Anthropogenic Landscapes and its connotations in High Density Urban design models
Menesh Chainani PA200415 Research Thesis
Guided by Ar. Sandip Patil
Masters of Landscape Architecture Faculty of Architecture
May, 2017
Synopsis 1. Abstract Urbanization, in terms of growth of urban areas, is a global phenomenon. According to the United Nations (U.N.), the world is urbanizing at an alarming rate. The report states that by 2050, 70 % of the world population will be living in urban areas. This implies that there will be an increase in the number of urban areas like towns, cities, and megacities; and the population of the existing urban areas would increase. The development of urban areas is guided by different planning models and the urban form by different urban design models. Within such a design process the scope of urban landscapes is defined as exterior spaces carved within the urban fabric. However, holistically the urban anthropogenic landscape comprises of the built and its exterior spaces within an urban form. With an increase in the interaction between the urban dwellers and the anthropogenic landscape (as defined in the previous statement), connotations of the landscape are formed as a result of the way in which spaces are perceived and appropriated. The interaction between urban dwellers and the anthropogenic landscapes are maximized within the pedestrian domain. Therefore, defining such spaces for the research, the thesis aims to interpret the connotations of landscapes within high-density urban neighbourhoods. According to the U.N. report, the city of Mumbai is presently in a changing phase. The city of Mumbai sets the context of a high density (in terms of population density) megacity for which new development plans is being drafted. According to the proposed draft development plan for the city, a high-density Neighbourhood has been delineated. The thesis sets in an alternate framework for analysing the associations between pedestrians and the landscape. Comparatively analysing existing and proposed urban landscape, the thesis attempts to suggest alternate methods of reading and designing landscapes in a high-density urban area. The study demonstrates a framework of guidelines for designing landscapes in such urban areas. These guidelines can be used to interpret the role of landscapes in facilitating liveability of an urban area.
2. Anthropogenic Landscapes and its connotations in High-density Urban Design Models According to the rate at which the world is urbanising, landscapes are being constructed upon to create habitable spaces to live, work and play. Such urban forms should be legible and comfortable for its users. However, within the urban design framework, the connotations of landscapes are limited to site development and the exterior spaces of a built form. At instances, urban guidelines restrict landscapes to urban green pockets and open spaces in an urban neighbourhood. Further, these spaces are restricted based on their ownership, as spaces within the public and private realm. On a theoretical investigation within the domain of urban landscape design, landscapes have far more complex connotations than the way in which they are addressed to. This has been researched upon by author Garrett Eckbo in his book Urban Landscape Design. He addresses urban landscapes as enclosures that are legible to its users. He draws an analogy between the interiors of a room and the exterior space to describe the components of an enclosure. The structure of an interior space i.e. ceiling, walls, and floor can be interpreted as the sky, vertical elements like the built form, compound walls, trees etc. and ground. Based on Anthropogenic Landscapes and its Connotations in High Density Urban Design Models
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this theoretical construct, the thesis defines urban anthropogenic landscapes as a composition of the built and the unbuilt environment. Perception of space is one of the tools to research the relationship between landscapes and its users. The way a place is perceived builds connotations of the place. These connotations define the character of that place. The thesis researches the role of connotations in analysing and designing an urban context within a phase of change. Connotations of a place are developed over a period of time. These connotations are developed as the perception of the space keeps changing with the changes in the built and unbuilt components of that space. As defined earlier, the context within which the thesis is located is undergoing a change. The character of such a built landscape is largely dependent on the parameters of urban growth. Population density is one of the key parameters commanding this change. It is a key parameter which underlines the form which that the landscape would achieve. Such a complex relation between the connotations of the anthropogenic landscape and density has been attempted in this research.
3. Research Design 3.1 Premise Urbanization is a global phenomenon. By 2050, 70% of the world population would be living in urban areas. The process of urbanization deals with complex processes of city development. The development plan of a city is usually based on planning models that are complex, futuristic, and dependent on statistic and on practical and theoretical concepts. Further, based on land area and population dynamics the models of compact city forms with high population densities is at times the sole option for many cities. Within such planning models, the designs of these neighbourhoods generate a dialogue between spatial composition of the built form and its perception by its inhabitants. The composition of the built form and its exterior spaces connote the urban anthropogenic landscape. The perceptions of these spaces build associations with the landscape. Thus, connotations of anthropogenic landscapes can be deduced to highly constructed spaces. The theories of Jan Gehl define the relationship between the landscape (spaces conceived within the built forms), the spatial composition of the space and the experience at pedestrian level. The complexities and dynamic nature of the spaces increase as the number of users goes on increasing. Thus, complexities and dimensionality of spatial performance and use is directly associated with the density of that place. These pedestrian spaces are perceived as multi layered and diverse spaces accessed and traversed through in everyday life. The coherent perception of these constructed landscapes and its elements, and their relation with the physical environment define the character of the space. Grounded on this premise, the thesis research’s connotations of anthropogenic landscapes reckoned by the perception of pedestrians in high density urban areas and question the process of analyzing and designing the urban landscape.
3.2 Hypothesis High-density urban areas conceived by compact development model pose complex paradigm in the conceptualizing urban landscapes. Such landscapes try to strike a balance between the constructed and the physical environment; and also aid to humanizing the spatial composition of the built forms.
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3.3 Research question 1.
What are the connotations of landscapes in high-density urban areas?
2. What design process can be evolved by analyzing connotations of landscapes in high-density urban areas?
3.4 Need for Study Population density, defined as a number of persons per unit area of land, is a very important concept to design an urban area. It provides for the statistical value for the design of built environments, its exterior spaces and the urban infrastructure to support them. These elements put together to form the contextual anthropogenic landscape. A landscape that is lived in, traversed through and accessed by the urban dwellers for shelter, work, and recreation. Based on the population density and the height of the built forms, urban areas can be categorized in a range from low-rise low-density to high-rise high-density. A Megacity like Mumbai, with high population density and increasing heights of built forms, is an example of a high-rise high-density urban model. Further, the Development Plan 2014-34, reimagines the city as a dense, compact and high-rise urban model. The development of the city can be categorized into two parts, areas for new development and areas that would be redeveloped. The redevelopment of the city would result in areas with higher FSI and Population Density. Thus, rebuilding an anthropogenic landscape which would uproot the present associations the residents of the city have developed over the years. The ontology of the thesis is that people develop associations with the landscape they reside in. These result in the connotations of the landscape and the elements of the landscape. When an association to a place is lost, the place is rendered devoid of its meaning to its users. Thus, the need arises to understand the associations that people develop towards the anthropogenic landscape and attempt to develop a framework to design them.
3.5 Aim To interpret connotations of anthropogenic landscapes (as rest/ relief/ break spaces) within high-density urban design models and develop a framework for their design.
3.6 Objectives •
To establish the connotations of anthropogenic landscapes.
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To assess the spatial perception of urban landscape models.
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To identify parameters that aid to the character of a place.
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To develop a framework for reading urban landscapes.
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To derive a process to analyze and design urban landscapes.
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3.7 Methodology The methodology is to interpret the connotations of anthropogenic landscapes through a case example of Mumbai. The following shall aid to a constructive interpretation: To establish the population density, urban planning model and its guidelines as framed in the development plan for Mumbai. (DP 2014-2034) To identify the connotations of anthropogenic landscapes within high density areas through a study of urban design guidelines and development regulations proposed. To interpret connotations of urban landscapes and public landscapes suggested by different architects, landscape architects and urban designers in order to decode the process of approaching urban landscape design in such a context. Based on the above, to delineate typological areas of study within the city of Mumbai and explore processes to analyze and design their landscapes. To identify processes of urban landscapes through reviewing literature, interviews and focus group discussions. Also, interpreting the processes involved in design of similar landscapes through international case studies. To infer the process of urban landscape design in high density areas.
3.8 Methods •
Literature studies ◘◘
Theoretical constructs for analysis and design process.
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Design guidelines proposed for high-density areas.
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Case studies
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Site Study – Analysis and Application of theoretical understanding.
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Review of site studies, interviews and focus group discussions.
3.9 Scope • The thesis will discuss the case example of Mumbai in order to understand the implications of anthropogenic landscapes in high-density areas. The thesis will concentrate on landscapes in the public realm within areas of the island city of Mumbai where the proposed FSI shall be 8 and above. • The thesis shall also concentrate on spaces in the public domain where the scale of the spaces can be defined as breakout spaces or relief spaces. It will not concentrate on the maidans and large reserved green spaces but the spaces within the compact fabric of the city. • The thesis shall focus on technological advancements in order to define a development of landscapes in terms of processes of analysis, design, and implementation and to define the sustainability of the landscapes. Anthropogenic Landscapes and its Connotations in High Density Urban Design Models
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3.10 Limitation •
The data for the thesis shall be secondary data obtained from different sources.
• The data for the thesis shall be theories, discussions and critical standpoints of researchers of the same field of interest. • The thesis shall be an interpretation of international research and its relevance to the present Indian context. • The thesis will not concentrate on the design product but shall discuss the processes of analysis and design that can be applied.
4. Thesis Outline According to the landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, “Landscape is the world around us.” And, as the forms of the landscapes are changing, the perceptions of them are altered. It is, then questionable that when approximately 70% of the world would be living in urban areas2, how landscapes would be connoted. The research attempts at looking at landscape connotations as a method to revisit the composition of high-density urban fabrics and their landscape. 1
This thesis, thus, explores the concept of urban landscape design in high-density urban fabric through literature and on-site studies. Based on which an analytical framework was prepared to analyse a high-density neighbourhood in Mumbai proposed by the planning commission of the city. The synthesis of literature and site-based analysis have been applied to explore an alternate design methodology for the site under reference. The key learnings of the research have been elaborated below. The thesis is located in a context of high-density urban areas. Conceptually, the rate at which the world is urbanising, increasing urban population within an urban centre and its implications with respect to physical extents of an urban centre become a crucial factor determining the growth of the urban centre. This can be discussed with respect to the population density of the urban centre and its implication on the built form that would be a derivative of it. The context of Mumbai has been placed within such a context in order to study its urban landscape grain with respect to the parameters of its built and population density. The analytical lens that has been used to study this phenomenon of growth is the method in which an urban landscape is connoted. These connotations of urban landscapes are studied based on theories of Garrett Eckbo and Sylvia Crowe who discuss the form of the landscapes within an urban setting. Further, based on the theories of Rahul Mehrotra, Gorden Cullen, Collin Rowe and Robert Slutzky, perceptional connotations of landscapes are studied to formulate a theoretical underpinning for the thesis topic. However, the above connotations of landscapes are based on theories which focus on the form of the landscapes. In order to explore connotations of landscape with respect to the spatial experience of the space, theories of Jan Gehl, William Whyte, and Rahul Mehrotra were studied. They aid to the analytical understanding of how a spatial experience is generated within an urban landscape. Based on these theories, an analytical framework to aid to the understanding of spatial composition and its experience was formulated. This analytical framework discusses the methods in which an urban dweller connotes the experience of an urban fabric. Thus, connotations of landscapes based on the spatial composition and spatial Anthropogenic Landscapes and its Connotations in High Density Urban Design Models
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experience are summarized through these learnings. However, these learnings pragmatically lay out different theories related to the thesis. Such a pragmatic approach is detailed out in analysing a site in Mumbai, located within a dense urban fabric. The concept was to construct an interpretation of Mumbai’s urban landscape through a pragmatic approach that details the perception of form and the experience of a space. An analysis of the present fabric and a redevelopment model based on Mumbai’s DCR guidelines is detailed out with respect to the analytical framework. The study of the landscape fabric and its grains would further generate ideas to reinterpret an alternate design approach in design the landscape grain based on the connotations of the space. The thesis sets the landscape of the city of Mumbai in the year 2030. As per speculation, population increase and the development of the city would be accompanied by rising sea levels, higher urban heat index but better public infrastructure. Acknowledging these facts, the role of an alternate landscape for the city in order to make the city more liveable is discussed. Thus, the connotations of urban anthropogenic landscapes in high-density urban areas can be a tool to design urban landscape fabrics.
5. Bibliography Books: Alan Saunders, Jan Gehl. Public Spaces Public Lives. ABC, 2005. Alison, Jane & others Eds. Future city : experiment and utopia in architecture Book. London,New York: Thames & Hudson, n.d. Book, Mumbai reader. Comp. by Rahul Mehrotra & others. Urban Design Research Institute. Mumbai: UDRI, 2008. Crowe, Sylvia. Tomorrow’s Landscape. Djambatan, 1964. Cuthbert, Alexander R. Architecture, society and space : the high-density question reexamined. Periodical. New York,Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1985. Eckbo, Garrett. Urban landscape design. the University of Michigan: McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1964. Gehl, Jan. Cities for People. Washington, DC : Island Press, 2013. —. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2011. Institute., Urban Design Research. Mumbai reader 13. Mumbai: UDRI, 2013. —. Mumbai reader 15 : Ed. by Rahul Mehrotra and Pankaj Joshi. Comp. by Pankaj joshi and anuja Vora. Mumbai: UDRI, 2014. Jonathon R. Anderson, Daniel H. Ortega. Innovations in Landscape Architecture. Routledge, 2016. Loew, Sebastian Ed. Urban design practice an international review. London: RIBA Anthropogenic Landscapes and its Connotations in High Density Urban Design Models
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publishing, 2012. Ng, Edward. Designing High-density Cities for Social and Environmental Sustainability. Routledge, UK: Earthscan, 2009. Open Mumbai : an exhibition at the national gallery of modern art, Mumbai, Mar. 15 to May 6, 2012 and at the Nehru Center, Worli, Mumbai May 12 to July 30, 2012 Book. Mumbai: Mumbai water fronts centre & P K Das & Associates, 2012. Powell, Robert. Rethinking the skyscraper : the complete architecture of Ken Yeang. Book. New York: Whitney Library of Design , 1999. Rowe, Colin and Robert Slutzky. Transparency. Berlin: Birkhäuser Verlag, 1997. Swaffield, Simon. Theory in Landscape Architecture: A Reader. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Pres, 2002. Whyte, William Hollingsworth. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. NYC: Project for Public Spaces, 2001.
Published Reports and Articles: Chase, Arlen F. Chase and Daniel Z. “Urbanism and Anthropogenic landscapes.” 2016. Department, Planning. Urban Design Guidelines. Guidelines. Hong Kong: The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Nov 2015. Institute, Urban Land and Centre for liveable cities. 10 Principles for Liveable High Density Cities Lessons from Singapore. Singapore: Urban Land institute; Centre for liveable cities, 2013. MCGM. Draft DP Report. Report. Mumbai: MCGM, 2016. Yi, WANG and ZHENG Fen. “Making Public Space in High-density Environment: strategy and Methodology of Landscape Urbanism.” 2016. 11 Oct 2016. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com/
Documentaries, Interviews and Lectures: Rahul Mehrotra - Working In Mumbai. Dir. AA School of Architecture. n.d. <https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=DDOuFMweB_w&t=1376s>. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Dir. William H. Whyte. n.d. <archive.org/details/ SmallUrbanSpaces>. Urban Age - THE FUTURE OF CITIES - Mumbai. Dir. DaSilva Brasileiro. n.d. <https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=gGOb32nsOwk&t=20s>. Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell of WOHA, “Garden City, Mega City...”. Dir. Harvard GSD. n.d. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9hLHF8lpvg&t=1175s>.
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References: 1
Eckbo, Garrett. Urban landscape design. the University of Michigan: McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1964.
2
SE, Allianz. The megacity of the future is smart. 2015 Nov 30.
https://www.allianz.com/en/press/news/studies/151130_the-megacity-of-the-future-is-smart/
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