Until recently, Sweta Vijuraj, 34, lived and worked at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), a tony business district in suburban Mumbai. This allowed her certain liberties that most city-dwellers would describe as a dream. “The positive point of having the office nearby, especially when you have kids, is being able to visit home in between, like around lunchtime. Evenings, it was more practical to walk home, for health reasons as well. You get a good 20-minute walk,” says Vijuraj, who is currently on a sabbatical. When she returns to the grind, work-home proximity will be a key factor while deciding on a good job offer.
In a country where city congestion is at its peak, Vijuraj’s preferences are those shared by most. Indians spend a minimum of two hours on daily work commute — the highest in the world — as per a recent report by employee transportation management platform MoveInSync. Additionally, studies indicate that prolonged periods spent sitting in cars put individuals at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, depression and obesity. All of which can affect an employee’s performance at work.
Across the world, millennials are leaning, more than the prior generations, towards expanding public transit options and active modes of commuting, such as walking and biking. According to American research group Brookings Institution, car usage among workers under 24 years of age in the United States dropped by nearly 1.3 per cent in large metros between 2007 and 2014. More specifically, driving rates amongst older millennials and Generation X have declined. Closer home, the IT cities of Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad have been forerunners in the walk-to-work cultural phenomenon, with metros such as Chennai following suit.
Integrated townships now offer several facilities, such as offices, a clubhouse, and F&B spaces in the neighbourhood.
In Mumbai, the Lodha Business District that’s part of the New Cuffe Parade mix-use development in the promising neighbourhood of Wadala, is less than a 10-minute drive from BKC. Illustrative of this walk-to-work trend, the integrated ecosystem is replete with sustainably designed offices, homes, a school and retail outlets. It hosts offices of big corporates such as Tata Chemicals, Trent Limited, Tata International, GMM Pfaudler and Axis Bank. Interestingly, many employees of GMM Pfaudler, which has offices in Lodha Excelus, are residents at New Cuffe Parade. The LEED Gold-certified Lodha Business District will also host retail and F&B space spanning 40,000 sq.ft., with large outdoor spaces, cafés and restaurants.
Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Mumbai…urban planners are redeveloping old communities into mixed-used neighbourhoods to offer the magical trio of work, play and live within walking distance.
With clogged city roads, walkability is a criterion while buying a home. A new report by American real estate company Coldwell Banker found that millennial millionaires are more likely to choose a non-traditional luxury neighbourhood for its easy access to shops, fitness centres and dining options. The walk-to-work (or play) culture isn’t a new one. In fact, the world’s most liveable cities started with pedestrian-friendly plans that were pushed aside in the face of modernization. In recent times, housing experts suggest that an ecosystem of residential, commercial and entertainment centres, within walking distance from each other, will help address the challenges of congestion and lengthy commutes; an aspect that has reached a state of urgency in the current climate crisis.
Paris is an example of a city with a long history of success with mixed-use development, points out Asaf Gottesman, a principal at Parisian architectural practice Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture SARL, in his article on the communities where people walk to work. “In Paris, people often live, work, shop and seek out entertainment, all in a small one-or two-block area. This live-work-play community isn’t a new trend for this bustling international destination. It’s how Parisians have always developed their complete communities,” he has written in his earlier article for Globe and Mail. Other cities such as Toronto, Berlin, Amsterdam and Singapore are cited as the early adopters of the new-age walk-to-work concept.
“Across the world, millennials are leaning towards expanding public transit options and active modes of commuting, such as walking and biking.”
Furthermore, studies show, that walking aids residents’ mental and physical well-being, creativity and civic engagement. The trend has also resulted in the revival of waterfronts and street life in some of the biggest cities across the globe. The Greater Toronto Area is redeveloping entire communities into mixed-use projects. London aims to be the world’s most walkable city by 2024 via an increased network of pedestrian-friendly streets, new infrastructure, better signage and maps. Research states that if every Londoner walked or cycled 20 minutes a day, it would save the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) £1.7 billion in treatment costs over the next 25 years — according to the Greater London Authority.
“If every Londoner walked or cycled 20 minutes a day, it would save the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) £1.7 billion in treatment costs over the next 25 years, according to the Greater London Authority.”
The real estate offering
The millennial generation — born between 1981 and 1996 — currently accounts for over a third of the sales in the real estate sector in India, and developers are eager to cater to their needs. Self-sustaining, mixed-use developments that are cities in themselves are rising across major metros. Take, for instance, the Palava Business District (PBD) at Palava city by Lodha in Mumbai, which is positioned as India’s best value destination for corporates. With employee well-being at the centre of retention programmes today, the Smart City offers a walk-to-work ecosystem. High-quality residences within a five-minute walking distance are available at comparatively lower rents. Spread over seven-million square feet, PBD is expected to create over a lakh jobs in the next few years. Marquee clients include HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Piramal Capital Housing Finance and tech firm Primeval.
Builders are perfecting the size-location dynamic to offer compact units at affordable rates within a stone’s throw from major business centres. An example of this is the boom in affordable real estate around Hinjewadi, Pune’s IT hub. While high density, mixed-use land enables the walk-to-work concept, it involves planning townships over large tracts of contiguous land within municipal limits. This is often a challenge in land-sparse cities like Mumbai. Nonetheless, plans are underway… The Mumbai Development Plan 2034 aims to unlock 3,700 hectares of public and private land, earlier tagged as No Development Zones (NDZ), for real estate development. Of this, nearly 2,400 hectares have been allotted for affordable housing. Then there’s the aforementioned neighbourhood of Wadala, where the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) plans to transform its monorail depot into the city’s first walk-to-work hub.
Along Chennai’s Old Mahabalipuram Road, the neighbourhoods of Perungudi, Thalambur and Perumbakkam are home to affordable residential hubs with walk/cycle-to-work opportunities. In a first, State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (SIPCOT) announced a walk-to-work concept in Chennai’s industrial sectors. In a bid to cut down on employee commute, SIPCOT will provide rental housing to over 2,000 employees across five industrial parks. On the luxury real estate front, the mixed-use complexes hark back to the time when communities were developed as hubs and people lived
close to where they worked and often stayed in their local community. Over time, however, the development of cities meant more and more people were pushed out of the downtown core — away from the central hubs, where work and entertainment existed. More recently, developers have found ways to recreate neighbourhoods, using mixed-use development.
Engage with the world
Through interacting with a different environment, your thought processes shift. Amsterdam-based urban explorer Edwin Quinn talks about how mindful walking to work every morning is a way to combat the over-stimulated, ‘always-on’ culture. “If you choose to walk with a strategy, you can better develop your productivity and creativity.” Dr Nevin Harper, an associate professor at the University of Victoria adds that walking to work in busy cities engages individuals across physical, mental and spiritual domains. Harper suggests parking your car a distance away and walking, preferably via a stretch of nature such as a park or seaside promenade. While this may not always be possible in nature-starved cities, even Mumbai has its share of natural habitats in the older neighbourhoods as well as ample walking space in newer ones, such as BKC.
Through interacting with a different environment, your thought processes shift. Amsterdam-based urban explorer Edwin Quinn talks about how mindful walking to work every morning is a way to combat the over-stimulated, ‘always-on’ culture. “If you choose to walk with a strategy, you can better develop your productivity and creativity.” Dr Nevin Harper, an associate professor at the University of Victoria adds that walking to work in busy cities engages individuals across physical, mental and spiritual domains. Harper suggests parking your car a distance away and walking, preferably via a stretch of nature such as a park or seaside promenade. While this may not always be possible in nature-starved cities, even Mumbai has its share of natural habitats in the older neighbourhoods as well as ample walking space in newer ones, such as BKC.
Similarly, Sydney continues to improve its accessibility with the country’s first rapid transit system. It has been listed as Australia’s most walkable city by Walk Score, a website that ranks cities across the US, Canada and Australia according to their walkability index.
In his book, Nature Therapy, Harper writes, “Time is the key asset most of us don’t have or respect when we do.” Even if you can only find a couple of minutes in your day, it’s still possible to reap the benefits of intentional walking without carving out a significant amount of time to do so.
Lodha Altia at New Cuffe Parade, Wadala integrates the outdoors with the indoors seamlessly.