Topic outline

  • KRVIA Course for Capacity Building in Higher Education

    Local Area Planning - Masters Studio Program

    Aneerudha Paul

    Manoj Parmar

    Abhijit Ekbote

    M.Arch Urban Design and Urban Conservation

    As Taught in 2016-2018

    Level Master in Urban Design

    Type Studio substantiated with lectures and mapping techniques

    Studio Hours: 90 Hours

    Site Visit : 20 hours

    Final Outcome: 2 weeks



  • Background

    The planning domain traditionally governed by monolithic & top-down  understanding of master plan approach. The centralized approach has been widely criticized for not being able to be inclusive on various account, esp: community aspects, heritage aspects, informality, environmental aspects, resilience & mitigation aspect. The recent endeavor (2014) of making of development plan endorsed the idea of two or three tier idea of making a development plan and its governance. It perhaps make some sense, in mega city context of Mumbai, whose diverse features in context of  geography, history and community necessitate the  alternate approach of their inclusion. The provision of Local Area Plan (LAP) is an bottom-up approach to be operated at the administrative ward level where making, transforming and directing development shall be collaborated at the level of local area representative. 
     
    The Local Area Plan provides excellent opportunity to carry out experiment with participation and communication based action. It subsides the notion of master plan & drawing board approach and hinges on idea of sharing, developing and mobilizing the collective imagination of community. The studio revolved around seven sites: Sakinaka, Mulund, Oshiwara, Golibar Slums, Malvani, D.N. Nagar, Kalbadevi. The sites have different histories and issues, however all sites are largely part of TOD and are expected to have rapid transformation in next few years. 
     
    The studio developed at three levels: Development of generic imagination and communicating to the local are resident and stake holders, Development of action areas, Development of strategies and implementation criteria.
     
    The outcome of such experiment is imagined to inform the  specific areas for urban renewal, housing, Commercial precincts,  educational and cultural institutions, up-gradation of slum areas and relocation of population, improve accessibility to open spaces, and largely revival and retention of environmental and ecological systems. 
     
    The studio process and final outcome were reviewed by Shyam Khandekar ( My Liveable City), Pankaj Joshi (UDRI), Gautam Chaterjee (MMRDA) and Ashok Lal.

     

    • STUDIO INTENT

      The studio intends to explore the concept of Communicative Action and what it would mean in the context of creating local area plans within local governments in consultation with local agencies. The idea of Communicative Action, as Jurgen Habermas describes it, is an important type of social action, in which the actors in society seek to reach common understanding and take coordinated actions by reasoned argument, consensus and cooperation rather than strategic action, strictly in pursuit of their own goals (Habermas, 1984, p.86) This year the sites chosen for the LAP studio are the Gaothans in Mumbai's Northern Suburbs. The context of the city opens up the possibility of engaging with a different set of community groups who have unique set of relationship with the history of the city, its evolution and transformation. The studio intends to work with six gaothan sites within the city. The group of 33 students (Urban Conservation + Urban Design) shall work in a group of four to five students.

      • Studio Work

        Please download the folder and run index.html to view the work.

      • Studio Compilation

      • Topic 5

        • Topic 6

          • Topic 7

            • Topic 8

              • Topic 9

                • Topic 10