URBAN VILLAGE STUDY – SOHANA SAS NAGAR | MOHALI SEM 9 PROJECT - 2022

CONCEPT

Project Brief:

Sohana is a lucrative destination for low-income migrants coming to work in the Chandigarh city-region providing affordable rental housing. The Gurudwara, Singh Shahida provides free food (langar) from their community kitchen on a daily basis. It is a historical Gurudwara which receives thousands of devotees from the far interiors of rural and urban Punjab on a monthly basis.

Urbanisation has been perilous for Sohana. It has led to the increased inequality, degradation of environment and a disintegration of the community. Additionally, there has been some hazardous decision-making by the local government.

Sohana and other urban villages in the periphery of Chandigarh reflect similar patterns of development. There are huge populations of migrants in these villages who live in rental housing here. It is through their labour and incomes that the villages in the periphery are booming as lucrative real-estate sites and are turning into statutory towns. If only the migrant-poor can get a share of the profits that the landowners are making can these towns become inclusive and sustainable cities of tomorrow.