The portfolio aims to study different urban layers of the neighbourhood namely Khalpar which is located in the centre of the city South DumDum, West Bengal. It constitutes a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 1 sq km. the area in the neighbourhood Khalpar based on different parameters which include the first impression of the overall urban context of Khalpar, its evolution and urban transformation, built use and land development, hidden infrastructure, ground reality, existing streetscape and road network. Any neighbourhood is the smaller version of the city where it belongs. Hence at some point, it is very much necessary to connect the neighbourhood with the city. The portfolio also talks about the city level public realm, job opportunity, transportation and housing choices and availability. It provides a thorough analysis of Khalpar to understand it’s redevelopment pattern and potential as a residential neighbourhood. The area has been mapped on GIS software for detailed analysis. The portfolio also comprises several data and analysis based on the primary survey, personal interviews and information collected from the South DumDum Municipality. To understand the precinct more clearly, it has been compared with other three precincts from Kolkata, New Town and Chennai to understand its function more accurately.
South DumDum is a small city and municipality situated in the district North 24 Pargana, West Bengal. It is governed by South DumDum Municipality, one of the 37 municipalities under Kolkata Metropolitan Area. The city also shares its boundary with Kolkata, Baranagar, North Dumdum and Salt Lake City. The city enjoys a degree of attention for its well connectivity with other parts of the state. It is considered to be the gateway to Kolkata Metropolitan area for the northern part of West Bengal. The 1 sqkm of area, locally known as khalpar is located almost in the centre of South DumDum and 0.7 km. away from the city centre.The area is also situated very close to Kolkata international airport which is located on the right hand side of the neighbourhood.
The diversity in the sizes of the built forms and mostly narrow urban streets demonstrate the neighbourhood as a fine-grained urban fabric, exceptionally dense and scattered in nature. The neighbourhood, locally known as Khalpar, is horizontally splitted up into two parts by the 20 m. wide DumDum road. Another distinct feature of the neighbourhood is the Bagjola canal which vertically divides it into two parts. Despite having mostly residential buildings, Khalpar consists of Industrial,commercial, institutional buildings akso which vividly shows great diversification in terms of its builtform and land uses. 7
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Khalpar has gone through some transformations over the past 15 years. Though the transformation is not drastic but it has significance in order to measure the overall developement of Khalpar. Old buildings in Khalpar are getting converted into mid rise apartments keeping the footprint same as before from the
past few years. As a result Khalpar is becoming more populated. Other than that some non-residential building construction also happened in Khalpar til between 2005-2010 A state level engineering college emerged in Khalpar this time. In 2017 a sports complex got established abutting the Engineering college. 7
Reason for choosing 3 Precinct across India to compare with KhalparKhalpar is an old precinct located in South DumDum, a peripheral city of Kolkata Metropolitan. To show the influence of Kolkata on this city, a precinct of South Kolkata has been taken to portray the homogeneity of these two precincts. whereas Newtown is also situated in KMA but it is a newly developing satellite city. So there must be some contrast between the planned and unplanned version of Kolkata Metropolitan. Lastly, Chennai has been taken as it is also an old city governed by British rulers. But planning wise the precinct is well planned, unlike Kolkata and South DumDum. The comparision is to see how cities differe from each others in terms of their age and planning principle. The precincts will be compared in terms of Builtform and road network to understand the similarities and differences among them.
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Khalpar is predominantly a residential neighbourhood. The figure ground map depicts 40% of the area is built and the rest 60% is unbuilt. The footprints are mostly scattered all over the neighbourhood and highly dense in nature. With the increasing rate of the population more commercial buildings also started emerging along the sub arterial and collector roads.
Presence of fine grain and smaller plots like south DumDum
Presence of vacant land and adequate set backs for being planned city
Larger building footprints and adequate set backs
Bulitform of both Khalpar and Gariahat are densely scattered and organic in nature. Less amount of vacant land which shows demand of land in these neighbourhoods. Also due to increased population and old cities, the planning is organic in nature. In case of newtown surprisingly it is being observed that the amount of vacant land is quite high compared to other cities which proves that it is still developing. and buildings are also quite aligned with each other. On the other hand Annanagar is an example of a planned precinct. Though the proportion of built and unbuilt is quite similar to Kolkata an but it is well planned and building footprints are larger than Kolkata. 7
The built use map of Khalpar clearly indicates more than 90% of the buildings (based on their floor space area) belong to residential built use. This eventually affects the land use map. Residential plots occupy 70% area within the locality. These two aspects (built use and land use) collectively feature Khalpar as a predominantly residential area. Other than residential, the neighbourhood consists of a few large plots which belong to industrial and institutional buildings.
presence of several water bodies overlapping within close proximity (100 m of radius) indicates at its potential to become a desirable and peaceful neighborhood providing a sense of serenity.
The precincts is witnessing some major residential redevelopment over past few years. But why? 1. Well connected via the sub arterial road with other parts of the city and state. 2. Being located in a suburban area, property valueis lower than Kolkata. 7
The net FSI of Kolkata is 2.04 due to its prime location in the core of Kolkata and also high connectivity. . Also the land parcels are smaller in Kollkata with higher built density which leads to high FSI. In South DumDum though the land parcels are smaller and also there is a high demand of land but due to more horizontal expansion than vertical, the FSI is comparatively less. On the other hand in New Town the FSI is very less due to the presence of vacant land. It proves the precinct is under developed and new. In Chennai, despite of being an old precinct it comprises mostly low rise to mid rise residential buildings like Khalpar. Hence FSI is similar to Khalpar. 7
Total time taken by the car from the secondary collection point to the main dump yard is 30 mins. and covered distance is 5 km.
Khalpar is located in the lowest point of the upper reach of the Canal. Sludge, silt and nonbiodegradable materials are brought into the Bagjola Canal by its tributaries, have been accumulating on its bed. Hence, the bed of the Canal has risen appreciably. Topography slightly elevated from the other area, hence less water logging problem
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Despite being predominantly residential in nature, urban growth of Khalpar is very much stimulated by its non-residential activities. Existence of few industries, institutions and other commercial buildings affect the ground floor activity of the neighbourhood.
In Kolkata and Chennai precinct, more than 25% bildings are non residential in nature. Hence building frontage actively meet with the abutting streets. Being old cities, the precincts of Kolkata, Chennai and South DumDum have more number of detached bungalows (though redevelopment is taking place). Hence buildings without provision of parkings use the adjustent streets for parking. Whereas newly developing New Town has more number of apartments with dedicated ground floor parkings, . Hence streets are free from unauthorised parkings. 7
South DumDum follows a linear pattern of street network. Unlike the overall city, the street network of Khalpar is organic which consists of a sub arterial road, few collector roads and mostly local roads. Roads, emerged from the Expressway and carry comparatively lesser traffic are known as sub arterial roads. The neighbourhood is horizontally divided into two parts by the 20 m wide DumDum road. The road is a city level sub arterial road which branches out into several collector roads. These collector roads arefurther split into local roads.The sub arterial road has only footpath width above 1.8m, a few local roads have footpath widths that vary from 1m to 1.5m and these are very poorly maintained. This indicates that the carriage ways are used for the purpose of walking and other activities other than Vehicular movement.
Due to the less availability and poor condition of the foothpath, the streets are either encroached by street vendors or unauthorized parking which eat up the effective width of the roads. With the help of primary survey the analysis developed an encroachment map which traces the locations where encroachment is distinctly visible on road.
As already mentioned previously that the locality has very few footpaths. Instead of that almost every street comprises shoulders. In Khalpar, shoulders are mostly considered as a sidewalk or encroachment. The locality has a variety of shoulders. Width of them are ranging from 0.5 m to 1.5 m.
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Negotiating with the vendors in the bazaar, prattling over a cup of tea at street side chai stalls, creates hustle and bustle and extends a vibrant character to the sub-arterial DumDum road. The pathways of this 20 m wide DumDum road are always occupied by street vendors which offers the users more choices of activities instead of movement only.
Collector roads are also always packed in nature. Advertisement billboard and graphic signage placed on the street trying to create personal space for each of the shops. Also the shoulder of the street is used for shop activity instead of being a footpath which causes vehicular and pedestrian overlapping.
Vendors often encroach on the local roads and form local bazaars so that people can get essentials at their doorsteps. On the other hand, some of the local roads are lined up by generous amounts of greenery on the both hand side which help to pack in the urban density. It also provides a feel of serenity within the locality. 7
Local roads within the neighbourhood end up being dead ends in most of the cases. The locality consists of all together 71 dead ends which is pretty huge in number. This does not encourage people to commute easily from one place to another. Moderate connected node ratio and link-node ratio along with large number of dead ends indicate that the precinct has moderate network connectivity.
Standard value of CNR is less than 1. and LNR valueranges from 1.2-1.4
Due to the presence of mostly large number of dead ends,the precinct consists of large blocks. Which makes the accessibility network moderate. Due to the presence of mostly large number of dead ends,the precinct consists of large blocks. Which makes the accessibility network moderate.
Although the CNR & LNR value of the precincts of South DumDum and Kolkata are close to each other but there is a slight difference in the size of block perimeters. Whereas the CNR and LNR values of Chennai precinct are higher than South DumDum precinct but the avg. block perimeter are almost similar to each other. The precinct of New Town has poor CNR and LNR value which leads to higher avg. block perimeter because the precinct is still developing.
Moderate connectivity and accesibility like Khalpar
Poor connectivity and accesibility.
Excellent
connectivity & accesibility for grid iron planning
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The road chosen for public realm known as Jessore Road(Nager bazar). Well connected with Kolkata and Airport in terms of connectivity. The road was established in 1200 BC. In 2012 the flyover got constructed to decongest the road. Roads of South DumDum are the embodiment of typical Indian streets. Various activities across the Jessore road creates a typical urban public space for a small like South DumDum.
The street was highly congested by daily traffic before 2012. A plethora of activities across the road lead to poor footpath condition and conflict of vehicular and pedestrian movement on street.
To decongest the road, Government constructued a flyover in the middle of the street. As a result the below spaced of the flyover started to be used for various activities.
Every year during Ratha Yatra, the street converts into a mela ground after the noon. People from various parts of the city attends the mela. The street has a flavour of a typical urban public realm. 7
Vendors are the main attraction of the Jessore road. Trade cry of hundradeds of vendors every day from day to night enrich the character of Jessore road as a public realm. They all seat facing the road which creates a welcoming character of the overall place. They all seat mainly occupying the sidewalk on the both side of the carriageway. This hamper the walkability of the sidewalk for people. Night is usually the peak time when the locality becomes vibrant due to the presence of these vendors 7
Economic growth of SDDM has set in as many of these industries are either sick or non operational due to various infrastructural problems. A large number of people are associated with the commercial clusters. On street vendors are observed along the main roads. Also people are involved with local transport systems such as autorickshaw, bicycle rickshaw etc.
City level female WPR is 0.3 times that of male whereas sample level female WPR is 0.45 times that of male
The chai stall is 20 years old. Initially the lady used to do sweeping in other houses. Due to the expansion of the stall now she helps her husband here only.
The stall in the left side is 15 years old. The right side stall is the addition during the pandemic.
Observation- The on street vendors are mostly migrated works from surrounding cities and states. 7
For people who work in Kolkata travel via PT. Hence extensive use of Bus. Also being a small city, many people reach their job location by foot or bicycle.
Extensive use of PT, hence less vehicular ownership. Vehicular ownership mostly based on luxury and comfort.
Due to affordibility and well connectivity people prefer PT though it takes longer time than private mode. 7
Both detached bungalow and apartments are predominent typology in SDD. Per capita floor space is increasing with the total HH income. South DumDum is the gateway to Kolkata. Distance to work is the top priority for people of SDD who work within the city or in Kolkata. SDD comprises total 5 Higher secondary schools and 3 colleges. Most of the local people send their children to these schools. Hence, near to educational institute is the second choice.
House rates are quite cheap in South DumDum compared to Kolkata.
Overall monthly Housing cost including rent, maintanance are also cheap in South DumDum compared to Kolkata. Hence, it is affordable and desirable. 7
The portfolio emphasized how Khalpar, an old, organic, predominantly residential neighbourhood, plays an important role in the overall growth of South DumDum. The neighbourhood has undergone major residential redevelopment due to its strategic location. Though there is no such significant transformation spotted in Khalpar in last two decades, but the redevelopments and different activities have sparked the overall development of South DumDum. The portfolio also talked about the streets of Khalpar which play an important role to portray the urban context of the neighbourhood. Narrow urban streets meandering through the residential localities are the essence of Khalpar. Several street activities can also be spotted along the DumDum road which adds richness to the area. Overall the streets of Khalpar act as a platform where the everyday tedious activities are choreographed in such a synchronized manner that exhibits the collective identity of the people of the neighbourhood. Khalpar is well connected with other places in terms of transportation which attracts people to reside. The neighbourhood is predominantly residential in nature and comprises lowrise to midrise detached bungalows and apartments which make Khalpar looks mostly horizontal in nature. Despite residential buildings, Khalpar also comprises few commercial and industrial buildings and a state-level institute which manifest the diversity of building typology in this locality and also indicates the potentials of Khalpar to become self-sustainable in near future.
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For ResearchChakraborty, M. (2016,March). Rapid Urbanization And Depletion Of Water Bodies: A Case Of Ward No. 8 And 9 Of South Dum Dum Municipality. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330367629_Rapid_Urbanization_and_Depletion_of_Water_ Bodies_A_Case_Study_of_Ward_No_8_and_9_of_South_Dum_Dum_Municipality Dill, J. (2004). Measuring Network Connectivity for Bicycling and Walking. http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/TRB2004-001550.pdf Google. (n.d.). [Google Earth for roads in South DumDum]. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://earth.google.com/web/search/south+dumdum The West Bengal Municipal (Building) Rules (2020). http://wbconsumers.gov.in/writereaddata/ACT%20&%20RULES/Relevant%20Act%20&%20Rules/ The%20WB%20Municipal%20_Building_%20Rules,%202007.pdf Census India 2011
Data Representation and graphicswww.snazzymaps.com www.thenounproject.com
Precinct related Data from the other students.