OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS

*ROUGHNESS

Roughness could be perceived through various modes and at various places. In order to understand this phenomenon if the reader would situate themselves in the given space.

Let’s think of a Chair as a prime example for what roughness would mean, a chair in our household is a leisurely object. But most of the time there are clothes hung over it or sometimes even things which generally would allocate a shelf with. But this everyday object seems to capture more of the everyday than usual. It’s used as a stool to climb or a wardrobe to stack clothes etc. this brings about a halt to its identity as a chair, is it a chair now? Yes, it does more than that, but eventually defeats the purpose of sitting. This is what I mean by “Roughness”. This phenomenon exists in our everyday lives almost everywhere.

and remade continuously. This is the context of blurry claims and forms, where much of the city – its enterprise, property relationships and much of its life – gets worked out. It is these blurry conditions that not only make the city, but are the city”. (Bard Studio 2012)

*CLAIM & PRACTICE

*MIXED USE

Mixed use is defined as an object or space suitable/used for several different functions and events. Street in context with mixed use is what has been defining streets in India altogether, here the term Public & Private diminishes . It’s blurred.

Historically streets were defined on the basis of events or activities solely. In the Pre-Greco- Roman era .The Greeks evolved a variety of building types for distinct functions and a sophisticated way to lay them out in an intermingled fashion around public open spaces. Offering an opportunity for various kinds of activities to be performed in public open spaces . Most cities were predominantly pedestrian oriented and “wheeled traffcwasnotallowedduringthedaytimeinthe streets of Rome”.The Industrial age brought a boost to the population growth. This resulted in emerging squatter settlements along street edges and pavements. These activities laid out the mutation of several identities, folding and smudging. As the footfall increased new markets emerged. New shops juxtaposed into another which emerged a new typology or method of reading streets called as claim. “The city seems nicely messy with an overlap of objects, activities and smells. Its logic gets structured through numerous and simultaneous claims: of shop owners, two feet shopkeepers, vendors, pedestrians, car owners, buyers, and of causal walkers. Its form is shaped by constant morphing and mutation of building envelopes, plot shapes and street edges where boundaries are made, erased

Street vending provides employment to a large section of the population in India. The poor, middle class sections in the city are able to procure their basic necessities mainly through street vendors. What differs them from general shop owners or food shops?The answer lies on the streets.Vendors selling fresh vegetables and spices usually concentrate in areas adjacent to the municipal markets, Chaat, drinks and food stalls accumulate near public spaces like railway station adjacent sidewalks or near bus stands where there is a surety of pedestrian footfall. Here the politics of practice play an important role since this builds a relationship between one’s practice of laying out a stall and one’s practice/routine from work to home. This works since there is an ease of accessibility for daily commuters to come in contact with their daily needs. Even the idea of placing their stalls in direct eye contact from the station entrance or in between street edges makes it easier for people to communicate. Fish vendors are the most prominent claim owners of the street, they define their space via scent, spatial configuration. These claims do not limit just to spaces but also culture, most of the vendors in streets of mumbai are Koli women who familiarize themselves with their cultural identity which builds association for buyers of genuinity. In most of the street edges where a community of women sell fish, there won’t be any overlap of other vendors even after they have vacated the space. Such invisible authorities of claims could also be stated as identities of the street also exist near dadar station’s ‘Flower Market’. This street market begins at sharp 5 in the morning and the flower baskets empty at around 7. yet the fragrance resonates in between those edges.)