Auroville is situated on the Coromandel Coast of southern India, approximately 10 kilometers north of the coastal city of Puducherry and roughly 150 kilometers south of Chennai. The township is located on a gently sloping plateau that inclines toward the Bay of Bengal.
The physical geography is defined by its red laterite soil, which was heavily eroded and virtually devoid of vegetation prior to the late 1960s. Through one of the world's most successful community reforestation projects, this arid land has been transformed into a dense, verdant forest, rich in biodiversity. The township is now surrounded by the Green Belt, a zone of forests, farms, and sanctuaries that protects the settlement from urban encroachment and provides a habitat for indigenous flora and fauna.
