New Gandhinagar

A new city , inspired by urban elements of famed US-based Harvard institutional zone and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) area is taking shape in the eastern side of the Sabarmati in Gandhinagar. Dubbed `New Gandhinagar', the first institutional city of Gujarat is being planned off Gandhinagar to woo foreign universities to set up their campus extensions here, according to Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority (GUDA) authorities.
Spread over 19 sq km, `New Gandhinagar' city is being designed in such a way that all its green area, including water bodies, will be retained first and street network and sectors laid around these natural contours.
The city extends from Palaj village in north to Valad in south Gandhinagar. The city extends 8.5 km in length, 4 km in width in the north and 1.5 km in width in south wrapping around the GIFT City -India's first International Financial Services Center -and the new IIT-Gn campus.It also shares border with the new Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) university campus nearby .
The new educational township is being planned as an `open university' campus. Here campuses of different institutions will not be hemmed in within high walls but would actually have main roads criss crossing through their area. This would be the first-of-its-kind university campus in the state.
The road networks would consist of a hierarchy of roads measuring 65 meters, 40 meters, 24 meters, 18 meters and 12 meters in width.
Major institutional campuses and residential zones will be planned along these networks, says Gandhinagar Urban Development Authority (GUDA).
Though the planning of the new city mirrors that of the old Gandhinagar city, each sector in the new township will be 750 meters in width and 850 meters in length.
The new plan's development is based on equitable FSI allotment. For this, the plots are rearranged into three zones. The government land or open space will be aggregated at the center of each sector. The plots that lie alongside the main road would be allotted higher FSI at a premium cost and land deductions will be higher than for plots that lie within the sector.
Owners with plots at the center of a sector will lose land to the government's common space. But such owners will be given proportionate plots in all the three zones of the sector.
Besides this, the green spaces and public parks would be spread over five hectares and more, along with a dense street network making the campus area accessible by shaded paths for walking.