Tactical Urbanism in India

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Tactical Urbanism in India Alisha 1, Hafsa Rafi 2 1 Department 2 Department

of Architecture, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202001, India (Student, B. Arch V Year) of Architecture, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202001, India (Student, B. Arch III Year)

Abstract - The public spaces have been the heart and soul of Indian cities. The urban fabric of public spaces does consist of a welcoming infrastructure but the essence of any public space is its people. The quality of public spaces and placemaking have always been valued in Indian cities because they promoted social interaction between communities. However, these social values got lost in the hustle-bustle of the urbanization and modernization of cities. Thus, leading to deterioration of public spaces in India and loss of community spirit amongst people. It is necessary to rejuvenate these community spaces to bring back life into cities and it requires people’s participation which is achieved by tactical urbanism. This paper analyses the scope of tactical urbanism in India and its benefits due to its ephemeral character which employs a build-measure-learn technique. Tactical urbanism can help us achieve long term beneficial outcomes because it experiments the success of projects in a practical environment, at a small scale, in a cost - efficient way and learns from its failures. Considering the current political situation and the rigid legal framework in India, cost effective practice such as tactical urbanism which involves public participation has proved to be efficient for placemaking. It allows us to intelligently test the outcomes of the project in a practical environment before the major investments in time and capital are made. The paper also highlights live examples of Aligarh city showing tactical urbanism by community participation.

Keywords – Community, Ephemeral, Placemaking, Public Spaces Tactical urbanism

1. Introduction Successful city is like a fabulous party, people stay because they are having a good time there. (Burden, 2014) The idea about a city is our own experience with its public spaces. Quality time spent in a city is marked by the social venues and public spaces of the city. These spaces not only humanize the urban environment but also give an identity to the space. (Bhatia, 2015). Therefore, in one way or the other a city is always being assessed by its public places and so, public spaces are the heart and soul of any place. While describing India, the markets, the vendors, the parks and the people have always been a highlighted subject. The essence of public spaces here is its people. These spaces can only be brought to life by the activities of the people. Thus, the key element of urban fabric of these public spaces is not the infrastructure but the collaboration of the people. Placemaking of public spaces in India is therefore essential to maintain the dynamic character of Indian cities. Even in the older times, people of the neighborhood created good informal gathering places by organizing meetings on the chabutaras around their homes. These zones give a sense of collectiveness, safety and togetherness to them. The old city of Shahjahanabad (Chandni chowk) is one of the best examples of placemaking in older times. This place got its name from the crescent shaped informal public space which became popular as a hotspot for various pubic

activities. (Bhatia, 2015) As it gained popularity as an informal gathering place, various food stalls, restaurants and small shops were setup around this, resulting in the development of today’s Chandni Chowk. The place Chandni Chowk is a self-explanatory example to show how people create place from space.

2. The Issue In today’s times, the lively public spaces got lost in dust when megacities adopted urbanization and proceeded towards valuing economy- generating “modernization” of built structures over socially- engaging public spaces which used to be life of every region. The significance of social interactions in gatherings were overpowered by the importance of materialistic things of the fast life in cities. As a result of this, the public spaces gradually lost their proficiency in fabricating the socially active communities and neighborhood, thereby leading to degradation of public spaces. The public spaces in today’s times are either not being used to the potential they were designed for or have become completely inactive.

3. The origin of the Issue The planning of megacities became centered around generating built structures rather than creating welcoming public spaces. In this era of modernization, the architecture is


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