RESEARCH QUESTION

* HOW DO SPATIALITIES OF ROUGHNESS OF STREETS AFFECT THEIR EXPERIENCE?

Through Space & Experience there are a lot of notions and understandings we perceive and these perceptions is what builds this argument so to ask the question How?. How are these series of elements, events, practices and movement patterns shaping experience?. What is the framework to understand this?. What are the units to analyze?. To understand how this works, how a basic entity like the street with the design for ‘ease of movement’ could do so much more, house so many possibilities which create these experiences. “Mumbai is made of such diffusions where building edges, boundary walls, sidewalks and carriageways fuse together. Display and storage spaces extend into the streets from shops along them. Two feet deep shops, with one foot anchored inside a plot or a building protrude out the other foot onto the street and establish themselves as independent property. Street vendors do business during the day either on the sidewalk or on the street.” (Bard Studio 2012). The author here puts forth this dimension of diffusions between building and the street. The relationship between a shop and a sidewalk. This brings in the idea of mixed use or spill-over spaces where the identity of the street is defined, where shops act as nodes and establish certain domination over spaces. One gets to experience a subtle growth of densities. How is this relationship established? What governs such constructs of public space or do they just happen?

Debate

* HOW ARE SIMILAR SPACES PERCEIVED AS “ALIVE & HAPPENING” AND “DISCRIMINATED, UNSAFE & ROUGH”?.

“There was a certain chaos, maybe…. but not disorder, a creative chaos…the kind out of which life evolves” (Shinkre 2015,150). “Even as one somewhat sentimentally embraces the possibilities of walking as dreaming, realistically that it is a little more than a pipe dream, for walking in Mumbai reassembles much more closely a nightmare that refuses to end even after you wake up”(Phadke 2008, 283) very contrasting ways of looking at “Roughness”.

(Shinkre 2015,150) has lived his childhood in Dadar, Mumbai where he describes his experience as (liviing, working, worshipping, resting, toiling, hurrying, loitering, eating). He states the streets as a mixture of roadside shanties, family mansions, shops, workshops, flower vendors, acrobats etc, anything one could possibly imagine, and he calls this chaos as a creative chaos...kind out of which life evolves. He also states that these mixed uses/ diverse agencies make him aware of how sharing same territory, co-habiting was allowed by the built environment. The author talks about how this change that the city has encountered over the last decade like “Taller buildings rest on parking podiums and the gated communities are self suffcientislandswithinhighcompoundwalls s ”. He states that these spaces “extract life from the city”. He shares his agony of how retail activity is organised in mall’s open spaces and greenery happens only in the podium level leaving or rather desolate street scape lined with high compound walls”. He further adds this disconnnect between street and facades of building, of how single layered curtains allow transperancy but no dialogue.

The city is a complex phenomenon the writer quotes, “where the whole is not the sum of its parts, just like a forest and its trees”. He concludes by asking “Its intresting to note that in the 20th century when exact sciences like mathematics and physics test the need to develop an approach to deal with chaos and uncertainty when architecture has lost the very important ability it inherits”.

(Phadke 2008, 283) the author open up with a question as how can one ‘see’ a city? and how can one ‘claim’ a city?.

she then states that the streets of the city of mumbai ‘Are not for walking’. she points out the fact that there are 200 new cars linning up the streets everday as well as new public modes of transportationn are growing rapidly. hence ‘Walking is actually in suspect state’ She talks about notions of gazing, looking as a “big no no” on the streets of mumbai as they are seen as crime, as well as ‘just walking at night’ seems like a crime to her given the ‘Over Zeleous enforcers of the law’ haul her up.

There is alos this ‘fence’ the author talks about which carefully seperates people into categories of public-private, recreational-commercial etc. for eg. A gated society park, society gym, where even though they lie in between public areas are treated as private or only specific kinds of people are entertained. on other hand she states that the ‘Streets are not for kissing’, here the author opens up that perhaps in-betwen public-priavte there is this clearly gaurded boundry for ‘Women’ & ‘Public display of affection’. she points out certain important facts as to say that “women are considered ‘out of place’ if there is no male presence or if they are not outside for a speccific purpose”. this makes gender a very important factor to consider while talking about streets and roughness.

CASE 2: HANUMAN ROAD (AKURLI, KANDIVALI EAST)

Western express highway marks the start of this site, now overlapped with ‘Akurli’ metro station which stretches from Akurli Rd along Hanuman Nagar this site of around 250 m length is situated between ‘Vadar Pada’ slums. Mahindra & Mahindra mark the end of this street after which this street joins ‘Lokhandwala’ The street displays a variety of shops and stores, but what was peculier of the site was that the storefronts were extensions to one’s homes/tenements. The overhangs of the shops claim sidewalks. The road is the main spine which circulates in between, what stands out is the traffcandinfrastructure,cro okedpathslead to smaller alleys and gullies into the slums.

Auto Rickshaws are prominently seen, constant honking and deterrence overpowers the street/road.

There are a lot of nodes here through which footfall/traffcisinducede.g.,CFFX blocks, open gutters, construction steel, etc.

There are some residential buildings as well, the storefronts of these buildings are quite offset.

These nodes/obstructions eventually push the footfall onto the road, this causes even more commotion.

Given the narrowness of the street and array of shops throughout the street make walking/riding experience a nuisance for whom? . The street at times makes oneself feel squeezed in between lanes since there is almost no space for anybody to either walk or drive. The sidewalks are diminished or one would define them as private spaces of the shop owners (storefront) so unless one wants to shop something people do not utilize the sidewalks. Then there is a layer of infrastructure which adds on to this already rough experience. Events like digging up of gutters so the excavation is collected in heaps near sidewalks, barricades of RTO (Regional transport offce)occupyroadspaceinfunnyways. In events like a bus/truck/RMC passing through the street since there is construction going on, the two wheelers & auto rickshaws tend to take the wrong way around. This has become a common practice. This has gained attention of traffcoffcersonthestreet,whichaddsontothegrowthoftraffcand d chaos on the road. Some two wheelers even get-over sidewalks at times to get past through the traffcduringmid-daymovement.

There are no trees on the periphery hence the humid weather of the city and heat waves generated from moving vehicles add on to the discomfort. During monsoon the service road of the western express highway floods causing human movement diffcult.Vehiclesgushthroughtheaccumulatedwatercausing splashes all over the space

A green horn is tempting fate today. All those already in flight have moved aside, they’re making room. On the ground, onlookers behold this sight, brace themselves. The earth steadies itself for the descent of fire from the sky; the airborne incandescence steels itself for the land fast closing in on it

~Eleven Streets

CASE 3: NULL BAZAAR (BHULESHWAR, CHARNI ROAD)

Null Bazar is a well-known, large market place famous for its food. It was opened in 1867 and gets its name from the Hindi word nala, which means ravine, gutter, or drain. It is named so because in the past the main drain used to flow past the area. (Whitman, 2013)

Starting from ‘Gol Deval’ historically known as ‘Nageshwar Temple’ this site stretches along the sardar vallabhai Patel Marg (SVP) with the Null Bazaar market towards south and ‘Raudat Tahera’ masjid to its north and ends at ‘Zohar Chowk’. The site length is around 450m, with smaller gullies in-between. There are two major factions residing on either side of the street of the Muslim community that occupies most of the area. These factions determine the nature of shops that accumulate on the street. ‘Sunni’ & ‘Shia’ are the two major factions here. The Shia’s have set up shops along ‘Raudat Tahera’, these shops sell Quran, photo frames of religious idols, leaders etc. On the opposite facade the Sunni faction have set up shops selling garments, electronic items, dry fruits like dates etc. The street is packed with markets and handcarts, there are claims over goods, infrastructure, materials and practices. The sidewalks even though of walkable width are skewed down to alleys due to storefronts extended overhangs, their visual connectivity almost completely blurred due to claims by parked vehicles, temporary hawkers, floating shops etc. there is an array of handcarts crawling through these narrow gullies/streets overlapped with howls and screams of their owners to make way. There also exists a somewhat dilapidated structure with its maroon shiny corrugated roofs protruding from all sides covering its perimeter, stands on the southern side of the street.

This structure, once used to be a British mill, now serves as an open market selling everyday goods, vegetables & spices like garlic etc. This market has opened up `shops there also has been activity of vehicles loading/unloading goods along the facade where at different times of the day, trucks carrying ‘sacks of vegetables, meat, dairy products, electronic items etc’ block the street, this causes jams and diversion of vehicular movement. Along with the shops along the periphery there has been a hike in footfall around this area, this has motivated hawkers to set-up shops on sidewalks just opposite to this market. These encroachments/ claims have changed the movement patterns of people through the sidewalks onto the street. This adds on to the halts to the traffc aswellasbecomesa safety concern. The facade is layered on these streets with shops inset on the ground floor of the buildings, then the storefronts followed by the street vendors and the parked vehicles. This layering is the cause of transactions that allow the shopkeepers and hawkers to formulate agencies and create spillover spaces. Also, the facades are labeled with different banners, logos, names of stores etc.

A typical bazaar which extends and pours through gullies and junctions, where streets are filled with hand-carts and taxis. There is a mixture of opportunities and overlapping of events. The Gol Devi temple in the midst of this vast market area is surrounded with flower shops and newspaper readers, when you walk past this temple you’re welcomed with a variety of sweets and fruits situated on the street where the shops from small gullies and pathways for users to access, here there are patches of extreme darkness and tight dingy spaces, absurd events & claims

It is evening. Some shops are on the brink of closing for the day. There are people here – who show the way to someone who is lost, find an address for someone here for the first time, direct someone to the right shop, protect the lane from a danger that may appear from outside –but there is fear too. Ambiguity brings with it a helplessness in thought, a powerlessness that comes from not being able to think clearly. To wish for streets to vanish because of our fear of ambiguity is inappropriate.

~Eleven Streets

CASE 4: SHEIK MEMOON STREET (KALBADEVI)

Kalbadevi is an old neighborhood in Mumbai (Bombay), India. It is named after Goddess Kalbadevi, the Hindu Goddess. Kalbadevi area is one of the busiest areas during peak hours. The area has mostly traders in watches, bicycles, steel utensils, etc. It has a large Gujarati population. (Wikipedia, 2022).

Starting from ‘Zaveri Chowk’ this site stretches along the Sheik Memoon Street with the Crawford market towards south. The site length is around 190m. Juma masjid marks the entry to this site, the street is situated between an industrial patch and ‘Dubash market, Lohar Chawl’. The significance of this narrow street and how spillover spaces form claims. It’s a one-way street but the claims and affordances allow minimum to none vehicular movement.

There are a variety of shops on either facade of the street, they increment into various directions, also there are shops which have come up through residual spaces. This mutation is also interesting. The facades of buildings surrounding the streets have very different layout, some are seen jutting out some inset to the building with names of shops protruding out with different lighting effects, font styles, Air conditioners, rusted street signs, glass windows, banners, handcarts, tarpaulin sheets etc, define the nature of this street, there are punctures to these facades as well, some construction work taking place somewhere, some overhangs shading the sidewalks, motorcycles parked, etc.

Human movement here is a task as there are no clear walkable spaces, one has to juggle through barriers of roadside shops, parked vehicles, unloaded goods on storefronts, trash, hanging items etc.

There are furniture goods, clothes, mattresses, bedsheets, stationary, plastic goods, toy shops, etc traders selling all kinds of things. Also, the movement here is quite dispersed and random, one could not determine exactly what motive one has or where one might halt. This dispersion depends on what products one is looking for or which shop a vehicle halt to load/unload goods.

Memoon Street -(Kalbadevi)

Fire and fog dance, side by side. Not to erase each other, nor to wear the other down, but to give fuel to each other. Everyone hurries towards them, to fold themselves into them, to immerse their bodies in their vapours and, so, become untraceable. There is such joy, so much laughter here. From the heights they have soared to, they look down, seeking a patch of land that can hold them..

~Eleven Streets

CASE 5: RANADE ROAD (DADAR STATION)

Senapati Bapat Marg under Kavi keshavsut flyover stretches through ‘Ranade Road’ at around 190m and ends towards ‘kabootar khana’. One walks in through the flower & vegetable market opening towards suvidha mall to the right, the street is packed with markets and hawkers, lining the road with taxis, buses & footfall of daily commuters. There are few old shops, ‘Patwardhan Brothers’ is one of the shops which has been serving this street for over 75 years. These shops are the identity of Ranade

Marg, they describe the community and lifestyle of the area. A Major Hindu Marathi community resides here.

For everyday commuters ‘Panshikar’ piyush serves as a resort to tackle the humidity of the city. These nodes are spread all over the street including ‘Shree-Krishna’ vadewale in chhabridas lane etc.

Ranade Road -(Dadar Station)

Who is this? Not a life crafted to be hemmed within the pegs of a few questions. What is the air that passes through it? It’s a life that has never cared for boundary walls. A life that considers its own anyone who comes to it, becoming one with them for a while. This is the magic of one becoming many. It shades us in the changing spells of time..

Eleven Streets

CASE 6: MARKET ROAD (BORIVALI STATION)

The site stretches from Borivali station- Platform no-3 through the market road and ends on ‘Raichura circle’. The site length is around 200m. With the BMC market to its north and Borivali police station to the south. Smell of vegetables, especially ‘coriander’ overpowers the site.

The space here acts as a continuum of shops and hawkers. The shops here mainly include the eateries and other commodities such as clothes and beauty products. The hawkers selling incorporates the floral items along with some occasional demand of products (festive goods) the street is a bustling street where there’s a hive of activity.

The street is parallel to the western railway line of Mumbai, during morning the Market Street is a chaotic area with different activities like small vendors, vehicular traffcandhustleofpeoplefollowingtheirdailyroutine.Themarket street begins with Series of vendors selling flowers with garlands hanging from the staircase of the bridge walking further - vendors majorly selling fruits and vegetables on the street.

On either side of road there are various types of shop of grocery stores, snacks and general stores and appliances

Vehicles - transport vehicles carrying good to supply to the market

Private vehicles of people visiting market

Public vehicle - people going towards station

Market Road-(Borivali Station)

They are all here: the invited, also the uninvited, and even those who are yet to appear in our imaginations. But no one walks around with sealed identities through which we may say we know somone, not know someone, or call someone a stranger. A force prevails, which doesn’t let us recede away and insulate ourselves within our own self, and at the same time doesn’t permit us to merge into another, and so lose our self...

~Eleven Streets