Urban Planning and Design Portfolio by Shaurya Patel, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India.

|Portfolio|

Urban Planning and Design Portfolio

Shaurya PATEL

Curricular Vitae interests Philosophy and Psychology of daily life Research & Reading Travel for experience and search Information Design & Data visualization Understanding urban psychology and urban life Interaction of design and planning Urban Planning and Design

ShauryaPatel About A person who is led by the purity of intent, imagination and inquisitiveness, because of these qualities he can communicate deeply with others. Combine his visionary nature with his open-mindedness it allows him to see things from unconventional perspectives.

Being able to connect many far-flung dots into a single theme. idealistic, seek and value harmony, openminded and flexible, creative, passionate and energetic, dedicated and hard-working

Connect email shauryapatel29@gmail.com

education 2012 - 16 - May, 16 (CGPA 2.63) Bachelors of Planning CEPT University, Ahmedabad

15 - Feb, 16) Correction of archival record database.; Research work for web-based archival database.

Assisted (March - Aug, 16)professional photographer & film maker, painter and architect Hansil Dabhi in his works.

langauges • Gujarati (Mother Language) • English Fluent • Hindi

initatives

2014 ETH Zurich Global Schindler Award, 2014 Schneider Electric, Go Green Paris, 2015 Urban SOS: AECOM’s Global Student Competition, 2015 Urban Planning and Governance and Design for Reducing Urban Conflict and Violence an International Conference, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, March 2016 (2nd Runners up)

softwares

Adobe Premiere Pro Civiscale (2015) -A start up to create AutoCad 2011 - 12 - March, 12 (75%) database of Urban Planning, Urban Design, Google SketchUp Gujarat Board HSC- Higher Secondary Architecture, Design and other allied field ArcGis 10.2 (Advance) Certificate ExaminationSt. Kabir Higher and give access to citizens for research. QGis (Basic) Secondary English Medium School, Cives (Citizens) + Scale = Civiscale: Adobe Photoshop Ahmedabad We deal at all scales in order to enlight Adobe Illustrator urbanism.

Adobe Indesign 2009 - 10 - March, 10 (72%) Gujarat Board SSC- SecondarySchool Pixelens (2014) Documentation of daily Adobe Lightroom Certificate ExaminationSt. Kabir High urban life through cinematography and 3D Max School English Medium, Ahmedabad Microsoft Office photography.

SPSS The CEPT Store (2012) An online experience platform for students of CEPT University others Internship at UDRI, Mumbai (May - July, to showcase their work and experience.

Professional Photographer 15) Systematic improvement of slum (Ganesh Novice Film Maker competitions Murty Nagar, Colaba); Safteipin pilot Writer and Blogger project proposal (Map based mobile safety AIA Transfrom Kansas City, 2013 Collector (Rare Coins) audit); Login Mumbai (digital editorial IIHS National Students Challenge, 2013 Professional Cricketer work); Mumbai Mapbook (Referencing (Listed in top 100) Traveller and Explorer and editing publication errors); DP Mumbai Data Visualization Challenge: Urban Curious Evangelist 2034 (research on terminologies) Mobility in India, 2014 Student Assistant at CEPT Archives (Dec,IBM Challenge: People for Smart Cities,

It wasn’t until back in 2011, my sister asked me whether I wanted to do architecture or urban planning? She gave me a situation where she told me to choose a scenario, would you love to “build a building from that a city” or you would love to “build a city and within that different building.”?

A million thoughts were rendering in my mind at the speed of light, with a deep breathe and slow heart rate I choose the second option (build a city and within that different building). This was the moment when I realized that I have flipped the coin, now it is time to look forward to the ardent journey of urban planning and design.

a flip of a coin:

The work shown in this portfolio is part of my four years of impassioned journey in the field of urban planning and design at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India.

Contents

01 07 12 22 37 40

1st Year 2012 - 2013 2nd Year 2013 - 2014

3rd Year 2014 - 2015

4th Year 2015 - 2016

Summer Winter Schools (SWS) 2012 - 2016

Work Experience & Other Works 2012 - 2016

For comfortable navigation to any section click on numbers.

01

1st Year 2012 - 2013 Introduction to Urban Planning Basic Design Lab Climate & Culture in Built Environment Rural Development Lab

For navigating back to contents click on “1st Year�

Introduction to Urban Planning Semester

:I

Time

: July - November (2012)

Work Type

: Group Work (10 Members)

Study

: Broadacre City by F. Wright

Team

: Shaurya, Anushri, Abhishek, Chiranjay, Devshri, Darshini, Manu Jaydip, Kavina, and Kahinee

Description : The Broadacre City was an urban concept proposed by one of the greatest architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright. He presented his idea in his book ‘The Disappearing City’ in 1932. The Broadacre city was the antithesis of city and the apotheosis of the newly born suburbia, shaped through Wright’s particular vision. Broadacre city was both a planning and a socio-political scheme by which each US family would be given a one acre (4000 sq. Meter) plot of land.

The purpose of the study was to understand the concepts of urban utopias, which are related to urban planning and design. How these concepts were different with other concepts like Radiant City, The Garden City and others. The main focus was to compare those conceptual city ideas, and understand how and why those ideas originated in the first place? What assumptions does each thinker make about how people should live in cities?

What belief does each hold about the relationship between city design and social change? What aspects of these ‘utopias’ have actually come to pass?

The Broadacre City was an urban concept proposed by one of the greatest architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright. He presented his idea in his book ‘The Disappearing City’ in 1932. The Broadacre city was the antithesis of city and the apotheosis of the newly born suburbia, shaped through Wright’s particular vision. Broadacre city was both a planning and a sociopolitical scheme by which each US family would be given a one acre (4000 sq. Meter) plot of land.

The purpose of the study was to understand the concepts of urban utopias, which are related to urban planning and design. How these concepts were different with other concepts like Radiant City, The Garden City and others. The main focus was to compare those conceptual city ideas, and understand how and why those ideas originated in the first place? What assumptions does each thinker make about how people should live in cities?

What belief does each hold about the relationship between city design and social change? What aspects of these ‘utopias’ have actually come to pass?

Why these ideas are interesting & crucial in role of urban planning and design? How these thoughts created an impact in the field of urban planning.

The study of broadacre city was conducted as introductory thoughts on the world of urban planning and design.

Why these ideas are interesting & crucial in role of urban planning and design? How these thoughts created an impact in the field of urban planning.

The study of broadacre city was conducted as introductory thoughts on the world of urban planning and design.

Contribution: Research and Analysis

2

Basic Design Lab Semester

:I

Time

: July - November (2012)

Work Type

: Group Work (3 Members)

Study

: Goyal Intercity, Ahmedabad

Team

: Shaurya, Shree, and Tanushree

Description : The basic design studio main focus was on concept of “Child and a city”.

Land Use (500m Radius)

Children are citizens of cities and they are play an important role in our society and community. Local authorities and community groups are often in the front line in matters of children. So it’s important to understand child and their environment in cities as children don’t vote and have no electoral influence, yet they have a major stake in the future of the city. Where and how children live, learn, grow and play depends on adults and the communities around them, who need to be well informed about children’s rights and views when making decisions.

According to UNICEF, NZ - “A Child Friendly City ensures that children are integral to planning, with their experiences and opinions helping shape city and community plans.”

House Typology Land Use

Children will play a major role in cities of tomorrow so it is really important to comprehend child life in cities. The aim of the studio exercise is to develop the understanding of a child life in a neighbourhood or a society in a metropolitan city. And also understanding the impact and analyzing child’s life in an urban area.

Learnings that emerged out from the study we did.

Morning

Noon

Evening

Night

1. Influence decisions about their city 2. Express their opinion on the city they want 3. Participate in family, community and social life 4. Receive basic services such as health care, education and shelter

Friendly & Unfriendly Spaces

Child Space Use

Activity Mapping 3

Basic Design Lab

The site analysis and models were made to understand the interaction of child and its life in a neighborhood

05. Drink safe water and have access to proper sanitation 06. Be protected from exploitation, violence and abuse 07. Walk safely in the streets on their own 08. Meet friends and play 09. Have green spaces for plants and animals 10. Live in an unpolluted environment 11. Participate in cultural and social events 12. Be an equal citizen of their city with access to every service, regardless of ethnic origin, religion, income, gender or disability Thus children play a crucial role in development of any city. The beauty of comprehending life of a child in a city itself illustrate the creativity and openness towards development of city with perspective of keeping the youngest one at the core of the growth process for cities of tomorrow.

Contribution: Basemap, Model Making, Survey and Analysis.

4

Climate & Culture in Built Environment Semester

: II

Time

: January - May (2013)

Work Type

: Group Work (2 Members)

Study

: Macchu Picchu, Peru

Team

: Shaurya and Manu

Source: Google Images

Description : The field of planning is ultimately linked to the built environment. The main focus of the study was to negotiate, explore, and perhaps even create the fabric of buildings that forms our cities, towns and villages. The study engages this environment by exploring the elements, both physical and social, to which designers of the built environment respond, at the scale of the building, neighborhood and city. The form driving elements are studied alongside a series of case studies that deal with a range of cases that encompass traditional dwelling formation, historical design methods, twentieth century approaches to housing and neighborhood planning, and the current situation of dwelling and settlement planning in India. The case study we did as a part of the study is Macchu Picchu in Peru.

Multiple variables that are directly or indirectly connected to built environment are studied carefully. Components like Sun, Wind, Water, Earth, Edge Architecture, Access, and Society were studied in order to understand the significance of settlement that was established six century ago.

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

The most important strategy used in Macchu Picchu is the water supply and drainage. The Inca drainage planning at the royal estate of Machu Picchu was well conceived and constructed. The surface and subsurface drainage works were built to manage the nearly 2,000 mm of average rainfall per year and to protect the magnificent royal estate from damage due to potential landslides, settlement, and erosion. Hiram Bingham was correct in 1913 when he reported to the world that the “Inca were good engineers� (Bingham 1913).

Contribution: Drawings, Analysis and Research.

5

Rural Development Lab Semester

: II

Time

: January - May (2013)

Work Type

: Group Work (10 Members)

Study

: Kukma, Bhuj, Gujarat

Team

: Shaurya, Aamir, Anshita, Chiranjay, Devshri, Himadri, Janki, Palak, Paulomi, Shaurya M.

Description : The main focus of the study was to understand the post disaster rehabilitation of rural areas. The state of Gujarat was hit by a massive earthquake of magnitude of 6.9 on Richter scale on January 26, 2001 at 8.46 a.m. (IST) with its epicenter about 20 kms northeast of Bhuj, in the Kutch district. Over 20,000 people were reported dead and 1.7 lakhs were injured, 600,000 homeless and property valued at 212.6 billion Indian rupees damaged. This was followed by more than 300 aftershocks during the subsequent 2 weeks. 24 out of 25 districts were affected causing extensive loss of life and property.

The quake caused a large-scale collapse of houses; many of them built with reinforced cement concrete and with standardized clay bricks or stone as the walling blocks, considered fool proof by engineers without questioning their inherent qualities. Although the absence of stones and of beams at various levels was perceived as a major reason for the wall collapse, there were flaws even where framing was adopted. Various agencies and organizations, governmental and non-governmental, contributed in different ways towards reconstruction in Kutch, through financial aid, supply of material, technical support and the like. The study main focus was on developing a better understanding of the key elements of a rural community - people, place and institutions.

The objective of the study provided us with a better understanding of the unique characteristics of planning in rural places, opportunities and constraints for local and community development, with focus on developing the needed perceptive skills and critical appreciation.

Contribution: Research, Analysis, Documentation, Survey and Presentation

Source: GSDMA Report

Road Typology

Water Network

Land Use 6

07

2nd Year 2013 - 2014 Urban History Cities in History and Theory Workshops - Architecture of Flight & Fablab Infrastructure Planning Lab

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Urban History Semester

: III

Time

: July - November (2013)

Work Type

: Group Work (4 Members)

Study

: Colonial Delhi

Team

: Shaurya, Harsh, Manu and Tanushree

Description : Cities are continuously shaped by various processes, visible and invisible. But while cities are best understood as process, we have a ‘product’ in front of us in the form of our contemporary cities. This product is made up of various forms and elements whose sheer physicality often hides from view the many processes that have shaped (and are shaping) it. But it is important that as planners we are able to recognize and critically analyze these processes and their relationships to urban form.

Here, history is important because it serves as both a guide and a context. We can begin to understand the relationship between urban form and various processes by excavating the layers of history embedded in our contemporary cities. Studying how various processes have shaped these cities over their history can: (a) guide us towards a better understanding of how processes and urban form might be interrelated in the present, and (b) make us sensitive to the ways in which the historical context of cities might influence, constrain, and make possible further urban transformations.

Taking colonial Delhi as a case study, we learned to examine how various processes and factors – such as location, topography and climate, availability of natural resources, technological changes, cosmosreligious ideas, social organization, economic linkages, political organization and power structures, forms of knowledge, etc – have shaped certain kinds of built forms and settlement patterns over time.

Contribution: Research, Analysis and Presentation.

8

Cities in History and Theory Semester

: III

Time

: July - November (2013)

Work Type

: Individual

Study

: Manek Chowk & Municpal Market, Ahmedabad

Description : The focus of the study was to understand an overview of the various urban theories of the last 150 years that help us understand the idea and form of cities.

The key departures in the imagination and form of cities are explained using historical accounts. The social conception of a city is discussed at length, along with the idea of citizenship and culture of a city. However the past two centuries cities have been growing and what are the post and pre modern theoretical approaches in today’s cities? The idea of new urbanism and cities after globalization, the emerging “Google city” and their new geographies.

In order to understand all these processes and approaches. Ahmedabad’s two most prominent spaces i.e. Manek Chowk and Municipal Market were taken as case study. Both case study were compared and analysed. Two different time frames and type of spaces was the core ideology on this research. All the drawings shown here are taken from thesis at CEPT University (Qualitative aspects of place: a study of Manek Chawk and Municipal Market, Ahmedabad. by Chirayu Bhatt). The results was that both spaces has importance in multiple way. Manek Chowk is historically important but it is also important for daily trading in old city.

Whereas Municipal Market is new to the city and the identity of the space is in context of modernism.

The crux of the subject was municipal market was created based on the inspiration of Manek Chowk.

Sometimes modernism as we think is not absolutely new it something that is actually implementable in today’s context because of availability of tools.

Man and His Place What makes a place? What is it that differentiates place from space? Space is all pervading – all encompassing.

But within the vast dimensions of space, there are places where people live, people walk, shop, bathe, take birth and die also. All these are places; because they have a very distinct character. A space is transformed into place by specific character. – Character that arises out of man’s relationship with space. In order to understand place, its character and its intrinsic nature, one would have to understand the essence of man’s relationship to space.

Two urban places from different times and different parts of Ahmedabad are analyzed. They are Manek Chawk and Municipal Market. Comparing the Medieval Ahmedabad with Post Modernity Manek Chawk and Municipal Market are two very different urban spaces with different time of origin and processes of growth. They both are highly popular. But none of them gives a complete satisfaction to the user. Both places are favorable, but the intense popularity proves that they have great potential to become meaningful urban place. By their activity the character of spaces is defined because they are attached with the memories of people and their place.

Manek Chawk holds great importance because of its historical foundation. It shows us the Medieval Ahmedabad. Municipal market on the other hand was the image of post modernity. But newer development have already overtaken and overshadowed that image. With more flexibility in occupation with increased competition it might regain its image.

The concept of location and scale with respect to the activity are closely related. So when they are applied to Manek Chawk and Municipal Market, one can see the effect of it in form of character of the space. In municipal market we need a better sense of proportion of spaces; Whereas Manek Chawk needs a little tuning with regards to its intensity of use.

9

Workshops: Architecture of Flight & Fablab

Architecture of Flight

Semester

: IV

Time

: January - May (2014)

Work Type

: Group Work (3 Members)

Study

: Aeromodelling and Fabrication work

Team

: Shaurya, Aamir and Saswata

Description : Architecture of Flight: Exciting journey from a ‘two dimensional Drawing Board’ to three dimensional ‘Flight Envelop’. The aim of the workshop was to familiarize us with dynamic aspects of space, volume and shape through innovative use of tools, techniques and mediums.

This helped us in overcoming the mental barriers And make us a fearless creators. We also looked into combination of theory that are used in real design as well as aero modelling. From Balsa wood to fabricated plastic planes which are remotely controlled, at the end of the workshop each of us created and flown our own architectural marvel a flight of our fantasy!

Contribution: research.

Balsawood

plane

design

Fablab

and

Fablab: The FabLab workshop gave us access to a wide range of tools - from milling machines to 3d printers - and it lets our imagination be our only limitation. In here we worked upon various materials and object to develop our basic skills with software, machinery, and other tools. We experimented press fit technique and created beautiful and mesmerizing lamps through help of laser cutting and AutoCAD designs.

Contribution: CAD Drawings, Design of lamps.

10

Infrastructure Planning Lab Semester

: IV

Time

: January - May (2014)

Work Type

: Group Work (19 Members) (Core Group: 5 Members)

Study

: Vasna, Ahmedabad

Team

: Shaurya, Amrita, Leona, Rimjhim and Saswata

Roads

Description : It is well accepted that public services such as drinking water, wastewater, solid waste management, storm water drains, roads, and street lights and other neighborhood level infrastructure must be accessible to one and all to achieve the goals of inclusion. Therefore, while defining and laying out space is one of the primary responsibilities of a spatial planner, it is equally important to integrate basic infrastructure facilities and its delivery with the larger plan.

The effort is always to optimize the usage of land, ensure efficiency in resource and energy use, assure hassle free functionality, and aesthetic appeal along with maximum coverage of basic infrastructure and service delivery. Therefore any robust infrastructure plan results out of the assessment and analysis of an existing situation, its problems and deficiencies.

Appropriate interventions are then planned and spatially laid out to meet specific solutions or to achieve certain benchmark.

The main purpose of the study of Vasna ward in Ahmedabad is to look into various elements of infrastructure such as Roads, Sewerage and Storm Water, Water Supply, Solid Waste, Social Infrastructure and land use in the ward. The core study focus was to know various elements of basic infrastructure facilities, the interactions within and amongst them, and proceed to rationally create an optimal intervention / improvement plan.

Sewerage & Storm Water

Social Infrastructure

Water Supply 1% 2%

13%

50%

22%

Land Use

10% 2%

Solid Waste

Contribution: Basemap, Social Infrastructure Map & Analysis, Storm Water & Sewerage Analysis, Survey and Documentation.

11

12

3rd Year 2014 - 2015 Spatial Planning and Environmental Design Area Planning Lab Advance GIS Urban Development Lab

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Spatial Planning and Environmental Design Semester

:V

Time

: July - November (2014)

Work Type

: Individual

Study

: London, United Kingdom

Transport

Source: Google Images

Description : The study was to have a comprehensive overview of spatial design challenges faced by cities today and especially those in developing countries related to the environment. New concepts and planned approaches were explored towards understanding and resolving environmental problems in human settlements. Larger themes were integrated in the same context related to mobility, society, economy and housing.

Source: Google Images

Figure Ground Model

The figure ground diagrams here are cities that are studied by each individuals. Case study undertaken for the subject was London. The main purpose of the study, investigated the morphological patterns in London. Several properties related to a city shape, function, block sizes, streets, built-form were explored and compared in the wide spectrum of plans.

The purpose of the study was presented in pecha kucha format where the presenter had two minutes precise to give a succinct of the city. The extruded block (figure ground model) of the city is to see a variety of urban forms which are a result of regulations. This opened up the discussion on urban block, shape, size, traditional spatial structure of cities, etc.

Open Spaces

Source: Google Images

Evolution

Source: thegaurdian.com

13

Area Planning Lab Semester

:V

Time

: July - November (2014)

Work Type

: Group Work (9 Members)

Study

: London, United Kingdom

Team

: Shaurya, Amrita, Anushri, Gaurav, Jeel, Nikhita, Paulomi, Saswata and Vaidehi

Area - 158 Ha Ashram Road Total Length - 3.78km Ashram Road Length (Site Area) - 2.8km Existing Permissible FSI - 1.8 Proposed FSI - 5.4

Description : The main principle behind any planning exercise is to facilitate and manage an area so that it contributes positively towards individuals comfort and communities’ wellbeing, as well as their supporting natural and built environment. In line with this principle, aim of this studio is to prepare an area development plan so as to ensure improved living conditions for the people as well as to promote a development vision for the area.

Built v/s Open

Land Use

Road Heirarchy

As part of this multi-phased strategic planning study, we took Ashram Road which is a proposed CBD of Ahmedabad as our case study. We were exposed to several dimensions within the study area like land use, environment, infrastructure, housing, public facilities, etc. We analyze these sectors by collecting primary and secondary data related to these sectors. The intended output of this study was in form of propose projects / strategies / policies so as to change the character of the area, built form, meet infrastructure related gaps, designing public realm, etc. These generally include - components within public realm and regulations related to land use as well as built form. The intended output of the exercise was to redesign and reconfigure the public realm; as well as propose suitable planning norms related to land use and built form.

We first started with basic understanding of the area.

What is the area? The size of the population? The character of the area? The historical importance of the area? First phase of the study was to understand the existing scenario with deeper understanding of the built environment and usage of the spaces in the area.

14

Area Planning Lab

Why a CBD on Ashram Road?

After having the gist of the area, in the later stage of the first phase we looked into infrastructure components such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste, public transport and other facilities and amenities. The purpose of this phase was to understand how the facility and amenities are what can be done in order to improvise the basic infrastructure that is required for each individual living in an area.

Second phase started with the session of brain storming on why Ashram Road has a potential of becoming a CBD? Various theoretical and practical applications were looked into for understanding the importance of Ashram road as a CBD. The most influencing concept which evolved while brain storming, was the idea of doughnut effect. Like many cities in the United States, Australian cities have been subjected to the “doughnut effect”: the city center becomes “hollow” as population moves from inner suburbs to the outer suburbs in search of newer, larger or more affordable houses. Same was with the case of Ashram road. Doughnut effect gives us the opportunity to enhance and revive the city center.

The Vision

The third phase was focused on proposal part.

How we can improve the existing scenario and conceptualize the idea of a better CBD for Ahmedabad. Debate and critiques played a huge role in order to have a practical proposal for ashram road area. The origin of the idea for proposal was simple as Ashram road is heart of Ahmedabad. Why can’t we create a heart within a heart? There have always been multiple pockets of spaces in the city where people love to go for work, play and live.

The crucial part of our vision was to create a heart where all these three things are found at one place.

We looked into multiple geographies within our site in order to identify optimum location and potential place for the heart. The location was influenced by transportation network, especially the proposed metro network. The proposed metro network intersected at one of the junctions, where many modes of transport such as buses, auto rickshaw and taxi was well established. Residential and commercial units were also higher in that area thus

“What attracts people the most, it would appear, is other people.” - William H. Whyte

15

Area Planning Lab this gave us an opportunity to create a heart within a heart for ashram road. After identifying the heart we started to question what kind of heart and ashram road should be. What will make sure that work, play and live is available at ashram road?

What will be our vision? The vision we came up with “A CBD that is heart of the Ahmedabad, which is vibrant, people friendly and accessible.” In order to achieve the vision we identify different principles and strategy. The major three strategy evolved around Accessibility, People Friendliness and Vibrancy. All these strategy had many overlaps and in order to achieve the vision and strategy DCR’s for the area was proposed with proper land usage.

Accessibility Strategy

Multimodal hub near Nehru Bridge

Proposed DCR

Multimodal hub near Open Spaces

People Friendly Strategy

The study gave us an in-depth knowledge on how an area like CBD should be. What kind of CBD should it be developed into? As a whole the core study and concern we took into consideration was to have a strategy and vision that is environmentally responsive, socially equitable and economically viable.

Different View inside the Heart

Contribution: Basemap, Survey, Documentation, Proposal (Vision), Final Poster Presentation and Flow.

Vibrant Strategy: Proposed Heart of Ashram Road

Shows the connectivity between metro station and its surrounding buildings.

16

Advance GIS Semester

: VI

Time

: January - May (2015)

Work Type

: Individual

Study

: Ahmedabad

Image Classification

Watershed Management

Description : GIS technology is often used in urban planning, and impacts people living in the area in many ways.

The benefits of using a GIS in urban planning are numerous, because GIS takes into consideration many different factors to help build an efficient and organized city.

The focus of the study was in context of spatial analysis skills through the study of advanced topics of spatial database accuracy assessment, 2D and 3D spatial modelling, and analysis of discrete and continuous entities in space. There is special emphasis on statistical analysis of spatial data, through which I learned raster-based operations such as interpolation, image classification, surface analysis, network analysis, watershed management and multi-criteria analysis.

17

Urban Development Lab Semester

: VI

Time

: January - May (2015)

Work Type

: Group Work (5 Members)

Study

: Ahmedabad

Team

: Shaurya, Aamir, Krupa, Nikita and Riddhi

Existing Scenario

Description : The Urban Development Studio (UDS) gave us an exposure for the preparation of development plan for an urban area. The studio looks at the planning process through a project of an urban development plan of Sanand a small town in Gujarat. A city level development plan, indicating broad direction in which the city would develop and would include statement on the economic base, physical direction of growth, population characteristics envisaged, and ideas about sustainability and equity.

Today, one of our greatest challenges is planning dealing with the rapid growth of our urban areas.

Urban planning, a subset of planning, is primarily concerned with the public realm and the people of an urban area or a city. In order to ensure good quality of life for people, planning for public realm includes the following major components: Landuse and built form regulations with proper transport and other infrastructure such as utility networks, housing and urban renewal. All this components have overarching themes of environmental sustainability, social equity and participatory planning.

Sanand is a town located 24km from Ahmedabad.

It falls in the Sanand Taluka in Ahmedabad District.

It has an area of 40.42sq km consisting of 9 wards with a population of 41,511 people. It is linked to Ahmedabad and Kutch by state highway 17. The state highway 17 joins India’s National Highway 8, part of the 4-lane Golden Quadrilateral highway linking Sanand to many of the major industrial, economic and cultural regions of India. In addition, Sanand-Viramgam has an operational broad gauge railway network connecting it to major industrial centers in Gujarat. The city is included under Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA)

Year Population

No. of Households

Decadal Growth

Area (sq. k m)

Population Density

1971

18985

3602 3

2.64% 4

0.42

470

1981

22465

4493 1

8.33% 4

0.42

556

1991

25674

4822 1

4.28% 4

0.42

635

2001

32417

6420 2

6.26% 4

0.42

802

2011

41511

8628 2

8.11% 4

0.42

1027

Its location and connectivity are major plus points for future development.

High traffic congestion and high noise levels are observed on this stretch.

Walking is the major mode of commute in Sanand. with 45% of the people making their trips through walking.

The streets lack pedestrian safety.

Also,after the arrival of Tata nano. Sanand has attained an identity of national importance.

The infrastructural facilities are really poor in Sanand.

There are insufficient open spaces and low tree cover.

The road hierarchies are improper in the city.

SW O T Proposed DMIC, DFC as well as GIDC serving as magnets for future developments.

The congestion on the State Highway hampering the safety and environmental elements.

Land Availability.

Haphazard Growth of the city.

Strong Local Economy.

Degraded conditions of Air, Water and Ground.

18

Urban Development Lab jurisdictional area which is responsible for planning and development in the area. Sanand has attained importance in recent times as it is in close to the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and the DelhiMumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) passes through Sanand. The GIDC, which houses the Tata Nano Plant and The Ford famously, along with several other industries coming in; is situated 14kms from Sanand.

Energy plays a central role in the global economy, and for more than a century one of the cheapest and most prevalent sources of energy has been fossil fuels — coal, oil, natural gas, and the power that has been generated from these fossil fuels.

Unfortunately, fossil fuel use has also been a major source of carbon emissions; in past two centuries, fossil fuels burned for energy contributed close to two-thirds of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing climate change will invariably reduce or change fossil fuel use, and in all likelihood reduce the value of fossil fuel resources.

Cities consume about 2/3 of the world’s energy use and account for more than 70 % of global greenhouse emission. They also consume about 80 % of the world’s natural resources. Especially in India because 60% of total population in India lives in small cities. The dysfunctional patterns of urbanisation in India arise from a number of longstanding, deeply ingrown and mutually interlocking policy distortions and institutional weaknesses.

Rapid urban growth is occurring on many different margins and frontiers. Some of the most explosive growth is occurring in small cities, Thus there is a huge need of small low carbon cities to deal with climate change issues. Hence, for a low carbon city, several factors are to be looked upon. They are:

Need for Low Carbon and Sustainable Development

are: 1. Intra city transport 2. Green cover in the city 3. Energy consumption pattern 4. Quality of local ambient air 5. Noise Pollution 6. Waste management 7. Water management 8. Water consumption

19

Urban Development Lab

PROPOSED COMPACT ZOINING

9. Waste water management Considering the above factors we have planned and designed our proposal and formulated the projects.

PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES Enhancing the environmental attributes.

- Improving the green and blue infrastructure.

- Designing the public center and defining the

public realm.

1

1

3 4 2

Creating zones and plan for compact neighborhoods with short commutes.

- Encouraging mixed use development.

-Designing a road network to reduce trip lengths

-Creating inter-city public transport.

Providing efficient and sufficient infrastructure.

-Providing storm water and sewage network

-Performance based outcome strategies for

infrastructure development.

Promoting alternative sustainability.

resources

2

for

DATA COLLECTION For our primary survey, we made a questionnaire and took a sample size of 200. Our major focus was on the environmental impacts of components like energy consumption, commute distance, trip lengths, trip rates and the mode shares. CO2 emissions per capita is growing at a robust 4.4% annual average pace than any other country. The number of vehicles rose at 59 times the rate of growth in the urban population between 1980 and 2011.

Hence, to control the rapid increase of motorized vehicles and the carbon emissions occurring due to them, a need for low carbon cities is felt. Vehicles play a major role in the carbon increase of a city.

Vehicle ownership and the use of private vehicles are increase rapidly. To lower carbon emissions from the transport sector, we have focused on the traditional transportation modes of walking and cycling. The next important mode is the public

EBUS

EBUS

6m

2m

0.8m

1.8m

0.8m

3

8.7m

1.8m

8.7m

0.8m

1.8m

0.8m

6m

2m

Proposed Street Design (30m)

1.8m

0.8m

10m

2m

gateway space

2-5m

garden

2m

jogging track

2-5m

garden

2m

walkway

lake

Proposed Lake Development 4

ELEMENTS

CARRIAGE WAY

BUFFER

CYCLE LANE

PEDESTRIAN LANE

PRIVATELY PUBLIC

SETBACK

20

Urban Development Lab transport, considered a more sustainable mode as compared to private vehicles.

Our aim is to reduce the total carbon resulting from travel in the city. Hence, we have adopted the concept of 5D’s- Diversity, Density, Design, Distance to transit and Destination Access. In our primary survey, we identified the existing vehicle ownership and the travel pattern of the people of Sanand. Using that information, we calculated the mode share, carbon emissions and trip length for sprawl and compact scenarios. We also identified major traffic nodes and proposed the low carbon mobility plan. To decrease the carbon emissions, we have focused our plan on pedestrianization and having separate cycle streets. Also, ‘Zero Carbon, Zero Emission electric buses would be introduced as public transport.

DATA ANALYSIS NOISE LEVEL: Equal samples of noise level were taken at different areas of Sanand using a mobile application DecibleMeter. On a stretch of 1km, approximately 50points were taken at equidistant.

ENERGY CONSUMPTION: Through the questionnaires, the energy consumption of the households was calculated and then mapped.

TRAVEL PATTERN: The travel pattern of the residents of Sanand was mapped by us. Their mode of commute and the distance travelled were focused upon.

TREE COVER: The total number trees in Sanand are 2168. And the area under tree cover is 4ha.

We favor a compact development for Sanand.

Also, taking the population projection according the existing trends, the total population of Sanand would thus be 65000 by 2025. Thus Low carbon scenario for sanand can be implemented.

Contribution: Basemap, Survey, Documentation, Proposal (Idea and Vision), Analysis, Final Powerpoint Presentation Formatting.

21

22

4th Year 2015 - 2016 Qualitative and Participatory Methods Regional Planning Lab Thesis

For navigating back to contents click on “4th Year�

Qualitative and Participatory Methods

Focus Group Discussion

Semester

: VII

Time

: July - November (2015)

Work Type

: Group Work (5 Members)

Study

: Ahmedabad

Team

: Shaurya, Ishaan, Kahinee, Prithvi and Shaurya M.

Are Issues of ageing and Disability are they similar in our cities?

Description : Here we were oriented to some of the qualitative and participatory methods available for data collection whether for research, programme planning and management. Through these exercises, we would engaged in applying select techniques for their data collection purposes.

Quantitative methods and data sets have been found to be inadequate to explore, understand and analyze the complexities found in real world development challenges and processes. Thus, the it intends to sensitize the learners about the need for qualitative and participatory processes and tools in trying to understand the dynamics of development faced by communities and individuals. It oriented us to some of the qualitative tools and techniques found useful for decision makers in public realm.

We exposed ourselves to multiple tools and ethics for conducting those tools. Tools we looked into are as follows.

PLA

tools:

Participatory

mapping,

transects

PLA Tools: Seasonal diagram, Activity mapping PLA Tools: Venn diagram & priority ranking Key person interviews Focused Group Discussions Ethics of Qualitative Methods was the final learning that we established during the given timeframe.

Contribution: Documentation.

Translator,

Observer

and

Similarities between issues of ageing and disabled Dependency on other :- Requiring help from others to perform certain tasks - crossing the roads, boarding buses Lack of appropriate infrastructure :- pose a threat to free movement Infrastructure provided are of poor quality or design

The senior citizens community aspire better facilities and services from the authorities as well as citizens of the city.

Interview coding and Analysis They feel that you are no one to you know direct them, give them a direction. They have their own thing and if they need any help they will ask for it. Be normal – treat them as normal. But then when I came into college, I know few senior doctors who are residents, they are physically disabled. They cannot, you know, go to the higher oors and all. They only use lifts. But it's normal, nowadays people use lifts, even when you have to climb the fourth oor, we ourselves will use a lift. They might use it even for the rst oor.

Personal Personalexperiences experiences interaction with disabled interaction with

So you know her perception was also di erent. But whenever I travel in auto rickshaw, people were telling that can’t your child speak? I said he can’t speak. So okhay !! So some rickshaw wala and few others told me go to Ambaji Mata temple jibh chadavi dejo. (stammering I guess is closest translation) Your child will start speaking. They have some feeling but they don’t know the scienti c reason. So you know this a continental type of disease by birth. You know we all have chromosomes. This is a basically an accident of the chromosomes……….

Misconception in society Lack of knowledge of knowledge Scientific Evidence and explanationEvidence and

A: Earlier, as a school student or as a kid, one used to sorry for them or sympathy towards them. In the instance when they are climbing stairs, you felt that you should give them way rst. After getting into college and getting to know people better it feels as if they are also individuals who occupy a special space in the society. Like I have a space in the society they have the same place. I need not to feel sorry

Change inPerception Perception Change in

disabled

Challenges faced Challenges faced

in

23

Regional Planning Lab Semester

: VII

Time

: July - November (2015)

Work Type

: Group Work (30 Members) Core Group (8 Members)

Study

: Ahmedabad Metropolitan Region

Team

: Shaurya, Aamir, Anjali, Devshri, Dhruvi, Janki, Konica, Nikita

Ahmedabad Metropolitan Region Consists of 6 Districts - Ahmedabad - Aanand - Gandhinagar - Kheda - Mehsana - Surrendranagar

Description : The Regional Planning lab will focus on the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Region (AMR).

The aim of the study is to develop an understanding of regional planning and what parameters are involved in defining a region. It also aims to bring in conceptual understanding of Region, Regional Planning and how it helps towards achieving the goals of sustainable development at regional scale. Socio-economic, cultural and environmental problems, including issues of climate change are best understood at regional level, hence, planners, policy makers and urban and regional planning practioners need to understand the regional scale of planning in dealing with such issues.

The planning process both for the urban and rural areas overlaps in postmodern land scale cities and sub-urban milieu in developed and developing countries. Therefore, it makes sense to think in terms of “the regional city�. The objective is to prepare a strategic plan with focus on environmental sustainability and social and economic inclusiveness.

The governance of AMR was also looked into for proper functioning of AMR. The unit of analysis is a taluka. We identified AMR and propose a strategic plan for the same.

Of the 330 million people, about a third live in metropolitan cities in India.Metropolitan areas are also important for attracting global investment in a fiercely competitive and globalized world. Therefore it is important to plan, develop and govern metropolitan areas effectively to enhance their efficiency, productivity and livability. Sadly many

24

Regional Planning Lab

Functioning of AMPC Passing on LDPs

Contribution: Basemap, Delination and Environmental Maps, Governance Structure, Final Powerpoint Presentation Formatting.

GoG

Sectoral Committees

AMRDA

Passing on LDPs

SectoralP lans Consolidated Draft Regional Plan

Draft Regional Plan

Plan for Approval

AMPC

Plan for Implementation

Indian city regions have compromised efficiency, productivity and livability due to poor infrastructure, high poverty, deplorable environmental condition, weak finance and governance structures.

Ahmedabad is the largest city of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court.

With a population of more than 7.2 million and an extended population of 8.4 million, it is the fifthlargest city and seventh-largest metropolitan area of India. It is also ranked third in For bes’s list of fastest growing cities of the decade. The city has emerged as an important economic and industrial hub in India. It is the second-largest producer of cotton in India, and its stock exchange is the country’s second oldest. The main city area which is now about 462 sq km. is under the jurisdiction of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). The AMC was ranked 9th out of 21 Cities for best governance & administrative practices in India in 2014. It scored 3.4 on 10 compared to the national average of 3.3.The city’s suburban areas are administered by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). The gross domestic product of Ahmedabad was estimated at US$119 billion in 2014. The RBI ranked Ahmedabad as the seventh largest deposit centre and seventh largest credit centre nationwide as of June 2012. Ahmedabad has a literacy rate of 89.62%; 93.96% of the men and 84.81% of the women are literate. Ahmedabad’s sex ratio in 2011 was 897 women per 1000 men.

The metropolitan planning challenges in Ahmedabad include rapid physical expansion of the city with high population growth mostly through large scale migration in industries and service sector. It is known for large textile and related l industrial enterprises but in the last few decades huge industrial clusters and complexes have located in the metropolitan area. Because of the Golden Economic and the proposed Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor the locational advantage of the city has hugely increased for economic and service activities. It is also one of the most polluted stretch and also the most environmentally sensitive region.

Local Development Plans (LDPs)

Discussion & Debate MP & MLA

State Department & Para Statal

ULBs

Elected Members

Appointed Members

GPs Para Statal

MPC Composition Elected President of District Panchayat (Ahmedabad) Mayor of AMC, GMC Elected members from chairpersons of panchayat and elected members of municipalities.

Chairperson (Appointed by GoG) Municipal Commissioner of AMC, GMC Collector of 6 districts

45 Members

Chief Executive Authority of AMRDA as Member Secretary Experts/Persons with special knowledge in various sectors

AMPC

Appointed

AMRDA

Permanent Invitees MPs and MLAs

ULBs

GPs

25

Thesis Semester

: VIII

Time

: January - May (2016)

Work Type

: Individual

Study

: Usmanpura Riverfront Park & Subhash Bridge Riverfront Park.

Guide

: Dr. Rutul Joshi

Public Spaces for All: How “Public” are Public Spaces?

Case of Ahmedabad city’s Riverfront Parks

Scan to read full thesis.

Subhash Bridge Park

Executive Summary : Background Cities have always been elusive but the main goal of city is to give people, the places where they can find tranquillity and help them engage with one another yet at the same time providing them with freedom of thoughts and individuality. Public sphere is the domain in which all this can easily be found and exercised. Public spaces forms a vital place where people can come together, exchange ideas, romanticise with one another, protest for a cause, form a new friendship, learn skills, and share knowledge, emotions and music. It’s a dimension of space where various activities takes place at different time because it is the only space in the city where all the emotions, feelings, the subjectivity of human being is expressed in numerous variations.

People from different climate and culture come together and form public sphere and thus create places that reflects their collective needs.

In 1961, Jane Jacob in her book ‘The Life and Death of Great American Cities’ mentioned that “Cities have the capabilities of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” This was based on the fact that cities are for the people. Many of the early/ classical urban thinkers used simple observation and common sense. Jane Jacob for example, suggested that cities needs to have public spaces, mixed uses, dense concentration, buildings with different age and dimensions and short walkable blocks. Two decades later in 1980, William H. Whyte in his book “The social life of small urban spaces” which was a pre book to the project: The Street Life Project, tried to understand

Usmanpura Park

Usmanpura Park

The park is one of the many public gardens created along the riverfront. It will serve as a neighbourhood park and strengthen the green space network on the western part of the city.

The park has been open to the public since October 2013. (SRDFCL) Area - 1.8 Ha Length – 600m approx.

Width range - 10 to 60m

The park is envisaged as an extension of Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram on eastern side of riverfront, It will serve as a much needed park for Shahibaug-Dudheshwar neighbourhoods. The park has been designed to meet the needs of a diverse range of people.

Subhash Bridge Park

Area - 6.19 Ha Length – 1200m approx.

Width Range – 30 – 60m

26

Thesis the lifestyle of people in different urban spaces and why some spaces are successful over other spaces in New York. He suggested how those spaces can be improvised with policies, design and planning.

Both famously accepted urbanist, Jacob and Whyte approach towards urban planning and design was a revolutionary step for city’s development and growth in the post- world war era. Both believed that cities are actually for the people and the city spaces belongs to people. The commonality among both the urbanist is that, they understood the importance of public space in a city. Since the earliest publication of Camillo Sitte’s book in 1889 on the art of building cities written from an intuitive and aesthetic view point to Jan Gehl’s book on Cities for People in 2010, public spaces and people have been the vortex of cities.

Indeed the fundamental aim of the public pace is to ensconce community and to arbitrate social conflict (Kostof, 1992). The public space is where we exercise our dealership, our sense of belongings and our sense of existence. Public spaces should allow people to come and go as and when they please, without the consent of any authorities, and without any declaration of a justifying purpose. The activities that are formed within the sphere of public space are understood at some level to be collective, and at some level to be individual but participation in both cases is random and institutionalized. From Greek agora to Central Park of New York, the public spaces have always been a canvas for political and social change. Demonstration of this change in design and uses of the public realm is important as it is a part of ever changing landscape. The tenacity of open space is one of the factor. A large public monument of one period with an open usable space may become a public square in another period, regardless of the shifts in the urban fabric during the interim. (Kostof, 1992) Coliseum in Rome was once a battlefield, now it is part of the Seven Wonders of the World with having one of the highest tourist attraction. The changing landscape of public space shows the dynamic nature and potential of public space to a great extent. The lesson of urban history was that public spaces must be viewed in three dimensions, as volumes carved out of the solid of the built fabric (Kostof, 1992). The central

Public Spaces now & then ?

Change in Public Spaces

Why Public Space ?

- Transformative changes in cities happens in public space - It benefits our health - It builds a sense of community, civic identity and culture - Ability & agility to drive economic growth - Public spaces, if utilized and designed well it can enhance the aesthetics, character and architectural diversity of the city

Right to Public Space

Democracy of Public Space

“Persons have the right to gain access to and participate in public spaces as a sphere for deliberation, cultural exchange, social cohesiveness and the promotion of equality in diversity. The right to disseminate in public spaces one’s own cultural manifestations shall be exercised without any constraint other than those provided for by the law, subject to the principles of the Constitution.”

27

Thesis Urban Poor issue of public places is, in fact, versatility. And here the interrelation with form, in the broad sense of physical structure, becomes inescapable. Less the specific the form of the square, the more possible it is to have a public place of mixed uses (Kostof, 1992).

The story of public place is far from over. The old squares and plazas of cities are continuously being used. The public places are formulated within the city boundaries wit help of urban planning. Whether the space is used for playing football or for protesting the public space is a need for all individuals for better living. The presence and survival of public space since time of Harappa civilization gives us a proof of togetherness and collectiveness embodied in the communities. In 21st century we have largely abandoned the sense of togetherness and collectiveness, which can be highlighted in today’s public spaces. We still want to be with other people, if not engaging them directly at least watching them stroll by. (Kostof, 1992) Are today’s public spaces losing the true sense of being public? Are today’s public space having a shift it its originality? India being a democratic country, is today’s public space democratic in nature? All these question are linking towards one question how public are today’s public spaces?

Philosophers, Planners, Architects, Designers, Artist, Painters and others who tried to understand cities have a notion that public space are at the heart or the core of any city and people are integral part of those public spaces and also are the fuels that keep the heart and core running. Humans are after all highly sociable species, company of others seems to be a fundamental belief to our existence and belonging. Public spaces have been primary part of cities, for people to come together for a common sociable purpose. Hence, people and place are regarded as the DNA of cities.

In today’s contemporary cities, public space is the element of the city where most of the convivial as well as reclusive activities takes place (Shaftoe 2008).

Since then public spaces have long been on the platter of planners, sociologist, urbanist, architects and designer. All of them have been curiously

Social Cohesion

UN HABITAT

Gender Equality

Public Space

Public Spaces for All:

Public Health

Safety

Economic Development

Environment

My Perspective on Public Space Public space includes “Operable & Functional” destinations such as streets, parks, gardens, open grounds, riverfronts, lakes, public library, public toilets, bus stops, railway station, marketplace and other modes of public transport which are accessible to all

On the other hand Privatized recreational space such as shopping malls, coffee shops, cafes, restaurants and cinemas are increasingly being represented as the new public spaces of the city.

Public space is a “thing of all” 28

Thesis discussing and debating about public spaces; the life in a public space; the right to public spaces; the use of public spaces; the dead spaces; equality & equity in public space; the accessible spaces and so forth.

“Within the dense press of the built fabric the greatest luxury of all is empty space.”

– Spiro Kostof.

The Research Part 1 Begins with review of existing literature which covers aspects like to right to city, right to the public spaces, public spaces in today’s era and meaning of public. With help and understanding of literature review aim and objectives have been formulated for further research.

Aim: To comprehend how public are public space of Ahmedabad’s riverfront park.

M e t h o d o l o g y .

Objective:1) To understand whether Ahmedabad’s riverfront parks are accessible to all.

2) To understand publicness of these parks.

3) To find whether these public spaces are made for all.

Public Space Scenario in Ahmedabad

Methodology For further course of study, the methodology used for research is a mixture of quantitative, qualitative and observations Primary survey was conducted with random sampling method, with total sample size of 120 for both the Parks Usmanpura Park and Subhash Bridge Park.

1.54 % i.e. 7.43 sq.km. of Total area of AMC boundary (466 sq.km.) is covered with Parks, Gardens and Open Spaces.

Site Selection Why these sites?

1) They are at the city centre and characteristics of both these sites are different. As they are newly

29

Thesis What is the Riverfront project all about? created public space for city of Ahmedabad, they have never been studied before.

2) Both these parks are made at different scale and have different importance at city level. Thus impact of both the park on city of Ahmedabad will widely vary and this will produce a captivating outcome for the research.

In order to fulfil the objectives of the study, two sites in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat are chosen for study: 1) Usmanpura Park 2) Subhash Birdge Park

The project aims to reconnect the city of Ahmedabad with River Sabarmati by providing an accessible and inclusive waterfront environment along the river banks and to redefine an identity for Ahmedabad around the Sabarmati River.

Public/Recreational Spaces Image Source: SRDFCL

Part 2 Discusses the field observation, analysis and inferences related to how public are public spaces a cases of Ahmedabad’s Riverfront Park. Various parameters and attributes are looked into for understanding the ‘publicness and accessibility of a space’ or in other words ‘how public is the public space’ and whether they are made for all?

Part 3 The final chapter summarise the research with findings & conclusion. Followed by references used for the research.

Findings Meaning of any space is linked to the actual elements and changes in the physical space defined by order and form of the built environment. The social interaction in both the parks are limited in nature, there by restricting the freedom of space.

Many visitors view the public space as a place of freedom, where anything can be done. Others believe that space must be controlled and regulated and people should follow certain social rules the way they behave. Diverse users claim different territories through different activities and attitudes of usage and appropriation. The space of conflict is shaped by different behaviours influenced by gender, age, group and culture. The conflict is usually between ordinary users and people who

Land use of riverfront Image Source: SRDFCL

30

Thesis manage and participate in maintenance of both the park. This situation gives rise to a series of frequently competing social interactions, which have a negative effect on physical and social life of a public space. For example the spots that are used for public display of affection in both the parks.

These kinds of conditions creates an unpleasant environment for many visitors thus chance of anti – social behaviour is on rise because of it. People are worried about their public environment as many elements are changing and shifting in course of time. Many conflicts arise between those under the banner of protection and right use of the space and those not willing to follow rules of communality.

The misuse of Children Park’s equipment is very common in both the parks, as adults are happily in notion of becoming a child and there by using the children’s space for their own enjoyment. Though there has been very few complain regarding illegal activity taking place in both the parks, which is good sign for visitors as well as for the public space to be safer for all. The other argument that the promoters of public space push forward, is that there is a lack of education about how to use and how to behave properly in public, and lack of respect for others.

Certain situation arise where the visitor starts to vandalize and destroy the property of park. In this case control of the use of public space is necessary for betterment of all Authorities have set up various signs instructing people about how to behave in the park, thereby inviting them to take care of plants, tree and equipment of the park.

Conflicts about the way public spaces are controlled have also taken place in many patch of riverfront.

Excessive control by those taking care of the spaces is on rise. So education is necessary for those managing and controlling public space and its uses, too much of protection intensify the idea of privatization of space. Both Usmanpura Park and Subhash Birdge Park is having an intensified control over the space there by the idea of privatization of space is very much meaningful for both the parks.

This is true that people who are taking care of the park sometimes forgets that this space is public and it should be manoeuvred with regards to its publicness. The character of publicness of these parks is challenged by those who over control the

Usmanpura Park

Subhash Bridge Park

• Neighbourhood Level Park • Free Access • Timing: 6:00 am to 10:00 pm (Restricted hours 12:00 to 2:00 pm) • 5 Private Security Personnel • Less Acclaimed

Income Inequality ?

• City Level Park • Paid Access based on user group • Timing: 6:00 am to 10:00 pm (Restricted hours 8:00 to 9:00 am) • 32 Private Security Personnel • High Acclaimed

Gender Distribution ?

Security ?

31

Thesis

Religion Distribution

Physical Accessibility

space based on the elements they can manipulate.

Freedom is one of the inherent characteristic of public space. An urban space that is freely used and that provides the opportunity of interesting encounters is an invaluable asset for all, thereby making better communities for further development. Freedom must be negotiated, and visitors and managers should find a common ground to practice, both freedom of use and also respect for other people’s right. This means responsible management and responsible use of public space. However both the management and the visitors need to keep their personal motive aside over public motives. As this will allow higher publicness, permanence and liveability for a public space.

Looking at the objective of the study publicness here is the ability or state of being public. The publicness of space is modifying for both the parks because of the controlled access. Moreover, lack of public spaces deprives the community of the opportunity for acquiring collective education, learning and social values because of this the very nature of publicness keeps on shuffling. Both the parks of riverfront have been stigmatized in name of religion, income inequality, age and most important is the activities within the controlled space. Psyche of an individual changes whether that person is visiting Usmanpura Park or Subhash Bridge Park at any time of the day because of controlled access.

Control spaces are more like a brain washing tool where people have to establish a pre-determined thoughts in order to access the space of controlled freedom. Liquidity is far more important for any space to achieve its publicness. Publicness just not in strength of numbers but also in strength of freedom, accessibility, and psyche.

Publicness of space is determined by the accessibility of the space. Accessibility not just in sense of physical aspect but also social and information aspect. Accessibility have all together got different definitions but in context of public spaces it refers to as the quality of being at hand when needed. Mode of travel is one of the attributes that will determine the physical accessibility of the space. Looking at mode of travel in both the parks 2 wheeler are preferable choice of coming to both

Gender Distribution In Usmanpura Park

42%

Income Distribution

58%

Male

2%

45%

55%

Female

In Usmanpura Park

Family Income (per annum)

Family Income (per annum)

In Subhash Bridge Park

In Subhash Bridg

2%

3% 7%

3% 3%

3%

3%

42%

58%

45%

82% 92%

60000 & Above

50000

40000

30000

Usmanpura Park

20000

10000

60000 & Above

50000

40000

20000

Male

Female

Subhash Bridge Park

32

Thesis

Usmanpura Park

the park. Social accessibility of a space keeps on changing, depending on the kinds of people visiting the place. If the place provides opportunity for the visitors to have a social interaction with one anther then the space is socially accessible. The riverfront parks i.e. Usmanpura Park & Subhash Bridge Park social access is contested spatially and symbolically.

Both the parks are made for all? Looking at the recent publication of UN Habitat on Public spaces (2014), UN Habitat have identified theoretical approach for making an inclusive public space which is made for all. Public space can be seen as a multipurpose functionality of various elements such as economy, social exchange, and cultural exchange.

Public space which are made for all are the ones who reprogram themselves with the changes Public space which adapts urban poor, builds social cohesion, establish gender equality, enhance safety, support economic development, improves public health, improves environment, and are easily accessible can are considered as public space made for all. Looking at the study of Usmanpura Park and Subhash Bridge Park, many of these elements are missing such as adapting urban poor, both the parks are restricting the access of urban poor one by directly not allowing them to come in and second having a paid access thus urban poor are totally discarded. Social Cohesion is missing in both the parks i.e. Subhash Bridge Park, the park has a paid access and the ideology behind the paid access is to have a control over one particular community or religion in that area. And in Usmanpura Park the lack of adapting the accessibility of urban poor is disturbing social cohesion of the space. Hence the very nature of social cohesion is missing. Cultural exchange is limited to only one park. As Usmanpura Park have limited resources to host public events the cultural exchange is difficult to achieve. On the other hand Subhash Birdge Park have facilities that helps to facilitate cultural exchange. Gender equality is all together a new subject for study but both the parks having shown satisfying results of gender distribution, though gender equality haven’t been looked upon in the research. Safety can be considered appropriate in both the case as there are security personnel who are there for 24 x 7 for safety and security. The height of the wall can be issue for

Subhash Bridge Park

33

Thesis people, one if someone falls from it the person can injure or in worst case can die. And secondly even the wall gives a psychological fear, because people are not able to see what is happening in lower promenade and what is happening in the parks. The break of vision can be harmful for many visitors. Thus safety can be considered poor as of now. Economic development is as such seen on the whole 11 km stretch of riverfront there are two CBDs proposed along the banks and the proximity of both the park to CBD is within 3 km. Public health is one of the major boost that both park provides to the visitors because of proper design and landscape of the park, health of individuals is improved. Environment is considerably taken care off by the parks, though Subhash Bridge Park have more potential for improving environmental conditions compared to Usmanpura Park. As a whole many elements are still missing in both the parks yet it cannot be said it is made for all. Proper strategy and usage can make this park more inclusive in nature the parks have got the ability to become a public space for all. All it need is a proper policy and strategy to improve.

Why do you come here ?

Conclusion After investigating both the cases from Usmanpura Park and Subhash Bridge Park, through theoretical as well as practical framework of place and process, can we no answer the question that was posed as the title of the thesis, and identify how public are public spaces? The complexity of urban planning, urban design, development and management process of the cases and the constellation of people’s behaviour and perception towards a space they are located in, makes it impossible to find a simple answer. But across both the cases, we are able to identify a recurring themes in regards to the use of the space, the activities, the publicness, the accessibility and other direct and indirect elements associated with public space.

Instigating space with a process of inclusion and exclusion of the associated elements, creating space with overlapping meanings. We can see how public spaces are crucial for all urban communities, irrespective of size of the city, its economic or political base, and cultural conformations. Public spaces, as

Usmanpura Park

Subhash Bridge Park

34

Thesis

Is it a public space for all ?

significant material and social components of cities, are therefore subject to intense process of social interaction through their quality and character are determined. (Madanipour, 2010) The case studies presented in this thesis map out the changing landscape of public space. Public open spaces are transforming from being engrafted in the social fabric of the city to being a part of more impersonal and fragmented urban environments.

The decline of public space reflects a breakdown in social and spatial linkages and a deterioration of the city as a whole (Mandanipour, 2010). Public space provides linkages to both private as well as public spheres, and it represents the quality, the character and the most important the urban life of the city. The chapter two details out how public spaces are changing alongside the changing nature of the city development, in other words, they are going a transition from a communicative/expressive to a subservient character. Public spaces that once were meaningful places are becoming a mere part of robust developmental practices. They are at risk of being taken over by influential self-interested minorities, being privatized in the name of safety, security and exclusivity, further fragmenting the urban society.

The particular character of public spaces may be subservient or communicative/ expressive. As a subservient spaces, they are used as a means to an end, such as the development of riverfront as a public spaces, for purpose of gaining commercial profit for businesses, or the paid and gated access of Subhash Bridge Park, for the perceived safety of the users from particular community or religion.

Public spaces may physically change very slowly, but socially they are like water, embodied with new beliefs and behaviours. Public space is more than just “Usmanpura Park & Subhash Bridge Park� as essential as that function is. It is also a delegation of the self-awareness that comes from public control and ownership, as contested and problematic as these may be. Public space is a place of direct interaction. It is a practical vision of the public space that determines its very publicness and accessibility.

The most of the public space in Ahmedabad city has always been a hybrid (Mixture of private & public

Lower the score the better the place 35

Thesis essence) and definitely a contradictory space.

Depending on the level of political, economic and cultural power and influence, individuals and organization can shape and determine some of the features of the public space.

Public spaces, even in their most public form, tends to find particular flavours, a different character associated with particular combination of groups and interests, under pressure to find a fixed identity within a particular fragment of society.

(Mandanipour, 2010).

If a public spaces is equally accessible to everyone, irrespective of physical abilities, age, gender, religion, income level, and social status it can be considered as a public space. In words of A. Mandanipour who suggests that “public spaces should be designed and developed, as a places that embody the principles of equality, by being accessible places, made through inclusive and democratic processes. Democratic and inclusive processes that create public space as a common good appear to be the best way of ensuring a better physical environment with social and psychological significance of the citizens.

Where every day needs for public spaces are met through participative processes, the result is both physical improvement and social development, laying the foundations for further enhancement of democratic practices.” The true form of becoming a publicly public space is achieved when a public space acts as a clay, where each individuals are a potter in itself, who are continuously re-modifying the structure of public space as and when they like it.

This thesis, got selected for poster presentation at Spaces and Flows: Seventh International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies and the Spaces and Flows knowledge, 2016.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. The research paper also got selected for publication at International Conference on Urban Design and Cities Planning (ICUDCP 2016), Kuala Lumpur Malayasia.

Evaluation Based on the method.

Usmanpura Park: Overall Score - 90 Parameters

Total Score

Average Score

Comfort & Image

377

94.25

Access & Linkages

389

97.25

Uses & Activities

339

84.75

Sociability

335

83.75

Subhash Birdge Park: Overall Score - 77.63 Parameters

Total Score

Average Score

Comfort & Image

285

71.25

Access & Linkages

306

76.5

Uses & Activities

339

84.75

Sociability

312

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“A city has to take the long view, the view for the common good” – Amanda Burden 36

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Summer Winter Schools (SWS) 2012 - 2016 Neighbourhood Planning Approach in India & UK Data, Information, Knowledge and Geospatial Systems

For navigating back to contents click on “Summer Winter Schools (SWS)”

Neighbourhood Planning Approach in India & UK Type

: Winter School

Time

: November (2013)

Work Type

: Group Work (5 Members)

Study

: Dumballs Road, Cardiff, UK

Team

: Shaurya, Krrithiya, Kahinee, Rachna, and Shruthi

Description : To date very little has been published, shared and discussed in comparative settings with regard to the relevant theories, principles and practices for neighbourhood planning and urban design in India and UK. The objective of this winter schools program is to bridge this research gap. The specific learning objectives of the winter school will be to: 1) Develop an appreciation of the cultural qualities characterising and qualifying city thinking and practices in different parts of the world; 2) Develop an understanding of the relationship between institutional and normative frameworks and design skills for development and practice; 3) Achieve cross cultural understanding of skills, design principles and knowledge relevant in designing cities in the UK and India; 4) Support students’ ability to navigate intercultural working environments and negotiate in multicultural settings The work produce here is the exisiting site scenario and the proposal for master plan for Dumballs road has been put forward.

Contribution: Documentation and Survey. *Note - I was the part of meritorious students who got a grant from UKIERI to have an academic exposure for the course in neighbourhood planning in Cardiff.

Proposed Master Plan 38

Data, Information, Knowledge & Geospatial Systems Type

: Summer School

Time

: May (2014)

Work Type

: Group Work (3 Members)

Study

: Wuhan, China

Team

: Shaurya, Rushi and Saswata

Description : GPS in the cars and cabs, use of Google maps have become common for all of us. We are learning environmental modeling, disaster management, impact of climate change, telecommunications, location planning, architecture, archaeological reconstruction and many more. But do we have any idea of better use of Google images and maps or do we think of use of GPS for tracking or photography?

Do we question from where Google images are coming from? Do we know what the other uses of these images are? To answer your sever questions we offer this summer school. It is on GeoInformatics.

The School aims to cover fundamental concepts, methodologies, and technologies in regard to Data, Information, and Knowledge Sharing for GeoInformatics. It is in combination with the increasing importance of geospatial data for the use of decision making processes and planning efforts.

The amount and variety of data is being generated, it has a risk of getting lost or obsolete, there is a growing importance of being able to access achieved data any point of time it is required which can be used for academic, research or professional purpose.

The study we conducted was with help of Lidar technology in Wuhan, China. Studying this course we came to know about various different tools used in taking ground truth data during surveying. We also understood how this technologies work, the science behind it and how appropriate it is to use these technologies.

Contribution: Data Analysis

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Work Experience & Other Works 2012 - 2016 Work Experience: UDRI & CEPT Archives Competitions Extra Curricular

For navigating back to contents click on “Work Experience & Other Works�

UDRI & CEPT Archives Type

: Internship & Assistantship

Time

: May - July (2015) & December (2015) - January (2016)

Description : Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), Mumbai As part of the academic curriculum, the two month internship at UDRI, Mumbai was my first work experience as a professional. The work i did at UDRI includes as follows: Primary Work: Systematic Improvement of Slums In Ward A, Mumbal, Pilot Study in Ganesh Murthy Nagar, Colaba: Preliminary Amenity Mapping through site visits, Background research on the context and Preparing powerpoint presentations on the findings.

Secondary Work: Safetipin: Assessment of a Safety Mapping tool for the city Digital Inclusion Project: Checking sources used to create GIS data, Identifying errors in the Mumbai Mapbook publication.

Mumbai Development Plan: Identifying slums on Special Planning Areas using Google earth, Obtaining cost and size of housing by MHADA for EWS, UG, MlG and HI G, Marking heritage sites on Google Earth as per the Coastal Road project report, locating the definition of a No Development Zone.

CEPT Archives The student assistantship at CEPT Archives was another opportunity. The work was of a very different field. I was appointed as a student assistant for Database Management Project and generate a search words database for further use of the material for archival purpose.

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Competitions Name

: IBM People For Smart Cities

Type

: Smart Cities

Year

: 2013

Team

: Shaurya and Saswata

COMPETITION: PEOPLE FOR SMART CITIES - IBM 2013 OBJECTIVE: IBM wants to bring together citizens, city leaders and smart ideas— if you’re a citizen, you can share smart ideas to improve cities. If you’re a city leader, you can gain insights. With the right information at your fingertips, you can make better decisions, resolve problems proactively, and coordinate resources more effectively.

Together, we can make our cities smarter.

SOLUTION: City of Ahmedabad is located in Gujarat which is about 400kms from north of Mumbai and 1000km south of Delhi. Ahmedabad is tops the list of cities where lack of traffic sense is to a great extent. In reality there is no existence of zebra crossing people hardly use zebra crossing near a crossroad because of vehicles which are standing right top of zebra crossing making it impossible to cross.

Why this?

The competition gave us an opportunity to show case the unique ideas for smart cities. These ideas can actually revolutionaries the cities at smallest of scales. And India’s new approach for smart city was the influence to improve and work upon this idea of zebriano. (Piano + Zebra Crossing).

To solve this problem and to make it fun the idea was inspired by Volkswagen initiative. The fun theory’s piano staircase. Proposal was for a piano crossing as an interactive art installation which turns a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes into a piano keyboard so that pedestrians can generate music by walking over it. Matching tones are created when a pedestrian steps on a particular stripe or key. This will help to make it fun for the people and it also helps the blind to cross the road safely and in a musical way.

COMPETITION: TRANSFORM KANSAS CITY 2014

Name

: Transfrom Kansas City

Type

: Transportation Planning

Year

: 2014

Team

: Shaurya and Saswata

OBJECTIVE: Do you have an idea for how rail transit could change Kansas City?

We want to hear from you!

We want to show the people of Kansas City how the future will be transformed through innovative infrastructure investments in transportation, urban design and architecture.

SOLUTION: Proposed an integrated mobility plan for city of Kansas, With a Transit oriented approach for developmental purpose along its major roads and densified areas. The designs are friendly for children as well elders even disables can travel anywhere within Kansas City easily and in a friendly way. TOD is focused for economic development of city of Kansas for its stakeholder’s quality of life.

Why this?

Couldn’t have a better opportunity to actually implement the ideas that we are learning in our studies. The thoughts behind working on this competition leads back to area planning lab. Where the ideas of TOD, CBD where explored in-depth. So that we can actually see how the professional realm works.

Name

: Urban SOS

Type

: Climate Change

Year

: 2015

Team

: Shaurya, Saswata and Tanushree

COMPETITION: URBAN SOS 2015 OBJECTIVE: The competition “calls on multidisciplinary teams of students to envision more resilient food, water, and energy systems for supplying cities and regions today and in the future.” Teams should “identify an urban population facing the possibility of disruption to its food, energy, or water systems, and offer strategies that strengthen these systems’ ability to withstand future shocks or stresses, while also making them more efficient, equitable, and accessible to diverse populations.” All “proposals must be located in one of 67 cities that currently make up the 100 Resilient Cities network.”

Institutions

1000 m

Why this?

Climate change one of the most challenging task.

And it is going to affect everyone living on this planet. Making cities resilient to climate change is an important task for urban planner. Taking part in this competition gave us an opportunity to actually execute an urban planning strategy for climate change.

500 m

Co

Forest Strategy

SOLUTION: The fundamental to human survival has always been trees so is for cities. Especially in the era of climate change, the most prominent survival product for city is urban forestry. We created urban forestry strategy in order to reduce the energy consumption for overall city. The strategy is categorized in three different time frames i.e. Short term, Mid term and Long term. The core idea here is to involve institutions such as NGOs, schools, colleges, universities and others. The tree cover in Surat is poor, so in order to make the city resilient to climate change tree is the core to the idea. We start identifying different institutions that can help to improve the urban forestry. Based on the institution’s population an area will be provided where that institution needs to maintain and plant the trees in that particular zone. It is a decentralized strategy in order to reduce the burden from SMC. So for example the school has a population of 500 students, than that school needs to maintain an area of 1000m radius from there location. Thus as whole this will collectively improve the overall human psychology as well as making city resilient.

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Competitions Name

: IIHS Transfrom Urban India

Type

: Urban Transformation

Year

: 2013

Team

: Shaurya, Anshita, Ishita, Manu and Tanushree

Why this?

This was the very first opportunity to work at a national scale. So it was more like a leap of faith when we took part in this competition. Knowing that we don’t have in-depth knowledge about urban transformation, yet taking a chance to see how well we can work for urban transformation.

Name

: Go Green Paris

Type

: Energy

Year

: 2015

Team

: Shaurya and Himadri

Why this?

Urban Planning and energy are deeply connected with each other. In course of Advance GIS we explored and developed multiple tools. Thus using the course knowledge we developed a tool to calculate energy consumption of an area through land use and datasets such as electricity and others.

In order to provide cities with an energy based land use planning solutions.

COMPETITION: GO GREEN PARIS 2015 OBJECTIVE: Ideas for innovative and efficient energy management for smarter cities.

COMPETITION: IIHS – TRANSFORM URBAN INDIA : NATIONAL STUDENT CHALLENGE 2013 OBJECTIVE: The NSC 2013 is a platform which aims to bring together young people who want to be change-makers in India’s urban transformation.

Undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students are invited from institutions all over the country to come up with creative ideas to solve problems facing urban centres.

The themes for 2013 include: Transportation, Mobility, Basic Services, Livelihoods, Human Development, Housing, Urban Culture, Safety & Violence, Urban Poor, Governance & Institution, Disaster risk reduction THEME: Livelihoods SOLUTION: The machine consists of a bio-metric system which would have the data for each and every student of the school, and the in charge for say the principal. These thumb print impressions enable them to access their daily food. We intend to propose a mass project which consists installation of vending machines that serve free packed meals to all the primary and secondary school children enrolled in the government schools in urban areas and coming under the midday meal scheme project. The vending machine proposed, uses the biometric data of the children. The machine measures and analyses the natural physical attributes of an individual. In our case, the vending machine scans the thumb impression of a child and dispenses the food item after verifying the identity of the same. This design of the machine works on the principle of a thumb scanner which is pre-installed in the original design of a simple vending machine sans the coin and change maker or the cash validator sections in the operating panel seeing to the fact that it works free for the children.

SOLUTION: “Land Use Land Cover Change Detector Tool for smarter, better management of Energy” GIS software’s are widely used in the fields of Urban Planning, engineering, geography, managing land assets, habitat management, disaster management and many of its relating fields. “Land-Use LandCover Change Detector” (LULC) is a small tool scripted in python windows of ESRI’s ArcGIS 10.2.2, which can be useful for those who are in the fields of urban planning, design and management, energy management, engineering, all the applications which requires to find temporal land use / land cover changes of a location and help to analyses the different patterns such as landuse, energy consumption, sprawling etc. of a city.

The tool presented here work on the logic of comparing two vector images, by comparing its database and attributes, finding the area and then the percentage change etc. The need of such tool became important because of lack of freely available customized tools in ArcGIS, which can help to detect changes in land forms in terms of area and percentage.

There was urgent use of a tool that can detect such changes and gives analytical statistical results. Why because in order to understand the energy consumption pattern in a city and to propose a smart energy layout for future, it is important to understand the landuse, energy, and other patterns.

We already have developed LULC and are trying to improvise it precisely with integrating this tool to different available tools such as The Solar Boston mapping application which illustrates the solar potential at a specific location. Then Cascade County’s wind power map created with ArcGIS Desktop software, shows wind power potential. Why we are trying to integrate such different tools with LULC is to give optimum smart energy based landuse planning solutions for future of cities all over the world.

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Competitions Name

: Urban Planning and Governance and Design for Reducing Urban Conflict and Violence an International Conference

Type

: Planning Charrette

Year

: 2016

Team

: Shaurya, Aamir, Anushri, Harsh and Kahinee

Why this?

This was one of kind of charrette where we had to actually be adaptive about urban planning and neighborhood concepts. As and when the challenge arrives, we had reframe our thoughts our concept.

It is interesting and that it gave us a good learning on how to be quick on decision making and how one decision can actually be impacting on others life. Decision making is crucial part in planning and such competition gives us an understanding on how to be genuinely taking right and wise decision.

Because urban planning as a tool can affect millions of lives at one single point. A planner needs to be adaptable in order to make his or her decision wiser at any given moment.

Challenge 1

Challenge 2

Challenge 3 COMPETITION: ON SPOT PLANNING CHALLENGE OBJECTIVE: The challenge was kind of treasure hunt where you get a clue for the challenge at every couple of hours. There are 3 challenges where the situation of neighborhood planning changes and with each situation you have to adapt your plan. And after completing your final challenge you had to define what is an ideal neighbourhood and what are the planning tools you will use to adapt your plans.

SOLUTION: Proposed an idea of adaptable master planning, where the citizens of the place will actually decide what they want in theirneighbourhood The citizens have to formulate a committee within the neighbourhood who will be repressing them and the negotiations will take place between the committee, stakeholders, government and experts. And based on their decisions and demands the adaptable plan will be implemented. We created an idea about how urban planning can be actually adaptable planning where it changes constantly for improvement.

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Extra Curricular Type

: Blogs

Year

: 2014

#UrbanPsyche

Why this?

First of all, blogging is writing, in the era of 21stcentury, one of the way to reach massive audience who are curious is through blogging. As a blogger, the main aim for me is to develop crucial skills with language, tone my critical thinking muscles, and to help me understand the relationship to the world. It is one of the platforms which allows me to voice my passion for things i love. One way or the other it is a space where my most creative and critical ideas can be reached out to worldwide audience.

Scan to read more blogs.

Songs for the cities ….

Why are cities so fascinating? Every city in the world have different fascination about its urban forms, streets and its life.

The cities have such a strong influence on its people that even if you are travele it tells you to be a part of its culture and its life. It take you into a deep loop of following the trends of the city. And meanwhile it transform you from who you are to the daily dweller of that city. And it gives you a boost to start following the trends and loops. Even it affect your daily use of things from iPod to cars.

Interesting thing is that, all city gives a you a different flavors, and you are curious about what those flavors are.. Such as you here different type of songs in your iPod at different time and location of the place. A sweet calm music when you are near a coastal city or a hilly terrain city or both, whereas city on flat lands you here a song based on its culture and its life. The choice of music genre depends on your lifestyle where is your geography of living and the culture around it even the environment plays a classic role to the choice of music. People have fascination of music and they pursue their entire life in music but have you ever wondered Does the location of your stay (The city you live in) affects the choice of music you listen too??

London is one such fascinating city where as soon as you step in the city you are not “you” but you are “Londoner” it transforms you immediately and tells you to absorb its life. Over there you try to listen to a different kind of music from Ben Howard’s London to Pink Floyd’s Coming back to life. Which are more based on real life scenario. Whereas when you go to Cardiff the song you listen to is based on its bar culture. The classical rock genre comes into your mind when you move around in the streets of Cardiff. When you go to an Indian cities like Ahmedabad you have Bollywood Hindi type of songs coming in your mind. The choice and psychology behind listening to song depends on what kind of personality you have and where & how your upbringing is, but there are many different factors affects the choice for songs you listen to in different kind of cities. At the end of the day city does affect the choice of songs you listen to and also the choice of songs changes as per the kind of city you are into. #UrbanPsyche

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Extra Curricular Post

: Sports Secretary

Year

: 2013 - 2014

Why this?

Sports is something that I have been glued with.

Since 3rd grade of my school days i have always been closely associated with sports. I play cricket for my school, college and as well proudly played cricket for State of Gujarat. And getting an opportunity to again stay close with sports is something i would never want to miss-out. So in hope to energize the sportsmanship in people. I took this responsible job of being a sports secretary. Most importantly sports make you feel and realize the difference between winning and losing. It just simply tell you never give up, fight till your last breathe. It gives you a path to rise on your own strength.

Post

: Academic Secretary

Year

: 2015 - 2016

Why this?

Academic secretary post is a very responsible job.

The thing that gives ignition to my passion is being closely associated with academics, whether it has to do with research or teaching because they are creative in nature. Inquisitiveness towards learning more new things and gaining knowledge was something embodied inside me (Growth Mindset).

In order to enhance people’s inquisitiveness for planning and design, I took a step forward by becoming academic secretary, to make sure people stay motivated and encouraged to work harder and to do something wonderful for humanity.

“More the knowledhge lesser the ego, more the ego lesser the knowledge.”

- Albert Einstein

VOTE For Academic Secretary

ELECTED AS SPORTS SECRATRY FOR BACHELORS OF PLANNING FOR YEAR 2013 - 2014 PLANNING SPORTS WEEK Single-handedly hosted a sports event for 160 students of bachelors of planning in year 2013 -2014.

OTHER SPORTS EVENTS Managed and organized multiple sports events at college and inter college levels. Such as Amity cricket cup, Inter-college Table Tennis tournament and many other related sports events.

CEPT NAVRATRI Also organized CEPT Navratri for year 2013 -2014 and 2015 - 2016 with other student council members of the university.

ELECTED AS ACADEMIC SECRATRY FOR BACHELORS OF PLANNING FOR YEAR 2015 - 2016 Premeya Academic Week This was the first time we the students council of faculty of planning at CEPT University started with the initiative of celebrating academic week also as a part of world habitat day. World Habitat Day is observed every year on the first Monday of October throughout the world. It was officially designated by the United Nations and first celebrated in 1986. The purpose of the day is to reflect on the state of our cities and towns and the basic human right to adequate shelter. It also aims to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the habitat of future generations.

This year to celebrate world habitat day students with council members and faculties at school planning had a bicycle rally for promoting use of cycle in the city of Ahmedabad. And placemaking of khaogali street outside CEPT University and other events like quiz, debate, panel discussion, magazine launch alumni talks were organized and managed.

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Photography Why this?

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”

― Ted Grant “For me it is frustrating sometimes not being able to find words strong enough to express how beautiful and passionate photography is. The words don’t exist.”

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Koi No Yokan (Japanese): The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love. Similarly, this was what I discovered when I first started to learn about urban planning and design. The very first day at the university made me imagine what I had to do with my life.

What was the most important part of the journey was establishing a growth mindset.

Every project I had worked or initiated, I always had one approach in my mind i.e. growth mindset. (People in a growth mindset believe anyone can be good at anything, because your abilities are entirely due to your actions.) It was the crux for deciphering planning and design. Because of the growth mindset I was able to deeply communicate with people on various levels. The biggest secret I found for communication is this: “It’s not what you say, It’s how you say it.” I have adapted this secret into my daily work and life, and it has given me confidence to pitch forward my ideas in a fluent and easy to comprehend way. This field has not just taught me the technicalities of design and planning process and its skills, but also the ability to recreate and refabricate your thoughts to a level where you can do something wonderful for people or the end users. As Swami Vivekanand rightly said:

upshot of flipping “We are what our thoughts have made us. Words are secondary. Thoughts live. They coin: Travel......Far.”

THANK YOU