Qualifying station districts - Through the indian high speed train network - Alok Kothari

QUALIFYING STATION DISTRICTS THROUGH THE INDIAN HIGH SPEED TRAIN NETWORK By Alok Kothari

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Housing & Urbanism) in the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

September 2013

ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE GRADUATE SCHOOL PROGRAMMES COVERSHEET FOR SUBMISSION 2012-13

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Housing & Urbanism (MA)

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STUDENT NAME(S): Mr. Alok Kothari

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DECLARATION: “I certify that this piece of work is entirely my/our own and that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of others is duly acknowledged.”

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To, My Parents

Acknowledgement: I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Housing and Urbanism directors and tutors - Hugo Hinsley, Jorge Fiori and Lawrence Barth - whose expertise and guidance helped me in building up this research.

I’m grateful to my guide - Hugo Hinsley, for lending his precious time for the tutorials during the course of this dissertation Special thanks to my friends - Kartikeya Rajput, Nitesh Khatod and Salonika Kataria - for their valuable inputs in structuring this work.

Last but not the least, this dissertation would not have seen the light of day without the unconditional support of my parents and sister. Thank you so much.

PREFACE Today, a change is being experienced wherein people are concerned not just about the economical but also about the social, cultural and political aspects of a place they live and work in. As a result, the urban quality that a city offers has become an important factor in deciding its competitive edge on a national and an international level.

India is one of the fastest growing economies around the world and it is the cities that have played a significant role in building this image. But the booming economy has drastically increased the rate of urbanisation and unfortunately these urban centres are finding it hard to cope up with this change. Consequently, the urban quality of the cities is degrading, causing innumerable problems of unprecedented scale. Till now, the attempts made by the government to address these issues have either proved ‘too little - too late’ or are associated with a short term – private sector driven objective and hence fail to reach the scale of the city.

The recent proposal of building a high speed train (HST) network in India is another attempt by the government in organising the growth of its cities. It is promising, as it will provide a faster connectivity across destinations and thus is justified in a geographically vast nation like India.

Owing to the strong accessibility, the cities on this HST network will experience a large scale urban transformation in the area around their stations.

The aim of this research is to examine the role of the station district in inducing urbanity within a city; and at the same time anchoring it to a wider network of productivity. In other words, it is an attempt to provide an alternative way (to the approach used by the government) of using infrastructure in distributing growth on a wider scale and looking at infrastructure through the prism of architecture, in order to build healthy urban spaces for the long term benefit of cities.

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INDEX 1. Introduction 11 2. Infrastructure and Growth 15 Role of cities - Indian context Migration and over - concentration Infrastructure as a driver of growth - Infrastructure shaping urbanism - Importance of Mobility Infrastructure - Shift in the preferred form of transport Indian High Speed Train Network 3. Infrastructure as Architecture 25 Unexplored potential of infrastructure Transport Oriented Development (TOD) to regain the ‘quality of space’ The Arguments 4. Tools of Design 33 Case studies - The Amsterdam Zuidas, Netherlands - Euralille, France Understanding & Findings Tools of design - Layering and Integration - Hierarchy of Spaces 5. Area of Intervention 49 The context of Mumbai - The relevance of Navi Mumbai Panvel, Navi Mumbai as the site - Node value - Place value - Station area analysis Site Analysis Tests 6. Conclusion 61

7. Bibliography 67 Books Websites Images

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Qualifying Station Districts

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Introduction

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Qualifying Station Districts

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Introduction India boasts of having one of the largest railway networks in the world.1 For years, it has been the backbone of transporting people and goods from far ends of the country at an affordable price. But to connect the vast territory of India, this system is proving to be a bit slow. Upgrading it for gaining a rapid connectivity between cities is the need of the hour in order to sustain the economic momentum India has gained in the recent years. Hence, the proposed high speed train network is considered to be a monumental investment for India.

But, the inability of public and private institutions to explore the potential of large scale infrastructure projects beyond the ‘transport’ factor is an issue of serious concern. It is a well-established fact that introduction of a quicker option of mobility attracts a lot of economic and productive activities in the cities connected by it, which strongly increases the flow of people, affecting the urban scenario of these places. But this has seldom received the desired level of planning approach from the government which mostly uses an impromptu quick-fix strategy to address the issues related to this, causing expulsion and gentrification of the economically weaker section of the society.

Now, with the new HST connection, urban dynamics of cities is set to change once again around the railway stations, which provides for an unparalleled opportunity of setting right India’s current pattern of urban development. Arguing on similar lines, this research tries to analyse the spatial aspects that may help upgrade the urban quality at station districts and guide a cohesive development of the cities towards a sustainable future. In order to build this argument, the paper has been structured based on following chapters: The chapter on ‘infrastructure and growth’ focuses on the larger context of contribution of cities in a nation’s economic growth and how crucial the role of infrastructure has been in the evolution and progress of these urban centres. Also, it throws light on the problems faced by the Indian cities, their relation to the long pending infrastructure upgradation and the need of a high speed train network in India.

The next chapter ‘infrastructure as architecture’ elaborates the need for using the high speed train network for something more than just transport and connectivity issues. The necessity of organising the urban spaces around the nodes of mobility infrastructure has been highlighted by analysing the negative impacts of the Pune-Mumbai expressway in India and also the conventional way of executing a transport oriented development.

1 http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/view_ section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1

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Qualifying Station Districts In the succeeding chapter, the specific ‘tools of design’ which should be a part of the new station district have been elaborated based on the analysis and findings of the two reference cases viz. The Amsterdam Zuidas, Netherlands and Euralille, France.

‘Area of intervention’ deals with the need to focus on the city of Mumbai and what role location of the station will play in diverting the flow of people to the new growth centres outside the central city. In this context, the research of Ar. Charles Correa has been useful in proving the vitality of Navi Mumbai, especially Panvel. Furthermore, the analysis of the site has been presented along with a few spatial tests using the tools of design.

Lastly, the ‘conclusion’ tries to link all the levels of argument to convey the outcome of the entire research and also highlights the importance of planning authority in reviving the current urban practices in the Indian context.

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Infrastructure and Growth

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Qualifying Station Districts

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Infrastructure and Growth

Role of Cities: Cities have always been the epicentres of growth around the world. Innumerable factors such as trade, employment, education, technical know-how which are instrumental in galvanising the economy originate from these urban centres.2 By providing a platform of exchange for people from different cultural and economic backgrounds, cities enable social cohesion and knowledge generation which eventually adds value to the productivity of a nation.

Moreover, the high population density in a city helps in reducing the expenditure on basic services like water supply, drainage, etc. as opposed to a sparse and scattered sub-urban growth. Due to all these factors, cities assume a very significant role in shaping the future of a nation and hence, need a sensitive approach to planning which can enable their evolution over time to accommodate forthcoming changes and face new challenges.

1. London, England

Indian Context: “India is on the move” (MGI: India’s urban awakening executive summary, 2010, Pg.13).

The economic reforms initiated since 1991 have attracted new growth and investment opportunities in sectors such as trade, manufacturing and services, amongst others and it is cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore that have been at the forefront of this process.3 Though the Indian economy has shown immense resilience during the recent financial crisis, to sustain this momentum it is extremely important to focus on several other factors (like education, healthcare), along with improving the life in and performance of the rapidly urbanising cities of India.4 Urbanisation has been a constant process all around the world. However, the speed of urbanisation has drastically changed since the onset of globalisation and India is not an exception to this. As per (MGI) McKinsey Global Institute’s report (2010), in 2008 almost 340 million people in India lived in urban areas, which is 30% of the national population.

It is projected that by 2030, the urban population will increase to 590 million - which reflects 40% of the total population. This scale and speed of transformation is unprecedented for the Indian cities5 and hence requires immense attention.

2. Mumbai, India

2 Charles Correa (1999) - Housing and Urbanisation Pg.114 3 MGI - Indias urban awakening executive summary Pg.13 4 MGI - Indias urban awakening executive summary Pg.13 5 MGI - Indias urban awakening executive summary Pg.13

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Qualifying Station Districts This does not imply that the rural parts of India should be ignored or considered meaningless.

One cannot be oblivious to and unmindful of the interdependence between rural and urban India.

Though the jobs in urban India are more productive, the rural India has its own economy which creates jobs for a large spectrum of the society. But due to high population density, the scale and quantity of problems in cities is far greater than that in the villages. Problems such as poverty, ever growing slums, precarious sanitation and health conditions, over burdened infrastructure, etc. have been haunting Indian cities for a very long time.

For instance, 62% of Mumbai’s population lives in slums like Dharavi6 (similar slums can be found in other mega cities too); and 75% of India’s urban population has an income of Rs.80 (1.5 GBP) per day which is very low to sustain a healthy living.7 Due to these reasons, focusing on the cities is not an option but a necessity if India has to truly potentialise on its current growth momentum.

3. Over-crowded local trains in Mumbai

In fact, the improved performance of the cities is in the interest of the villages. According to MGI’s report, an improved urban India will generate 85% of the total tax revenue which will aid developments all around the country and in turn benefit nearly 200 million people living close to the cities with an improved access to services and infrastructure.8

Migration and over - concentration: One of the primary causes of the problems faced by the Indian cities is the large scale migration of people from rural to urban areas. But migration is not a new concept to India where people have travelled the length and breadth of the country for trade and livelihood. In fact the entire theory of urbanisation revolves around people migrating to the cities from villages in search of better job opportunities. But what is intriguing is the high level of migration only to a select few cities – mostly the mega cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore resulting in overconcentration. The growth of slums like Dharavi, Mumbai is an apt example of the result of excessive migration to Indian cities. Along with the apathy shown by local, state and central governments in upgrading their policies to address this issue and also the property speculation initiated by the real-estate market, the scarce land availability inside these mega cities is a serious problem that has further resulted in the rise of these slums.

6 http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/ Mumbai/62-of-Mumbai-lives-in-slums-Census/ Article1-614027.aspx 7 MGI - Indias urban awakening executive summary Pg.13 8 MGI - Indias urban awakening executive summary Pg.13

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4. Traffic jam in the city of Kolkata

5. Slum - Dharavi, Mumbai

Infrastructure and Growth Before proceeding further, understanding the connection between this kind of migration and growth of slums can prove helpful. People generally migrate to cities in search of work.

So, the relation between the place where they stay and work becomes extremely crucial. The economically backward section of the society tries to stay in the vicinity of their workplaces or to the transport lines that would take them to the work areas quickly; so as to avoid any additional expenditure on travel. The availability of high number of job opportunities in the city centre (owing to the strong presence of productive networks) makes it the most attractive areas for migrants.

In relation to Mumbai, this phenomenon has been vividly explained by Charles Correa.9 (fig.6) Mumbai’s growth started from its southern tip due to the presence of port and administrative offices during the British rule.

Since then, it has grown northwards along the railway lines which have become the lifeline of the city, carrying millions of people from their homes to the offices and vice-versa every day .

But, the existing networks have a certain capacity up to which they can function smoothly. Beyond a certain point in time, they have to be upgraded to cater to the growing demand. The inability of the government (state and central both) to address this issue has been the precise reason for these networks to become saturated, resulting into the growth of slums like Dharavi. Had the governments thought about dispersing the growth from Tier 1 cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc.) to new centres outside those cities or to the Tier 2/3 cities (Jalandar, Pune, etc.), the problem of slums (and the related issues) would not have become unmanageable. To deliver basic facilities like housing, sanitation, public facilities, open spaces, etc. - an ample supply of land is required, which is unavailable / scarce in Tier 1 cities. Provision of necessary infrastructure in establishing new growth centres outside the mega cities would help in opening up of this much needed land.

In other words, India needs to address its ever longing infrastructure backlog to address its existing challenges and prepare for the new ones.

6. Growth of Mumbai over the years

9 Charles Correa (1999) – Housing and urbanisation – Pg. 110/ 111

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Qualifying Station Districts

Infrastructure as a driver of growth: Infrastructure shaping urbanism: “Cities accumulate and retain wealth, control and power because of what flows through them, rather than what they statically contain.”

(Beaverstock et from Splintering

al.

2000, Urbanism,

126 2001)

This statement by Beaverstock is an apt summarisation of what has driven the growth of cities over many years - infrastructure. In the past, many urbanists (like Charles Correa) have talked about the interdependence between sprawl of urban regions on the one hand and different infrastructures viz. drainage, water supply, telecommunications, roads, etc. on the other. For instance, the spatial separation of previously connected functions of living and working during the Industrial era could materialise only due to the presence of various infrastructures (like wired, transport, etc.) which helped in linking them together.10 With the advent of liberalisation and decentralisation in 1980s, the world saw a geographical segregation of production into manufacturing, financing, marketing, etc. The shift of many developed nations to service based economy led to the rise of ‘just-in-time’11 concept of assemblage. Improved connectivity gained immense importance in this globalising world and once again transformed the role of infrastructure. In other words, the scale and speed of interdependence between infrastructures and cities increased dramatically, due to which it attracted improved interests from the government and policy makers as the strongest tool in channelizing irregular growth of cities and to reclaim the dynamics of urbanism.12 New economies and urban centres are repositioned based on proximity and hierarchy13 due to the increased significance attributed to the notion of ‘accessibility’. In this context, mobility infrastructure is one of the dominant

7. ‘Invisible City’ by Lewis Mumford

10 Thomas Hauck et al. (2011) – Infrastructural urbanism: Addressing the in-between – Pg.10 11 Kelly Shannon/ Marcel Smets (2010) – The landscape of contemporary infrastructure – Pg.14.

Defined as - A strategy for inventory management in which raw materials and components are delivered from the vendor or supplier immediately before they are needed in the manufacturing process.

Read more: http://www.investorwords.com/2688/just_ in_time.html#ixzz2fF7P8RWH 12 Kelly Shannon/ Marcel Smets (2010) – The landscape of contemporary infrastructure – Pg. 9 13 Kelly Shannon/ Marcel Smets (2010) – The landscape of contemporary infrastructure – Pg. 9

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8. Movement diagram by Loius Kahn

Infrastructure and Growth factors changing the urban scenario globally as compared to the other forms of infrastructure.

Importance of Mobility Infrastructure: The ability of cities to undergo economic and social change is strongly interlinked with their potential of “mediating exchange over distance”, which can materialise mainly by establishing and using physical connections.14

9. Structural plan of Mumbai generated by the rail lines

Historically, when water was the primary medium of trade and commerce, urban life grew around ports and rivers – the city of London is a very good example of this. To initiate a faster movement of goods and people on land, railways have been extremely successful. For instance, Britishers constructed the railway lines in India, primarily to mobilise their troops and goods in the inland to and from Mumbai. Since then, the city of Mumbai has grown along these rail tracks.15 (fig.9) The innovation of cars offered a personalised form of transport to the people and instigated a sub-urban sprawl of cities in many countries, especially the United States of America (fig.10).

Very recently, urban agglomerations have formed around the airports at the edges of a few cities - Texas is one of the examples of upcoming aerotropolis.16 Similarly, many other examples of cities planned around different forms of transport infrastructures can be found around the world.

Shift in the preferred form of transport:

10. Road based sprawl in Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

As Kelly Shannon and Marcel Smets have stated in their book ‘The Landscape of contemporary Infrastructure’ (2010), infrastructure is the “condition of continuous flux”. Its capacity is tested due to the scale of movement generated and hence, needs to evolve over time to sustain the momentum of a city’s economic growth. As a result, many cities expand and densify their existing transport networks or explore other options of mobility systems to address the issues of depleting resources and saturation of existing networks.17 Expansion and construction of road or rail (especially the high speed train) network, improving the internal waterways and developing alternative airport(s) for a city are amongst the various ways in which the increasing flow and movement of vehicles, goods and people is being managed.

14 Kelly Shannon/ Marcel Smets (2010) – The landscape of contemporary infrastructure – Pg. 10 15 Charles Correa (1999) – Housing and urbanisation – Pg. 110/ 111 16 http://www.aerotropolis.com/airportCities/about-theaerotropolis 17 Kelly Shannon/ Marcel Smets (2010) – The landscape of contemporary infrastructure – Pg. 14

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Qualifying Station Districts The aim has been to establish a composite network (instead of depending on a single mode) comprising of either all or a few of these options.

In other words, establishing an ‘effective modal split’ (Kelly Shannon/ Marcel Smets (2010), Pg.14) is the focus of many cities while deciding the path for their future growth and development.

And in this context, the proposal of a high speed train (HST) network in India18 becomes essential, as it marks a shift in the infrastructure strategy of a geographically large country like India to provide a faster way of travelling over long distances and thus re-think the growth of its cities.

Indian High Speed Train Network: Following on the footsteps of countries like Japan, France, Germany, Netherlands, China, etc. a high speed train network is going to be developed in India as well.

With this project, India will move one step closer to cater to its infrastructure backlog. Its realisation will connect many cities and towns on a ‘seamless urban network’19 replacing the measure of distance by time. For instance, at present the fastest train in India - the Shatabdi Express - runs at a speed of 150km/hr.20 which is much slower as compared to the proposed high speed train that may attain a speed of 250-350km/hr. and help reduce travel time for passenger traffic considerably.

The proposal is to connect the major cities of India initially, for which the government has highlighted seven corridors - MumbaiAhmedabad, Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, HyderabadDornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai, Howrah-Haldia, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Trivandrum and Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Allahabad-Patna (fig.11).21 Instead of ‘point to point’ connectors, the trains will have a few stops which will connect smaller cities and towns of the country to this network.

Eventually, the existing resources in these cities/ towns will become accessible to a wider spectrum of users and thus transform the urban scenario to a great extent. This potential transformation provides us with an unique opportunity in dispersing development from the points of ‘over 18 http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/asia/ indian-high-speed-rail-project-moves-forward. html?channel=542 19 L. Bertolini and M. Dijst (2003) - Mobility environments and Network cities – Journal of Urban Design - Vol.8 - Issue 1 - Pg. 27 20 http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/feb/15look1.htm 21 http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-andeconomy/logistics/mumbaiahmedabad-bullet-train-maysoon-become-reality/article3512033.ece

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11.

Infrastructure and Growth concentration’ to a wider territory of India. Unlike countries such as United Kingdom or France where development is concentrated in large megalopolis like London and Paris respectively, India has a decentralised and healthy network of growth centres (Tier 1 cities) spread all across its territory. Using the HST network, if the growth of Tier 2 or 3 cities is promoted (complementing the mega cities), it will aid not only the reduction or divertion of migration to/from Tier 1 cities but also in manifestation of a productive network of scale (fig.13).

Srinagar

Jalandar

Chandigarh

Delhi Jaipur

Guwahati

Lucknow Varanasi

Ahmedabad

Patna

Indore Kolkata

Mumbai

Bhopal Pune

Hyderabad

Visakhapatnam

Bangalore

Chennai Coimbatore

12. Existing situation - High level of migration to the Tier 1 cities of India

13. Manifestation of productive network of scale by developing new growth centres 23

Qualifying Station Districts

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Infrastructure as Architecture

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Qualifying Station Districts

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Infrastructure as Architecture

Introduction: To cater to the manifestation of productive network, the nodes of convergence or transfer i.e. railway stations will become very important. They will provide for the maximum exchange opportunities at places where the new high speed train will hit the ground and hence will be the key actors in shaping urbanisation of the relevant cities.22 As a result, Indian cities will witness unprecedented development opportunities at and around its stations.

And hence, along with many other factors like finance, land appropriation, etc. - the design of station districts on this network will play a very important role. The stations have to move beyond being just transport interchanges and become instrumental in boosting social, economic and environmental development of a larger territory around them.23 In other words, a city has to look at its station as a design instrument in defining its sustained urban growth.

Unexplored potential of infrastructure: However, for years infrastructure development has been primarily considered the field of engineers, catering only to the technical aspect without taking into consideration its large scale impacts.

The architects and designers get involved at a much later stage, mostly to do the beautification or other independent projects around it. Both these fields have their respective roles to play, but until now the advantages of both of them acting together has not been fully considered either by the government or the private institutions.

As a result, many of these developments have failed to reach the scale of the city.

The example of Mumbai-Pune expressway (fig.14) - India’s first access controlled motorway only for four wheelers, can be considered to elaborate this further. Built by the state of Maharashtra and fully operational since the year 2002, the expressway has transformed the way India looks at its highway infrastructure. It not only addresses the issue of ‘speed’ – reducing the time travel between Pune and Mumbai to two and a half hours, but also enhances the safety of road travel. Due to these reasons, it helped reduce congestion on the old portion of the national highway linking these two cities and has now

14. View of the Pune - Mumbai expressway

22 Kelly Shannon/ Marcel Smets (2010) – The landscape of contemporary infrastructure – Pg. 14 23 New Railway Stations and their Roles as Catalyst for Urban Regeneration – Autumn 2011 - Article in Sintropher – Urban Design

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Qualifying Station Districts become one of the busiest expressways in India.24 But, there is a flip side to this story. Though the improved accessibility has helped in attracting a lot of investment (thereby improving the trade and economy of this region), it has failed to distribute development into the small towns and villages along its trajectory. Instead, it has fostered ribbon-developments25 of IT parks, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), gated residential habitats (fig.15) along its length which completely exclude the existing communities around them. It is a typical example of a market driven project, which is exploiting the land prices to such an extent that the existence of low income neighbourhoods in its vicinity is threatened.

In addition to the lack of government policies in defining the urban development along this motorway, allowing engineers alone (along with the politicians) to drive the project, without thinking about its impact on the urbanism, has had an equally detrimental impact. Had other actors such as the architects, planners, socialists etc. also been involved since the very beginning, the added benefits of this investment could have been reaped.

Though the high speed rail network will be implemented on a much larger scale and will have a different footprint all together, some parallels can be drawn from the expressway example (and many other similar ones in and outside India) to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Every stakeholder has to work in close co-ordination with each other since day one, in order to achieve the multiple scales this development has the potential of. As Kelly Shannon and Marcel Smets have stated in their book ‘The Landscape of contemporary Infrastructure’ (2010), “Infrastructure is not just about engineering but also about social and imaginative dimensions. It should blend with generating architecture, building landscapes, producing urban settings and living environments.”

This implies that instead of developing isolated sites around the station, the station district should itself be considered as a site26 to build a cohesive urban plan for the region it impacts, in order to establish networks of knowledge and productivity by improving interactions and reducing social exclusion. For this to materialise, an alternative way of executing a transport oriented development will play a crucial role.

24 http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/201302-23/news/37257438_1_mumbai-pune-expresswaygolden-quadrilateral-project-jaydatta-kshirsagar 25 Ayona Datta (2011) - Migration and Global Environmental Change – Pg. 5 (http://www.academia. edu/1040137/A_review_on_the_potential_risks_ associated_with_development_of_new_eco-cities_in_ India_in_relation_to_climate_risks_urbanisation) 26 Stan Allen (1999) - Points+Lines - Pg.55

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15. Lodha Belmondo - An example of a high end residential and gated development along the Pune - Mumbai expressway

Infrastructure as Architecture

Transport Oriented Development (TOD) to regain the ‘quality of space’27 : The concept of Transport Oriented Development is very central to station area (re)developments in many cities around the world and hence, it is important to understand the conventional way of executing a TOD and its effects on the urban scenario.

16. Broadgate - A real estate driven TOD

As established before, a rich level of connectivity provided by the railway stations to local, regional and in some cases the national modes of public transports makes them strategically the most favoured sites for high density development for the government as well as the market.28 But this intensification – mostly referred to as a TOD, is predominantly driven by the private sector with poor guidance from the government. The huge land parcels made available during a station (re)development are consumed by the market in delivering office spaces to the international business districts, banks, etc. which prefer being close to the main transport nodes of a city. But these highly commercial activities demand large work spaces, which end up creating homogeneous and monotonous urban areas. The failure of inducing urbanity29 in these areas is a result of short - term profit - driven strategies used by investors (similar to the Pune - Mumbai expressway), which are devoid of any control by the city in catering to the long term objective of ‘building quality urban spaces’.

Reviewing the recent proposal for developing Seawoods railway station in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai can help explain this further (fig.17). Designed

by HOK, it will have a club house, IT park, super market, a mall and service apartments which will be entirely developed by a private company called Larsen & Turbo.30 The main aim of the project is to target the high end users in the fields of banking, finance, logistics, etc. and capitalise on the so called real estate boom in India. The demand for offices in Navi Mumbai is understandable, due to its close proximity to Mumbai; but unavailability of any evidential literature discussing the role of this station in a larger context is intriguing for an urban development of this scale. It is an attempt to exploit the potential of the accessibility provided

17. Seawoods station - Proposed development

27 Jan Jacob Trip (2008) – What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.80 28 Stan Majoor/ Dick Schuiling (2008) – New key projects for station redevelopment in the Netherlands – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.120-121 29 Urbanity means the quality or character of life in a city or town - refer http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ urbanity 30 http://www.lntrealty.com/seawoods.html

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Qualifying Station Districts by the station without considering the interests of the surrounding neighbourhoods. Moreover, there seems to be complete apathy towards the provision of low-cost or affordable housing (focus is mainly on the leisure, retail and commercial activities), which is worrisome in a country facing a huge housing deficit for the economically weak.

The dominance of the private investor in driving this project is so strong that except for a few service apartments, this mixed use development has no trace of housing. In other words, it is a typical example of exploiting the market for quick profits without any accountability of delivering sustainable urban spaces to the city. If such kind of a speculative project is termed as “one of India’s best Transit - Oriented developments” (http://www.hok.com/design/type/retail/seawoodsstation/), it will set a wrong precedent for the future projects and hence, needs to be rethought taking into account the larger urban region.

Quality of space: Four elements are of primary importance while developing station districts on a HST network.

These are namely – node, place31, spatial quality and image.32 Upgrading the node is to improve the accessibility of the terminal and its multimodality whereas investing in the place is to boost the infrastructure and superstructures in order to enhance the activities in and around the station. The architectural relation of the station to its surrounding context is associated with the investment in spatial quality and upgrading the image is to enhance the status of a city using the catalyst of HST infrastructure.33 Though all these four elements are inter-linked, it is the element of ‘spatial quality’ that is strongly related to developing sustainable urban spaces.

The article written by Jan Jacob Trip in the Urban Design Journal (2011, Vol. 4) helps us in understanding the necessity of ‘quality of space’ in urbanism. In today’s world, a city has to evolve through innovation to survive in the race of growing competition. The ability of a city to be innovative, explains Jan Jacob Trip, depends on its potential to be creative. This implies that highly skilled workers who engage in building creativity (or the creative

31 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas 32 Peter Pol (2002) – A renaissance of stations, railways and cities: Economic effects, development strategies and organizational issues of European highspeed train stations 33 Peter Pol (2008) – HST stations and urban dynamics: Experiences from four European cities - article in the book ‘Railway station development: Impact on Urban Dynamics’ – Pg.62

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Infrastructure as Architecture

18. Canary Wharf, London

19. Hinjewadi, Pune

class)34 are the key to a city’s economic growth.

As a result, national and multi-national companies try to locate their offices close to the substantial concentration of these people. But very often, firms do not relate to this concept of ‘closeness’ beyond its geographical implication resulting in the production of sterile workspaces secluded from the city while still being ‘close’ to its people. A few developments (apart from the one mentioned above and on a larger scale) such as Canary Wharf, London (fig.18 - a cluster of international financial and banking offices), Hinjewadi, Pune (fig.19 - an agglomeration of software companies and IT parks outside the city), etc. emphatically fall under this category. However, nowadays people have realised the negative impacts of these developments and are opting for areas which can provide a healthy urban life (with various amenities, strong public realm, etc.) to their families and enhance their social growth. In other words, the quality of space an area offers has become a crucial factor in attracting high skilled professionals which in turn will decide the competitive edge of a city (or an urban area) in the years to come.

Though this is true for any urban development, in relation to the high speed train network, its magnitude increases multi-fold. As explained earlier, due to enhanced accessibility and connectivity, areas around stations are and will be the most preferred locations for people to live and work. In addition to this, the open nature of the urban system35 where people live in one place, work in second and recreate in another has increased the flow of people at major transport interchanges by leaps and bounds. Pertaining to both these scenarios, station (re)development becomes a combination of urban and transport developments, which in turn makes it a very complex undertaking. As a result, the station (and eventually the city) which brings about the maximum integration of both these fields will have a better scope of attracting professionals, offices, investors, etc. at the local, regional as well as the national scale. In other words, a new approach of implementing a TOD, which will address the issue of building quality of space is essential to create healthy and cohesive station districts for the future.

34 Jan Jacob Trip (2011) – Planning for quality? – Article in the Urban Design journal, Vol.4 – Pg. 458.

Also, for a detailed understanding of the ambit of the creative class, refer to http://www.creativeclass.com/ richard_florida/books/the_rise_of_the_creative_class 35 Luca Bertolini (2008) – Station areas as nodes and places in urban networks: An analytical tool and alternative development strategies – article in the book ‘Railway station development: Impact on Urban Dynamics’ – Pg.36

31

Qualifying Station Districts

The Arguments: Larger context: Based on the study presented, it is clear to understand that infrastructure has a dominant role in deciding the growth of a city. To adapt with the different social, economic and environmental changes, cities have to upgrade or build alternative infrastructural networks in order to open up new fields of exchange. Failure to do so leads to an urban deadlock, causing overconcentration of activities and saturation of resources, as seen in the mega cities of India.

India has a unique opportunity in the form of the HST network to change this scenario. The potential of promoting new growth centres has to be realised in order to address the issue of migration and ever growing slums. In other words, the high speed rail network will be central in creating a composite network of Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities thereby forming a ‘productive network of scale’, so as to reshape its urban growth.

Local context: The high speed train would act as a ‘carrier’ for transformation and spread development in and around the regions where it would hit the ground.

As a result, the railway stations would act as the ‘anchors’ of development on this high speed train network and would undergo unparalleled degree of transformation. To absorb this development, the role of a traditional station – which functions mostly as a transport interchange needs to be questioned and reworked in the context of a larger urban area called the ‘station district’.

The government is planning to invest a large amount of money in developing this infrastructure and regenerating the station districts will play a crucial role to redeem this investment. Hence, unlike in the past, the stations will have to go beyond their boundaries and cater to a larger urban landscape thereby allowing a wider section of the society to reap their benefits and not just the private investors/ developers. To summarize, the primary aim of this dissertation is to discuss the role and the design of the station districts on this HST network in delivering ‘quality of space’ and establish a wider region of productivity.

32

Tools of Design

33

Qualifying Station Districts

34

Tools of Design

Amsterdam City Centre

Zuidas

Schipol Airport

20. Location - The Zuidas, Amsterdam

Case Studies: This section analyses a few station area developments (designed for the HST connectivity) from different countries in Europe to understand various factors that affect their spatial quality.

Though the scale and the population to which the HST network has to cater to in India is huge and cannot be compared with these examples, the aim is to draw some parallels from their positive and negative factors, that should be considered while (re)developing station districts on the HST network in India.

Two cases - the Amsterdam Zuidas in Netherlands (whose work is still in progress) and Euralille, France (a completed development) have been analysed here based on the literature, planning documents and proposal plans available in the public domain.

The Amsterdam Zuidas, Netherlands: Introduction: The Zuidas - South Axis is located at close proximity to the historical city centre (fig.20) and is the second most important station for Amsterdam (after Amsterdam Centraal).36 The Amsterdam Zuid railway station is one of the biggest urban projects in 36 http://connectedcities.eu/showcases/nsp.html

21. Proposed intensification - A new ground plane

the Netherlands which is being envisioned to evolve as a competitive business location for international firms on a national and pan - European scale.

Due to a very good connectivity through roads, trams, buses and its close proximity to the Schipol airport, Zuidas is a strategic site for development.37 In addition to the connectivity, availability of cheap and empty land just outside the city lured the international banks and companies (e.g. ABNAMRO) to locate their offices at the Zuidas, prior to the advent of the HST system. It was a spontaneous and independent development by the market, which did not favour the government initiated central city office development (during the 80s) along the banks of the river IJ.38 As a result (and also due to the constraints in expanding the central station of Amsterdam), the government decided to shift the HST station from Amsterdam Central to the Zuidas, when a high speed train connection was planned from Amsterdam to Germany, Belgium and France, to tap on the market demand.

Initially, between the years 1994 to 1997, the focus was to create a new international financial district for Amsterdam consisting of large office spaces (which could not be accommodated in the old city) in order to attract the influx of multinational companies and investors. But since 1997, due to some political shifts, the local government decided to move towards making the Zuidas a new urban district for Amsterdam rather than just a business hub (fig.21). This reasonably ambitious and extrovert planning approach aimed at creating an intensive and mixed-use ‘urban quarter’ led to the acceptance of a polycentric development of Amsterdam (conventionally, it was focused mainly in the city centre).39 Hence, a renewed spatial strategy to achieve urbanity had to be initiated to include the diverse programme of housing, retail, recreation, institution, etc. in the area. Various options viz. the dike, deck and dock models40 were thought of in order to overcome the strong physical barrier created by the rail and road infrastructure. The aim was to enhance the integration of either side 37 Stan Majoor (2007) – Amsterdam Zuidas: The dream of ‘new urbanity’ – Article in the book ‘Framing Strategic Urban projects – Pg.53 38 Stan Majoor (2007) – Amsterdam Zuidas: The dream of ‘new urbanity’ – Article in the book ‘Framing Strategic Urban projects 39 Stan Majoor (2007) – Amsterdam Zuidas: The dream of ‘new urbanity’ – Article in the book ‘Framing Strategic Urban projects – Pg.56-58 40 For a detailed description of these three models, refer Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg. 120-122

35

Qualifying Station Districts of the rail tracks for which the ‘dock-model’ (fig.22 - a proposal to bury the entire infrastructure under a 1.2km long tunnel) was preferred by the city government. It was thought that the new ground plane thus created would allow for new construction on top in order to incorporate more mixed-use functions in an office dominated neighbourhood.41 Though it was the most suitable option to integrate the urban fabric, tunnelling the infrastructure involved huge costs. The option of stacking high density commercial and residential areas on top of this new ground plane was thought to be the most viable option to redeem the investment.

But all this is easier said than done. The ever fluctuating market conditions and real-estate trends made the proposal highly vulnerable for investment. As a result, for almost a decade, the fate of this project was jeopardised and not much could be realised till date. Very recently, a revised proposal with an intermediate solution, which shifts the motorway (A10) underground but keeps the railway tracks untouched, has been formulated in order to reduce the construction costs.42

22. The Dok model - Proposed development above the road and rail lines

Analysis: Spatial Quality • By involving the primary actors around the Zuidas station viz. RAI (congress and exhibition organisation), World Trade Centre, Free University and ABN-AMRO bank43 at a very early stage, the local government adopted a very positive planning approach (fig.23). As they happen to be large space users, this approach not only helped in addressing their interests but also increased their much needed participation in building a new intensive and mixed use area.

• By providing retail and catering services on the streets rather than in an introvert space of a shopping mall, the proposal plans for the South Axis44 build up on the idea of creating active street fronts. The main purpose is to bring people on the streets and provide sociability required for an urban area.

• On the other hand, to redeem the investment of the costly proposal of ‘dock-model’, several high-end office and residential areas were planned around the station. This led to an under representation of other functions in the central part of the South Axis making it highly monotonous 41 Stan Majoor (2007) – Amsterdam Zuidas: The dream of ‘new urbanity’ – Article in the book ‘Framing Strategic Urban projects – Pg.58 42 www.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/497032/ planam_03_2012.pdf 43 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg.115 44 Jan Jacob Trip (2008) – What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.88

36

RAI WTC

Free University

ABN AMRO

23. Primary urban actors around the station

Tools of Design

24. Pedestrian and cycle network

25. New spatial framework of open spaces

as the educational facilities, museums, etc. were pushed to the periphery of the project.45 • The new urban grain proposed in the Zuidas is based on a defined street pattern and scale.46 The advantage of having small building blocks as against the structures with large footprints is that it supports a high level of connectivity and permeability at the micro-level. Though the vertical scale of the proposed buildings is too large (for the financial reasons mentioned earlier), the horizontal scale of the grain has been planned to encourage walk ability. Also, the weak connection along the north-south axis has been substantially improved to address the issue of public realm, prioritising pedestrians and bicycles.47 (fig.24) • The local government relied on the ‘dockmodel’ for many years, primarily for improving connectivity and mobility in the Zuidas. But the over-dependence on it has rendered the project inflexible, not just economically but also for future infrastructure expansion. The transport organisation of the Netherlands thinks that the proposal plan provides insufficient space for its operational requirements, lacks regional rail tracks all of which together diminish its node value.48 • One of the other guiding principles, as seen in the plans of the Zuidas is the creation of a network of open spaces (fig.25) based on a “hierarchical grid of pedestrian and bicycle paths, green and water elements.” (Bertolini and Spit, 1998, Pg. 121). In order to handle the increased flow of people at the station and cater to its node and place value, there is a need to segregate different activities based on their intensity, so as to build up a healthy urban realm. In this regard, this network can be considered an essential and positive feature of the planning strategy as open spaces can act as the buffer zones in creating a spatial hierarchy.

45 Stan Majoor (2007) – Amsterdam Zuidas: The dream of ‘new urbanity’ – Article in the book ‘Framing Strategic Urban projects – Pg.68 46 Jan Jacob Trip (2008) – What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.91 47 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg.121 48 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg.121

37

Qualifying Station Districts

Euralille, France: Introduction:

London Brussels

Euralille - located in the city of Lille in France is one of the earliest station area regeneration projects in Europe, triggered by the advent of a HST system. Positioned strategically between few of the world’s advanced economic centres - London, Paris and Brussels, Lille enjoys an exceptional geographical advantage (fig.26).

Lille’s Mayor Pierre Mauroy thought of using the new high-speed train in making Lille a new location for high-end service industries and revive its economy which was declining due to the retreat of textile and mining industries.49 Due to his efforts, Lille became a station on the HST system, acting as a hinge of the north-European HST system.50 In 1989, architect Rem Koolhas was commissioned to prepare an urban development plan for Euralille.51 Placed between the historical centre of Lille and the peripheral neighbourhoods (fig.27), this development was focused around a complex interchange of two railway stations – Lille-Flandres (old TGV station) and Lille-Europe (new HST station) and other modes of transport like trams, buses, motorway, etc. In spite of this being a central city station, huge area of un-built and underused land was available around it (due to military rights)52 for developing a new station district.

The construction of the first phase which commenced in the year 1991 consisted of three main parts:53 (fig.28)

Lille

Paris

26. Strategic location of Lille

Euralille Development Site Lille City Centre

27. Location plan - Euralille

• Centre Euralille: It is a triangular structure connecting the new station (Lille-Europe) to the old one (Lille-Flandres) which comprises of shopping mall, offices, leisure, education and performance spaces along with temporary and for-sale housing programme.

• Cite des Affaires: This part includes the World Trade Centre (WTC), Credit Lyonnais Towers and the new 49 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg. 73 50 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg.73 51 Jan Jacob Trip (2008) – What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.82 52 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg.7172 53 Luca Bertolini and Tejo Spit (1998) – Cities on Rails: The redevelopment of railway station areas – Pg.76 -79

38

Parc Urbain

Centre Euralille Lille Flandres Station

Lille-Grand Palais

28. Euralille - Phase 1

Cite des Affaires Lille Europe Station

Tools of Design area includes a hotel, casino, large retail space together with housing and offices.

• Euralille 2: It is a 13 hectare expansion of the main project beyond Lille-Grand Palais on the south, comprising of office, residential, retail and hotel development.

29. Early sketch of the Euralille development TGV (national high speed train service of France) station. Its programme primarily consists of offices along with catering, exhibition and retail spaces in the ground floor of the WTC. • Lille-Grand Palais: Situated a bit away from the stations, this oval shaped congress centre also consists of a huge exhibition space and an event hall.

Due to the financial crisis in mid-nineties, the number of offices to be built at the station was reduced and is still below the amount anticipated at the start of the project. This is evident if we compare the number of towers planned by Koolhaas in his initial renderings of Euralille and what actually transpired on site (fig.29). After 1995, the second phase of the project was initiated which consists of four developments:54 (fig.30) • Le Romarin: It consists primarily of housing and office spaces and tries to connect the station district to the northern suburbs.

• St Maurice: Located on the eastern edge of the project, even this is a residential and office space development along with a few retail shops • Chaude Rivière: Positioned between Cite des Affaires and Lille-Grand Palais, this 54 http://dominiqueatkins.com/BLOG/1207_AB_ EURALILLE.pdf

Euralille is considered as one of the earliest and considerably successful attempts of (re)thinking the station as a ‘place’ (and not just a ‘node’) on the high speed train system. On the whole, it helped the city of Lille in building up a new image and self-confidence55, in order to come out of its financial slump. Moreover, in order to disperse the benefits of Euralille on a wider scale, municipalities of the surrounding towns were given shares in the project and large public projects were also developed in these towns. 56 Analysis: Spatial Quality • The station district mainly comprises of offices and allied amenities. It does cater to the aspect of mixed-use; but acts as a “contemporary monofunctional”57 space, due to the placement of various mono-functional blocks next to each other.

Also, the low density of housing programme has proved difficult to attract a qualified workforce.58 People travel there purely for work and 55 Jan Jacob Trip (2008) – What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.82 56 Peter Pol (2008) – HST stations and Urban dynamics: Experience from four European cities – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.70 57 Mig de Jong (2009) – Lille Europe: A success story?

– Research article in Delft University of Technology – Pg.6 http://repository.tudelft.nl/assets/uuid:06b7b9ccb004-4a73-a3ac-4c960e9d1134/Mig_de_Jong_2009_ Lille_Europe__a_success_story.doc 58 Leo van den Berg/ Peter Pol (1998) – The European high-speed train and Urban development – Pg.89

Le Romarin Development

St. Maurice Development

Euralille 2

Chaude Riviere

30. Euralille - Phase 2 39

Qualifying Station Districts leave after finishing it. Consequently, this has hampered the quality of space in Euralille and also its importance as a ‘place’.

Though in the second phase, a conscious effort has been made to add substantial amount of housing in all the four development areas, it still leaves the central portion of the station district relatively mono-functional.

• The street life in Euralille is not very active (fig.31). Though a lot of shopping, leisure and catering activities were planned, majority of them happened to be inside the large shopping mall and thus displaced people off the streets. As a result of a non-active street life, many of the catering services on the square have closed down.59 • Presence of parks is always favourable for the social growth of a city but users are needed to justify their presence. In case of ‘Parc Urbain’ (fig.32), which is situated in the north of the HST station, the low density of residential area around it coupled with the absence of strong landscape, retail or catering elements inside it keeps it under used most of the time.60 • The existing ‘Gare de Flandres’ station is a deadend station; and hence for this project, a decision to create a new through station was taken for the HST to pass. Also, to save on infrastructural costs, both these stations have been kept operational. But the drawback of this spatial segregation is the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the longer transfer time from one station to the other which are 800mts. apart.

To overcome this problem, proposals to run a free electric shuttle between them is on the cards.61 • The footprint of the buildings in Euralille is very large to allow for an easy permeability of pedestrians and cyclists. For instance, the Centre Euralille shopping mall was technically planned to connect the old station to the new one internally but is acting as a barrier from the outside. Except for the entry points at each station, there is no other access point into the building for people to pass through, thereby reducing the micro level connectivity.62 This is detrimental to the concept of walk-ability and has encouraged the use of cars.

59 Jan Jacob Trip (2008) – What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.84 60 Mig de Jong (2009) – Lille Europe: A success story?

– Research article in Delft University of Technology – Pg.7 http://repository.tudelft.nl/assets/uuid:06b7b9ccb004-4a73-a3ac-4c960e9d1134/Mig_de_Jong_2009_ Lille_Europe__a_success_story.doc 61 Leo van den Berg/ Peter Pol (1998) – The European high-speed train and Urban development – Pg.87 62 Mig de Jong (2009) – Lille Europe: A success story?

– Research article in Delft University of Technology – Pg.7 http://repository.tudelft.nl/assets/uuid:06b7b9ccb004-4a73-a3ac-4c960e9d1134/Mig_de_Jong_2009_ Lille_Europe__a_success_story.doc

40

31. Street life in Euralile

32. Under-used space inside Parc Urbain

Tools of Design

Understanding and findings:

33.

The concept of ‘mixed use’ is neither about physically segregated functions next to each other (above) nor is it a pure residential and office space environment (below) Residences

Offices

34.

Shops

Offices

Offices

• After studying both these cases, it is observed that developing station districts placed on a HST system is usually thought in terms of attracting or enhancing the service sector industry whereas other kinds of productive activities get a nominal representation. It can be argued that it is justified to enhance its growth in a major city like Amsterdam, where the service industry already had a formidable presence; but in Lille, which is so close to major economies like Paris and London, developing one more hub for international offices has just not been very favourable. This is evident from the difficulty faced in selling/ renting office spaces in Euralille.63 For this reason, development of a station district on the HST network has to be thought in complementation to other stations on it. Creating homogeneous office spaces on every station creates tremendous competition between these areas, thereby reducing the demand for offices. It is very essential to think of an ‘endogenous’ (Leo van den Berg/ Peter Pol, 1998, Pg.89) growth model for every city which supports and enhances its local productive activities. For instance, as suggested by Leo van den Berg et.al, Lille has a potential to develop its urban tourism or medical activities more than the service industries, especially when it is so close on the network connecting to two global cities.

• Mixed use is neither about having different monofunctional blocks next to one another (as seen in Euralille - fig.33) nor is it only about placing offices and residences together (as seen in the Zuidas fig.34). An urban area needs a balance of different activities catering to different age groups in order to attract people. Public or semi-public activities such as theatres, museums, fitness centres, day care activities, educational institutions, etc.64 hold the key to creating urbanity in large development regions.

63 Leo van den Berg/ Peter Pol (1998) – The European high-speed train and Urban development – Pg.91 64 Jan Jacob Trip (2008) – What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.92

41

Qualifying Station Districts • The proposal of tunnelling both - the road and rail infrastructures in the Zuidas, proved financially unviable and delayed the project for almost a decade. The local government’s stubbornness over the ‘dock model’ not only reduced the flexibility of the project but also prevented the search for innovations in handling the infrastructure without burying it underground.65 From this case, it can be understood that, creation of a new ground plane over the infrastructure is neither the only solution of integrating two sides of the railway track nor is it viable for all the cities. Underpasses or bridges at strategic locations can help in creating effective spatial and programmatic links on both the sides.

• A drive through station is the most preferred option of developing a HST stop as a dead-end station would not only disrupt the network but also become a hurdle in expanding it further.

• Both the reference cases very evidently talk about the importance of the scale of buildings in allowing permeability and accessibility at the local level. The Zuidas (fig.35) shows how an urban grain based on street system can improve connectivity and encourage walk-ability; while on the other hand, buildings with large footprints as seen in Euralille (fig.36) do not support a secondary mobility system.

• Catering and retail services attract people during different times of the day, thereby creating an active street life. If all these shops are placed inside an introverted space (e.g. shopping mall) then people are pulled away from the streets leaving them deserted. This can result in degrading the quality of life in an urban area and should be avoided. For instance, spaces catering to the basic necessities such as grocery shops, pharmaceuticals, pubs, etc. should preferably be planned on the street fronts rather than inside a shopping mall, to keep them active for longer hours.

New grain Old grain

35.

Comparison between the old and new fabric in the Zuidas (above) and Euralille (below) New grain Old grain

36.

65 Stan Majoor (2007) – Amsterdam Zuidas: The dream of ‘new urbanity’ – Article in the book ‘Framing Strategic Urban projects – Pg.75

42

Tools of Design

Tools of Design: Based upon the analysis and findings of the two reference cases, a few common factors regarding ‘quality of space’ emerge which can be connected to the Indian urban scenario. These elements are crucial in building a sustainable urban space and have either been absent or on the sidelines in the recent urban design projects in India. Especially, post the liberalisation in 1991, the urban planning and design fields in India fell short of fully understanding the degree of change and transformation the economy of the nation would undergo in the years to come. The urban scenario was changing drastically, affecting the entire cross-section of the society – the way they live, work, socialise, etc. The failure to address this change led to a haphazard and ‘splintered’66 urbanisation of the cities causing gentrification and expulsion of the weaker sections of the society.

The argument is that a large scale urban (re) development at a station district has the potential to modify the conventional urban design trends of a city and set up new standards in addressing the issue of urbanism. Using these factors, which can be called the ‘tools of design’, Indian cities have a unique opportunity (in the form of the HST network) to deliver healthy and productive urban regions. The tools of design are: • Layering and Integration

- Collective realm

- Mobility • Hierarchy of spaces Elaborating these in detail can help in understanding their relevance in the Indian context.

Layering and Integration: It functions at two design principles

levels as

of

urban follows:

Collective realm Today, India is witnessing a rapid but a very fragmented growth of its urban agglomerations.

For instance, rise of the service sector has fostered the growth of IT parks, special economic zones, etc. in many cities. As these predominantly commercial spaces need large floor plans to cater to the demands of huge national and multi-national companies, they develop mostly at the periphery of the cities (due to the scarcity of space in the city centre). This is very evident in the outskirts 66 This term has been referred from the title of the book ‘Splintering Urbanism’ (2001) by Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin

43

Qualifying Station Districts of Pune city or in Gurgaon – the national capital region - which provide employment to a lot of people and are the symbols of India’s rise in the field of software and Information technology. But if studied closely, irrespective of the positives these cluster of buildings cater to (economy wise), they are creating an illusion of growth for Indian cities. Likewise, many other projects in and around the city are creating a similar picture which is not a good sign of growth for Indian cities.

These projects lack the urbanity needed to sustain as healthy urban areas over a long period of time.

Most of the IT/business parks are mono-functional entities catering only to offices, which in the words of Jane Jacobs, are detrimental to the sociability67 required by a city (fig.37). Moreover, residential clusters are developed independently around these commercial hubs creating a physical segregation and hence do not blend with each other. As seen in Euralille, this creates ‘conventional mixed use neighbourhoods’, where mono-functional blocks are placed next to each other. Hawkers and street side shops which have been crucial actors in developing active street fronts in the core city regions of India are systematically eliminated from the new developments, while the growth of shopping malls is being fostered consistently.

In other words, frictionless68 and introvert urban spaces are being promoted for the privileged in the name of ‘individual security’, which is hampering the ability of a city to provide a platform for collective realm to materialise. Also, the rise in the number of thefts, murders or even rapes in these sterile zones proves how detrimental they are to the ‘social security’ of a city.69

37.

Schematic diagrams: Above - isolated developments outside a city Below - ideal development of mixed-use urban quaters

38.

67 This term has been used by Jane Jacobs in her book ‘The death and life of great American cities’(1984) 68 Steven Miles (2010) – Spaces for consumption – Pg. 176 69 Desires of planning and the planning of Desires: Vignettes of a Rape Culture and Beyond – Sunalini Kumar – December 30, 2012 - This article talks about the vulnerability of Indian streets to anti-social elements

Introvert spaces of a shopping mall (below) as opposed to a typical urban space created by roadside shops in India (alongside)

39.

44

40.

Tools of Design If the transformed station districts on the new HST system have to build up a healthy urban life, it is extremely essential to create ‘places’ and not just activities at them. It may be useful to draw some parallels from older parts of the Indian cities, which support a strong mixed-use urban environment and comfortably integrate various actors of the society in the same space even today. Unless the authorities and investors acknowledge the potential of the HST station areas in providing a platform of exchange for people from different social and economic backgrounds, the recent proposal for Seawoods station in Navi Mumbai is a warning about what might be the future of these station districts and they will fail to reach the scale of the city.

Mobility At present, rising air pollution and traffic jams are problems demanding serious attention in many Indian cities. The problem is related to the over dependence on private vehicles due to weak public transport; but is also connected to the inefficient mobility pattern on a neighbourhood scale, which discourages people to walk short distances.

41.

An ungated urban growth (below) allows for an enhanced secondary movement pattern in comparison with a gated one (above)

A lot has been written and discussed about the concept of ‘walk able neighbourhoods’ in reducing the dependency on cars or two-wheelers by promoting secondary modes of transport viz. walking and cycling. This system becomes effective based on two principles – first, it is the presence of various functions related to the different social, economic and cultural factors, within a walk-able radius of 500-600 metres (also related to the previous chapter of creation of collective realm) and second, it is the permeability of the fabric at micro level which can allow for the unhindered movement of pedestrians/ cycles.

And on this later criterion of ‘permeability’ is where the issue arises in the urban areas of India.

First of all, proliferation of gated communities is one of the primary reasons, which is hampering the secondary mobility system in Indian cities (fig.41-42). Under the name of security, erection of compound walls around every big or small development has become a common trend in urban regions. Along with affecting the walkability, these developments are mostly monofunctional and also privatise the public amenities (such as clubhouse, playgrounds, etc.), thereby destroying the social system of a neighbourhood.

Fragmentation thus caused due to these gated communities is affecting the urban scenario in more than one ways and needs to be countered while undertaking new urban projects.

42.

45

Qualifying Station Districts Secondly, both the Zuidas and Euralille examples highlight the importance of building scale in improving pedestrian connectivity at the local level i.e. structures with finer grain support more permeability over those with larger footprints (fig.4345). But, private investors prefer the latter, as it not only eases the construction process but also provides more saleable area. Also, the lesser time required to build the latter (which aids in decreasing the construction costs) has reduced the capacity of developers to innovate in the field of urbanism.

In other words, the tendency of the market to make quick profits is costing the city its urbanity.

The HST system will increase the flow of people at the station districts by leaps and bounds. In order to reduce the problems of congestion and pollution, promoting local scale walk-ability along with an improved public transport system can be an effective solution. For this to materialise, deviating the private sector from creating gated enclaves and promoting a street based fabric may hold the key.

To summarise, addressing the issues of integration and layering in order to enhance the collective realm and mobility system is extremely important if India has to produce sustainable and adaptable urban centres. The scale of regeneration that the new HST stations will undergo is going to be enormous and provides reasonable conditions for testing this tool effectively.

43.

Above and Below - Comparison between buildings with large footprint as against smaller urban blocks

44.

46

45.

Tools of Design

Hierarchy of spaces: The Zuidas Amsterdam case elaborates the importance of having a sequence of open spaces in order to segregate different activities and also to channelize the increased flow of people at a station district. In the Indian culture too, open space – in the form of courtyard, has always played a dominant role in deciding the urban growth of a neighbourhood (fig.46-47). It helps in establishing a hierarchy between shared spaces of an area, thereby building a healthy community life. Charles Correa (1999) has vividly explained this phenomenon of the hierarchy of open spaces in the Indian context, which scales up from a patio inside the house to a playground at the neighbourhood level (fig.48).

46. A cluster of houses around a courtyard in Belapur Housing, Navi Mumbai by Charles Correa

47. Site plan of Belapur Housing - Showing hierarchy of shared community spaces

Similarly, in today’s context, a courtyard assumes different roles depending on the type of function it is catering to. It can be a non-vehicular space functioning as a playground for kids if located in a residential area, in a close proximity to any public amenity it may promote social gathering, whereas for industries or warehouses it may function as a service space for loading/ unloading purposes.

Hence, it can be argued that by providing intermediate zones between the inside and the outside, these spaces support different activities, thereby acting as binding elements for a neighbourhood.

In order to build a sustainable urban environment, the station area (re)development has to be anchored to the functional as well as social and cultural needs of a city; and using the potentials of a courtyard can prove to be extremely effective.

In other words, by establishing a network of spaces using courtyards, this large scale transformation can be strategically channelized in delivering quality urban spaces to the city.

48. Sequence of open spaces in a typical Indian neighbourhood - every space catering to different activites 47

Qualifying Station Districts

48

Area of Intervention

49

Qualifying Station Districts

50

Area of Intervention

The context of Mumbai:

49. Pune - Mumbai - Ahmedabad corridor

New communication and information technology is not introduced everywhere at once.70 There is a time lag in the implementation of new innovations between two or more regions. Constructing any new form of infrastructure has to be justified by optimum usage, which is usually found in the areas facilitating more human interaction. As the leading economic centres of a country emphatically satisfy this condition, new technology is first made available in these regions.71 In this context, the Government of India’s plan to execute the 650km long Ahmedabad – Mumbai – Pune corridor (fig.49) as the pilot project becomes relevant and justified. This corridor is quite strategic as it connects Mumbai - the financial capital, to a few of the other big cities of India and is economically the most viable region for the country. The idea is to tap on the high number of users who travel frequently between these cities (especially to Mumbai) for work and enhance productivity by improving the efficiency of connection. As the success of this pilot project will determine the future of the entire network, it is extremely crucial to have a strategic planning process addressing the larger network and not just this corridor in isolation.

The city of Mumbai is centrally located on this corridor which connects to Ahmedabad on the north and Pune on the south. As a result of this strategic location, its importance as a development site for this project becomes primary. Moreover, Mumbai is the most populated city of India and is the strongest magnet in attracting migrants from all over the country. Though the city is contributing immensely in providing employment and growth opportunities, it has a limitation of land to expand, which has pushed it to a point of saturation and is unable to satisfy the needs of ever-increasing population.

Consequently, it is facing problems relating to overconcentration mentioned earlier, such as crippling public transport, overburdened basic services, an immense shortage of affordable housing and a negligible amount of public amenities which need immediate attention. Owing to these problems and also to Mumbai’s economical and geographical importance, the high-speed train network in India has to kick-start by (re)thinking about Mumbai on a local, regional and national scale.

70 Leo van den Berg/ Peter Pol (1998) – The European high-speed train and Urban development – Pg.2 71 Leo van den Berg/ Peter Pol (1998) – The European high-speed train and Urban development – Pg.2

51

Qualifying Station Districts

The relevance of Navi Mumbai: To address these issues, the position of the HST stop in Mumbai will play a crucial role and hence, it becomes extremely important to carefully select the station. Though the citizens and public authorities have suggested a few locations, the government has not finalised any of the options yet. A group of citizens has suggested having a HST stop at Andheri (situated in western Mumbai) while the state authorities are in favour of having a connection to Navi Mumbai.72 As understood from the case studies, there are various factors to be considered while making the selection of a HST station in any city: • good public transport in order to support the large flow of people generated due to HST connectivity; • efficient car accessibility; • adequate connection to the airport73; •considerable amount of empty/ underutilised space around the railway station to support the future intensification; and •a drive- through station as opposed to a deadend one to allow the train to pass through the city

50. Charles Correa’s proposal of opening up the main land in order to create new growth centres outside Mumbai

Based on these if we compare the two options then, Andheri station enjoys an excellent connectivity by public transport (taxis, rickshaws, buses, local trains, etc.) due to its proximity to the city centre and the international airport of Mumbai; but falls short on other factors. It neither has a good accessibility by car (owing to the heavy traffic jams) nor does it have enough underutilised land around it, which an HST stop requires. While on the other hand, due to its peripheral location, Navi Mumbai has an ample supply of empty land with adequate accessibility by car and would soon also have a new international airport74; whereas the public transport connectivity is comparatively weak.

Railway lines - to & from Central Mumbai

Panvel, Navi Mumbai as the site: Though Navi Mumbai does not fulfill all the factors mentioned above, it fulfills most of them and also supports the argument made by Charles Correa (1999) of creating a new growth centre outside the main city of Mumbai (fig.50). Also, at present if a train enters the island of Mumbai, it cannot get into the main land while moving in the same direction (fig.51). For this reason, it is tougher to select any 72 http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/201210-01/mumbai/34199258_1_high-speed-rail-corridormumbai-and-nagpur-high-speed-project 73 First three points - Leo van den Berg/ Peter Pol (1998) – The European high-speed train and Urban development – Pg.11-12 74 http://cidconmia.com/website/nmia-2/projectactivities/pre-development/connectivity/

52

Uninterrupted passage of railway lines

ANDHERI

Existing Mumbai Airport

Railway lines - to & from Navi Mumbai

Proposed Navi Mumbai Airport

Island effect Discontinuation of railway lines

PANVEL

Uninterrupted passage of railway lines

51. Advantage of Panvel over Andheri, as a HST stop for Mumbai

Area of Intervention other major station within the island, as it would disrupt the future HST network. Thus, to address the larger scenario, locating the HST stop in Panvel, Navi Mumbai - located at 30kms. from the island of Mumbai, can be the most suitable option for the city.

Node value:

52. Proposed infrastructure upgradation to connect Mumbai to the Navi Mumbai International airport

Panvel Industrial Estate

E Pu xpr ne ess w

ay

to

NEW PANVEL

OLD PANVEL

Bus stand

Place value:

Station

NH4

As per the 2011 census, Panvel has a population of 1, 80,464.77 The railway station lies between historical Panvel on one side and New Panvel region on the other. New Panvel predominantly comprises of residential areas, whereas there is a lot of empty land on the older side. Except for the Panvel Industrial Estate and Industrial Training Institute there aren’t many urban actors present around the station (fig.53). But, on a larger scale, Panvel is surrounded by strong economic players such as Nhava-Sheva port (JNPT), industry majors like ONGC, Reliance, Larsen & Turbo, etc. which generate a huge employment for this region (fig.54). Moreover, the Ulwe node of Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone development is also proposed in Panvel.78

er

Riv

Industrial Training Institute

53. Site surroundings - Panvel station

This discussion about the node and place value of Panvel station helps categorising it as an ‘unbalanced node’ in relation to the

To North India NH4

Navi Mumbai Greater Mumbai

E to xpr Pu es ne sw

ay

Proposed site International Airport Thane Creek

Ulwe SEZ

Panvel is one of the main railway stations for Mumbai division of Central railway of India. Currently, along with a strong connectivity to central Mumbai via harbour and central line passenger trains, it is also linked by 9 pairs of daily and 13 pairs of non-daily express trains to different parts of the country. It even handles a major freight corridor from NhavaSheva port (JNPT) – one of the biggest ports of India.75 Moreover, many national and state highways (NH4B, NH17, Mumbai-Pune express way, etc.) pass through or meet at Panvel which add to its physical connectivity. Buses to inner Mumbai and other parts of the state ply frequently from Panvel bus stand. In addition to this, the Navi Mumbai International Airport (second major airport for Mumbai) is proposed at 6kms. from the railway station, which has bought in huge infrastructural investment in Panvel (fig.52). A 22km Mumbai Tans Harbour Link to South Mumbai, new metro lines to various parts of Mumbai, etc.76 are being planned to enhance connectivity to the airport.

PANVEL

4B

NH

JNPT

54. Location of Panvel in a larger context

NH

4

To South India

75 http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/oct/07/ slide-show-1-the-major-ports-of-india.htm#5 76 http://cidconmia.com/website/nmia-2/projectactivities/pre-development/connectivity/ 77 http://www.census2011.co.in/census/city/373panvel.html 78 http://www.nmsez.com/

53

Qualifying Station Districts ‘unbalanced node-place theory’.79 It means that the transportation supply at Panvel station is more developed than the urban activities around it.

But Panvel has a presence of a few strong actors in the region which can help increase the station’s place value. By having a HST stop at this station intensification and property development can be initiated (with the help of these actors) in the station area which will push it towards a more balanced state. In other words, a HST stop at Panvel will have dual impact i.e. by attracting new activities in the station district it would act as a ‘catalyst’ on the local scale, whereas on the regional scale it will play a ‘facilitating role’ by initiating the creation of a new growth centre outside Mumbai.80

79 Luca Bertolini (2008) – Station areas as nodes and places in urban networks: An analytical tool and alternative development strategies – article in the book ‘Railway station development: Impact on Urban Dynamics’ – Pg.38-39 80 Peter Pol (2008) – HST stations and Urban dynamics: Experience from four European cities – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’ – Pg.61

Station area analysis: Panvel station, which was earlier located on the periphery of Old Panvel, has now become the new centre with New Panvel growing on the other side of the tracks.

The existing urban growth around the station is governed by the presence of strong infrastructural elements such as the NH4 on the west, Pune-Mumbai expressway on the northeast while the river on the south-west (fig.55).

The Old Panvel region has evolved over time with an organic growth pattern until it is interrupted by the national highway 4 (NH4); whereas the recent growth of New Panvel on the opposite side of the station till the expressway has an organized layout of urban spaces. Interestingly, the area between the railway tracks and the NH4 acts like a void between Old and New Panvel, as it hasn’t witnessed any strong development other than the Panvel industrial belt (fig.56).

As a result, this region provides a lot of empty or under-used space that can be used for further intensification. Fortunately, it is located in the immediate vicinity of the station and thus has an immense potential to be developed for the new HST connectivity. Also, other side of the river has a lot of empty land that is gradually being opened up for new development and hence, should be considered as a part of the station district for the larger benefit of the city.

Pune Mumbai expressway

River NH4

Station

55. Existing scenario: Panvel station area is defined by strong infrastructural edges 54

Area of Intervention

56. Existing scenario: In reference to the larger Panvel region comprising of the organic grid of Old Panvel on the west, recently planned New Panvel on the east and the Panvel Industrial Estate on the north, the immediate surroundings around the station appear as a ‘void’

The challenge is to position ‘the void’ between Old and New Panvel in such a way that it acts like a subtle transition space between the two regions while addressing the larger expectations not only of Panvel, but also of the entire region of Mumbai.

Site Analysis:

57. Mobility pattern: Enhancing and upgrading the mobility pattern can enable the site to reach out to the primary urban actors around the station and can become instrumental in dispersing new growth potentials to a wider territory 55

Qualifying Station Districts

58. New connections: For both sides of the tracks to be part of a homogenous station district, improving connections across the infrastructural lines of rail, water and roads would be essential

59. Sequence of spaces: In phase 1, creating a sequence of spaces along the periphery of the ‘void’ can not only help in building a spatial and productive link with the surroundings but also in defining the future developments within the site 56

Area of Intervention

Tests: In order to cater to the ‘sequence of spaces’ described in fig.59 , a few tests have been tried with the help of the tools of design.

Node 1: Station As this area will have to cater to a heavy influx of people, defining a hierarchy of movement pattern would play a crucial role. Based on this, an open urban fabric, structured around various courtyards helps in connecting to the activities related to the station as well as the existing educational institute - ITI. Moreover, a central spine catering to different public/ social activities has been thought of, which will run across the entire site, linking various spaces.

60. Key plan: Node 1 Central Spine

Station

ITI Existing Institution

Primary road Secondary road Pedestrian & Cycle pathway Free movement Public facilities

61.

57

Qualifying Station Districts Node 2: Panvel Industrial estate Enhancing the productive activities happening at the industrial estate will improve the local economy of Panvel drastically. By stretching the central spine into this area, an attempt has been made to address this criteria. Though the urban grain is based on a series of courtyards, it is introvert in nature, as it responds to the presence of strong infrastructural lines viz. NH4 on the west, rail lines on the east and a flyover connecting old and new Panvel to the north.

62. Key plan: Node 2

Panvel Industrial Estate

y wa igh lH na

tio

Na 4 Primary road Secondary road Pedestrian & Cycle pathway Free movement Public facilities

63.

58

Central Spine

el

anv

ver

Flyo

to

P New

Area of Intervention Node 3: Riverfront The arrangement of urban blocks is defined by a different hierarchy of courtyards, in order to take the advantage of proximity to the water. Also, as the south side of the river is in a transition phase and will witness new developments in the future, considering it as a part of a larger station development area will help in guiding these developments and will in turn prove beneficial for the city in the long run.

64. Key plan: Node 3

Primary road Secondary road Pedestrian & Cycle pathway Free movement Public facilities

River

65.

59

Qualifying Station Districts

60

Conclusion

61

Qualifying Station Districts

62

Conclusion • The national government along with the government of Maharashtra state is investing heavily in the construction of a new International airport at Navi Mumbai, as the existing airport in Mumbai is being pressurised beyond its limits.

The upgradation of existing and construction of new transport infrastructures between Panvel and Mumbai is being planned81 in order to improve the efficiency of connection to/from the airport. As a result, in the days to come, an entirely new urban dynamics will be generated in Panvel. Locating the main HST stop for Mumbai at Panvel i.e. in close proximity to the new airport, would aid in regaining the value of investment made on infrastructure upgradation for the airport. Also, a new network of productivity and learning can be created between the airport and new HST station, which would enable Panvel to become not just an ‘accessible node’ but also an ‘accessible place’82 for Mumbai as well as the migrants.

Moreover, having Panvel as a HST station in the initial stage would also help in phasing of the project. In the future, if there is a need of having a second stop in central Mumbai (may be Andheri), the pressure on it would be reduced considerably as compared to when it is the only HST stop for Mumbai. Also, diverting migrants and some urban activities to Panvel in the first phase would open up space for development at the second station in the next phase.

• The HST system is not about improving efficiency of just a single station district or city, but about enhancing the performance of other cities too, in order to create a larger network of productivity. For this to materialise, it is essential to understand the node and place value of each station district and respond accordingly. Creation of similar spaces around each station instigates competition between cities, which is detrimental to their long term growth. As seen from the case studies, promoting Euralille as an international office district for service industries instigated a competition with global cities like London and Paris and thus had a negative impact on its growth. Hence, peculiar characteristics of every place should be intensified and differences in their function mix should be enriched in order to avoid duplication and promote complementarity (Priemus, 2008, Pg. 27). This would not just do justice to the urban functions but also aid the

81 For detailed information, refer - http://cidconmia. com/website/nmia-2/project-activities/pre-development/ connectivity/ 82 L. Bertolini & M. Dijst (2003) – ‘Mobility environments and Network cities’ – An article in the Journal of Urban Design Volume 8, Issue 1 – Pg. 31

63

Qualifying Station Districts (re)design of a large scale urban network.83 In this context, if we consider the HST network between Mumbai and Pune, it will connect the two cities via Lonavla i.e. the train will have three stops altogether. Education, culture, IT & software industry and two-wheeler manufacturing are the strong activities of Pune, whereas for Lonavla, it is tourism and hard candy sweet (chikki) manufacturing. As seen from the analysis before, Panvel has a strong industrial and manufacturing base. Intensifying these functions primarily (along with a few common activities) at the respective station districts would enrich complementarity between them and in turn create a healthy urban network (fig.66). It should be noted that Panvel has to complement the activities in central Mumbai and hence should not be promoted purely as a place for high end offices. Though there has to be a considerable amount of office space (to divert activities from the city centre), the enrichment of existing functions cannot be sidelined; it will help in building up Panvel as a self-sustainable urban node outside Mumbai.

• The depleting spatial quality of urban spaces in Indian cities is an issue of profound concern and hence, using the infrastructure of HST network in developing sustainable urban spaces at station districts should be the paramount aim of the government. Currently in India, the state government has a larger role (as compared to the local municipality) in executing big infrastructural projects. As a result, these projects have missed the scale of the city, failing to address the local issues. The case of the Mumbai-Pune expressway explained earlier is a typical example of this kind.

To change this scenario, along with the ‘tools of design’, an improved participation of the city is an important criterion in enriching the quality of space at station districts. Due to improved rights, the local municipality would automatically be subjected to greater responsibility in delivering urbanity in large scale projects, which is missing at the moment.

Also, channelizing the private sector in executing the strategic goal of building quality urban spaces at the station districts will be extremely crucial for the success of this project. Currently, they are involved in developing individual sites (as seen in the Seawoods railway station development) devoid of any control by the city, thereby creating new urban deadlocks. Though, excluding the private sector from the development process would prove unviable (as it may put an immense pressure on the state funds), the city has to at least hold 83 Hugo Priemus (2008) – Urban dynamics and transport infrastructure: Towards greater synergy – article in the book ‘Railway development: Impact on Urban Dynamics’ – Pg.27

64

To North India

MUMBAI (Panvel)

Arabian Sea

LONAVLA

PUNE

To South India

66. Pune - Lonavla - Mumbai: Complementary growth centres to form a productive urban network

Conclusion it accountable in building healthy urban spaces.

Realisation of this will divert the private developers from producing ‘dystopian neighbourhoods’84 just for short term profits and engage them in working for the long term growth of the cities.

Along with the provision of subsidies based on innovation and state ownership of the land considered fit for development in the station district, the creation of an ‘urban development committee’ at the national level can become an effective tool in bringing about these changes. It should be a non-political body appointed by the parliament, comprising of architects, planners, engineers, sociologists, etc, and be the in-charge of large scale infrastructure and urban projects.

In India, the government - which has a limited tenure of 5 years - uses large urban projects to cater to the short term goal of vote-bank politics; thereby leading to their haphazard implementation. A national urban development committee, which will be devoid of any limitation of tenure, would help counter this practice and guide the local governments and in turn the private developers in addressing the long term strategy of building ‘quality of space’.

67.

• Lastly, the primary purpose of establishing the tools of design is to define a strategy for the (re) development of station districts. Since a very long time, master planning has been the most common practice used by the government, planners, architects in thinking about the future growth and planning of the cities and is still being followed on a large scale. The over-simplification of concepts offered by master planning (an argument favoured by its proponents) is making the entire theory of urbanism very homogeneous. For instance, the system of zoning i.e. differentiation of areas merely on functions such as residential, industrial, etc. not only creates monotonous urban quarters (fig.67) but also leaves a limited scope of accommodating new changes / modifications needed for the city to evolve over time.

Moreover, once the HST system is in place, the number of users/ inhabitants at the station district would increase steeply, which would include people belonging to every section of the society. If the new station area has to reach out to this large spectrum of users, the conventional practice of looking at urbanisation has to be altered. Otherwise, it would end up serving only the economically strong, thereby keeping the roaring problems of slums and poverty untouched.

This would magnify these issues furthermore and create irreparable deadlocks for the Indian cities.

84 Jan Jacob Trip (2011) – Planning for quality? – Article in the Urban Design journal, Vol.4 – Pg. 468

65

Qualifying Station Districts The principles of integration, layering and hierarchy of spaces, can provide an alternative way to the current trends of urban growth in India. By using these ‘tools of design’, the local government can not only provide guidelines to the private developers but also make the process of urbanisation flexible enough in providing a platform for new exchanges and interchanges to occur. To summarise, this will help in qualifying the station districts as complex and diverse urban spaces which the city aspires to achieve.85 (fig.68)

68.

85 Hajer and Reijndorp (2001) – In search of new public domain – Pg.12-13

66

Bibliography

67

Qualifying Station Districts

68

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Image 20 - Google Earth Image 21 - http://www.cie.nl/projecten/projecten/ stedenbouw/zuidas,-amsterdam.aspx Image 22 - http://bewonersplatformzuidas. nl/?p=293 Image 23 - Google Earth Image 24 - Zuidas Vision document (2009).

Ratified by Amsterdam City Council – Pg. 56 www.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/479777/ zuidas_vision_document.pdf Image 25 - Zuidas Vision document (2009).

Ratified by Amsterdam City Council – Pg. 38 www.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/479777/ zuidas_vision_document.pdf

Image 41 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. 160 Image 42 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. 160 Image 43 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. 167 Image 44 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. 176 Image 45 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. 177 Image 46 - http://www.architecture.com/ LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Collections/ Recentacquisitions/CharlesCorrea/Archive.aspx#.

UidGlDaUSno

Image 26 - Google Earth Image 27 - Google Earth Image 28 - http://en.nai.nl/collection/ view_the_collection/item/_rp_kolom2-1_ elementId/1_102921 Image 29 - http://en.nai.nl/collection/ view_the_collection/item/_rp_kolom2-1_ elementId/1_102921 Image 30 - http://www.zoomsurlille.fr/euralille Image 31 - Jan Jacob Trip (2008) - What makes a city: Urban quality in Euralille, Amsterdam South Axis, Rotterdam Central - article in the book ‘Railway development: Impacts on urban dynamics’

Image 47 - http://www.architecture.com/ LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Collections/ Recentacquisitions/CharlesCorrea/Archive.aspx#.

UidGlDaUSno Image 48 - Correa, Charles (1999). Housing and Urbanisation. Thames & Hudson publishers – Pg. 106 Image 49 - Google Earth Image 50 - Correa, Charles (1999). Housing and Urbanisation. Thames & Hudson publishers – Pg. 118 Image 52 - http://cidconmia.com/website/nmia-2/ project-activities/pre-development/connectivity/ Image 53 - Google Earth

Image 32 - http://www.online-utility.org/image/ gallery.jsp?title=Euralille Image 37 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. X

Image 54 - Google Earth Image 60 - Google Earth Image 62 - Google Earth

Image 38 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. X Image 39 - http://ravikarandeekarsblog.blogspot. co.uk/2011/10/my-favorite-shopping-malls-inpune.html

Image 64 - Google Earth Image 67 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. 102 Image 68 - Krier, Leon (2009). The Architecture of Community. Island Press – Pg. 103

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Qualifying Station Districts

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