Gold on Silt

Redefining a Twin City

A proposal to unlock land value in Howrah’s jute mills

Adiel Benitez, Architecture Somala Diby, DUSP

JUTE MILLS LEGEND

STATUS

Open Closed

SIZE (# Looms)

0 - 347

348 - 637

638 - 874

875 - 1675

Jute Mill Name % of Months the Mill was Closed, Nov ‘18 to Nov ’19

ABCDEF JUTE MILL

Closed 2019: 0% Production Level:

TYPE 1 + 3

Howrah is a city of enormous but undervalued economic potential. As one of the most rapidly growing cities in India, Howrah is a hub of connectivity through which millions of people move every day. But Howrah’s identity has been systematically eclipsed by its twin city Kolkata, due to a historic east-bank bias in formal and strategic planning activities. As a result, Howrah’s most valuable land assets—which include over 100 acres of underproductive industrial on and around its waterfront—lay fallow and inaccessible in the absence of a vision for Howrah’s future.

This project proposes a new vision for Howrah that celebrates and amplifies the city’s urbanism and industrial assets. Embracing the role of the New Jute SPV, we put forth a master plan for the downtown neighborhood of Shibpur that combines ongoing industrial production with 21st-century enhancements in three jute mills: Fort William, Bengal, and Howrah. We also design, and offer to finance, street and connectivity improvements to incentivize the adaptive reuse of industrial land according to our master plan vision. We believe redevelopment in Shibpur will serve as a billboard for Howrah’s new and distinct identity.

Howrah: the vanishing twin

Once called the “Sheffield of the East,” Howrah has a rich industrial history rooted primarily in engineering, shipbuilding, steel production, and jute manufacturing. This history has stimulated the city’s growth and shaped its character.

Due to a historic east-bank-bias that privileges Kolkata as the center of urban growth and economic activity in the region, formal planning activities to anticipate and strategize development have largely escaped Howrah. This is due in part to the lack of elect local government between the mid-1960s and the constitution of the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) in August 1984. Furthermore, urban development in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area tended to follow a north-south, rather than east-west pattern, with the Hooghly River functioning as a psychological barrier.

In addition, contemporary patterns of development in Kolkata that prioritize new luxury real estate are failing and ignore industrial assets. But this strategy is failing, as most real estate demand is at the lower end of the market. Redevelopment in Howrah must follow its own path.

Figure 2 (above). This diagram abstracts the current relationship between Howrah and Kolkata.

Figure 3 (bottom left). Howrah Station in 1905

Figure 4 (bottom right). Entrance to Howrah Jute Mills in Shibpur.

Shibpur: a well-connected neighborhood

In the downtown neighborhood of Shibpur, where our jute mills are located, industry and transportation infrastructure dominate the urban landscape.

Flanked by two major passenger and logistics railway stations and two of three major vehicular bridges in the metropolitan area, this centrallylocated industrial belt dominates the Hooghly River waterfront directly facing Kolkata.

The state government of West Bengal has also relocated Howrah at the Nabanna Bhavan building, signaling the symbolic importance of this area.

Figure 5 (left). Shibpur context map highlighting key points of interest, including the future station of the new east-west Metro between Howrah and Kolkata at Howrah Maidan, and Avani Riverside Mall, a major shopping destination.

Figure 6 (bottom left). Entrance to Howrah Jute Mills in Shibpur.

Figure 7 (bottom right). Inside a Shibpur jute mill.

A vision for a new industrial city in Shibpur

Given its growth trajectory and development potential, Howrah must seize this critical moment to redefine its identify. We believe Howrah derives its competitive edge from its industrial assets. Therefore, re-programming the mills is critical to incentivizing investment in this area.

Our vision for Howrah, and specifically Shibpur is, a city that distinguishes itself by embracing its industrial assets and revitalizing its waterfront to serve as a symbol for Howrah’s future.

To this end, we plan to consolidate and enhance jute operations across all three jute mills at Fort William Jute Mill. At the newly vacated Bengal and Howrah jute mills, we will convert and construct buildilngs to serve jute-adjacent industries including MSME manufacturing, educational institutions aimed at reskilling jute mill workers, and mixed-use, mixed-income social housing for workers and students.

Figure 8. In this master plan, mills are reprogrammed and streets are redesigned as part of a larger pedestrian- and cycle-friendly network.

Studying movement in Shibpur

Street life is a major feature of Shibpur’s urbanism, so redesigning streets will be key to guiding development. Millions of motorists and pedestrians cross bridges into and out of Howrah every day, with a dense network of transit infrastructure to serve these users. Despite the density and vibrancy of street life, pedestrians—the most common road user—must constantly compete with motorized vehicles, which are competing against each other with very little room. This competition makes it difficult to access the most attractive features of this area, namely, the waterfront.

Figure 9. This collage shows a sampling of the wide range of street users and vehicles whose needs must be serviced by connectivity improvements. Figure 10 (below). In this diagram, left-hand axons simulate existing street conditions common to Shibpur that inhibit pedestrian navigatbility. Right-hand axons demonstrate how these conditions could be resolved with street improvements.

8 ft

Figure 11. On Grand Trunk Road, buses intensify competition between road users traveling by different modes and in both directions

Figure 12. This area is part of an industrial compound bounded by the Hooghly River and an arterial road. The wall impedes a potential access rout to the waterfront and ferry ghat that lie directly beyond the wall. “Mayhem is an understatement here: pedestrians hopscotch through narrow passages because barricades for the East West Metro project have shrunk most of the road space and whatever little was left has been taken over by hawkers peddling underwear to Benarasi.”

Excerpt from Basu, Anasuya, and Amrita Ghosh. 2014. “Grand Old Road on the Mend Howrah Stretch of GT Road Repaired.” The Telegraph, June 5, 2014.

Existing conditions

Currently, our planning area is bounded by major highways and arterial roads, as well as by large, underutilized industrial tracts that block pedestrians from the waterfront and limit pedestrian navigability throughout the site.

Pedestrian-friendly spaces and local roads are interspersed between these arteries. Unlike the jute mills, most city blocks in this area are highly permeable, with lots of active pedestrian pathways that are located within blocks.

Overall, despite its central location, Shibpur lacks incentives and amenities to attract new investment, leading mostly one-way movement out of Howrah and towards Kolkata.

Therefore, Howrah needs a transportation plan that will foster two-way travel between Howrah and Kolkata; celebrates and amplifies Howrah’s urbanism, and strengthens connectivity.

Figure 13. This map diagrams the distinct navigation networks that exist for different road users in Shibpur. As illustrated here, nearly all roads leading to the waterfront primarily service trucks for freight purposes, effectively cutting off other users from the waterfront.

Proposed changes

Figure 14. This map outlines our proposed connectivity enhancements. We propose street redesign, especially streets approaching the waterfront, to better accommodate pedestrians. We also propose cutting through the large impenetrable mill blocks to restore the mills to the street network. Additionally, we also plan to invest in revitalizing the ferry system to offer alternative forms of passage between Howrah and Kolkata. Finally, we will redesign one of the major multimodal arteries in our planning area—Upper Foreshore Road—taking advantage of a large amount of underutilized land running along the artery.

Tactic 1: Reconnecting non-motorized users to the waterfront

Given the proximity between Howrah Jute Mill and a preexisting ferry ghat, we propose opening up access to the waterfront while creating a novel pedestrian experience.

One idea is to build a pedestrian footbridge/linear park over a street that is currently a dead-end abutting the waterfront. As we know from studying Shibpur, pedestrian space on streets is vulnerable to encroachment by hawkers and other uses. By building vertically, we could reduce this vulnerability and offer pedestrians new vantage points from which to experience the neighborhood, while allowing for the continuation of existing truck parking and traffic.

Figure 15. This rendering illustrates a potential new experience of the Hooghly River.

Figure 16. This drawing shows a potential view of the pedestrian bridge, which offers a new open space amenity while connecting pedestrians directly to the ferry ghat. Figure 17 (below). This section cuts longitudinally along the site of the Howrah Jute Mill. It highlights the variety of urban spaces that are created by the opeing up of the jute mill site, and through the introduction of new programs. The spaces are created throught the dissolving of the jute mill walls, and the introduction of public spaces that cut accros the width of the site, and connect pedestrian networks at either side.

Tactic 2: Restoring pedestrian-friendly street networks

At Bengal Jute mill, we are demoing, slicing through, and renovating buildings to create new open pedestrian spaces that connect to a larger pedestrian-oriented network.

Recognizing that these areas will still need to accommodate freight traffic, street redesign will encourages the shared usage by many users.

Figure 18. One strategy we propose is the utilization of the jute mill building to create pedestrians connections across the large jute mill sites with new pedestrian corridors. These are created by cutting through Bengal Jute MIll’s massive building, anticipating a greater flexibility of interior space when the buildings are repurposed to accomodate a mix of MSME units.

Figure 19. This drawing illustrates our plan to bolster pedestrian and cycle navigatbility both in and around jute mill sites. We envision enacting interventions across all three sites in our master plan.

Connectivity improvements can facilitate novel street experiences, improve efficiency and reduce competition among users, and make it easier for people to visit and navigate Shibpur. The hope is for these improvements not only to attract people to Shibpur, but to incentivize owners of jute mills and other underutilized industrial land to redevelop their parcels to support Shibpur’s—and Howrah’s– thriving industrial economy.

Governance

Goal

Support adaptive reuse of jute mills in Howrah by strengthening connectivity to the sites and across the wider neighborhood

Objectives

A new master plan to redevelop jute mills in downtown Howrah, with parameters for future programming

Suggestions for transportation and street improvements that will serve as the foundation for the master plan

New Jute SPV

borrows 200-300 crores from GDB

Government receives ROI through property and sales tax revenue from new development Develop parameters for new master plan to guide future develop of Howrah jute mill sites

Designs and finance connectivity and public realm improvements

incentives and criteria for redevelopment are passed on

Take advantage of new connectivity and public realm improvements to redevelop sites according to master plan criteria

Jute mill owners

Figure 3. Howrah Station in 1905. “Navrang India: Howrah Oldest Railroad Station Built by East Indian Railway - 1854.” n.d. Navrang India (blog). Accessed May 5, 2020. http://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2016/07/howraholdest-railroad-station-built-by.html.

Figure 4. Howrah Station in 1940. “Navrang India: Howrah Oldest Railroad Station Built by East Indian Railway - 1854.” n.d. Navrang India (blog). Accessed May 5, 2020. http://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2016/07/howraholdest-railroad-station-built-by.html.

Figure 6. Entrance to Howrah Jute Mills in Shibpur. Singh, G. 2016. “West Bengal’s Sunset Industry.” Governance Now, May 13, 2016. https://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/west-bengal-sunset-industry-jute-textile.

Figure 7. Inside a Shibpur jute mill Chauduri, Moumita. 2020. “In a Viral, a Revival.” The Telegraph, April 26, 2020. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/in-a-viral-a-revival-jute-mills-telangana-and-punjab/cid/1768026.

Figure 11. Wonobo.com

Figure 12. Wonobo.com

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