Archive for August, 2004
Re-Claiming Public Space in Bandra Reclamation
Processes of planning and allotment of resources in the city have relied predominantly on the abstract standards and norms given for specific regions — standards that work like thumb-rules, determining the percentage of a particular reservation, based on the population that the reservation has to serve. The Development Plan, and the reservations made therein, are manifestations of planning based on such thumb rules and norms, dictating the distribution and allotment of land as a resource for ‘public’ and ‘private’ uses in the City.
Such planning however fails to take cognisance — commenting here particularly on public spaces — of the varying nature of associations that different groups of people have with public spaces. Such groupings could be economic, based on age or even on gender. Thus, while classical ‘lungs’ such as open greens, maidans, waterfront-promenade developments, public gardens etc. continue to form the predominant definitions of what constitutes ‘public spaces”, the experience of Mumbai seems to provide ample evidence to the production of various “other public spaces” by different groups of people, reflecting their interests and aspirations. In fact, our studies of existing open spaces in the city — Shivaji Park and Oval Maidan — have revealed that the comparative ‘public-ness’ of these open spaces lies in their ability or inability to be able to act as a harbour for various interest groups (and their smaller unplanned public spatial formations). The production of such ‘unplanned’ spaces lies outside the present realm of the planning process. Consequently, the Development Plan — the state’s essential tool for planned distribution of land as a resource — remains devoid of this softer understanding of the aspirations and perceptions of interest groups, and the nature of their associations with and use of public spaces.
Most existing open spaces in the city are either occasional destination points or picnic spots — such as Borivali National Park. Out of what remains for everyday activities, most open spaces are being appropriated for private use, through programmes such as private clubs, or because they are connected to institutions such as schools. This seriously limits the quantum of ‘open spaces as public spaces’, available to the common public for daily use. Newer paradigms of public spaces are being defined through elitist and highly restrictive/exclusive programmes such as shopping malls, club-houses and entertainment parks such as Esselworld. These seem to follow a market logic which serves the interests of the elite consumers and developers, more than of the common public. It is vital for usat this juncture to be able to redefine what constitutes the realm of the ‘public’ and the ‘everyday’. In Mumbai, the notion of “open spaces as public spaces” is being challenged, and is in need of review.
Vasai Virar Sub-Region Comments on Draft DP
In the metropolitan peripheries, development often is synonymous with marginalisation of local communities. Existing policies and plans proposed by state agencies have resulted in severe expropriation of the community-based and natural resources in the Vasai Virar Sub-Region (VVSR), and this project intends to empower these local communities by providing them with bargaining tools for community-led development. This project focusses on areas where acute conflicts have arisen due to developmental pressures, and where resident communities are facing severe marginalisation. It aims towards envisioning short-term (one to three years) and long-term development strategies (five to ten years) in the Vasai Virar Sub-Region. The project methodology includes the formulation of a Local Development Committee (LDC) comprising of various community stakeholders, and institutional and financial mechanisms towards the implementation of the strategy plans Presently, three areas have been identified for community planning interventions:
Vasai Fishing Village (Sector VIII)
Fishing communities have been amongst the earliest settlers in the VVSR. Fishing activities in recent times have been severely affected due to the callous dumping of industrial effluents and urban waste in the creeks and the sea resulting in the loss of ground for fishing. Due to the natural growth of the population these villages have become over populated and face acute infrastructural shortage. Land reclamation in Mumbai, over a long period of time, has resulted into the tidal waves eating up the western coast. Broadly speaking, while deep-sea fishing is a territory controlled by large organizations having sophisticated capacities, fishing activities by indigenous fishermen having weak organizational capacities have been at the mercy of the pressures of urbanisation and threats from the natural environment. In spite of the fishing villages in the VVSR exemplifying all these problems, there is no mention of the fishing villages in the Draft Development Plan for the VVSR (2001–2021). The aim of this project is to initiate a pilot project through the case of Vasai Fishing Village, towards envisioning and strategising local community development.
Kaman Village in the Green Zone (Sector X)
The context for this project is the displacement of cattle sheds from Mumbai and their relocation in the VVSR. The agricultural village of Kaman forms one of the areas where reservations of land use have been made for the relocation of cattle sheds. The disposal of waste from the cattle sheds has affected the land and underground water sources in the region around the Cattle Shed Zone rendering a loss of jobs and livelihood to the farmers and the adivasi (tribal) labour. In the absence of any other form of economic activity, the reservation of land use for the Cattle Shed Zone looms as a severe economic threat for local communities. The process of gentrification, resulting out of the newer programme of the Cattle Sheds, has displaced the adivasi population from their lands and houses. This zone, in the regional context of VVSR, also presents numerous opportunities towards solving the water management and supply problems. In such a context the allocation of the Cattle Shed Zone as a land use is in question, and this project will take the case of Kaman Village for strategising local community development, becoming a bargaining medium for the agricultural and allied community.
Arnala Village in the Plantation Zone (Sector VII)
This project is set in the context of the recent shift of activities from agriculture towards recreation and spiritual tourism in the Plantation Zone, and the promotion of the tourism-based local economies in the Draft Development Plan for the VVSR (2001–2021). Arnala, which is amongst the most populous tourist sites in VVSR, has seen a tremendous growth of resorts and guest houses in the last decade due to the growth of the tourism. Questions have arisen regarding the sustainability of such activities with available water and energy resources and local infrastructure. The local economy, based primarly on agriculture and fishing, has been organised around resident farmers and fishermen, as well as seasonal migrant labour — the tourism economy, however, is based little local participation, and is oriented towards outside business and land interests. While the peri-urban areas have been conceptualised in the Draft Development Plan as tourism and recreation zones, this does not take into account local aspirations or realities. This project will involve the local community in strategising its future development, and suggest ways of strengthening existing local economies in the midst of predatory urbanisation.
Kamathipura-Kumbharwada-Khetwadi (K3G)
In the highly congested inner city wards of the Island City of Mumbai, neighbourhoods are densely populated, with very old, often dilapidated tenements and buildings in which public and common spaces are negligible.The age-old habits of disposing rubbish in ‘common house gullies’ — narrow strips between buildings — creates perennial problems for routine maintenance and overall sanitation in these area, which is the responsibility of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. A number of experiments have been conducted to keep the common house gullies clean, but these have yielded few results due to lack of involvement by local residents and citizens. In view of this situation, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (A, B, C, D and E Ward Offices) approached CRIT to survey and design solutions for collection of garbage in the historic inner-city precincts of Kamathipura, Khetwadi and Kumbharwada, through which more than half of all households will be able to dispose their waste through a new house-to-house system of waste collection and disposal by the municipality. All garbage collection points can be eliminated through this scheme, and the areas can be kept clean throughout the day. This initiative in waste management is coupled with a local urban renewal initiative, in which the existing municipal services and infrastructure is being listed and assessed for uprgradation, estimated investments calculated block and ward-wise, and action plans for implementation have been prepared. Urgent works such as sewerage, storm water drainage, and roads have been assessed within the existing budgetary outlay, and these works are now in progress in Kamathipura, Khetwadi and Kumbharwada.