01050pab a2200133 454500008004000000100002200040245005400062260000900116300001300125362001000138520072200148650001200870773003400882180718b2013   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aPatel, Shirish B.  aLife between buildings - The use and abuse of FSI  c2013  ap.68-74.  a9 Feb  aThe World Bank has been complaining that Indian cities are not making optimal use of their land and has been pressing for upward revisions of the floor space index, particularly in Mumbai and Bangalore. However, the bald comparison of FSI across cities that the WB presents is seriously misleading. This paper proposes a new metric, crowding, defined as the number of persons per hectare for a particular urban use. Thus we have indoor crowding, park crowding, and amenity crowding. How the new metric of crowding might be used in planning or replanning urban areas in general and the major policy changes that need to be made if Mumbai's housing shortage is to be seriously addressed is also discussed. - Reproduced.  aHousing  aEconomic and Political Weekly