Udaan Park: the seed of a million trees for Udaipur

All images are of Udaan Park. © Ankit Jain

The World Health Organization recommends a minimum green cover standard of 9m² per capita for cities; Udaipur in Rajasthan offers just 2m² per person. This park seeks to redress the balance.

There is no bigger adversity facing humankind today than the combined environmental challenges of global warming, biodiversity loss and waste. This is why Studio Saar’s approach to architecture is underpinned by the ambition to create sustainable solutions for society and the environment in which people, and the architecture we create, are part of the solution. It’s also the reason why landscape-led projects are so exciting to us, as landscape is often the prism through which these challenges – and ambitions – can be most fully explored and effectively delivered.

Our work in Udaipur, India, in partnership with local not-for-profit organisation Dharohar, is a prime example, focusing on ‘10 Lakh Vriksh’ (1 million trees), Dharohar’s city-wide planting initiative to revive community parks and gardens. Studio Saar’s ambition for the project is to foster a community-led initiative that will plant and nurture a million trees across the city, through a network of local, accessible parks and gardens. The first of these parks to be completed, Udaan Park, has recently transformed an underused, lakeside park into an accessible, safe and inclusive public space. Featuring a canopy inspired by the local birdlife, a maze, games area, and extensive planting, the park has been designed to celebrate and reconnect locals with Udaipur’s native wildlife, boost biodiversity and address challenges around net zero.

India’s urban landscape has, in the recent past, prioritised growth over the sustainable development of green cover. A result of rapid urbanisation, this trajectory has brought improvements in quality of life, including healthcare, nutrition and education, but also a situation where India’s cities are at severe risk of depleting their stock of green cover and open public spaces. Where the WHO suggests a minimum green cover standard of 9m² per capita for cities, Udaipur offers just 2m², and if we measure the allocation in terms of accessible public parks, the figure drops down to an A3 sized piece of land per person.

The parks and gardens of 10 Lakh Vriksh aim to provide a solution. For the citizen, they will provide a free-toaccess green space that welcomes people from all walks of life. These parks will be the foundation of a drive to reinstate a connection between local urban communities and native species of flora and fauna, growing their understanding of the value of green space, and promoting a sense of stewardship towards it. For the local authority, they will provide solutions to liminal development spaces, which can be transformed with a relatively small investment. For local organisations and businesses, who are encouraged to take financial and civic responsibility of the parks in the long term, they will provide an opportunity to link local economies to sustainable urbanism.

The challenge with getting such a project off the ground was that there is no frame of reference in Udaipur. Local people had never been exposed to the idea of a ‘community park’ before, nor been educated in the impact of trees and green space on their health and wellbeing. As such, they were unable to derive a sense of their own agency in creating a resilient, sustainable neighbourhood. Added to this is that only 4% of India can meet the threshold to pay income tax, rendering local authorities unable to meet the costs for the upkeep of local park schemes.

Local people had never been exposed to the idea of a ‘community park’ before, nor been educated in the impact of trees and green space on their health and wellbeing.

We knew that to seed the project, we needed to focus on smallscale interventions, and alongside Udaan Park, we are working on three more parks as part of 10 Lakh Vriksh, including the Gulab, Swami Vivekananda and Nyay Parks. It is hoped that these will act as the catalysts for a city-wide initiative, providing physical spaces that can be utilised as a nursery to grow saplings for other sites, and as an informal educational facility, as well as a local green space contributing social and environmental benefits.

As the first project to be completed, Udaan Park offers a blueprint to be taken forward, with the aim of setting a precedent for the inventive reuse and repurposing of materials, and making steps towards its net zero ambitions by paying close attention to embodied carbon. Reclaimed tyres were used as planters, swings and play tunnels, while recycled saree fabrics were used for swing ropes; concrete waste rubble from the site was reused as fill, and all non-structural metalwork was made from repurposed steel. The canopy – an awning of 34,000 bird-shaped cut-outs – is made of recyclable and UV-stabilised plastic.

The locally sourced planting scheme was selected for its ability to withstand the harsh climate, while also helping to support and expand the habitat for the bird communities on site, with over 30 bird species recorded since opening. Meanwhile, drought-resistant grasses and small trees create tranquil, shaded spaces for visitors, alongside flowering plants and medicinal herbs. The native planting scheme has also negated the need for a water-intensive irrigation system, which along with the (community-led) decision to leave powered lighting out of the design, have combined to significantly reduce the operational demands of the site.

Udaan Park is a landscape that has enabled us to bring environmental dimensions to sustainability – from carbon, to water, to biomass –together with social dimensions, including education, participation and local economies. As an Anglo-Indian, landscape-led studio, we see great opportunities to incorporate learnings from our projects into our work in the UK. As a country that shies away from public-private partnerships in the creation of public space, we hope that Udaan Park can provide an example of how involving local businesses and communities in the creation and maintenance of local parks increases their long-term viability and regeneration potential.

When the community is invested in the process and its value creation, through the construction, maintenance, and enjoyment of the space, then the longevity of that space, and its role in sustainable urban development, will be far greater. Udaan Park and 10 Lakh Vriksh is just one model, which we’re excited to see flourish in the context of Udaipur, but the core idea of bringing the social and environmental sides of sustainability together holds true in a far more global context. This is what good landscape design is all about.

Udaan Park offers a blueprint to be taken forward, with the aim of setting a precedent for the inventive reuse and repurposing of materials

Ananya Singhal co-founded Studio Saar with Jonny Buckland in 2003, England. Singhal has worked on projects in the United Kingdom and India spanning industrial, commercial, landscape and private residential buildings. Singhal created the first list of heritage buildings in Udaipur for the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.