Published Paper Details:

District centres in class I metropolitan cities play a vital role in the overall development of the cities. The district centres influence the commercial and social activities of an area and must be designed in order to give the visitors a quality time. Over time, district centres have become mechanical in nature and cater to the needs of some sections of the society. Their role is to have certain amenities for everyone to visit once in a while. Thus it has been observed that the latest district centres target the upper class audience and ignore the middle and lower income groups. This can be solved by creation of an affordable informal market within the precinct of the district centre. At Nehru Place District Centre, an informal market has been developed organically over the course of time. Thus the district centre can be analysed on the basis of architectural design to see which factors affect the development of these informal markets. Form Based Codes are a way of regulating and designing certain areas to achieve a desirable public space. The aforementioned informal markets are best developed in open spaces and act as public areas. Thus the concepts of Form Based Codes can be implemented in district centres to achieve a public space that can be used as an informal market. These codes regulate various aspects of urban areas such as building form, landscapes, frontages, open spaces, civic spaces and streets. Thus these elements are studied with respect to district centres. The conclusions will include architectural recommendations for district centres from the point of view of Form Based Codes to promote informal markets and thus make district centres more efficient in achieving their motive of being a commercial area which has something for every section of the society.