Chennai Today. Year 2050

Over the past 30 years, Chennai has stunningly transformed into the research and development hotspot for Digitization and Electromobility that is second to none in the world - Whether the “Chennai Guidelines”, the Information Technology (IT) Park “The HUB” or the latest form of sustainable mobility being tested here, or even the "Formula-e-nightrace", Chennai’s success is recognised in the news almost daily.

Chennai’s economy has always been one of the strongest and fastest-growing in India, historically as a port city during British colonization that continued to flourish as a major industrial, trade and business hub in the 21st century global market. Most significantly the IT sector, which has been continuously expanding for decades and already had a remarkable contribution to the global IT development around the turn of the millennium. The discussion about sustainable mobility, which shaped science, especially in the early 2020s, but overlooked by almost all leading automobile manufacturers, was recognized as an opportunity and has changed the structure of the city positively by leapfrogging some stages. In a joint venture between the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM AG and the world's largest and oldest motorcycle manufacturer Royal Enfield, based in Chennai, together with Anna University and research funds from the IT industry, it was possible to launch the world's first electric motorcycle in the market with a range of over 300 km and charging times of less than 1 hour.

The idea was originally developed as part of the "AccuForFuture" research project with Anna University, which focused on research into new types of energy storage. Due to the success of the Chennai Bike 1.0, the existing production facilities and infrastructure in the city, it was decided to start series production of the motorcycle in 2026 with a striking acceptance in the market selling more than 200,000 within the first year.

Today, the Chennai Bike 1.0 undoubtedly marks the milestone in the sustainable mobility worldwide and is a great example of unlimited potential of a broad cluster of interdisciplinary professionals working in cooperation. This synergy was orchestrated due to the unique potential of creation and inventiveness that Chennai displays.

In addition to the existing automotive and motorcycle industry, the broad knowledge of IT was the major factor in the transformation of the global mobility sector, because in the end it is not just efficiency, battery charging or safet –it is a question of software engineereing. In order to be able to continue to build on the gathered knowledge and to be able to develop and test new products and market them accordingly, Anna University first set up an innovation lab on its campus in which all new forms of sustainable mobility were designed.

Due to the limited space on the campus, in 2028 a possibility was sought to sufficiently test the developing products. In addition to motorcycles, these included cars, drones and all types of scooters and boats. There were considerations to realize this innovation IT Hub in the suburbs of

Chennai, within the existing industrial zones. However, due to the broad support among the population who were understandably proud of the developments and due to the fact that the focus here is on completely climate- and emission-neutral mobility, the decision was made to build an IT Park in the city: In Pallikaranai Marshland. The Marshland was considered to be logistically perfect, as the IT industry was located here anyway due to informal land

developments within the Marshland in the last few years, and the connection to the existing highand waterways. As a side effect, the unwanted, but tolerated land reclamation in the marshlands could be countered with the project with the ambition of reversal of the negative impacts that this informal land-use had caused.

Within 10 years, a test track for vehicles was built in the southern part of the marsh and the first (development) buildings standing on stilts respected the natural surroundings of the park. The sustainable structure of the buildings, consisting of ecological materials, redefines the boundary between electromobility and the workplace and can be extended at any time due to the structure.

The first existing office and production clusters within the “The HUB” park were sold within a few days to IT companies, the automotive industry, universities, battery and fuel-cell

manufacturers, research facilities, etc.

Companies from Chennai had a right of first refusal, on the condition that they either return the previously illegally used land in the park to nature or implement large-scale social housing programmes for the slum population living there.

The great demand for clusters within the park resulted in several extensions in the following years and the IT Park has become an integral part of Chennai's cityscape, at the latest with the completion of the drone twin towers in the north by 2037. Later, an industrial zone was added in the west, with a direct connection to the test track.

Within just a few years, the Innovation Lab has developed into a unique centre of knowledge from various disciplines, and over 70% of the companies worldwide working with forms of electromobility are represented here either directly or as participants. It is not for nothing that the “Chennai Guidelines” developed here in “The HUB” since 2026, until today, regulate the communication between autonomous mobility, since the big players of the German, American and Chinese industry get stuck in the discussion of their different standards.

The IT park strengthened Chennai's economy so much that the world's fourth hyperloop was built after New York, Melbourne and Frankfurt, connecting the important innovation hot spots (Anna University, IT Park, Landfill) to the international airport within 5 minutes.

With the construction work in the IT Park in 2034, together with Veolia Environment S.A. , Sembcorp Ltd. and Remondis Gmbh from Germany, as well as the National University of Singapore, the large waste disposal site was started to be removed. The waste stored on the landfill was professionally separated, washed and recyclable parts such as plastic, rubber etc. were reused. The resulting mineralic waste was either reused as building material (e.g. in the social housing programs or in road construction) or stored in a new, structured landfill or incinerated. Following the successful evaluation of this landfill-mining project, the consortium has been working for several years with local spin-offs at other locations in India and countries in Asia.

Chennai is now the IT location and the city with the highest income in India. The prosperity created by the IT Park has given the city an incomparable upswing and contributed significantly

to resilience through a sustainable form of growth in which the companies involved were held accountable as part of their corporate social responsibility. The HUB’s test track and the park have long been part of Chennai's culture, and the adjacent Wetland park has expanded again since 2019 due to the land restructuring triggered by the park. The water has been clean since the landfill was closed and biodiversity has increased greatly, which is why the publicly accessible test track is frequently used by school classes to study biodiversity, and not just at weekends.

How it all began: Chennai in 2019

The fourth most populous city, and the third largest economy. Chennai, boasted an ever-growing industrial sector, but was stuck in the tug-of-war of urbanization and nature. India as a nation was active in the international contest of power-dynamics among leading nations, fueled by growing industries, mighty trade wars, attractively urbanizing cities, and most importantly the dream of a sustainable future for the next generations. But the alarming rise in natural calamities was dampening the golden development dream and hence needed to be addressed at the forefront.

Situated in the precarious geography of Pallikaranai Marshland, that experiences severe lack of attention to the fact that one day it can potentially vanish from the map of Chennai, the Indian IT and the automobile industry joined hands to make the change happen. They started their venture from this very marshland, with the hope to make a bold statement of change. The social, humanitarian and environmental impact of this pilot project spread like wildfire when their achievements made to the leading newspaper’s headlines. This is when the Chennai Metropolitan government acknowledged the plausibility of this venture and brought in the political wilfulness, expertise, and state-funding needed to scale this pilot project up to a citylevel operational program.

Phase I : Mid term goals

1000 jobs creation: Fostering Local Economy

The governmental impetus and the flourishing “The Hub” infrastructure pushed Chennai IT scheme into a multi-pronged development project, more focused on fulfilling its mid-term goals. Now they achieved to deliver on their original vision but on the city-level. It was essential to integrate the local community from every income group to achieve real sustainability. The trash islands facility and the construction of a protecting dike for the wetland park kick-started sideby-side not only generated a multitude of jobs that the local community enjoyed but also brought about significant face-lift to the marshland which was becomin the popular dumping site. The main pillars of the intervention were, enhancement of the transportation network, innovation campus, water-based solutions for infrastructure related issues, re-use of materials and landfill recovery, and the conservation of the marshlands as the most important ecological reservoir of the city.

Pallikaranai Wetland Park

Fig. Section Dike-A

Fig. Section Dike-B

The heart of the project will be located in the Pallikaranai Marsh, a neglected spot that has been affected by poor land management, encroachments, and natural degradation through time.

Fig. Section Dike-C

Conscious of its immense potential, the project has decided that this area will symbolize the turning point of Chennai’s history. In Pallikaranai Marsh can be pinpointed the most urgent issues that the city is trying to tackle and at the same time offers the perfect scenario to implement the most inventive solutions that can be replicated in several places throughout the city to guarantee a robust biodiverse system.

To get in touch with nature is the strongest premise, in a contemplative fashion, highlighting its importance and raising the awareness of this precious spot. There is a dike system that outline the whole perimeter, making it accessible for pedestrian flows in selected areas and at the same time generating a protection for possible further encroachments. The visitor will be interacting at the same level of the marshland, notwithstanding never having a direct physical access to trespass the reconstructed natural barriers, generating a dynamics of recognition, interaction and sensitization.

The dike system adapts its architectural features depending on its immediate vicinity, thus recognizes the more sensitive stretches such as the ones located next to the informal settlements, offering complementary activities for locals from the neighborhood to the metropolitan scale. Furthermore, water retention and groundwater recharge systems were taken into consideration as part of the design strategy, since these technologies will prevent a premature flood scenario of the marshland. In addition, when the spatial limitation allowed it, terraced natural filter systems were disposed in order to clean the run-off water that comes from the city sometimes with high levels of contaminants.

Within the Wetland Park there is a bridge system that connects several platforms intended to accommodate open air leisure activities, e.g., birdwatching, yoga, meditation, social interaction, among others. The linkage with spiritual beliefs is fundamental, understanding the long tradition of temples in Chennai that are thoroughly connected with water bodies, the design incorporates this feature allocating spaces for reflection. In the technical segment, the bridge system is made of recycled material extracted totally from the landfill, this is a floating mechanism that allows the pathway to adapt itself automatically depending on the seasonal conditions. This adaptable and flexible solution foresee the changing nature of the marshland and assures the full enjoyment of the space throughout the year.

In terms of landscape design, in addition to the pedestrian pathways, an Eco-corridor was designed, this corresponds to a series of artificial islands that are deployed in a way that conduct the water flow towards the Buckingham Chanel, controlling floods and mitigating the risk of disaster. Likewise, in the area that is permanently flooded a terraces system was designed, with the straightforward act of shape the land it is possible to show the visitor the different stages of