Understanding the city - Foundation Studio by Priyadarshini Jain

Portfolio

Priyadarshini

Urban Peripheries in Flux A case of Sola, Ahmedabad

Acknowledgements I would like to earnestly acknowledge the sincere efforts and valuable time given by our Studio Tutor Ar. Arjun Joshi, all the professors and teaching assistants. Their valuable guidance and feedback has helped me in completing this project. Also, I would like to mention the support of my parents, friends and classmates who contributed in one way or the other for accomplishing the project.

Preface Cities are constantly in flux whether spatially or socially. This portfolio aims to understand how this flux lead to expansion of cities, its impacts on the cities and lives of people residing in it. There are three sections to this, first focuses on city of Ahmedabad, urban expansion of the city and formation of urban sprawls as a result. The second section aims at understanding one of the sprawls through the lens of 1 sqkm area of Sola located in western periphery. In order to understand sprawls more clearly Sola is compared with adjacent western precincts and opposing eastern precinsts to understand the choice each side offers. Finally the third section is a detailed analysis on various choices offered by urban sprawl of Sola and tradeoffs people make to live in this neighbourhood

CONTENTS

01 Ahmedabad “A city in Flux”

Evolution of Ahmedabad

Impact of Expansion

Result of Urban Expansion- Urban sprawls

02 Understanding Sprawls “Through the lens of precincts”

Locating Sola

Evolution of Sola and its determinats

Understanding East and West sprawls - A comparitive Analysis

- Urban Fabirc - Street connectivity and Walkability - Housing Choices - Landuse diversity - FSI - Land Demand - Population Density

East vs West Urban sprawls

03 Choices in Sola “A Detailed Analysis”

Available Housing Choices

Street Walkability and Inclusivity

Available Public Open Spaces

Job Choices

Available Transit connectivity

Ahmedabad “A city in Flux”

Cities are constantly in flux whether its spatially and socially. Ahmedabad which is one the largest cities in Gujarat and seventh largest in India. According to the census of 2011, city has seen a decadal urban growth of 27.82 % The city began as a agrarian economy but coming of industries in early 1900s created a new job market for people hence city started growing as Industrial economy. While the core areas have reached a maximum spatial extent there is constant change in social composition whereas peripheries are in spatial as well as social flux. This section explores reasons for expansion of the city and its resultant impact on the newer developments.

Evolution and Expansion of Ahmedabad 1411

1900

Ahmedabad Flourished as walled city

Industries started coming up

1920

First Town Planning Scheme

1947

Migration Post partition

1960

Communal Riots

1987

Post 2000

Sanctioning of Development Plans

TOD Policy., Mass transit policy

Evolution of Ahmedabad

1850

Up until 1850s the city was a walled city with agriculture as main source of income. Coming of Industries became a major determinant to initate the expansion

1900

1950

2000

Textile mills started that attracted population from different parts of the country and settlements started coming along railway lines

Indo-pak partition influenced migration and influenced migration Establishement of Institutes on the west began western expansion

Transport policy, Development plans and Town planning schemes in the eastern and western peripheries became major determinants

Spatial expansion of Ahmedabad

Impact of Expansion

1987

2006-08

2009 Low-cost Residential Industrial Mid-cost Residential High-cost Residential Commercial

Resultant Urban Matrix

The city traces back its origin to 1411 A.D (AUDA, 2021, p.16) in the eastern part, which expanded as an industrial area. which lead to industrial worker having low cost housing in the area. The expansion in the western side started after 1949 A.D (AUDA, 2021, p. 16) which is the new and prosperous side of the city, as a commercial area and in support of this high end residences started coming up shaping the urban matrix of the area The typology is still reflected as the city sprawls further away from the center

2020

SP Ring Road

AMC Boundary

AUDA Boundary

Expansion of Municipal Boundaries

Result of Expansion - Urban sprawls What is Urban Sprawl ? Urban sprawl entails the growth of a city into low-density and auto-dependent rural land, high segregation of land use (e.g., retail sections placed far from residential areas, often in large shopping malls or retail complexes), and design features that encourage car dependency. Characterstics of Urban sprawl

Low Population Density

Car Dependent Streets

Lack of Landuse diversity

High rise retail complexes

Lack of Walkability

More Low rise residences

Effects of Urban Sprawl Walking, cycling are hindered as car dependency increases De-agrarianisation and shrinking agricultural land holdings Increasing Land prices

Increasing traffic accidents

Increase in enviromental pollution

Shrinking Land parcels and water bodies

Walled city Spatial Expansion Sprawls

Understanding Sprawls

“Through the lens of Sola and other precints”

This section tries to understand urban sprawl in western part of Ahmedabad through the lens of precint. In addition for better analysis it compares one square kilometer area of Sola with adjacent western precincts and opposing eastern precincts in order to have a glimpse of current scenario in Ahmedabad. “Sola is a neighbourhood located in western periphery of Ahmedabad. The area has seen a major transformation post 2000 and still in the process of expanding which is a direct impact city sprawling outwards to cater to the increasing urban growth.”

Sola’s Location

Distance (City Center) 9.5 kms Location : Western Fringe 14

Evolution of Sola and its Determinants 2000

2005

Sola was a village settlement till 2000 though the first Development Plan came in 1987 the area came under AUDA and was agricultural Landuse

With DP of 2002 Sola was alotted Residential landuse R2, R3 categories and Science city was alotted as special economic zone. With expansion of AMC boundary and construction of S.G Highway and S.P ring road prices started rising up and are was developed majorly with High end Bunglaws coming up

Village Settlement

2010

High-end Bunglaws

2015

2020

With coming of Town planning scheme for the area and proposal of BRTS High rise and mixed use started cropping up in the area. This allowed builders to go beyond 1.2 FSI (for lowrises) to 4 FSI after purchasing TDRs of 2.2 FSI on certain road stretches. Hence the precint is now transforming to commerical Apartments

Mixed-used

Understanding East and West sprawl - A comparitive analysis Urban Fabric - Analysing Spatial Composition

Figure-ground map Sola Built 19%

Unbuit 81%

Figure-ground map Sola-Gam Built 20%

Figure-ground

Unbuit 80%

Built 41%

100%

Western sprawls show more unbuilt percentage showing a low density spatial composition which in contrast to the east sprawls shows a denser spatial composition apart from Shilaj and Naroda. As a general outlook suburbs tend to have a lower density but in the case of Ahmedabad this is more prevelant in western than eastern suburbs

“Lower built densities in western areas reduces quality of life as it increases vehicular movement and reduces walkability hence trade offs are made” 16

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Sola

Sola Gam,

Sola

boda

Built-unbuilt across the spraw

map Ghatlodia

Figure-ground map Krishna Nagar

Unbuit 59%

akdev, Bodakdev,

wls

Built 41%

Unbuit 59%

Western Sprawls

Thaltej,

Shilaj

Thaltej Chowkdi

Figure-ground map Nikol

Bodakdev Ghatlodiya Ghatlodiya

Built 40%

Unbuit 60%

Eastern Sprawls

Krishna Nagar

Nikol Gam

Nikol

Rakhial

Vastral

Naroda

Singarwa

Unbuilt

Built

Analysing Street Connectivity and Walkability Street Density 8.9

km/km2

Street heirarchy Sola Footpath Connected 0.97 Availaibility 24% Node Ratio

Street Density 21.7

km/km2

Street heirarchy Sola-Gam

Street heirarc

Footpath Connected 0.87 Availaibility 15% Node Ratio

Footpath Availaibility 2%

Western suburbs have lower street density but high connected node ratio which shows even though streets are less the network is well connected whereas Footpath availaibility is low across the studies sprawls indication the sprawls are more vehicular focused than pedestrian friendly

40 35 30 25 20

“Western sprawls have better network connectivity than eastern sprawls but across the sprawls walkability is low hence that comfort of walkable streets is traded off

15 10 5 0

Sola

Sola Gam

Sola

Bodak

Street Density across the 18

Street Density 34.9

Street Density 37.3

km/km2

chy Ghatlodia

Footpath Availaibility 2%

Connected 0.75 Node Ratio

Western Sprawls

Thaltej

km/km2

Street heirarchy Krishna Nagar

Connected 0.67 Node Ratio

kdev Bodakdev

Street Density 38.6

km/km2

Shilaj

Thaltej Chowkdi

Bodakdev Ghatlodiya Ghatlodiya

Street heirarchy map Nikol Footpath Availaibility 7%

Connected 0.71 Node Ratio

Eastern Sprawls

Krishna Nagar

Nikol Gam

Nikol

Rakhial

Vastral

Naroda

Singarwa

sprawls 19

Analysing Housing Choices

Figure-ground map Sola

Figure-ground map Sola-Gam

Apartment 71%

Detached 31%

Apartm

Row House 12%

Detach

Detached

Western sprawls offer more apartment typology housing then eastern sprawls. Eastern sprawls have more row house typology. The distribution of housing typology is comparitvely lesser in western fringes reducing the choices wheras eastern side even though apartment are less there is variety present for other options

“Western fringes offer apartment choices more whereas eastern fringes offer diverse choices except apartments” 20

Figure-ground

10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0

Sola

Sola Gam

Sola

Housing Typology Distribut

map Ghatlodia

Figure-ground map Krishna Nagar

ment 51%

hed

Row House 40%

Detached

tion

Bodakdev

Thaltej

Shilaj

Thaltej Chowkdi

Bodakdev

Row House 52%

Western Sprawls

Bodakdev

Figure-ground map Nikol

Apartment 6%

Eastern Sprawls

Ghatlodiya

Krishna Nagar

Nikol Gam Apartment

Nikol Row House

Rakhial Detached

Vastral

Singarwa

Semi-Detached

Chawl

Landuse Diversity

Landuse Sola

Landuse of Sola-Gam

Landuse o

Residential 61%

Residential 27%

Reside

Vacant Land 21%

Vacant Land 27%

Vacant L

Western suburbs have a landuse which lacks diversity its majorly Residential and have higher percentage of Land parcels which are vacant. With presence of more vacant land in and near the neigbourhood the spatial change is dynamic. Eastern sprawls are more dense and have almost 50% of landuses that are diverese and 50% residential. Though the areas have achieved maximum spatial extent and have less vacant land. Thereby spatial change in the areas is less and social compostion is changing

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20%

“Western sprawls lack diversity of landuse but have more vacant land” 22

10% 0%

Sola

Sola Gam

Landuse Diversity

Sola

of Ghatlodia

Landuse of Krishna Nagar

Landuse of Nikol

ential 60%

Residential 56%

Residential 52%

Land 10%

Vacant Land 06%

Bodakdev Bodakdev

Western Sprawls

Thaltej

Shilaj

Eastern Sprawls

Thaltej Bodakdev GhatlodiyaGhatlodiya Krishna Chowkdi Nagar

Nikol Gam

Residential

Nikol

Commercial

Rakhial Institutional

Vastral

Singarwa

Industrial

Vacant land

Analysing FSI across the sprawls

Plot-wise FSI, Sola Net FSI

1.3

Highest FSI 5.7

Plot-wise FSI, Sola-Gam Net FSI

1.1

Plot-wise FS

Highest FSI 6.0

Net FSI

1.1

Net FSI across the sprawls is relatively constants, but Highest FSI which is mainly of commercial structures, is higher in the western sprawls than in the eastern sprawls. Although Eastern areas have higher commercial landuse the height of retail complexes are higher along the western edges

7 6 5 4

“Western areas have taller retail or commercial complexes than eastern suburb. This reduces visual connectivity of the building to the area.” 24

3 2 1 0

Sola

Sola Gam

Sola

Bodak

Highest FSI across the spraw

SI, Ghatlodia

Plot-wise FSI, Krishna Nagar

Highest FSI 2.5

kdev Bodakdev

wls

Net FSI

1.5

Highest FSI 5.1

Western Sprawls

Thaltej

Shilaj

Plot-wise FSI, Nikol

Thaltej Bodakdev Ghatlodiya Ghatlodiya Chowkdi

Net FSI

1.3

Highest FSI 5.1

Eastern Sprawls

Krishna Nagar

Nikol Gam

Nikol

Rakhial

Vastral

Singarwa

Demand Analysis of East and West sprawls

Land prices of Sola

Land prices of Sola-Gam

Land prices 180000

Even though Sola’s average property rates is low looking at other property rates in the western sprawls the rates are higher in comparision with eastern sprawls. Although eastern areas are also offering more diverse price range for properties than western area.

160000 140000 120000 100000 80000

“Western sprawls have comparitively higher property rates but offer less price choices than eastern sprawls”

60000 40000 20000 0

Sola

Sola Gam

Price Distribution 26

Sola

of Ghatlodia

Land prices of Krishna Nagar Western Sprawls

Bodakdev Bodakdev

Thaltej

Shilaj

Land prices of Nikol Eastern Sprawls

Thaltej Bodakdev GhatlodiyaGhatlodiya Krishna Chowkdi Nagar

Nikol Gam

Nikol

Rakhial

Vastral

Singarwa

Population density across the sprawls

Population Density, Sola Population / ha 174

Population Density, Sola-Gam

Population Den

Population / ha 185

Population

600

Western sprawls show less population density but the existing population is concentrated in certain areas, whereas population density is higher in eastern sprawls apart from few anomalies the population map shows its divided across the precinct

500 400 300

“Low population densities in western areas whereas in eastern its on the higher side” The lower population density is attested with better quality of life 28

200 100 0

Sola

Sola Gam

Sola

Population density across t

nsity, Ghatlodia

Population Density, Krishna Nagar

n / ha 465

odakdev Bodakdev

the sprawls

Population Density, Nikol

Population / ha 375 Western Sprawls

Thaltej

Shilaj

Population / ha 194 Eastern Sprawls

Thaltej Bodakdev Ghatlodiya Ghatlodiya Krishna Chowkdi Nagar

Nikol Gam

Nikol

Rakhial

Vastral

Singarwa

Urban sprawl east and west

Western Sprawl

Lack of Landuse diversity

Car Dependent Streets

High rise retail complexes

Lack of Walkability

Low Population Density

“Western suburbs have more characterstics of Urban sprawl and tradeoffs for living and working in suburb is made. There is a reduction in quality of life and diversity of choices is less

Walled city Spatial Expansion Sprawls

Eastern Sprawl

Car Dependent Streets

High rise retail complexes

More Low rise residences

“Eastern sprawls offer more diverse choices and low cost housing choices but the high population density and car dependent narrow streets with less open spaces reduces the quality of life hence trade offs are made 31

Choices in Sola

“Detailed Analysis of Choices and tradeoffs in Sola”

Urban sprawls are away from city centers while they offer job and housing choices as they are developing and the costs are on the lower side there are trade offs being made. This section observes through the lens of precinct of Sola what is the quality of life this suburb is offering and what tradeoffs people have to make for living in the areas. Cities are a places of Social interactions and they influence formations of every other aspect therefore its important to analyse is sprawl fulfilling this criteria of cities.

Availaible Built Choices of Sola Photo

Built Form

Landparcel

Dwelling unit Size

O A

1 DU- 80sqm

L be

154 DU

Gamtal House

Gamtal settlement 250 DU 1 DU- 120sqm

Low rise House

Housing society 483 DU 1 DU- 173sqm

Apartment

Apartment complex

N o n

Open spaces Availability

Street interaction

Lack open spaces etween them closely packed

Land parcel Property rates

Rs 20,000-50,000 /- sqm Permeable edges Direct interaction

Lack Public open spaces but have rivate open spaces

Rs 50,000 /- sqm Visual connect But no direct connect

No private or public open spaces only negligible setbacks

Rs 60,000-80,000 /- sqm

Choices & Tradeoffs

Offers a choice of low cost porperty and street interactivity but no open space, lesser builtup area Also its a village settlement

Offers a choice of open space within premises and better builtup area but opaque street edges reduces safety in the area.

Offers a choice of larger buitlup area but no interaction with street also high prices and no open space.

Visual connect But no direct connect

Street network and walkability 1 Dead end

1.78 Link-Node

Street density of Sola is low but high connected node ratio and only one dead end indicates better connectivity in the area. Hence residents and user of the area have a well connected road network

0.97 Connected Node

8.9 Street Heirarchy

Street Density (km/ km2)

“Sola has a vehicular focused street network not favourable for pedestrians hence residents and users of the area trade off comfort to walk and access streets easily for residing in suburb”

24% Footpath

2978 Highest Block Perimeter (m)

1017 Average Block Perimeter (m)

Accesibility 36

High average block perimeter and less avaialability of footpath reduces the walkability of the area as user of the area s have to walk more distances on unsafe street

Inclusivity on streets Medium Inclusivity

Medium Inclusivity

Divine city road

Sola-gam Road

20m

“Footpath present but encroached by onstreet parking and broken”

Only pedestrian street encroached by on street parking

Low Inclusivity

Science city road

45m

“No footpath present, no space for street vendors or segregation from vehicular activities” 37

Availaible public open spaces Only 20% space is public amongst that 2% is regulated public space that is of streets acting as one. The 18% space that exists is public but not accesible as it has obstructed entrance.

20% Public space

80% Private Space

“According to WHO 9sqm Public space is neccesary per person but in Sola per person 0.08sqm/person. which is almost 10 times lower than required hence residents trade off open green space for residing in sprawl”

Nolli’s Map

Street as a public space but no proper infrastructure is in place to support social interaction

Village streets acting as informal public space different activites like fesitival celebrations

Private townships with mid rise apartments having internal open space but its private and not accesible to all

Availaible Job choices Precinct lies along S.G highway and near Sindhu Bhavan which are commercial hubs and become job generators for the area. Along with being a developing precinct there is a construction job market availaible

“According to interviewed people most of them moved to Sola in search of better job and lifestyle. Also being near to commercial cluster increases job oppurtunites”

Old city

Commercial cluster Municipal Limits

Industrial Precinct

Through people’s lens

Informal Vendor

Construction

Salaried worker

Self-employed

Reason to move Marriage

Reason to move Job oppurtunity

Reason to move Job oppurtunity 39

Availaible Transit options - City Level

Although Sola is well connected to transt networks on precinct level as well as city level the walkability index along those stops is in poor range. In addition to this Public transport take 2.5 times longer than private mode thereby reducing the efficiency of the availaible transit options.. 40

The stops withing 2 minute catchment area offer cycle stands and IPT stops but there is no proper infrastructure in place to support it.

Availaible Transit options - Precinct Level 2 wheeler Parking Car Parking Cycle Stand Ipt Stop

06%

21%

41%

Up to 2 min Catchment

Within 2-5 min Catchment

Within 5-10 min Catchment

73% of the Precinct’s area is within 10 minutes walking distance from the PT stop although nearest BRTS is 1.6kms away

0.31

0.19

Walkability index of Stop 1 (Satyam Complex)

Walkability index of Stop 2 (Shajanand Bunglaw)

Walkability index of PT stops analysed by Availaibility of footpath and pedestrian facilities. It comes to be in poor range along both stops

Connectivity to the rest of city exists but choice of using Public transport is lacking. Comfort to have equal access and comfort to all modes of transport is traded off ”

Conclusion

While Urban sprawls increases the spectrum for Job and housing choices owing to the ongoing construction works, mobile & active streets, lower property rates in early phases. There are various issues like access to open spaces, safe walkable streets, access to transport choices is traded off. Sola as precinct is an apt example. Due to its composition there is a increase the spectrum for Housing choices : Gamtal area (rent as low as 4000 per month), Medium Income housing, High income housing, Affordable housing plots as part of TP scheme. Along with job oppurtunities but walkability index of the area is as low as 0.22 and public space availaible is 0.08sqm per person. The present streets have opaque boundaries and are unsafe. This reduces quality of life as there is no proper and safe spaces for social interaction which is a integral part of city life. This is a trade off that people make for better job or living prospectus

Bibliography

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