Given the rapid urbanization of India (according to a recent study published by WWF (2009) this transformation will convert India to an urban majority by 2040-45), environmental sustainability is highly critical. We will need to accommodate another 350-400 million people in urban spaces. To the lay person, it may appear that urbanization is an unmitigated disaster for the environment, but international experience suggests that what really matters is the type of communities or cities we build and the initiatives we take towards environmental stewardship and sustainability. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is one such initiative which reduces the per capita ecological footprints. Though a useful energy savings of 15% is generally achieved through LEED/Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment, this in isolation cannot account for a drastic reduction of the ecological footprints. These green codes singularly focus on the individual communities whereas the real gains come from improving the overall urban form. Hence Vasathi thinks much beyond LEED.

The questions that we care about are: Is the city dense or sprawling? Do people live in apartments or free standing houses? Is the city designed for public transport? For instance energy use drops by over 30% just by moving people from houses to apartments even if we ignore the green codes. Similarly public transport systems do not work efficiently when the city is spread out and commuters cannot easily walk to the bus stop/metro stations (Reimagining Urban India- Saneev Sanyal, Founder & Managing Trustee, The Sustainable Planet Institute).

Hence Vasathi’s overall sustainability strategy is driven by the following:

	Vasathi deploys strategies to improve performance across key metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. To that end, Vasathi adopts LEED guidelines.
	Vasathi designs its communities near or within the existing urban agglomerations supported by a good social infra and transport network.
	Vasathi creates self-sustaining communities i.e. communities containing well equipped commercial zones- shopping complex, club house, school, hospital, restaurants, ATMs, etc.