Landscape Planning / Mapping Portfolio | Sourav Kumar Biswas

Sourav Kumar Biswas | Planning Portfolio

land-water conservation for mexico city region

Agora MML: Mexico City Studio Spring 2015 | Instructor: Inaki Ichaverria Collaboration: Flavio Sciaraffia

- Recipient Project of ASLA honored Student by ASLA Honor 2015 Award Student 2015 awards & in Planning BSLA Student & Analysis Honor Category Award 2016

Modern agriculture is sustained by enhancing degraded soils through irrigation and fertilizers. In doing so, natural water systems have been disrupted. Agriculture accounts for more than 70% of the global water footprint. Agricultural runoff also continues to be the most threatening non-point source of pollution for water bodies. Thus, conservation of ecosystems and water systems has to involve management of farms.

The planning studio project looked at the ways in which agriculture can transition to help in the conservation of soil, water, and the integrity of the landscape.

Ninety-two percent of Mexico’s waterfootprint is used by agriculture. A mapping of agricultural lands in Central Mexico reveals a correlation between irrigated croplands and stressed watersheds. Mexico City’s water supply system spans 3 basins: Cutzamala, Rio Lerma and Mx.C basin. 26 percent of its water demands is met through trans-basin diversions that depend on 150km-long water networks over a 1000m level-difference.

74 percent of its water demand is met through underground water from depleting aquifers. With the largest water-right holdings in Mexico, community farmers will be crucial to the city’s water security.

CROPLANDS IN THE MEXICO CITY REGION Using remote-sensing to identify sites for the introduction of precision conservation agriculture

TOWARDS SMART FIELDS | PARAMETRIC PLANTING Utilizing ‘agricultural printing’ & smart irrigation, monocultural crop-fields can transition towards structurally diverse practices of inter-cropping and agro-forestry with little labor as different planting patterns can be uploaded & seeded. The color of each dot in the plan represents a particular species and the radius signifies size for trees, density for herbaceous cover / shrubs. and productivity for crops

PLANT LEGEND Each color corresponds to a particular species on the plan

SITE STRATEGY

CORRIDORS | MANAGED FORESTS Agricultural areas interspersed with trees, herbaceous cover, and other forms of vegetation that encourage biodiversity, movement of species, and soil-water conservation

PATCH | SUCCESSIONAL FORESTS Areas of minimally-managed drought-resistant vegetation with higher herbaceous ground cover serving as ecological sources or sinks

CLEARINGS| PLAZAS Food trucks, small-box food factories, and community groves activate public spaces

TRANSITION SCENARIOS - From Monoculture to Agro-forestry to Resilient forest-system

2070 Managed + Successional

2020 Agro-forestry

2040 Silviculture

2070 Catastrophic drought scenario

2070 Fully-developed forest areas

SCALING UP: RESILIENT PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPES FOR MEXICO CITY REGIOIN By introducing structural diversity within a network of agricultural fields and protected forest patches, the Mexico City region is more resilient to impacts of extended drought, soil degradation, and food-water scarcity.

landscape analysis for strategic farmland protection Independent Consulting Project

2015 - 2016 | Collaborators: Scott Campbell, Flavio Sciaraffia, Barry Fradkin Advisor: Juan Carlos Vargas, Richa Shukla Research project at Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructures Independent Contractor for Innovative Conservation Solutions with funding from David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gates Foundation, and Pueblo County

Growing urban areas in arid states are unable to secure water for future demand since the rights to water systems are over-allocated to farmers. This has resulted in municipalities buying up water rights from farmlands devastating rural communities & livelihoods. This landscape analysis was commissioned to assess the biophysical conditions along the Bessemer Ditch in order to visualize ways to meet the competing water demands of farmers and the city of Pueblo. The analysis identified priority areas for farmland protection, grassland restoration, strategic dry-up and ecological conservation.

LAND OWNERSHIP + IDENTIFIED CONSERVATION AREA

IDENTIFIYING PRIORITY AREAS FOR FARMLAND PROTECTION More than 6,000 acres of farmlands along the Bessemer Ditch face an uncertain future as their supply of irrigated water may be terminated in 2029. The purpose of this analysis is to identify which parcels in the study area are most in need of protection in the wake of increased municipal water demand. Farmland Protection Priority identifies areas that have the highest soil capability to support agriculture and have demonstrated high productivity over time. These qualities are measured through the Productivity Index utilizing 3 factors. It further prioritizes parcels that are within or adjacent to clusters of highly productive land and accounts for large agricultural parcels.

These aspects are accounted for through the Clustering Index utilizing 2 factors.

The result is a combination of the Productivity Index and Clustering Index through a Weighted Overlay—a geo-processing tool that combines multiple factors into a single output based on the weights assigned to each factor. The result of the weighted overlay is a “raster” in which each cell or pixel is ranked with a discrete value of 1,2,3 represented by red, yellow, and green respectively.

CLUSTERING INDEX FACTORS Contributes to 45% of Farmland Protection Priority Index Adjacency Weight: 65% This factor identifies whether parcels in the area are adjacent to or surrounded by highly productive parcels so that a cluster of highly productive parcels is rewarded and so highly productive parcels do not experience any loss of productivity when a neighboring parcel is removed from irrigation.

Size Weight: 35% This factor accounts for sizeable agriculture properties where its loss as an irrigated farmland could have an outsized impact. Thus, the Size Index was classified on a relational basis with respect to the average size of all parcels.

PRODUCTIVITY INDEX FACTORS Contributes to 55% of Farmland Protection Priority Index Irrigated Land Capability Weight: 45% This factor from USDA-NRCS classifies soils according to their limitations for field crops, the risk of damage if used for agriculture, and how they respond to management.

Class 1 soils have very few limitations and are ranked the highest.

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Prime Farmland Soil Weight: 35% This factor from USDA-NRCS identifies soils that have the best combination of physical and chemical properties for producing crops or forage and has the availability for these uses.

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NDVI Summation (as proxy for land management and productivity over time) Weight: 20% NDVI or Normalized Difference Vegetation Index is a graphic indicator to assess whether an area contains live green vegetation or not. NDVI Summation uses 12 years of multi-spectral aerial imagery captured by the Landsat program to identify areas that have had healthy vegetation and crops during the growing season of late-July through August. Data from the years 2000 – 2015 was collected.

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FARMLAND PROTECTION PRIORITY INDEX

The Weighted Overlay of the preceding factors produce a “Raw Values� raster dataset (pictured right) with values 1 - 3. More than 12,000 acres of the study area obtains the highest rank of 3. To assign a Farmland Protection Priority Index as a value to each parcel, a Mean for all the values of the raster cells within a specific parcel is calculated. In this case the values are represented or classified in 5 categories using a percentage value of the Mean to the highest possible rank. Therefore, all parcels with a value of 2.7 or 90% of the highest possible rank, is assigned the Highest Priority for Farmland Protection.

RESULTS: The results show the presence of cluster of high quality farmlands in three distinct mesas or sections: 1) between Pueblo City and Saint Charles River, 2) between Saint Charles River and Six Mile Creek, and 3) between Six Mile Creek and Huerfano River. Small parcels characterize section 1, because of a process of suburbanization extending eastward from Pueblo. Section 2 represents the largest cluster of high quality soils and productive farms, spanning almost the entire extent of land between the Ditch, Arkansas River, Saint Charles River, and Six Mile Creek. Section 3 is narrower due to the extended floodplain of the Arkansas in this area. Low priority parcels fall over areas in which farming is more difficult, like the river and creek corridors, the Arkansas river corridor and floodplain, and lands adjacent to the Bessemer Ditch. Around 59% of the parcels currently leasing from PBWW are in the top 2 Rankings for Farmland Protection Priority. This highlights the need for alternative mechanisms of land and water exchange that avoid fallowing these parcels permanently.

PLANNING FOR STRATEGIC DRY-UP / DRY-UP LAND BANK The results from this analysis can help consolidate a dry-up bank for alternative mechanisms of land/water exchange that meets the partial or total PBWW’s dry-up requirements after the water right case-change, while maintaining the water on consolidated and highly productive farms. The Dry-up Consideration Index marks areas that may be considered for a partial or complete dry-up without being disruptive to the most productive farmlands as identified by the Farmland Protection Priority analysis. The index also highlights areas that may be more suitable for grassland revegetation due to the factors identified in the Grassland Revegetation Suitability analysis.

The Dry-up Consideration index is the average of the inverted value from Farmland Protection Priority and the value of Grassland Revegetation Suitability. Therefore, the index is inversely proportional to the Farmland Protection Priority Index and directly proportional to the Grassland Revegetation Suitability Index.

DRY-UP CONSIDERATION FACTORS

DRAINAGE NETWORK INDEX

Farmland Protection Priority Index (Inverted ) Values from previous analysis Grassland Revegetation Suitability Index Values from another weighted overlay workflow that utilized five factors to identify which lands have intrinsic capability to support the growth of native grassland species and which areas could be considered for grassland vegetation because of their unsuitability for agriculture and natural conditions that could subsidize revegetation efforts. Grassland revegetation is required on any grounds that are selected for dry-up. Factors utilized in this analysis include duration of grass cover over 6 years, soil organic carbon stock, extent of soil disturbance due to farming over 14 years, slope, and duration of wetland cover.

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This analysis is used as a proxy to establish the relative risk to water quality of farms that are in proximity to streams. Parcels with higher chance to contribute to polluted surface and subsurface runoff can be ranked the in terms of the distance to important hydrological features. The analysis uses elevation data, national hydrology database, and subbasins to determine essential streamflows and spatial analysis to classify parcels on the basis of their proximity to the same streams.

While the results from this analysis do not influence the values of the Dry-Up Consideration Index, the distance from drainage networks becomes a filtering factor for selecting parcels that can also help improve water quality.

DRY-UP CONSIDERATION INDEX RESULTS: This resulting index gives a preliminary understanding of how the least disruptive dry-up may be drawn up. The analysis builds upon this index to develop insights into how dry-up can be limited in extent and how it can be managed to protect high quality farmlands, benefit the revegetation effort, and potentially improve water quality. If dry-up takes place in parcels from the lower quintiles of the Dry-up Consideration Index, it will most likely be taking one of the most productive farmlands out of commission or indirectly affecting the productivity of some of the best farmlands. The prospect of revegetation on these parcels will also be comparatively more difficult or less desirable. Parcels in the highest and high quintiles of Dry-up Consideration Index should therefore be considered as alternative lands that could help meet PBWW’s water requirements without negatively affecting the clusters of highly productive farmlands. In the scenario that PBWW needs to meet their water requirements by ending the lease of some or all the parcels on the Bessemer ditch, the Dry-up Consideration Index can be a guide to assess if their needs can be met by considering the parcels in the higher quintiles. If the demand requires leasing parcels in the lower quintile to go dry, it will be strategically beneficial to consider options so irrigated water can be removed from non-leasing parcels that fall in the higher quintiles.

The results indicate more than two-thirds of the parcels leasing from PBWW are on the lower quintiles. However, a similar acreage of parcels can be found within the higher quintiles which are more than 100 acres in size and close to streams making them more viable alternatives for dry-up.

IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNTIES TO MAXIMIZE CONSERVATION GOALS This analysis identifies areas that have the greatest value from the perspective of habitat enhancement and ecological conservation. The purpose is to reveal parcels with natural assets or biophysical conditions that can offer single or multiple ecological benefits if irrigated farming is discontinued. This offers a way to meet the dry-up requirements while maximizing ecological benefits and potentially subsidizing the cost of revegetation. The resulting Conservation Opporunity Index marks areas that may be considered for a partial or complete dry-up in which the revegetation process could address several conservation goals on top of restoring the landscape back to shortgrass prairies.

The Conservation Priority Index is an average of the percentage area of parcel for 1) grassland cover, 2) wetland conditions, and 3) riparian zones. The results of this index are presented in quintiles.

Parcels in the higher quintiles have the greatest potential for meeting conservation goals because of the presence of ecological assets today.

CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITY FACTORS Percentage Area of Parcel with Grassland Cover The existence of persistent or intermittent grass cover demonstrates the suitability of the land to support grass species and helps identify areas that are contiguous to permanent grassland habitats.

Only areas with grass cover between 4-6 years of duration were extracted to determine areas of persistent grass cover.

Percentage Area of Parcel with Wetland Conditions Wetland condition overlays the duration of herbaceous or woody wetland cover in an area between 4-6 years of duration on top of extensive hydric soil conditions. Only areas with both criteria were extracted and measured as percentage of parcel area.

Presence of wetlands typically qualifies the parcel for subsidy.

Percentage Area of Parcel in Riparian Zone This calculation utilizes the results from the Riparian Corridor Management Zones analysis where the riparian zone is split up according to the parcel boundaries.

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The analysis itself identified areas where the riparian corridor function can be optimized, therefore improving the environmental benefits from riparian buffers to water quality and biota.

The Riparian Corridor Management Zones analysis used a modified classification based on Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and the local width of the riparian zone within each parcel.

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CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITY INDEX RESULTS: The irrigated mesas of our study area are surrounded by a shortgrass prairie ecosystem with a few parcels contiguous to the grasslands to the south and many parcels showing intermittent or continuous establishment of grass or grassland species. The perennial flow of water through a winding Bessemer Ditch creates saturated soil conditions—especially along the bends—that have led to the creation of wetland habitats. The mesas are split up by three rivers and bounded by the Arkansas River in the north creating four riparian conditions, clearly highlighted by the top two quintiles of the index. Thus, there are several conservation goals that can be met by strategically transitioning irrigated farmlands to revegetated habitats of which the index addresses at least three: grassland habitat creation, wetland habitat protection/enhancement, and riparian buffering. The revegetation efforts could be subsidized by federal or state programs that support the efforts at increasing grassland area, protecting wetland habitats, or enhancing riparian buffering. The index is a great complement to the Dry-Up Consideration Index where parcels with high values in both indices can help meet PBWW water requirements without harming productive farmlands and offering benefits in conservation.

A total of 2,004 acres of effective irrigated land was identified from within parcels in the higher quintiles. For more specific conservation goals the percentage area of an individual factor can be ranked to reveal parcels that are particularly relevant for grassland conversion, wetland habitat enhancement, or riparian buffering.

mapping india’s urbanization

Forthcoming Research Publication

Ongoing | Advisor: Rahul Mehrotra & Neil Brenner

An in-depth study of emerging patterns of urbanization highlights the growth of smalltowns, the emergence of ‘large villages’ and the extended impacts of urbanization.

The research is built upon a foundation of a critical cartographic approach towards Census Data and utilizes geospatial representation to situate India’s transitioning settlements within a highly connected urban-agrarian field.

Stressed Watersheds

Stressed Aquifers

Corridors of Shifting Livelihoods

Percentage of male labor population in agriculture as an indicator for identifying transitional economies

Networks & nodes

Census Towns 2001

Populationdensity field

Census Towns 2011

Mapping the effect of a large metropolitan center on the urban-agrarian field

Impact of metropolitan Kolkata on agrarian livelihoods

Census Towns 2001

Population gradient within Kolkata’s urban-agrarian field

Census Towns 2011

Jurisdictional Complexity of Metropolitan Kolkata

watershed planning in the ganga basin Water in Planning, Policy, and Design Spring 2014 | Instructor: James Wescoat, MIT

The ecological health of a river is an indicator of the extended effects of urbanization as the river system is abstracted and diverted for agriculture, industry, and cities. As a rapidly urbanizing country that is still largely agrarian, the river basin faces dual stresses of sewage influx from urban regions and water scarcity as most of the river water is used for irrigation. The pollution of the river has to be understood as a basin-wide issue that cannot be resolved by city-specific technological fixes as pursued by the Ganga Action Plan.

An interest in finding alternate means for sewage treatment for small towns of the Ganga basin led me to a focused study of peri-urban Kolkata where part of a sprawling wetland ecosystem has been turned into the world’s largest sewage-fed aquaculture system. Responsible for treating more than 1400MLD of Kolkata’s sewage, the East Kolkata Wetlands is recognized as a protected zone by the Ramsar Convention and the State. However, this wetland is part of extensive unprotected wetland system that acts as a buffer between the Sunderbans and a metropolitan region.

East Kolkata Wetland’s protected boundary comes upto its edges leaving the buffer zone of this remarkable system highly susceptible to Kolkata’s eastward expansion. The project aims to push for the recognition of the land-water linkages in the immediate sub-basin as a conservation zone much bigger than the protected area. The recognition of the larger wetland system can help push for a metropolitan land-management plan and a holistic wetland policy. To this end, preliminary hydrological modeling and geo-referenced mapping lays the foundation for future work.

Topography

Land use

Drainage patterns

cape cod regional planning

Core III Landscape Studio Co-ordinator: Pierre Belanger

Fall 2013 | Professor: Luis Callejas

MAPPING RISK IN CAPE COD Cape Cod is vulnerable to hurricane landfalls and coastal erosion, while the aquifer systems are threatened by contaminants from military testing, saltwater intrusion, and nitrogen loading.

jamaica bay coastal development Core IV Landscape Studio Co-ordinator: Chris Reed Spring 2014 | Professor: Sergio Lopez-Pineiro Partnered with: Flavio Sciaraffia

The Brooklyn watershed is analyzed for flood risk by tracing the history of landreclamation around the bay and the concretization of the watershed. This reveals the drivers for coastal vulnerability to inundation today.

- Nominated for ASLA 2014 Student awards in Planning & Analysis Category - Published in Platform 7

oil extraction in niger delta

Theories of Urbanism

Fall 2013 | Instructor: Pierre Belanger Partnered with: Sara Zewde. Yujun Yin

The maps trace the territorial parceling of extractive industries along the African ‘Gold Coast’ with a particular focus on its effects in the Niger Delta. Nigeria’s tumultuous history of partitioning by colonial powers historically is continued by the territorial parceling by fossil fuel industries today. While Lagos receives attention as representative of Africa’s urban problems, the networked logistics of oil extraction in the Niger Delta and its ecological and social impacts deserve equal attention in our attempt to understand the effects of globalization beyond large urban centers.

mapping housing inequality

Research for NSF-funded Global Urbanization Project

2016 | Principal Investigators: Matthew Desmond, Neil Brenner, Jo Brown

Preliminary mapping the cities of New York, London, Lagos, and Delhi was conducted for an inter-disciplinary research project studying key sources of the global affordable housing crisis by exploring the historical record, present-day strategies of housing provision, and a range of social and environmental transformations taking place in territories far removed from the city. Geospatial analysis is one of other approaches including ethnographic fieldwork, textual parsing, macro spatial methods, as well as investigations into infrastructure, housing markets, and urban poverty.

Land use

racial inequality & vacancy in st. louis The MLK Way Planning Studio Fall 2015 | Instructor: Daniel D’Oca

Selected to be part of ‘Designing Justice’ exhibit at Voices and Visions of St.Louis: Past, Present, Future conference at Harvard University

Research through mapping for a studio project that worked with a St.Louis non-profit ‘Beloved Streets of America’. Their aim is to make streets named after Dr. Martin Luther King live up to the ideals he represented. The communities in north St. Louis are disproporationately poorer, and black while the neighborhoods around MLK in particular, displays signs of high vacancy, high tenancy, and a general aversion to interact with the street. Thus, the street is characterized by vacant lots, blank walls, shuttered facades, abandoned structures, fences, and autooriented businesses. Yet, the character of the street is not representative of the active local communities.

MEDIAN INCOME | Areas in blue are above the median income of St. Louis.

Areas in dark maroon are less than half the median.

POPULATION DENSITY by Neighborhood Mark Twain I-70 Industrial

Belfontaine

Mark Twain Penrose Park

North Riverfront

O'Fallon Park

Wells Goodfellow

Penrose

5895

O'Fallon

Kingsway West

3441

Hamilton Heights

3105

Kingsway East

3542

Academy

2816

Visitation Park

1484

Near North Riverfront

Fairground Park Hyde Park

The Ville

1868

Fountain Park

960

College Hill Fairground Neighborhood

Greater Ville

6189

West End 6574

Lewis Place

1673

Skinker DeBaliviere DeBaliviere Place 4077

Jeff Vanderlou Vandeventer

3466

St. Louis Place

5557

1682

2939 Old North St. Louis

1916

Covenant Blu -Grand Center

Central West End

3562

14471

Wydown Skinker

Carr Square

2774

Columbus Square

Forest Park

1869 Midtown

5652

Downtown West

Hi-Pointe Kings Oak

Clayton-Tamm Cheltenham

3940

Downtown

Forest Park South East

3721

Botanical Heights Tiffany

Franz Park

The Gate District

The Hill Ellendale Clifton Heights

Southwest Garden Shaw Missouri Botanical Garden

Compton Heights

Lafayette Square Peabody Darst Webbe LaSalle Park Kosciusko

POPULATION DENSITY (persons per sq.km) 806

998

1181

1587

0

2525

0.5

1

2

3

Kilometers 4

POPULATION CHANGE by Neighborhood 1747

719 898

969 1726

1770 821

232

581

421 427

498 1603

447

255

981

897

630

734 1192 647

123

231 145

POP. PERCENTAGE CHANGE (1990-2010) -593

POPULATION CHANGE

VACANT LOTS IN ST. LOUIS

-125

-72

-46

-20 to 0

72

0

0.5

1

2

3

VACANCY on COMMERCIAL ZONING

28

-14

-8 -21

-21

0

-23 -16

-5

-41

0

-13 -11

-19 2

-7 -26 -18

-9

-31

-26 -43 -21

-8

-17

-12 -15 -7

-2

-2 -87

19

100

-3

-19 -10

-5

VACANT LOTS IN WARD 4 and WARD 22

-4 362

18 63 -8

-17 -29

-19

-10

-11

79

6 -9

-15

28

29 28

-7 -5

-29 -14

-24 2

29

-9

-37 -27

-24

-17

1 0

-11

-19

-18

-10

8

0

-7

-8

-8

-10 0 -3

0

-3

-10

0

1.5

3

6

9

Kilometers 12

0

1.5

3

6

9

Kilometers 12

Kilometers 4

VACANCY & INSTITUTIONAL OWNERSHIP IN WARD 4

The project speculates on how the act of building can bring the community together and form a coalition to adopt the MLK as their ‘Main Street.’ By way of small interventions within and near vacant lots, these spaces may be transformed into physical and cultural “bridges” between existing retail and social institutions along MLK Drive. Leveraging the assets in organizations of the Ville that focus on after-school programs, adult education, technical training and community health - the simple act of building furniture prototypes to activate vacant lots becomes an act of commitment and hope for taking ownership of a street that can reflect the cultural richness of a historically vibrant neighborhood. The map below identifies community organizations that can collaborate with Beloved Streets to act as catalysts to activate the objects in select lots.

envision cambridge Interboro Partners for City of Cambridge 2012 | Project Co-ordinator / Editor / Writer

Involvement: Heading the team for the production of an community outreach magazine as part of the ’Envision Cambridge’ citywide masterplan. Publication includes editorials and articles on planning topics, maps, neighborhood analysis, and resident portraits.

Team: Daniel D’Oca, Marco Gorini, Katherina Isidiro, Jeff Knapke, Andy Rauchut

meet in the middle BMW Guggenheim Lab| 2012 | Project Co-ordinator / Curator

Involvement: Curated agenda and speakers, moderated programming and managed the budget for a 10-panel series on Mumbai’s urban issues (water, housing, transport) Team: Naresh Fernandes, Neville Mars, David van der Leer Article: http://www.bmwguggenheimlab.org/where-is-the-lab/mumbai-lab/mumbai-lab-city-projects/meet-in-the-middle

The MiM series was organized as a 10-part workshop that brought together experts, local stakeholders and politicians to respond to the following questions.

Key ideas emerging from the conversations lay the foundation for the Manifesto

SPLIT CITY MUMBAI What are Mumbai’s greatest informal and institutional gaps and how can we bridge city-wide and local efforts to achieve a truly holistic approach?

WATER & SANITATION How can we meet basic demands for water and sanitation while ensuring the sustainability of ecological flows in the city?

HEART OF MUMBAI What is the dream vision for the new ‘Heart of Mumbai’ that is developing so fast, both top-down and through organic emergence?

TRANSPORTATION How can we rethink our investments in transport to reflect Mumbai’s true mobility needs? Can transit become a fine-grained backbone to the city’s social dynamics?

HOUSING How can Mumbai ensure equitable access to housing while building upon its diverse typologies?

INVESTMENTS How do we incentivize public-private partnerships that operate across different social scales?

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING How do we achieve participatory planning in Mumbai and empower the citizen to contribute to the development plan?

PLANNING IN A DYNAMIC CITY How do we rethink our approach to planning for a resilient and equitable Mumbai in face of its informal and polycentric growth?

MANIFESTO UNITED MUMBAI Manifesto United Mumbai is a set of six principles formulated to bridge top-down institutional planning with informal grassroots efforts. We hope to realize an inclusive and sustainable Mumbai as a result of strategic collaborations among the city’s institutional, informal and market-driven forces. These principles are the result of extensive expert and stakeholder meetings held at BMW Guggenheim Lab’s Meet in the Middle series.

1. MEET IN THE MIDDLE United Mumbai will be the result of collaborative planning. United Mumbai calls for a common platform where stakeholders representing community, NGOs or private entities, and government representatives can converse in equal capacity.

Goal: Creating platforms to nurture public-private-civic partnerships that can collaborate for the common good within Mumbai’s unleveled playing field 2. DEFINING THE COMMON GROUND Public-private-civic partnerships have to be founded on a consensus of who benefits from proposed policy and development projects. Static indicators have to be replaced by tools that can reflect true lived conditions and evaluate projects on human terms. Taking forward concepts of Stacked Population Index, Time Scarcity, and Space Scarcity, United Mumbai calls for common standards to quantify the human-impact of future plans.

Goal: Establishing indicators for quantifying affordability of housing proposals, accessibility of transport projects, and inclusiveness of the development plan 3. HOMEGROWN URBANISM Mumbai has to integrate grassroots innovation and informal solutions as institutions fall short on key issues of affordability and access. United Mumbai acknowledges the resilience of informal mixed-use communities and embraces home-grown solutions as viable urban strategies.

Goal: Supplementing home-grown efforts to create affordable, selfsufficient neighbourhoods that form the seeds for city-wide sustainability

4. BRIDGING THE GAP United Mumbai projects must operate at the intermediary scale, connecting grassroots efforts to government policy and access to institutional capital. This demands detailed mapping of existing conditions that connect to a consolidated land-use plan. Area Sabhas will play a stronger steering role to channel state or federal funding towards appropriate projects.

Goal: Initiating community-driven mapping to inform infrastructural projects and influence city policy towards an inclusive development plan 5. VALUE-DRIVEN PLANNING Development plans have to be framed as consolidated long-term strategies to mitigate the practice of reactionary short-term post-planning. United Mumbai calls for an alliance that endorses the importance of long-term, metropolitanscale and visionary planning founded on shared values.

Goal: Promoting integrated regional-level strategies and scenario-driven planning to achieve a value-based metropolitan development plan 6. PARALLEL PATHS OF PROTOTYPES AND POLICIES Initiatives that are solely policy-driven have proven to be toothless within the pragmatic context of Mumbai. United Mumbai calls for strategic multidisciplinary collaborations working to produce prototypes at neighborhood levels. The pilot projects lay the groundwork for systemic change.

Goal: Testing viability of policies by implementing tangible proposals through public-private-civic partnerships

Authored Publication

2013 | Publisher: Observer Research Foundation

PLAY! An exploration of how children in informal settlements utilize spaces for play led to site-specific instigations and a comprehensive publication on tactics and strategies for the design and planning of public spaces or institutions for self-built neighborhoods.

Publication can be found here:

http://issuu.com/skb347/docs/play_and_the_informal_city_hq_issuu

www.redswingproject.org Co-founder