India's urban population is expected to grow from 410 million in 2014 to 814 million by 2050, as per the TERI document. If urban growth continues to grow at this rate, to accommodate new urban population, large amount of urban land will be required. With the fact that, the land is an important and limited resource, the need to find the way to use it efficiently and smartly is essential. For that, first step is to understand the existing urban morphology and its impact on land utilization in the

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... current scenario. This will help to understand how efficiently is the urban land utilized in Indian cities, if we compare the study with other world cities. The main concern of the research is – 1. How efficiently is the urban land utilized in India's cities? 2. What is the role of Development Control Regulations (DCRs) in the efficiency of land utilization? 3. How utilization of urban land can be improved with respect to DCRs? For the study, urban land is classified in three parts public realm, building footprints and private open space. To understand the existing urban land, quantitative and qualitative study of it has been taken out for the thirteen squares in Ahmedabad city. From the study it has been found that the majority of land area in our cities falls under the category of private open space, which is primarily divided in small pieces. A further study of private open spaces reveals the existing condition of it utilized or under-utilized. The study questions, why do we need private open spaces in such large amount around the buildings? To understand the argument, a similar study has been under taken to understand how urban land is used in other world cities. Following this, the study takes a new turn to find why we need private open space around the buildings in Indian cities? Is it out of people's choice or they are forced to do so? Does, the development control regulations play an important role in making large amount of private open space? The research elaborates all the arguments with the existing scenario of Indian city (Ahmedabad as a case) and suggests how we can improve the land utilization through some changes in development control regulations.