Evolution & Transformation of Asarwa

The Ahmedabad Spinning & Weaving company Ltd. started the first textile mill in Ahmedabad by the entrepreneur Ranchhodlal Chhotalal

The neighbourhood has evolved from being a land of mills a century ago to abode of industrial workers at present. The major determinants of the transformation being the industrialisation, private investments and public policies. The increase in FSI along the transit corridor has increased the scope of redevelopment in the neighbourhood which was otherwise saturated.

Naroda GIDC hosts several national & multinational corporations acting as an anchor point and job market for the north eastern periphery. The real estate demand in Asarwa is its outcome

2002

Naroda Pattiya Massacre during the Gujarat Riots was the largest single case mass murder which led to communal divides in the precinct bringing socio-cultural change in the precinct

TP Scheme in Asarwa came as 2 zones (T.P. No. 12 & 30) which regulated the plots, demarcated the industrial zones and provided plans for various infrastructure facilities

The Mumbai strike of 1984 was a turning point in the textile industry, following which most of the textile mills in Ahmedabad was shut down, resulting in unemployment

The BRT corridor along the Naroda road brought a commercial boost along the corridor also increasing the FSI potential of 4.0 along the TOD buffer zone

2013 2021

About 306 slum households were rehabilitated into a vertical housing under the PMAY scheme which is the tallest building in the neighbourhood improving the quality of life of these settlements

2006 2019

Consequent to the MSMED Act, 2006, several small scale industries were established along the Naroda road, which remains as an economic generator to the neighbourhood

The only one junction were the residents or the vehicles could move from north to south of the precinct was redeveloped along with the Unigauge project of the Western Railways

Theoretical concept & Relevance

What is a neighbourhood unit? How is Asarwa related to that?

The neighbourhood unit was conceived as a comprehensive physical planning tool, to be utilised for designing or rejuvenating industrial localities into self-contained neighbourhoods promoting a community-centric lifestyle away from the noise and smoke of the busy city. Perry’s overriding concern was to accommodate the automobile by creating a separation between fast-moving vehicles and slow pedestrian traffic. Following Perry’s proposal of the neighbourhood unit, several planning concepts such as new urbanism, TOD, eco-cities have emerged. This concept has been applied to the 1 sqkm unit of Asarwa, an industrial neighbourhood to assess the quality of life that it offers to the residents.

Case study:

Neighbourhood unit Planning

Open spaces

Neighbourhood unit principles

• All sides of the neighbourhood fairly equidistant from the center

Community

Social mix

Self-sufficient Superblock Parks

• Central neighbourhood with institutions & community center, surrounded by central green space

Perry

• Shops and markets to be located at the outer corners of the neighbourhood

Centre

Pedestrian friendly Core - Edge

Shopping district

• Small parks and public open spaces were to form 10% of the total area

• Arterials to bound each side of the neighbourhood

• Internal streets to be designed to discourage through traffic

05 Super block neighbourhood

Total Population in Asarwa - 45,193

Does Asarwa qualify as a neighbourhood unit?

The size of the unit is slightly larger than the parameter specified in Perry’s concept but other population parameters like density and dwelling units are 4-5 times higher than the design paradigm. This is relatable to the nature of the evolution of the precinct which is more an organic sprawl with smaller tenements made for the industrial workers whereas the concept is designed for western countries with larger setbacks and lesser population density. The only parameter that conforms to the concept is the average block perimeter.

Neighbourhood unit parameters

800 x 800m

Size of the unit

2000

Total Dwelling units

Current Scenario in Asarwa

1000 x 1000m

8691

4.5

5.2

Average HH Size

92PPH

Population Density

765PPH

611m

Average block perimeter

78m

4112m

Minimum & Maximum block perimeter

Block Perimeter

Distinct physical sphere

Does Asarwa have an identifiable center and edge?

Though the landmarks in Asarwa aren’t significant, they have a certain degree of historical importance serving as economic generators in the neighbourhood. The edges though not prominent does the job of secluding the industrial region from the residential clusters. The neighbourhood is predominantly owned by private bodies. Thus, it complies with the crucial ingredients of Perry’s neighbourhood unit concept.

Kevin Lynch’s spatial inter-relation diagram with visual analysis

Key Landmarks