Hyderabad
Apparently, the city of Hyderabad has now come a full circle in terms of development, and after saturation of west, it has started growing towards the east and is now expanding in the region where it first started, i.e., around Golconda. Golconda was inhabited a little over 550 years ago, and the city of Hyderabad was formed in 1591 CE after the capital city Golconda could not hold the growing population. Hyderabad first expanded south of the Musi river, and a couple of decades later, Sultan Nagar was formed towards the east.
However, after the death of the Qutb ruler, the expansion was stalled for some time but was later resumed by the sultan’s wife, Hayat Bakshi Begum.
Also, the floods in river Musi and pandemics and epidemics, the authorities were forced to develop the city towards the north by developing Ameenpur, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, and it further grew towards the north when Kukatpally, BHEL, ICRISAT were formed.
Now, years later, the city is once again developing along the Golconda, Shaikpet zone, and on the old Surat-Mumbai trade route. If one drives around the area, one can see both sides of the roads filled with skyscrapers, and the west side of the city not only meant development, growing population but also job promotion.
But the historians of the city share that the city of Hyderabad had always expanded in a circular form. They say once the western part gets saturated, it would once again develop towards the north. Also, there has been tremendous growth following the opening of the new airport at Shamshabad. According to geographer and GI scientist Kevin Haynes, the next growth axis would be towards the north.