An Investigation of Delhi’s Morphology Since 1991: Systematic Study of Censes Data at Ward Level to Expound Segregation and Segmentation

The pattern of social-spatial differentiation and segmentation in Delhi’s metropolitan area is the primary focus of this paper. When the readings of various factors resulting in morphological changes in a city and their associated data set were studied and later mapped, they revealed distinct spatial segregation and boundaries in Delhi. Firstly, at the ward level, data collection was done from censes data available for Delhi for the year 2011, circle rate from the revenue department, and fabric analysis from Google Earth. The second step was to map the DDA (Government Development Authority in Delhi) housing data through GIS and analyze the development of housing in Delhi against the real estate values. The wards with shared characteristics were combined, and as a result, Delhi now has enclaves that have a uniform character and morphology. A comprehension of the spatial organization of Delhi at this level would serve the twofold objective of the authors: it would enable planners, development authorities, and ULBs to come up with an assessment of the occurrence of spatial forms and a certain type of morphology in Delhi. Eventually, it would help them allocate land uses for efficient planning facilitating the process of drafting a holistic masterplan for Delhi in 2041 that will be more resilient and sustainable in nature. Due to the readily available government data at the ward level, a comprehensive investigation is conducted using a censes sheet, whereas there is a lack of authentic and reliable data at the zonal level in Delhi.