4 minute read
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The jute mills, taken together, are 59 parcels, ranging in size from 50,000 to 600,000 square meters.
In one of the most densely populated metropolitan regions of the world, the jute mills of Kolkata and West Bengal offer a clear development opportunity. There is a dearth of developable land in the city, and as the jute industry has struggled in recent decades, causing mill closures and below capacity operation, the mills compounds increasingly appear to be large potential tracts of open land, ranging in size from 50,000 to 600,000 square meters or more. These compounds embody many of the contradictions found in Kolkata’s development landscape. Large mill buildings of compelling architecture range from highly productive to shuttered for years or indefinitely. Roughly 350,000 jute mill workers, many of them migrant workers, opt to use outdated equipment, lest more efficient modern technology threaten to usurp their already-tenuous livelihoods. Compounds host large tracts of vacant or underutilized land, while the Kolkata region grapples with a major housing and land availability crisis. And despite jute mills’ prime proximity to the Hooghly River, the highly polluted but culturally significant waterway is a drastically underutilized economic conduit, transportation asset, and tourist destination.
In spite of these contradictions, the jute mill network remains deeply connected to the city’s most foundational systems: economy, housing, employment, transportation, and water resources. In turn, jute mills are uniquely positioned to address challenges across these sectors, and any solution must therefore preserve the jute industry. Current development practices might see these jute mills merely as land; we propose a more hollistic approach to the development of these sites. Due to the geographic spread of the mills, their compounds present a unique opportunity for the development of new hubs of housing, industry, and public amenities, dispersed throughout the city. Moreover, due to reliance on the Hooghly River for the shipping of goods, the majority of jute mill compounds have close river proximity, making them possible landing points for cross-river connectivity.
The jute mill compounds represent an enormous development opportunity.
OBJECTIVES
Ensure economic stability at each site
Reinvigorate the jute industry and institute new economic activity in thriving sectors at the sites
STRATEGIES
With the demand for land so high and the industry ailing, many jute mill sites could be used more effectively for other purposes. We propose a new economic engine for these sites in the form of micro- and small enterprises (MSME) in the textile and logistics sectors. These two sectors are growing at breakneck speeds, and they present a stable base through which to finance this ambitious development scheme. Development of this new economic program will serve as a foundation for improvements to urban systems, like transportation and water access, and to the local quality of life. However, a simultaneous aim of this proposal is to strengthen the jute industry presence in West Bengal. The industry is vital to the culture and economy of the region. And so while we are proposing to turn a proportion of jute mill compounds over to development, we do so with the intention that a consolidation of interests and resources of the jute mill owners will help the industry to operate more efficiently and improve the local economy. We put forward a proposal to further develop the industry by framing its product as environmentally-responsible. This proposal addresses four objectives, and through a hollistic and analytical process, we have identified strategies for attaining each one. These objectives, and their strategies can be see in the diagram below.
Improve quality of life in the immediate neighborhoods of the mills
Upgrade and develop housing, amenities, and community and systems infrastructure.
Invest in historic preservation and the cultural vitality of the region
Celebrate and repurpose architecturally important buildings Address these issues across scales
Encourage the movement of goods and people locally, regionally, and globally.
The strategies were developed from our planning paradigm, a model that draws from the unique conditions of the jute mill sites and frames a more holistic, consistent, and impactful form of urban development in Kolkata.
This proposal is organized into three parts. The first part provides an overview of the current urban conditions of Kolkata and the surrouding region, with particular attention to the water and transportation systems, the housing conditions, and the jute industry in the region. We outline the development opportunities of the sites, and translate these opportunities into our actionable planning paradigm. From here, we develop classifications for mills, as a way to analyze which compounds will remain as sites of jute production, and which will be developed with new programs. We put forth three jute mill typologies that are determined based on size, productivity level, proximity to industries and amenities of interest such as the MSME clusters and the Hooghly River. These typologies dictate the scale of interventions any jute mill might receive. We provide examples of how these concepts and this classification system work together in a series of six site plan sketches. Finally, we outline our implementation plan. The New Jute Limited Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) can deliver this proposal by generating and implementing site plans and overseeing funding and operations. The SPV benefits from the broad jurisdiction and facilitates collaboration among the most critical governmental and private-sector actors, from national and state textile ministries to jute mill owners and manufacturers.
UNITE THE SITES
EMBRACE A VARIETY OF SITE CONDITIONS PLANNING PARADIGM
ESTABLISH MIXED USE PLANNING AREAS
