City Observer- Volume 6 Issue 2- December 2020

Volume 6 | Issue 2| December 2020

CITY OBSERVER A BIANNUAL JOURNAL ON CITIES PUBLISHED BY URBAN DESIGN COLLECTIVE

INSIDE

LANDSCAPES OF THE IN-BETWEEN

EPIDEMIOLOGY AND URBANISM: MUMBAI

BACK TO THE GUNJ

CITY OBSERVER

Volume 6 | Issue 2 | December 2020 Free Publication City Observer is a biannual journal which aims to create a conversation on cities and to collaboratively interrogate our urban world.

City Observer is published by the Urban Design Collective.

Urban Design Collective (UDC) is a collaborative platform for architects, urban designers and planners to create livable cities through participatory planning. www.urbandesigncollective.org info@urbandesigncollective.org

EDITORIAL TEAM Maanasa Sivasankar Neha Krishnan Shruti Shankar Sunjana Thirumala Sridhar Vidhya Mohankumar

COVER ILLUSTRATION Vidhya Venkatesan

LAYOUT DESIGN Nawin Saravanan Vidhya Venkatesan Vidhya Mohankumar

Copyrights of images lie with the person/party mentioned in the image caption.

The opinions expressed in this journal are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of UDC or its members.

This magazine cannot be republished or reproduced without the permission of the publisher.

TO CITIES AND PEOPLE

8 Editorial

10

Shruti Shankar

Feature Article ‘GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AS PUBLIC SPACES THROUGH RESILIENT DESIGN Raksha Srinivasan

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On Location BISHAN PARK Rubaiya Nasrin

48 Feature Article EPIDEMIOLOGY AND URBANISM: MUMBAI Pramada Jagtap & Pranav Thole

Art in the City CITY AND CINEMA/ MUMBAI THROUGH THE LENS Bala Nagendran M

58 Learning from Cities 10 URBAN DESIGN LESSONS FROM FRANKFURT Sohini Maiti

76

Mobility and the City JOURNEYS LONG AND SHORT: MOBILITY PATTERNS OF DOMESTIC WORKERS IN JAIPUR Nishita Parmar & Chidananda Arpita

88 Feature Article BACK TO THE GUNJ Sneha Parthasarathy

114

100 Feature Article CRITICAL CARING OF BAGMATI RIVER Suprima Joshi

130

Motion Captured LANDSCAPES OF THE IN-BETWEEN Nikita Kulkarni

138

152

City Trails RETURNING TO THE CITY OF TRUTH – CALICUT Chinnu S Kumar

Community Engagement DOCUMENTING CULTURAL LANDSCAPES OF FISHING COASTAL COMMONS IN CHENNAI

Teaching Urban Design COLLABORATIVE DESIGN IN PUBLIC REALM

Dhanya Rajagopal

Mehrnaz Amiraslani & Jinto George

170 Closing Scene Vidhya Mohankumar

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EDITORIAL

It is December 2020, and I am exhausted.

This year has been a roller-coaster of emotions - disbelief, fear, anger, hope, uncertainty, determination, and despair, all amplified by an unforgiving news cycle. I imagine you have likely been affected similarly in 2020, regardless of where you are in the world. Not only are we collectively living through the public health disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are also, individually and as communities, dealing with how the pandemic has exacerbated the challenges that we were already facing, from finding and keeping jobs and income, to getting better health or education, fighting for social justice, and supporting and staying and connected with our families and communities.

While the end of the calendar year feels like it could bring a fresh start, it will neither erase the loss and pain suffered by so many throughout this year, nor will it abruptly terminate the stresses and uncertainties that the pandemic has spurred.

So wherever you are reading this from, we hope you’re doing okay, and that you have had a chance to take a break and breathe, before diving into 2021. There is much work to be done in the weeks and months ahead, as we (hopefully) transition into the next ‘normal’ with a vaccine.

The onset of the pandemic made it necessary for governments, companies, and families to react quickly -- make instantaneous, short term changes to contain the spread of the

virus, protect vulnerable populations, and keep from overwhelming the available public health infrastructure, while also keeping the economy afloat. And while it was far from perfect, in order to respond to the pandemic crisis, we managed to temporarily transform many of our systems world-over, which created changes that didn’t seem possible before.

For instance, we clamped down hard on global and local travel and transportation to limit the spread of the virus. Data shows1 that this had the effect of dropping global carbon emissions by a historic 7% in 2020 from 2019 levels. At the peak of the lock-down in April, the reduction in emissions globally was 17% less than 2019 levels - a reversal that could not be imagined for 2020 before the pandemic. On another note, enforcing large-scale remote work out of necessity proved to companies that giving people the flexibility to work remotely can lead to an increase in productivity. For many, it has been an opportunity to optimize on their most productive hours, while also spending more time with family, make time for responsibilities outside work etc. Other examples abound as well -- in the US for instance, cities took space away from cars on streets en masse, to prioritize space for people and business activity -- an exponential shift in the use of the public realm compared to much slower, incremental change in the past decade.

These changes resulting from the pandemic, in and of themselves, are not sufficient to cause

1 “COVID pandemic drove a record drop in global carbon emissions in 2020” - accessed on December 28th, 2020.

Source - https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/11/covid-record-drop-global-carbon-emissions-2020.html CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

the paradigm shifts that we need to see to make our cities equitable, and sustainable. The reduction in carbon emissions, dramatic and timely as it was, will have little effect in reducing carbon concentration in the atmosphere as an isolated trend, and the sort of restrictions on movement that were enforced in 2020 out of need were inequitable and will be unsustainable in the long term. Similarly, remote work, in addition to being challenging for those with fewer space and financial resources, has severely impacted work-life balance and quality of life for many people. What these examples do show us though, is that rapid systemic change at a large scale is possible and impactful, if we are collectively motivated to make it happen.

In 2020, the pandemic was a tangible global threat that we could all (sort of) rally against, and the urgency of the crisis forced us to quick action. How can we re-frame some of our other systemic challenges in the same way, to spark rapid, intentional, and coordinated efforts to mitigate them? How do we as a global society find a common understanding of the long-term

threats to our collective well-being that are slowly eroding and undermining our future while we are distracted by short-term thinking? This is an urgent task at hand.

As we transition from the fire-fighting mode of containing a virus, the experiences and lessons of 2020 will have to be carried forward to ensure that we do not slip back into old ways of thinking, working and living. We have an opportunity to reimagine our broken systems with a different perspective, but this change has to be initiated now, before we ease back into an outdated definition of normalcy, and before the old habits take hold again. It will require long-term effort and dogged determination, which seems like an enormous ask after the year we’ve had but creating a sustainable and resilient future is entirely in our hands and within our reach if together, we step up to this challenge.

Shruti Shankar On behalf of the Editorial Team

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FEATURE ARTICLE

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AS PUBLIC SPACES THROUGH RESILIENT DESIGN A case study of New York City’s Waterfronts RAKSHA SRINIVASAN

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The city of New York, comprising of its five boroughs lies along the Atlantic coast of the United States of America.

Manhattan and Staten Island form two of the island boroughs, Queens and Brooklyn are part of the landmass of Long Island, and Bronx is the only borough to be physically connected by land to the rest of the United States.1 The Hudson River and the East River flow along either side of Manhattan, separating it from New Jersey on the west and Brooklyn and Queens on the east. Collectively, New York City has a waterfront length comprising of a shocking 520 miles (836.85 kilometres).

Graphic showing the five boroughs of New York City.

Image credit: https://www.pods.com/blog/2019/03/nycmoving-guide-the-new-york-city-boroughs-explained/)

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The waterfront is an essential identity to a water-edged city, adding value to both its civic infrastructure as well as property values. Popular examples of these are Sydney’s Opera House along the harbour, the esplanades of Stockholm, and the banks of River Seine in Paris. While New York’s waterfront is now dotted with several parks and curated public spaces, it was not always the case. The first half of the twentieth century found it to be a bustling port, speckled with piers and ferry docks.

Zoning changes in the latter half saw it become largely industrial with factories,

refineries, and warehouses, disallowing public space access. Several square kilometres of land later started to fall into vacancy as further zoning, political and economic changes led to a decline in industrial activity.2 The notion of the NYC waterfronts were of danger.

The various planning departments of NYC then sought to create an exclusive waterfront zoning, in the form of Waterfront Public Access Areas (WPAAs), developed through partnerships with the private sector.3

The original industrial piers of NYC. Image credit: http://www.bonelevine.net/new-york-waterfront) CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The Battery Park district was designed as a residential neighbourhood in Manhattan, Chelsea Piers opened as a sports and recreational facility, and the ferry service improved the quality of life significantly. While the revitalization went through its own set of varied challenges, it was Hurricane Sandy that cemented the need to look at these waterfronts from more of a defence perspective. The superstorm in 2012 flooded the subway system as well as parts of the city, disrupted electricity, and caused extensive damage. Aside

from this, several social existing stressors such as poverty and access, as well as rising sea-levels continued to make NYC increasingly vulnerable.

NYC has however had a Green Infrastructure Plan in place since 2002, focused on improving the city’s water quality, cleaning up harbour water, and managing stormwater run-offs to avoid overwhelming the combined sewer outflows into the rivers. Green infrastructure is defined as a cost-effective, resilient approach

Rising floodwaters gush onto the Hudson River Promenade during Hurricane Sandy.

Copyright: John.G. Wilbanks/ Alamy Stock Photo / Alamy Stock Photo; Source: https://www.carbonbrief.org/new-yorkcity-could-face-damaing-floods-every-five-years-in-warmer-climate/hurricane-sandy-new-york)

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FEATURE ARTICLE

to managing wet weather impacts that provide many community benefits.4 These comprise rain gardens, bioswales, detention ponds, berms, etc. that apart from managing stormwater, improve air quality, mitigate Urban Heat Island effect, and provide wildlife habitat.

This article examines the dual function of NYC’s waterfronts as habitable and enjoyable public spaces while performing as green infrastructure toward creating a resilient NYC. EXAMINING RESILIENT DESIGN The Comprehensive Waterfront Plan released by the Department of City Planning, NYC aims to make the city’s waterfront more healthy, equitable and resilient.5 Resilient design is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities, and regions to respond to natural and manmade disasters and disturbances—as well as long-term changes resulting from climate change—including sea-level rise, increased frequency of heat waves, and regional drought.6 Principles of urban ecology and sustainable thinking form the framework of resilient design and Water Sustainable Urban Design (WSUD) projects. The Rebuild by Design (RBD) competition was launched as a method CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

to spur innovation in disaster-response design with both an interdisciplinary and community focus. One such project is the BIG -U in the Lower East Side neighbourhood of lower Manhattan, where nature-based solutions would act as structural defences ( such as deployable flood walls and green streets) while also incorporating bike paths and trails for improving connectivity.7 01 The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, Manhattan The Big-U is part of the larger East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR), where a 2.4 mile (3.9 km) long flood protection system is being designed with raised parklands, floodwalls across its length, flood gates, raised bulkheads and landscaped berms. The five parks along this length have been designed with elevated lawns, sports courts, an amphitheatre, and other multi-use playfields that behave as “sponges” in case of a flood event. Stepped access to the waterfront from the new elevation not only allows users to engage with the water more but also acts as a stopper to rising water levels. A 40-million-gallon (15 crore litres) cistern is also designed for extreme flood events.8 Approximately 2000 new trees of 50 varieties are also

.

Section indicating current and proposed conditions at East River Park Image credit: https://www.amny.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fromcitys-East-Side-Coastal-Resiliency-presentation.jpg)

The proposal resilient re-design at Corlears Hook Park.

Image credit: https://www.6sqft.com/city-presents-new-design-for-its-east-side-coastal-resiliency-project-followingcommunity-feedback/)

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FEATURE ARTICLE

planned to be planted, with a special ability to withstand strong winds and extreme weather. The idea behind the raised plant beds and tree planting are to prevent the roots from seawater inundation in the case of future flood events. Further, solar and LED light poles have been incorporated into the design to ensure safety and visibility. The design teams are Bjarke Ingels Group, AKFR, One Architecture + Urbanism, and Matthews Nielsen Landscape Architects, and the project is expected to be complete by 2022.

02 Domino Park, Williamsburg This park is built on the former site of the famous sugar refinery, Domino Sugar, along the East River. The 5-acre park pays homage to the industrial history of the site through the retention of a historic building and industrial artifacts that were once integral to the refinery’s processes. Designed by James Corner Field Operations, this part is highly curated in the form of regular and rectilinear spaces for playgrounds, beach volleyball, an eatery, playground, dog runs, bocce courts, lawns, and planter

People relaxing on the elevated lawns of the Domino Park- the historic refinery, the elevated catwalk and the Williamsburg bridge framing the backdrop. Image source: – Barrett Doherty; https://www.archdaily.com/914548/ domino-park-james-corner-field-operations) CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The various programmed spaces of the domino park, lent identity by the blue artifacts offer panoramic views of Manhattan. Image credit: Daniel Levin; https://www.archdaily.com/914548/domino-park-jamescorner-field-operations)

boxes. The two-level walkway spanning across 1200 ft provides rich panoramic views of Manhattan’s skyline, with the lower promenade raised 2-7 feet above the 100-year flood plain level as a solid wall to provide flood protection.9 Furthermore, 175 diverse trees have been planted to act as a barrier to storm surge. 43% of the park is vegetated with native planting to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff.10 Several materials and artifacts from the original factory have been re-used to create the new structures to retain the historic value while being sustainable.

03 Gantry Plaza State Park + Hunter’s Point South Park, Long Island City, Queens This park was built in two phases on abandoned post-industrial land and erased parkland. Typical to other parks, it today offers a promenade, biking paths, walking trails, sports courts, dog runs, and a cafÊ along the East River. The two parks take a softer, more organic, and focussed green infrastructure-based approach compared to Domino Park. The trails are meandering, winding around wetlands and planted wilderness and forests.11 A great lawn framed by the Gantries 16 17

FEATURE ARTICLE

and pieces of former railway track are retained to add to the historically rich tapestry. The interface of the promenade with the water is through sloped stepping -stone blocks (gabion edges) behaving as a natural shoreline and allowing the users a more immersive experience while withstanding flooding.

Several engineered wetlands and retaining walls were incorporated into the design and skilfully executed for bank erosion control and sediment stabilization12; other engineering feats include a peninsula lookout separated

from the mainland by a tidal marsh. The landscape is designed to be hilly, with one of the sloping trails terminating in a wetland installed with a public sculpture.

Further, an oval lawn functions as a retaining basin for floodwaters.13 A wonderful feature of the softer design of these parks is that they promote wildlife and fish habitation, even though the East River is navigated by public ferries.

The parks were designed by SWA/ Balsley in collaboration with Weiss + Manfredi.

The sweeping lookout floats above the wetlands, while pathways meander along the shoreline. Image credit: Bill Tatham; https://archello.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/images/2018/12/10/1Hunters-Point---Bill-Tatham-0176VW-Edited.1544437780.4148.jpg) CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The softer edges of Hunter’s Point Park offer undulating running and walking trails through a vegetated landscape, resulting a more engaging experience amidst dramatic lookouts. Image credit: Albert Vecerka/Esto; https://www. architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/hunters-point-south-waterfront-park_1_o)

04 Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn One of the largest waterfront parks, the Brooklyn Bridge Park covers an area of over 83 acres14. Most of this postindustrial waterfront was designed preHurricane Sandy, but the designers had the foresight to vary the topography of the park dramatically (as much as 30 feet created through landfills), causing it to act as a flood barrier during the storm. This also helps with the noise attenuation from the nearby BrooklynQueens expressway. A unique feature of this waterfront is also that the designers created many ways to interact with the

water, replacing bulkheads for example with a varied approach. Inexpensive rip-rap edges the shoreline, stabilising edges while acting as breakwaters, and proving habitat for marine ecologies. A salt marsh was constructed at a disused pier, creating room for innovative approaches to ecological design, while also becoming an educative destination.14 The sprawling waterfront is home to many lawns, sports-courts, turfs, walkways, children’s play spaces, viewing decks, and eateries along the shoreline edge and on piers. Along the 18 19

FEATURE ARTICLE

A sloped lawn in Brooklyn Bridge Park offers movies and performances in summer months.

Image source: Etienne Frossard; https://theweekendjaunts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ Photo-Credit-Etienne-Frossard-MWAV-1.jpg)

1.3 miles (2 km) of the waterfront,

treated, and reused for landscaping;

bouldering, kayaking, and fishing are

excess water is stored in tanks. Several

some of the fun activities that one

salvaged materials were used to

can take partake in. While allowing

create the park lending a natural rustic

for human activity, shoreline ecologies

character. The park is home to stunning

that used to exist on site have been

3000 + trees. This revitalization project

recreated, with native vegetation,

designed sensitively by Micheal Van

birds, and marine habitats flourishing

Valkenburgh Associates truly redefines

today.15 The stormwater that falls on

the waterfront experience.

the park surfaces is collected, naturally

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Brooklyn Bridge park spanning across multiple piers offers plenty of opportunity for sports, and plenty of space to dine in the expansive environment is provided. Image source: – Scott Shigley; https://www.asla. org/2018awards/454576-Brooklyn_Bridge_Park.html)

LEARNINGS

and joggers along the promenade, and

Each of the parks was designed for a

many reading or relaxing on lawns.

multiplicity of activities, creating thriving public spaces for the residents of NYC. It is very common to take a stroll along any of these parks and find several of the sports courts filled, yoga and

Summers often see live concerts, movies, and festivals held in the park.

The duality i.e. the ability of each of these spaces to serve a human function while performing their role in fighting climate change elevates the standards

fitness classes being conducted, bikes

of public space design globally. The

commuting on paths, skateboards,

parks have taken a life and status of

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FEATURE ARTICLE

their own and have transformed into veritable cultural institutions. Therefore, each of these case studies can serve as exemplary examples globally to create more equitable, healthy, and resilient waterfronts.

Having mentioned the good, it is worthwhile to note that each of these megaproject parks cost millions of dollars of investment, and both visioning and execution require several stakeholders’ cohesive participation.

They also have received large criticism for erasing the history of the sites, such as in Hunters’ Point South Park where acres of mature trees and meadowlands were cut to make room for the greenfield design. Further, while the parks allow equitable access except for disability in some instances, this article did not discuss changing values of properties along the waterfront. The ‘cleansing’ of these newer waterfronts has led to severe gentrification especially along its edges, displacing the original residents further away from the waterfronts, questioning their purpose at a certain level.

Yet, NYC is far more prepared to handle a storm today than it was even eight years ago. Through careful visioning, the city now has radically transformed to create a set of urban destinations that are dynamic and engaging for generations to come.16 REFERENCES 1. 1. “Geography and Origins”, https://www. ny.com/histfacts/geography.html 2. 2. Kenneth Silber, “The Wasted Waterfront”, City Journal, Spring 1996, https://www.cityjournal.org/html/wasted-waterfront-12041. html 3. 3. Waterfront Access Map, NYC Planning, https://waterfrontaccess.planning.nyc.gov/ about#11.52/40.7159/-73.9689 4. 4. “Green Infrastructure”, United States Environmental Protection Agency, https:// www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/whatgreen-infrastructure 5. 5. “Comprehensive Waterfront Plan”, NYC Planning, https://www1. nyc.gov/site/planning/plans/ comprehensivewaterfrontplan/waterfrontplan-overview.page 6. 6. “Resilient Design”, Resilient Design Institute, https://www.resilientdesign.org/ what-is-resilience 7. 7. “Rebuilding with Resilience”, Rebuild

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

By Design - The Rockefeller Foundation | Georgetown Climatic Centre, https:// en.klimatilpasning.dk/media/1167951/ rebuild.pdf 8. 8. Jared Green, “Berms Aren’t Enough: NYC Shifts Course on “Big U” Resilience Plan”, The DIRT, https://dirt.asla. org/2019/06/20/first-phase-of-big-u-pivotsto-sea-walls/ 9. 9. Damian Holmes, “Domino Park designed by James Corner Field Operations opens in New York”, WLA, https:// worldlandscapearchitect.com/domino-parkdesigned-by-james-corner-field-operationsopens-in-new-york/#.X7FJNWgzY2w 10. 10. “Sustainability”, Domino Park, https:// www.dominopark.com/footer/sustainability 11. 11. Nathan Kensinger, “As NYC gains new waterfront parks, its industrial past is erased”, Curbed NY, https://ny.curbed. com/2018/8/9/17667488/new-yorkdomino-park-hunters-point-south-photoessay

12. 12. Michelle Young, “10 Fun Facts about the New Hunter’s Point South Park in Long Island City”, Untapped New York, https:// untappedcities.com/2018/08/24/10-funfacts-about-the-new-hunters-point-southpark-in-long-island-city/9/?displayall=true 13. 13. “Recreation, Respite, Art, and Resilience Find Harmonious Balance in New York’s Newest Waterfront Park”, SWA/Balsely, https://swabalsley.com/projects/hunterspoint-south-waterfront-park/ 14. 14. “Brooklyn Bridge Park: A Twenty Year Transformation “, ASLA, https://www.asla. org/2018awards/454576-Brooklyn_Bridge_ Park.html 15. 15. “Sustainability”, Brooklyn Bridge Park, https://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/about/ sustainability/ 16. 16. Michael Van Valkenburgh, “Brooklyn Bridge Park”, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, https://www.gsd.harvard. edu/project/brooklyn-bridge-park/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Raksha Srinivasan is an urban designer and architect, with a specific interest in urban ecology. She is currently working as anurban designer with Seagull Studio in Chennai on various projects related to affordable housing, and freelances as anarchitectural and interior designer. Prior to this, she was at Safdie Architects in Boston and contributed to large scaleprojects across the United States and Israel. She also worked on the proposed Hudson Yards extension and othertransit projects based in NYC during her time at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Raksha graduated with a Masters inUrban Design from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Masters in Project Management. She loves to explore newplaces, try new cuisines, and prefers to be surrounded by dogs and beaches over humans. She can be reached atrakshasrinivasan@gmail.com.

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ON LOCATION

BISHAN PARK

RUBAIYA NASRIN

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

“Bishan park is a treat to the eyes and souls, it is a river-based park with lush green in the midst of high-density urban areas. The area has been revitalized to transform a concrete drainage channel into a vibrant public space.

The transformation focuses not only on the natural resources but also on the community connections; community of people, community of plants and animals. The Kallang river meanders through the park creating a different aura in different zones with fluctuating water levels and with a variety of plants and trees. From the small-scale restaurant and playground to even smaller scale street accessories create an inviting environment for people of all age groups and communities amidst a prolific landscape.”

The bird’s eye view of Bishan Park. Image credit: https://www.asla.org/2016awards/169669.html

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ON LOCATION

LOCATION AND BACKGROUND Singapore has made a mark by morphing into a modernized city-state through innovation and adaptation to green technology. To become sustainable and environment-friendly, the city has applied various strategies, one of which is to achieve water supply self-sufficiency.

Singapore Public Utilities Board (PUB)

Plan view of Bishan Park. Image credit:Google earth

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

had approached landscape architectural practice ‘Atelier Dreiseitl’ to redesign the Kallang river park in a more eco-friendly way. The project is part of the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Programme (ABC Waters), a long-term initiative to rethink waterbodies beyond their functions of drainage and water supply.

The meeting point of two new towns

creek from the charmless canal and has

named Bishan and Ang Mo Kio emerged

been entertaining the local residents as

as the new neighborhood park which

well as the international tourists.

accommodates the first three kilometers of the Kallang river. The park was nothing

Unlike other modern and mechanized

more than an unused open space for

green infrastructures, this park stands

the city but the landscape designers’

out as a natural ecological infrastructure

eyes saw the potential of turning it

which incorporates flood management,

into a vibrant public space within the

biodiversity and recreation. The greenery

framework of the PUB masterplan. That

here is not just to see but rather to have

vision gave birth to today’s meandering

an emotional connection.

Transformation of the park. Image courtesy: https://www.asla. org/2016awards/169669.html

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ON LOCATION

One of the key consultants Ramboll mentions in their website to describe the park. During a work trip in Singapore in 2018, I got the opportunity to explore the city in many unconventional ways. And definitely ‘Bishan Park’ was an unusual pick over the other famous and popular tourist parks, but its unique way of achieving sustainability and the story of its transformation compelled me to visit the park.

SUSTAINABILITY A sustainable urban design is never only about the architectural details, it is rather keeping the whole project in a process of sustaining on its own economically, environmentally and socially. Although Singapore is known for its grandly innovative and modern technologies, Bishan park is approached in a more humble way to achieve nature friendly sustainable urban design.

Encouraging human connection with water. Image courtesy: https://www.asla.org/2016awards/169669.html

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

“This is a place to take your shoes off, and get closer to water and nature.” [1] This particular project ensures economical sustainability through adding small functions like restaurants, spa and cafe. On the other hand, the intricately designed landscape ensures ecological sustainability through natural water edge, plantations which allow natural purification and creates an environment which allows biodiversity. The heart of the park is the river which is free to flow following its natural direction all through the year.

The 2016 ASLA awards jury describes the project’s highlight as such, “The fact that they found a way to deal with flooding is impressive. The hydrological and ecological pulses beat through this. Wildlife and nature have been given precedence. Even in a heavy flood downpour, the river fills slowly providing ample time for people to comfortably move away from the water to higher ground. A comprehensive river monitoring and warning system with water level sensors, warning lights,

sirens and audio announcements are in place to provide early warning in the event of impending heavy rain or rising water levels.” [2] The naturalized river has been the key to increase biodiversity, in fact, there was no need to introduce new wildlife once the presence of the river was open to all.

Above all, as the park allows a much needed breathing space for the community and the city, it is a bright example of achieving social sustainability and maintenance through social responsiveness. As I walk in the park and see children picking up trash to the bins which is a result of the ‘self-policing’ attitude of the residents. I feel there is a sense of ownership of this place among the community which has embedded the idea of preservation of nature to these children. There are self-organised groups of people who volunteer to keep the park clean and encourage others to spend impactful time in the park.

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ON LOCATION

Fluctuating riverways with natural edge. Image courtesy: Author

TOOLS OF TRANSFORMATION

also find group sitting arrangements in

The designers had delicately picked

the lawn.

some tools of transformation to redesign the park. Apart from the ecological elements, few urban design components were also injected carefully; be it the pathways or the sitting arrangements or even the porous ground textures all of it were designed to complement nature considering user friendliness.

For example, there are various types of sitting arrangements; if anybody wants to spend some alone time lying under a tree, he can find a quiet corner, or if a family wants to have a picnic they can CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

To keep up with the changing nature of the river flow, there is a sensitive placement of riverside gallery sittings and benches on the riverside sloping edge. To ensure safety, there are signages all around depicting the flood level and danger. To attract the visitors towards the park, three playgrounds, restaurants, a new vantage point constructed using the recycled walls of the old concrete channel were incorporated in the new design.

River crossing with water stones. Image courtesy: Author

Riverside gallery. Image courtesy: Author

View of the park from a bridge. Image courtesy:Author

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ON LOCATION

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

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ON LOCATION

The new design also broke the monotony of a paved path by adding various textures and materials which complement the natural surroundings. In some cases, water stones are used in the river through which people can cross the river by walking during the dry season. All these elements are binded cohesively in the design and each of them plays a vital role for the overall transformation.

CONCLUSION Among the many modern and busy tourist gardens and parks in Singapore, Bishan park sparks a drop of silence for nature lovers and that silence keeps resonating in its surrounding communities of plants, animals and people.

“Only architecture that considers the human scale and interaction is successful architecture.� [3] I have always admired how this quote by urbanist Jan Gehl puts emphasis on the need of human connection and interaction through architecture. In the vast spectrum of architecture, even a small urban design project can reflect on this ideology, which Bishan park has certainly done. The 62 hectares park has managed to keep a humble presence with intelligent positioning of interactive elements while remaining in the natural landscape.[4] One of my professors at architecture school once said that the best urban design projects are those where you end up spending

Texture of a pathway. Image courtesy: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

more time than you anticipated. And that is exactly what happened to me at Bishan park. During my work trip in Singapore, I decided to visit this park just for a walk, and I ended up roaming around the greenery and spending some quality time with nature for longer than I planned. I could not track time from the sunny morning to the rainy afternoon.

The soothing greeneries and the calming river was blooming its beauty with time and that experience has left me with a permanent impression of serenity.

The playfulness of spaces not only provides recreation for the users, it has succeeded to establish the park as an exemplary ecological infrastructure which increases civic responsibilities towards water through creating connection with the river.

REFERENCES 1. Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. Retrieved 21 October 2020, from https://ramboll.com/ projects/singapore/bishan-park 2. Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park | 2016 ASLA Professional Awards. (2016). Retrieved 22 October 2020, from https://www.asla. org/2016awards/169669.html 3. Future, R. 10 Most Memorable Quotes

by Jan Gehl - The Humanist Architect - Rethinking The Future. Retrieved 9 November 2020.

4. Bishan Park by Atelier Dreiseitl. (2012).

Retrieved 21 October 2020, from https:// www.australiandesignreview.com/ architecture/bishan-park/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rubaiya Nasrin is currently working as a Senior Research and Design Associate at Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements located in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

After completing her Bachelors in Architecture from BRAC University (2013), worked as a Community architect for Pro-poor Slum Integration Project under the same university and later worked as a Design architect for Bay Developments. Her interest for understanding cities have motivated her to visit different places to do volunteer work or internship or training. She was invited as a speaker for Arcasia 2017 at Jaipur among many renowned architects and urban designers. Rubaiya is also one of the founding members of Platform of Community Action and Architecture (POCAA). All her ventures have been helping her to grow as an urban thinker and she hopes to contribute more to the society through her research. Connect with her through https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubaiya-nasrin-b9b55469 Also visit https://rubaiyanasrin.com/

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ART AND THE CITY

CITY AND CINEMA/ MUMBAI THROUGH THE LENS BALA NAGENDRAN

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Salaam Bombay (1988) - Mira Nair, Bombay (1995) - Mani Ratnam, Slumdog millionaire (2008) - Danny Boyle, The Lunch box (2013) - Ritesh Batra.

Images Sourced by Author from Film

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ART AND THE CITY

Popular Indian cinema is an evolving, hybrid art form that narrates the complicated intersections of tradition-modernity and rural-urban, through the juxtapositions of cultural idiosyncrasies and personal emotions. It records, interprets, and reflects the landscapes of our cities from heterogeneous perspectives, by projecting cityscapes as screenscapes.

This piece explores how Mumbai as an Indian city, has been involved as a muse and a stage in movies that connect history, transformations, politics, and the socio-economic nexus that fuel the engines of urban life. “We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls. They allow us to enter other minds, not simply in the sense of identifying with the characters, although that is an important part of it, but by seeing the world as another person sees it.�

-

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Roger Joseph Ebert, American film critic

Unboxing space and time: The city we see on screen is not always the city we experience in real life. The journey of translating any detail from cityscape to screenscape goes through the phases of perception, imagination, conception, and reflection, with space and time as only anchors. The process of perception being the first trigger, the values added through the next three phases are the real plot makers. Movies that are set in four decades, located within varied socio-political scenarios, and that had a strong visual representation of Bombay are selected in this essay, to decipher the layers that built those representations and discern the subjectivities that have crafted it.

THE IMAGINED CITY The city of cinema is born at the juncture of the lead character’s mental, physical, and social space. No doubt that the city itself could play the lead character and there we get access to what Charles Baudelaire exclaimed as “the transient, the fleeting, the contingent” that shapes the rhythm and movement of contemporary city life. However, every movie is a unique portrayal of the imagined city.

Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay (1988), is a film based on the children of the streets and slums in Bombay (now Mumbai), set in a time that faced a rapid increase in slums, homelessness, prostitution, drug market, and the informal/illegal economic activities. Salaam Bombay’s imagined city rekindles the meaning of the ‘city’ through the colours of ‘class’ in an urban setting.

The plot of Bombay (1995) captures the contrasting landscapes of rural southern Tamil Nadu and metropolitan Bombay.

The plot is developed on the series of events between December 1992 to January 1993 on the controversy surrounding the demolition of the Babri masjid in Uttar Pradesh. The religious tension that left Bombay in turmoil is the crux of this film; the imagined city is skinned in ‘religion’.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008), a loose adaptation of the novel Q&A written

by Vikas Swarup, narrates the story of a teenage boy from Dharavi who participates in the television show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). Set in the 21st century when slums have taken deep roots and become an unavoidable part of Bombay, the gap between ‘dreams’ and ‘development’ builds the imagined city.

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ART AND THE CITY

The Lunch Box (2013), written and directed by Ritesh Batra is an epistolary romantic movie centered on the famous dabbawalas (the lunch box distribution system) of Mumbai. It provides an intimate window into city life with two simple characters. The imagined city is packed and delivered in dabhas (lunch box) and bogies (suburban trains) - the modern ‘lifeline’ of Mumbai.

THE CONCEPTION OF CINEMATIC SPACE In India, city life constantly acknowledges and draws parallel to its rural counterpoint — both as a place of peace and pressure — and that is explicit through the cinematic conceptions of spaces too.

The scenes from the movies, “Salaam Bombay” and “Slumdog Millionaire” display how one cannot distinguish the character of the city streets as urban or rural, as distinctive meanings and purposes are added based on how people use these spaces.

Strip of Imagined cities. Images Sourced by Author from Film CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

City streets - as spaces for everything including washing clothes and everyone including rearing cows. Images Sourced by Author from Film

Besides, the aspiration or the association of the characters from the more rural or semi-urban background also inscribes strength to the blurred meaning of urban space and its narrative. In Bombay (1995) for instance, the protagonists Sekar and Banu from a rural background are placed between the conflicts of rural and urban ideologies over religion and the consecutive reactions of it in their life. The narrative puts forth the larger conflict in the city of Bombay and the relational conflict between the parents of Sekar and Banu at Tirunelveli as problems of the same content but of different scale and setup. Similarly, in Salaam Bombay (1988), the lead character Krishna or Chaipau, throughout the movie aspires to return to his village with the money which he is supposed to earn. His departure from the city is what

has been told all along as the notional climax of the movie itself.

Through these attempts of putting forth the conflicts of the city, as a macrocosm of what one sees in villages (as in the case of Bombay) or as a never-ending phenomenon which urges people to move out as soon as their purpose or cause is satisfied (as in Salaam Bombay), the movies also question the idea of modernity and cosmopolitanism - the common labels we associate cities with. In a larger sense, it questions the constructs of rural and urban as highly accorded as avenues for opportunities and to escape from reality. While Sekar in Bombay, never wants to get back to the village, Chaipau in Salaam Bombay has been counting his days to get back to the village. For one, it is a place of peace, for another of pressure.

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ART AND THE CITY

Urban as a macrocosm of Rural - through the frames of Bombay. Images Sourced by Author from Film

The spatial conception is also a byproduct of how the play of lens (camera) and scissors (editing) is articulated.

The movement of the camera, its speed, distance, focus, color, transition, continuation, and placement determine the connection it establishes with the city and the characters involved. Editing brings life through sequencing and control of timing.

In Bombay & Salaam Bombay, the idea of placing the characters on the other side of the road and letting actions of the city happen between the camera and the actors allows the exaggeration of city chaos in which the protagonist is just a part. Whereas in their introduction shots at respective villages, protagonists were put in the front of the camera with the vast green landscape spreading as the background.

The arrival of protagonists - Rural vs urban. Images Sourced by Author from Film CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

In The Lunch Box, the story has two layers of protagonists, Sajan Fernandez and Ila in the dominant layer, and the tiffin box itself in the sub-ordinate layer.

Among these, Ila becomes the passive character with less motion whereas the travel of Sajan and the tiffin box has been presented as overlapping sequences of similar value which indicates the long journey that they were forced to take in the city.

In Bombay, the picturization of riots also becomes crucial as the camera runs along with the common crowd capturing the fear, speed, and intensity of the action, their effects on the city, and also strategically pauses the protagonist’s reaction of loss and search. This narrates the story as the story of the city and the story of Sekar and Banu - framing the commotion and emotion simultaneously.

A similar narrative technique can be seen in Slumdog Millionaire’s catch and run sequence between Jamal, his friends, and a group of cops, as they were found playing cricket in private land. The long cut shots introduce to us both the filthy, dull, and swampy Dharavi and the mischievous, energetic, and joyous Jamal with his brother – a contradistinction of the space and its people.

Capturing the stories from the perspectives of space and people. Images Sourced by Author from Film

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ART AND THE CITY

REFLECTIONS: AS ELEMENTS AND SYMBOLS A place or a region irrespective of its scale is visually or culturally coupled with multiple, yet unified elements and symbols. Anchoring the character and the screenscape to these elements and symbols, not only supports the visual narrative but supplements the associational values of the viewer to enable quick recognition of space and tie it to a memory.

In Bombay and Salaam Bombay, the characters are arriving at the land from a long distance and they are alien

to its urban form and grandeur, this conjunction is demonstrated by placing them in the famous Chhatrapati Shivaji railway Terminus on their landing.

This introduces the city not only to the characters but also to the audience. In depicting the daily life scenes of Saajan in the city, The Lunch Box sheds light on the lifeless local train journey that covers his monotonous everyday experience.

Finally, his journey continues with the dabbawalas, though his journey with Ila’s dabha’s might not continue further. Only this final journey in the movie captures Saajan with light and life.

The lifeless lifeline - Bogies of Bombay - The Lunch Box. Images Sourced by Author from Film

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Bombay captures the nuances of urban life where the idea of marriage just gets over in registration, there is no one to question the public display of affection, and life in chawls with multiple tenements is the only choice. In contrast

to all this, the subtle irony of identifying humans with religion existed in both the city and the village. The reactions were the same when both Narayana Pillai (Sekar’s father) and the house owner lady heard Shaila Banu’s name at first.

What’s in a name? – Bombay. Images Sourced

by Author from Film

In The Lunch Box, the travel of Saajan’s lunch box in the introduction sequence presents the context for the movie and the city. The sequence of actions that are involved is captured in detail with attention given to the hands that are

involved in this lunch box delivery and return system. From kitchen to the work desk and back again from office lobby to doorstep of home, the travel of the lunch box for that matter is livelier than the travel of Saajan.

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ART AND THE CITY

The hot urban journey - The Lunch Box. Images Sourced by Author from Film

Carving out the climax or saving up

pressure on the traffic jam on streets and

something for the end is the most

ends it well on the railway terminal.

thought out section in all the four movies, as they end on an event or at

Mumbai is seen, understood,

a landmark. Salaam Bombay captures

expressed and experienced through

the festivity of the city and stages its

the cinematic medium that in its terms

climax on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi.

has subjectivities in conception and

Bombay’s climax calls for peace with the

expression. The connection between

event of chaos and riots. The Lunch Box

lived experiences and cinema takes

settles down in another train journey.

differences through the layers projected

Slumdog Millionaire builds up the

and hidden. The urban experiences

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

of hope and loss, yearning and nostalgia, terror and fear, the mapping of identity and difference, and the spectacles of contemporary consumption are all explicit through the cinemas of Mumbai which borrows the urban life as a story, records instances, and leaves a new reference for future.

REFERENCES: • Bombay cinema – an archive of the city, Ranjani Mazumdar(2007) • The Cinematic city, David Clarke • Cinema and invention of modern life, Giuliana Bruno (1993) and Leo Charney All images curated by the Author.

Image credits / Frames captured from: Salaam Bombay (1988) - Mira Nair, Bombay (1995) - Mani Ratnam, Slumdog millionaire (2008) - Danny Boyle, The Lunch box (2013) - Ritesh Batra

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bala Nagendran M is an urban enthusiast from Madurai, with experience in design, planning, and strategy making. He holds a Masters’ degree in Landscape Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, where he was the recipient of Gold Medal for his Thesis ‘River Matrix’ on Multi-functional restoration of the River Cooum in Chennai. He explores collective approaches across the intersections of cities, landscapes, and stories. Bala is currently part of the ITDP India Programme as a Research Associate in Urban Development, where his work span across the domains of Complete Streets and Inclusive Compact Cities.

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FEATUREARTICLE FEATURE ARTICLE

EPIDEMIOLOGY AND URBANISM: MUMBAI

PRAMADA JAGTAP AND PRANAV THOLE

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

While the city of Mumbai has been shaped by epidemics, its urban form has incubated and aggravated multiple illnesses.

Issues like overcrowding, haphazard urban growth and non-existent public works have been a feeding ground for epidemics and illnesses. Since the colonial period, laissezfaire development strategies have been used that continue today. The urban environment is viewed as a resource for development, a disposable market commodity, in the hope that it leads to the eventual resolution of economic problems. The congestion and environmental degradation that takes place following such misguided urban design and policymaking then, as today, results in exacerbated situations during an epidemic. Each major outbreak in the city of Bombay was followed by a significant change in policy or in design, but not in ways that improve the quality of life for ordinary citizens.

Dense streetscape in Dharavi, Image credit: Author

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FEATURE ARTICLE

HOW HAS URBANISM SHAPED ILLNESSES? Living in Mumbai, one is familiar with overpopulation and the resulting insufficient public infrastructure. Given its approximate population of 20 million [1], and less than 1 sqm open space per person, the city’s fractured infrastructure has always been overstressed. The density in its informal settlements is obviously higher than the rest of the city and has commonly been held responsible for spike in COVID-19 numbers. Areas like Worli Koliwada and Dharavi have been under constant scrutiny by the media and incessant surveillance. In light of the Covid-19 crisis, Jitendra Awhad, Minister of Housing said “Dharavi is fast becoming the Covid-19 capital of Mumbai. A major factor for the spread of the infection in the area is the high density of population and the lack of quality healthcare services”. He uses this as an opportunity to “push Dharavi’s redevelopment, which will lead to its overall social and economic upliftment.”[2]

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The city has been under significant real estate pressure, and illnesses provide the perfect opportunity to wipe out dense informal settlements and create even denser high rises, with the promise of clearing up land for infrastructure.

In Mumbai, the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) was set up in 1995 as a Special Planning Authority in charge of the redevelopment of all slum areas in the city with sweeping powers to act independently. This was the most sought-after solution to the growing slum problem but led to numerous ills of its own. The state government dilutes existing building codes such that rehabilitation scheme buildings can extract maximum value out of the plot of land. These structures are medium to high-rise and sometimes located as close to each other as 3m. This has resulted in a lack of sunlight and ventilation in living areas and corridors, making a perfect breeding ground for easily preventable infectious and communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and dengue fever.

Observations from a study on Tuberculosis in SRA colonies. Image courtesy: Doctors for you

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Recently, there was unrest in the locality of Mahul where numerous families vacated their SRA homes and moved instead to the footpath. This has brought the silent epidemic of tublerculosis back to light in the city. Some inhabitants were quoted as saying “even sleeping on the footpath in the dead of winter has been easier on health than living in apartments the BMC gave in the toxic town of Mahul [3]” where they developed tuberculosis. A new study has established a strong correlation between mortality due to TB and housing conditions [4].The ongoing Covid-19 outbreak has opened up a set of underlying questions about the city’s urban form. Why do illnesses affect certain cities more than others? Why do they affect communities within a city differently?

However, this imbalance is not a recent phenomenon. Bombay in the late 18th century was already a case of extreme disparity, evident in the Third Bubonic Plague. The city was divided into two halves with structural racism in its organisation. The sea-facing south, i.e the British town (or Urbz Prima) was replete with resplendent structures

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

A group of officials making a visit to a house in Bombay, suspected of holding people with plague.

Photograph, 1896. Image courtesy: Wikimedia commons

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Bombay plague mortality rate by class, caste Image credit: Ira Klein

and a thriving cosmopolitan crowd. The native and labour class lived in dense, unplanned neighbourhoods towards the centre and north, away from the glare of trade ships. Claiming innumerable lives, the Plague began its devastation in the city through tight neighbourhoods that were built in thatch with no regulations and had impoverished inhabitants. The migrant population in search of work in the shipping industry lived in these neighbourhoods in tiny one room houses, forming the most affected demographic.

Members of the lower castes employed as flea catchers and rat catchers were also exposed disproportionately. This exposure along with insufficient drainage systems created a favourable plague ecology. The confluence of the city’s

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

local ecology and its position in the global and colonial economy ensured the native population suffered and the disease continued to haunt the city in a cyclic manner for over 30 years.

HOW HAVE EPIDEMICS SHAPED URBANISM? The Plague resulted in tremendous death in the city and strengthened the idea that its ordinary population would repeatedly fall prey to any future large disease outbreak. As compared to the rest of the world, the plague flourished in the dense environment of Bombay. Until 1897, the Health Department demolished illventilated, ill-drained buildings in order to contain this. The local authorities were then given increased control over

buildings, and regulations were put in place to legalise demolition of any tenements that were ‘beyond sanitary redemption’[5]. In 1898, the Bombay City Improvement Trust (BIT), an institution mandated to create a healthier city, was formed. The BIT brought about reforms including the wide East-West Avenues bringing sea breeze into cramped locales, Princess street and the Mahim area. Additionally, one of the earliest planned neighbourhoods in Bombay, Shivaji Park in Dadar[6], was conceived in order to decongest the megacity’s residential and commercial centre after the plague epidemic. Housing across the city was refined by removing shanties, defining setbacks from buildings, and developing a well-ventilated chawl typology, which gave rise to the Bombay Development Department(BDD) chawls [7]. These streets, maidans, chawls, and by-laws are an essential part of the urban experience of Mumbai even today.

Nevertheless, the improvement trust’s ideological blinders led the trust to prioritise state thrift to the point that it became a slum clearance board. By 1920, the trust had constructed 21,287 tenements but destroyed 24,428[8].

It failed to build sufficient alternative housing, eventually increasing the housing crisis.

This reactive urban development was common practice under colonial rule.

During the 19th century, the water supply in the city came mostly from wells and tanks that held extremely contaminated water, often filled with soil or liquid sewage, and water from washed utensils.

Following the cholera outbreak that took over 15 thousand lives in 186065, the Vehar system was created[9].

This system caused in a significant drop in cholera mortality over the course of just two years, but the overuse of this source made it extremely polluted and insufficient after some years. This resulted in the construction of the Tansa pipeline project in 1892, which became ‘the most important undertaking of the period’ according to the Viceroy, Lord Landsowne. But the broken drains of the island city and the enormous quantity of water brought into the city by the Tansa pipeline ensured flooding in the dense central areas Bombay. These floods further led to loss of life and home for years.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

WAY FORWARD

NOTES

The assemblage of institutions created as a consequence of outbreaks in the city have in most cases had a pernicious effect on the life of the ordinary dweller.

This reactionary approach to epidemics must be reevaluated. Numerous experts have pointed out the ‘uncanny resonance’ of plague measures to the ongoing battle with COVID-19. As a short-term response, there have been

[1]As per the Mumbai Metropolitan Region estimates of UN World Urban Agglomeration Population Prospects 2020.

innumerable measures taken to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus in Mumbai – the creation of shelter homes, testing centres, social distancing norms, organisations that paint the streets, the redesign of vending carts, and pop-up sanitisation stations to name a few. Can we think of coherent institutions that plan for mitigation and prevention of illnesses as we study the history of past outbreaks? Malini Krishnankutty points out that “it is time we apply uniform building codes governing light, ventilation and safety for all housing in the city”[10].

COVID-19 is not the last outbreak to unnerve the city. While we anticipate the next pandemic, we must devise tools to design our urban environment that do not fail the most vulnerable.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

[4] Study funded by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s Environment Improvement Society, conducted by IIT Bombay and an NGO ‘Doctors For You’, focusing on three resettlement colonies.

REFERENCES [2]Sandeep Ashar, ‘‘Dharavi fast becoming city’s Covid capital”, Indian Express(2020) extracted from https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ dharavi-fast-becoming-citys-covid-capitaljitendra-awhad-writes-to-cm-for-coronavirusredevelopment-push-6421634/ [3]Arita Sarkar, “Mumbai: Tuberculosis, Other Ailments Forces Mahul Families To Sleep On Streets In Protest”, Mid-day(2019), extracted from https://www.mid-day.com/articles/ mumbai-tuberculosis-other-ailments-forcesmahul-families-to-the-sleep-on-streets-inprotest/406206 [4]Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar, “Designed for death”, The Guardian(2018), extracted from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/ apr/26/mumbai-housing-blocks-breedingtuberculosis-death [5]Prashant Kidambi, “’An Infection of Locality’: Plague, Pythogenesis and the Poor in Bombay, C. 1896-1905.” Urban History 31, no. 2 (2004): 249-67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44614117.

[6]Shanta Gokhale “How the plague epidemic of 1896-’97 sparked the growth of Mumbai’s

iconic Shivaji Park area” Scroll (2020), extracted from https://scroll. in/article/955645/how-the-plague-epidemic-of-1896-97-sparked-thegrowth-of-mumbais-iconic-shivaji-park-area [7]Carolyn E Arnold, “The Bombay improvement trust, Bombay milliners and the debate over housing Bombay’s millworkers 1896-1918” Vol. 30 No. 1 (2012): Essays in Economic & Business History(2012), extracted from https://www.ebhsoc.org/journal/index.php/ebhs/article/view/221 [8] Ira Klein, “Plague, Policy and Popular Unrest in British India.” Modern Asian Studies 22, no. 4 (1988): 723-55. from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/312523.

[9] Ira Klein. “Urban Development and Death: Bombay City, 1870-1914.”

Modern Asian Studies 20, no. 4 (1986): 725-54. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/312631.

[10]Malini Krishnankutty, “Covid-19 and the city”, Scroll(2020), extracted from https://scroll.in/article/968388/for-indian-cities-to-be-resilientagainst-disease-building-codes-for-the-poor-must-not-be-diluted

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Pramada Jagtap received her bachelor’s in architecture from Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute in 2017. She has since worked with Hundredhands design on a Research facility at Indian Institute of science campus, Bangalore. In the past she interned with Junya Ishigami in Tokyo, and Neelkanth Chhaya, Ahmedabad. She is intrigued by the physical form and structure of cities and is drawn to an environment of equitable social impact. She currently works as a freelance architect, pursuing her interest in design and research of the built environment.

Pranav Thole is a graduate of Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for architecture and has interned with Junya Ishigami, Tokyo. He has worked with Flying Elephant studio on the design of educational institutions and currently works at Sameep Padora and Associates on housing and infrastructure projects. He also completed a fellowship at Young Leaders Active Citizenship drafting policy briefs. He is interested in question of power and spatial politics, and the role of architecture in creating a democratic environment.

Together, they have won awards from International Association for Human Habitat and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for their project ‘Walkable city’, looking at redevelopment within informal settlements, based on the case of sector 4, Dharavi.

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

10 URBAN DESIGN LESSONS FROM FRANKFURT SOHINI MAITI

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Frankfurt am Main is the fifth largest city of Germany and the financial capital of Europe. When I first moved to Frankfurt a year ago, I had no idea or expectations about this city. But as I started roaming around – frequenting the farmers’ markets to the riverside, old town to the headquarters of European central bank – I felt that the city has its own special charm. This city, in my opinion, has its moments of glamour under the demeanour of a certain humbleness, truthfulness; maybe something that also reflects the character of its people.

A German city at heart but with a high proportion of immigrants- Frankfurt does make a strong statement about cosmopolitanism and surely takes pride in it. Surprisingly, about 60 million people pass through Frankfurt every year due to the presence of the fourth busiest airport in Europe but very few actually venture out to look at the city.

A city, that has undergone one of the most significant planning experiments of the twentieth century [4] and that managed to reinvent itself from the severe destructions in the World War II, can definitely impart a few urban design lessons -

Main riverbank, Frankfurt. Image courtesy: Author

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

Frankfurt Skyline. Image credit: Author

1

THE SKYLINE

Frankfurt is the only European city boasting a downtown high-rise skyline.

Notable skyscrapers include the Commerzbank tower (height 259m [6] - tallest building in Europe from 1997 to 2003), Deutsche bank twin towers, Main tower, etc. The coexistence of the Altstadt (old city) and these towers in close proximity, is quite remarkable. The bridges crossing the river Main, with a backdrop of the iconic contemporary skyline together with majestic gothic CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

cathedrals, create the image of this city.

This unique character of Frankfurt is in a way a result of German history of Decentralisation that has influenced the urban planning approaches of its cities. According to constitutional law, each municipality has autonomy over the decisions regarding urban development, which allows Frankfurt to do away with a city-wide spatial master plan. Under the umbrella of Regional preparatory Land Use plan by the Frankfurt RhineMain (FRM) region, depending upon the emerging conditions and challenges,

City Planning Department and the City Magistrate react flexibly and adjust the urban development guidelines to suit the changing urban trends. Hence this global city with a malleable localised planning process can come up with area-specific Legal Zoning Plans, which are key to secure building permissions. [1] Each proposal of high-rise buildings are generally evaluated on the basis of complex array of parameters that includes concerns like shadow projection, daylight and air flow

2

assessments on its immediate context [7] along with provision of public space in the ground floor, public access on higher floors, landmark and heritage protection. [3] Unrestricted maximum height for buildings allows legal zoning plans to determine the best suitable height for any specific plot: For instance, the buildings in the city centre can be at most 60m tall, whereas the buildings in the banking district are often more than 150m. [7]

THE RIVER

The characteristic Frankfurt skyline is complimented by the foreground of river Main. The official name of this city literally means “Frankfurt on the Main,” which definitely sets a prelude to its attitude toward the beloved river. The river is celebrated both at macro and micro levels, starting with the careful urban development to the pedestrianfriendly two-level sidewalks along the river bank. The river Main is the lifeline of Frankfurt - hosting activities like the Saturday market or the formation of

Museumsufer (a string of museums along both sides of the river), creating destinations for people. Promenades, Lawns, striking bridges, unique skyline make the Main riverbanks the most attractive areas of the city. Evening strolls, jogs, rowing to weekly markets to interesting festivals to New Year’s Eve: “Mainhattan” is incomplete without Main.

Apart from Main River, management of the Nidda river valley (Nidda is a tributary of Main) is also noteworthy.

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

Panoramic view of Main river- Frankfurt Cathedral, European Central Bank and Dreikรถnigskirche (L-R). Image credit: Author

Main Riverfront. Image credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

3

GREEN NETWORK

Riverfronts and open space networks go hand in hand for cities. The first thing one will notice from a flight while landing in Frankfurt is probably how green this city is. The Green Belt (GrünGürtel) that contains Frankfurt is one of the first urban green belts in the world and is about a third of the city’s urban area.

The Green Belt consists of Nidda valley in the northwest, Municipal forest area (Stadtwald with about 6000 hectares area is one of the largest urban forests

in the world) in the south, and some hilly forest areas like Bergen ridge on the northeast. The 68 km Green Belt loop trail is a paradise for hikers and cyclists.

Apart from this, about 45 neighbourhood level and pocket parks and 450 green zones contribute to the successful open space network of the city. [2] In the current context of a global pandemic, these easily accessible spacious green areas within walkable distance feels like a blessing.

Günthersburgpark in Frankfurt. Image credit: Author

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

Green Belt of Frankfurt. Image source: Department for Environment and Health, 2010, p. 47, © Frankfurt am Main Surveyor’s Office, 2006.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

4

COMFORTABLE CITY SCALE PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE COMMUTE

The idea of the green belt in a way limits the scope of overexpansion for Frankfurt.

Avoiding suburban sprawl by a compact yet green city is one of the main aims.

[1] Frankfurt is spread over an area of 248.3 sqm which is about 23.4 km x 23.3 km. [8] Here maximum 30 minutes is all you need to reach anywhere within the city with the help of public transport or bicycle. Comfortable scale is a key

element in making Frankfurt easy to navigate, walkable, bikeable, and legible. Pedestrians and cyclists are also supported by well-maintained walkways, cycling paths, and rental cycles at almost all major areas of the city. In the present scenario of COVID 19 even more number of people are preferring to use cycles for necessary commute.

Cycle friendly Frankfurt. Image credit: Author

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

5

STRONG TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Though cycling is one of the most commonly used modes to traverse within the city, it is essential to have a robust public transport network for a city of Frankfurt’s stature. Due to the central location of Frankfurt within Europe, it has always been the transport hub for this continent. Boasting as one of the most important airports in the world, one of the largest main rail stations and inland harbours in Germany, and the busiest interstate intersection Frankfurter Kreuz of the

country, the city also fairs quite well when it comes to public transportation within. There are two companies VGF and RMV responsible for city mobility.

They cater to almost 2.5 million people daily. Downtown Frankfurt is very well connected to the neighbouring cities by nine LRT lines (S-Bahn). In addition to that there are nine subway lines (U-Bahn) and a number of bus and tram routes connecting all the city districts to the downtown. [2]

Frankfurt Hauptbahnof (Central Station). Image credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Public transport network of Frankfurt. Image source: Wikimedia Commons, Link URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Frankfurt_am_Main_-_ Streckenf%C3%BChrung_der_geplanten_Regionaltangente_West.png

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6

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUBURBS

Due to the strong transport system and scale of the region it is easy to maintain extremely good connectivity with the other regional centres like Darmstadt, Mainz, Offenbach, Wiesbaden, etc., and neighbouring suburban towns like Eschborn, Kronberg, etc. These suburban towns act like Frankfurt’s extension: They are self-sufficient areas which majorly solve the residential demand of

the city. Frankfurt is the heart of FRM Metropolitan region, the second largest metropolitan region of the country. Within the region, Frankfurt along with other 74 mostly suburban municipalities make up Regional Authority Frankfurt RhineMain (Frankfurt’s metropolitan area). [1] Frankfurt and its suburbs practically act as an integrated regional city.

Suburban town Kronberg. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Image URL: https://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Burg-Kronberg-JR-E-65-2010-04-18.jpg>> CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

7

WELL PRESERVED OLD PRECINCTS TO MODERN DISTRICTS

One City, many districts – 46 assorted districts of Frankfurt [2] bring to mind the famous quote by Jane Jacobs – “The point of cities is multiplicity of choice.”

Starting from the Roman times, Frankfurt has always been an important urban centre of Europe. Before the devastation of World War II, the historic old town of Frankfurt was famous for its halftimbered houses dating back from the Middle Ages. Today the old town is

reconstructed and is an integral part of the city centre. Preservation by laws in Frankfurt ensures protection of visual quality of areas of historic/artistic importance by regulating aspects of new development in those areas like exterior design, shape of roof, materials, landscape, advertising space, etc.1 Districts like Sachsenhausen, Bornheim, which were less affected during the war, have retained their urban character with their cobblestone streets and old houses.

Frankfurt’s beautiful, turn of the 20th

Old city, Frankfurt. Image credit: Author

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

century opera building (reconstructed) 2 Alte Oper and the old stock exchange buildings are among the key attractions of the city. Then there are the “New Frankfurt” style buildings of the late 1920s – early modern settlements like Römerstadt by Architect Ernst May

showcasing housing amidst natural green setting. [4] On the other hand Frankfurt also offers modern residential areas like Riedberg, Europaviertel along with the characteristic high rises of the banking quarters.

Alte Oper, Deutsche Börse (German Stock exchange old building) Image source: Wikimedia Commons, European central bank tower, Frankfurt (L-R). Image courtesy the author

8

SHOPPING STREETS, MARKETS AND FAIRS

Well planned urban centres ensure a balance of uses in the districts of Frankfurt. The city’s main shopping street Zeil along with shopping areas

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

in Bornheim, Sachsenhausen etc. and shopping malls like Nordwestzentrum, Skyline Plaza, etc. host almost all international large scale retail

brands. At the same time, places like Kleinmarkthalle and the weekly farmers’ markets across the city provide locally produced groceries. Both the international and local shopping aided by network of well-defined plazas creates the popular meeting areas of the city. Annual occurrences such as the

Frankfurt Christmas market in the old city is considered as one of the significant such markets in the country. World’s largest trade fair “Messe Frankfurt” hosts a number of fairs among which the Automechanika (Trade fare for Motor vehicles) and Buchmesse (Trade fare for Books) are especially well known.

Zeil – Shopping street, Frankfurt. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Image URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/ wikipedia/commons/d/df/ Zeil_Frankfurt_am_Main.jpg

Farmers’ Market in Sachsenhausen, Frankfurt.

Image credit: Author

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

Frankfurt Book Fair 2019. Image credit: Author

9

MAKING CULTURE AN ASSET

“Culture for All”– the motto for Frankfurt [2] has been reflected through the variety of premier museums; from grand opera to open air, concerts and festivals are a huge part of this city’s vibrant cultural life. Städel Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Communication Museum are to name a few among the 60 museums in the city. Art, Music, Theatre, Literature, Dance, Sports – enthusiasts for all are welcome in this city. Enjoying open-air music and theatre festivals Stoffel and Sommerwerft to Literature festivals – CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Goethe’s hometown celebrates it all.

German love for football is well known and Frankfurt is no exception. With its own professional sports clubs the city hosts a collection of stadiums and also provides for other sport related activities.

River Main also offers a variety of water sports. Though due to the corona situation most of the events and festivals were cancelled in 2020, a few of the open air events could still take place while following proper restrictions.

Städel museum, Frankfurt. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Image URL:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/6/63/Frankfurt_am_Main%2C_das_St%C3%A4del_-_Museum_.jpg

Theatre festival Sommerwerft, Frankfurt. Image credit: Author

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LEARNING FROM CITIES

10

COSMOPOLITAN AND TAKING PRIDE IN IT

“People make cities, and it is to them, not buildings that we must fit our plans�Jane Jacobs Promoting social diversity and multicultural lifestyles, preventing spatial disparities and social segregation are included in the urban development aims of Frankfurt. [1] As a city where every second inhabitant has a migrant

background, Frankfurt takes pride in having people from 180 countries and more than 260 religious communities.

[2] Festivals of each community are celebrated. Initiatives from the city administration like Parade of cultures, Intercultural weeks, Day of religions, etc., help to make Frankfurt am Main both international and inclusive in nature.

Indian Bengali community in Frankfurt. Image credit:Piyali Bhaumik on behalf of Bengalis in Hessen Rhine Main (BHRM) CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

REFERENCES: 1. M. Peterek, S. Restrepo Rico, Y. Hebbo, U. Reichhardt, C. Guerra Bustani, ‘A flexible system for localised sustainable development’, Technical Transactions, Vol. 9, (2018), 33–48.

2. Stadt Frankfurt am Main, Guide for Newcomers, Frankfurt am Main, (The Municipal Administration of the City of Frankfurt am Main, 2019).

3. Carlos Guerra Bustani, HIGH-RISE DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS Case Studies of Da Nang, Frankfurt am Main and Monterrey, Master Thesis Master of Science Urban Agglomerations, Frankfurt am Main, (University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt am Main Faculty of Architecture, Construction Engineering and Geo-Informatics, 2017), 87-110.

4. John Robert Mullin, ‘CITY PLANNING IN FRANKFURT, GEMANY, 1925-1931 A Study in Practical Utopianism’, Journal of Urban History, Vol. 4, No. 1,(1977), 3-28 5. Stadt Frankfurt am Main, 2012 Frankfurt/ Main Urban Development Report, Frankfurt am Main, (Stadt Frankfurt am Main Dezernat Planen und Bauen Stadtplanungsamt, 2013).

6. Deutsches Architekturmuseum, P. Sturm & P. Cachola Schmal, Eds., High-Rise City Frankfurt, Buildings and Visions Since 1945, Munich, (Prestel, 2014) 7. Stadtplanungsamt Frankfurt am Main, Hochhausentwicklungsplan Frankfurt am Main - Fortschreibung 2008, Städtebauliches Leitbild und Standorte.

Hochhausentwicklungsplan. Frankfurt.

8. Stadt Frankfurt am Main, Statistisches Jahrbuch Frankfurt am Main 2012, Frankfurt

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sohini Maiti is an Urban Designer and Architect. She has completed her Master and Bachelor degree programmes from School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi (2016) and Jadavpur University, Kolkata (2013) respectively. She is currently employed at AS+P Albert Speer + Partners GmbH, Frankfurt. Earlier she has worked for Lipsky + Rollet Architectes, Paris as part of Young Urban Designers & Architects Programme 2019, an Indo-French collaboration in the field of Urban Development and with the Design Planning & Economics department of AECOM India Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon (2016-2019). Through her academic ventures and professional experiences, she has developed an interest in urban challenges and people-centric design approaches. Sohini loves to travel and read. Urban sketching and dancing are among her hobbies. She is grateful to Anuja Joshi, Carlos Guerra Bustani and Kaushik Mallik for their support and help in crafting this article.

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MOBILITY AND THE CITY

JOURNEYS LONG AND SHORT: MOBILITY PATTERNS OF DOMESTIC WORKERS IN JAIPUR NISHITA PARMAR & CHIDANANDA ARPITA

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

This article is based on the findings from the field research done by the Urban Fellows of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bengaluru, in Jaipur, Rajasthan from November 2019 to February 2020. The project is coproduced with Rajasthan Mahila Kamgar Union (RMKU) in Jaipur whose main aim is to organise the domestic workers and women who’re working in other unorganised sectors to prevent their exploitation. The union was established in Jaipur in 2010 with more than 4,000 members and has an active relationship with the domestic workers and helped us conduct the field research.

Domestic workers walking on the street Image Courtesy: Nishita Parmar

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MOBILITY AND THE CITY

One of the union meetings. Image Courtesy: Nishita Parmar

BACKGROUND Jaipur (Rajasthan) has a vast network of migrant populations settled in rental spaces. A majority of them have migrated from Cooch Behar of West Bengal district in search of job opportunities and live in 10-12 sqm rental units spread across the city. The woman of the household is predominantly a domestic worker.

Commuting to houses for work forms a large part of her daily living experience in a city. She usually starts her day at five in the morning, finishing morning chores at home, arranging and rearranging things in the house, cleaning and cooking for

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

the family, and then sets out to work.

She walks, cycles, and shares public transport to reach multiple workplaces, takes various trips, returns home mentally and physically exhausted, continues cooking for the family, and finishes the household chores before bed.

Despite living in the city for more than ten years, their economic and social condition is precarious because of unprotected jobs, fewer savings, rent fluctuations, and high living costs.

Because of the particular nature of their employment, mobility is deeply ingrained

in domestic workers’ lives. She spends a considerable amount of time and money commuting to her workplaces. Given the frequent rise in their monthly rents for housing, spending on commute adds to the vulnerability of their living conditions.

Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgar Union (RMKU), a domestic workers union, decided to look at their everyday mobility patterns. Studying mobility and creating a database of qualitative stories helped them gain a holistic understanding of domestic workers’ lives and the viability of rental housing beyond the theoretical framework of wages and rent.

DESIGN OF FIELDWORK Using a network of union members with domestic workers as the entry point, data was collected for 12 domestic workers by shadowing and mapping the route to their workplace and indepth, semi-structured interviews. We documented distance travelled through GIS tracking, optimisation of the routes, safety, and experience while commuting.

The purpose of the trip and the physical infrastructure available were noted. A timestamp was maintained for every journey taken from the start of the day till the final trip back home. Access to

different modes of transport for every destination, cost, and the driver or copassengers friendliness were noted as applicable. Questions regarding their rent and income and infrastructure provided in rental spaces and migration stories were included in the interviews.

PATTERNS IN MOBILITY An average domestic worker works in 78 households and takes around 10-15 trips in a day. These trips are short but frequent, and walking is the dominant mode of transport, followed by cycling and other public modes like shared vans and buses.

When commuting from one place of work to another, they tend to optimise their travel time and distance by taking personalised shortcuts allowing some time to socialise or attend to other chores for the day. Public parks and benches on the street become their usual hangout spots for having lunch and talking to other workers. This is only leisure time they can afford for themselves. They prefer avoiding the trip back home for meals since it is not a feasible option given their work schedules and money spent on commute.

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MOBILITY AND THE CITY

The slightest change in the routine could cascade throughout and change the whole day’s schedule, including the available modes of travel as well as return time. This further cuts into their personal time for resting, eating and

Time stamp and typical day of ‘S’. Image Courtesy: C.Arpita

Time stamp and typical day of ‘P’. Image Courtesy: C.Arpita

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

other social obligations like taking care of their family. The mobility patterns of domestic workers are distinct and follow a tight schedule because of the nature of their work.

Time stamp and unusual day of ‘P’. Image Courtesy: C.Arpita

CHOICES, RATIONALES AND EXPERIENCE Time and cost of travel are the dominant factors for making route and mode choices. Apart from that, the lack of convenient modes of transport leaves women with walking as their only choice.

“I don’t know how to ride a scooter. A shared vehicle will cost me around Rs 20 – Rs 50 and waiting and finding a ride and travelling will take me around the same time if I walk. A booked auto will cost me Rs 50 personal karoge to 50 rupaye.

I will spend more than I earn. Hence I walk.”

- P, 35 years “I cycle because it’s faster. I can commute fast, quickly finish my work and come back home for lunch and go back. I can earn a little more. Whoever has pain in their limbs, cannot walk much, they prefer cycling.”

- S, 35 years 80 81

MOBILITY AND THE CITY

Seven out of twelve women interviewed prefer walking and a very few women prefer cycling. Some change their rides thrice to reach their workplaces and some take mixed modes of commute such as auto, and shared transport.

Image credit: Authors.

Source: Interview Data

Popular answers by the women. Image credit: Authors. Source: Interview Data CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Experience of commute The domestic workers often meet or are accompanied by friends, family members or other domestic workers on their way to work. Socialising while going to workplaces is one of the positive aspects women experience while commuting.

Yet, concerns of safety is still a prevalent factor women need to account for. Most of the unsafe circumstances occur when women commute alone. Improper

We found that to reduce travel times, women sometimes choose to drive on the wrong side of the road instead of travelling an extra 1km to access the next legal U-turn. This also reflects on the poor planning of roadways and how current practice does not account for pedestrians and cycle users.

Each choice of transit gives a different commuting experience to street lighting and inadequate physical domestic worker women in Jaipur. infrastructure attribute to women feeling These experiences sometimes unsafe. Eve-teasing is predominant reshape their logic and rationales during specific times of the day like early changing their options or mornings and late nights or at isolated locations like highways and vacant lands. preferences of modes and paths.

The route unsafe for the women is the route near to the highway and does not have street lights. Second type of danger is due to driving on the wrong side as she has optimised the route for faster commute.

Image credit: Authors. Tool: GIS. Source: Interview Data

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MOBILITY AND THE CITY

HOUSING, MOBILITY AND SOCIAL NETWORKS On assessing the physical condition of the rental housing women live in, it was evident that their living situation was

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

inadequate and often had improper services, poor lighting, lousy ventilation and low maintenance of the buildings.

At an average, out of a monthly income of Rs.10,000 to Rs.12,000, families pay

house rents of Rs.3,500, where three to four family members share a room of around 9 to 12 sqm. On being asked, if they would move to a better and cheaper housing option if given a choice, they

answered, “We won’t like it elsewhere. All our Bengali friends live here, we know everyone, and hence the place has many

Documentation of a typical rental house. Image credit: Authors. Source: Primary Data Collection

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MOBILITY AND THE CITY

benefits. We have to start all over again if we move to another place. So we won’t move,” - SN, 40 years “We came here with my brother and sister-in-law, they brought us here from our village. All my people are here, so we won’t go anywhere.”

– SA, 35 years Apart from time and money, another essential factor which informs their housing location and hence the pattern of their mobility is their social networks.

They continue to stay in their current place even if rent is high, housing conditions are poor and move only when their connections move or can re-establish social relations. Not just the everyday commute of the domestic workers but their migration from Cooch

Behar to Jaipur, internal movement within the city, mobility at each scale is factored by social connections and networks.

CONCLUSION Mobility patterns, mode choices and experience of commute for domestic workers are informed by the nature and location of their housing and livelihood.

Mobility, especially for them is an important parameter to assess their quality of life that needs to be crosstabulated across other factors like rent, wage and affordability and viability of their habitats.

This method of mobility mapping allowed us to quantify the time taken for commute and understand the cost of the multiplicity of trips which is not just monetary but also at the expense of their personal well being and time with their

Mobility at each scale is factored by social networks.

Image credit: Authors. Source: Primary Data Collection

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

family. The findings of the study helped union members to understand the time spent on paid work and unpaid care work and commute, which can be quantified and put forward as an argument for the rights they deserve. The mobility study is an approach to understand the lives of domestic workers holistically. The process apart from giving the union a framework to study the intersection of mobility, housing and livelihood has also been a reflection on co-production and mixed methods in qualitative research.

City planning interventions often fail to identify the micro-level complexities and challenges, communities, especially the socio-economically vulnerable groups, face daily. Considering mass transit options like metros, city buses and cabs for improved transportation often fail to address the issues of affordability, zero-mile connectivity for these short and frequent trips, very particular to professions like domestic work. Women still walk miles on unsafe roads and work relentlessly without any recognition and support.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Nishita Parmar is an architect who graduated from CEPT University with an exchange semester at TU Delft, Netherlands and an internship at Palinda Kannangara in Sri Lanka.

She is currently practising at Compartment S4, a design collaborative co-founded by her and seven other colleagues from CEPT University. With her team, she has worked in rural areas for development and strategic planning and resolving persisting local problems of various complexities. She is also a part-time project associate at PEOPLE IN CENTRE, Ahmedabad where she conducts research on COVID facilities in the municipality. She recently completed the Urban Fellows programme at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore and that has further piqued her interest in the fields of participatory planning processes and affordable housing.

Chidananda Arpita is an architect and an alumnus of the ‘Urban Fellows Programme’ at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. Her curiosity towards grassroots level urban issues and policy as a tool to address these challenges has directed her towards a research-oriented urban practice. Her experience so far includes working in several architectural design firms, worker unions as well as international bilateral agencies like GIZ India. At present, she is exploring the socio-economic, political and legal aspects of human habitats, land and livelihood. Working towards providing affordable, adequate and disaster-resilient housing to the vulnerable communities is her core area of interest.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

BACK TO THE GUNJ SNEHA PARTHASARATHY GROWTH OF SETTLEMENT AREA -1750

GROWTH OF SETTLEMENT AREA - 1750

GROWTH OF SETTLEMENT AREA -1865

GROWTH OF SETTLEMENT AREA - 1865

SECUNDERABAD 1798 - 1835 SECUNDERABAD 1836 - 1865

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

5

Derived from a Persian word that came to mean ‘granary or marketplace’, ‘Gunj’ was used as a common suffix in the naming of market neighbourhoods in medieval cities across the Indian Subcontinent [1]. In Hyderabad, the erstwhile city of bazaars, historic neighbourhoods that continue to be thriving wholesale markets bear the suffix – Afzal Gunj, Osman Gunj, Rani Gunj, Maharaj Gunj, Shah Inayat Gunj and Mahbub Gunj to name a few. These neighbourhoods that gave Hyderabad’s CBD its distinct urban character have lost their importance in the contemporary narrative of the city; a narrative that is focussed on aggressively marketing the city as an economic GROWTH OF SETTLEMENT AREA -1900 hub for innovation and technology.

GROWTH OF SETTLEMENT AREA - 1900

North ward Growth of Settlement from 19th to 20th Century. Image source: Alam, Shah Manzoor.

Hyderabad-Secunderabad: A Study in Urban Geography.Hyderabad: Allied Publishers, 1961

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BUSINESS STREETS

BUSINESS CENTRES

17 18 16 1

15

14

2

13 12 3 11

4 5

10 9

8 7

6

IMPORTANT BUSINESS STREETS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

SUBSIDARY BUSINESS STREETS

SECTIONAL BUSINESS DISTRICT NEIGHBOURHOOD BUSINESS DISTRICT VEGETABLE WHOLESALE MARKET

Principal Districts of the Hyderabad CBD. Image source: Alam, Shah Manzoor. HyderabadSecunderabad: A Study in Urban Geography.Hyderabad: Allied Publishers, 1961

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT - HYDERABAD

1

0

AMIRPET KHAIRATABAD NAMPALLI DHOOLPET KARWAN SHAKARGUNJ MOGHULPURA HUSSAINI ALAM YAKUTPURA DABIR PURA MALAKPET MJ MARKET NARAYANGUDA CHIKKADPALLI

1 MILE

Source of maps (redrawn here to scale): "A Study in Urban Geography" by Manzoor Alam, 1965

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT - SECUNDRABAD

5

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS THOROUGHFARES

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS THOROUGHFARES

BANKS

BANKS

STOCK EXCHANGE MAJOR TRANSPORT CENTRES ADMINISTRATION DISTRICT 5. CANTONEMENT WHOLESALE DISTRICT

PLAYGROUND

EDUCATIONAL DISTRICT

MOTOR TRANSPORT DISTRICT

1.

TOWARDS SECUNDRABAD

2.

MOAZZAM JAHI MARKET

3.

RIVER MUSI

4.

NAMPALLY

4

0

1000 FT

SHIFT IN THE LOCATION OF PRINCIPAL RETAIL THOROUGHFARES

2

1591-1770 1770 -1940

3

1940 - onwards

0

1000 FT

0

1 MILE

Business Streets and Centres of Hyderabad. Image source: Alam, Shah Manzoor. HyderabadSecunderabad: A Study in Urban Geography.Hyderabad: Allied Publishers, 1961 CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Source of maps (redrawn here to scale): "A Study in Urban Geography" by Manzoor Alam, 1965

Towards the end of the 18th century, although the city’s major growth axis still ran east-west, the road north of Charminar emerged as an important business thoroughfare. After the construction of the British residency on the north bank of the Musi river and the establishment of Secunderabad as a cantonment, the northward trend in urbanisation gained speed attracting a large number of merchants to move closer to the British residency. The 5th Nizam of Hyderabad is said to have gifted a piece of land to the grain merchants of the city on the north bank of Musi river and the place came to be called Afzal Gunj after him. Around this bazaar, more market streets proliferated and inherited the suffix that they bear to this day[2]. The conglomeration of wholesale markets, principal retail, banking and administration gave form to a Central Business District along Hyderabad’s 20th century, north-south growth corridor. While referring to the CBD of Hyderabad as “its functioning heart”, Dr. Shah Manzoor Alam, in his 1961 publication, describes one of its most important wholesale markets as below: “Most of the buildings in Begum Bazaar are double-storied, but the second floor is generally in residential use. The increasing intensity of business is gradually leading to the removal of private families from the area, and singlestoried dwellings are being fast converted into godowns and warehouses, many such new constructions having recently sprung up near the store-houses of the private motor transport agencies. This wholesale district is also actively growing, but lacks the vigour of the principal retail district.” [3]

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Sketch of Gunj building that has retained its timber faรงade

Image showing a building in the neighbourhood which has retained its timber faรงade. The building adjacent to it shows the prevalent condition of buildings that have adapted their facades with alu-co bond cladding.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Two decades ago, Hyderabad city, now the capital of the South Indian state of Telangana, set out on the path of economic restructuring while opening its doors to foreign direct investments. The city was rebranded from being a historic city to an IT and pharmaceutical hub.

The need to implement this vision on a fast-track basis saw virgin agricultural lands in the north western part of the city urbanised. This has led to massive urban restructuring and land use change in the past decades with unprecedented focus on developing new infrastructure, road networks and public transportation.

In this haste to build gigantic malls, tall office and residential towers, and expansive gated communities, the 21st century has forgotten the merits of the ‘Gunj’. Characterised by street level hustle-bustle of wholesale and retail activity with residences on the storeys above, the mixed use buildings of the Gunj epitomise Jane Jacobs’ 20th century call for ‘Eyes on the Street’[4].

of functions that they accommodate.

Despite the need, Heritage Conservation Laws and Urban Renewal Schemes are scant in their attempt to ‘revitalise’ old city neighbourhoods. Heritage laws and regulations in Telangana are only limited to buildings [5] and do not address area conservation. The HCC (Hyderabad Conservation Committee) that was formed under HUDA in 1981 by the State Government came closest to prescribing area conservation through its definition of 30 ‘heritage precincts’. The Committee was dissolved in 2013 and with went it all hopes for holistic revival of inner city areas.

While there is an urgent need to qualitatively rethink and upgrade urban typologies like the ‘Gunj’, their morphologies are still relevant in terms of the solutions they can offer to the city.

They exemplify models of urban form that are sustainable because of the diversity

“In a rare story of migration back to the old city, a hundred-year-old ancestral property in the Mahbub Gunj area is to be re-adapted into a new home.

The aspirations of the project are to conserve, strengthen and re-adapt the

In the absence of holistic urban planning and design policies, due to the systemic difficulties in their implementation, it seems that small scale interventions can act as role models in the renewal of old city neighbourhoods. To demonstrate this by example an unbuilt adaptive re-use project conceived by deccan amalgam, Hyderabad is described below:

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Satellite imagery showing the neighbourhood of Mahbubganj in the context of the historic core of Hyderabad.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Satellite imagery showing the location of the site in the context of Mahbubganj.

1915 Map showing erstwhile plot divisions of the Ganj and the site locations in its historic context.

Photo Montage of satellite image with the 1915 Leonard Munn Survey Map showing Mahbub Gunj area.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Double Storeyed building typology that characterise Afzal Gunj.

property as a mixed use building that

clogged roads and against popular

will accommodate both the client’s

desire of moving away from the city

residence as well as office. The client

centre, the client’s intentions are to

presently runs his family business from the 100-year-old building in Mahbub

move back to the city’s historic urban core.

Gunj, but resides in Banjara Hill, around

Mahbub Gunj is a quintessential

15kms from work. Grieved by traffic

wholesale market neighbourhood

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Image of Building at Mahbub Gunj. Taken from Street Junction

Perspective showing the proposed faรงade adaptation from street junction

characterised by 1-2 storeyed buildings,

streets were characterised by narrow and

with the ground floor typically used for

deep plot sizes. The variations created by

commerce and the floors above for

these plot sizes and their timber facades

residential purposes. Balconied street

defined the street front. The plots, over

facades and large market squares

the years, and through different periods

define the public realm. The 1915 survey

of modernisation, were merged, and

drawing of this area indicates that the

most of the narrow balconied timber

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Exploded axonometric view of existing buidling

facades have been replaced by large plastered concrete surfaces or Alucobond clad envelopes.

In the adaptive re-use proposal, the old composite structural system that was altered many times in the past was upgraded to a newer one to accommodate a contemporary lifestyle.

The mixed-use nature of the building with the retail on the ground floor and office on the first floor was retained.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Exploded axonometric view of proposed adaptation

The facade was detached from the plan and articulated to be reminiscent of the erstwhile narrow plots with timber facades. The façade projections move in and out while the timber panels rotate, swivel and slide, alluding to the historic timber jharokas peeping out onto the street.�

Although efforts of individual property owners as illustrated above can act as catalysts there is a requirement for

formulation of area specific form-based codes that will provide a referential framework for sustainable urban redevelopment, while ensuring that the distinct character of inner city areas are conserved.

A state of stagnancy and decay without concerted efforts towards renewal will only lead to abandonment of old city neighbourhoods in search of ‘better living’ and ‘global neighbourhoods’. The ongoing pandemic has revealed the fragility of globalisation and the fallacy of urban development policies that rely disproportionately on centres of global economy. ‘Back to the Gunj’ is thus a call for re-occupation of “the heart of the city”, a call to shift the focus back on centres of trade and commerce that contribute to the growth of local economies.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Research Assistance: Jabili Sirineni Documentation, graphics and drawings: Vishweshwar Singh, Mir Nasrullah Khan, Rohit Mondal, Dhinesh Rahul, Ayaz Pasha, Jabili Sirineni, Sneha Parthasarathy, Zoha Razvi, Mohammad Jaffar Kashif, Safad N.E REFERENCES 1. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “gunge,” accessed November 3, 2020, https://www.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary/gunge.

2. Encyclopedia, World. 2020. “World Heritage Encyclopedia”. Community.Worldheritage.

Org. http://community.worldheritage.org/ articles/eng/Afzal_Gunj.

3. Alam, Shah Manzoor. HyderabadSecunderabad: A Study in Urban Geography.

Hyderabad: Allied Publishers, 1961 4. Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books, 1961.

5. The Telangana Heritage (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Maintenance) Act, 2017.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sneha Parthasarathy is Principal Architect and Co-Founder of deccan amalgam; a Hyderabad based research and design studio. She has a Masters degree in Advanced Studies in Architecture from ETSAB, Barcelona. Through various design and social initiatives in Hyderabad city she aspires to improve her interaction with its landscape, history, infrastructure, politics and its people. She believes that any type of design intervention, no matter its scale, affects the city and the way we inhabit it. She maintains a blog of her architectural musings called ‘Architecture and the City’ (link below) http://snehaparthasarathy.blogspot.com

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FEATURE ARTICLE

CRITICAL CARING OF BAGMATI RIVER SUPRIMA JOSHI

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The Valley of Kathmandu has been a land of rich culture, myth, and serene heritages for centuries. To sustain the resources of the valley, the indigenousNewar society built ‘Guthi’ (institute) systems. Taking care of public spaces was a daily norm rather than a necessity.

However, unstable socio-politics and globalization changed the demographics and beliefs of people in the valley.

Critically caring for the commons is needed as an adaptation to this rapid urbanization. Perhaps sustenance is not in building new places but in keeping the existing ones intact.

In this essay, we will look at the Bagmati river of Kathmandu valley as a case for existing practices of care. The example also introduces a hybrid module mentioned by Lekakis [4] -commonsbased governance for heritage- the balance between the social bottom-up community participation and investment of a top-down approach to improving a place.

Experts visiting riverfront complexes Image credit: Author

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NEGLIGENCE OF THE COMMONS The Kathmandu Valley is a region of 600 sq. km (230 sq miles) in the Bagmati Zone of central Nepal. It is home to hundreds of smaller towns and three of the largest cities in Nepal. This includes Kathmandu itself, the capital city and largest urban area of Nepal.

From the 12th to the 18th century, the city of Kathmandu experienced significant growth, and the valley became rich in its culture and heritage. Spatially the towns of Kathmandu Valley grew as compact settlements with numerous public open spaces. This design allowed people to organically build their lifestyles centred around sharing resources and culture.

Lively Durbar Square of Patan Image source: 1855, Henry Ambrose Oldfield (1822-1871) British Library:https://nemfrog.tumblr.com/ post/164772484502/the-centre-of-patan-nepal-with-the-temple-of CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Truck garage-cities back face towards the river. Image source: Author

In recent decades, however, political changes caused a surge of immigrants in the valley. Lack of planning caused haphazard organic urban growth, and the valley became home to encroachment and neglect on various scales. The Valley with a population of about 2.7 million, growing at 4.32 % per annum, is one of the fastest urbanizing cities in Asia1.

This increase in population led settlers to compete for housing, employment, education, and other assets. For personal benefit, everyone tries to get their rights to the city, leaving a hand full of people willing to take responsibility for the commons.

GUTHI (INSTITUTIONS) The Newars, an ethnic community group of the Kathmandu Valley, built a community governance system called ‘Guthi’ to preserve heritage and culture.

Guthi is an organization consisting of patrilineal family members or people from the same caste whose influence is usually bound to the territorial boundary and ancestral built temples [4]. The system has been part of the Newa society since the 5th century CE [5]. Since communal and religious events went hand-in-hand, guthis not only organized festivals, religious activity, and funerals but also taught 102 103

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craftmanship, played music, did social works. Their responsibilities usually include maintaining heritages such as monasteries, sattals (public rest house), temples and water conduits as well [4].

This community organization was an organic model of a commoning practice in the valley.

Today, Guthis are not as strong as they used to be, and only the nationally recognized ones are active and often function purely for religious purposes.

The western practice of a nuclear lifestyle has made people inattentive to their family guthi, reducing local manpower and economy. Additionally, the government has made it harder to sustain the system. The ‘Guthi Sanstha Act’ in 1964, its amendment in 1976, and the 2019 bill are moments when the state engulfed several guthis and tried to remove local trustees. This made the public guthi land either nationalized or privatized (and distributed amongst the members0 [4,6]

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

CRITICAL CARING: THE BAGMATI RIVER The Bagmati river is one of the main natural assets of the valley. It was degraded heavily due to pollution created by rapid urbanization. Despite its bleak state, the Bagmati river remains a fundamental natural resource that runs in the heart of the valley and still holds tremendous religious value. While caring for our commons has become an emerging issue, it may also be the vehicle for radical change.

Care seems to be such a simple term because it comes typically with dyadic relations and thus consists of chains of people [2]. One such act was started in 2013 by Leela Mani Poudyal who initiated the ‘Bagmati Mega Clean-Up Campaign’. Poudyal started cleaning the riverfront in his locality reminiscing his childhood, but this ignition of care spread widely over the years.

Human-chain Bagmati. Image Source: Alaka Lamsal, https://alakalamsal.blogspot.com/2015/

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various forums also participate in this program. One of the symbolic acts was on the 100th Bagmati Clean-Up Campaign when 220,000 people came together to form a 27.8 km-long human chain along the river [3].

NRCT celebrating 350th week of the campaign. Image Source: Kathmandu Post, https://kathmandupost. com/miscellaneous/2018/03/17/down-to-theriver-20180317073130

The campaign became an influential project that has now continued for more than 350 weeks [3]. It is an act of solidarity showing strong interest by the people to improve their public assets.

The locals participating in the campaign for years show the adaptation and growth with the changed relationship towards the river. Instead of just guthi, now the government, NGO’s, CBO’s, institutes, schools, and many more people from CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

“There is no reason to believe that bureaucrats and politicians, no matter how wellmeaning, are better at solving problems than the people on the spot, who have the strongest incentive to get the solution right.”

-Elinor Ostrom While the notion of public interest is clear, infrastructural growth of this scale needs a large sum of money and can be implemented only by a top-down actor.

The government played this role, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), by initiating a 10.5 km Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project (BRBIP). The

The Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project. Image Source: map - Author and renders from BRBIP website

project includes constructing two dams for regulating water flow in different seasons, beautifying, and landscaping the riverfront, constructing a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), revitalizing temple complexes, and revitalizing the ghats (cremation steps)6. The project will be completed in the next four years and

when it does, should function as a public asset to the city. To reach this point itself seems to be a success, however, sustenance comes only by constant maintenance. The next section highlights a few factors that should be included as possible next steps.

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LEARNINGS The ‘Bagmati Mega Clean-Up Campaign’ and ‘Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project’ combined represent a case of common-based governance for heritage. The strength of these projects comes with the presence of the other. There is a need for constant collaboration between the government and the local community. Here are some ideas for maintenance strategies: 1. Find a point of leverage in the stakeholders, where an organization holding soft power on both the communitybased party as well as the government can be introduced.

Here an unbiased organization should have ownership of the riverfront and its heritages (as guthi once did).

Power hierarchy in stakeholders, where can soft power be leveraged? Image Source: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Community economy generators- informal economy Image Source: https:// skychasersworld.com/gallery/kathmandu/ >>

2. We need incentives that go beyond religion and values for people to constantly care for heritage sites. When people financially benefit from a resource, they tend to care for them. Thus, a model of the circular economy needs to be introduced to keep the riverfront afloat without outside financial help. Existing small businesses like public vendors, informal farming, retail stores, and other local activity are important assets to the riverfront, and this will help sustain the economy. Thus, spatial designing for the soft formalization of these informal businesses is important. JK Gibson Grahams’ iceberg graph8 is a good representation of community economic success.

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Once the riverfront is revamped, possible ways to educate and do workshops. Image Source: Author

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

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3. Education, marketing, and workshops are never enough.

Providing toolkits and apps is the modern way of communicating with everyone. Transparency with the locals and constant updates helps keep projects active.

Iceberg diagram Image Source: Author

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

REFERENCES: 1. Anon, ‘Bagmati Action Plan 2009-2014’, (Lalitpur, High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilization) 2. Doina Petrescu, Kim Trogal, ‘The social (re) production of Architecture’, (London and New York, Routledge, 2017), pg 159-174 3. Lamsal, A., 2015. [Online] Available at: https://alakalamsal.blogspot.com/2015/ [Accessed 10 10 2020].

4. Stelios Lekakis, Shibhit Shakya, Vasilis Kostakis, ‘Bringing the community back: A case study of the Post-Earthquake Heritage Restoration in Kathmandu Valley’,( s.l.: Tallinn University of Technology, 2018)

6. Asian Development Bank, ‘Initial Environment Examination Report, Nepal: Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project’, (Kathmandu, ADB, April 2019) 7. Angelika Fitz, Elke Kransnt, ‘Critical Care: Architecture and Urbanism for a Broken Planet.’ (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2019) 8. J.K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron, Stephen Healy, Take Back the Economy: An ethical guide for transforming our communities, (Minneapolis. London, University of Minnesota Press, 2013), pg1015.

5. AFP, 19/06/2019. [Online] Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/ news/2019/6/19/thousands-in-nepalprotest-against-cultural-guthi-bill [Accessed 10 10 2020].

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Suprima Joshi is an architect and urban designer specializing in waterfront development.

She got her master’s in urban design from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, and bachelors from School of planning and architecture, New Delhi. She worked for the Phase II of Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project in Kathmandu, Nepal under the Nepal government and Asian Development Bank. She also did her thesis in studying maintenance and care for the Bagmati river. She is currently working at Riverlife, an NGO in Pittsburgh that works for the development and maintenance for the three rivers of Pittsburgh.

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MOTION CAPTURED

LANDSCAPES OF THE INBETWEEN: A PERI-URBAN PHOTO ESSAY

NIKITA KULKARNI

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

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MOTION CAPTURED

Landscapes of the in-between, is a conscious observation of the peri-urban interface between Hubli-Dharwad; the twin cities of Karnataka. Understanding the specific opportunities that arise from the meeting of urban and rural, the peri-urban can be defined as a third type of space. Why is it always assumed that the peri-urban is destined to become urban? It exists as a unique space which has its own identity and place making ability. Looking at the condition of the commons in such a transitional space, this photo essay attempts to capture the lives of the peri-urban dwellers, the transforming landscapes and the various experiences specific to the periurban.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

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MOTION CAPTURED

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

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MOTION CAPTURED

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MOTION CAPTURED

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MOTION CAPTURED

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MOTION CAPTURED

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MOTION CAPTURED

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER Nikita Kulkarni is an architect, recently graduated from Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture, Mumbai (KRVIA). Her area of study includes urban transitions and its intersections with governance, identity, social structure and ecology. She is also interested in studying the psychoanalytics of space and the relationship of the body with the city. Being a photography enthusiast, Nikita captures the everyday; critically observes and builds a narrative around it.

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CITY TRAILS

RETURNING TO THE CITY OF TRUTH : CALICUT CHINNU S KUMAR

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

“If I tell you that the city towards which my journey tends is discontinuous in space and time, now scattered, now more condensed, you must not believe the search for it can stop.

Perhaps while we speak, it is rising, scattered, within the confines of your empire,” you can hunt for it, but only in the way I have said.’’

- Italo Calvino [1]

Mukteshwar Temple Archway I llustration credit: Author

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A heritage walk is always an event never to be missed because it alters one’s perception about the city in just sixty minutes.

The spirit of the passionate organizers is transferred through the trail consigning a feeling of having read a hundred books. The legacy of great cities like Bombay and Delhi can be enjoyed during heritage walks to augment the reverence towards the city a hundred-fold, and that is the sole reason to play a part in such walks without a second thought. But when asked to go for a heritage walk in my own city, I stepped back and thought for a while. ‘What more can I find out about my city wherein all my ancestral roots were confined, than I have already read and known?’ But this was also an opportunity to put oneself in someone else’s shoes, especially that of a Navy Captain who has sailed to various places.

Captain Ramesh Babu.

Photo credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

I regret to say I went empty handed without a single piece of paper to jot down points, assuming nothing new will strike my ears; I hereby apologize for my bad memory of people and places. The crowd assembled right on time for an introduction about the heritage walk initiative, and a hard copy of a compilation of beautiful sketches was circulated. I managed to get it in between and see the pictures that paint a thousand words. I flicked through its pages as it escorted me to the past.

Under the iconic light house, the Captain started off with the story of Calicut to the story of stranded goddess Lakshmi from Eitheehyamala, a mythological compendium of Kerala. Cheraman Perumal, who had the control over the peninsula, renounced the kingdom to embrace Islam and distributed the land to local feudal lords. The royal sword and a tiny patch of marsh land was left by the Perumal for Eradis, the local chieftains with an order to “Kill, Die and Annex”[2].

The city started then to emerge as one of the finest ports to trade in ‘black gold’ – black pepper to merchants of Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, Arabia and even China [3].

In the present, our group rushed to the north bridge after the brief introduction about the city and its political background. The crowd was diverse, from kids to elderly and from various cultural backgrounds. I put on the hand gloves given by the organizers to pick nonbiodegradable waste on our way. When the curator introduced the second stop, a Buddhist Vihara, I was shocked to realize that my city housed a Vihara typology – a monumental domical structure. This was very familiar to me as an architect, but I was ignorant about the fact that it existed in Calicut. I rushed to the Customs Road along with the crowd to see a pitchroofed house and learned from the curator that it was designed to adapt to the local climate in a vernacular attire.

The most interesting feature was a Bodhi tree along the compound wall, which is believed to be the descendant of the tree carried by Ashoka’s children to Sri Lanka from Gaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment. The group moved towards the Beach Hospital premises wherein representatives of the local AngloIndian community spoke about their creed. We then crossed Connolly Park to the old French enclave opposite to the present corporation precinct. The

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narration was made interesting with local tales of Kappiriparambil Kotha, which portrayed the historical political scenario.

Sculptures along the Silk street reminded one about the great Chinese fleet of Zheng He with 60 vessels, intoned by the locals as the floating city of China, as even the Portuguese arrived a century later with only 12 vessels. The group slowly moved through St. Joseph’s school remembering Mother Veronica, gradually stopping at the Mother of God Cathedral (Picture 2). The renovated building had lost its patina giving a false image about historical context, but the curator painted a picture with his stories.

Calicut light house

Photo credit: Author

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

We then entered the St. Joseph’s Boys School premises to settle in the alley behind it, where we discovered the remnants of an old fire hydrant laid by the British. A native from the local Sindhi community spoke about their community and inherited money-managing practices.

We visited their place of worship to pay reverence and slowly departed to the end of the street which crowned the skylines of the old urban fabric, listening to the description by the natives and eventually halting at an exquisite double-storied structure which used to

be the old telegraph office. The building is beautifully maintained by its owners, keeping its charm intact and maintaining the mixed-use typology of office space on the ground floor and residential spaces above it. The crowd was tired by now but were refreshed by interesting stories of shorthand used by the natives to save money while sending a telegraph.

The group moved towards the beach road near the Freedom Monument to inspire memories of horse carriages, the old road and the sea-trade fares. Towards the North of the beach road stood colonial bungalows with their charm commanding the sea. We walked North to the Gujarati school, where natives of the local Gujarati and Marathi community addressed the crowd. The group then slowly moved towards Gandhi Statue where the curator concluded the session and discussed suggestions on the betterment of this initiative. We ended up at the nearby French Bakery when I was ready to eat a horse, and gobbled up the exotic French cupcakes. Sweet ending indeed.The session was an eye-opener for me. Each alley had a story of its own.

The bustling shores of Calicut crowded with locals relaxing, has a rich heritage

Mother of God Cathedral Photo credit: Author

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hidden beneath the fine sands of time.

Now when I close my eyes, I can see small vessels bringing goods from the hefty ships on the horizon and delivering them at north bridge where people are gathered to manage their goods. Hats off to the rich legacy of the old port city.

And to conclude, I should say that this was more creative than other walks because this was not a casual walk at least for me, but a penny for my thoughts.

Post script: This article is a reflection of my experience of the Heritage walk conducted by Captain Ramesh Babu in the city of Calicut on 1st of April, 2017. Later, I joined the team to trace more trails of the city and compile a book titled ‘Calicut heritage trails’ which was published during the Kerala Literature festival 2020.

Special Thanks to Ar. Lakshmi Manohar for more valuable insights about the city.

REFERENCES: 1. Calvino, Italo. Invisible cities. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1978.

2. Babu, Ramesh. 2020. Calicut Heritage Trails. Kottayam: D C Books.

3. Narayanan, M. G. S. Calicut: The city of truth revisited. University of Calicut, 2006.

Freedom Monument Photo credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Colonial Bunglow. Photo credit: Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born and bought up in the city of Calicut, Chinnu S Kumar is an urban designer by profession and academic by passion. Having completed her graduation in Architecture from TKM Kollam and post-graduation in Urban Design from SPA New Delhi, she is currently pursuing her PhD at NIT Jaipur. During her tenure at D.G. College of Architecture as an assistant professor, she conducted several heritage walks along with Captain Ramesh Babu for Rhodes Scholars from Europe and America. She co-authored a book titled ‘Calicut Heritage Trails’, a compilation of several heritage trails in the city of Calicut. It was published during the 2020 Kerala Literature Festival.

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

DOCUMENTING CULTURAL LANDSCAPES OF FISHING COASTAL COMMONS IN CHENNAI, INDIA DHANYA RAJAGOPAL

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

In March 2019, I carried out a two-week Participatory Action Research (PAR) in Kottivakkam Kuppam fishing hamlet in my hometown in Chennai, India as part of my master’s program in Urban Placemaking and Management. The field study was supported by a research grant from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY, and it investigates the potential of coastal commons management through a Cultural Landscape framework prescribed by UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention. Cultural Landscapes represent the ‘combined works of nature and man’ [1], wherein ‘Culture is the agent, nature is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result’ [2]. In the context of Indian cities, coastal commons -- where the land and sea meet-- are fraught with complicated colonial era laws that had led to widespread mismanagement that deem them as ‘wastelands’ or poromboke in Tamil.

In Kottivakkam Kuppam, children were key informants, facilitating informal conversation and dialogue with elders and adolescents in the community Image credit: Author

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Fishing communities have over centuries evolved a deep connection to the landscape, fostering their own unique socio-cultural practices which oversee and manage the coastal resources.

My thesis took inspiration from the pioneering movement initiated by K Saravanan, a fisherman-turned mapping activist, from Kottivakkam Kuppam, Chennai, who sought to redraw coastal land-use maps in an attempt to reclaim their customary rights over coastal commons [3]. These maps “educate” lawmakers and show the value of

commons for their livelihood, and ecological functions. ‘Culture and identity are not just about social relationships they are also profoundly spatial’ [4]. The study therefore focuses on the everyday interactions of fishing communities with the coastal commons (referred to as ‘socio-spatial’ interactions), and identifies tools for practitioners to carry out responsible community engagement.

Using PAR methods, I attempted to capture these coastal landscape values as told by the fishing community.

Kottivakkam Kuppam is a 200 year old fishing hamlet located in Chennai, India home to 1076 people mostly belonging to the fishing community. Location Map. Image credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Despite the Coastal Regulation Zone 2011 requiring every state to produce Coastal Zone Management Plans detailing land-use for fishing, the community is engaged as an afterthought with minimal scope for participatory planning, resulting in dilution of coastal regulations and misinformed decision making. Such a ‘landscape approach’ to data collection incorporates ecological factors as a basis to understanding the local institutions

and indigenous knowledge [5]. The PAR process results in exchange of information and observation between the two knowledge worlds--the community and the practitioners-- through ‘collective inquiry and action grounded in experience and social history’ [6].

Understanding these traditional practices have in fact safeguarded common resources through collective action as depicted in Ostrom’s Common Pool Resource theory [7].

The map demarcates the following uses of the coastal commons: formal, and informal areas of recreation, livelihood, community use, sacred spaces & boundaries, turtle nesting areas and natural mudflats. Image credit: Author

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PARTICIPATORY MAPPING OF COASTAL COMMONS Maps are not neutral administrative tools but dynamic instruments that can be used strategically [8]. Social mapping was used as a tool for advocacy, and a cognitive form of mapping the landscape consolidated from prompts and discussion with the residents. This approach suggests shifting official land use mapping processes from focusing on maps as an outcome, to a process of empowerment and a record of traditional practices. The categories mapped indicate Livelihood, Infrastructure, Recreational, Religious/ Sacred, Ecologically valuable spaces and “opportunity sites�. Documenting spatial processes at the scale of the community is important to communitybased forms of resource management [9]. The practice of resource sharing, fragile ecosystem management and rituals related to the sea were recorded during the oral history documentation with adults.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The map demarcates the following uses of the coastal commons: formal, and informal areas of recreation, livelihood, community use, sacred spaces & boundaries, turtle nesting areas and natural mudflats. Image credit: Author

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Map indicating local landmarks in and around Kottivakkam. Image credit: Author

CHILDREN AS IMPORTANT LANDSCAPE EVALUATORS

spaces of play and sacred markers that

Generally, in the evaluation of cultural

would have otherwise not caught my

landscapes and environment, children

attention. The qualitative data collection

are seen more as receivers of knowledge

methods - transect walk and photovoice,

rather than being able to express their

were not planned initially but evolved

own perception [10]. Their interactions

organically as an alternative to a typical

revealed the difference in landscape

mapping workshop in the community

values of younger residents compared to

hall, since it was hard to get children to

adults, as well as uncovering informal

point to spaces on a satellite map.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Children perceive landscapes in ways that are meant beyond the set functions and uses. Their role in cultural landscape evaluation is an important indicator of needs and assets of the community at large. Image credit: Author

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Photovoice is an empowering qualitative

to communicate spatial issues and

method used in community-based

ideas for improvement within their

participatory research where participants

neighbourhood. The images captured the

can “identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique” [11]. The process accurately represents a community’s strength or concerns by photographing scenes that highlight

‘felt needs’ of the residents rather than my ‘perceived needs’ as an outsider, thereby minimising assumptions and generalisations. We also unearthed many stories of how these places had

research themes [12]. This was an

transformed while reflecting on these

effective medium to engage children

photographs with a larger group of

and youth between the ages of 8-15,

children.

One of the places discovered from transect walk was an abandoned private property behind the Kuppam where children often play hide and seek. Image credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Some of the areas of improvement identified during the photovoice workshop focused on trash disposal, vacant and unused spaces, and poor sanitary conditions. Image credit: Author

During the visioning session children

of coastal landscape knowledge and

were asked to draw or write in response

awareness of climate change, sanitation,

to the prompt: “How do you envision

water conservation methods, and

Kottivakkam Kuppam in ten years�. The recurring themes and reflections helped identify connections between lack of play spaces, sanitary conditions, gender

endangered species protection, across age groups. This opened a dialogue on possibilities for alternative youth

specific concerns and need for resources

employment as environmental stewards,

such as wi-fi and libraries. Descriptions of

creation of green jobs and eco-walks as

landscape values indicated a high degree

part of the cultural landscape framework.

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A sample of drawings and writings on the final workshop day representing children’s vision for the future of Kottivakkam Kuppam. Image credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

The fishermen elaborate what the term ‘development’ meant to them during the focus group discussion..

Image credit: Author

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IS MESSY,

village elders for consent, explaining

BUT TOTALLY WORTH IT!

my intentions for conducting research

As challenging as this experience was,

in his own words. I quickly realised

the learning curve was quite steep.

that for initial interactions, meeting

This was my first ever solo participatory

one-on-one might be better than

research with a short timeline of twelve

group encounters.

days in the city, to build trust, and mutual understanding with community representatives regarding each of our expectations from this interaction.

• Create a shared language: Based on suggestions from practitioners in the field, I wrote down a word list commonly used in urban design as

• Introductions are key: Although in my

part of the discussion prompts for

first meeting with fishers I was met

adults. Terms like “development”,

with skepticism and doubt (which is

“design”, “infrastructure” and

completely justified), one resident

“community” hold different

took the initiative to learn more about

connotations for different social

my research and introduced me to

groups. This was a necessary first

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step in preventing miscommunication and barriers that might surface later in the process.

• Think on your feet: Accept that things will not go according to plan. Trial and error is an unavoidable part of PAR, which will open up creative new ways of engaging, in tune with the realities and learnings on the ground.

• Share data back with the community: As an ethical practice and commitment towards the grant, I’m currently working towards sharing the ‘Story of Kottivakkam Kuppam’ in the local language, including copy of photos, maps, videos, and drawings from the workshops. This also strengthens the trust and relationship with the community in the long run.

The participatory approach contributes new pathways to understand fishing communities and their landscape values. This collective appreciation also serves as instruments to propel public awareness regarding the beach as more than just a place for recreation, but as a unique cultural landscape, leading to a gradual change in the management and care for coastal commons.

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

Recommendations were based on the issues that surfaced during the participatory workshop and practitioners interview. Image credit: Author

REFERENCES: 1. Centre, UNESCO. 2019. “The Operational Guidelines For The Implementation Of The World Heritage Convention”. Whc.Unesco.

Org. https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/.

2. Bell, Stephen. 2012. “Carl Sauer On Culture And Landscape: Readings And Commentaries”. Journal Of Historical Geography 38 (1): 103-104. doi:10.1016/j. jhg.2011.11.005.

3. Kumar, M., Saravanan, K. and Jayaraman, N. 2014. “Mapping the Coastal Commons”.

Economic and Political Weekly, 49(48). https://www.iccaconsortium.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/08/examplemapping-the-coastal-commons-kumar-2014en.pdf.

4. Stephenson, Janet. 2008. “The Cultural Values Model: An Integrated Approach To Values In Landscapes”. Landscape And Urban Planning 84 (2): 127-139. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.07.003.

5. Adade Williams, Portia, Likho Sikutshwa, and Sheona Shackleton. 2020. “Acknowledging Indigenous And Local Knowledge To Facilitate Collaboration In Landscape Approaches—Lessons From A Systematic Review”. Land 9 (9): 331. doi:10.3390/ land909033 6. Reason, Peter, and Hilary Bradbury.

2008. “The SAGE Handbook of Action Research”. London: Sage Publications. doi:10.4135/9781848607934.

7. Ostrom, Elinor. 2015. “Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action”. https://doi.org/10.1017/ CBO9781316423936.

8. Johnsen, Jahn Petter, and Bjørn Hersoug.

2014. “Local Empowerment Through The Creation Of Coastal Space?”. Ecology And Society 19 (2). doi:10.5751/es-06465190260.

9. St. Martin, Kevin. 2001. “Making Space For Community Resource Management In Fisheries”. Annals Of The Association Of American Geographers 91 (1): 122-142. doi:10.1111/0004-5608.00236.

10. Puolamäki, Laura. 2017. “Tracing Cultural Landscape Values Of Children With Participatory Geographic Information System”. European Countryside 9 (2): 375396. doi:10.1515/euco-2017-0023.

11. Wang, Caroline, and Mary Ann Burris. 1997.

“Photovoice: Concept, Methodology, And Use For Participatory Needs Assessment”.

Health Education & Behavior 24 (3): 369387. doi:10.1177/109019819702400309.

12. “TEAM Lab Photovoice Literature Review Written By: Darrah L ... Pages 1 - 15 Flip PDF Download | Fliphtml5”. 2020.

Fliphtml5.Com. https://fliphtml5.com/bsxh/ waqn/basic.

13. Jones, 2007; Selman, 2012

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dhanya Rajagopal is the Program Director at Public Landscape and Urbanism Studio a collaborative practice based in Chennai, India and San Francisco. An architect and Urban Placemaker with a particular interest in participatory design process and place management, she swears by the magical healing of an equitable, sustainable and safe public realm.

In New York she worked in both nonprofits and private practice as Program Associate and Placemaking Consultant at the Design Trust for Public Space, and Agora Partners respectively. She also worked at Gehl Institute, New York as a Research Intern on developing city guidelines. She is a core member of Placemaking India, and co-founder of Just Rehub- a platform for city visioning and volunteer training in Chennai. Dhanya holds an MS in Urban Placemaking and Management from Pratt Institute, NY & a B.Arch from Meenakshi College Of Engineering, School of Architecture, Chennai.

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COLLABORATIVE DESIGN IN THE PUBLIC REALM MEHRNAZ AMIRASLANI & JINTO GEORGE

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Urban design primarily intervenes in the public realm where the main stakeholders are the immediate community or the public at large. In response, collaborative design keeps the people squarely at center of design by directly involving them in the process. We believe collaborating with community in decision making for design not only achieves responding to their grassroot needs, but also cultivates a strong sense of citizenry and responsibility towards urban spaces.

The studios Living Heritage and People, Place, Identity, and Change were offered from Bachelor of Urban Design program, CEPT University, Ahmedabad during Monsoon 2019 and Spring 2020 respectively, tutored by Mehrnaz Amiraslani and Jinto George. These studios shared a common structure and pedagogical methods. They addressed the complexities of designing in shared urban spaces by introducing students to processes involved in co-designing in an existing settlement.

Through methodical interactions, students learnt to design together with the community members and not only for them.

The studios addressed skills and sensitivities required for such design process.

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PARTICIPATORY APPROACH IN URBAN DESIGN While designing public spaces, stakeholders participation shifts this process from a technocratic-driven one towards a democratic one. Collaborative design is also a generative process as together with community, designers can arrive at solutions they did not initially imagine. Through actively involving community members, we can build capacity in them, as well as awareness of environment and their ability to play a role in shaping it. Subsequently, resident community can contribute to maintaining of these common spaces, making it a sustainable model.

Bringing this process to academics helps students build empathy with communities they design for. Studio process was planned to learn directly from people, think and re-imagine with them, and turn the learnings into a chance for devising new solutions. Students could examine their ideas through community and experiment arriving at a collective design that responds to both requirements of users and vision and principles of designers.

STUDIO BRIEF AND INTENTS During studios, students explored processes of collaborating with community members closely in envisioning a future for and devising design interventions with. To practice such collaborative process, our query was set in context of reviving associations between an urban space and its residents through spatial interventions. Through engaging the users of space directly in the design process in a step-by-step manner, studio followed co-designing methods to uncover factors of spatial association and to arrive at a design.

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Accordingly, we followed these queries: • How can designers address the growing issue of detachment between people and their places and the loss of identity that follows?

• What constitutes identity from users’ point of view?

out causing lack of maintenance for the village as well as increased disassociation of its residents. Students have selected site in the common spaces in the village and addressed the interface with private spaces as well.

• How to identify these factors from the grassroots

STUDIO PROCESS, TOOLS, AND MECHANISMS

• To arrive at a rooted response, how can designers effectively engage with residents and include them in the process of envisioning and designing?

We believe the resident community have a deep knowledge of a place, its history and workings, and its people.

Hence, we tried to pair this knowledge from everyday experience of residents to complement students’ holistic outlook as designers to arrive at a comprehensive design response. Students involved community in participatory mapping that helped knowing site and its stakeholders, in brainstorming sessions to re-imagining spaces, and co-producing a vision and design response.

• How can designers communicate spatial design and strategy concepts to residents?

• How can we learn residents’ perceptions of spaces and their collective and in-depth knowledge of spaces?

SITE We anchored these investigations in Ambli urban-village in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Like many other city villages, due to the fast-paced growth around Ambli, this historic village is going through a transitional phase affecting its identity: its social structure, economic dynamics, and physical fabric are transforming.

Many of Ambli’s residents have moved

Studio imparted required skills and tools for this process: soft communication skill, and interactive visual tools and methods for receiving and recording information and conveying spatial qualities and design ideas. The visual representations were appropriated so residents, as non-designer users, could easily grasp them and participate.

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There was a two-way flow of information between studio and community: Students learnt from community about site and residents’ perceptions, spatial requirements, and priorities; community received reflections on design ideas formed through this participatory process.Hence, drawings and illustrations were produced with two purposes: • To communicate with residents These were outcome of breaking complicated ideas into smaller elements and translating them into simple visuals that are readable by layman.

• To communicate with design audience or to synthesize stages These were to analyze the information

received from above stage, also during development of design post community meetings We followed a four phased process in studio: PHASE 1: KNOWING THE SITE AND ITS PEOPLE To truly grasp the context and complexities in lives of people we design for requires engaging with them deeply, in different ways and capacities. This step involved study and documentation of site and patterns of residents’ use, both through passive observations and active engagement with community.

Analysis of these patterns revealed the triggers which later were considered in strategic proposals.

Documentation and analysis of mapped usage patterns. Image credit: Author CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

We also investigated the social construct, crucial in a participatory approach, particularly interdependencies between stakeholders and decision-making processes.

Thresholds were documented as contested spaces between private and public realms accommodating variety of activities and contributing to vibrancy of public realm.

Tools: Flash cards, questionnaires, interactive map, analysis matrix

Participatory mapping with community.

Image credit: Muskan Mansuri

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Domestic activities extended activate public realm & define notional boundaries Image credit: Moryada Swagiri, Aditi Mishra

CITY OBSERVER | December 2020

PHASE 2: DISCOVERING PEOPLE’S ATTACHMENTS WITH PLACE Students interacted with selected user groups to learn their perception of spaces in Ambli and analyzed those to find how these memories relate to village’s spatial structure.

Together with community members they developed a vision addressing connection with Ambli and strategized spatial interventions accordingly.

Tools: Group discussions, interviews, oral history, perception mapping, physical models, problem tree, SWOT analysis

Mapping users’ attachment with place Image credit: Anokhi Brahambat

Mapping users’ attachment with place Image credit: Divya Rampal

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Strategy plan Image credit: Shiva Shankar

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PHASE 3: FORMING VISION AND STRATEGIC PLAN WITH COMMUNITY We discussed strategic plans and conceptual proposals with the residents. To do so, factors of location, connections, and spatial qualities were communicated through visuals readable for community members. Each student discussed multiple options with their selected user group and drew comparisons to understand their priorities. Students paired these learnings with their own insights and vision for future to form short- and long-term strategies.

Tools: Interactive models, photomontages, flash cards Communicating spatial qualities to residents to learn their preferences Image credit: Anokhi Brahambat, Riddhi Gondaliya

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Communicating strategy to user group through simplified diagram. Image credit: Moryada Swagiri

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Site analysis and concept planning Image credit: Moryada Swagiri

Construction blocks used to learn kids’ spatial qualities, Poster to invite kids Image credit: Author

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Collages to communicate design with residents Image credit: Muskan Mansuri

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PHASE 4: DESIGNING WITH COMMUNITY Analyzing residents’ inputs brought us to spatial qualities such as privacy, spatial hierarchy, enclosure, and perforated interfaces. Students employed these qualities together with their expertise of designing in public realm to form design responses as inserts within existing fabric.

Students had learnt the interdependencies between different user groups through multiple interactions with them. To gain a realistic idea about stakeholders’ involvement and interrelationships in an urban intervention, students analyzed alignments and conflicts between stakeholders, and their power and interests in context of their proposal.

Through this, students exercised building consensus between the stakeholders with various interests and roles.

Tools: Collages, 3D visuals, stakeholder analysis diagram

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Revive identity by redesigning interface with city: urban design guidelines proposal. Image credit: Authors

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Proposed armature of playful spaces and gathering nodes Image credit: Raghav Kohli

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INFERENCES FROM STUDIOS • Inputs received from residents, although profound and vital, often reflect their everyday experiences and immediate concerns. Foresighted vision of designers can complement it to arrive at a comprehensive strategy and design.

• A participatory approach to design is an iterative one. The feedback we receive from users are measuring sticks critical for validating ideas and strategies.

• Users shall be presented options and not singular design so to draw comparisons and convey their spatial preferences and priorities.

• Although time-consuming, this process can create vibrant urban commons, as it closely reflects aspirations and priorities of users.

• This design method is not a perfectly linear process. Also, the methods, steps, or tools are not to be taken as a set, but selectively chosen to fit the community involved.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Mehrnaz Amiraslani has studied architecture in Tehran, Iran and continued to do her master’s degree in Urban Design from University of Toronto, Canada. Her interest in research and academics has revolved around including citizens in the process of design and alternative placemaking methods. In practice also she focuses on involving stakeholders in design and maintenance of public buildings and shared spaces. She has worked in India, Canada, and Iran and has been teaching at CEPT University in Bachelors of Urban Design and Masters in Planning and Architecture programs.

Jinto George is an architect and urban designer with international experience. He pursued his Architecture from MEASI, Chennai and went on to do his Masters in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. Over the years, working in Ahmedabad, Chennai and Oxford he has dealt with projects involving Architecture, Conservation and Master planning, and has been teaching studios at CEPT University.

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IMAGE CREDIT: VIDHYA MOHANKUMAR

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