Spatial suitability analysis for IT parks in the city of Bengaluru

Abstract

Real estate sector in India stands at fourth in terms of FDI inflows and will contribute around 11 percent in total country’s GDP by 2020. Majorly real estate sector is divided into four sections, they are residential, commercial, hospitality and industrial. Cross-outskirt capital inflows to India’s real estate sector have grown 600 percent between 2012-17 to achieve US$ 2.6 billion. The top seven cities in terms of demand in India has recorded more than thirtyfive million square foot of Grade A office in 2016 which makes the total aggregate of Grade A office space in these urban centres to four hundred and seventy-five million square foot. From the past trends it has broken all records by multiplying the demand by many folds in just last two decades. More than half of these demands of Grade A office space is from IT Parks and ITeS companies and Special Economic Zones. As per the data of 2017 there are 423 Special Economic Zones and of which 222 are under task. In the present time of rapid urbanization of India, it’s a very difficult task for planners to allot spaces to different types of people like builders, developers, farmers, etc. for their respective usage with its optimization. It is very much obvious that land is a natural resource and very much limited, and the demand of land is increasing day by day as population is also increasing. In many metro cities, the threshold capacity of the urban centres has already reached and now everyone is fighting to get land nearest possible to the Central Business district of the city so new downtowns need to be formed to scatter the demand and city functioning will not collapse. As my thesis topic name suggests ‘Spatial suitability analysis for IT Parks in the city of Bengaluru’ this is an examination process of land to find the most suitable locations for IT Parks by considering those parameters which are affecting it’s locational aspects like land use, land cover, accessibility, connectivity, proximity to existing IT Parks, proximity to basic services, proximity to amenities and other facilities, environmental impact, potential for future expansion, etc., and these parameters have sub criteria under them. Methodology for this thesis was developed by reviewing lots of research papers and other literature studies related to the suitability analysis of some public vi amenities like waterfront park, Special Economic Zones, industrial suitability, etc., First and foremost important thing was to identify those parameters which are affecting the location of IT parks and develop a database for them in which standards and guidelines are made to conduct assessment. All the parameters were defined and the constraints in the respective parameters were identified which can affect the future development of IT parks. As the study area of my thesis is Bengaluru, the locations of existing IT Parks were assessed using suitability analysis. And all the identified parameters were given weightages using the multiple criteria decision analysis after taking opinions of the major IT Park developers like Ascenda Group, Embassy Group, etc., to rank and prioritize the parameters as per their importance according to them and average of all the opinions from the developers were taken to conduct Analytic Hierarchy Process. Data were collected for the identified parameters so as to show it spatially on the map of Bengaluru and data were rectified as per the requirement of the thesis. Maps were generated for each parameter and rasterised so they can be overlaid. Consistency Ratio for the outcome of the calculated Analytic Hierarchy Process was found to find the acceptability using random index and consistency index. When the Analytic Hierarchy Process was found consistent then weightages were finalised for all the identified parameters. In GIS tool maps were reclassified into four types i.e., most suitable land, moderately suitable land, least suitable land and restricted area for all the parameters. Weighted Overlay Analyst tool was used for overlay analysis, influence percentage(weightages) were assigned to the raster maps of each parameters and the suitability map was obtained. From the obtained map, some portion of the lands which can be converted from agricultural use to commercial use were identified using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Normalized Difference Vegetative Index(MODIS NDVI) technique, using this tool agricultural land which supports multiple cropping pattern were left unchanged and the agricultural land with single cropping pattern were left for future use and it’s land use can be changed if required. And this is how suitable locations for IT Parks were identified and proposed for new upcoming IT Parks in the city of Bengaluru. Location choice is likely the most critical choice which will influence its resulting business to progress, since an appropriate area may draw in countless partners. Establishing an IT Park in urban areas has its very own positive and negative outcomes. Positive effects may incorporate increment in property estimation in neighbouring fringe just as improving economy related availability for the occupants of that locale. More significant are negative reactions, for example, ecological tainting and initiating new floods of traffic stream showing up on the system serving the area. Suitability investigation in a GIS setting is a geographic or GIS-based procedure used to decide the fittingness of a given zone for a specific use. This examination utilized GIS coordinated standard strategy for the determination of locales, which are appropriate for the IT Parks. This system consolidates countless and financial components which are basic to recognize the locales which have no or least antagonistic effect on condition.