Chandigarh, May 23 -- In a decisive break from the city's long-standing low-density planning model, the UT administration has proposed a shift toward high-rise vertical expansion to accommodate a growing population within the limited land. According to the draft amendments to the Master Plan-2031, individual residential plots, once a defining feature of Chandigarh, will no longer be created. Instead, all new housing will take the form of group developments, a move officials say is necessary to prevent further fragmentation of scarce land. The amendments are proposed for Phase 2 (Sector 31 to 47-B) and Phase 3 (Sector 48 to 56, Sector 61, Sector 63) and will have no bearing on heritage sectors, i.e Sectors 1 to 30, designed by French architect LeCorbusier. UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has approved the draft for public feedback, with residents, developers and institutions invited to submit objections and suggestions within 21 days. The most visible transformation is expected in Phase 3 and the city's periphery, where the amendments mandate a minimum four-storey height for new group housing projects. Approximately 361 acres of vacant land in Phase 3 has been earmarked for high-rise, high-density housing. This includes 215 acres already allotted to the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), along with an additional 146 acres of unutilised land identified for development. The revised building norms allow for a maximum height of 30 metres (around 98.5 feet) and a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 3.0, enabling significantly higher residential density than existing provisions. Census data shows Chandigarh's growth is largely migration-driven, with nearly 7 lakh residents classified as migrants and over 2 lakh moving to the city specifically for employment, underlining the mountingpressure on its housinginfrastructure. "The city has been seeing sustained in-migration over the years, increasing the pressure on its limited housing stock. The focus on Phase 3 and the peripheral areas is a deliberate planning response to accommodate this growing demand, particularly from the migrant population. By enhancing the permissible FAR to 3.0, we are creating the capacity for vertical expansion, which could translate into residential developments of up to 10 storeys in the future, ensuring more efficient land use while meeting the city's evolving housing needs," said an official from the urban planning department. In one of the largest proposed interventions, a 178-acre tract near Maloya, designated as Pocket 7, is planned as a high-density residential zone with a projected population of 45,000. The development would adopt a density of 250 persons per acre, relying on high-rise structures in a departure from Chandigarh's traditionally horizontal layout. The administration has proposed allowing development of up to stilt plus five floors in Pocket 6 of Manimajra, balancing competing concerns over density and surrounding urban congestion. Pocket 6, designated for a mix of residential and commercial land use, is proposed to have a density of 175 persons per acre. Parking, a persistent challenge in the city, features prominently in the draft. All new group housing developments will be required to incorporate stilt or basement parking. In a bid to incentivise compliance, the administration has proposed regulatory relaxations: in Phase 2 sectors, stilt levels will be exempt from height restrictions, while in cooperative group housing societies, parking space within stilts will not count toward the Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The policy goes further in Phase 2 sectors, where vacant plots originally earmarked for single-family homes will be reconfigured into group housing projects, provided they exist in contiguous clusters of unsold land. Around 1,700 government housing units are proposed to be constructed in Sectors 43-A and 43-B in Chandigarh, where a contiguous 27-acre vacant land parcel is available. Officials have clarified that this will be the only group housing project planned in Phase 2, with no similar developments proposed in other sectors of the phase. "Any expansion of housing in phase II sectors is not desirable without first examining the available margin for infrastructure expansion and service capacity," said Ashwani Sabharwal,a former chief architect. Environmental considerations have also shaped parts of the proposal. The IT Habitat, initially envisioned as a high-rise development, is now slated for plotted or low-rise flatted construction. The revision comes in response to ecological guidelines aimed at safeguarding migratory bird flight paths near the adjoining Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, which is classified as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ). Kapil Setia, a former chief architect, said, "Densification is inevitable, but it must be matched with infrastructure upgrades such as water, transport, waste management, or the system will strain."...