2020 - Trondheim, Norway - Executive summary

URBAN INFORMALITY URBAN ECOLOGICAL PLANNING FIRST SEMESTER

PREFACE

In their project work, students practiced what we call the “Urban Ecological Planning” approach, which focuses on integrated area-based (as opposed to sectoral) situational analysis and proposal making using participatory and strategic planning methods. All students performed regular site visits and engaged with local communities and stakeholders, as much as the COVID-19 protocols allowed. Social distancing and other locally-imposed restrictions forced many of the students to look for and test new ways of collecting field data, for example using mobile applications and social networks. This has been a great learning experience for both the students and teachers.

This report is the result of a semester`s work conducted by students of a 2-year International Master of Science Program in Urban Ecological Planning (UEP) at the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway.

While the traditions of UEP fieldworks date back to the 1980s, this year’s project work is much different than everything we have done before. Most of the previous one-semester UEP fieldworks were performed together by the entire class in one or two cities simultaneously in Nepal, India, Uganda and/or Norway and with a maximum of three case neighborhoods in each city.

Through a combination of fieldwork and remote methods, students gained an in-depth understanding of the local contexts, which allowed them to identify opportunities and challenges in their corresponding areas. This kind of in-depth understanding would be impossible to achieve by applying more traditional technocratic and purely quantitative planning methods. In some cases,students rediscovered places they knew very well from a new perspective, and realized how complex urban development can be. Others made strategic partnerships, which will hopefully lead to implementing some of the ideas they developed.

The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 made international mobility close to impossible and ethnographic fieldwork very difficult. We have spent a lot of time discussing adjustments and changes to replicate teaching this semester in such a way that the students get the best learning experience possible and resemble what their forerunners had experienced in previous fieldworks.

For us in the teaching team it was the first experience of supervising multiple fieldworks without physical interaction with the students. While it was difficult at the beginning, we found good ways to work together and exchange knowledge. This practice of working closely, but from a distance, seems like a very relevant and important ability in the post-COVID19 future.

Most of the 18 students who finished this challenging semester had to stay in their hometowns located in Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iran, Nepal and Norway. They were divided into four groups of four or five, where every student was from a different country. Each of them chose their own local case study area close to where they live. Examples of the chosen spaces are road stretches, intersections, parks, public squares and markets. All the communication between students and their supervisors took place digitally. While it is unfortunate that the students could not travel together, their diverse backgrounds and all the corona-related adjustments allowed us to expand the number of case cities from one or two (as in previous fieldworks) to a total of 13 cities on three continents!

Each of the four student groups was responsible for developing their own report, with four or five case study chapters (one per student). This report sums up the work of the group working in [list all case study cities from your group, for example Trondheim (Norway), Delhi (India) etc.].

We hope you enjoy reading this document as much as we enjoyed supervising students in their work!

Marcin Sliwa, Cinthia Stecchini, Riny Sharma and Rolee Aranya Fieldwork Supervisors, NTNU, Department of Architecture and Planning

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CASE STUDY COUNTRIES 1. BANGLADESH 2. CHINA 3. ETHIOPIA 4. INDIA 5. IRAN 6. GHANA 7. NEPAL 8. NORWAY

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Contect of the Pandemic and the Fieldwork Challenges Contents

This executive summary report paper is a field project summary done in a unique situation of the covid-19 pandemic which probably is the first unique moment in the history of NTNU academic work. An intensive fieldwork has been done individually on a case study area chosen in eight countries across three continents for four consecutive months from September up to December. It was the time when many countries of the world are severely ravaged by the pandemic with unprecedented, alarming death toll and daily infection records. Hence, many countries of the case study were restricting people’s movement, congregation, and number of gathering people in one place while others where the case is high imposing from partial to complete lockdowns. For instance, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Norway banned travel and imposed various restrictions whereas Bangladesh, India, and Nepal imposed partial lockdown among other measurements.

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6-9 Group 1 (Case studies) ……………………………………………………………………………………… 11-15 Group 2 (Case studies) ……………………………………………………………………………………… 16-20 Group 3 (Case studies) ……………………………………………………………………………………… 21-26 Group 4 (Case studies) ……………………………………………………………………………………….27-31

The restrictions and lock downs were varying based on daily corona case record and anticipated vulnerability even within the same country. This led many of us to get stuck in data collection and participatory methods during fieldwork due to the continuously changing situations. there were limitations to gather a large group of people for discussion where relevant and the community has high initiation and interests for a discussion and during co-design which was not possible to do under national corona regulations. The other challenges were the skepticism of some stakeholders including municipalities in certain cases during the interview when approached at the beginning, it was difficult to meet some stakeholders for fear of contagion.

Conclusion & Reflection……………………………………………………………………………………...32-33 Name of all students……………………………………………………………………………………………34

However, digital data collection such as online survey and questioners were implemented to fill a data gap. It is also noted that some of us were able to use participatory methods due to ease in corona regulations and possibility within the set preventive measurements which played a tremendous role in consolidating the trust built at the beginning.

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Main Methodological Approaches

Interview : Interviews helped to shape the overall project. Interviewing is a good tool to pioneer the key concepts by adhering the in-depth analysis with respective stakeholders. Group members took interviews in both formal and informal manners with different people in our project. Depending upon the situation, this method helped to probe into our case study areas, come up with different problem statements and formulate the possible strategic interventions.

Transect Walk : This method implies to visualize the scenario of different case studies and their contexts. Group member conducted transect walks as casual walks around case study areas to get necessary information. This method is beneficial to the projects because it helps the mapping of land use, gathering reflections from the users, and taking varied spaces into consideration effectively to layout the primary outline and take a step forward.

Traffic Counts : This especial method is a guiding tool specially to understand the spatial traffic pattern of highways. To initiate the data, it was required though to categorize the vehicles like Motor Bikes, Autorichshaws, Bicycles, Trucks, Public transports, and local vehicles e-van/ Tuk-Tuk or Toto, respectively. The manual counting is a process to quantify the status quo of traffic in some instant time. This tool is often pen and paper based while timing is a main function.

Direct Observation : This method enlightened individual case studies to be more focused. Direct observation strategy allows us to be in-active in the socio-urban scenario to elaborate it efficiently. In other terms, this method relates to observing the sites in a consecutive manner to get the basic facts, initial ideas and what to do next. We assessed our observation in different timing zones to strengthen our knowledge about the different reactions of users of different spaces based on their activities.

Prioritization : It is one of the PLA methods in the need assessment stage where stakeholders are given a chance to choose the most relevant problem. Thus, in the action area’s fieldwork needs assessment, a problem which is greater or critical has been selected from the problem raised by stakeholders at previous stages. This method helped in narrowing down to more overlapped problems to prioritize the solutions in short term and long-term plans based on its urgency. Additionally, the sequence of what should be first and so on are sorted out to mitigate the possible challenges to be faced and accomplish the proposal within the intended time without compromising the quality.

Photography : The method of photography to capture the landscape and the contexts of our case study areas in the form of digital image to convey the situations and possibilities. Besides, we took some videos which enhanced the representation of our study case areas more eloquently. This method helped us to draw our domains in a more documented manner which could be used for further references and reflections.

Survey : We used different questionnaires among various social groups in our case study areas. This method was used to know about the views and opinions from the different nearby neighborhoods and communities. Based on the different conditions of our research fields, both online and paper survey tools in a necessary questionnaire format were offered to the communities cum stakeholders. The multiple answers and opinions received helped initiate the planning process. Since the stakeholders’ potential responsiveness and feedback tended to uphold our case studies. Therefore, this method was very useful and well-acquainted.

Co-Design : In this mechanism, the stakeholders are actively engaged in the design process and challenges to solve mutually. It is the stage where shared understanding combined further on the overall intervention and its implementation. In the fieldwork of Co-design, it has been separately consulted with municipality heads and vendors at their convenient time for the possible solutions and what should be done next.

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Report Outline

The report was prepared in a step by step method to be able to get the perfect result and outcome for each sites and projects.

Firstly each student chose their sites in their local areas that was considered an urban space.

They observed the place and decided on specific methods that would be best fit to study their sites. They studied the site and context by using those methods to get to know more about the site.

With the detailed studies, each student made a situational analysis of the site, which presented a detailed description of the area, including risks, hazards, stakeholder mapping and so on.

GROUP REPORTS

With the details of the situational analysis and the results of the site surveys, the students found practical problems that are present in the sites. It took weeks to reach to this step, because it was very important to find the correct problems that were deemed risky or important to be addressed as soon as possible. This problem(s) was what the students had set out to find in this project and to propose a viable solution to the issues.

With the problem statement and issues at sight, the student then set out to find the solution.

This solution was also a very impotant part of the project, because the solution would determine the future picture of this site. Each student then presented their solution in a systematic manner to get to a logical outcome.

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Case 1: Duedalen (Trondheim, Norway) Context Duedalen is a quiet urban green area located just outside the city centre of Trondheim, in the middle of Norway. Despite its many qualities the valley often seems abandoned.

Situational Analysis

The area consists of a steep hill in the north, which is used for snow-sliding in winter. The staircase in the south east-part was developed in 2016 to create a more effective shortcut. There is a football-court near the west end of the valley, also used for ice-skating in winter, and a bomb-shelter in the mountainside which is rented by a motorcycle club.

The area is also popular for jogging.

Group 1 MARINA SKANCHE, RABIN SHARMA, RUBAID NASKAR, XINYU ZHANG

Problem Statement The following problem statement is based on observation and analysis of the area: ”Increasing activity in the valley, while maintaining its qualities as a green urban area, according to the interest of stakeholders”. To map the interest of the local stakeholders, a digital and on-site survey was conducted. 90% of all interview subjects wanted the excisting nature to be preserved, and 60% stated that the area has potential for activation. There was also suggestions for activities which was considered for the spatial strategic interventions.

Strategic Intervention 1.

Implementation of a bench-structure provides seating near the foodball-court, as well for ice skating in winter.

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Exercise equipment, such as pull up bars could facilitate outdoors workout sessions, which is beneficial for health and socialising in times of COVID-19.

Marina Skanche (Group 1) 11

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The Baisnavdevi Temple, (Lalitpur, Nepal)

NATIONAL HIGHWAY 112 (WEST BENGAL, INDIA) Context

Context

National Highway (NH) 112 network which starts from the historical city Barasat of North 24 par-ganas district and ends near to the Petrapole- Bangladesh Boarder. NH 112 has a high volumetric traffic density, is problematic and risky though for livelihood.

The Baisnavdevi Temple lies in Bagdole Area of Lalitpur Metropolitan City in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal.

Situational Analysis Situational Analysis

The Baisnavdevi Temple Area is in triangular shape.

It has a shrine of Goddess Baisnavdevi at one corner and numerous cremation spots at ot h er. T h e ot er spaces is mainly covered with grasses and trees. The space is suitable for those who want to spend peaceful time due to its tranquil nature. But, apparantely it is not being used for its full potential.

The situational analysis is giving more specific information, how this road has been evolved and changes with traffic densities and unmanaged traffic movements over time. The chapter will pro-vide better illustration of both side settlements and involvement with highway. The traffic congestions changed situation for the road passer-by and localhood even during COVID-19 pandemic.

Problem Statement Through intital observation of the area and interviews with the users and residents, it was gathered that there were mainly two problems associated with the area.

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Need for lnfrasture to Sit 2.

Lack of Waste Management

Problem Statement The junction became risky while crossing the road, may even-cause severe accidents since no traffic regulations are being operated. People feel reluctant to use the public transport rat-her preferring their own private cars and motor bikes; to be self-safe from this contraction level in COVID-19 pandemic.

Strategic Intervention The following interventions were proposed:

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Provision of Benches and Chairs 2.

Management of Wastes and Overall Area ( by placing waste bins and routine check of the grasses)

Strategic Intervention This part will depict the possible solutions and make the highway safer for livelihood concerned with COVID-19 crisis. In these secti-ons, traffic police appointment is a priority, along with crosswalk and signalling system.

Rabin Sharma (Group 1) 13

Rubaid Naskar (Group 1) 14

Shanghai Music Valley (Shanghai, China)

GROUP TWO

Context

Shanghai Music Valley (SMV) is a historic community in pursuit of urban regeneration. It is located in the center of Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in China.

Situational Analysis

BEKETA ABDULWEHAB

Shanghai Music Valley has its local history and culture based on port and water shipping, its unique well-preserved pattern of water system and the characteristic Shikumen Lane Houses. Its wonderful site, accessibility and connectivity are its advantages. For now, it is facing changes from residence to a cultural and creative industry cluster and a state grade scenic spot. The public spaces here chan-ge to serve both residents and tourists as main users on a time ba-sis. However, the number of community commerce, which plays an important role of promoting social interaction here, is decreasing.

Beketa Abdulwehab Elham Abdollahzadeh Puspa Tiwari

ELHAM ABDOLLHZADEH

Problem Statement Disappearing Rivers

Lacking Meeting Points

Excessive Temporary Appropriation

Creating Meeting Points

Providing Drying Machines

Strategic Intervention Hydrophilic Facilities

SUZIE SHRESTHA

PUSPA TIWARI

Xinyu Zhang (Group 1) 15

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Case 1: Derg-tera public market (Negele Borena, Ethiopia)

Case 2: Urban green space in a center of a neighborhood (Sari, Iran)

Context

Context

Derg-tera is the biggest public market in Negele town and the east Guji zone where people from all neighborhoods and outside town come to buy various products. The study focuses on about 620 m2 area which consists of a semi-closed market hall on the west part of the market.

The fieldwork site is a public green space and its adjacent streets in the center of a residential neighborhood in east of Sari and encompasses an area of 20,000 square meters.The public green space has an area of 4563 square meters and was constructed in 2002 by the municipality.

Situational Analysis As the area is a public market, a variety of ethnicities, religions, and gender is seen within the site. The age variety is there from young tailors in their fifteenth up to poultry and egg vendors in their eightieth.

Situation Analysis Most activities in the neighborhood are related to daily Figure 1. The fieldwork site, (Source: Google Earth, edited by author) family needs. Commercial blocks are a supermarket, bakery, barbershop, restaurant, café, and a real estate agency. A high school, a secondary school and an art institute for young children are educational institutes available for both locals and families from adjacent neighborhoods. The most obvious activities in the park are people gatherings.

figure1:Action area (source:Google Earth )

The action area is surrounded by a warehouse, mill, and other commercial activities which could help low-income business communities in the action area to boost their income through cooperation. This shows how the area is suitable for a start-up business for low-income communities and gets strong financially over time.

Problem Statement

Problem statement

The issues extracted from the gathered data mainly involve feeling unsafe, inequality, place identity, and problems caused by vendors and educational institutes which are categorized into social and physical issues.

Through group discussion and interviews made separately, the central issue ofFigure 2: land use Map (source: Negele land each stakeholder summarized as Legal Marketing space that is equally acces-administration office,edited by author) sible and can accommodate their merchandize within the study area.

Strategic intervention The main goal of the proposal is outlined and strategies to meet the main goal are also designed which will help to reach the intended comprehensive and objective proposal. Short-term, spatial, interventions and long-term, non-spatial, interventions have been proposed.

Short-term,spatial, interven-

Long-term,non-spatial, intervention

figure 3 & 4:proposed vending stalls & toilet (Source: Author)

figure 5:Action plan structure

The municipality is recommended to draft a local regulation that space should be used as a transitional marketing place to manage the future needs and make the market sustainable.

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Beketa Abdulwehab(Group 2)

Figure 2. Services in the study area (Source: Author)

Strategic Intervention • Spatial Interventions The spatial proposal mainly suggests; Developing a range of new infrastructure and adding urban furniture particularly in the open green space and the streets adjacent to the large vacant block. Destructing the wall and Building a fence to enable pedestrians to observe inside the vacant area.

• Non-Spatial Interventions • Preserving the existing green spaces and saving brown fields • Promoting cultural features in architecture and designing landscapes • Practices to improve cultural awareness

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Elham Abdollahzadeh (Group 2)

Case 4: Public space of Moholt student village (Trondheim, Norway)

Case 3: Patan Durbar Square, (Lalitpur, Nepal) Context

Context

Patan Durbar Square is situated in the heart of Lalitpur district of Kathmandu valley in Nepal. It is an ancient royal palace which is recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site.

The study area is the public space lying in the north of Moholt Student Village in Trondheim. This area has some significant features like the grocery store, community health centre and community parking.

Situational Analysis Patan Durbar Square is a public area which is surrounded by residential buildings but the street front residential buildings along the square are used for commercial purposes. However, some of the residences have mixed uses of land where the ground floor is used for commercial purpose and the rest of the floors is used for residential purpose. The temples in the square have an imposing mass which creates a landmark in the area. The heritage site attracts both domestic and international tourists and hence tourism is one of the important sources of income.

Situation Analysis

Figure 1: the fieldwork site (Source: Google Earth)

Regular users in the park are students, customers, bikers, children, family and elder people. Students from the Moholt village are daily passers and locals often come to buy in the grocery store. The majority of the space now is used as car parking for the students, customers and staffs. However, the area doesnt have any designated space for the bike parking. The site is entirely covered with hard surface with few trees on the south and no green space.

Problem Statement

Problem Statement

Considering all the facts which were found out after the interviews, survey, and observations, several issues were discovered in the area. Some of the problems identified after acting in the fieldwork are water supply, parking, drainage, traffic congestion among which traffic congestion is the major problem of the area.

From the data gathered, the major issues found were; the area is unattractive and dead that does not invite the people to spend quality of time in the plaza and the excessive parking lots which has made the area underused, unsafe and aesthetically unpleasant.

Figure 2: Land Use Map (Source: Author)

Figure 1. The fieldwork site, (Source: Google Earth) Existing Parking lots in the vicinity Local residents

Existing structures The main study area: Public square

Moholt Student Village’s residents

Figure 2. Landuse map of study area (source: author)

Strategic Intervention

Strategic Intervention

This part provides the possible solutions to mitigate the traffic snarls with the help of both spatial and non-spatial interventions as well as short-term and long-term intervention. For shortterm intervention, an alternative route and a parking space are proposed to mitigate the traffic congestion. Enforcing bicycle lane and making the area vehicle free is a long-term intervention.

The short-term proposal includes the improvement of the quality of plaza to make it more attractive that invite people to share time.

For long term intervention, converting the north parking lot which lies on the entrance to the plaza into community space is proposed that prioritized the public realm over cars.

Shared parking spaces for the Moholt students, customers, Figure 3 and 4: 3D proposals for: Central plaza above; existing car parking below. and visitors to the area.

Figure 3: Intervention chart (Source: Author)

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Suzie Shrestha (Group 2)

Puspa Tiwari (Group 2)

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CASE 1: WA CENTRAL MARKET AT UPPER WEST, GHANA

GROUP 3

Context

Abdul-Jelilu Seid, Atiqullah Faizy Fatemeh Hajian Jabe, Kritika Singh

Problem Statement

The study area is located in the heart of the Wa Municipality which is the capital town of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Being one of the youngest Municipalities with a population currently estimated at 117,180 (GSS, 2020), it is growing big both in population because of the influx of people from its hinterlands for various reasons including education and economic opportunities and in physical infrastructure.

Situtional Analysis

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The central market provides livelihood for both formal and informal sectors and specifically the informal sector. The usage of walkways by vendors and automobiles in the market clearly shows the activities of the urban poor. This is informal in the market but it forms an integral aspect of the economy.

It was very clear from the interviews with the users of the market that there are many problems that need attention but the pressing issue here has to do with the usage of walkways and spaces at the bus and fuel stations by vendors and automobile. This has lots of safety concerns for some of the stakeholders and especially the shop owners, vendors on appropriated spaces and those at the fuel stations.

Strategic Intervention

Based on the information gathered from the study, some strategic interventions have been proposed to help in addressing informal activities within the market.

Stakeholders with other users, through interactions and interviews, were asked their ideal vision about the market and that helped in these spatial and no-spatial interventions which included a fire tender, fire extinguishers, space appropriation and establishing parking lots for riders.

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CASE 2: MALVIK CENTER, AT MALVIK, NORWAY

CASE 3:TAJRISH SQUARE AT TEHRAN, IRAN Context

Context

Problem Statement

Malvik is a municipality between Trondheim and Stjørdal also neighbored by Selbu Municipality in the middle of Norway, Trøndelag county. The capital of the municipality is in Hommelvik by the old E6 at the coastal side of the ocean.

Approximate dimensions of the Shopping Mall Area: Area: 4.828e+4 m² / 4.828 hectares / 0.04828 km² The Shopping Center is located on the way north of Trondheim by the new highway E6 ring road at Sveberg before you arrive to Stjørdal Municipality.

Population of Malvik Municipality: 14193 (2nd quarter of 2020) This fieldwork report provides analysis of situations in Malvik Center in the Municipality of Malvik in Trøndelag county where the Shopping Mall is located by the E6 highway between Stjørdal and Trondheim at Sveberg. The Shopping Center is facing with lack of customers, shops are being closed and people are losing jobs. The report is the outcome of a three-month research that had to be carried out in different phases within a public space in the community we live where the Mall is selected as a case study.

Methods applied in the fieldwork include direct observation, talking to users, interviews, meetings, transect walk, taking photos and referring to secondary data.

Importing findings and results of data analyzed show that this Shopping Mall as a public space is built in an isolated area away from people, but close to a collection of underpopulated residents in the area. Municipality resident’s accessibility is not maintained regularly through a sustainable means of collective transportation and the Center is lacking service providing facilities that could offer more alternatives for customers to visit the space.

To define major conclusion on reaching to a sustainable solution require turning the Center from being empty environment into an active area. Revising outdated policies and encouraging to a close coordination between Market Owner, Shop Owners and Local Municipality. Accessibility of the residents through Public Transportation regularly during the day and transforming the Center into a community Center to provide multiple services in one square.

Limitations of the fieldwork was language barriers that information was in Norwegian, group gatherings and co-design approaches were unapplicable due to pandemic outbreak.

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Tajrish square is one of the oldest and busiest part of Tehran, Iran.

The existence of various land uses especially commercial and religious absorb many people to this place. Since most of them prefer to rely on their own car traffic congestion is the main issue of the Tajrish is located in the northern part of Tehran, Iran. Tehran place. There are also other problems such as low safety, low qualhas 22 districts and Tajrish is sited in the west part of disity of urban spaces and urban furniture, and high level of air poltrict 1. Tajrish is one of the oldest and busiest part of Tehlution and noise pollution. In order to mitigate these issues some ran. This area which used to be a solitude spot and only has short-term and long-term spatial and non-spatial interventions had a shire and small bazaar, now turned to a commercial can be implemented. place of Tehran. The shrine and bazaar in now considered as landmarks.

Situtional Analysis

There are some uses such as Tekiye Tajrish, Saleh shrine, and Bazaar which defined the identity of Tajrish square. These land uses play an important role in Tajrish on the grounds that they directly affect the social, cultural, political, and economic features.

Strategic Intervention

About non-spatial intervention imposing charge for drivers and reducing the number of parking with high charge as well as accurate time table for public transportation can discourage people to use their private cars and on the other hand encourage them to use public transportation instead.

About spatial intervention, improving the quality of buses and the area of waiting for passengers and improving the condition for active travel such as biking and cycling should also be considered. Changing the material and design of the area in order to reduce vehicle’s speed, improving the quality of inclusive urban furniture would be a great way to improve the quality of public spaces.

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CASE 5: NEWROAD, KATHMANDU, NEPAL Context

CASE 4:UNDERNEATH A ‘BALLIWALA FLYOVER’ AT DEHRADUN, INDIA Context

Problem Statement The fieldwork is located in Dehradun which is the capital city of the state of Uttrakhand, India. With the current estimated population of 895,000 (2019), Dehradun is one of the fastest-growing cities in India, contributing to a very high rate of urban growth.

Situtional Analysis

The flyover establishes the connection between the bus station in the inner city to the outer peripheral road of the city.

The flyover is designed above a roundabout which allows the traffic to directly pass through it. The junction below the flyover is a roundabout which is an intersection of two major road networks in the north-south & east-west direction. This serves as the landmark of the region and is considered to be one of the busiest routes in the city. The neighborhoods access this area every day for commuting. The fieldwork is a mixed-use space and significant areas around the roundabout comprise a market square, series of showrooms, a gas station, and a school along the adjacent stretch. Furthermore, the scope includes vacant areas below the flyover. The reason for choosing this area for the fieldwork is that its management, development, and interventions will directly impact the whole neighborhood and will prove fundamental in improving the everyday experience.

Following is the list of challenges identified in situational analysis during direct observations, transect walks, and communication with the different stakeholders. Additionally, this list can be interpreted as the set of opportunities for growth & interventions in the fieldwork.

Traffic Jam, Air/Noise Pollution, Informal Parking, Pedestrian Safety, Road Accidents, Others – Toilets, Garbage.

Strategic Intervention Spatial intervention is the introduction of walkways for pedestrians along the roadsides.

Regularized parking will solve the parking issue with controlled parking time for each vehicle, let’s say three hours maximum. The regularized parking will also generate an income that can be utilized for the future development of fieldwork. Midterm intervention in this fieldwork is a design intervention to develop green urban activity zones under the flyover. The green zones are small patches of parks for activities like sitting, playing, and interacting. The long-term interventions include developing bike lane networks in the region & using sustainable mobility options for public transport. The strategic interventions proposed are progressive & step wise starting from the short term followed by the midterm interventions to finally the long term. These interventions are interlinked & transitional one leading to another. 25

Problem Statement

The New Road lies in the capital city of Nepal. It is one of the oldest downtowns in the center of Kathmandu valley. It is the busiest marketplace in the central location, near the mid-point of the ring road in Kathmandu.

The road is around 438.50 m long connected with sub streets. The New Road lies in ward no 22 of Kathmandu metropolitan city which had 1,009 households and a population of 5,840 in the ward in 2001.

Situtional Analysis

The problem of the area was identified based on observation, interviews with stakeholders, and survey data collected creating questioners for stakeholders. These methods concluded that some of the major problems that the area is facing are as follows: Increasing informal street vending, Increasing traffic, Waste management, Migration of residents, Earthquake.

Strategic Intervention

The main burning problem in the area was increasing street vending. Proper space management for street vendors is required in the area. The increase in the number of street vendors caused various problems like difficulty in mobility for pedestrians as well as vehicles, pollution, and road accidents.

The main burning problem in the area was increasing street vending. Proper space management for street vendors is required in the area. The increase in the number of street vendors caused various problems like difficulty in mobility for pedestrians as well as vehicles, pollution, and road accidents.

The fieldstudy area Newroad is surrounded by some of the important landmarks like Kathmandu Durbar Square which lies in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tundikhel the largest greenfield of Kathmandu valley. New Road is a financial center for both the formal and informal sectors.

The report consists of physical condition, socio-economic conditation, mobility and accesiblity, stakeholders anlysis, risk assesment and swot analysis of the site.

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CASE 1 RASHT, IRAN Asad Delsouzkha

Problem Statement: The current cause of urban sprawl is mainly due to the economical division in the society. Since my case study is a riparian area, I have included stakeholders of both sides of the river as the target group for reaching the problem statement. One side of the river is the expensive residential neighborhood and the other side is mostly the informal settlement zone in which there are also other types of settlement dispersed. This is reflected on how the stream is definable as a division border between the planned area and areas in which uncontrolled urban expansion is taking place.

Group 4 Asad Delsouzkhaki, Ingvild Høgseth, Paa Kow Acquah and Rosemina Azad

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Strategic Intervention: DESIGN AND PLANNING STAGE a quality access as a bridge to the public space from the other side of the river. This will provide the opportunity for more integration within the area and a new context for future developmental improvement for both sides of the river. The purpose is to solve problem of justice in the case of benefiting from the public space and to solve inequity existing in the area.

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CASE 2

CASE 3

Ingvild Høgseth

Paa Kow Acquah

TRONDHEIM, NORWAY

KASOA, GHANA

Problem Statement

Problem Statement: Not enough space in the park causing congestion and delay in entry and exit in the station. Toilet facilities in the park was also not enough. Lack of office space for drivers in the station.

Facility Managers said the revenue realised in the park was dwindling partly because the economic downturn associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Litering. Theft at night.

Strategic Intervention

Startegic Intervention: Devolve the power from one single entity and share it equally among the stakeholders in such a way that all every category of stakeholder will have an equal level of say in the affairs of the station. The said body or committee should be the statutory and should consist of representatives of all category of stakeholders in the station. In that way, one group would not be over or under represented in the body. Representatives from the various groups should be democratically elected to champion their interest in the committee. an additional toilet can be built in the North-Western part of the facility where land is available.

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CASE 4

Conclusion and Reflection The field work was a new experience for all students along with staff members because the scenarios were different due to COVID-19 pandemic. The course was conducted digitally, and field works were accomplished in different contextual parts of the world. Through the Urban Ecological Planning course, we have gotten the opportunity to work in depth research and stakeholders’ involvement in planning system for possible interventions. As students are from different academic backgrounds, we have learned new methods and means of studying urban areas. It had been a challenge to work together considering individual ways of working, as well as geographical distances and time zones. However, the group collaboration has been rewarding as we have learned alot from different cultures and how there can be both similarities and differences in urban fabrics.

DHAKA, BANGLADESH

Rosemina Azad Problem Statement: Threats

Traffic

Less Customer

Losing jobs

Protests

Crack

Eviction

Noise

Parking

Count

Less women

Cleanliness

Safety

Poor management

Narrow corridor

Fire

Collapse

Stucture

Falling down

Stampede

Loss of Life Slipper Tiles

Loss of Money

Climate

Hot

Reflections on Methods Numerous methods such as transect walk, direct observation, photography and videos, interviews and online surveys to gather information about the case area in respective countries (Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Ghana, Nepal, and Norway). Adapting these techniques- lots of information about the diverse areas facilitated to choose the urban spaces. Likewise, the Situational Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Power- Interest Diagram, SWOT Analysis, Land Use Map improved further to investigate case areas and assess the problems. The methods were effective amid COVID-19 constraint with use of necessary precaution and safety. Co-design and group discussion methods could not be performed during the field study as most of the countries were under the restriction.

Less wind

Sunny

Observation Online study Survey of shoppers

Potholes

Dirty

Less space

Dark

Electricity

Interview of vendors

Strategic Intervention: • Guaranteeing Space for existing renters : 1. markets modules proposal 2. participatory planning with important stakeholders in design phase 3. Maintaing all legal obligations

Reflections on Problems Encountered The greatest challenge this semester has been working together digitally, considering the geographical, timely- and technical boundaries we have met throughout the project.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not been able to work together physically and focused on one common project. Therefore, it has also been difficult to get properly involved in each other’s case studies, as the work has been mostly individual. Although the combined project digged deeper with methods like SWOT analysis- and qualitative and quantitative data analysis, individual project report lags due to insufficient data curation in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. It has also been challenging to combine our different projects into one common format, as everyone has different backgrounds and experiences with editing software. However, we have helped each other through the entire process by dividing tasks based on our individual skills and knowledge.

• Allocating space to vendors during construction period

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Reflections on Strategic Interventions Analysing and evaluating the problems associated with respective case areas- various strategic interventions, were anticipated considering feasible and realistic context. We conclude that the users of the space often know the best about; how to improve and enhance their surroundings. As a planner and researcher, needs their thoughts for urban development.

Names of all the Students Asad Delsouzkhaki Beketa Abdulwehab Rubaid Naskar Rosemina Azad Suzie Shrestha Elham Abdollahzadeh Soniya Adhikari Ingvild Høgseth Paakow Acquah Rabin Sharma Xinyu Zhang Marina Skanche Abdul-Jelilu Seidu Atiqullah Faizy Fatemeh Hajian Jaber Kritika Singh Puspa Tiwari

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THANK YOU