, and a healthy, relaxed lifestyle - making them the new face of residential real estate development

Akash Pharande

Today, this customer base has grown tremendously; there has been a huge movement to outlying areas that are safer, less costly, and have more green surroundings. Large townships also provide autonomous ecosystems with the added benefits of safety, recreation, and community living.

A recent real estate report by Ernst Young also confirms that self-sustainable integrated townships will increasingly become the preferred choice of homebuyers. In Pune, a prominent integrated township developer’s advertisement simply asks, ‘Why Go Out?’ This question is extremely relevant in times when lockdowns and curtailed movement are the order of the day.

Townships Redefining Indian Housing

Benefits of Township Living
There are about 108 large integrated township projects across India. NCR, with an abundance of land parcels. Pune has at least eight residential-only and larger integrated townships well connected to the main cities. The lifestyle they offer is exceptional. Top-grade housing coexists with parks and gardens, dedicated jogging tracks, sports facilities, water bodies, and open green spaces. In India, such features are on the top of every homebuyer’s wish list.

A Genuinely Sustainable Lifestyle
We all know that sustainability is more than just a set of rooftop solar panels and some rainwater harvesting. Many new housing projects have one or both of these features, but townships can take sustainable living to the Nth level. Most townships are meticulously planned with optimally utilizing natural resources. Since buildings are properly spaced out, townships do not create ‘heat islands’ which are the norm in most cities.

While planning townships, developers ensure proper utilization of water, energy-efficient LED streetlights, waste management, rainwater harvesting, etc. Recycled water is used for flushing and horticulture to reduce the water need of the community. All these give complete freedom from the infrastructure constraints and challenges of inner-city life - including traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, and high crime rates.