Urban Morphology: The hidden map behind redevelopment

When we speak of redevelopment, the conversation too often narrows to land availability, FSI, and finance. But anyone who has walked through an old neighborhood in Ahmedabad, Dharavi in Mumbai, or a historic settlement in Kigali knows this: redevelopment without reading the morphology is like designing blindfolded.

Urban morphology—the layers of history, community, infrastructure, regulation, and economics—is the silent blueprint that decides whether a project thrives or fails.

1. Historic Patterns 🏛

Every city carries a memory in its streets and built forms.

• In Ahmedabad’s pol houses, the narrow lanes are not inefficiency—they are a climate response.
• Redevelopment that bulldozes these patterns risks erasing identity and alienating residents.

2. Community Networks 👥

People don’t just live in buildings—they live in social ecosystems.

• Displace them without rebuilding trust and networks, and you inherit resistance, litigation, and half-empty towers.
• Successful rehabilitation acknowledges these invisible bonds.

3. Infrastructure Spine ⚙️

Beneath every settlement lies an infrastructure map—often unseen until it fails.

• Drainage alignments, transit nodes, and service corridors determine long-term livability.
• Ignore them, and you invite chaos, cost overruns, and demolitions after occupation.

4. Regulatory Overlay 📜

Development Control Regulations (DCRs) and GDCR in Ahmedabad define what is permissible.

• Yet, too often they are seen as obstacles rather than frameworks for safety.
• Shortcutting compliance means liability, unsafe structures, and eventually, demolitions.

5. Economics of Viability 💰

No redevelopment survives without viable economics.

• Density, land value, and ROI must balance affordability and incentives.
• But when economics drives everything else, projects stall or lose public trust.

A Comparative Lens 🌍

• New Zealand: Urban codes actively integrate morphology—producer statements, compliance-linked insurance, and enforceable council approvals give the system teeth.
• Middle East: Mega-projects once ignored morphology but are now learning—integrating community, culture, and identity to avoid sterile outcomes.

Why This Matters

Redevelopment is not a one-dimensional exercise. When all five layers align:

• Authorities grant faster approvals.
• Communities accept change with less resistance.
• Developers reduce litigation and risk premiums.
• Investors see long-term stability.

Urban morphology is not academic theory. It’s the hidden map behind every successful redevelopment.

👉 In your city, which of these layers do you think is most overlooked—history, community, infrastructure, regulation, or economics?

I’d love to hear your perspective.

Sustainability - What it means to me... 4 of n

Food

When I look back at my childhood in the seventies and eighties, I can still smell the aromas wafting from my mother’s kitchen. Every meal—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—was prepared at home, lovingly cooked by mothers and grandmothers. There was no special treatment, no "kids menu," and certainly no endless buffet of alternative cuisines. The rule was simple: eat what was cooked, or go hungry.

Restaurants were rare, and even when they did exist, eating out was seen as a luxury that few families indulged in. For most Indian children of that time, the concept of pizzas, burgers, or Thai curries was completely alien. What we had was wholesome, balanced, home-cooked food—simple, yet nourishing.

The Shift to Convenience

Fast forward to today, and the story is very different. On average, families now eat out or order takeaway at least once a week. Food delivery apps have made it possible to access an endless choice of cuisines at the tap of a finger. Children today are spoilt for choice—Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Indian, Thai—you name it, it can be delivered in under 30 minutes.

But this convenience has come at a cost. We are slowly abandoning the tradition of cooking at home in favor of restaurants and takeaways. The result? A rise in obesity, lifestyle-related diseases, and a disconnect from the very food that sustains us.

Why Eating at Home Matters

Home-cooked meals aren’t just healthier; they also represent sustainability in action. Cooking at home means:

• Less packaging waste compared to takeaways.

• Controlled portions and ingredients, reducing excess and promoting health.

• Connection to tradition and family, as cooking often brings people together.

The Value of Leftovers

Another sustainable practice we often overlook is the value of leftovers. In earlier times, leftovers weren’t wasted—they were reinvented into new meals for the next day. A simple dal could become a paratha filling; rice could be transformed into fried rice or curd rice. Today, leftovers are often thrown away, contributing to food waste on a massive scale. Embracing leftovers is not just about frugality—it’s about respecting the resources, energy, and effort that went into producing that food.

A Call Back to the Kitchen

Sustainability isn’t only about solar panels and electric cars—it begins in our kitchens. Cooking at home more often, making creative use of leftovers, and reducing dependency on processed, restaurant-prepared food are small but powerful steps. They improve our health, lower our environmental impact, and preserve the traditions we grew up with.

So maybe it’s time to reintroduce that old rule: eat what’s made at home—or go hungry. In doing so, we may just rediscover a healthier, more sustainable way of living.

Some images of Revit work - Classical French Renaissance facade study Part 2

The first image is the 3D view of the level plans and the Elevation in CAD to work as background.

All the windows and columns are individual families and customizable.

I developed individual profiles for the cornices.

The second image is the Elevation view of the VIP entrance of the Vendome mall in Doha, Qatar

The aim of the model was to demonstrate the buildability and help the design-build contractors.

The detailed views of the portico are at the link below.

Google Maps Link to the site

https://juxt-a-position-ap.blogspot.com/2015/09/some-images-of-revit-work-classical.html

10 things Indian visitors should know about NZ

1. Water from the tap is considered fit for human use. No filters or RO's required
2. Food is incredibly expensive - Expect to pay about 150Rs for a single large eggplant when they are in season. A cyclone or a storm can push up the price to 250Rs. A head of cauliflower can cost up to 500 Rs. (I am not kidding),
3. Toilet paper - unlike India where your backsides are washed with jetsprays, here you need to use toilet paper
4. ‎No pissing on streets or the bushes - Toilets are well and decently placed. And clean. Look for them
5. ‎No litter on streets - Literally. If your frontage of the house on the street has grass growing on it, you are responsible keeping it like a cricket pitch.
6. Beaches are clean. You are expected to pick up your dog poo after it does the job and any rubbish or plastic you generate is to be collected and binned by you.
7. ‎Trash costs money - On preset timings, the trash truck will come and collect the trash from the street outside your house. They have to be in preassigned plastic bags or bins. The preassigned bags cost you some dollars for a packet of five
8. The Police are actually polite - They will address you as "Sir" and ask you for your license or whatever they are after. If everything is fine, they will just let you go about your way. Just don't get caught drunk - you will get a free ride to the Police station and tested for alcohol.
9. There are 4 seasons in a day - Auckland especially is famous for changes in weather. You could go from Sunny to soaking wet in a matter of minutes and sunny right after.
10. 24 deg C is "Warm" - Your regular A/c temp is considered warm. Summer in the Indian sense does not exist. The highest temperature during peak summer is about 30 deg c with NZers screaming bloody murder and going out in the street with chaddis and ganjees

Working Smart - 3

Search emails in Outlook 2016

Finding that elusive email from someone can become a life and death situation for us in Outlook. Multiple projects, client emails, and a swamped email box with 50+ emails received on a daily basis can be difficult to track. You know the mail was from X with an attachment but several emails over months make it impossible to zero down on the particular email especially if it was sent several months back

This version of Outlook can make your life easier if you are willing to spend some time reading this post. Follow the 9 easy steps below and you can quickly search for that elusive email

1. Open Outlook and go to your Inbox. Click your mouse on the “Search Current mailbox”.

2. The moment you click in the search bar, the cursor will start flashing in anticipation of your search

3. Your tab will change as per the screen above.4

4. Now go to the dropdown box as per the black arrow

5. The dropdown box should display all the fields you could possibly search from

6. Click on the fields you want and they will start stacking up below the search bar as you click on the fields. These will then drop down every time you put your cursor in the search bar - ready to aid you in a search.

7. Typically you would need the subject, cc, To, Attachments(Yes/No) and From.

8. You can also use Body which is quite useful when you want to search by a word in the body of the email.

9. This can be done in your “Sent” folder as well.

Work Smart and Happy Searching!

Also Read:

Working Smart - 1 Finding that Directory

Working Smart - 2 Save your files with a date

Working Smart - 2

Saving your files with a date

On an average, you would be creating and accessing at least 10-12 documents, spreadsheets etc. Soon there would be hundreds if not thousands of documents piling up in your directory with different file names. Accessing it alphabetically may be an option but prefer to name my documents with a yymmdd_filename format which lists the documents in the directory in a nice organised way starting with the most recent ones on the top.

When I create documents in such numbers, I often forget the name of the document which I have created. Sometimes, I don’t access a document for several weeks which removes it from the recent documents list of word and excel. That’s where I end up using the search function in the Windows explorer. Explorer searches all the directories and subdirectories and highlights all the filenames starting with the year and month - if you have been saving all your files starting with the yymmdd prefix.

Work Smart and share your experiences of Working smart.

Working Smart - 1 Find that Directory

Working Smart - 3 Find that email

Working Smart - 2

Saving your files with a date

On an average, you would be creating and accessing at least 10-12 documents, spreadsheets etc. Soon there would be hundreds if not thousands of documents piling up in your directory with different file names. Accessing it alphabetically may be an option but prefer to name my documents with a yymmdd_filename format which lists the documents in the directory in a nice organised way starting with the most recent ones on the top.

When I create documents in such numbers, I often forget the name of the document which I have created. Sometimes, I don’t access a document for several weeks which removes it from the recent documents list of word and excel. That’s where I end up using the search function in the Windows explorer. Explorer searches all the directories and subdirectories and highlights all the filenames starting with the year and month - if you have been saving all your files starting with the yymmdd prefix.

Work Smart and share your experiences of Working smart.

Working Smart - 1 Find that Directory

Working Smart - 3 Find that email