Urban Architecture India

Centre for Urban Planning, Infrastructure set up in Bangalore

Post author By arzan
Post date January 3, 2009

Centre for infrastructure and sustainable transport and urban planning has been set up at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here.

Established with a corpus of Rs.300 million/Rs. 30 crore/$6 mn, it is the first such government-academia facility in the country that will address urban planning and critical infrastructure issues arising out of rapid growth of greater Bangalore and other cities in the state.

“The centre is modelled on the lines of institutes such as the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) in New Delhi and the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad to improve urban infrastructure and ensure sustainable transportation with modern concepts and technology,” IISc director P Balaram said at its inauguration.
The four state-run transport corporations and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) have contributed to the corpus fund.

“The state government will approach the Union urban development ministry for a matching grant of Rs 300 million (Rs 30 crore) from the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) fund to the centre for specific projects that will improve the service of public utilities,” Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said inaugurating the centre.
With the institute’s academic inputs, scientific research and consultancy, the centre will provide expertise to state departments and state-run undertakings on integrating urban planning and transport policies.

Uncategorized

Just go Green

Post author By arzan
Post date December 31, 2008

Making tall urban buildings green is necessary, but it will solve only a part of the problem

By Dr Shyam R. Asolekar

It appears that our understanding of the urban ecosystem in our cities will continue to limit our competence in providing environmentally and ecologically sustainable alternatives for urban habitats. One solution, experts argue, is to go vertical, while improving all the other needed services like roads, water and waste disposal. These are all no doubt”politically convenient” potions for the pains of our urbanitis. But as we advance into the 21st century, the economic costs of excessive growth and the associated instability is forcing us to see through the glitter of aluminum facades, neon signs and the romantic conquest of clouds by high-rise structures. Given the scarcity of land, the increasing population density of our cities is only adding to the pressure on available resources.

News

Global stars to grace IIA National Convention in Bangalore

Post author By arzan
Post date December 31, 2008

British celebrity architect Will Alsop, Turkish urban planner Cengish Bektash, Columbia University professor of environmental sciences Dickson Deshpommier and China’s brave new architect Ma Yansong are among some of the galaxy of international architects to grace the three-day national convention of architects in Bangalore from Wednesday.

The convention, hosted by Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) – a national body of architects founded in 1917 comprising nearly 18,000 members now – is to be opened by Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani at the Nimhans Convention Centre. Nilekani, a resident of Bangalore and author of his maiden book Imagining India will talk on how architects and architecture can make a difference in the new century, the future and role of architects in imagining India.

Housing

Shelter Fund for Affordable Housing in Urban India

Post author By arzan
Post date December 31, 2008

India needs a dedicated shelter fund to achieve its goal of providing affordable housing to all in urban areas, a task force has noted.

The report of the task force on providing ‘Affordable Housing for All’, led by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, has recommended a 0.5 per cent cess on all central Government taxes, to be credited to the dedicated shelter fund. The proposed fund will be managed by the National Housing Bank with an equivalent budgetary support so as to make a long-term impact in terms of affordable housing.

The report, which was submitted to the Housing Minister Kumari Shelja today, also recommended that ‘affordable housing’ be brought under the definition of infrastructure. Apart from the NHB, the report has suggested the formation of a housing finance company, focusing on housing micro-finance loans.

Cities Infrastructure

Mumbai: Big Steps in Infrastructure in 2009

Post author By arzan
Post date December 31, 2008

The new year will be a busy one for the infrastructure sector as some prestigious projects finally see completion and with others scheduled to take off. The much touted Bandra-Worli Sealink, an urban haat in Navi Mumbai on the lines of Dilli Haat, eight flyovers on the Western and Eastern express highways and 50 skywalks are expected to be ready in 2009.

But it will be a mixed bag for Mumbai’s infrastructure agencies as public toilets under Nirmal Abhiyan and projects like rental housing would be only partly ready before the year ends.

Bandra-Worli Sealink

The long-awaited Bandra-Worli Sealink is expected to be commissioned by March 2009. The Rs 1306-crore link is 6 km long and commences from the Mahim interchange (intersection of the Western Express highway and S V Road at Bandra) and ends at Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road in Worli.

The flyover at Love Grove Junction in Worli, Cloverleaf Interchange at Mahim intersection, the solid approach road from Mahim interchange up to the start of the toll plaza at Bandra and the public promenade is complete.

Crucial work on construction of cable-stayed bridges with viaduct approaches extending from Bandra to Worli, is also done, except part of the sea-link towards the Worli end. The project is being implemented by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) through contracting agency Hindustan Construction Company (HCC).

Prompted by concerns about traffic dispersal towards the Worli end of the link, the MSRDC has adopted several measures like construction of steel car decks, widening of roads and trimming landscapes on the dividing lanes and footpaths to accommodate the huge traffic expected to hit Worli.

Heritage

Historic buildings lost to India’s urban boom

Post author By arzan
Post date December 8, 2008

The Lal Mahal – India’s oldest surviving Islamic palace – was demolished earlier this month, despite some efforts to better promote preservation.

By Mian Ridge | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the November 26, 2008 edition

New Delhi – Hidden behind the concrete sprawl of a prosperous New Delhi neighborhood, the Lal Mahal or “red palace” attracted few visitors. Guidebooks neglected to mention that this crumbling sandstone building was India’s oldest surviving Islamic palace.

Then, on Nov. 1, within a few hours, the 800-year-old structure was demolished by a private developer. Horrified conservationists complained to the city authorities, but there was little they could do: The Lal Mahal was not on the government’s list of protected buildings.

This is a depressingly familiar story in India, where only a fraction of historic buildings are protected by law. And as millions of people move from the countryside to India’s cities, cash-hungry property developers are tempted to demolish whatever stands in their way.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), a government body, has a list of more than 3,600 protected monuments that it must protect and conserve.

Landscape

Salvaging our city’s public spaces

Post author By arzan
Post date November 21, 2008

Pinned on soft boards lining the auditorium of the School of Planning and Architecture were 114 project reports. These entries, part

of a compelling contest organised by a landscape architecture journal were the blueprints for a much-neglected domain public spaces. The contest, which would definitely strike a chord among Delhiites, involved picking a public site and redesigning it within its social context to turn it into an energetic and safe spot for social intersection. Unlike other international cities, Delhi scores very badly on this count.

Pradeep Sachdev, architect of the Garden of Five Senses and Dilli Haat, while scrutinizing the entries for freshness and relevance, said: “Imported cut-and-paste ideas don’t work here.” Each idea, however, was unique to India’s chaos.

Housing

Home truths at housing conclave

Post author By arzan
Post date November 20, 2008

The state government has called for all hands on deck to tackle the housing problem of the urban poor, predicting an annual shortfall of 100,000 houses in the city for the next few years.

Inaugurating the 36th World Congress on Housing Science at a city hotel on Monday, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said he hoped the five-day conclave could offer low-cost technology solutions for the housing sector to help plug the gap.

“Housing is a serious problem in the developing world. In India — where 30 per cent of the population is still below the poverty line — a forum like this must focus on the housing needs of the low and middle-income groups,” he said.

The congress, being held in India for the second time, was organised by the department of architecture and regional planning of IIT Kharagpur, in association with the International Association for Housing Science (IAHS), an NGO associated with the UN.

Art Cities

Shadowboxing: Shahid Datawala

Post author By arzan
Post date November 19, 2008

Architecture of decline

Shahid Datawala’s photographs of spaces in Mumbai meant for human habitation don’t have any people in them because he says that amid the chaos and hubbub, there is a lot of loneliness in the metropolis.

In his show titled Shadowboxing, he is displaying the photographs—which feature tall buildings, concrete shells of unfinished structures and dilapidated interiors—in pairs to highlight, as he puts it, the disparity of Mumbai’s living spaces. This disparity comes in many forms: “You’ll have flats here going for Rs20-30 crore and a slum a few metres down,” says Datawala. “Or, you will have incomplete buildings (only partially built) which have been like this for 25 years in the middle of the most expensive real estate.” Some pairs capture this dichotomy very starkly, such as the two stairwells placed alongside—one is spic and span, with smooth surfaces and sharp lines that intersect cleanly at various angles; the other has so much peeling paint and rubble on the floor that its dilapidated state looks almost grotesque.

Datawala’s diptych. Shahid Datawala

Most photos placed side by side, though, are not about simple contrasts, but are often slight variations on the same theme—there are two doors, one looking into a kitchen, the other with a curtain and a mailbox, both pictures of well-worn domesticity. There is no obvious pattern to the pairing. “I have put the old with new, the old with the abandoned, or the new with new,” says Datawala, who is also the chief designer for Pallate, a Mumbai furniture store. “I want to provoke the viewer to imagine and to think.”

Cities

Cities without ideas

Post author By arzan
Post date November 19, 2008

Op-Ed by Gautam Bhatia in the Indian Express.

In levels of squalor, inefficiency, noise, disorder, visual pollution, weariness and decay, few would disagree that today’s Indian city is a waste of space. But instead of tackling real problems, there is quicker relief in merely changing its visible contours. Armed with theatrical ideas of international appeal — buildings of mirrored glass and steel — it is easier for the city to be seen as progressive, rather than actually being so.

In the 60 years of urban design since Independence, the mindless borrowing of foreign ideas has left the Indian city teetering between awkward extremes. The citizen is condemned to half-baked clones of foreign models: Indonesian and Columbian rapid transit models, American clover leaf roads, New Jersey malls and cinemas, and Californian housing plans. The pretend suburbs of any expanding metropolis are filled with Malibu Villas, Westwood Townes, Amby Valleys, Beverly Parks and Darlington Heights — pretty English villages and LA condominiums set in a new Indian location. Has there over been a clear attempt to create an Indian place, based on our own urban demography, lifestyle and economics?

Few amongst Delhi’s elite corps of architects and urban planners would argue a case for the design and urbanity produced by the architecture of Greater Kailash. Yet when the metro proposed a raised line cutting through it, their protests conveniently overlooked the incoherent quality of the place, and raised abstract objections about sight lines, noise levels and urban visibility. While their effort at maintaining an architectural status quo is laudable, they sadly overlooked the potential to generate a more vivid engagement of citizens with their changing neighbourhoods.