L I F
/AKSHAISANKAR
"What is the city but the people"
Stor y of a BST Bus
In a lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Charles Correa, one of India's most celebrated architects and urban planners, shared a fascinating anecdote from Mumbai. He recounted a scene where a washerman and a moneylender, hailing from distinct castes and economic backgrounds, sat comfortably side by side on a Mumbai bus. With a touch of humor, he quipped, “3000 years ago, lord Budha and Mahatma Gandhi 100 years ago spent their whole life trying to abolish the caste system in India. And both seem to have failed. And here comes a stupid bus, without any political agenda. And it’s changing India”
These words pretty much reveal the magical power of urbanisation to bring people together and transform the social systems. Cities are the engines of social change.
of the Local Government Area(LGA)'s rich and diverse urban culture.
Our public places are more central than ever to building and nurturing healthy communities in the current pandemic context. Developing well designed, highly liveable local streets will only become more important in the future with increased home work rates and renewed village living.
This document presented an excellent opportunity to assess, reference and articulate all of Council’s existing strategies and studies a ecting and informing the public domain.
This project establishes the necessary design principles and methodology to assess and guide any public domain upgrades in the Inner West Council.
A suite of Technical Speci cations, Precinct Studies and site-speci c Public Domain Master Plans has been developed in order to complete and complement the Public Domain Design Guide.
The Guide is structured in three distinct sections:
Background and Design Principles: Provides the necessary context and background information and outlines the project's guiding principles. It also establishes document methodology and revision protocols.
Design Guide: This is the core section of the Design Guide. It includes street type de nition, Council-wide street assessment mapping and recommended public domain palettes
Better Streets: This section is structured in three distict parts (green-blue streets, play streets and building frontages) each of which is considered as a key overlay to develop and improve public domain liveability. Better Streets provides the Public Domian Design Guide with a set of principles, mapping and speci c toolboxes to inform any future public amenity upgrades and developments.
Involvement:
Undertaking research and precedent studies, providing design and planning inputs, preparing comprehensive diagrams and maps, conducting material and street furniture research and liaison with suppliers, layout design
HARBOUR TUNNEL
MAJOR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
The Western Harbour Tunnel is part of the NSW Government’s biggest infrastructure program in history, changing the way people move as our motorways expand to better serve our growing city. The project that will make it easier, faster and safer to get around Sydney.
The development of the various Project elements has been through an integrated urban design approach, involving close collaboration with a broad, multidisciplinary project team. Additionally, the design has been informed through engagement with the client, subject matter experts, Aboriginal consultants, and key external stakeholders, including the Council. The urban design response encompasses the treatment of all elements contributing to the public experience of the project. The Project contribute to the enrichment of the public domain through improvement to existing community assets and the development of new urban public spaces along the alignment.
Involvement::
Preparation of Place Design and Landscape Plan
Strategic and site context analysis
Urban design principles, objectives and strategies
Urban design inputs
PARRAMATTA CITY ALONG THE RIVER
“ Parramatta will be a city along the river celebrating its history, diversity and centrality
INTEGRATED URBANISM STUDIO -USYD
The Greater Sydney Region has proliferated over time with increased demand for housing, jobs, a healthy environment, places to relax all which are better connected and served to result in increased pressure on the existing urban centres. Given the diminishing capacity of Sydney city to accommodate more growth and maintain its liveability, the Greater Sydney Region has come up with the ‘Metropolis of Three Cities’ to develop new centres so as to relieve pressure on the existing centres. Parramatta has emerged as a part of the Central City District Plan to be developed as the second CBD of Greater Sydney providing diverse housing, jobs, recreational areas, vital services within a healthy environment which are better connected. The site consisting of Parramatta CBD, North Parramatta and Westmead burgeoned around the Parramatta River provides an opportunity to develop an urban centre taking
advantage of its strategic central location. The city along the river is a notion to develop the area into a vibrant and thriving place taking advantage of its essential natural asset which is the Parramatta River catering to the needs of the existing and growing population.
This strategic plan is developed as a comprehensive document to bring ‘city along the river’ into realisation by focusing on its strengths, characteristics, and history to evolve into a city which is globally recognised for its world-class features and also serve as the second CBD to the Greater Sydney Region. The report begins with a scrupulous analysis of site context in reference with its relative location within Greater Sydney Region, probing into the existing policies within which the site exists along with a brief snapshot on the demographics statistics. The detailed analysis of the site provides a framework for the development of an inclusive vision for ‘city along the river 2050’ comprising exhaustive structure to achieve it. The inclusive vision for the city is developed encompasses major ve themes which are further elaborated in detail in the report. https://issuu.com/akshaisankars/docs/report_for_issuu
This strategic plan is developed to bring ‘city along the river’ into realisation by focusing on its strengths, characteristics, and history to evolve into a city which is globally recognised for its world-class features and also serve as the second CBD to the Greater Sydney Region
The study identi ed 9 character zones within the site. The BAU model was reimagined based on this. The proposed masterplan creates a development spine along the river supported by decentralised local centres along the transporation nodes.
Involvement:
Group leader, site analysis and background research, concept and masterplan development, housing strategy, supporting diagrams and report writing