competitions

Host Archmellow Site : Pune Program Student Housing complex

Host Search International Student Design Competation Site The Sundarbans Program : A homestead Resilient to Natural hazards v

REALIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF AWARENESS

“The city and it’s identity” semester 09 : Design Thesis

Site location : Belgaum | Thesis guide : Prof. Prashant G Pole

1.1 Background

Have you ever played the game called Dumb Charades? It involves explaining phrases or name of a movie, a personality, a book or a TV show, etc. through acting. A person is not allowed to talk and is required to act out the name by using different gestures, facial expressions, and body language.

How interesting it would be to play this game with the name of cities !.. How many cities can be guessed in such a way? How many cities have their unique identity or character through which you can guess their name? This character could be portrayed by various things like food, culture, people, lifestyle, climate, geography, and so on...In the end, it reflects the physical nature of the place through landscape and architecture. Both these elements are contributed by various govt. and private bodies which are related to the development and by the individuals of the place. All of them are nothing but “the citizens” or “the public of the place”

Be it A planner, Politician, architect, or layman who is building his own house. It’s the responsibility of all to know the character/identity of their place and act accordingly to maintain it through the stages of development of that place.

“Development is important” Since the cities grow, adapt, expand and evolve. The needs of citizens change and the city has to be able to provide those needs. A newer technology is introduced every day. But development should not only be about bringing new technologies and expanding cities into extensions following the universal model of development everywhere. For example, A BMW is still a BMW even after so many years of evolution. New technologies, new era, and even new CEO of the company and still they have their own identity in world. The same goes for all the brands. Be it the Apple or the Rolls Royce. Their designers pay utmost attention to every single detail to keep their identity, Even though the world changes every single minute in those fields.

To maintain the identity of something. Firstly, Everyone should be aware of that identity. And to get that awareness, One has to be able to observe the aspects which defines the identity by experiencing it.

“To experience the qualitative value of a designed place consciously, there has to be a basic understanding of design by the users.”

Questions

-What is the Character/Identity of the city ?

-Why is the Character important ?

-How can the Character/Identity be retained, protected or cultivated ?

1.5 Scope

There are government and private existing departments or organizations that have similar agenda or goal such as

- Introducing a city to people

- Conservation of Heritage

- Development of a city

- Planning of a city

Realization of citizen’s potential & their role in city’s development decisions

Site Selection

3.1|Location of intervention BELGAUM Why Belgaum ???

“Some cities have a stronger character which people are aware of and some cities have a little loose character which people are less aware of”. There is a physical environment that supports understanding the character of the city. This physical environment should be made aware then this awareness becomes the catalyst that helps to hold the character that citizens believe their city has. So it helps/aids in further development of the city

“The object of this edict is to enlighten the present and future citizens of Chandigarh about the basic concepts of planning of the city so that they become its gaurdians and save it from whims of individuals.” the 1959 edict of Chandigarh

1.3 Hypothesis 1.4 Aim

-le corbusier

Cities are the result of built environment and landscape. They are built & developed by citizens and government bodies. To drive this development in the right direction to maintain the character of a place, The character should be known in the first place. And citizens should be proud of their identity to fight for it if the development is going in the wrong direction.

The research aims to design a place for citizens to participate in the decision-making process about the development of the city. A place to discuss, debate, and raise voice for the city. A place to portray the character and culture of the city, A place to know, learn, and share the identity of the city.

Le corbusier also believed that the citizens are the key players in this game and says in his 1959s edict of Chandigarh,

“The seed of Chandigarh is well sown. It is for the citizens to see that the tree flourishes.

- Reviving culture, Language, Literature etc.

These exhisting organisations are being considered majorly in the study. Also after refering to local news and articles, A perticular attitude was found amongst the citizens concerning to the city’s developement.

1.6 Methodology THE CATALYST

Some organisations that are known for their works

• INTACH

• SPIC MACAY

• INHCRF

• Kalamandir NGO

• Dept. of language and culture

• Dept. of planning

• UNESCO

• ASI

• IIA

Awaremess

Belgaum being one of the cities under the government's smart city plan list and currently undergoing huge development sets this city as a best example to research the model of development and for comparison of post development to pre development situation.

• Public Works Department

• City corporations

• Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs

• Corporate Social responsibility

• Urban Developement Authorities

• Private Tourism companies

• NGOs like Kudumbashree

Now these organisations are working with similar goals for development of places, conservation of heritages, culture, Arts, etc. But all of them are working as individuals and may not have a common platform to come together Their role could be more influential and stronger if there is a body in each city working as a catalyst to bring them all together for a common good.

1.7 Objectives

Role Of The Catalyst

• Creating synergy between various organizations and give them a platform to work on a common goal.

• Using the reach of these existing bodies to fulfill topics agenda.

• Influencing on the decision of concerned parties in development

• Providing a role for bodies like IIA. ( e.g. Influencing Indian Institute of Architects to take some initiatives, like IIM and IIT why does IIA have their own architecture school in city rather than having non active chapters).

• And may be have a program to work towards creating awareness in citizens of city about their city.

Secondly, The survey taken includes responses of people from three different cities. Mysore, Bangalore, and Belgaum. It was s`een that the issue considered in this report is not a global issue but it is valid in certain cities of the world and the change is looked forward to in those cities particularly. Since Belgaum is one of the cities from the survey and most of the negative response was from this city, this makes it a perfect location for intervention.

Participation

The selected site is situated in hot zone of major official public establishments such as District court, DC office, city corporation etc. This supports the program developed on selected site for the study. Any activity that will happen on site can majorly affect on the city’s administartion. Also it boost the convinience for govt. officials to participate in activities on site thus generating interactions.

“All

The site is located in such a way that all the major routes converges at the RTO circle. These roads lead to important neighbouring places such as Goa and Kolhapur. The Old PB road shown in map was one of the busiest route before the National Highway existed connecting to Pune and Bangalore. This road still remains important to the city and site since it connects to Central Bus Stand of Belgaum city and all the buses arriving and departing from belgaum has a glance of selected site.