Delhi’s Master Plan 2047 bets on building up, not out

Delhi’s next master plan is built around a simple constraint: the city has little room to spread outward, so it must grow taller.

The Master Plan of Delhi 2047, which the DDA has cleared and sent to the Centre for final approval, increases permissible building height, floor area ratio (FAR) and ground coverage in several categories. It also removes height limits in some categories, potentially allowing more floors in projects ranging from schools and local shopping centres to wholesale markets and in-situ slum rehabilitation schemes.

FAR measures a building’s total floor area against the size of its plot. The plan also recalibrates parking rules around FAR rather than built-up area, and eases some setback requirements for industrial plots between 300 and 500 square metres.

For residents, the more consequential proposal may be regeneration in existing planned and unauthorised neighbourhoods. Local bodies would prepare road-network plans with landowners and residents, while property pooling and reorganisation could be permitted for planning. In unauthorised areas, developers, RWAs or authorised colony representatives may propose schemes covering at least 2,000 square metres, with layout and services plans requiring approval before individual building permissions.

The framework follows the DDA’s clearance of the Master Plan 2047, which also maps space for nearly 4 million additional homes by 2047.