India, one of the fastest-growing economies and the largest democracy in the world. Here, every major city is at the peak of development in terms of infrastructure, social and political norms. With the boom in education and employment, the needs of existing metropolitan cities increased. Due to the major influx in the neighboring metro cities, these satellite cities were born or either planned to support the major metropolitans of the country.
1. Gurugram, Haryana | Satellite Cities
Located about 30kms to the southwest of the nation’s capital, Gurugram is a major satellite of New Delhi. It is the third financial capital after Mumbai and Chennai. It is spread in 732 sq km with a total population of 876,900. It mainly arose when Maruti-Suzuki set up its plant in the 1970s and today the city is booming. It is the third city in the nation with the highest per capita income.
2. Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Noida (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority), is a planned satellite city to New Delhi located in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh. With a population of 637,272, it is spread in 203 sq km. It falls in the catchment area of the Yamuna river. The streets are planned adjacent to trees which increases the city’s green cover and is also considered as the greenest city in the nation with around 50% of green cover.
3. Gandhinagar, Gujarat
The state capital of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, is a planned satellite city of Ahmedabad city. It was designed by architect H.K Mewada assisted by Prakash M Apte. It is spread in 177 sq km. Since it is in the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi the authorities wanted to be purely an Indian enterprise as a result of planning & infrastructure to metro everything is handled by Indian companies only.
4. Hitec City, Andhra Pradesh
Far when the economy of the country and the technology were booming simultaneously, the urge of IT hubs in various pockets of the country also arose. HITEC City (Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy) was born as support to Hyderabad and making it an important IT hub of the country. It is an amalgamation of 5 sectors forming into a city. It has various major campuses like L&T Info city, Laxmi Cyber City, etc.
5. Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra | Satellite Cities
Designed by the visionary architect Charles Correa, Navi Mumbai is also considered as Correa’s vision of the country during the 1960s. As the country was progressing, the economic capital of the country was also growing at a fast pace and as result, Charles Correa proposed Navi Mumbai as a satellite to Mumbai. CIDCO(The City and Industrial Development Corporation). Its planning began in 1971, and today Navi Mumbai is one of the efficiently planned cities in the country. After the proposal of Navi Mumbai International Airport, the city’s scenario has changed topsy-turvy
6. Newtown, West Bengal
It is a planned satellite city to Kolkata and is managed by the Newtown Kolkata Development Authority(NKDA). It is enabled with a 10.5 km stretch Wi-Fi zone and also India’s first Wi-Fi connectivity road. It is also known as the IT hub of the West Bengal state.
7. Thane, Maharashtra
Apart from Udaipur, Thane is also known as the city of Lakes as it is surrounded by 35 small and large Lakes. Unlike other satellite cities, Thane is not a planned city, but due to its provinces to the Mumbai city and suburbs, Thane became the satellite city to Mumbai along with Navi Mumbai. Today, it is spread in 147 sq km with well-developed residential areas and hubs of major companies like TCS, L&T, etc. It was also the station of the first-ever passenger train in the continent of Asia.
8. New Kanpur City, Uttar Pradesh
Like every other satellite city, New Kanpur city is the satellite to Kanpur. Around 10,000 acres of land is proposed for the city. The city will be connected to Kanpur via metro, rail, and expressways. Due to its vicinity with IIT Kanpur(one of the top engineering institutes in the country), the government has planned to make Kanpur and Lucknow as IT hubs of the state which increases the potential of the city. Most of its land will be allocated for cooperative housing and the rest will be allotted to private developers with only 25% of ground coverage of the total plot area.
9. Mohali, Punjab
Famous for its sporty spirit of cricket and hockey, Mohali is the satellite city of Chandigarh. Politically situated in Punjab, it is also the IT hub of the state. Originally it was an extension of Chandigarh but due to its rapid development in various sectors, it is gaining its own identity as a city.
10. Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh | Satellite Cities
Amravati is an upcoming satellite that will also be the capital of Andhra Pradesh State. The city is being planned by Ar. Foster and Associates and the infrastructure are handled by Ar. Hafeez Contractor. It is spread in 217.23 sq km. Currently, the city is under development and soon it will be one of the major cities of the nation.
