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Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 11 x 3, July - September 2014

Cover Design by Dr. Diwakar S. Meshram


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Editorial

In this Issues, there are nine papers. The first paper is authored by Dr. Shobha M.N., Dr. Krishne Gowda and Prof. Sridhara, M.V. on the theme ‘Household Municipal Waste Management: A Case Study of Bangalore’, in which it is argued that every human being in the course of his life generates waste. However, it needs to be managed properly so as to reduce its impact on the ecosystem. The adverse effects may be pollution of various types, spread of diseases, permanent deformity suffered all through lives along with exploitation of existing resources and wholesale depletion of non-renewable resources. Waste has to be effectively managed to conserve natural resources by reducing, recycling and reusing waste. Bangalore being one of the fastest growing cities in the world is facing similar type of problems. The authors have made an effort to study the waste generated by households and its management within the city of Banglore at community level and also at household level.

The second paper on the theme ‘Revitalization of China Town - Tangra, Kolkata : An Inclusive Approach for a Marginalized Community’, jointly authored by Banasree Mandal and Dr. Sanghamitra Basu, focuses on revitalization of Chinatown in Kolkata which is a mixed residential industrial area inhabited by a large concentration of local Chinese people. The article evolves a development strategy that is based on an understanding of the socio-cultural and economic needs of the Chinese community so as to ensure a sustainable growth for this ethnic quarter, so the same can be transformed into an unique place with an identity of its own that the city of Kolkata can be proud of.

Next four papers are on traffic and transportation. The paper on the theme ‘Optimum Car Parking Solutions’, authored by Ashish Batra highlights that there was a time when car parking was not a problem at all. Almost every household had a space to park their vehicle in. Now with the boom in the production of cars, diminishing parking space, and a myriad of confusing rules and regulations, car owners are at their wit’s end. The main problem is that the number of cars are growing much faster than the areas available for parking. The author argues that we have to think of parking spaces before taking out the car and further tries to find out the optimum solution for parking cars in urban areas.

In the next paper on ‘Transit Oriented Development’, the author - Ravi Inder Singh, underlines that integral part of transit system is to give due weitage to cycle tracks and pedestrian pathways so that ambient degree of comfort is imparted to users. TOD is one of the latest and fastest growing trend that is catching pace these days, which in turn is leading to creation of livable and highly vibrant areas. Generally such areas are medium or high density areas that are established at a walking distance conveniently located from major transit stops. These areas help in creating high quality life without much dependence upon personalized modes for transportation and mobility. To substantiate his argument the author discusses examples of other countries.

Abhijit Paul in his paper on ‘Influence of Roadway Configuration on Traffic Flows through a Conventional Traffic Assignment Model’, raises the question as to why do we not consider the configuration itself as a parameter in our traffic assignment techniques when researchers have come out with statistical evidence showing urban grids also influence urban movement? The paper aims to provide deeper insights into these questions by showing theoretical evidence that capacity-restrained analysis – one of the popular conventional traffic-assignment models in the transportation planning community – also indicates that the configuration of an urban texture is one of the key factors of traffic assignment.

Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 11 x 3, July - September 2014Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 11 x 3, July - September 2014

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The paper on ‘Development of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index as Evaluation Model for Existing Sidewalk Environment and Pedestrians’ Comfort : Case Study of Pune’ authored jointly by Medha Vijay Gokhale and Dr. Milind V. Telang, argues that the goal of any transportation system is to provide safe, comfortable and efficient mobility to the varied end users. ‘Walking’ is the basic mode of transportation, and ‘pedestrian’ being the end user is provided with limited space in the form of sidewalks in Indian cities. However, in Indian cities there are various sidewalk issues which need to be evaluated and addressed. This paper attempts to put forth evaluation method for assessing the performance of sidewalk infrastructure, amenities and facilities in Indian cities in terms of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index.

The author S. Kumar Swami in the paper titled ‘The Genesis and Growth of Slums in Bhubaneswar: A Case Study of Saliasahi slum’, states that Bhubaneswar has more than 180 slums pockets and 40 percent of the total population. Saliasahi slum area is the biggest with more than one lakh population. The socio-economic condition of these slum dwellers are poorer as they lack basic services like water, sanitation, houses, education, public health and so on. In this paper an attempt has been made to assess the reasons for the growth of Saliasahi slum and suggests the remedies for slum development and its up gradation.

In the paper on the theme ‘Slum Rehabilitation through Public Participation: Framework for Community Development’, written by Dr. Jagdish Singh, Kanishka Raj Rathore and A Bhaskar Rao, highlight that among various issues prevailing in India, one of the most prominent emerging issues is upliftment of the urban poor. With a variety in the approaches and formulation of programs for the cause, including JNNURM, low cost housing schemes such as RAY, welfare projects for the urban poor such as project UTTHAN and UDAY, women empowerment schemes and child, women and old age education schemes there has been a widespread mix of both success and failure stories. This paper, through a case study of Kabadkhana Slum, Bhopal, suggests a collaborative and cognitive approach to planning for urban poor with an effective and rigorous participation of the slum dwellers themselves.

Last but not the least the paper on ‘Imbalances of Urban System : Forces and Suggestions’, written by Dr. Ashwani Luthra, argues that balanced development has always remained the main objective of any development strategy. But due to lack of co-ordination in different policies and programs for development, imbalances in the urban systems occur in a region. As a result, urban settlements of different sizes face different types of problems, glaring amongst these being unplanned migration to urban areas, creation of slums and squatters, excessive pressure on basic infrastructure, environmental degradation, etc. The paper, by understanding the concept of urban system and forces creating imbalances, suggested measures to maintain the balance urban system for overall development of the region.

Dr. Ashok Kumar Editor


Cover Design by Dr. Diwakar S. Meshram


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Content

House Hold Municipal Waste Management: 1 A Case Study of BangaloreDr. Shobha M.N., Dr. Krishne Gowda and Prof. Sridhara, M.V

Revitalization of China Town - Tangra, Kolkata: 17 An Inclusive Approach for a Marginalized CommunityBanasree Mandal and Dr. Sanghamitra Basu

Optimum Car Parking Solutions 39Ashish Batra

Transit Oriented Development 47Ravi Inder Singh

Influence of Roadway Configuration on Traffic Flows 54 through a Conventional Traffic Assignment ModelAbhijit Paul

Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index as 61 Evaluation Model for Existing Sidewalk Environment and Pedestrians’ Comfort : A Case Study of PuneMedha Vijay Gokhale and Dr. Milind V. Telang

Genesis and Growth of Slums in Bhubaneswar: 72 A Case Study of Saliasahi SlumS. Kumar Swami

Slum Rehabilitation through Public Participation : 84 A Framework for Community DevelopmentDr. Jagdish Singh, Kanishka Raj Rathore and A Bhaskar Rao

Imbalances of Urban System : Forces and Suggestions 95Dr. Ashwani Luthra

Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 11 x 3, July - September 2014Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 11 x 3, July - September 2014

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INSTITUTE OF TOWN PLANNERS,INDIA Library Guidelines

D. S. Meshram


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Dr. Shobha M.N., Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, B.M.S. College of Engineerig, Bangalore-560019, India. Email: [email protected]

Dr. Krishne Gowda, Director and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Institute of Development Studies, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore-570 006, India. Email: [email protected]

Prof. Sridhara, M.V., Professor, Kuvempu Nagar, Mysore-570 023, India. Email: [email protected]

Household Municipal Waste Management: A Case Study of Bangalore

Dr. Shobha M.N., Dr. Krishne Gowda and Prof. Sridhara, M.V

AbstractEvery human being in the course of his activities generates waste. It has to be managed properly to reduce adversity of its impact on the ecosystem. The adverse effects may be pollution of various types, spread of diseases, permanent deformity suffered all through lives along with exploitation of existing resources and wholesale depletion of non-renewable resources. Waste has to be effectively managed to conserve natural resources by reducing, recycling and reusing waste. Waste management is a major problem affecting many cities as there has been a significant increase in waste all over India in the last few decades, largely due to rapid population growth, increase in per capita consumption and changes in the life style of people. Bangalore being one of the fastest growing cities in the world is facing similar type of problems. The authors have made an effort to study the waste generated by households and its management within the city of Banglore at community level and household level.


1. INTRODUCTION

Waste is generated due to the activities by man, and is also a natural result of any process on earth and may never be avoided. Usually nature has the capacity to recycle; but man’s activity has greatly disturbed the existing balance creating problems by generating waste faster than nature can possibly cope with. Human society is using resources faster than the rate at which they can be replaced. Waste produced varies in accordance with the activities in the household, industries, schools, markets and so on. Waste can be categorized based on its origin (domestic, commercial, industrial and institutional), contents (organic material, glass, metal, plastic so on) and based on its hazardous potential (toxic, non-toxic, flammable, radioactive, infectious so on).

People are generally following conventional methods of disposing of waste and authorities also have been dumping waste in the nearest accessible open land. As population has increased and lifestyle of people has changed there is constant increase in the quantity of waste produced. Traditional methods of disposing of


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waste do not work as the landfills are all getting hazardously overloaded.

2. THE STUDY AREA: BANGALORE

Bangalore is the fifth largest city in India and is an internationally known city. It is an important IT centre and is called as the Silicon Valley of India. The city is basically the political, administrative, educational, cultural, commercial and industrial capital of Karnataka. It is located at the centre of the South Indian Peninsula, equidistant from both the eastern and western coasts with an elevation of about 931 MSL (latitude 12º 58’ North and longitude 73º 36’ East) and is known for its salubrious climate. The city was spread over an area of 531 sq km in 1991, and has increased to 741 sq km in 2007 under Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike or BBMP Greater Bangalore Corporation with a population of 8.4 million (Deccan Herald, 2012). Topographically, the city has slopes towards east and west with a smooth ridge running north to south.

Bangalore, traditionally known as the garden city is now called a garbage city. According to Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) statistics, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike does not have even a single scientifically acceptable approved landfill site though it generates 60 percent of solid waste in municipal bodies across State (Deccan Herald, 2013). The existing landfills used by Bangalore are shown in Table 1 and the spatial location of the landfill and dump sites are shown in Fig. 1.

Landfill sites are important service areas benefiting business and the community. It should be managed properly so as not to create problems to the environment and also to people living in the vicinity and elsewhere. But problems may be observed in all these mentioned landfills. All the landfill sites of BBMP for garbage dumping are now filled more than its capacity. There is also a growing opposition from the people of the neighborhood against dumping of garbage. This has led to major garbage disposal problems despite the Bruhat BBMP efforts to clear many areas in the city. Most parts of the city still remain dirty, strewn with garbage.

3. SOURCES OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

Different sources of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) are residences, commercial, institutional and from common activity areas. Table 2 shows the waste generated from each source.

Sl.No Name of the landfill site

Capacity Quantity in lakh tons

Area in Acres

1 Mandur North 6.0 95

2 Mandur South 4.0 40

3. Mavallipura 7.0 46

4. Anjanapura 1.0 5

5. Cheemasandra 3.0 10

6. Kannahalli 1.05 25

7. S.Bingipura 1.45 20

Table 1: Landfill Sites of BBMP, Bangalore

Source: Technical committee Recommendations on EOI application (2013), “Evaluation of Technology for processing existing waste at Seven Landfill sites of BBMP, Bangalore” a Report.



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Household waste component of municipal waste has been a source of many problems due to an almost non-management of the wastes. Broadly waste can be classified as biodegrad-able and non-biodegradable. Further biodegradable waste is classified as wet waste and non-biodegradable waste into dry waste, reject waste, biomedical waste and e-waste. Table 3 gives the details of different types of household wastes.

According to Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), household waste in India today constitutes of 42 percent of organic waste, 4 percent of plastic, 2 percent of metal, 2 percent of glass, 6

Fig. 1: Existing Location of Landfill / Dump Sites

Source: Compiled by the Author

Table 2: Different Sources of MSW

Sources Typical waste generators Components of Solid Waste

Residential Single and multifamily dwellings/multi storied complexes

Food wastes, paper, cardboard, plastics, textiles, glass, metal pieces, ash, special wastes (bulky items, consumer electronics, batteries, oil, tyres) house hold hazardous wastes, unused medicinal chemicals, thermocol.

Commercial Stores, warehouses, hotels, restaurants, markets, office buildings

Paper, cardboard, plastics wood, food wastes, glass, metals, special wastes, hazardous wastes.

Institutional Schools, government center, hospitals, prisons

Paper, cardboard, plastics wood, food wastes, glass, metals, special wastes, hazardous wastes.

Municipal services

Streets cleaning, landscaping, parks, beaches, recreational areas

Street sweepings, landscape and tree trimmings, general wastes from parks, beaches, and other recreational areas, market wastes of various kinds, building debris.

Source: Earth engineering Center, Waste-to-energy research and Technology Council, Columbia University (2013)



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percent of paper, 4 percent of textiles and leather and remaining 40 percent includes ash, sand, grit, which is categorized as others or miscellaneous. Obviously, this composition varies from one year to the other as consumption and its pattern has increased and changed.

Plastic bags, synthetics, plastic bottles, tin cans, computer hardware and soon have become part of our daily use contributing to our convenience. These are used and thrown along with regular waste. These are creating problems as they are not bio-degradable. As per some of the studies a plastic milk jug takes 1 million years to decompose, a plastic cup takes 50-80 years to decompose (i Save Earth.org, 2009).

4. PROBLEMS OF IMPROPER MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL WASTE

Garbage is being dumped almost everywhere. These dumping areas have become the perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes, attracting pigs, dogs and cows leading to next level of problems. Sometimes municipal waste is burnt, which leads to severe respiratory problems created by carbon monoxide and dioxide pollution. Garbage dumped on the sides of roads spreads over to footpaths forcing people to walk on the road and further spills over to the road reducing the width of the road leading to accidents (Fig. 2). During rainy season water washes some of these wastes and clogs the drains. Neighboring Villages get victimized by becoming the dustbin of city due to reckless urbanization.

According to the latest study conducted by the Department of Environmental Sciences, Bangalore University, the pollution in these landfills is way above tolerance levels with the physico - chemical analysis of leachate (any liquid material that drains from land or stockpiled material) sample at Mandur site shows the presence of micro-organisms such as E. Coli, iron bacteria, Vibrio spp, Streptococcus spp is very high, which can make populations vulnerable to various diseases (Nandi, 2010) like stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), vomiting,

Table 3: Classification of Households Wastes

Household WasteWet waste Dry waste Reject waste Bio-medical E-wasteKitchen waste, flowers, leaves, vegetables, food, fruits, tea bags, mutton and fish waste

paper, plastic, old newspapers, cardboards, cleaned pizza boxes, empty cartons, rinsed tetra pack containers, rinsed paper cups and plates

hair, waste clothes, thermocol, palm broom, kitchen mop, rags, broken glass, plates, saucers, clay pots, coconut shell, mango seeds, shoe polish tins, paint tins, soiled/ oily plastic bags

medical wastes, bandages, cotton dressing, diapers, sanitary pads, plasters, tablets with aluminum, blister packs

tube lights, cartridges, batteries, CDs, all computer waste, wires, bulbs, cells, cables, sockets, plugs, electric wires, gadgets, electronic waste, mobile phones



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fever, skin infections and so on. Plastic wastes clog gutters and drains causing water and sewage to over flow which in turn becomes the breeding grounds for germs and bacteria that cause diseases.

5. CASE STUDIES FROM BANGALORE

Under garbage disposal program, the solution to the problem, should start with segregation of wastes at source. Some of them use red bins for wet waste and green bins for recyclable dry waste. Then secondary segregation of plastic and other re-usable dry wastes will be done. The segregated plastic waste will be sold to ITC factory for recycling. Through this initiative BBMP may earn not less than Rs. 500 - 1,000 per day. These funds may be used for works related to solid waste management and by this at least two loads of garbage sent to the dump yard from each ward is expected to reduce (Times of India, 2010).

Solid Waste Management Round Table reveals that over 15,000 households and 180 institutions across Bangalore now segregate garbage at source. An estimated 320 tones are also recycled every month. Recycling paper alone has mitigated 4,633 tons of carbon dioxide emission, equivalent to planting 18,532 trees and neutralized the negative impact of climate change on 2895 average Indians (Times of India, 2010).

At community level in Bangalore as per records 22 wards have taken to waste treatment by earmarking segregated waste centers. Study was conducted in centers in Kadu Malleswaram (ward no. 65) and Domlur (ward no. 112). In Kadu Malleswaram ward, waste centre consists of dry waste unit and wet waste unit. At present in wet waste unit only flower market waste (Fig. 3) is treated and for the other wet waste space is allocated but the unit is in the process to procure the machine. The delay is due to the presence of non-biodegradable waste in the segregated wet waste and as the machine required for it is expensive and presence of non-biodegradable waste will spoil the machine.

Fig. 2: Waste thrown on the Road Sides

Railway parallel Road, Malleswaram 8th Main Road, Malleswaram



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The dry waste collection in this ward is called as ‘Kartavya’. This will also cater to the needs of Ward no. 64, Rajmahal Guttahalli. The resident volunteers along with a person appointed by the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) together have been educating the people for segregation of waste and also clearing the waste from the roads. The wards are divided into blocks (Fig. 4 and 5) and cargo autos are deployed in each one of them. These autos collect both wet and dry waste daily from their respective wards and then take to the centre where the

Fig. 3: Wet waste unit in Kadu Malleswaram Ward

Wet waste unit – machine used for flower compost Compost of flower waste

Fig. 4: Sample of a Block Map



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Fig. 5: Sample of a Block Map

Dry Waste Unit

Segregated Waste in Sacks Tetra Packs Cardboards Plastic Milk Covers

Bottles

Fig. 6: Dry Waste Unit in Kadu Malleswaram



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Fig. 7: Dry Waste Center in Domlur

Dry Waste Unit

Waste Segregation Vehicle used for Waste Collection

Waste Getting Segregated

garbage will be further segregated and treated accordingly. The dry waste unit (Fig. 6) is similar to the one existing in Domlur Waste Centre.

In Domlur ward only Dry Waste Collection Unit exists (Fig. 7). Here wet waste is collected daily by BBMP and dry waste is collected by the centre once a week. Some of them give the dry waste once in a month since for every 30-40 kg people get paid for it at the rate of Rs. 2 per kg. Daily collections of dry waste by the center are around 215 kg. The week days are cyclically apportioned such that they go to designated areas on different days; Monday dry waste is collected from commercial outlets in Domlur, Tuesdays on BDA layout, Wednesday from amarjyothi layout, Thursday from Domlur II stage, Friday from apartment and Saturday from HAL. Dry waste is segregated into news paper, magazines, card board box, brown paper (color paper, tissue paper, cups), tins, milk covers, peg bottles, tetra packs, low quality plastic covers, beer bottles (big/small), high quality plastic so on. These segregated wastes are then packed and sent to large scale dry waste dealers who in turn will send to recycling centers, to cities like Bombay, Hyderabad, etc. Domlur waste unit is sending these segregated dry wastes to large scale dealers in Frazer Town.



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At household level, in some of the households, segregation of waste is taking place. Wet waste can be composted in their balcony itself. In one of the households studied wet waste was not thrown outside. The lady of the house did many types of composting - aerobic, anaerobic and vermiculture.

Aerobic composting needs plenty of air for com-posting to work faster and efficiently. This type of composting process is faster and is stink free. This type of compost is

carried out in terra-cotta pot (Fig. 8). The mixture contains dry leaves, kitchen waste and cow dung liquid, sour butter milk, and panchagavya. It is mixed well. The cow dung, sour butter milk and panchagavya is used to quick start the breaking down process. Churning of mixture has to happen regularly.

Anaerobic composting is a process without air and oxygen. This type of composting process is slow and will exude bad odor. It is a two step process. It is known as bokashi method of composting, a Japanese method. Bokashi means fermented matter in Japanese and has been practiced by farmers in Japan for centuries. The advantage of this method is that various meat wastes can be used. Here all types of food waste are put in an air tight bucket with a tap at the bottom of the bucket (Fig. 9). Waste is pressed hard so no air pockets are present. To this bokashi powder is added. The liquid comes out from the tap and it is a nutrients liquid. This liquid can be diluted and used for plants or it also can be used for drain cleaning. The filled bucket is kept for two weeks. The first step of process is known as pickling where softening of matter happens. As the bucket top is opened an acidic smell comes out of it and a layer of white fungus is formed. Then a trench is formed of one foot depth where both anaerobic and aerobic types of produce are mixed and filled with soil on top for a month.

Vermi-composting is a method of composting. Here earthworms are used primarily for the production of compost (Fig. 10). Worms used are red earthworms

Fig. 8: Aerobic Compost

Terracotta pot Compost



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(Eisenia fetida) specified for home composting. The earthworms feed on organic matter. Enzymes produced in the stomach of the worm breaks down the organic matter and release the energy, which the earth worm uses. Waste excreted by the worm becomes manure known as worm casts (Vermicasts). Vermicasts are highly enriched bio-fertilizers, which contain a large number of micro-organisms, inorganic materials and organic matter in the form absorbable by plants. The burrowing action of the earth worm also aerates the soil. Vermicasts also contain hundreds of tiny earthworm cocoons, which hatch within a month and add to the earthworm population already existing in the soil. Earth worms are sensitive to variation in temperature. They die in extreme heat and extreme cold. It cannot stand dryness, citrus materials. Food waste also has to put in small quantity and stirring should not be done as these kill the worms.

In this type of compost bedding has to be prepared for which a tub is needed. Tub used has a partition with opening at the lower end of the partition for the worms to move from one partitioned area to another area. To prepare bedding shredded cardboard, shredded newspaper, coconut and dry cow dung is used. These act

Fig. 9: Anaerobic Compost

Bucket used Bokashi Powder Half Done Compost

Fig. 10: Vermi Compost

Worms with Compost

Red Earthworms (Eisenia fetida) Specified for Home Composting



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as a first feed for the worms. The shredded cardboard, shredded newspaper, coconut coir and dry cow dung are mixed in water. Then these are then squeezed to remove the water and spread in the tub. It still contains moisture, which is needed for the worms. Above it half done compost is spread. It will enable the worms to grow. To this prepared bedding, worms are dropped. Wet waste can be added to this. It has to be buried a little low in the prepared layer. Then to this, egg shell powder is sprinkled as the worms love to grind on something and this egg shell powder helps indigestion. The worms eat one to one and half times of their body weight.

Garden waste compost is a type of compost. Here garden waste mixed with the compost is kept aside which then turns to compost and can be used for garden (Fig. 11). In the newly designed apartments, waste management is considered and a segregated place required for this is provided. In the already existing apartments some of them have taken initiatives regarding waste management. Here segregation is done at source and is collected by the housekeeping staff. Wet waste is processed through composting (Fig. 12).

Dry waste contains paper, plastic, old news papers, cardboards, emptied pizza boxes, empty cartons, rinsed tetra pack containers, rinsed paper cups and plates are segregated into main four categories – paper, metal, plastic and glass (Fig. 13). All dry wastes are collected individually and given to the organization like sundar group for a certain price.

Reject waste contains hair, waste clothes, thermocol, palm broom, kitchen mop, rags, broken glass, plates, saucers, clay pots, coconut shells, mango seeds, shoe polish tins, paint tins, soiled plastic bags (Fig. 14). Reject waste is collected once in a week and is finally taken by the organization dealing with it like sundar group at no extra cost. E-waste are tube lights, cartridges, batteries, CDs, all computer waste, wires, bulbs, cells, cables, sockets, plugs, electric wires, gadgets, electronic waste, mobile phones. All these have to be dropped

Garden Compost Garden Grown with Home Made Compost

Fig. 11: Garden Compost and Home Made Compost



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personally by the residents at the maintenance office. These wastes will be taken by organizations dealing with of e-waste like Sahasana Group or Samarthana Group for free disposal.

Bio-medical waste contains medicine metal (needles, ointments, tubes, blades), medicine glasses (syrup bottles, ampoules), medicine plastics (bottles, tubes, syringes without needles), bandages, cotton dressings, diapers, sanitary napkins, plaster, tablets with aluminum. These are daily collected by maintenance office collected monthly by organizations taking care of medical waste like Maradi Associates at Rs. 20 per household.

Recycling of waste will reduce the quantity of waste to be disposed and also give employment to many unskilled and unorganized sector workers. Efforts are being made to turn waste into useful items by the environment friendly people. Bits and leftover pieces of clothe, old clothes,

Fig. 12: Wet Waste in Apartment

Fig. 13: Dry Waste Segregation in Apartment



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plastic bags, electronic wastes, books, magazines, tins, tyres and so on are used to make bags (Fig. 15), hand bags, mobile bags, clothes and even sculptures. A lot of ingenuity and initiative is manifest here.

Old cassettes are used to make handbags. Old cans and bottles turned into hanging flower vases. Tetra - packs and discarded rice bags used to make fashionable bags priced Rs. 400 to Rs. 600 per bag. Tetra - packs are cut into small strips and woven into carry bags. Bags are washable. Tetra - packs and packing spacers are processed and converted into tetra pack roofing sheets (Seethalakshmi, 2013). Entrepreneurs with this talent have developed into a big organization with a good clientele. Regions in the vicinity of K R Market are contributing to the solid waste management for over two decades. Here traders are the great Indian recyclers combining with them the role of secondary segregators and recycling of articles like the cap of a soft drink bottle, packing tape, batteries, electronic waste, paper, wine bottles, plastic tins to a worn-out gunny bag, everything getting segregated sustaining livelihood to around 4000 people working day and night. There is a huge demand for these recyclable materials from traders in Delhi, Nagpur, Ludhiana, Kanpur and Hyderabad. Small traders are able to make transactions of Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000 a day while big entrepreneurs in the same business can sell products for Rs. 10,000 - Rs. 15,000 on a daily basis (Rao, 2010).

Many organizations and NGOs have been actively participating and helping public in recycling waste. They go to apartments, institutions and collect recyclable waste. Some of them are ITC, Hasiru Dala (NGO), Adamya Chethana (NGO), Goonj (NGO), Excel (running an organic waste converter), Anuspandana, Terra Firm Pvt. Ltd, Sahasana group, Samarthana group (e-waste), Maradi Associates (Bio medical waste), SembRmky (medical waste for scientific disposal), Maradi Eco (biomedical waste), Khadi Gram Udyoga ( tissue paper, paper and carton boxes recycle in the form of envelope, writing pads, paper, visiting cards), Saahas (e-waste), e-parisara (zero waste management firm), Parivarthana, Samarthana, Organic Waste Private Limited and so on. In all these, there is ingrained and abiding principle, conservation of material; recovery of cost is incidental. Conservation of material is a major component of sustainable development.

Fig. 14: Rejected Waste

Hairs Waste Clothes Broom Broken Glass



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6. CONCLUSIONSPeople have to become waste sensitive. Landfills are not the solution. The city has to embrace concepts like zero-garbage roads by micro-level management of cleaning and dusting with effective public participation. Effective management has to happen Ward wise with each Corporators taking care of it. Public participation is important. The mass going to the land fill can be reduced by

Fig. 15: Use of Rejected Waste

Made from Used Clothing

Bag Made of Recycled Keyboard

Made of Old Papers

Bags made by Old T-shirts

Made of Kitchen Utensils, Pots and Pans

Dress Made from Plastic Bags

Made of Old Books

Made of Old Tyres



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promoting awareness among people about reuse, reduce and recycle of garbage and way to add value to the waste they generate through commonly used media such as TV, Radio, lectures, street plays, and also with the help Residence Welfare associations, Volunteers of their respective Wards.

Residents should not dump garbage on the road; instead they should segregate the waste at the house itself as dry waste and wet waste. Wet waste like remnants of food, raw vegetables, fruits, egg shells, meat and garden waste can be composted. People who do their own compost within their premises should be given incentives by the government. Dry waste can be classified as recyclable and non-recyclable. Recyclable waste like paper, plastics, tetra packs. Non-recyclable waste can be further divided into bio-medical waste and reject waste. Bio-medical waste includes medicines, bandages, sanitary pads, tablets, diapers, syrup bottles, ointment canisters, shrapnel, etc. It should not be mixed with municipal solid waste as it is very hazardous and may be contagious. Reject waste includes hairs, coconut shell, broken glasses, paint, shoe polish, etc. Both medical waste and reject waste should be collected separately. e- waste – electronic equipments, lighting equipments, appliances, batteries, etc; and should be collected weekly by the agencies or an out let to be provided for collection. The color bin concept should be extended to all localities and public places so that respective wastes go to the respective bins which will prevent littering on public places and facilitate recycling.

BBMP should be equipped to collect segregated waste. Pourakarmikas have to be trained about collection of segregated waste and also equip them with separate bins and easily movable push carts. Garbage collectors also should have vehicles like autos, pushcarts and trucks with compartments or separate bins and barrels for collecting segregated waste or separate vehicles can be used based on the quantity of waste. Sustainable managing of waste is needed rather than resorting to dumping in landfills at the outskirts creating problems for the villagers nearby. Allocation of some space in neighborhood parks or play-grounds for the BBMP to set up waste segregation units is needed. Effective participation and understanding of corporators of all the wards are needed for proper management. Garbage is a source of earning if maintained and managed properly. It can indeed turn out to be an important input in the production chain.

REFERENCESDeccan Herald (2012) Karnataka’s tier II cities miss out on boom, Retrieved 02/01/2013

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/200317/karnatakas-tier-ii-cities-miss.html

Deccan Herald (2013) BBMP has no scientific landfill site: KSPCM, Retrieved: 12/5/13, http://www.deccanherald.com/content/310436/bbmp-has-no-scientific-landfill.html

Earth engineering Center, Waste-To-energy research and Technology Council, Columbia university (2013) Sustainable Solid Waste Management in India, Retrieved: 14/03/13, http://swmindia.blogspot.in/



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GRIHA Manual (2011) Manual Volume – 4, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, TERI Press, The Energy and Resources Institute, Darbari Seth Block , IHC Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

Gowda, et al (2013) Solid Waste Management in the Slums and Squatter Settlements in the City of Bangalore, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Vol.3, Issue 2.

i Save Earth.org (2009) Plastic pollution, Retrieved:12/11/13, http://www.isaveearth.org/blog/?p=395

Nandi, Jayashree (2010) Bangalore may have high-tech garbage recycling plants, Retrieved12/3/2011.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-08-02/bangalore/28284537_1_recycling-plastic-waste-organic-manure

Rao, S.R. (2010) Rebirth in wasteland, Times City, 27 October 2010, pp.2.

Seethalakshmi, S. (2013) CEOs on muck trail throw up ideas, Times City, 1 February 2013, pp.7.

Technical committee Recommendations on EOI application (2013) Evaluation of Technology for processing existing waste at Seven Landfill sites of BBMP, Bangalore, A Report, Retrieved 01/01/2014, http://218.248.45.169/download/swm/eoi.pdf

Times of India (2010) Scooping wealth from waste, Times City, 20 October 2010, pp.4.

Times of India (2010) Moratorium on new projects in 5 polluted clusters lifted, Times City, 29 October 2010, pp.17.


To build a city is something happy to think of. To create a new town is itself a happy thing. There cannot be a greater joy than to create it is almost godlike to create. To be associated, therefore, with the construction of a city has been a thing which I appreciate

the most.

Jawaharlal Nehru


17

Banasree Mandal, MCP (Master of City Planning) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and B. Arch from Jadavpur University. Email: [email protected]

Dr. Sanghamitra Basu, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture & Regional Planning, IIT Kharagpur, India. E-mail id: [email protected]

Revitalization of China Town - Tangra, Kolkata : An Inclusive Approach for a Marginalized Community

Banasree Mandal and Dr. Sanghamitra Basu

AbstractRenewal efforts of downtrodden and derelict areas of a city often result in gentrification of the original community. However, conscious attempts to prioritize social and economic benefits of resident community as a necessary precondition of the revitalization process may prove to be a better alternative in long run. The paper focuses on revitalization of Chinatown in Kolkata which is a mixed residential - industrial area inhabited by a large concentration of local Chinese people. Due to environmental regulations and subsequent shifting of tanneries and leather industries, the area has become highly vulnerable. This article focuses on evolving a development strategy that is based on an understanding of the socio-cultural and economic needs of the Chinese community so as to ensure a sustainable growth for this ethnic quarter, so the same can be transformed into an unique place with an identity of its own that the city of Kolkata can be proud of.

1. INTRODUCTION

Urban revitalization is often adopted as a key remedy for areas experiencing gross urban decline affecting its inhabitants. Reasons may be manifold but reduced job opportunities, insufficient infrastructure and deterioration of public health are generally observed in such areas of urban decline. Generating attractive new activities are necessary instruments in any urban revitalization process. However, urban revitalization has other implications. Revitalization often affects local communities by rising costs of living and subsequent gentrification.

For revitalization of historic urban quarters, tourism and associated cultural activities are generally found to be quite successful. Tourism and culture led revitalization generally develops new and diversified economic base by exploring the historic assets of the area for future development. But for a long term benefit, it is necessary to integrate the local community in the whole process, cultivate their sense of inheritance and inculcate a sense of place that can meet the challenges put up by the demands of contemporary economic, political and social situations. The area in question needs to be studied systematically, its strength and opportunities properly assessed and measures taken to ameliorate weaknesses. Then only revitalization can be really inclusive and lead to overall development of the community under threats.



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This paper discusses various issues and concepts of revitalization in the context of China Town in Kolkata, an area which is under threat because of shifting of a major economic activity in which the present community is engaged - the tanneries. This is happening due to fast real estate development and subsequent gentrification. With examples of similar situations from other parts of the world and detailed analysis of existing situations and possible options, a proposal for revitalization of Kolkata China Town has been worked out. Objective is to demonstrate an inclusive revitalization programme that ensures overall betterment of a marginalized community.

2. REVITALIZATION AS A DEVELOPMENT OPTION

Revitalization can be defined as “bringing again into activity and prominence”

or “giving new life and vitality.” Revitalization strategies consist of several components. All of them primarily aim at generating better economic base through business development and private investment and thereby reducing poverty and eradicating blight. Effective revitalization strategies need to attract business and create additional jobs, which must to a certain extent, create opportunities for the people from the local community.

2.1 Tourism and Culture Led Revitalization

For a historic place enriched with its traditional cultural practices, tourism and cultural led revitalization is generally considered as a preferred development option. But this must be supplemented by skill development to encourage more involvement and also investments by the local community. Also important are quality of life of a traditional neighborhood along with economic and social image of that area. Without compromising the safety of an area, tourism and cultural activities should ensure a better place for inhabitants aiming towards ‘a place making’ rather than ‘a place marketing’ approach.

2.2 Marketing versus Place Making

Place marketing converts the negative image of a blighted area to a new attractive one through exploitation of the characteristics of a place. It is more of an explicit image advertising approach that exploits the heritage, cultural asset and historic pride of that place. In this approach place may be converted to a tourist magnet. On the contrary, place making explores the characteristics of the place in combination with promotional activities and respects sensitivity of the place and its community.

Promoting support services are equally important, which include transportation connection, easy traffic movement, sufficient parking facilities, pedestrian safety, way finding elements, street lighting, good hotels and restaurants, etc.



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These support facilities ensures a unique experience for the visitors. Better the facilities larger will be the tourist footfall and thus increasing the interests of private investors to invest.

2.3 Management, investment and tourism strategy

Public sector plays a key role which covers various aspects like developing a tourist strategy, demarcating, providing and managing public open spaces, constructing and maintaining the support services and some of the principal attractions, encouraging diversification of local economy and economic growth, stimulating private sector for investment, improving existing social facilities and providing new ones, granting assistance to the private sector and a commitment to protect and conserve the physical and cultural environment. With proper support, private sector can be encouraged to create recreational and commercial facilities that would generate profit and generate job opportunities. Responsibilities of local authority become that of a facilitator coordinating various actors and encouraging community participation. China Town of Kolkata presents an opportunity to try out an inclusive and sustainable revitalization strategy that takes care of the needs and aspirations of various stakeholders.

3. CHINATOWNS AROUND THE GLOBE

“A Chinatown is a section of an urban area with a large number of Chinese outside the majority-Chinese countries of Greater China” Chinatowns around the globe can be classified as follows according to their character (Table 1) .

Two Chinatowns which have undergone planning intervention are being analyzed and compared here are: (1) Singapore Chinatown – a commercial tourism district, (2) New York Chinatown – a symbiosis of commercial tourism and living cum working neighborhood. A comparative study between revitalization plans for these two Chinatowns is discussed (Table 2).

The comparative study shows that New York Chinatown’s Revitalization Plan follows a holistic approach giving due consideration to all factors of revitalization – physical, socio-cultural, economic, community up gradation through skill development whereas Singapore Chinatowns Revitalization plan takes care only of physical factor - turning the place into a commercial tourist spot. Different urban improvement initiations taken in different periods of the history of Singapore Chinatown clearly shows the extreme inclination of the local development authorities towards improving the image of Chinatown as a destination for world tourists. Interests of the local Chinese residents had always been neglected or not taken into account. The vision was championing tourism. Emphasis was given



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on redefining tourism, developing tourism as an industry and configuring new tourism space.

On the contrary, in the case of New York Chinatown, the ‘Rebuild Chinatown’ Initiative, 2004 (Redevelopment plan for New York Chinatown) aims at establishing New York’s Chinatown as a ‘global centre of Asian life, commerce and creativity at America.’ Emphasis was given on preserving historic Chinatown, its art and architecture; creating jobs and affordable housing; providing linkages, ensuring family neighborhood; developing Business District and Waterfront development. It represents a vision of “a meeting place between East and West which Chinese-Americans of all generations and backgrounds can call home”.

Sl No. Types Examples

1 Commercial tourism district • Unique cultural identity but natural mixing with mainstream

population• Mainly occupied in tourism related business.

Chinatowns of Singapore, London, South Korea, Cuba

2 Living and working community • Unique cultural identity but natural mixing with mainstream

population• Chinese are busy in different businesses.

Indonesian Chinatown

3 Synergy of both: commercial tourism as well as living cum working centre• Unique cultural identity but natural mixing with main stream

population• This is combination of both of the types mentioned above.

New York, Vancouver, Milan, Malaysia, Los Angeles Chinatowns

4 Ethnic ghetto • Strongest tie to Chinese culture and language and relatively

isolated from majority mainstream population• This Chinese population do not appreciate cultures of main

stream population

Vietnam Chinatown

5 Mixed with other ethnic immigrant groups• Here the Chinese populations clubbed up with other immigrant

groups• Although the Chinese population is isolated from main stream

population, but involved in different activities

Chinatowns of Paris, Madrid, Argentina, Brazil

6 Undistinguishable• Gradual assimilation to larger population/ almost diminished

Chinese population due to migration • No distinct character

Mumbai, Thailand, UK Chinatowns, Hamburg (Germany)

7 Artificial China Towns• Chinese-themed entertainment park in lieu of actual traditional

communities

Las Vegas, Dubai, Glasgow, Golden Village at Richmond- Canada , Manila Bay – Philippines

Table 1: Classification of China Towns



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4. CHINATOWN, KOLKATA

Located on the south eastern parts of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Chinatown in Kolkata is a mixed residential industrial area inhabited by a large concentration of local Chinese people. It grew as a hub of tanneries and related works traditionally predominated by local Chinese population. Due to environmental reasons under Tannery Relocation Programme, tanneries spread over the large area of Tangra, Topsia and Tiljala were ordered by the Supreme Court to be shifted from this area. Shifting of tanneries from this area has resulted in creation of abundant vacant space and the area, informally known as Chinatown, is likely to be usurped. Development pressure and threat of rapid transformations are likely to promote high end commercial development and subsequent gentrification of the Chinese community.

In the absence of any comprehensive action plan, this 150 year old ethnic work cum living Chinese space may altogether disappear from the city’s landscape. Young generation of Indo-Chinese population hardly see any future in the place

Table 2: Comparative study of China Towns in Singapore and New York

Factors of Urban Revitalization

Rebuild Chinatown Initiative, 2004,4 (Revitalization plan for New York Chinatown)

Conservation guidelines for Chinatown conservation area, Singapore, 1991

Physical factor • Heritage District Reservation• Public Realm Improvement• Convenient Transportation and Pedestrian

Comfort• A sense of Security• Linkage to the nearby Neighborhoods and

downtown• Recreational facility - waterfront development• Affordable housing

Development Control guidelinesDevelopment ChargeTourism Infrastructure

Socio-cultural factor

• Fusion between Asian - American and traditional - modern art and architecture

• Involving community participation in every stage of planning

Nil

Economic factor • Up gradation of declining Garment industry• Promoting hospitality and healthcare sector as

alternative economic source• Promoting pacific office district to cater to the

contemporary economic need

Nil

Skill Development • Modern training programme for garment industry worker

• Healthcare training centre• English language training centre• Promoting youth college with flexible timing

Nil



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where their ancestors were able to flourish and create an enviable mark in the city’s image. This will then eventually wipe out not only a community with a distinct identity and specialized skills but the city will also lose an opportunity to create a world class tourist destination (Figs. 1 and 2).

Future development of the area can have varying perspectives depending on the chosen priority which can be social or economic or both. Options are many, ranging from high rise commercial development to an amusement or theme park oriented Chinatown. Alternatively it can be a revitalized area conceptualized through programmes that aim towards a sustainable growth of the place and its inhabitants - a holistic and an inclusive approach that is a combination of redevelopment, new development, reuse, conservation and restoration. Examples of different types and categories of China Town can be important learning lessons.

5. CHINATOWN AT TANGRA, KOLKATAThe study area is located in close proximity of E.M. Bypass and Park Circus Connector, which are the most rapidly changing development corridors in Kolkata. Land price is quite high in the southern and eastern part of the study area, and the recent development trend along these two development corridors clearly shows that the area is transforming into high end development (Fig. 3).

There are about 2,000 Chinese living in the area. The share of Non Chinese population is negligible though a considerable number belong to the slum populations living in the study area. These slums are partly dependant on the tanneries at China Town and are likely to be shifted in near future as tanneries are going to be eventually shifted out of China Town. The study area is under municipal wards 58 and 66 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Approximate area of the study area is 1 square kilometer. The study area includes Chinese habitat and tanneries, adjacent slums, vacant land as well as marshy land.

5.1 Socio Economic Profile and Occupation of Local Chinese Population

There are approximately 200 Chinese households living in the study area. Household size varies from 5-9. Household size is large as Chinese are oriented towards family business and they live in joint families or extended families.

Fig. 1: Lion Dance on Chinese New Year at Chinatown, Tangra

Fig. 2: Use of Ritual Decorative Symbols at Entrance Gate at Chinatown, Tangra



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Shares of male and female population are almost same. A large share of female population plays significant role in the family business. Elder age groups i.e. 45–55 and above account for a large share of population and they are strongly attached to their native place at Chinatown and family business. Small percentage of younger age groups i.e. 18-24 indicates a trend of out migration of young generation of Chinese population.

Basic education level of the local Chinese people is up to 12th standard and the community in general lack professional education. Hakka is the mother tongue of the community though the young generation hardly knows to read and write in Hakka. They are proficient in Hindi and English. Local Chinese are originally Buddhist though at present most of the young generation are converted into Christianity due to the influence of Christian convent schools they are educated in. Local Chinese are of affluent class and mostly tannery owners. A considerable number is engaged in restaurant business in and outside Chinatown. Sauce factory is the other major occupation.

5.2 Diversification to other business after shifting order of tanneries After the shifting order of tanneries, the Chinese are shifting to other occupations. Restaurant business is the prime activity amongst them. Some other business like beauty parlors, dental clinics, leather goods manufacturing are quite prospective as future economic activities in the area (Fig. 4).

5.3 Commercial Establishments and IndustriesRestaurants are the main commercial establishments in the study area. Other than these there are mostly local markets and small shops to fulfill the daily needs

Fig 3: Delineated Study Area



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of local people. Three percent land of the study area is under commercial use out of which 2 percent is for residential – commercial mixed use. The study area consists of 38 percent of industrial land out of which 14 percent is for residential – industrial mixed use. Leather tanning is the prime industry comprising of 95 percent of the total industrial share of land in the area.

Other industries are leather chemical industry, adhesive factory, food processing industry, leather goods industry, lathe machine and some rubber industries. A large amount of land and floor space is for tannery use which is going to be vacant after the shifting of tanneries. Leather chemical industries are likely to be shifted as soon as the tanneries are moved out . Food processing industry and leather goods industry are non polluting and Chinese are also skilled in these; hence these industries can be encouraged to grow (Fig. 5).

Fig. 4: Trend of New Business in the Study Area

Fig. 5: Industrial Establishments in the Study Area



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5.4 Social infrastructure and cultural activities

• Education and Health Care: Most of the Chinese students go to Grace Ling Liang English School and Pei Moi Chinese School. This secondary schools offer Chinese language course in addition with other subjects. Due to the out migration of Chinese population, number of students of this school are declining. There are other schools in and near the study area which serves the need of local slums. There is no hospital or primary health care centre in the study area.

• Clubs and Association: There are Chinese associations in the locality: Welfare and mutual aid association, religious associations like Tannery owners’ association, South Tangra Youth Club (cultural association), Restaurant owners’ association and Buddha light international. There is a total lack of community meeting place and play ground of the Pei Moi Chinese school is used for community festivals and gathering. There is lack of good community hall dedicated for community meeting purpose.

• Religious establishment: There are a number of Chinese temples as well as Hindu temples which serve local Chinese as well as Non-Chinese population. Grace Ling Liang Church which is adjacent to the study area serves the Chinese population converted to Christianity.

• Major Festivals, Events and Cultural activities: Chinese New Year festival and Moon festival are two major festivals of local Chinese people. While Moon festival is predominantly family festival, Chinese New Year festival includes some outdoor activities like Dragon dance and Dragon parade, Lion dance, New year fete, cultural programme etc when Chinese community take opportunities to showcase their culture, even outside the Chinatown. Although young generation of Indian Chinese are hardly acquainted with traditional Chinese culture, they are proud of their culture and are keen to explore it.

5.5 Land Use and Ownership

Present land use shows the distinct characteristics of study area. While purely residential land is only a small percentage of total land, mixed land uses - residential – commercial and residential – industrial make a major share of the total land area. This indicates the peculiar characteristics of work cum living centre of a traditional Chinese community. A considerable share of land is used for industries, majority of which are tanneries that are under shifting order. Vacant land, marshy land and slums jointly make up a huge share and indicates an opportunity of accommodating new development. At present there is total lack of recreational facilities in the study area (Fig. 6).

Major share of the land in study area is privately owned land or privately owned leased land. This makes it clear that Chinese people hold a strong stake in any development in China Town. A considerable large share of land at the eastern



26

part of the study area is under public ownership and provides an opportunity for proposal for any new development that is beneficial for the community as well.

5.6 Land and Floor Space Availability

Analysis of land availability indicates that, after the shifting of tanneries, a considerable amount of floor space will be available which may be considered for new activities. Most of the tanneries (total area approximate 30 hectare) are located in building blocks that are also inhabited by people and generally in good structural condition. A certain percentage (17 percent) are either in bad (14 percent) or dilapidated (3 percent) condition. It is preferable to find appropriate use for the abandoned built up areas that are structurally sound. Unauthorized or dilapidated structures can either be replaced with new constructions of appropriate design or the areas thus created can be used for open spaces for variety of uses. A large proportion of available land (area approximate 48 hectare) constitutes of marshy land, open spaces and areas presently occupied by slum (Table 3).

Fig. 6: Existing Land Use in the Study Area


Sl No. Available land/ Floor space Area (sq m) approximate Area (%)

1 Open space and water body 274670 57

2 Slums 158200 33

3 Closed tannery 47294 10

4 TOTAL AVAILABLE LAND 480162 100

5 TOTAL AVAILABLE FLOOR SPACE 149133 -

Table 3: Land and Floor Space Availability


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5.7 Movement Pattern and Parking

There is no planned road network in the study area. The pattern of road shows an organic growth of the area. Matheswartala road and Christopher road are the two heart lines of the area, along which a number of good Chinese restaurants have come up. Most of the roads are narrow and in poor condition. The area is covered with a number of narrow incidental lanes which are the only means of access for a number of premises (Fig. 7).

There is no organized parking in the study area. Except for few, most of the restaurants depend on road side on street parking. There are two major entry points to the study area. The newly constructed road along the eastern boundary of the study area makes provision for a new entry from this side too.

5.8 Built Form

Chinatown is predominantly made up of low-rise built up structures . Building height ranges from single storied to four storied. Majority of the structures are in good or moderately good condition. Structures are pucca or semi pucca (corrugated roofs). Except for the use of some Chinese decorative ritual elements at entrance gates of buildings, the area does not exhibit any significant character of Chinese architecture. (Figs. 8 to 11). Locational advantage of the area , increasing land price and types of development in the vicinity indicate that area is likely to undergo fast transformation. In absence of any comprehensive plan, the market forces is likely to determine the type of future development, uses and built form.

Given the present trend, it is highly probable that the area will either become a commercial joint or deteriorate further into a notorious area. Even a so called Touristic China Town with multiple commercial establishments may not be conducive and sustainable in the long run. Original Chinese community may ultimately have to leave the area under compulsion.

Fig. 8: Built Form in the Study Area



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6. KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

After an extensive primary survey and interviews with the local people as well as the Chinese from different Chinese bodies all over Kolkata, the following features have emerged as the major issues of Kolkata’s Chinatown:

• Economic: Economic hardship due to shifting of tanneries from Tangra to Bantala which is 25 km away from Tangra and out migration in search of better future to other parts of Kolkata and abroad.

• Social: Sense of insecurity of the community, sensitiveness of the community due to long negligence by the indigenous society of the city, signs of moral degradation and indulgence in antisocial activities.

• Physical: Poor physical infra-structure, continuation of illegal tanneries, mushrooming of illegal constructions in the locality, dilapidated building structures, total lack of adherence to fire safety regulations (Fig. 12).

• Environmental and public health: Pollution due to remaining tanneries as well as chemical factories operating in this area, deteriorating health condition.

Fig. 9: Height of Structures Fig. 10: Condition of Structures Fig. 11: Type of Structures

Fig. 12: Poor Physical Condition of the Study Area



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Major contextual challenges in formulating development strategies for Chinatown are:

• How to utilize the large amount of under utilized built up area created due to shifting of tanneries?

• How to redevelop the area retaining the essence of Chinatown and keeping the place as a home for local Indo Chinese population?

• How to restore a sense of security for the local Chinese residents and also to stop out migration?

7. ASSESSMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES THROUGH ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

For a systematic assessment of various strategies of development, the approach of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been applied. Through a comparative assessment of selected criteria and options in various stages of AHP Tree, the best development strategy is selected. The process is based on expert opinion survey. Various development strategies and options considered are given below:

7.1 Options of Development Strategy

Option I:

To keep the place as it exists today.

Option II:

To make it a commercial tourism district: This option aims at making the place as the top most tourist and dining spot in Kolkata through restoration of tangible components like physical structures and urban fabric but not particularly focusing on the existing community’s need.

Helpful Harmful

INTE

RNAL

O

RIG

IN

Strength: • A strong Community sense and

organizational endeavor

• Eagerness of the community to hold on to their identity

Weakness:• Poor physical infrastructure

• Dilapidated building structures

• Lack of unique urban fabric

EXTE

RNAL

ORI

GIN

Opportunities:• Unique cultural identity

• A rich Cultural Calendar full of colorful festivals all the year round

• Versatile skills and functional diversity

Threats:• Out migrating trend of young

Chinese population

• Continuation of illegal tanneries

• Mushrooming of illegal constructions in the locality

Fig. 13: SWOT Analysis



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Option III:

To create synergy between commercial tourism district and living cum working place: Aim of this option is to create sustainable development of the area and its existing community through a balanced development. It will cater to socio- cultural, economic, physical and community needs of the residents of that area as well as will explore ways to make profit through tourism industry that is centered on the area’s cultural heritage.

7.2 Criteria for Assessment

Criteria for assessing development strategies for Chinatown, Tangra are economic, social, cultural and environmental.

7.3 The AHP Tree

Following AHP Tree shows the hierarchy of criteria and options to achieve the goal that is to choose the best development option for revitalization of Chinatown, Tangra (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14: The AHP Tree


7.4 Expert Opinion Survey

Twelve experts from various backgrounds were asked to compare the options in pairs in perspective of each criterion. Their responses are put into AHP software in terms of numerical value to get the global priority value of the development strategies for Chinatown.

The analysis of development strategies for Chinatown, Tangra through Analytic Hierarchy Process shows that experts feel that the Chinatown, Tangra should be developed as a ‘synergy between commercial tourism district and living and working neighborhood. The specific recommendations and future actions are proposed to make this option a reality.


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7.5 Proposed Future Economic Activities

Proposed future economic activities have been based on a recent trend of new economic activities in the study area, skills of Chinese people, economic activities in the other China towns, and feasibility in the context of Chinatown, Tangra. Proposed economic activities are broadly divided into industries, commercial, healthcare and hospitality. An inventory of possible activities is given below:

• Industries – Leather goods industry , Food processing industry, Chinese handicraft industry.

• Commercial and Retail – Restaurant and take away, Catering, Chinese artifact shop, Food product outlet, Custom made shoe and leather goods shop, Chinese traditional medicine shop, CD or DVD stores, Few popular branded shops can also be proposed to attract footfall in Chinatown. Specialty restaurants, Student led restaurants along with cooking school, street vending for Chinese food and artifacts, small eateries can be proposed to promote shopping and dining.

• Healthcare and hospitality - Nature therapy and SPA, guest houses, beauty salon, dental clinic.

• Neighborhood improvement facilities - Required Neighborhood facilities and their number have been determined based on standard for neighborhood facilities and projected population. Required community improvement facilities comprise of Nursery Schools , Convenient local shopping , Community room and meeting place , Parks & Playgrounds.

• Community improvement facilities – Community improvement facilities have been decided based on opinion of community people and experts. Various kind of vocational trainings are needed for skill development and cultural promotion. Training centers are proposed for Chinese handicrafts , Visual and performing arts, Beautician course, Cooking course, Chinese language, Business management, Food processing , Leather goods. Some of the trainings like beautician course, cooking course, Chinese language course have potential to attract non Chinese people too.

• Tourist facilities - Types of proposed tourism facilities are considered based on opinion given by visitors to Chinatown and experts. Proposed tourist facilities are Chinese cultural centre with opera hall, auditorium, exhibition hall and open ground for cultural meet; Chinese Theme park and interactive Chinese museum, Chinese temple, China gates at the entrances of Chinatown, Chinese theme garden.

• To promote the new trend and based on present requirements , few pilot projects have been identified . These are Chinatown Trade Centre to promote entrepreneurial activities of the Chinese community, and provision for new residential area to encourage younger generation to stay in the community.



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7.6 Zoning and Space Allocation for Various Activities

Based on the Land Suitability Analysis for five factors: accessibility, land availability, land ownership, land price and pollution, a conceptual zoning map has been prepared to show the distribution of proposed activities (Fig. 14). Space has been allotted for various activities and facilities considering the land suitability factors as discussed earlier. Future circulation pattern and road infrastructure is a major determinant for allocation of activities and zoning. Broadly, entire area is divided into zones for new development, redevelopment and infill development. Highlights of the proposal are:

New Tourist activities have been proposed mainly on the eastern side that consists of a huge area of marshy land, vacant land, as well as slums. From eastern side, commercial activities extend to the two main heart lines of Chinatown which have been retained as major routes with restricted vehicular access and controlled vehicular speed. These are also intended to connect the new development area with the western part of the site. However, a gradual shift of intensive commercial activities towards east is envisaged in future thus relieving the pressure on already congested area. At the south west corner - a crucial junction has been allocated for Chinatown Trade centre. Northern part is exclusively allocated for industries and related activities. Industrial and residential mixed uses has been proposed in the inner parts. On extreme north, EWS housing is proposed for rehabilitation of slums in the study area (Fig.15).

Fig. 15: Thematic Mapping for Land Availability, Accessibility and Pollution



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Land use percentages have been kept in the way so as to make the place a synergize of work cum living centre and not only a commercial theme park.

7.8 Action Area Planning

Within the framework of the proposed land use, an action area has been delineated for detailed planning. Fig. 15 shows the delineated action area and detailed physical planning for part of the action area has been carried out showing recommended built form, building mass, open space, façade treatment, landscaping and street furniture, processional routes, and pedestrian areas. Accordingly recommendations are given bellow:

• Three decorative China gates have been proposed at two present entrances as well as at the new proposed entrance at eastern side of the study area.

• Row of Chinese artisan shops with decorative and colorful façade have been proposed along the entrance from eastern side. This leads to a dramatic entrance through the busy Chinatown.

• A Chinese temple has been proposed at the end of the entrance road from the eastern side.

• A cultural centre has been proposed which will provide space for both indoor and open air Chinese cultural programmes and gathering.

• Training centers will be there which will accommodate specialized training on different skill development courses for local Chinese like training on leather goods product, food production and preservation as well as attractive courses for both local Chinese and tourists. For example: beautician course, cooking course, Chinese language course, Martial art training etc.

• A community hall has been proposed to fulfill the need of neighborhood level

Fig. 16: Action Area


meeting place.

• A large pedestrian recreational, shopping and dining plaza has been proposed. Service vehicles will be allowed in this plaza only from 7 am to 11 am. (Fig. 16, 17, 18, and 19)

• Adequate Parking space has been provided at both the end of pedestrian plaza.

• The marshy land adjacent to pedestrian plaza has been proposed to be developed as a water body and water based recreational activities have been proposed along it.

• Pedestrian path has been proposed along the Matheswartala road and Christopher roads to


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Fig. 17: Development Proposals

Fig. 18: Plan of Proposed Pedestrian Plaza



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accommodate the spillover from restaurants and to ease pedestrian shopping. Vehicular speed will be controlled at these two streets. Display of foods and artifacts in small takeaways, street vendors, artisan shop, and restaurants will create a picturesque ambience.

• The building facades are proposed to be treated with Chinese architectural elements and bright yellow and red color. Chinese street furniture and Chinese lanterns will be used. It is being proposed to create increased dramatic effect, through projection of bright colored light on façade of few buildings adjacent to pedestrian plaza.

• A theme park has been proposed which is basically a museum with interactive exhibits which will provide an insight into the Chinese culture and evolution of Chinese community in Kolkata.

• A Chinese garden has been proposed which will have five different parts. Every part will be designed on the concept of five traditional Chinese elements - earth, fire, water, metal and wood. The gardens will be illuminated at night.

• The present route for Dragon parade that starts from Chinese Kali temple to Pei Mei Chinese School is very narrow and unable to accommodate gathering along Dragon parade. A new route for Dragon parade is proposed which starts from proposed Chinese community hall to Chinese cultural centre. It goes through the proposed pedestrian plaza to avoid conflict with traffic (Fig. 20).

Fig. 19: View of Proposed Pedestrian Plaza



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Fig. 20: Proposed Route for New Year Dragon Parade

Fig. 21: Proposed Schedule for Cultural and Training Program



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7.8.2 Schedule for Cultural and Training Program

Various cultural programmes and events are planned to be organized throughout the year. Schedule for new cultural programmes and training programmes have been prepared depending upon the time slot for Chinese festivals and other festivals of Kolkata, vacation time and weather (Fig. 21). The black dotted lines show the time slot for new Chinese cultural programmes and the orange bars show the time slot for training.

7.9 Management Guidelines and Fiscal Planning

A regulatory body is required for proper functioning and maintenance of the Chinese cultural centre, theme park, Chinese garden, pedestrian plaza, Chinese temple and streets. Kolkata Municipal Corporation with the help of Local Welfare and Mutual Aid Association and South Tangra Youth Club can play this role.

Sl. no. Description Possible Financial Resource1 Chinatown Trade centre Public private partnership/ West Bengal Industrial Development

Corporation/ Financial institutes/ International banks/ Indian Government.

2 EWS housing HUDCO/Kolkata Municipal Corporation / West Bengal Housing Board

3 Waterfront recreational park

Public private partnership/ Tourism Development Board, West Bengal

4 Chinese garden Public private partnership

5 Healthcare and SPA Public private partnership6 Guest houses Local Chinese people7 Restaurants and Shops Local Chinese people/ Kolkata Municipal Corporation8 Chinese gate Kolkata Municipal Corporation/ Chinese consul/ Tourism

Development Board, West Bengal9 Chinese Temple Kolkata Municipal Corporation/ Chinese consul/ Local Chinese

community10 Chinese Culture centre Kolkata Municipal Corporation / Chinese consul/ Indian government11 Theme park Kolkata Municipal Corporation/ Chinese consul/ Tourism

Development Board, West Bengal/ Public private partnership12 Street widening/

construction of new streets/ Street lighting/ Improvement of sewerage system

Kolkata Municipal Corporation/ Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority

13 Facade treatment and lighting

Tourism Development Board, West Bengal/ Kolkata Municipal Corporation

14 Pedestrian plaza Tourism Development Board, West Bengal/ Kolkata Municipal Corporation

Table 4: Financial Resources



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A central cultural representative body should be created to take lead in all cultural activities and training programs at Chinatown. The associations at present taking care of cultural activities in Chinatown can take this role in collaboration with the Indian Chinese Association for Culture, Welfare and Development. Restaurant Owners’ Association being an active body can also take up this role. A trade representative body is required for marketing leather goods, Chinese artifact, and food products, etc. produced in the Chinatown. Tannery Owners’ Association and Restaurant Owners’ Association under the supervision of representatives from Chinese consul of Kolkata and Bengal Chambers of Commerce can perform this role.

Organizational bodies are also required for various theme tourism packages in Chinatown. West Bengal Tourism Development Board with Kolkata Municipal Corporation can take up this responsibility. Public private partnerships must play a crucial role in realizing the proposed action plan. Possible financial resources for various projects are outlined in Table 4.

8. CONCLUSIONS

This methodology demonstrates how a community in distress can be transformed and a derelict urban quarter can be revitalized to become an important residential cum commercial and recreational zone with an identity of its own. With right priorities and commitment, with the help of systematic studies of the existing conditions as well as objective assessment of various alternatives, it is possible to channelize the path of development. With the participation of local community and all the stakeholders, commercial gains can be integrated with benefits of the community so as to ensure a holistic revitalization program.

REFERENCEShttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/revitalisationhttp://www.memidex.com/revitalizehttp://en.wikipedia.orghttp://www.sciencedirect.com http://www.rebuildchinatown.orgPrimary survey by Author Banasree, M. (2009) All photographs are taken by Author (Banasree M)



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Ashish Batra, Planner (Urban and Regional Development), LEA Associates South Asia Private Limited, Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Optimum Car Parking Solutions

Ashish Batra

AbstractThere was a time when car parking was no problem at all. There were very few cars in general. Almost every household had a space to park their vehicle in. Individual houses with spacious compound/porch were common in residential areas. Now with the boom in the production of cars, diminishing parking space, and a myriad of confusing rules and regulations, car owners are at their wit’s end. The main problem is that the number of cars are growing much faster than the areas available for parking. The author argues that just like we book the space prior to fixing the date of the wedding, we have to think of parking space before taking out the car and further tries to find out what is the optimum solution for parking cars in urban areas? and recommends that optimum urban car parking may be the solution, requiring innovative designs and thinking beyond the conventional parking facilities / structures.

1. INTRODUCTION

On a normal working day, about 40 percent of the road space in any average-sized Indian city is used for parking rather than for movement of traffic. With every middle class family affording a car, the number of four wheelers being added to the vehicular population is simply shooting through the roof. In general, no amount of space will be sufficient to accommodate stationary vehicles, thereby squeezing the movement of public transport to forced narrow lanes as shown in Fig. 1.

No metropolis within the country, perhaps with the exception of Chandigarh, is gifted with enough mobile space. Liberalization has deluged them with all kinds of vehicles: two, three and four wheelers. According to a survey in Indian cities, a private vehicle is mobile merely for 4 percent to 10 percent in 24 hour day. The planners and designers must think that how is the rest of the day spent by a privately owned vehicle? Where are they parked? At what cost? Who pays for the space they engage in their stationary hours? How many of the private vehicle owners own the spaces they use to park their cars?

Parking is emerging as the major bane of our Indian cities. In the first instance, our cities were never conceived to accommodate so many people living in them today. Even otherwise parking has not captured the imagination of users, urban planners, designers, car sellers and travelers.

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Congestion and parking are also interrelated since looking for a parking space called cruising, creates additional delays and impairs local circulation. In big cities cruising may account for more than 10 percent of the local circulation as drivers can spend around 15-20 minutes looking for a parking spot.

Cars are of course a private property, but with a major difference as they require public space to run. For example, bed, couch, washing machine or a small flower pot are also private assets that need space and obviously we plan for a space first for anything that we bring home. This is where the question of parking comes in. Shouldn’t the owners of cars be asked to cough up rent for the public space they occupy in idle hours? Shouldn’t there be a separate policy or guidelines for parking in public areas? Shouldn’t there be a multi level parking lot nearby dense areas to solve parking problems?

2. CAR PARKING SOLUTIONS

Leaving the wider part i.e. public policy or guidelines for parking let us discuss about the innovative and optimum car parking solutions in dense areas (urban areas) to tackle these parking space problems. The multi storey parking garages are coming up in highly dense commercial or mixed used areas in many of the Indian cities but requires much larger area due to provision of rams, stairs, lifts, parking lanes etc. Innovative multi storey car parking towers with smart technologies can be one of the solutions to tackle these parking problems. These large, centrally located innovative car parks may be great solution in certain locations (high dense areas) and may be poor solution in other locations (less dense areas). Optimum has different meanings to car users, parking operators, urban planners, developers and investors. The individual characteristics of an optimum solution, therefore, should be beneficial or at least neutral for all stakeholders. Following are the major characteristics of innovative/optimum urban car parking solutions:

• Closer to popular destinations: for convenience and high utilization

Fig. 1: On-Road Parking on Typical Streets of New Delhi

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• Sufficient number of spaces: to satisfy the nearby demand with minimal excess capacity

• High density parking: minimal land area per parking space

• Flexible application: to easily adjust capacity and fit in greatest variety of areas

• Safe and secure: eliminate risks for drivers and opportunities for criminals

• Sustainable: reduces environmental and societal impact to the minimum

• Positive experience: for car parking users and all other stakeholders

• Ease of access

2.1 Advantages and Benefits of Innovative and Optimum Car Parking Solutions

Following are the advantages and benefits of innovative and optimum urban car parking solutions:

Space efficiency: Compared to conventional parking facilities, optimum car parking requires much less space and volume to park an equivalent number of cars. Eliminating space inefficient elements such as extra wide parking spaces, driving lanes, walkways, stairs and lifts the facility volume can be reduced up to 50 percent as compared to conventional parking facilities.

Design Flexibility: The space utilization possibilities for optimum car parking is possible by various designs above ground, underground, free standing, under building or integrated into existing buildings. Flexible designs can be created in spaces where conventional parking is either impossible or impractical such as very narrow or irregularly shaped areas. By flexible designs it is possible to cater up to 200 parking spaces in a plot area measuring just 20 x 20 meters.

Sustainability: Optimum car parking can reduce by more than 80 percent the Carbon-Dioxide emissions by eliminating the need for cars to circle, idle and search for parking spaces. The environmental benefits can be enhances by variety of construction materials available, reduced construction disruption, reduced traffic congestion and shorter construction time.

Security and Speed: Vehicles can be parked in 80 percent less time than conventional parking, as there is no maneuvering or looking for parking spaces required in the optimum car parking. Vehicles and their contents can be protected from damage, theft and vandalism in optimum automated car parking as no one needs to drives or has access to the vehicle once it enters the parking area. Also the users can keep their vehicles locked all the time in optimum automated car parking.

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3. OPTIMUM CAR PARKING SOLUTIONS

Some of the successful examples of innovative and optimum car parking solutions are given below:

3.1 The Car Towers, Wolfsburg, Germany

The car towers are a 20 - storey tall car storage towers in Wolfsburg, Germany. It is owned and operated by Volkswagen, with a capacity of 800 car parks (400 each). The transparent cylindrical building rise 48 meters or 150 feet above the ground, and are linked by fully automated delivery system to both the Volkswagen factory and the customer new car pick up centre. Fig. 2 illustrates few images of the amazing Car Tower.

These car towers works like a giant vending machine: as a new car arrives from the factory, it is transported by robot to an empty storage slot in one of the towers; when the customer shows up to collect the car, the same robot picking system fetches the vehicle, brings it down to the ground level and transfer to the delivery building. Each tower holds up to 400 cars on 20 levels and can process a car every 45 seconds during peak time.

In the past, tourists weren’t allowed inside the towers for safety reasons, but a Car Tower Discovery attraction now makes the towers accessible to anyone

Fig. 2: Car Towers and its Working

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who can spare 15 minutes and a handful of Euros. Visitors enter a six-person glass box and are carried to the top (or 20th) story of a car tower by the same robotic lift that is used for automobiles.

There is no human supervision, but an attendant will be on hand to accept cash and explain the system to visitors and users. These Car Towers are perfect examples of optimum car parking solution.

3.2 Robotic Car Park, Emirates Financial Towers, Dubai

The Emirates Financial Towers in Dubai, UAE, has an automated robotic car parking facility that can store 1,191 cars and occupies a net internal area of 27,606 square meters. The modular parking system is capable of multiple, simultaneous rapid pallet movement and is programed to control a peak capacity of 360 cars per hour. Fig. 3, illustrates few images of the amazing Robotic Car Park.

The automatic vehicle stacker is split over 9 floors, occupying a section each of basement levels 4 to 1, ground floor and podium levels 1 to 4. The footprint is a mere 35.5 m x 98 m with a height of 22.5 m. Each parking space can accommodate vehicles up to 5,791 mm (19 feet) long, 2,133 mm (7 feet) wide and with a weight up to 2500 kg. The maximum speed of the system is 1.25 meters per second. The Emirates Financial Towers is a mixed use commercial and retail building consisting

Fig. 3: Robotic Car Park and its Working

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of two towers. This car parking system is another perfect example of optimum car parking solution, the robotic car park in Emirates Financial Towers; Dubai has earned a Guinness World record of the largest automated car parking system.

3.3 Smart Car Towers, Europe

The smart car towers are the most identifying element in the connection with the name smart. The smart Towers has been erected and put into operation approximately 70 times in various countries of Europe including Germany, Netherlands, France, etc. With reference to the corporate design, the tower reflects the most significant identification of modern mobility. Its transparency and lucidity must be considered as a remarkable interpretation of innovative thinking and commercial appeal. Fig. 4, illustrates few images of the Smart Car Towers.

As extraordinary as the vehicle, the hanging steel construction and seamless glass panes allow a generous light flow and gives an unmistakable appearance. The entire steel construction rests on 4 main girders forming a distortion free overall frame. The smart towers are networked with call centers via modem which generates transparency and reduces the response time of the expert team. The approximate ground area required for smart car parking tower is 9.8 m x 9.8 m. The number of levels (floors) can vary from 7 to 11 with varying parking capacity of 27 to 43 cars (4 cars per level, 3 cars on ground level/entrance area).

Fig. 4: Smart Car Towers

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3.4 Hydraulic Stack and Rack Parking

By making use of vertical space allows vehicles to be parked in the most efficient manner possible. Being able to lift vehicle up allows them to be stacked vertically. The platform is moved by a hydraulic system. The system enables two-three-four cars to be stacked one above the other. It is a hydraulic mechanism which works very smooth, quite and reliable. The only drawback is before lowering the platform or the upper parked vehicles the system need to remove the lower vehicles first. This hydraulic stacking system is suitable for residential, commercial buildings, shopping malls, etc. Despite its drawback there are many advantages of this system as it doubles / triples the number of parking vehicles, it is very simple to handle, it needs low maintenance, it takes less space to install, it can be lowered or raised mechanically under power failure and the most important is the cost effectiveness as comparison to car parking towers or robotic car parks or smart car towers. Fig. 5, illustrates few images of the hydraulic stack and rack parking.

This type of system maximizes the amount of available parking by literally stacking three or four cars in the space traditionally occupied by a single vehicle. Hydraulic Stack parking is not always an ideal arrangement for drivers who may need to leave an event early or cannot wait valet’s return after the event. This type of parking works best when the driver knows he or she won’t be returning for the car for a significant length of time.

Fig. 5: Hydraulic Stack and Rack Parking

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One of the main drawbacks of a hydraulic stack parking system is the slowness of the retrieval system. It could take a significant amount of time for a stacked car to reach ground level, especially if the parking system moves both vertically and horizontally. This type of parking may be a viable solution to a limited parking situation, but drivers may have to learn a new set of coping skills as they wait for their vehicles to reach the ground.

4. CONCLUSIONSOptimum car parking solutions take advantage of a common concept to decrease the ground area of parking space, removing the driver and passengers from the car before it is parked. With either automatic or hydraulic systems, the car is driven up to an entry point to the optimum car parking area and the driver and passengers exit the car. The car is then moved automatically or semi automatically (with some attendant action required) to its parking space. Parking space width and depth and distances between the parking spaces are dramatically reduces since no allowance need to be made for driving the car into the parking space or for opening the car doors. No driving lanes or ramps are needed to drive the car to and from the entrance or exit to the parking space. Ceiling height is minimized since there is no pedestrian traffic of drivers or passengers in the parking area and also no walkways, stairways or elevators are needed to accommodate pedestrians. With the elimination of ramps, driving lanes, pedestrians and the reduction in the ceiling heights, the optimum car parking requires substantially less structural material than conventional multi storey parking garage. Smart Parking Towers or Hydraulic Parking Lifts utilize a steel framework rather than the monolithic concrete design of the multi storey parking. These major factors contribute to an overall volume reduction and further space savings to make beneficial optimum car parking.

Construction and implementation cost between optimum car parking solutions and conventional multi storey car parking can be complicated by many variables such as capacity, land cost, area, shape of land, number and location of entrances and exits, land use, local building regulations and byelaws, parking fees, parking location, aesthetics and environmental requirements.

REFERENCESBeebe, R.S. (2001) Automated Parking: Status in the United States, retrieved 2012-11-15Hamelink, I.L.J. (2011) The Mechanical Parking Business Directory 2011, ISBN 1-466-43786-3Monahan, D. (2012) Man versus Machine: Is Robotic Parking Right for Your Project?, International Parking Institute (September 2012), retrieved 2012-11-15Munn, C. (2009) Past Hoboken: Automated Parking Facilities Enter Hopeful New Era, Parking (March), retrieved 2012-11-16 Ovrom, B.L. (2011) The Parking Dilemma: Innovative Solutions for Parking and Parking Requirements, PowerPoint Presentation: 16, retrieved 2012-11-15Shannon, M.N. (2012) Cars, Parking and Sustainability, The Transportation Research Forum http://www.trforum.org/.Retrieved on 16 October 2012.Skelley, J. (2012) Waiting for the Robo-Garage?, Urban Land Magazine, retrieved 2012-11-16Patrascu, D. (2010) How Automated Parking Systems Work, Autoevolution, retrieved 2012-11-16Randall A.I. (2010) Safe Parking: What You Should Do to Protect Employees and Guests, International Parking Institute (March), retrieved 2012-11-16

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Ravi Inder Singh, Assistant Professor, Email: [email protected]

Transit Oriented Development

Ravi Inder Singh

AbstractThe author argues that integral part of transit system is to give due weitage to cycle tracks and pedestrian pathways so that ambient degree of comfort is imparted to users. TOD is one of the latest and fastest growing trend that is catching pace these days, which in turn is leading to creation of livable and highly vibrant areas. Generally such areas are medium or high density areas that are established at a walking distance conveniently located from major transit stops. These areas help in creating high quality life without much dependence upon personalized modes for transportation and mobility. To substantiate his argument the author quotes the examples of other countries.

1. INTRODUCTIONUnited States marked the beginning of Transit Oriented Development or TOD projects with rail-road and street-car in suburbs by late 19th and early 20th centuries. In late 1880s electric street railways were developed and electric streetcar systems emerged in cities throughout the United States by early 1900s, replacing horse-drawn or cable pulled systems. According to Middleton, ‘. . . more than any other development, the electric streetcars contributed to the growth of America’s suburbs’. The factors that contributed to the success of early streetcar suburbs was the existence of transit mode and public realm space in the centre associated with residential and work places available at a distance in conformity to the human scale.

2. TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENTTransit Oriented Development is a combination of varying design elements that enable linkages by means of high quality, safe and fast public transportation that enables reduction in traffic congestion and improvement of urban design and air quality. Active transit link is composed of mass transport providing reliable services at the required intervals complemented by a feeder network. Transit modes include both rail and road based systems. Rail based system includes higher speed and higher capacity vehicles having a private right of way track and mostly ply on a separated grade from other traffic, while road based system generally runs at the same grade and is relatively less expensive.

Track ways, stations, vehicles, servicing points, routing pattern and centralized control points are the basic components of a transit mode. Transit system follows the principles of intelligent transport system and geographic positioning system,

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which makes transportation links more efficient, foolproof and comprehensive. Road based transit systems are made more effective by providing dedicated carriage ways and specialized traffic lighting systems to ensure un-interrupted plying of buses. The height of the platform and floor height of the vehicle are given due considerations to ease the elderly and differently able people.

Integral part of transit system is to give due importance to cycle tracks and pedestrian pathways so that ambient degree of comfort is imparted to users. TOD is one of the latest and fastest growing trend that is catching pace these days, which in turn is leading to creation of livable and highly vibrant areas. Generally such areas are medium or high density areas that are established at a walking distance conveniently located from major transit stops. These areas help in creating high quality life without much dependence upon personalized modes for transportation and mobility.

The idea of TOD includes both new developments and renewal of existing areas with orientation to ease transit use. The transit stations are primarily designed for people instead of vehicles in order to encourage pedestrian movement up to the station. Transit station does not include a single physical structure but also constitutes sidewalks, streets, parks and dedicated corridors for transit modes.

Nowadays suburbs are the fastest accelerators of development and economic growth for the cities that not only include natural growth but also high migration rates which are primarily ignited by attractive employment opportunities. This pull factor in turn is adding large number of vehicles in urban and its peripheral areas which lead to deterioration of environment. The changing family structures (more nuclear families) and strong urge to reside in peaceful environment i.e. away from busy core areas is contributing to a new development scenario that would include consolidated development with walkable lifestyles with minimum pollution level having reduced motorized traffic and an increased dependency on the transit modes.

TOD primarily include three components i.e. physical structures, open spaces and linkages between the previous two. The physical structures include high density high quality development with a transit station in the center having various activity centers within a 10 minute walk radii, which may constitute office, residential, retail, civic use, etc. The open spaces include the recreational areas, parks and the breathing spaces or lungs that purify and soothe the environment, thus creating micro climatic zones. The linkages efficiently connect activity centers with each other without disturbing the nature thereby giving highest priority to walkable designs and pedestrianized stretches. Bicycles and two-wheelers are significant part of daily support transportation system.

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3. IMPACT OF TRANSIT ORIENTED DESIGN

Transit Oriented Development has a direct impact on the day-to-day life of general public as the concept of TOD is closely associated with transportation networks and land use activities.

On people TOD plays a vital role in curbing traffic congestion and avoiding environment degradation. Transit modes could be made more attractive and ridership may be increased by providing more comfortable vehicles, waiting areas, regular service and better user information. Transit proves to be best suited to the needs of the daily commuters including students, senior citizens, disabled population and working class as it connects the busiest areas in the shortest possible time.

On real estate, the existence of transit station increases the land values manifolds as such areas are more prone to development on account of easy accessibility and effective linkage with the surroundings. It is not only the property values but rental prices are also on higher side for areas in close proximity of transit stations. Real estate boom in suburban areas has been felt on account of transit ways, as amount of plot area in suburban areas within same budget frame can be achieved much more in comparison to the plot sizes available in the core of the city or near to it. The housing locations are finalized based upon housing and transportation costs trade off.

On urban growth and management, transit modes help in achieving consolidated growth having more efficient sub-centers by increasing densities near transit stations. The growth is restricted along transit corridors in consolidated chunks, thereby avoiding ribbon development which in turn reduces the infrastructural costs. Transit investments are more beneficial as compared to highway investments as it includes longer perspective having integration with land use. The future development trends are reflected based upon collective decisions of a planner and real estate developer by undergoing affordability index considering both economy and accessibility.

On safety, TOD helps in creating safe and livable areas by reducing car accidents, injuries and commute times. Healthier life styles are achieved by designing areas on human scale which in turn leads to more walking and lesser stress.

On economy, TOD leads to increased value of under used land. By encouraging pedestrian activity and discouraging automobile dependency the expenditures incurred on personal vehicles and transportation modes can be considerably reduced. Thus by reducing personal vehicles and their parking needs, the number of apartments in same area can be increased by 20-25 percent. Providing more incentives to consolidated development and by discouraging sprawl, affordable housing to majority can be provided.

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4. HISTORY OF TOD IN INDIA

The rapid transit in India consists of both metro rails, and bus rapid transit systems. First metro rail was introduced in Kolkata and its operation started way back in 1984. Delhi Metro rail marked India’s second operational transit and was commissioned in 2002. The city of Pune was the first to experiment bus rapid transit system, which became functional in December 2006 followed by Delhi and Ahmedabad.

Development in India is not dictated by transit ways i.e. as in major developed nations, but the transit ways act as remedial measures inculcated to avoid congestion and other traffic related problems. The transit systems are not only becoming the prime choice for the daily commuters but also giving sky rocking boom to the real estate market. The internal core areas of the city and sub-urban areas on account of becoming easily accessible have become prime choice for investors and end users as well. In the last decades for every 2 percent increase in population the approximate increase in number of motor vehicles is more than 8 percent, which in turn have played a devastating role on traffic conditions and environment of urban areas. So, inclination towards this shift from traditional modes to transit ways is quite normal.

5. INTERNATIONAL SITUATION OF TOD

5.1 Bogotá’s Transit System

The Bogota bus rapid transit system is a unique transit system in the world having no major investment in building carriage ways, as existing infrastructure and R.O.W. (right of way) was brought into use. The low cost and highly functional bus stops adds to the efficiency of the transit system. The superior quality buses and routes that connect each corner of the sprawling city attracts large ridership. The transit ways have influenced the development in a consolidated manner along linear veins instead of development in concentric zones. The public transit and bicycles are the most dominating mode thereby discouraging private ridership.

The transit system of Bogotá is also known as Trans Milenio which consists of following outlying factors:

• International standards followed by transit system ensure the quality and consistency for the riders.

• State funding policy has helped the profit motive of private operators thereby making it affordable for low income users.

• Reduced accident rates and reduced content of contaminated particles in air have not only improved the environment but also achieved respect for life

Ten Tired Bagota Bus Service

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• Operating System: Adequate frequency of buses on varying routes as per centralized control points makes overall system a success. The operation include 3 type of services i.e. express services which cater the needs of only selected stations, ordinary service include all the stations, where as feeder services are meant for peripheral routes and sub-urban areas.

• Collection Method: Modern ways have been deployed for fare collection which works on pre-paid basis and contactless smart cards are used for the ease of passengers.

• Management, and Control: The management of entire transit system is being governed by the communication dealt by satellites through voice and data communication means.

Bogotá Transit system has been a great success by virtue of many public awareness programmes and competitions hosted by the state government with a motive to maximize its use. The basic principles on which Bogotá’s BRT system is efficiently working is lesser use of personal motorized vehicles and residing closer to work areas, i.e. the residential developments are consolidated chunks bound by commercial areas and work areas in close proximity. The entire city including suburbs is well knit with one another by means of fast and reliable transportation networks.

5.2 Pittsburgh Bus Rapid Transit, USA

A major city of Pennsylvania has addressed its unique location by using series of mass transit options instead of highway construction. Bus rapid transit system replaced the earlier experiment which included light rail and thereby proved to be cost effective as well. Transportation Research Board of Washington, DC defines BRT, as ‘a flexible, rubber-tired rapid transit mode that combines stations,

Dedicated Bus Lane

Ravi Inder Singh

• Travelling times have been shortened considerably by 32 percent, thus adding to the overall efficiency of transit system.

• Human diversity is being respected by framing equivalent fair slabs irrespective of social, physical, economic, gender and age parameters.

The Transit system consists of the following four components:

• Mass Transportation: The infrastructure for mass trans-portation includes dedicated carriage ways, pedestrian bridges and platforms for the convenience of the commuters. Efficient system for feeder services and designated parking areas, along with other necessary supporting infrastructural needs result in smooth functioning of transit system.


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vehicles, services, running ways, and Intelligent Transportation System elements into an integrated system with a strong positive identity that evokes a unique image’. The city is divided into different zones by means of three transit ways:

South Bus way, is considered the first transit way which was created way back in 1977 having a length of 4.3 miles parallel to a railway track, which in turn reduces the commute times by approximately ten minutes. East bus way is the second transit way which came into existence in 1983 and helped in reducing travel time by approximate. 20 minutes over a length of 6.8 mile long track. This bus way helped in rejuvenating the surrounding areas by creation of linear park, pedestrian pathway, lighting, fencing and other landscaping arrangements. By coming up of transit way 59 housing development sites were developed within a radius of 1500 ft around the station.

West bus way is the third transit way which connects Downtown to the areas west of the rivers in order to check transit times, pollution and in order to accelerate the economic growth by constructing over dilapidated railroad right of way thereby replacing eye sore with new functional transit way. It various components are:

• Safety concern of the road users has been addressed by providing footpaths and subways for the pedestrians.

• Service roads and cycle tracks have been made the in built part of transit ways to discourage personal motorized traffic and encouraging non-motorized ridership.

• Intelligent transport system works on pre-board ticketing and automatic traffic signaling system to impart priority to transit vehicles, thereby making the system time efficient.

• Monitoring the buses for smooth operation and convenience of riders through digital information displays.

• Feeder lines help in providing comprehensive transportation network, not leaving riders halfway and catering to the needs of regional traffic.

BRT system has played considerably important role in connecting surrounding areas with one another by means of fast and secure modes and in turn has helped in creating healthy living environment with pedestrian

The three Bus Ways of Pittsburgh

West Bus Way Approaching Station

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friendly network. Growth around transit stations has multiplied as a result of reduced transportation costs and resulted in consolidated development.

6. CONCLUSIONS

Sustainable development can be achieved by placing work places, residential areas, commercial areas and recreational areas in close proximity and connecting each one of them by means of effective linkages.

REFERENCES http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559631163/newurbanismor-20/104-9031583-0414319#reader_1559631163

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/inpr/su/sucopl/sucopl_007.cfm

http://www.iedconline.org/downloads/smart_growth.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit-oriented_development

http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_rrd_52.pdf

http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/main_45

http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm45.htm

http://www.planetizen.com/node/39133


http://policy.rutgers.edu/vtc/TOD/newsletter/vol6-num1/CaseStudiesforTOD.pdf

http://www.uli.org/sitecore/content/ULI2Home/ResearchAndPublications/CenterforBalancedDevelopmentintheWest/Research%20Archives/Case%20Studies/Lane%20Countys%20Bus%20Rapid%20Transit%20System.aspx

http://www.greendesignetc.net/Transportation_05_%28pdf%29/TichichNick_Pittsburgh_Bus_Rapid_Transit%28paper%29.pdf

http://www.globaltelematics.com/apa99.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_transit_in_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Bus_Rapid_Transit_System

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pune_Bus_Rapid_Transit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmedabad_BRTS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_BRTS

http://thecityfix.com/boosting-property-values-near-brt/

http://architecture.suite101.com/article.cfm/bogotas_transit_system


http://www.solarpowerwindenergy.org/2009/07/03/bogota-transmilenio-bus-rapid-transit/

Ravi Inder Singh


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Dr. Abhijit Paul, Visiting faculty, Department of Architecture, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India. [email protected]

Influence of Roadway Configuration on Traffic Flows through a Conventional Traffic Assignment Model

Abhijit Paul

AbstractThe role of urban texture, configuration, itself is apparent in influencing urban movement; whereas the conventional traffic assignment models much rely on the localized parameters, such as land use (or trip generators), distance or time of cost of travel, flow congestion, etc. The author raises the question as to why do we not consider the configuration itself as a parameter in our traffic assignment techniques when researchers have come out with statistical evidence showing urban grids also influence urban movement? Where exactly is the fallacy in understanding the influence of configuration on the urban phenomena of trip-making and route choice from the conventional traffic assignment stance? This paper aims to throw deeper insights into these questions by showing theoretical evidence that capacity-restrained analysis – one of the popular conventional traffic-assignment models in the transportation planning and also indicates that the configuration of an urban texture is one of the key factors of traffic assignment.

Abhijit Paul

1. INTRODUCTION

In “Network effects and psychological effects: a theory of urban movement,” Hillier and Iida (2005) pointed out that fundamental proposition in space syntax is that, with the kinds of exceptions noted in Hillier et al (1987), Hillier et al. (1993), Chang and Penn (1998) and Penn et al (1998), the configuration of the urban street network is in itself a major determinant of movement flows” (Hillier et al. 2005). Several studies in the past have shown positive correlations between urban movement, pedestrian and vehicular, and the outcome of a spatial analysis commonly known as space syntax (Hillier and Hnson, 1984). The syntax analysis of an urban street network is driven by a natural phenomenon of street accessibility. That is the higher the accessibility a street gains, the greater the potential the street bears in receiving urban movement. This configurational understanding of modeling movement networks still remains segregated from the travel demand modeling techniques adopted by the orthodox transportation planning community. In the words of Penn (2003, page 62):

“This is no criticism of traffic modeling. Where science uses data to test hypotheses that are assumed to be false, and thus to increase our understanding, modeling uses data to calibrate models based on theories that are assumed to be correct. The aims of syntax are exactly to understand and explain certain


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aspects of human behavior and their relation to the environments that people build. Traffic modeling has never had that aim and has been explicitly developed as an approach to modeling the effects of policy change and design intervention in a world in which a good explanatory theoretical framework is lacking but in which we must continue to intervene.”

The conventional traffic assignment models are typically used to determine traffic flows of settlement roads by analyzing the trip-makers’ general understanding of route choice between trip-origins and trip-destinations. These origins and destinations are taken into account as traffic analysis zones. Then by using trip-generations (trip-productions and trip-attractions) of these zones, it is determined how many trips will move from a specific origin to a specific destination. These trips are commonly known as origin-destination or OD trips. As appeared in Fricker et al. (2004, page 207), before 1920, the Gravity Model was used to determine OD trip distributions by using trip-generation data and origin-destination travel distance. Later, Pallin modified the Gravity Model by introducing the notion of travel time in the place of travel distance. However, in practice, surveyed OD trip data are used for determining more accurate traffic assignment results. These OD trips can further be distinguished by different modes of transportation, such as privately-operated vehicles, busses, rail transit, etc. Finally, the travel times of each route that connects the origin and the destination are compared to determine which route will carry how many trips using a specified mode of transportation.

One of the conventional models of traffic assignment, and perhaps, the most popular in the transportation planning community, is the capacity-restrained analysis, and its algorithm, used to determine travel times of OD routes, is comprised by two distinct components of trip-making: the static component and the dynamic component. For instance, when two or more routes become available between a specific origin and a specific destination, the static component of the analysis tells us which route will take how much of time to transfer the trips by comparing the free-flow travel times of all available routes. The free-flow travel times of each of the routes are the ratios of their metric lengths and free-flow travel speeds. As appeared in Highway Capacity Manual (2000, pages 5-6), the free-flow speed of an OD route is “the theoretical speed of traffic when the trip-density is zero, that is, when no vehicles are present,” that might create flow congestion. On the other hand, the dynamic component of the analysis captures the trip delay caused by flow congestion. The traffic congestion of a route is its volume to capacity ratio (V/c). In the Highway Capacity Manual (2000), the application of the volume to capacity ratio is used for determining the route’s performance through the notion of level of service.

The level of service or LOS of a route is a qualitative measure of traffic flow congestion, and it is identified in terms of six distinct categories from A to F.

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LOS A is considered an excellent travel condition, in which vehicles can travel nearly with free-flow speeds (V/c ranges from 0.00 to 0.60). However, the LOS of a route reduces as its operational flow speed decreases due to flow congestion. LOS C is considered the practical capacity, in which maneuvering is observed to be restricted. LOS E is the absolute capacity, in which traffic volume is found to be close to the route capacity (V/c ranges from 0.91 to 1.00). LOS F is considered the failure condition, in which traffic volume exceeds the capacity of a route. Therefore, in order to determine the congestion delay of an O-D route, it becomes an important consideration to determine the route condition under which the route itself operates.

As pointed out before, LOS C is considered the practical capacity, in which maneuvering is observed to be restricted. In LOS C, the volume to capacity ratio is determined from maximum roadway capacity (that is LOS E, in which the volume to capacity ratio is considered 1.00). In practice, the designed capacity under LOS C is considered equivalent to 75% of that of LOS E (see Fricker at al. 2004).

The congestion delay of an OD route is the proportional delay of its free-flow travel time due to congestion (ITE 1992, 115-7). In reality, however, the total travel time of an OD route increases slowly at low congestion and abruptly when its flow approaches the capacity (Fricker et al. 2004). That is, congestion delay is precisely a non-linear function of the flow congestion itself. Now, comprising both, the free-flow travel time and congestion delay, the actual travel time of the route is determined (equation 1)

t = t0

+

b

C

Va1 ……………………………. (1)

Where,

t = total travel time

t0 = free-flow travel time

V = traffic volume

C = route capacity

The above equation of travel time is also popular as the link performance function or LPF, where a and b act as parameters. Although the Bureau of Public Roads (1964) suggests considering a = 0.15 and b = 4.00, transportation planners also use other values of these parameters derived from the local study results.

However, as pointed out before, traffic congestion is considered a dynamic parameter of the link performance function of a route because it varies with the route’s actual flow conditions. Therefore, even though LOS C is assumed to be the operational condition of OD routes, in reality, a route may not always operate with LOS C throughout. Now, when the LOS of a primary route reduces, the

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alternative routes become more attractive, and then the question of route choice arises. In this situation, an equilibrium is established with the total OD trips that are distributed among all possible alternative routes. This equilibrium is known as user equilibrium (Fricker et al. 2004, page 232). Under user equilibrium, the changing trip-route does not change travel time.

2. CASE ExAMPLE

Imagine there are three routes (A, B, and C) that act as connectors between an origin and a destination, and their link performance functions are tA = 8.8 + 0.4VA for route A, tB = 7.0 + 0.8VB for route B, and tC = 5.8 + 1.7VC for route C, respectively (this example has appeared in Fricker et al. 2004). As given in these functions, route C has the least free-flow travel time (5.8 minutes), and trip-makers are supposed to choose route C in the first place when there is no congestion. Now, when the travel time of route C exceeds 7.0 minutes because of flow congestion, route B will tend to become more attractive to the trip-makers. Similarly, when the travel times of routes B and C exceed 8.8 minutes, they both will be considered as time consuming as route A. Equilibrium is then obtained for the three routes by optimizing their flow counts.

Let us further examine how the trips will be distributed in these three routes. Also imagine the flow distribution from the origin to the destination is 3,800 veh./hr. Now, as route A has the highest free-flow travel time among all three routes (8.8 minutes), route A will only be used by the additional trip-makers when the travel times of routes B and C will exceed 8.8 minutes. These additional trips can be determined by adding the traffic flows of routes B and C at t = 8.8 minutes (that is, tA = tB = 8.8 minutes). In this situation VB and VC will be 2,250 and 1,765 veh./hr. In total, routes B and C are capable of carrying 4,015 veh./hr. together at t = 8.8 minutes. Therefore, because this flow is higher than the total traffic flow (which is 3,800 veh./hr.), all trips will be consumed by routes B and C before their travel times reach 8.8 minutes. As a result, neither route A will be considered to establish the equilibrium nor is route A expected to receive any trips.

Similarly, between routes B and C, route B has higher free-flow travel time (7.0 minutes) than that of route C. Therefore, route B will only be used by the additional trip-makers when the travel time of route C reaches 7.0 minutes. In this scenario, the maximum flow that route C can receive is 706 veh./hr (such that, tC = 7.0 minutes). In this case, the traffic flow of route C is less than the total flow (3,800 veh./hr.), and thus, route B will become competitive when the traffic flow of route C will reach 706 veh./hr., and then an equilibrium will be established in-between the travel times of route B and C. In summation, under the equilibrium (i.e. tB = tC), routes B and C will carry the total traffic (VB + VC = 3,800 veh./hr.). Now, equating these two equations the flows of routes B and

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C are obtained 2,104 and 1,696 veh./hr., respectively. And the equilibrium is established at 8.68 minutes.

3. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

While determining the travel demands of routes B and C, it has been found that together they can maintain an utmost flow of 4,015 veh./hr. before reaching their individual travel time to the free-flow travel time of route A. Since, the total traffic flow was less than 4,015 veh./hr., route A has been found redundant. Now, if the total traffic flow has been considered higher than 4,015 veh./hr., the additional trip-makers would have considered route A.

Notably, for a fixed number of trip distribution (that is, 3,800 veh./hr. in the case example), all routes compete with each other based on their free-flow travel times. This is because an alternative route only becomes competent when its own free-flow travel time (t0) becomes equal to the travel time (t) of one that primarily has a lower free-flow travel time. In Fig. 1, the free-flow travel time of route B is higher than that of route C, and thus, route B only becomes competent when the total travel time of route C becomes equal to the free-flow travel time of route B (that is, 7.0 minutes). This, as appeared in Paul (2011), supports a critical argument of flow distribution that:

“… theoretically, congestion is the result of trip-makers’ route choice. Penn et al. (1998, page 59) also identified that the ‘knowledge of congestion of the route options ahead of the driver is assumed so that drivers make a rational choice of route’. Therefore, the relationship between congestion and route choice appears to be somewhat interdependent, and quantification of traffic congestion through the link performance functions of OD routes is only an empirical representation of specific real traffic conditions that, theoretically, seems to be a probabilistic approach to traffic forecasting.”

It is, however, equally important to realize a crucial fact as identified in the above analysis that the network of three routes influence their individual flows. In order to examine this argument the layout shown in Fig. 1 is modified in three ways by blocking each route individually (Fig. 3). Table 3 reports the individual route flow in each case.

Table 3: Route Flows of Under three Conditions with Flow Distribution of 3,800 veh. / hr.

Case Route A Route B Route C user equilibrium 1 Blocked 2,104 1,696 tB = tC = 8.68 minutes

2 1,648 Blocked 2,152 tA = tC = 9.46 minutes

3 1,033 2,767 Blocked tA = tB = 9.21 minutes

Abhijit Paul

Fig. 1: Routes A, B, and C between the Origin and the Destination.


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The results of Table 3 show that travel demands of OD routes change only under certain alterations of the layout, but not always. This is because travel demands of route B and C do not change when route A is blocked. On the contrary, travel demands of alternative routes change when routes B and C are blocked. While blocking route A (Fig. 3a), it has been found that total trips (3,800 v/h) are consumed by the routes B and C together alone before their total travel times (with their individual congestion delays) reach free-flow travel time of route A. As a result of this, route A is found to be redundant, and therefore, blocking of route A practically does not change travel demands of alternative routes. This suggests that alteration of layout may not always influence travel demands of OD routes.

On the contrary, when routes B and C are blocked individually (Fig. 3b and 3c), travel time in equilibrium (in each case) is found higher than the free flow travel time of the route(s) blocked. Consequently, the travel demands of the alternative routes that are left unblocked change. This suggests that layout is also a critical consideration in modeling vehicular travel demands.

4. CONCLUSIONS

It has been argued in this study that alteration of layout changes travel demand of OD routes. Now the question is what does this certain alteration of layout actually mean in reality? Or, perhaps what property of the routes (that constitute the layout) in particular is responsible for their travel demands for a fixed number of OD trips. From the capacity-restrained approach to traffic assignment point of view, the findings of this study emphasize that, it is the free

Fig. 3: Layout Alteration. (a) Case 1 when Route A is Blocked; (b) Case 2 when Route B is Blocked; (c) Case 3 when Route C is Blocked.

Abhijit Paul

Fig. 2: Flow Distributions in Routes A, B, and C. The Flows are in veh./hr.


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flow travel times OD routes, that are considered as a primary factor to determine (1) which OD routes(s) are more competent in terms of to be chosen by the trip makers in the first place than others, and (2) how long these route(s) will remain competent. In the case example of this study, competency of route C is found to be the highest among all three, and it remains competent until its total travel time (tC) reaches the free flow travel time (t0 = 7.0 minutes) of route B. Contrary, free flow travel time of route A is so high, it never becomes competent for the specific flow considered for the analysis when all routes are left open. However, when one of the alternative routes is blocked, free flow travel time of route A becomes competent.

REFERENCES Figueiredo, L. and Amorim, L. (2007) Decoding the urban grid: or why cities are neither trees nor perfect grids. In the Proceedings of 6th International Space Syntax Symposium, Istanbul: pp.006.1-16.

Fricker, J. and Whitford, R. (2004) Modeling Transportation Demand and Supply. Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering: a multimodal system approach. London: Pearson Education, Inc., pp.183-251.

Haggett, P. and Chorley, R. (1969). Network Analysis in Geography, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Hillier, B., Burdett, R., Peponis, J., and Penn, A. (1987) Creating life; Or, does Architecture determine anything? Arch. and Comport./Arch. Behav. 3, pp.233-250.

Hillier, B. and Iida, S. (2005) Network effects and psychological effects: a theory of urban movement. A.G. Cohn and D.M. Mark (eds.) COSIT, LNCS 3693: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, pp.475–490.

Hillier, B., Penn, A., Hanson, J., Grajewski, T., and Xu, J. (1993) Natural movement: or, configuration and attraction in urban pedestrian movement. In Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 20(1), pp.29-66.

Hillier, B., Peponis, J., and Hanson, J. (1987) Syntactic analysis of settlements. Arch. and Comport./Arch. Behav. 3, pp.217-231.

Hillier, B. and Hanson, J. (1984) The Social logic of space, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Paul, A. (2009) An integrated approach to modeling vehicular movement networks: trip assignment and space syntax, PhD thesis, Texas Tech University.

Paul, A. (2011) A critical review of the equilibrium approach to vehicular traffic estimation. Traffic Engineering and Control, 52(6A), pp.265-268.

Paul, A. (2012) Creating Awareness of an Evidence-Based Approach to Urban Design, Journal of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 54(1), pp. 175-180.

Transportation Research Board. (2000) Highway Capacity Manual. Washington DC: NRC.

Abhijit Paul


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Medha Vijay Gokhale, Associate Professor and Ph.D. Scholar, Sinhgad College of Architecture, Pune. Email: [email protected]

Dr. Milind V. Telang, Director, Sinhgad College of Architecture, Ph.D. Research Centre, Pune. Email: [email protected]

Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index as Evaluation Model for Existing Sidewalk Environment and Pedestrians’

Comfort : A Case Study of Pune

Medha Vijay Gokhale and Dr. Milind V. Telang

AbstractThe goal of any transportation system is to provide safe, comfortable and efficient mobility to the varied end users. ‘Walking’ is the basic mode of transportation, and ‘Pedestrian’ being the end user is provided with limited space in the form of sidewalks in Indian cities. However, there are various sidewalk issues which need to be evaluated and addressed. This paper attempts to put forth evaluation method for assessing the performance of sidewalk infrastructure, amenities and facilities in Indian cities in terms of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index.

1. INTRODUCTION

Today with the advent of motor vehicle and fast speeding life dominating the Indian streets, development of sidewalks and pedestrians’ needs have been shredded off in the background. The reinstating of sidewalks to encourage pedestrian life and provide them with comfortable and pleasant walking environment is today’s urgent need of Indian cities, mostly the commercial streets, where multipurpose activities and varied users dominate the area. Eventually the uncontrollable vehicular growth on city roads has given rise to the various issues related to the sidewalks and pedestrian infrastructure facilities. Such issues need to be evaluated for assessing the quality of the sidewalk environment. Also the pedestrians’ comfort needs such as convenience, safety, security, accessibility, climatic protection, sense of place, legibility, etc; is the most basic concern which needs to be addressed. Currently there are various qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods of street sidewalks developed by western countries as per their contextual requirements so as to create pleasant walking environment. However, India is lacking such evaluation tools for Indian streets. There is the need to develop an evaluation method for qualitative and quantitative assessment of the sidewalk environment. This will allow the urban planners to effectively assess the pedestrian environment, identify lacunas, prioritize and suggest improvements in pedestrian infrastructure facilities, which majority of Indian streets are lacking today. Hence, this paper attempts to put forth the evaluation model for quantitative as well as qualitative assessment of sidewalk environment with respect to pedestrians’ comfort needs and which



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can be applied on streets in any Indian city. This model will not only be useful in assessing the quantitative and qualitative requirements and lacunas of sidewalk zones but will also help in assessing pedestrians’ comfort needs from physical, physiological and psychological point of view. This model can generate weighted sidewalk walkability indices for the sidewalk elements and their parameters which can be useful in planning, design and operation of pedestrian facilities as per their importance on any Indian street.

2. SURVEY DESIGN FOR SIDEWALK WALKABILITY ASSESSMENT

With the view to evaluate sidewalk elements, nine streets (Table 1 and Fig. 1) spatially distributed all over Pune city areas having different density pattern and having stretch of minimum five hundred meters and maximum one kilometer were identified and delineated for conducting physical survey. The nine streets were also selected on the basis of varying road width and sidewalk width and commercial dominating mixed land use where high pedestrian volumes were observed. The evaluation of performance of sidewalk elements was expressed in terms of Pedestrian Level of Service which was further recorded in the form of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index (GSWI).

3. METHODOLOGY FOR MEASURING WALKABILITY OF SIDEWALKS: DEVELOPMENT OF GROSS SIDEWALK WALKABILITY INDEX (GSWI)

One of the simplest and mostly used method for measuring the performance of sidewalk elements is numerical rating scale. This evaluation method is employed, which includes following stages:

• Identification of sidewalk zones and their elements - frontage zone, footpath or through route zone, street furniture zone and their physical characteristics in form of twenty one sidewalk parameters under all zones. Table 2 presents


Table 1: Details of Streets for Physical Survey of Sidewalk Environment

Density per Ha (Administrative Ward wise Density per Ha)

Road (Min. 500m to Max. 1000 m)

Road Width (m)

Sidewalk Width (m)

40 to 100 (Wards- Aundh, Yerawada, Hadapsar, Warje, Sangamwadi, Bibwewadi)

ITI Road, Sanewadi 16-20 Less than 1.5m

Shivarkar Road, Fatimanagar 12-15 1.5 to 2.0m

Bibwewadi Road 21-30 More than 2.0m

101 to 200 (Wards-Tilak Road, Dhole Patil Road, Ghole Road, Sahakarnagar)

Mahatma Gandhi Road, Camp 16-20 Less than 1.5m

North Main Road 12-15 1.5 to 2.0m

F.C. Road 21-30 More than 2.0m

Above 201 (Wards-Karve Road, Vishrambaugwada, Bhavani Peth, Kasba Peth)

Paud Road 21-30 More than 2.0m

Tilak Road 12-15 1.5 to 2.0m

Nehru road 16-20 Less than 1.5m


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• Developing five point ordinal rating scale for the above sidewalk parameters and sub-parameters based on national and international design guidelines of sidewalk infrastructure facilities and approved by five experts from various field such as urban planning, urban design, transportation planning, psychology.

• Application of Weighted Index Method for calculation of ‘Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index’ (GSWI) is mentioned below:

• GSWI=(∑WxR÷∑W)

Where W= Weightage of the parameter (based on experts’ opinion)R= Weighted Average Rating of the Parameter

• Conducting the physical survey of delineated nine streets and recording the quantitative and qualitative observations of both sides of the sidewalk under identified parameters and sub-parameters and rating the parameters and sub-parameters based on the designed five point rating scale as explained in brief in Table 3.

• Arriving at weighted scores by Multiplying the weights attached to the parameter by the rated score of that sidewalk parameter (derived based on primary observation survey and the five point rating scale) as mentioned in the above formula.

Fig. 1: Streets Selected for the Study of Sidewalks in Pune City


the list of sidewalk parameters undertaken for physical survey under each zone.

• Identification of quantitative and qualitative sub-parameters under 21 parameters for measuring the quantitative and qualitative dimension of sidewalk elements in terms of Pedestrian level of service.

• Weighting of the above sidewalk parameters and sub-parameters by 5 experts for measuring the degree of importance of a particular parameter among the twenty one parameters. Importance ratings are called Weights attached to the sidewalk parameters. These weightages of sidewalk parameters are universal and are impartial as they are based on Experts Opinion. Table 2 also presents the weightages of the sidewalk parameters.


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• Evaluating Pedestrian Level of Service Grade of sidewalks of the nine streets (as explained in Table 4) in terms of weighted score and expressed in terms of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index based on above Weighted Index Method.

Table 2: Weightage of Sidewalk Parameters Under Each Sidewalk Zone

Street Sidewalk Elements

Physical Characteristics of Street Sidewalk Elements (Sidewalk Parameters)

Weightage Based on Experts opinion

1. Through Route Zone

1. Through Route Width 162. Footpath Kerb Height 173. Footpath Surface 194. Footpath Continuity 205. Effective Footpath Width 216. Disability Infrastructure 18

2. Street Furniture Zone

7. Provision of Street Furniture Zone and their Width 158. Road Side Plantation 119. Bus Stops 710. Street Lighting 1411. Seating Benches 1012. Other Street Amenities 1313. Underground Utilities And Overhead Services 914. Street Vending Spaces 12

3. Frontage Zone 15. Frontage Zone Width 416. Signscape 317. Streetscape 518. Street Activities 8

4. Carriageway Elements (Related to Sidewalks)

19. Cycle Track 220. Storm Water Drainage Facility (Location of Storm Water

Drains/Catch Pits)6

21. On Street Parking 1

Parameters and Subprameters (Performance Indicators)

ExcellentRating-5LOS –A

GoodRating-4LOS –B

SatisfactoryRating-3LOS –C

PoorRating-2LOS –D

Very PoorRating-1LOS –E

Definition Of Sidewalk Condition

Ideal condition is defined as the sidewalk possessing more than 18 of 21 parameters or characteristics as per standards.

Reasonable condition is defined as the sidewalk possessing 15 to 18 of 21 parameters or characteristics as per standards.

Basic condition is defined as the sidewalk possessing 10 to 14 of 21 parameters or characteristics as per standards.

Poor condition is defined as the sidewalk possessing 6 to 9 of 21 parameters or characteristics as per standards.

Unsuitable condition is defined as the sidewalk possessing less than 5 of 21 parameters as per standards.

Table 3: Rating Scale of Parameters and Sub-parameters of Existing Sidewalk Conditions



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The GSWI will put forth the existing condition of sidewalk, Lowest GSWI – 1 indicates poor sidewalk conditions and Highest GSWI - 5 indicates most favorable sidewalk conditions. To improve the sidewalk condition, weighted walkability index of each parameter will indicate which parameter should be addressed or undertaken first for improvement. Even within each parameter, which sub-parameter should be addressed first can be decided using the weightages.

Table 4: Grading of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index (GSWI) for Defining Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS)

Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index (GSWI) (Weighted

Score)

Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS)

Condition Description

4.0 ≤ GSWI≤5.0 A EXCELLENT Ideal sidewalk conditions exist and number of factors that negatively affect PLOS are minimal

3.0 ≤ GSWI< 4.0 B VERY GOOD Reasonable sidewalk conditions exist but a small number of factors impact on pedestrian safety and comfort

2.0 ≤ GSWI< 3.0 C G O O D / SATISFACTORY

Basic sidewalk conditions exist but a significant number of factors affect safety and comfort.

1.0 ≤ GSWI< 2.0 D POOR Poor sidewalk conditions exist.GSWI < 1.0 E VERY POOR Existing sidewalk environment is unsuitable.

Table 5: Grading of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index(GSWI) of Selected Streets Defining the Existing Pedestrian Level Of Service (PLOS) (Derived based on Weighted Index Method)

Road Width 12 to 15 M 16 to 20 M 21 to 30 MSidewalk Width 1.50M to 2.00M Less than 1.50M More than 2.0M

Pune City Zone

Outer Pune

Inner Pune

Central Pune

Outer Pune

Inner Pune

Central Pune Outer Pune Inner

PuneCentral Pune

Street Shivarkar Road

North Main Road

Tilak Road

ITI Road

Mahatma Gandhi Road

Nehru Road

Bibwewadi Road

Paud Road

Fergusson College Road

Quantitative Swi 2.58 2.60 2.76 3.17 2.79 2.82 3.01 3.37 3.12

Qualitative Swi 2.60 2.98 3.29 3.05 3.30 2.76 3.43 3.37 3.22

Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index (Gswi)

2.59 2.79 3.02 3.11 3.04 2.79 3.22 3.37 3.17

Pedestrian Level of Service (Plos)

C C B B B C B B B



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Weightages are impartial since they are experts’ opinion based. GSWI provides scope for conducting sensitivity analysis of the sidewalk. The application of this method can also be used for comparative analysis of different sidewalks in the city, identifying their lacunas and issues to be dealt with.

4. RESULTS

Based on the primary survey and Weighted Index method following are the results recorded as presented in Table-5. Fig. 2 presents Comparative Analysis of Quantitative, Qualitative and Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index of Delineated Streets in Pune city. The sidewalks on the road having width 12 to 15m have existing sidewalk conditions below satisfactory level, qualitatively as well as quantitatively. They lack provision of pedestrian infrastructure, amenities and facilities while some of the sidewalks on roads of 16 to 20 m width lack quantitative facilities. The sidewalks on the roads above 21m have satisfactory provision of pedestrian amenities and facilities, quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Most of the street sidewalks have satisfactory Pedestrian level of service which indicates that basic sidewalk infrastructure amenities and facilities have been provided as per design guidelines. However, to improve Pedestrian level of service grade above satisfactory level more than fifteen of twenty one parameters need to be addressed on the basis of their weightages.

4.1 Pedestrians’ Comfort Needs

Streets are one of the important part in hierarchy of a public space, having sidewalks as demarcated place for pedestrian’s activity, pedestrian being the end user. In western countries public space theories and models have been put forth by various sociologists, planners and urban designers such as Lennard and Lennard, Carr et al, Jan Gehl, Bentley et al, Project for Public space organization,

Fig. 2: Comparative Analysis of Quantitative, Qualitative and Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index of Delineated Streets in Pune city.



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John Punter and John Montgomery, identifying the needs of the end user , there by concerned with the making of responsive public space and pedestrian landscape. Protection, Comfort, Enjoyment, Accessibility, Linkage, Sociability, Imagibility are some of the needs emphasized in these models. Connected, Convivial, Conspicuous, Comfortable, Convenience are pedestrian needs defined in Transport for London (Tfl, 2005) and applied in ‘PIZZA’ Model of Pedestrian Quality needs,

Pedestrian Comfort NeedsPhysiological Comfort Physical Comfort Psychological Comfort

The comfort experienced during physical movements and actions such walking, sitting, standing, seeing, and hearing playing or unfolding activities.

The comfort experienced from external influences such as climatic protection, traffic accidents and walking path modal conflicts.

The mental and emotional comfort achieved from the sensory and memorable experiences such as legibility, sense of place and belongingness, personal security (from crime), relaxation, active and passive engagement, enjoyment, equity and discovery.

Com

fort

able

Conn

ecti

vity

Safe

ty

Prot

ecti

on

Conv

enie

nce

Conv

ival

ity

Cons

picu

ous

Attr

acti

vene

ss

The extent to which walking is accommodated to competences (abilities) of all types of pedestrians

The extent, to which the pedestrian network provides continuous movement without any physical obstructions, links to key trip origins and destinations, as well as the extent of linkages between different routes on the network.

The state of being free from physical danger or injury while walking by limiting pedestrian-vehicle conflict, providing provisions to ensure that pedestrian-pedestrian (falls, stumbling tripping, slipping) and pedestrian-traffic accidents will not happen.

The state or activity of being covered or protected from normal/daily and extreme climatic conditions such as harsh sun, heavy rains and winds.

The extent to which walking is possible and able to compete with other modes of transport in terms of efficiency.

The extent to which walking is a pleasant activity, in terms of (active and passive engagement) interaction with people, the built and natural environment, and other road users and would make one feel emotionally and mentally secure and stress-free while walking ensuring psychological comfort.

The extent to which walking routes feel inviting for pedestrians, in terms of clear and legible signing and information, orientation and direction.

The quality of aesthetics that appeals to the senses and arouses one’s interest and sense of excitement.

Table 6: Pedestrian Comfort Needs- Operational Definitions



68

conducted by European Cooperation in Science and Technology- COST Action 358, to analyze the spatial quality of sidewalk spaces (Methorst, 2008).

Based on this literature review, for Indian cities, Pedestrians’ needs are broadly classified as physical comfort, physiological comfort and psychological comfort. Physiological comfort is the comfort experienced during physical movements and actions such as walking, sitting, standing, seeing, and hearing playing or unfolding activities and are presented by comfort and connectivity; Physical

Pedestrians' Comfort Needs Physiological Comfort Physical Comfort Psychological Comfort

Experts' Opinion W.r.t. Pedestrians' comfort Needs

Com

fort

able

Conn

ecti

vity

Safe

ty

Prot

ecti

on

Conv

enie

nce

Conv

ivia

l

Cons

picu

ousn

ess

Att

ract

iven

ess

Sidewalk Parameters/ Performance Indicators of Street Sidewalk Elements

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

Expe

rts

Opi

nion

1. Through Route Zone

1. Through Route Width 2. Footpath Kerb Height 3. Footpath Surface 4. Footpath Continuity 5. Effective Footpath Width 6. Disability Infrastructure

2. Street Furniture Zone

1. Provision Of Street Furniture Zone And Their Width 2. Roadside Plantation 3. Bus Stop 4. Street Lighting 5. Seating Benches 6. Other Street Amenities 7. Underground Utilities And Overhead Services 8. Street Vending Spaces

3. Frontage Zone 1. Frontage Zone Width 2. Sign scape 3. Street scape 4. Street Activities

4. Carriageway Elements

1. Cycle Track 2. Storm water Drainage 3. On Street Parking

AveragePedestrian Level Of Service Provided By The Sidewalks Satisfying The Pedestrians' Comfort Needs

Table 7: Matrix presenting Relation of Sidewalk Parameters with Pedestrians’ Comfort Needs



69

comfort is the comfort experienced from external influences such as climatic protection, traffic accidents and walking path modal conflicts and is presented by Safety, Protection and Convenience; Psychological comfort is the mental and emotional comfort achieved from the sensory and memorable experiences such as legibility, sense of place and belongingness, personal security (from crime), relaxation, active and passive engagement, enjoyment, equity and discovery and is presented by conviviality, conspicuousness and attractiveness. Table-6 presents Pedestrian Comfort Needs to be catered by existing sidewalk conditions.

4.2 Evaluation of Pedestrians’ Comfort Needs with Respect to the Existing Sidewalk Environment

Out of twenty one parameters there are various sidewalk parameters which influence each of the pedestrians’ needs. To decide which sidewalk parameter to be considered under each of these needs, western literature theories and experts’ opinion on these parameters is considered since pedestrians are unaware about which sidewalk parameters are influencing their needs. Accordingly, based on operational definitions and experts’ opinion as listed in Table -6 and Table-7, different sidewalk parameters influencing physiological, physical, psychological needs was decided. Then corresponding to each type of need and using average rating of weighted score of sidewalk parameters, a weighted average is calculated on the basis of observation survey analysis and its relation with each type of need. The above weighted average for each need will lie between one to five, where one represents the pedestrian need which is least catered, three represents the need which is satisfactorily catered and five represents mostly catered by the existing

Level Of Pedestrians' Comfort Needs (Weighted Index Value) Of Delineated Streets

City Area/ Zone

Road Width Average Sidewalk Width Street

Com

fort

able

Conn

ecti

vity

Safe

ty

Prot

ecti

on

Conv

enie

nce

Conv

ivia

l

Cons

picu

ousn

ess

Attr

acti

vene

ss

Outer Pune

12 to 15 M 1.5 to 2.0M Shivarkar Road 2.57 2.22 2.66 3.81 2.37 2.94 2.99 2.9116 to 20 M Less than 1.5M ITI Road 3.34 2.53 3.19 3.49 2.61 3.02 2.88 2.87

21 to 30 M More than 2.0M Bibwewadi Road 3.37 2.46 2.81 3.38 2.94 3.57 3.13 3.17

Inner Pune

12 to 15 M 1.5 to 2.0M North Main Road 2.82 1.98 2.52 3.52 2.24 2.84 2.63 2.70

16 to 20 M Less than 1.5M Mahatma Gandhi Road 2.83 2.20 3.12 3.01 2.47 2.78 2.75 2.96

21 to 30 M More than 2.0M Paud Road 3.60 2.76 3.92 3.89 2.80 3.56 2.95 2.91

Central Pune

12 to 15 M 1.5 to 2.0M Tilak Road 2.99 2.24 3.04 3.39 2.49 3.10 2.99 3.0316 to 20 M Less than 1.5M Nehru Road 2.86 2.17 2.77 2.67 2.34 2.68 2.74 2.7221 to 30 M More than 2.0M F.C. Road 3.17 3.04 3.03 3.30 2.68 3.10 2.96 2.81

Table 8: Comparative Analysis of Pedestrian Comfort Needs Catered by Existing Sidewalk Conditions of Various Roads in Pune city



70

sidewalk conditions. With the help of this evaluation model we can compare between each type of pedestrian need corresponding to a particular street as well as we can compare different type of pedestrian needs between the different streets also. Since this method presents weighted scores for each need we can decide which type of pedestrian need to be addressed first and for that which sidewalk parameter has to be improved on priority basis through application of design guidelines and standards. Based on this evaluation method of Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index and its relation with the Pedestrians’ Comfort needs, comparative analysis of Pedestrian Comfort Needs catered by existing Sidewalk Conditions of delineated roads in Pune city is performed as presented in Table-8 and Fig. 3.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Inadequate pedestrian facilities in Indian cities have resulted in a high rate of pedestrian fatalities. Indian Road Congress has stipulated standards for pedestrians facilities. But pedestrian amenities and facilities and context specific standards according to location and hierarchy of streets have not been thought of. Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and the Environmental Planning Collaborative have introduced Better Streets, Better Cities: A guide for street design in urban India. This guide for design of urban streets clearly articulates the concept of ‘equitable allocation of road space’. This is also one of the key principles outlined in the National Urban Transport Policy. This guide provides a framework for understanding various elements of street design and a toolkit for well-designed streets. Implementing the recommendations mentioned here would not only improve the physical condition of streets, it would also lead to more sustainable cities. However, Indian Road Congress as well as guide of ITDP, both lack approach towards quantitative and qualitative evaluation method of sidewalk spaces and their elements, amenities and facilities from the perspective of pedestrians’ comfort needs. Only design guidelines for all road elements based on the hierarchy of roads and their different functions have

Fig. 3: Comparative Analysis of Pedestrian Comfort Needs Catered by Existing Sidewalk Conditions of Various Roads in Pune city



71

been proposed which do not further analyze the satisfaction level of pedestrians’ comfort needs and lack evaluation tool for the same.

A quantitative model is useful in ascertaining minimum width requirements of the pedestrian facility. In contrast to this approach, qualitative evaluation helps to understand walkability of sidewalk environment as a function of visual and physical quality such as street scape, sign scape, quality of street furniture elements. This GSWI evaluation model can generate walkability scores on the basis of not only footpath surface, footpath width, obstructions, encroachment, potential for vehicle conflict, continuity, but also on the basis of provision of street furniture elements such as seating benches, drinking water facilities, street lighting, etc., legibility of street facade such as street scape, sign scape and street activities which influence the quality of street environment. This sidewalk evaluation method developed serves as a quantitative as well as qualitative tool for assessing existing physical conditions of the sidewalk and their impact on pedestrians’ comfort needs (physical, physiological and psychological) as well as on the spatial quality of the street environment. This method is also useful for planning, design and operation of sidewalk elements and facilities.

This Gross Sidewalk Walkability Index method designates a sidewalk condition in terms of a walkability score and pedestrian level of service grade depending on 21 identified sidewalk parameters. These walkability scores for delineated street sidewalks of Pune city, developed in this study in terms of quantitative, qualitative and gross sidewalk walkability index is effective to compare different design input scenarios in terms of design guidelines for each sidewalk attribute already put forth by IRC and ITDP for planning, design and operation of sidewalk facilities. Considering the GSWI, design of pedestrian facilities and amenities require a different approach in view of the human factor being involved. The application of this evaluation model can also be useful in analyzing or assessing the effect of change in the sidewalk parameter on pedestrians’ comfort needs. This model is useful to evaluate existing sidewalk conditions and pedestrian infrastructure in any metropolitan city along with evaluating alternative proposals for improving pedestrian facilities from perspective of pedestrians’ comfort and spatial quality of the street environment.

REFERENCESInstitute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP)(2011) Better Streets, Better Cities: A guide for street design in urban India, ITDP.Methorst, R. (2008) Pedestrians’ Quality Needs – Introduction, Theory and Research Methods, DVS - Centre for Transport and Navigation, DelftTransport for London (2005) Improving Walkability: Good practice guidance on improving pedestrian conditions as part of development opportunities, Transport for London, London.



72S. Kumar Swami

S. Kumar Swami, Lecturer in Political Science, P.N. College Bolgarh, District – Khorda, Odisha

1. INTRODUCTION

Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, is located between 20-14’ 0” north and 1215” 4” north latitudes and 85’ 30” east longitudes in the coastal plain of Puri district. Average height of place is 46 meter above mean sea level. As the capital city of the state it enjoys all the facilities of modern development. It has also a large number of beautiful temples with magnificent architectural and sculptural styles for which it is called the temple city of India. It is also a site of cultural synthesis and multiracial integration. It once had more than 7,000 temples but today only 500 temples remain. Temples followed Hindu and Buddhist style of architecture. Raiders destroyed most of the temples during the medieval period. Settlements in this historic city date back to 3rd Century BC during the Ashoka period. In the 5th Century BC, Bhubaneswar was the capital of the Kesaris Dynasty of Odisha.

Bhubaneswar as per Census 2001 has population of approximately 647,302 persons. About 56 percent of the total population are male while 44 percent are female. 10 percent of the total population is children below the age group of 6 year. Average literacy rate of Bhubaneswar is 79 percent. Male literacy rate is 83 percent while the female literacy rate is 74 percent. Odia language is spoken by the majority while Hinduism is the major religion followed by the people living in Bhubaneswar. Tribal population is about 22 percent of the total population in Odisha.

Bhubaneswar city has a long glorious past since the period of Ashoka, the Great (300 B.C.) and served for a long time as the capital of the Kalinga, the historical name for the present state of Odisha. This city is very well known all over the country as a historical, cultural, religious cum tourist center enriched with a

AbstractBhubaneswar, along with Gandhinagar and Chandigarh are the new planned city just after the independence of India. The rapidly growing city of Bhubaneswar is the earning centre of numerous poor migrants from the rural areas, as well as, from the neighboring states of West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. The Bhubaneswar has more than 180 slums pockets and 40 percent of the total population. Saliasahi slum area is the biggest with more than one lakh population. The socio-economic condition of these slum dwellers are poorer as they lack basic services like, water, sanitation, houses, education, public health and so on. In this paper an attempt has been made to assess the reasons for the growth of Saliasahi slum and suggests the remedies for slum development and its up gradation.

The Genesis and Growth of Slums in Bhubaneswar: A Case Study of Saliasahi Slum

S. Kumar Swami


73S. Kumar Swami

large number of ancient temples, distinguished in indigenous sculpture, art and architecture. The city occupies a central location between two metropolises i.e. Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam along the South - East Railway Line and National Highway 5. The Lingaraj Temple of Lord Shiva has been continuing to be the focal point of the town from time immemorial. This place is the fusion point of three important religions of the Indian subcontinent - Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, glorifying their status and long tradition of secularism.

In post independence period, this town was redesignated as the new capital of Odisha. In 1954, capital of Odisha shifted from Cuttack, capital town during the British rule, to Bhubaneswar. The capital town is juxtaposed with the old town of Bhubaneswar or Lingaraj within a radial distance of about 5 km only. Cuttack city could not be able to provide space for further growth and development due to the natural barriers imposed by the presence of the Mahanadi and Kathjodi River system on three sides except in the east. In 1948, the famous city planner, Otto H. Koenigsberger, prepared the Master Plan for the New Capital of Odisha at Bhubaneswar for a population of 40,000 persons over an area of 16.48 sq km with a density of 10 to 12 families per acre. Town Plan is based on the grid iron pattern with a focus on the concept of neighborhood planning. Initially, emphasis was given to meet housing requirements of ministers and high officers, ministerial and non-gazette staff, and other officials. Town is divided into different units with residential neighborhoods accommodating specifically different categories of government employees. Therefore, new planned economic class structure emerged in subsequent years. At present a good number of units have been created to promote private residential housing.

Town was created to function as the administrative headquarters of the State. Since then it is continuing with administrative and service activities as its major functions. After 1980, light industrial and manufacturing activities were added and subsequently emphasized under the program of industrial estate development. However, functional diversification has not yet appreciably taken place.

In 1951, the population of Bhubaneswar was only 16,512 persons and increased to 38,211 persons in 1961, registering 131.4 percent of growth during this period due to the shift of capital in 1954. Population further increased from 105,491 persons in 1971 to 219,211 persons in 1981, with higher growth rate of 176 percent during 1961-71 and 108 percent during 1971-1981. High population growth rate during these period happened due to large migration from the surrounding areas. In 1991, the population was 411,542 persons. During 1981-1991, 26 percent of population growth was contributed by natural increase and 61.6 percent by migrations (Table 1).

During the last 40 years, the municipal area has increased from 26.09 sq km to 124.70 sq km with density of population going up from 633 persons per sq km


74

in 1951 to 3,300 persons per sq km in 1991. Hence, Bhubaneswar experiences horizontal expansion along with the faster growth of population. As far as ward wise population density is concerned, density varies from 5 persons per sq km in wards located in peripheral to 180 persons per sq km in wards closer to the city center. Three major clusters of population coincide with areas of concentration of economic functions.

2. MIGRATION INTO BHUBANESWAR AND GROWTH OF SLUMS

Slum dwellers are in fact migrant workers who come to the city with an economic motive, find it hard to get a dwelling place within the city at an affordable rate, and thus either move to the existing slums or make new slums. According to Srinivas (1996) a vast majority of migrants are farmers and farm laborers who in their villages lack resources and economic opportunities to live. New migrants, first often stay with relatives on undesirable public sites, hoping that the public authorities will not notice their invasion of public or private land. Their main reasons for migration to city are to find employment or to escape calamities like floods, famine and drought. Rural poverty is the most fundamental reason for large migration to the city. Bhubaneswar city is no exception.

The capital city of Bhubaneswar provides employment to numerous poor migrating from rural areas of Odisha state as well as from the neighboring states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Thus, Bhubaneswar has more than 180 slum pockets and 40 percent of the total population of Bhubaneswar. Socio-economic conditions of slum dwellers are worst as they lack access to even basic services like drinking water, sanitary, poor education and health services and so on.

Bhubaneswar, along with Gandhinagar and Chandigarh, was new planned cities just after the independence of India for administrative purposes. The Census data has revealed that Bhubaneswar has doubled its population after every 10 years. Population of Bhubaneswar was 16,512 persons, when it got the NAC status in 1952 and became a Class III town in next Census of 1961 and a Class-I city with municipality status in 1971. The city was declared a Municipal Corporation in 1992 and according to the 2001 Census it accommodated 648,032 persons in the main city with 135 sq km of area.

Bhubaneswar Development Authority or BDA has classified slum settlements in the city based on their work and resident places like industrial workers, common slums, slum on railway land and other government agencies. However,

Table 1: Yearwise Area, Population, Growth and Density of Bhubaneswar, 1951-1991

Year Area(in Sq. Kms.)

Population(in number)

Growth Rate

Density (person perSq. Km.)

1951 26.09 16,512 - 633

1961 50.25 38,211 131.41 760

1971 65.05 105,491 176.07 1,622

1981 92.91 219,211 107.80 2,359

1991 124.70 411,542 87.73 3,300Source: Compiled from Orissa Census reports of 1971, 1981, and 1991.

S. Kumar Swami


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one thing that is common among them is lack of civic-services and unhygienic living conditions. The data collected by the BDA with reference to growth of slum population and number of slum households in Bhubaneswar suggests that there has been a very high growth of slum population, compared to the overall population growth of the city. As per the BDA report, the Saliasahi is the biggest slum in the city with more than one lakh population.

3. HISTORY OF SALIASAHI SLUM

Saliasahi, a habitat of the urban poor, in Bhubaneswar is located in the north-western corner of the city. The NH-5 passes at a distance of about 3 km and flanked by the Oberoi Hotel on its east and the Ekamrakanan Rose Garden on its west. The Xavier Institute of Management, Gopabandhu Academy of Administration and National institute of Social Work and Social Sciences is located to its north. In 1985, Saliasahi consisted of 1,685 households with a population of about 6,000 persons. There were five different segments namely, Saliasahi, Adivasigaon, Nilachakranagar, Saranapalli and Janatanagar. For the present paper the name Saliasahi denotes the slum area as a whole.

Prior to 1976, this area was under forest and no human habitation was in the vicinity. In the mid 1970s about 25 families came to settle here from various corners of the state and the city. The forest got gradually cleared out as the number of settlers grew. In I980-1981, the rate of migration increased. Migrants at first settled in large numbers in a corner of this area which is now called Adivasigaon. Gradually, Nilachakranagar, Saranapalli and Janatanagar came into being. During that period, the inhabitants had to collect drinking water from nearby Oberoi Hotel area and firewood from the forest for self consumption and also for selling in the city market for having a source of earning. Since, there was no transport facility in the early 1980s they had to travel to the market on foot.

People living in Saliasahi hailed mostly from Mayurbhanj, Sundergarh, Keonjhar, Phulbani and Ganjam district of Odisha and from the city areas such as Sastri Vihar, Ramadevi College Campus and SukaVihar. Their search for a suitable dwelling place with very low or no rent brought them into the area now known as Saliasahi slum. Most of them speak Santali, Ladka or Mundadialect besides Oriya and Telugu languages. Ladka is the dominant dialect.

According to the oral history prevalent among the people provides some explanation for the choice of names ‘Saliasahi’, as most of the slum dwellers belong to the caste Salia from Ganjam District. Accordingly the name of the slum pockets reflects the origin of place or caste as given below:

• The inhabitants of Adivasigaon are adivasis, mostly from Phulbani and Mayurbhanj districts;

• Nilachakranagar is named after the emblem of the temple of lord Jagannath;

S. Kumar Swami


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• The origin Janatanagar apparently is due to political reasons, as during elections, a candidate of Janata Party has brought his supporters from various districts and settled them here;

• People from Saranapalli believe that this place has given them shelter or ‘sarana’; and

• Saliasahi is the oldest settlement and most of inhabitant migrated in search of jobs. A majority of the people are not recent migrants from far away villages rather long-term city resident who came to settle in Saliasahi either because of extensive job opportunity in the surrounding areas or because they were evicted from their home settlements.

According to 2001 Census the total households of Saliasahi is 26,480 having a population of more than 100,000. This slum area is now covered under 42 nagars. All the old five segments like Saranapalli, Saliasahi, Janata Nagar, Nilachakra Nagar, Adivasigaon are therefore subdivided into various nagars. In 2009 Saliasahi consisted of two wards namely ward numbers 15 and 16 under Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. But as per Housing and Urban Development notification of the Government of Odisha dated 28 August 2013, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is divided into 67 wards and Saliasahi slum area consist of ward numbers 16, 20, 21 and 26. Now the Saliasahi slum is under the Bhubaneswar North Assembly Constituency.

The rationale behind the selection of Saliasahi for the present study is because it is one of the biggest slums of Bhubaneswar. Also analysis of its growth could suggest some remedies measures for slum improvement. The study adopted interviews method based on a questionnaire. Total number of household interviewed is 126 and population 276 persons out of which 150 male and 126 female. These sample survey households were spread over five contiguous slum areas of Saliasahi namely, Adivasigaon, Nilachakranagar, Janatanagar, Saliasahi and Saranapalli. The details of total households and corresponding male and female interviewee are given in Table 2.

Sex ratio of Bhubaneswar city is 752 females per 1,000 males as per the Census 1991. Age and sex wise break-up of the population in Saliasahi are given in Table 3. With reference to Table 3, higher percentage of population is between 18 to 25 year of age.

Name of the settlement under Saliasahislum

Number of Households

Male(in number)

Female(in number)

Adibasigaon 20 26 27

Nilachakranagar 18 23 24

Janatanagar 25 30 20

Saliasahi 28 33 23

Saranapalli 35 38 32

Total 126 150 126

Table 2: Total Number of Households and Number of Male and Female.

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Working age group is between 18 and 55 years, 96 percent female and 90 percent are male population out of the total working age group population. Out of the total population only 4 percent female and 10 percent male are above 55 years of age.

With reference to the size of family, sometimes it is assumed that larger the size of families, greater the chances of getting poorer and there would be a greater tendency for long distance migration in search of employment. This is precisely not only because the number of potential workers outweighs the available means of production but also because the overall management of the family and kin relations is assured. As per the results of survey, 88.90 percent of population has nuclear family type and about 11.10 percent of the households

have joint families (Table 4). Hence, higher percentage of nuclear family migrated to the city in search of employment.

As per the analysis it has been observed that less than half of the population (40.60 percent) belongs to general category followed by scheduled castes 33.70 percent, scheduled tribes 13.70 percent and OBCs 12.00 percent. This is curious for various

SALIASAHI / AGE 18-25 YRS.

26-35 YRS.

36-45 YRS.

46-55 YRS.

56-65 YRS.

66-75 YRS.

76 ABOVE YRS.

TOTAL

SARANAPALLI (MALE) 01 08 17 06 05 01 Nil 38(FEMALE) 01 11 11 05 01 03 Nil 32SALIASAHI(MALE) Nil 11 11 08 02 01 Nil 33(FEMALE) 02 07 11 02 01 Nil Nil 23JANATA NAGAR (MALE)

02 05 11 08 04 Nil Nil 30

(FEMALE) 03 09 07 01 Nil Nil Nil 20NILACHAKRA NAGAR(MALE)

02 06 12 01 01 01 Nil 23

(FEMALE) 03 11 06 04 Nil Nil Nil 24ADIVASIGAON(MALE) 04 09 11 02 Nil Nil Nil 26

(FEMALE) 03 14 09 01 Nil Nil Nil 27TOTAL 21

(07.61%)91

(32.97%)106

(38.41%)38

(13.77%)14

(05.07%)06

(02.17%)00

(00.00%)276

(100%)

Table 3: Age wise Population of Male and Female.

Table 4: Types of Family

Name of the Slum Pockets of SALIASAHI

Nuclear Joint Total

SARANAPALLI 30 05 35

SALIASAHI 25 03 28

JANATA NAGAR 22 03 25

NILACHAKRA NAGAR 17 01 18

ADIVASIGAON 18 02 20

TOTAL 112 (88.90%) 14 (11.10%) 126 (100%)

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reasons. Firstly, the region of Bhubaneswar does not come under any tribal belt and almost one third of its population is adivasis. Secondly, local employers’ reluctance to recruit local laborers for fear of their bargaining-capacity, hence, preference should be given to locals and poor people, which are available on much cheaper rates. Thirdly, other castes including high caste people constituted 40.60 percent of slum dwellers. Disproportionately higher percentage of other castes in the miserable conditions of living at once refers to the weakness of the common Indian sociological thrust of evaluating all economic indicators in terms of the caste.

But as all do not migrate, the caste based migration and increasing slum population is of limited significance. Nevertheless, the lowest castes are less mobile, which indicate lack of resources for migration or dependence on landlords. Table 5 and 6 show caste wise percentage of general female population, which is 43.65 percent compared to 38 percent male. With reference to SCs 34.90 percent female and 32.60 percent male and for STs 11.90 percent female and 15.30 male, and in case of OBCs 9.55 percent female and 14.10 percent male. This, however, reflects that more women of schedule castes are migrating than the OBCs and STs. As far as languages are concerned, Odia and Telugu are dominating languages among the major segments of the population. But in comparison to the above Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu and Others are also spoken (Fig. 1 and Table 7).

Caste Male Percentage Female PercentageGeneral 57 38% 55 43.65%

SC 49 32.60% 44 34.90%

ST 23 15.30% 15 11.90%

OBC 21 14.10% 12 09.55%

Total 150 100% 126 100%

Table 6: Caste and Sexwise Percentage of Population

Table 7: Distribution of Population by Mother Tongue

Mother Tongue Population PercentageTelugu 25 9.20%

Hindi 02 0.60%

Oriya 236 85.70%

Punjabi 01 0.30%

Tamil 00 00%

Bengali 02 0.60%

Urdu 03 1.20%

Others 07 2.40%Total 276 100%

Name of the slum Pockets of SALIASAHI

General SC ST OBC Total

Saranapalli (male) 14 13 05 06 38

(Female) 14 13 01 04 32

Saliasahi (male) 13 15 01 04 33

(Female) 12 10 Nil 01 23

Janatanagar (male) 12 09 06 03 30

(Female) 10 07 02 01 20

Nilachakranagar (male) 09 08 03 03 23

(Female) 10 08 04 02 24

Adivasigaon (male) 09 04 08 05 26

(Female) 09 06 08 04 27

Total 11240.60%

9333.70%

3813.70%

3312.00%

276100%

Table 5: Caste wise Composition of Population

S. Kumar Swami


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Hundreds of rural migrants enter the city every day in search of employment and better opportunities to improve their economic condition. As a result, there is a massive influx of rural population migrating to urban area. A study based on the 1981 Census shows that growth rate of urbanization in the backward and less developed states like Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana are far above the national average of 46.2 percent. But industrially advanced states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,

Punjab and West Bengal have recorded growth rate less than the national average. Hence, major migration is taking place in small towns and less urbanized states.

Table 8 gives the place of origin of inhabitants of Saliasahi. Out of the total population of the area, 15 percent were born in Bhubaneswar, whereas 35 percent had migrated from different districts of Odisha and 15 percent from

Andhra Pradesh, 11 percent from Bihar, 13.5 percent from West Bengal, and 10.5 percent from other states.

With reference to Table 8, it is evident that nearly three fourth of residents of Saliasahihave migrated from outside the city. Intra-state migrants are in majority with 35 percent of the migrated population, whereas inter-state migrants are very negligible. Highest number of migrants are from Ganjam district followed by Mayurbhanj district. In fact these two districts accounted for more than half of the intra-state migration. People migrating from outside Odisha are mainly from the neighboring states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

Reasons for migration are primarily economic as 90 percent of slum households has been forced to take decision to leave

Fig 1: Percentage of Population with Respect to Mother Tongue.

Table 8: Percentage of Population with Reference to Place of Origin

Place of Origin PercentageBhubaneswar 15

Intra State Migration Balasore 2.3

Phulbani 2.4

Cuttack 6.3

Dhenkanal 0.4

Ganjam 8.4

Keonjhar 1.3

Mayurbhanj 8.3

Puri 3.3

Sundergarh 2.1

Other Districts 0.4

Inter State Migration Andhra Pradesh 15

Bihar 11

West Bengal 13.4

Other States 10.4

Total 100

S. Kumar Swami


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their native places as they failed to support themselves and their families. Hence, major migration to the capital city of Bhubaneswar has taken place due to economic reasons. Information regarding job prospects is received through their kinsmen or craftsmen already resident of Saliasahi. As far as data is concerned, out of the total immigrants of Saliasahi, nearly 60 percent have come in search of employment and about 30 percent are forced to leave their native places due to lack of landed property. About 10 percent of them had migrated with the expectation of raising their income with urban employment.

4. WELFARE MEASURES FOR SLUM IMPROVEMENT IN URBAN AREAS

The objectives of the government for the upliftment of the poor should be taken up in right earnest for implementation and enforcement of policies and schemes. One must feel like service to poor is service to God. Every individual, social organization, government agencies and other private organization must come forward to stop growth of slums and help the downtrodden slum dwellers so that the country will have overall development and finally lead to prosperity. Hence, following steps are required to be taken for the slum improvement in urban area.

• Providing ‘pucca’ houses or asbestos houses;

• Better economic condition to stop migration;

• Better housing environment;

• Better education;

• Better employment; and

• Necessity of basic infrastructure facilities:

- Water supply system;

- Community water taps and baths;

- Sewerage system;

- Adequate street lighting; and

- Better health and nutrition

Further, a number of strategies for slum improvement can be deployed, which should focus on the following aspects:

Extension of Land Tenure: Extension of secure land tenure remains the single most crucial aspect to ensure environmental improvement in poor income localities.

Realistic Land Policies for Increasing Availability of Land: Urban land policies need to forecast realistic requirements for developed land and formulate strategies and plans to ensure optimal availability of land, innovative initiatives, like land banking as promoted in various states such as Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

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Special Shelter Scheme of Slum Dwellers: Home-based self-help economic activities should be undertaken by the weaker sections in general and slum dwellers in particular. Designs of shelter should be advocated on the pattern of work-cum-shelter needs basis.

Promotion of Rental Housing Scheme by Public or Private Sector: Large scale rental housing programmes / scheme should be promoted for slum dwellers by linking to their capacity to pay. The rental dwellings are required to be designed in such a way so that with the increase in income, the occupants can opt for a hire-purchase option.

City Plans are Required to Recognize Slum Areas for Infrastructure Provision: Planning and development institutions continue to provide basic and essential services in various zones as per the original City Plan, which does not include substantial quantum of population living in slums areas within the city. This should change.

City Plan to Delineate Integrated Zones for Slum Area Development: Civic bodies often identify slum areas as independent zones, which result in marginal development initiatives in view of low financial returns against high investments. Hence, infrastructure availability in slum zones occupied by low income groups should continue, thereby, bridging increasing spatial divide between the poor and rich urban communities.

Initiation for Economic Emancipation and Self-reliance of Slum Dwellers: Slum dwellers ability to engage in income generating small scale enterprises is well recognized. In this context, there is a need to take up special promotional initiatives to extend financial and marketing support for enhancing income earning capacity of slum dwellers through various self-help schemes.

Approaches for Slum Area Development should be Comprehensive Rather than Sectoral: To ensure overall improvement in the quality of life of slum dwellers, development initiatives are required to be comprehensive in order to address their economic, educational, health and shelter needs for overall wellbeing.

Need for City Wide Strategies: The strategies for upgradation of slums and also to control their formation need to be based on, ‘whole town development approach’, rather than through spatially sporadic efforts. Efforts for improvement of the living conditions in the selected slum areas can inadvertently fuel the proliferation of slums.

Increasing the Access to Credit for Self-help Shelter Initiatives: The financial institutions need to provide package for slum dwellers with appropriate repayment schedules; terms and conditions; and security options. The community based

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securities or mortgages being successfully experimented in number of developing countries is another mechanism that has a potential for adoption in slum areas for availability of finance for shelter and environmental improvement.

Need to Involve Slum Dwellers in City Governance Process: In spite of the fact that about one-third of the population of the large cities live in slums and slum like conditions, their involvement in urban governance process is marginal. A major initiative to promote awareness among the city population, in general, and the need for the involvement of the slum dwellers in particular is an urgent necessity. They need to be enlightened on their potential contribution to ensuring sustainable city development in the long run. Neighborhood groups in the slum settlements would be facilitated identifying collective actions and promoting a healthy environment.

Promotion of Regional Settlement System: There is a need to promote regional policies to reduce the regional imbalances in income levels and the quality of life.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Rapid industrialization has led to the deterioration of quality of life and India is no exception. Presently 31 percent of population lives in urban areas and it is expected to double in next 20 years. The stress arising from this pressure is already evident in our cities as deteriorating urban infrastructure, environmental degradation and rapid growth of slums. Population of urban areas is increasing rapidly due to migration from rural areas and small towns. Deteriorating rural conditions and expectations of getting better jobs, income and quality of life in urban areas have forced a huge flow of rural poor immigrating to cities particularly in the last three decades. Such massive inflow of migration to the cities has resulted in rapid growth of urban areas in most of the states. The capital city of Odisha is no exception to this phenomena.

Rapidly growing city of Bhubaneswar has become the earning centre of numerous poor immigrants from the rural areas as well as from the neighboring states of West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. Bhubaneswar has more than 180 slum pockets and 40 percent of the total population. Saliasahi slum area is the biggest with more than one lakh population. The socio-economic condition of these slum dwellers are poorer as they lack basic services like water, sanitation, houses, education, public health, and so on.

Through primary survey of the different cross sections of the people of Saliasahi, it has been analyzed that most of the people in slums areas suffer from common diseases like cold, cough, diarrhea, etc. Moreover, slum dwellers usually do not take proper medical treatment in view of the high expenditure involved. Therefore, there is a need to develop socio economic conditions of slum

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dwellers. it is known that the local bodies responsible for slum improvements have very limited jurisdiction over land issues. Hence, housing needs of slum dwellers can be met through the financial provision in state plans. A major shift in government policies towards slum development can be seen from ‘clearance’ to ‘improvement’ of the slum areas in the last four decades.

Primary survey analysis has shown that lack of proper leadership; absence of vision; dishonesty of political leaders; combination of nexus among politicians, bureaucrats, criminals, antisocial elements the slum people remain backward and less socialized even after living in the capital city of Bhubaneswar. Today the fate of any politicians totally depends upon ‘basti’ votes, because Bhubaneswar is surrounded by more than 180 slum bastis and Saliasahi is the biggest basti. Hence, for better governance an integrated approach with participation of the local body, the community and citizens, is required to the extent that the municipal body is able to empower its citizens so that communities accept their responsibility to organise themselves and all citizens are able to participate in the management of their local problems. This will improve our cities to become better places to live.

REFERENCES Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, (1991), Annual Report.

Britto, G.A.A., (1991) Slum Dwellers of Saliasahi: A Situational Analysis, Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), Bhubaneswar, pp. 12-15.

Das, F.B., (1990) Guide Book for Implementing Schemes Towards Integrated Development &Management of Urban Centre, Housing and Urban Department, Government of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, pp. 5-6.

Housing and Urban Development, (2013) Government of Odisha Notification of 28.08.2013.

Palnitkar, S., (2000) Promoting People’s Participation for Local Governance in Urban Areas, Urban Poverty Issue, pp.3.

Routray, J. K., Rath, K. C. and Sahoo, N. N., (2000) Urban Land Development and Informal Settlement Planning (A study of Bhubaneswar city in Eastern India),Odisha Regional Chapter, Institute of Town Planner, India and School of

Environmental Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, pp. 8.

Rout, N.R., (2008) Slum Growth in Bhubaneswar: A Problem or Solution, ITPI Journal, pp. 59.

Warlu, D. V., Rao, H. H. and Bhaskar, S., (2006) Facets of Urban Society in India: Processes, Problems and Development, Serials Publications, New Delhi, pp.232.

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Dr. Jagdish Singh, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture and Planning, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal

Kanishka Raj Rathore, Student, IV Year, B.Planning, Department of Architecture and Planning, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal

A Bhaskar Rao, Student, IV Year, B.Planning, Department of Architecture and Planning, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal

1. INTRODUCTION

Around 57 percent of slums came up on public land, owned mostly by local bodies and state government. 24 percent was located along nallahs and drains and around 12 percent along railway tracks. Around 49,000 slums continue to blight the urban landscape forcing lakh of population to live in weak conditions, even as the Indian economy remains one of the bright spots in the world showing a rising growth trajectory.

It is nasty cycle of population growth, opportunities in the cities leading to migration to the cities, poverty with low incomes, tendency to be closer to work hence occupying any land in the vicinity, etc; slow economic progress being the main reason. After independence in 1947, secondary and tertiary activities needed cheap labor in the urban areas. Excessive labor was available in the rural area. They were encouraged to come to cities and work. People, who migrated to the cities and found work, brought their families to the cities.

Unable to find housing and afford it, they decided to build their shelter closer to work. The settlements like these expanded at a rapid growth. Governments provided electricity and drinking water. Very poor people live in slums. They are not the only one dwelling there. Fairly well to do people also reside there. They are either offspring of the slum dwellers that found education and an

Slum Rehabilitation through Public Participation: A Framework for Community Development

Dr. Jagdish Singh, Kanishka Raj Rathore and A Bhaskar Rao

AbstractIn various issues prevailing in the urban scenario of India, one of the most prominent emerging issue is upliftment of the urban poor. With a variety in the approach and formulation of programs for the cause including JNNURM, Low Cost Housing Schemes such as RAY, Welfare Projects for the Urban Poor such as project UTTHAN and UDAY, Women Empowerment Schemes and Child, Women and Old Age Education Schemes there has been a widespread mix of both success and failure. This paper, through a case study of Kabadkhana slums, Bhopal, suggests a collaborative and cognitive approach to planning for urban poor with an effective and rigorous participation of the slum dwellers themselves.



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occupation. They have prospered but are unable to find affordable housing, hence have continued to stay in the shantytowns. Others are avoiding paying rent and property taxes. The latter is more often the case. It is not unusual that in the dirtiest of slums, where misery prevails that TV sets, refrigerators and radios are also blaring music. This is quite a contrast from the image which one gets in the media or from the opportunist politicians.

India’s capital Delhi has a million and a half out of fourteen million living in slums. Mumbai is worst with greater percentage living in slums. Other big urban centers have done no better. Newly built cities like Chandigarh and

surrounding towns where shantytowns could have been avoided altogether have now slums.

Poverty in India is still rampant despite an impressive economic growth. The growth rate of urban population is due to the large-scale shifting of rural population to urban areas. This steep rate of growth of urban population along with the urban bias in developing countries has brought in its wake problems like population explosion in cities, slum formation and urban poverty. Urban poverty has a serious impact on economic growth in India.

2. BHOPAL : CITY SCENARIO AND SLUM STATUS

The origins of Bhopal city are a little obscure. It is said that Raja Bhoj, the famous Parmar king of Dhar, founded Bhopal City in the 11th century at its present site. Another view is that the original city of Bhojpal (eventually corrupted to Bhopal) was first founded on the banks of Kolar River and then subsequently shifted to its present location. He created the Upper Lake by constructing an earthen dam across the Kolans River. The traces of the original town, however, do not remain. In 1956 Bhopal was declared the capital of newly reorganized State of Madhya Pradesh. In the same decade, the Industrial Township of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) was also established 3 km east of the then city boundary. As a result of these two interventions, Bhopal has witnessed a substantial population growth. Capital Project Township T. T. Nagar was built south of the lakes to support the capital. The military cantonment moved to Bairagarh area to the west of the old city. In the decade 1971-1981, the city boundary was increased to bring BHEL Township and Bairagarh within the Bhopal Municipal Corporation limits. The wards increased from 39 to 56. The new wards added were 1-5 and 47-56 while some older wards were subdivided. In 1994, the number of wards in the city Increased to 66 though the city boundary remained the same. Bhopal has not grown as a single city but as discreet townships, with sparse outgrowth in between, as the Old City and its periphery, BHEL Township, the Capital Project (T. T. Nagar), Bairagarh and new outgrowth.

Fig. 1: Settlement Pattern of Slums in India

Source: National Sample Survey Office Report



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2.1 Slum Status in Bhopal

• There was tremendous growth of slum population in 1981-1991. Fig. 2 represents the growth of slum in the last four decades.

• Majority of houses in slums are either semi-pucca or kutcha in nature, Pucca structures can be seen on the plots given under patta. Construction of floors over the ground is also observed in Kabadkhana and various other slums.

• Slums in the inner city area have concrete or paved streets. Although there is a problem of poor road surface in most of the slum areas, it is still an observation of finding well furnished road surfaces in many parts.

Fig. 2: Growth Rate of Slums in the Last Four Decades

Source: City Development Plan, Bhopal

Fig. 3: Percentage of Slum Population in the Total Population of City

Source: City Development Plan, Bhopal



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• Most of the slums do not have access to sufficient water supply especially those on hills or remote areas where municipal lines are not been extended, another exclusive feature of slums in Bhopal, they are found, mainly on the foothills of the major hillocks of the city.

• There are lots of government interventions, which are being implemented towards betterment of the slum community but they lacked integrated approach.

2.2 Slums and the City: A ComparisonAbove figure clearly explains the growth of slum population with time. The reasons are as follows:

• Uncontrolled growth of population with less effective planning of land acquisition and usage.

• Slower pace of advancement of literacy level as compared to population growth.

• Social desirable tendencies and influence of politics.

• Availability of cheap land and living cost, even for the off springs of the residents of slums.

• Low cost of services, in fact, free of cost living in terms of water supply, electricity as most slums have illegal electricity connections.

• Lack of proper awareness and slow increase in participation of agencies to work for slum upheaval.

2.3 Growth of Slums in Bhopal: Causes and Evolution PatternsBhopal has experienced a change in economic and social environment from a long time. Being a Mughal city and after becoming free from the Nawab rule, the city found its importance as a state capital and experienced growth of economic activities of all sorts. Causes of growth of slums also lie in the fact that Bhopal faced an immigration of masses in search of food, shelter, clothing and some in search of comforts and better lifestyles. A comparison of city and slum population is shown in Table 1.

Improper land distribution and encroachment on vacant public land in a haphazard manner gave rise to tremendous growth of slum pockets in the city. As a result, it led to eruption of slums in the city with slum dwellers residing in almost every ward of the city. Moreover, the sudden shift in economic activities and setting up of industries in and along the city as in Mandideep, Govindpura etc., also led to settlements in the city with the purpose of temporary tenure of the employed workers.

Table 1: Comparison of Slum and City Population

YEAR CITY POPULATION SLUM POPULATION

1961 222948 9000

1971 384859 19050

1981 671018 41763

1991 1062771 250000

2001 1564351 480000Source: City Development Plan, Bhopal



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Even today it can be found that a strata of population working in government and nongovernmental organizations and able to fetch an average earning residing in slum pockets, may be because of the reason of social security and cheap land on the prime locations of the city.

Social security has also been a major factor as the people residing in slum community have shown resistance to their rehabilitation due to the security that they feel there. Often this reason is supported by members of the community.

3. KABADKHANA SLUM: A CASE STUDY

3.1 Functionality in Bhopal

Basically, utilized as scrap yard, there is a dominance of small scale industries for recycling of metal and plastics. The place grew as a slum settlement after the organic and haphazard occurrence of settling of population after the industrial hazard of 1984 also known as the Gas Tragedy of Bhopal. Along with small scale industries, workers employed in these industries reside in the settlement. Location wise, the slums are in old Bhopal region of Bhopal city. There is a considerable amount of population employed in these recycling plants and thus there is a possibility of providing self sustainability in terms of economic structure of the residing population by exploiting potential of the area as a scrap recycling centre of the city. A number of shops, recycling industries are associated with a number of semi pucca and kutcha houses making it a sustainable location for slum rehabilitation program in terms of value of money needed to improve the living conditions of the residents, a basic upliftment in the economic status of the residents. This will have subsequent impact on the living standards of the residents.

3.2 Survey Background and Outcomes

In order to gain in-depth information about how the characteristics of a slum are governed by the existing situation, a visual survey of the site under study was undertaken. When it comes to de-centralization of development with involvement of the residing communities, gathering information through informal conversations instead of formal questionnaires with the residing population adds to the value of the data collected. The reason being simple: the problems discussed and the feedback obtained is more obvious, natural, unbiased and more particularly, not constrained by the parameters enlisted in formal questionnaires.

The background idea behind the survey was to gather information on real grounds although being purposed for an academic exercise. Questions were scheduled to be asked verbally and were video graphed. The main issues addressed were that of discontentment on the part of government initiatives, female empowerment, health and hygiene (due to the nallah passing through the slums of Kabadkhana),



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economic activities and primary education. A formal questionnaire was also prepared as a part of documentation. The parameters under which the survey was conducted were as follows:

• Not to directly highlight the discrepancies of administration and governance on top priority and to explore the problems at grass-root level of which the solutions can be found within the community itself.

• To explore the strength factors within the slum area which can be exploited for their own development

• To find out the role of various stakeholders of all genders and age in deciding the development approach for the slums

• To identify the areas in need of maximum attention to paid in terms of physical and social infrastructure

• To conduct the survey keeping in mind the identity of the Kabadkhana slums in context of the city and to gather information about the requirements of the residents

• The scope of work included understanding dynamism in slum areas and factors acting as constraints in their development. To understand the reason of formation of slums; Economic, social and communal aspects of slum formation taking Kabadkhana slums as an example as the slums taken for study are place to numerous small scale industries working in scrap recycling and sale. To verify the belief that relocation of slums is an obsolete concept in majority of cases of slum improvement. It only leads to discontent in the residing communities as they have strong routed attached to employment activities based on their current location.

• Being an academic exercise, an in-sight into the social and communal aspects was not very much feasible. Also, policy level studies were not conducted and the exercise was not evaluated thoroughly on the grounds of critically evaluating policy interventions made earlier for up gradation of Kabadkhana slums. As heard and over-heard about the political connection with the slum communities and this itself acting as a constraint in intervention of development authorities, this factor cannot be covered in the study of slum.

Collection of information was done first through secondary sources (mainly through internet) and then primary surveying which included a number of steps. Field Verification of Base Maps: Physical infrastructure, connectivity, land-use patterns, types of structures, location of electric poles, water supply sources, social infrastructure including schools, scrap yard etc. were marked on the base map and existing details were cross-checked. Collection of Information Through Formal Questionnaires: A sample was taken out of the total population, with no specific demarcation, rather the questions were asked to a random set of population residing. The questions include details about age, sex, occupational details,



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types of occupation (government and private), tenure of the house in which they were living, time period since residing in the slums, etc. Video Documentation of Slums including Interviews of the Residents: To make the documentation easier to grasp by any section of audience, a video documentation was done. The existing situation in the slum was shot and generalized questions targeted at knowing what the residents want to up-grade their quality of life were asked.

The major outcomes obtained from the survey are as follows:

• The major lacuna was found in health and hygiene sector. Physical infrastructure including roads and water supply network was not the major concern of the residents but the fact that water supply taps were exposed to drain lines and it was considered a threat to the health of the public

• Nallah which contained waste discharge from various sewage lines of the city was again a threat as it created a breeding atmosphere for various contamination-borne diseases.

Fig. 4: Kabadkhana Slum, Attribute map

Source: Kabadkhana Land Use Survey



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• Female population had a zeal to carry out household economic activities such as stitching once supported by the administration in the basic installations.

• Medical facilities and education facilities were concluded as other major areas of focus in the slums.

• Housing sector needed a proper analysis of structural strength of houses and other buildings in case of possible failure and collapse. The structures included mostly ground and G+1 structures built in highly dense pattern.

An entire area was meant for commercial purposes though many small shops were also to be found in the residential area. Most of the dwellers were dependent on these for their livelihoods. The residential area had individual houses from one

Fig. 5: Housing and Water Condition Map

Source: DRAFT / Housing Studio Kabadkhana: Inclusive City // Global Studio Bhopal 2012



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storey to 3 storeyes. Some madarasas and local primary schools could also be seen along the houses. The area was densely populated with unsanitary conditions and was socially disorganized. The houses were poorly built and they ranged from kutcha to semi pucca. The sewage lines ran open in front of the houses, not only creating an unpleasant environment but also an unhealthy one.

4. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SLUMS THROUGH PARTICIPATORY APPROACH

Infrastructure detailing required can be met through JNNURM scheme which has provisions for the upliftment of urban poor and Bhopal is one of the cities

Fig. 6: Water-Worst Affected Areas Map

Source: DRAFT / Housing Studio Kabadkhana: Inclusive City // Global Studio Bhopal 2012



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shortlisted for development under this scheme. As per our observations, the road surface condition were good with most of the roads being concrete paved and there was sufficient infrastructure for electricity and water supply, the only problem being encountered was supply.

Unhygienic conditions were proving to be a menace and the problem could be tackled with an effective collaboration with the already running policies of Madhya Pradesh urban services for the poor like project utthan and policies and programs being run by UNESCO and other agencies such as ADB aided municipal corporation supervised project, project Uday.

Rajeev Awas Yojna can be fruitfully employed in the slums to enhance the housing conditions in the slums and create a healthy environment. Subsidized construction of houses and technical assistance provided for low cost housing schemes can be beneficial for improvement of housing scenario in slums. Another measure to be taken at the city level in Bhopal is the regulations for construction along the natural drainage lines of Bhopal and cleaning of nallahs to avoid health and hygiene issues as most of the slums are located along these nallahs and also are a major source of waste disposal.

Promoting self help groups of women and implementation of old age education programs and women education programs can help in building a scenario of educated adults and thus subsequent educated generations. Setting up or strengthening of the existing community resources for educational and recreational purposes with involvement of female population and awareness programs for health concerns and maternal and child health issues could be done.

Household income proposals including cloth stitching and packaging of goods based employment if provided can help in strengthening the status of women living in these dwellings. Proper implementation and awareness of government policies for the urban poor need to reach the urban poor in their most basic form and need to be implemented for the urban poor for their welfare.

5. CONCLUSIONS

In the study of Kabadkhana slums we made an attempt to analyze the growth factors of slums in context of urban areas in India. The growth of slums is associated mainly with uncontrolled spatial growth in urban areas and migration due to scope of economic development. Although slums are characterized by poor infrastructure, there are always thrust areas where the majority we could focus to bring about slum settlements to a habitable level. Health and hygiene, sewerage and water supply were the focus areas identified in Kabadkhana slums.



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Slum rehabilitation is always a preferable and convenient way of tackling the issue of slum outgrowth in urban areas. Owing to the nearness to economic activities from the slum settlements, rehabilitation will just create social unrest and worsen the situation of urban poverty. Development of the slums is also dependent upon the development of human resources. Household employment, women empowerment and education and awareness programs are prior requirements for curbing urban poverty and resolving other malaises than poor physical conditions related to slum outgrowths.

REFERENCES Balihuta, A.M. (2002) Approaches to Poverty Reduction in Urban Sub-Sahara Africa, Uganda Management Institute, Kampala, 4-8 February 2002.

Gupta, R.G. (2001) Policy/City Planners, Planning, Development, Construction, Management and Maintenance “Problems of Slums in Delhi”, Delhi.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (2012) Guidelines for Slum-Free City Planning: Rajiv Awas Yojna, Government of India, New Delhi.

Ministry of Urban Development (2009) Creating sustainable, equitable and economically vibrant cities: Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Government of India, New Delhi.

Townsend P. (1993) The International Analysis of Poverty, Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Walker R., Lawson R., and Townsend P. (1984) Responses to Poverty: Lessons from Europe, Heinemann, London.

The sense of beauty has an important role to play on the minds of the young generation. So the new city should be a place of beauty, developing ideas of beauty and everything that should be good so that life might become an adjunct to beauty.

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Dr. Ashwani Luthra, Associate Professor, Guru Ramdas School of Planning, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (Punjab)

1. INTRODUCTION

Urban areas are places of opportunities and development potentials. Thus, policy makers propose urbanization strategies for balanced urban system to keep cities free from urban problems. But the desired results are not achieved because of variety of reasons. Some urban centers gain momentum due to their natural and man-made potentials such as natural resources, location in the settlement, connectivity to other areas, connectivity with primate urban centers, etc. Hence, such urban centers become attraction points for economic activities and employment opportunities. Unplanned migration occurs from villages and smaller urban centers to large urban centers. Various policies and programs are undertaken to check unplanned migration, but lack of co-ordination amongst them leads to imbalanced urban system in a region.

As a consequence of imbalanced urban system the congregation forces result in polarization of urban system. Hence, every kind of advanced infrastructure, such as, transport network (rail/road/air/water), housing, water supply, banking, trading, etc., gets clustered in fast growing urban settlements. Imbalanced urban system invites various urban problems of different varieties and sizes. Haphazard and unauthorized development of urban land, create slums and squatters, excessive pressure on basic infrastructure, environmental degradation. Lack of co-ordination between different policies and programmes have been the identified factor responsible for pitiable environment in such towns and cities.

AbstractUrban development has always remained an important indicator of development of any region. Various development policies and programs adopted by different countries / states have led to the origin of different urban systems within their jurisdictions. Balanced development has always remained the main objective of any development strategy. But due to lack of co-ordination in different policies and programs for development, imbalances in the urban systems occur in a region. As a result, urban settlements of different sizes face different types of problems, glaring amongst these, being unplanned migration to urban areas, creation of slums and squatters, excessive pressure on basic infrastructure, environmental degradation, etc. The paper, by understanding the concept of urban system and forces creating imbalances, suggested measures to maintain the balance urban system for overall development of the region.

Imbalances of Urban System: Forces and Suggestions

Dr. Ashwani Luthra

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It is in this light that the structure of urban system and forces for imbalances in urban system need to be understood. Later, the causes of urban problems and issues that cause imbalances in urban system are diagnosed. In the light of problems and issues identified suggestions are made to develop a balanced urban system.

2. CONCEPT OF URBAN SYSTEM

Since urban settlements are considered to be the generators of higher growth and better quality of life, therefore, various ‘pull’ and ‘push’ factors affect the pace of urbanization differently in different regions. The different pace of urbanization depends on the socio-economic process by which the economy and the social life of any region change. The change in the economic and social life of any region is manifested in the growth and development of towns and cities. Concentration of population and their life style reflects the entire network of urban settlements, commonly termed as the system of urban settlements.

According to Bourne and Simmons (1978) ‘Within a geographic region the urban landscape is constituted by a set of such social systems often interacting in terms of goods, services, ideas and formations. Hence, development of an interacting urban network is the most appropriately described as urban system’.

System of urban settlements is conceived as an interrelated and interacting set of urban centers - which effectively present a view of the functional structure of each country’s geography. Specifically, the concentration is on trends in urban growth, city sizes and functions, demographic structure, economic structure, administrative reorganizations and population distribution within those systems, and the varied responses of the government to those trends (Bourne and Sinclair, 1984).

While explaining urban system Ramachandran (1989) stated that ‘a system is a set of interacting and interdependent elements. It must be understood, that it is not a settlement but its attributes that constitute the elements of that system. The attributes of a settlement are its population, location, aspects of spacing between settlements, the number of services offered and so on.

Jain (1994) is of the view that ‘the towns and cities can be viewed from a close-up angle in which individual towns are studied in detail and their internal patterns - their structure, morphology, land use and umland, etc. are analyzed in relation to local conditions. They may be viewed as a panoramic angle in which a whole town is looked upon as an entity and all such entities of a region collectively are regarded as a set or system’. This later approach focuses upon external relations of each town and its various characteristics.

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An urban area is a complex web of political decisions, administrative actions, economic opportunities and social reactions. As a form of human settlements a town or a city represents a social system located at geographic space. Its intrinsic structure is composed by set of demographic, social, economic, cultural and technological parameters which together act in combination to produce its absolute size, functional character and morphological pattern (Sarkar, 1998). Elvin Wyly (2012) is of the view that in the most general terms, an urban system may be defined as any network of interdependent urban places. Any significant change in one city will have consequences for other cities in the system.

Thus, internal components of a city, which constitutes its structure, are highly significant to form an urban system in a region. But the fact is that the urban structure is largely influenced by the urban system itself. Hence, there is a two-way relationship between the structure of an urban area and urban system. It is the inter-relationship between the settlements, settlement attributes and the interactions between the settlements constitute the urban system in a region.

Since, urban settlements are dynamic entities, therefore, any change in their economic base or transportation system, etc; will act as growth impulse. It will lead to changes in policies and decisions regarding transportation network and system of operation, economic base, social profile and administrative status of the town/city (Fig. 1). The changes in policies and decisions will lead to the growth and development of the town/city. Hence, structure of the city will improve or change, which will ultimately change the system of urban settlements in the region.

Apart from physiographic conditions policies and decisions taken to provide shelter, infrastructure, transportation facilities, etc; in the urban areas have given birth to different types of systems of settlements. At times urbanization occurs in a manner that polarization of towns and cities occurs. High-speed rail / road corridors and constrained physical terrain are potential locations for such kinds of developments (Fig. 2). In a way a linear urban corridor gets developed e.g. coastal regions, which accommodates as much as 65%-70% of the urban population of the region. The other areas remain devoid of many infrastructural facilities, because the concentration remains on the provisions to be made for the larger group. These urban corridors are generally developed as industrial corridors because of their transportation potentials. The main problem with this kind of development is that, the urban centers of this corridor remain congested and infrastructure remains under intense pressure. Smaller towns remain as satellite towns to the cities on the corridor.

In another situation, urbanization occurs in a manner that some distributive justice occurs to the distribution of the urban settlements (Fig. 3). Plain

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terrains are the common places for such systems. But still clustering of urban settlements may emerge as a result of nearness of major transportation routes

Fig. 1: Urban System Dynamics and Settlement Structure.

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or sources of raw material and labor or nearness of markets or higher order regional infrastructure. Such system creates a hierarchical distribution of urban settlements where bigger urban settlements are surrounded by satellite towns, further supported by dormitory towns. Infrastructure remains, more or less, concentrated in larger urban centers. Thus, large urban regions may emerge like, National

Capital Region, Kolkata Metropolitan Region, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, etc. Although some economic activities are distributed in second order settlements but social infrastructure remains polarized in bigger settlements. This kind of situation is also unwanted if circular polarization emerges as it will have similar urban problems to that of urban corridors.

Spartial kind of urban system is commonly prevalent in hilly terrains (Fig. 4) where either the size of the valley or slope of the hills determines the spread and growth of urban settlements. Very high degree of polarized growth emerges in such situations where the bigger settlement serves a larger area for social, cultural, economic, administrative and political requirements of

the population. The smaller settlements remain more or less village like entities despite qualifying to be urban settlements demographically. High pressure of urban growth leads to injudicious and marauding use of land available for habitation. Environmental conditions in these settlements are awfully depressing and infrastructural deficiencies are posed by difficult terrain and generally weak economic base.

The situation is worse under spartial kind of urban settlement system because the efficiency of infrastructure reduces to a

Fig. 4: Spatial Distribution

Fig. 2: Urban Corridor

Fig. 3: Distributive Justice

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large extent. Hence, they generally remain devoid of many facilities and services and the bigger cities get the advantage of it. Residents of smaller towns have to travel longer distances to enjoy these facilities and services, which are present in the bigger towns/ cities.

Hence, polarization or clustering or corridor and spartial kind of urban system is neither desirable nor advantageous. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid such situations as far as possible, otherwise all the towns and cities in the system shall have problems of one kind or the other in different magnitudes.

3. FORCES FOR IMBALANCED URBAN SYSTEM

Living in towns or cities has been a fascination for most of the population but looking at their problems or polluted environment they may emerge as ‘Gas Chambers’ or ‘Body without Organs’. Why are they called so, becomes clear from the fact that they face variety of problems in different proportions (Fig. 5). The question is not that the urban settlements are having the above problems but rather the main concern is why are they having these problems?

Urban land becomes prestigious by virtue of the fact that it is a potential site. But the way urban land is exploited for developmental purposes speaks the story of haphazard development of towns and cities. Speculative tendencies of the urbanites have resulted in many irregularities in the palatable developments of different areas in the towns and cities. Shortage of water supply or non-availability of underground sewerage system or poor drainage system, etc; in different parts of the cities presents examples of the irrational use of the urban land. Unauthorized and unplanned industrial sites in different parts of cities degrade the urban environment by polluting their air and water. Irrational use of the urban land by way of unplanned density distributions is causing traffic and transportation problems in different quantum and varieties. Non-compatible land-uses get developed closer to each other and cause variety of problems. But the urban land managers / policy makers remain quite on such developments by making lame excuses. Highly prestigious urban lands are put to non-economic or

Fig. 5: Urban Problems

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irrational uses without the permission of the competent authority. Surprisingly, very little or no effort is made to check such developments. Following reasons are identified for the urban problems which finally affect the urban system in a region.

3.1. Location of the Settlement

Location of any settlement is one of the governing powers behind its growth. Central location is a natural potential for the area to develop as a central node because of its high accessibility to other nodes in the region. Thus, centrifugal forces attract labor and raw material from different areas and high marketability of the product add to its growth. Hence, these areas usually become points of high migration and carry potential of becoming primate cities.

3.2. Concentration of Economic Resources

Availability of economic resources is another important factor that leads to development of the settlements. Economic resources may be natural or man-made by character such as raw material, means of transportation, transport corridors, technology, etc. Abundance of raw material coupled with advanced means of transportation to move the finished products from industry to market gives impetus to rapid growth of the city. But when required infrastructure does not support the rapid growth then these settlements have to face all types of urban problems.

3.3. Concentration of Investment

Central locations having advanced means of transportation are the most valuable locations for investments. These are the potential locations to locate industries and trade centers because raw material and labor are easily available from here at cheaper rates and markets are easily accessible. Due to high accessibility to different market centers, in the lower order settlements, the economic viability of any investment becomes quite high. Hence, most of the investments carrying high economic values are usually made at such locations. Concentration of economic activities at a point is another governing factor that invites migration from villages and nearby areas.

3.4. Biased Governance

Concentration of higher level of administration in bigger cities, due to managerial purposes, reflects biasness of political system of the country, state or region. The policy makers are not able to plan anything without considering urban areas. The areas that have natural or man-made potentials get a focused attitude of the policy makers, because they are centers of opportunities and investments. Hence, the proposed projects and programmes fetch a huge proportion of the financial outlays for the development of the central / potential areas i.e. the cities. Agriculture produced from villages is traded in the urban centers (mandi

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towns) because of infrastructure investments are made by government at such places. Urban bias is reflected by the fact that heavy expenditure is incurred on advanced amenities and facilities in urban areas. Even then supply remains short of demand, because of the biased urbanization policies of the government.

3.5. Political Interference

One of the most critical and important reasons for imbalance in urban system has been the interference of political ideas in planning and development process. Management of urban problems is a matter of concern for the planners and policy makers. But political influences intervene in many cases and distort the efforts of technocrats for their political gains. The only result with this kind of interference is concentration of deficiencies in smaller urban centers and gains in bigger cities. The system of the country does not permit the planners and policy makers to plan and implement their proposals independently. But they compelled to pay in the hands of politicians to full fill their wishes. However, at the end the planners are blamed for the problems existing in the cities. Consequently, people’s preference to live in better environment leads to migration from smaller towns and villages to bigger cities, resulting in polarization and imbalance in urban system.

Thus, combination of reasons causes urban problems and a biased or imbalanced urban system emerges. Whereas, such imbalance has resulted in polarization of urban problems in few cities, such imbalanced urban system has created developmental differentials across the regions. The serious and sincere efforts are required to be made to break the polarized tendencies for balanced urban development of all regions.

4. SUGGESTIONS FOR A BALANCED URBAN SYSTEM

The main objective of any policy maker is to achieve a balanced regional development i.e. an optimal rural-urban mix. But the forces mentioned above do not make it possible to dream come true. However, many efforts have been made over space and time to achieve a balanced urban system but the result is far from satisfactory. The existing urbanization pattern, regional disparities, investment strategies, industrial policy, rural-urban linkages, housing policy, land utilization strategy, fiscal policies, etc; need to be relooked to attain a balanced urban system. Following suggestions are made to achieve near optimum balance, if not complete equilibrium.

• A perspective urban development policy should be evolved to guide planned urbanism in the region for 20-30 years. The policy should lay guidelines for urban land management, industrial development, housing provision, infrastructural development, fiscal framework and legal pursuits in the region. It should lay down a policy for rational growth; development and

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management of urban centers so as to improve their effectiveness and efficiency in terms of their capacity to generate employment; improve environment; provide basic infrastructure; and in tackling the issues related to slums, land management, finance, etc. Such policy should provide frame work to the technocrats, bureaucrats and politicians to achieve livable human settlements. The plans and policies should integrate the process of physical growth and economic development so that environmentally sound human settlements are developed.

• A regional approach should be followed while preparing an urbanization policy so that an optimal mix of rural-urban is kept at equilibrium. New towns should be developed around the bigger towns to counter concentration of population and economic activities in them.

• Industrial and fiscal policies should be framed in such a way that dispersal instead of concentration of economic resources occurs. Already developed urban centers should be relieved and settlements of backward regions should be selected to improve their economic base so that they become capable of generating employment and checking migration to the bigger centers.

• Huge investments should be made in infrastructure such as rail and road transport, electricity and water supply, telephone and communication, etc; in the backward regions so that investment avenues get opened and regional disparities are reduced. As far as possible, accessibility of the settlements of backward areas to trade and centers of commerce and markets should be improved so that industries could be established in these areas.

• Attractive physical, monetary and fiscal packages should be proposed for development in backward areas to invite private investment in different fields. State government should come forward and invest in advance in some sectors like transport or electricity or communication system or industry as a token to the private investors to build confidence and security in their investments. Even joint ventures of public and private sectors could be encouraged in such backward areas.

• Biases in urban governance should be eliminated by way of establishing Unified Regional Development Authorities instead of Urban Development Authorities. Such development authorities should be made responsible for the balanced overall urban-rural development within their jurisdictions. Multiplicity of agencies should be minimized as far as possible so that administrative conflicts are eliminated and the urban centers are made free from various hazards.

• Planning and development processes in urban centers should be made democratic. For the same changes should be made in the constitution and legal framework of the country, state and local area.

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5. CONCLUSIONS

In the recent past, government has taken many policy and legislative initiatives to improve livability conditions in the urban and rural areas. But still many milestones are yet to be achieved. Projects and programs initiated under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, State Industrial Policies, Environmental Protection Act, Land Acquisition Act, etc; are welcome steps towards judicious development for all sections of the society. But lack of integrated and coordinated governance; ad hoc planning and development strategies; multiplicity of planning and development agencies; absence of visionary approach to urbanization, etc; would remain hurdles in creating a balance in the system of urban settlements in the region.

REFERENCES Bourne, L.S. and Simmons, J.W. (1978) Systems of Cities: readings on structure, growth and policy, Oxford University Press, London, pp. 260-267.

Bourne, L.S., Sinclair, R. and Dziewonski, K. (1984) Urbanization and Settlement System-international Perspectives, Oxford University Press, London, pp.1-19.

Government of Punjab (1995) Urban Development Strategy for Punjab - Draft Status Paper, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Chandigarh, December, pp. 13.

Jain, J.L. (1994) Development and Structure of an Urban System, Mittal Publications, New Delhi.

Mayhew, S. (2009) A Dictionary of Geography, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, London, pp. 265.

Ramachandran, R. (1989) Urbanization and Urban Systems in India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

Sarkar, A. (1998) Urban System, Urban Growth and Urbanization in the 20th Century West Bengal, New Academic Publishers, New Delhi.

Wyly, E. (2012) Theories of Urban System Development, Geography 350, Introduction to Urban Geography.

WEBSITEhttp://www.geog.ubc.ca/~ewyly/ g350/systems.pdf (retrieved on 15th May 2014).

Dr. Ashwani Luthra

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