UNIVERSITY OF LIECHTENSTEIN Institute of Architecture and Planning Fürst-Franz-Josef-Strasse 9490 Vaduz

Author: Hitanshu Jishtu

Thesis Report in partial fulfilment of semester 4 of MA in Architecture,University of Liechtenstein,Sustainable Urban Design StudioSupervisor: Peter Droege DI MAAS MCPIAProfessor Sustainable DevelopmentAssistant: Anis Radzi

Renewable cities in developing countries: RETROFITTING CHANDIGARHHitanshu JishtuSummer Semester 2013

Supervisor Prof. DI MAAS Peter Droege

Master of Science in Architecture SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN STUDIO

4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

5

I would like to thank the university and the administration for providing me the opportunity to undertake this course, and my thesis guide, Prof. Peter Droege for changing my perspective to look at cities, urban spaces and architecture in general.

6

CONTENTS

7

INTRODUCTION 8

RESEARCH QUESTION 10

PART 1: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH: Renewable Cities in Developing Countries 1.1 Need for sustainable cities 14 1.2 Developing Countries 21 1.3 Sustainable Cities 22 1.3 Methodology for Cities in Developing Countries to achieve Sustainability 24

PART 2: CHANDIGARH : The City Familiarized 2.1 Modernist Urban Planning Prototype 26 2.2 Chandigarh 2.21 Background: 34 2.22 The Site 35 2.23 Traditional and Contemporary Precedents 36 2.24 Earlier Design: Mayer-Nowicki 38

2.3 Corbusiers Contribution: 2.31 Corbusiers Vision of Urban Planning 42 2.32 Masterplan 44 2.33 Zoning 46 2.34 Grid Network 48 2.35 Neighbourhood Unit- The sector 50 2.36 Architectural Vocabulary 52 2.37 Landscape and Gardening 54 2.38 Situation Today 56 PART 3: REVISITING CHANDIGARH: 3.1 Modernist City Planning Critique 3.11 Figure Ground Inversion 60 3.12 Functional Zoning: typologies of Work, Leisure & Residence 62 3.13 Road Network: City for the Automobile 64 3.14 Death of Streets 66 3.15 Neighbourhood Sectors: Segregationist City 68 3.16 Repetitive Formality 70 3.17 People the Planners Forgot 72 3.2 Theoretical Grounding for Illustration 3.21 Urban Structure Analysis: Base “City is not a tree” 76 3.22 Space Syntax : Primal Analysis 84 3.23 New Urbanist: Transect 88 PART 4: Illustration 4.1 Master plan Illustration 90 4.2 Detailed Illustration: City Centre Sector 17 98 4.21 Analysis 100 4.23 Exploration of Possibilities 104 4.24 The Approach 106 4.25 The Outcome 110 4.27 Breakdown of Process 112 4.26 Street Vision 114 4.27 Connections 116 4.28 Functions and Public Space 118 4.3 Sustainability 4.31 Renewable Energy Integration 122 4.32 Social Inclusion 124 4.4 Conclusion 126

References 128List of Figures 130Affadavit 135

8

1. ABSTRACT

9

INTRODUCTION: Modernist urban planning innovations of the last century sought to cleanse the cities of the problems brought on by the industrial age: crowding, unsanitary conditions and general pollution. The technologies they were based on has led to automobile dependence, high energy consumption and urban spaces devoid of community life. With industrialization rapidly growing in developing countries, the same solutions are being put in practice at a grand scale (Jishtu 2013).

SIGNIFICANCE: The ideologies and philosophies of Corbusier have been highly influential and Chandigarh was the only place where he actually got a chance to implement his vision of urbanism. The city was built from scratch starting in the 1950’s, and the prototype has been replicated extensively and is still taken as a template for urban planning. This is particular in the developing countries where personal automobile ownership and usage is only now starting to be significant.

CONTEXT : The city was planned with the modernist ideal of having separate areas for living, working and leisure all connected by a network of streets designed with the sole purpose of automobile traffic. Today this planning is questioned for the inherent drawbacks (Lynch 1998) and contemporary theories of urban planning like New urbanism are an antithesis to this, seeking a sustainable place. They suggest to change the zoning based planning with a form based code for the prospect of mixed use areas, reducing travel needs and promoting walkable neighbourhood and streets which have the traditional uses apart from means to get from one point to the next (Calthorpe 2010). The idea of a renewable city envisions the energy needs of the city to be met with renewable forms of energy breaking the fossil fuel dependence which such planning promotes(Droege 2006).

APPROACH: For proposing the illustration I do a theoretical study by reviewing the city on three theories. Christopher Alexander’s theory that “City is not a tree”, Bill Hillers “ Space Syntax theory” and the New urbanist “Transect“ to arrive at a better understanding of the proposal to follow.

OBJECTIVE: The thesis attempts to propose how this urban planning prototype could be transformed from the segregated and single use zones, having an automobile prioritized planning. The intent is on retrofitting for walk able neighbourhood, adapt streets for public transport with more varied functions and incorporate principles of sustainability for mobility, water management and integrating renewable energies into the urban space whilst creating a diverse mixed use neighbourhood.

ILLUSTRATION: The proposal attempts to create new links to the residential neighbourhoods intended as a walk able and sustainable network paths, making the boundaries of the sector porous and merge it with the surroundings. New comprehensive street network is weaved in to bring in new life, with space for informal markets within the matrix to cater to a diverse background of participants. Parking areas are suggested to be consolidated freeing up space in which new functions are introduced to make it a mixed use sector. The energy matrix is tested with an industrial space within the city center which can part meet the requirements of the energy demands with renewable sources. The interventions hope to make the city center an accessible, sustainable and vibrant urban place.

10

RESEARCH QUESTION

11

In the previous semester I had done a research on Renewable cities in Developing countries. The fact that cities in the developed world consume far more resources that those in the developing ones is a known obvious fact. But seeing how this scale of difference is was revealing. The ironic part is that cities in the developing nations are replicating the same types of high resource consumption and this is taken as a sign of progress.

I studied for my bachelors in architecture in Chandigarh and the fact was never missed to be highlight about how great the urban planning of the city is and why it should be idealised. Coming from that background, my perspective changed after being involved with the research and seeing what is being done to change the cities for the realities of a post fossil fuel free era.

Corbusiers ideology on urban planning has been really influential and its still considered as a template to be followed. as had been pointed out by Hoston where he mentions about the political class in developing nations being influenced the most. Its not hard to see the proof, as an example when you see cities in China having developed vast network of roads for cars. The detrimental effect being that whereas 80% of the people in Beijing cycled in the 1990’s today less than 20% do.

My interest to see how this influential urban design could be changed to make it sustainable was the reason for choosing to take up this research topic. Whereas leading cities are taking the initiative to reduce their carbon footprint by 100%, in Chandigarh the administration was aiming for a 5% reduction. My motivation was to see if a more ambitious target could be achieved with the urban design interventions.

With this initiative, the research question I am investigating is

How can modernist cities in developing countries designed with the automobile as focus be transformed for a post fossil fuel era.

For proposing the illustration I do a theoretical grounding by reviewing the city on three theories. Christopher Alexander’s theory that “City is not a tree”, Bill Hillers “ Space Syntax theory” and the New urbanist “Transect“ to arrive at a better understanding of the proposal to follow.

Cities in developing countries need to develop to provide the basic inclusive infrastructure to the inhabitants. With this thesis I am looking to see how the cities can be developed to provide the necessary infrastructure for comfortable living but with consideration for a sustainable future.

12

1. SUMMARY OF RESEARCH: RENEWABLE CITIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

13

This chapter presents a summary of the research conducted in the previous semester on renewable cities for developing countries. In that I had looked at firstly the need to switch over from fossil fuel base as energy source for cities. Followed was the finding about alternatives which could be explored with respect to renewable energies, their integration within the

urban environment, and how cities today are getting to this goal. A study was done to see what the possible impediments could be achieving the same goals in developing countries and finally the research on how these challenges could, and currently, are being overcome to achieve a working model of a renewable city in developing countries.

14

The ecological footprint is the measure of human impact on Earths natural resources. Today based on the human population and the lifestyle, we are currently using more than what the Earth can regenerate, and at current levels we require the resources equivalent to 1.7 Earths to sustain our lifestyles. (ecofootprint.org, 2013)

This footprint is predicted to rise further up if we continue with the current trend. This is happening primarily for 2 reasons, first the growing human population and second, the rising consumption levels.

The resource usage which measures

1.1 NEED FOR SUSTIANBLE CITIES

the ecological footprint is at present heavily skewed with the developed nations requiring much more resources than developing ones. Inhabitants in countries like the USA require the resources equivalent to 5 Earths to sustain themselves, while on the other end of the scale citizens of Bangladesh on an average can get by with resources of 0.6 Earth. (WWF 2010)

But as developing countries are progressing and urbanisation figures are going up they and catching up on the consumption bandwagon too . This is the reason that the prediction for the future on the same path is worrisome and necessitates corrective action.

1. 11 ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

15

Figure 1.1 The Components of Ecological footprint.

Figure 1.2 Number of Earths required if everyone lived as per the per capita consumption figures of the country.

Figure 1.3 The Carbon emissions per capita divided by regions. The difference between the lowest and the highest emitters is 4 times. (UNDP, 2010)

16

Figure 1.4 The projected population of the world, source United Nations Populations Fund 2010.

The human population currently at 7 Billion is predicted to rise further to 9 Billion by the year 2050 (UNFPA 2010). The median age in developing nations is between 20 and 30 in comparison to the older median in developed world, so it is predicted that almost all of this population growth is going to happen there.

Figure 1.6 The Urban population as a percentage of the total population of the country, through the years 1970-2050

source: UNICEF

Figure 1.5 The population growth in smaller cities currently less than 1 million people will probably grow the most.

Source UNFPA 2010

a. GROWING POPULATION

b. INCREASING URBANISATIONThe urbanisation trend has been that as people move away from agriculture based economy to a more service oriented one, urbanisation levels increase. With increased urbanisation, more resources get used. As an example, the average consumption level of a citizen in Beijing is 4 times his counterpart in the rural areas. With current urbanisation levels in most developing nations -exception the South American cities- being very low this is predicted to increase. (UN-habitat 2012)

The pace of urbanisation has been rapid, that in 1900 just 10% of the global population was living in urban areas which now exceeds 50% and is expected to further rise to 67% in the next 50 years.

The urbanisation is increasing the size of the cities, as in 1800, there was only one city, Beijing, in the entire world that had more than a million people; 326 such cities exist 200 years later. Cities occupy less than 3% of the global terrestrial surface, but account for 78% of all carbon emissions from human activities. (WWF 2012)

In developing countries, about 44 per cent of the population currently lives in urban areas, but in the next 20 to 30 years, developing countries in Asia and Africa are likely to cross that historic threshold, joining Latin America in having a majority of urban residents (UNDP 2009)

17

Cities of today are dependent on fossil fuels. Cheap energy was one of the main factors that allowed the explosive economic development that occurred during the last century, especially since the end of the WWII. Cars being able to make it easier for people to travel for the daily needs making suburban growth possible.

Oil, gas and coal together provide 87% of the world energy and they have been convenient, powerful and, until now, still cheap to obtain. Energy for mobility, creating comfort conditions in the built environment, and for industrial

1.2 FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE

Figure 1.7 The Share of Fuels - 1850 to 2008The energy source is primarily based on fossil fuels with a very

small percentage from renewable sources. source: Grubler 2012, Urban Energy Systems

applications, is mainly consumed in the cities, where 75% of the energy consumption takes place. This fossil fuel based growth pattern has been taken as a model in most developing cities today as well and the fossil fuel use is growing there in contrast to developed nations where their use is static or recently even declining. (Newman et all, 2008)

18

More important than the peak oil issue, is the problem brought on by fossil fuel usage. The issue of Global warming being brought on by releasing CO2 from their burning. For centuries the CO2 concentration had been stable but has shot up in the last century since the usage of fossil fuels started. Today having crossed the threshold of 400PPM it is already way past what most climate scientists predict to be a safe level.

Already the effects of global warming

Figure 1.8 Oil Production from 1950 to 2050Availability of conventional petroleum production capacity

is declining – peak having been reached probably around 2006 to 2014.

100

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Question 2.1

How do Human Activities Contribute to Climate Change and How do They Compare with Natural Influences?

Human activities contribute to climate change by causing changes in Earth’s atmosphere in the amounts of greenhouse gas-es, aerosols (small particles), and cloudiness. The largest known contribution comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases and aero-sols affect climate by altering incoming solar radiation and out- going infrared (thermal) radiation that are part of Earth’s energy balance. Changing the atmospheric abundance or properties of these gases and particles can lead to a warming or cooling of the climate system. Since the start of the industrial era (about 1750), the overall effect of human activities on climate has been a warm-ing influence. The human impact on climate during this era greatly exceeds that due to known changes in natural processes, such as solar changes and volcanic eruptions.

Greenhouse Gases

Human activities result in emissions of four principal green-house gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and the halocarbons (a group of gases containing fluorine, chlorine and bromine). These gases accumulate in the atmosphere, causing concentrations to increase with time. Significant increases in all of these gases have occurred in the industrial era (see Figure 1). All of these increases are attributable to human activities.

• Carbon dioxide has increased from fossil fuel use in transpor-tation, building heating and cooling and the manufacture of cement and other goods. Deforestation releases CO2 and re-duces its uptake by plants. Carbon dioxide is also released in natural processes such as the decay of plant matter.

• Methane has increased as a result of human activities related to agriculture, natural gas distribution and landfills. Methane is also released from natural processes that occur, for example, in wetlands. Methane concentrations are not currently increas-ing in the atmosphere because growth rates decreased over the last two decades.

• Nitrous oxide is also emitted by human activities such as fertil-izer use and fossil fuel burning. Natural processes in soils and the oceans also release N2O.

• Halocarbon gas concentrations have increased primarily due to human activities. Natural processes are also a small source. Principal halocarbons include the chlorofluorocarbons (e.g., CFC-11 and CFC-12), which were used extensively as refrig-eration agents and in other industrial processes before their presence in the atmosphere was found to cause stratospheric ozone depletion. The abundance of chlorofluorocarbon gases is decreasing as a result of international regulations designed to protect the ozone layer.

• Ozone is a greenhouse gas that is continually produced and destroyed in the atmosphere by chemical reactions. In the tro-posphere, human activities have increased ozone through the release of gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide, which chemically react to produce ozone. As mentioned above, halocarbons released by human activities destroy ozone in the stratosphere and have caused the ozone hole over Antarctica.

• Water vapour is the most abundant and important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. However, human activities have only a small direct influence on the amount of atmospheric wa-ter vapour. Indirectly, humans have the potential to affect water vapour substantially by changing climate. For example, a warmer atmosphere contains more water vapour. Human activities also influence water vapour through CH4 emissions, because CH4 undergoes chemical destruction in the strato-sphere, producing a small amount of water vapour.

• Aerosols are small particles present in the atmosphere with widely varying size, concentration and chemical composition. Some aerosols are emitted directly into the atmosphere while others are formed from emitted compounds. Aerosols contain both naturally occurring compounds and those emitted as a re-sult of human activities. Fossil fuel and biomass burning have increased aerosols containing sulphur compounds, organic compounds and black carbon (soot). Human activities such as

FAQ 2.1, Figure 1. Atmospheric concentrations of important long-lived green-house gases over the last 2,000 years. Increases since about 1750 are attributed to human activities in the industrial era. Concentration units are parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb), indicating the number of molecules of the greenhouse gas per million or billion air molecules, respectively, in an atmospheric sample. (Data combined and simplified from Chapters 6 and 2 of this report.)

(continued)

b. CLIMATE CHANGE

"The consumption of a finite resource is simply a finite venture and the faster we use the quicker it peaks" M. Simmons. 7

Fossil fuels are finite resources and sooner or later they will be exhausted. Some studies suggest we have already surpassed the peak oil or are very near to it. Possibly the years 2006 to 2014 are cited as the likely time frame for this to occur.

Total world reserves of fossil fuels are assumed to be around 180 billion TCE of natural gas, 300 billion TCE of mineral oil, shale and liquid gas, and 600 billion

a. PEAK OIL FOSSIL FUELS ARE FINITE

are becoming evident with sea levels rising, glaciers melting and more unpredictable weather or freak weather phenomenon becoming all the more common. Figure 1.11 lists some threats which increasing global temperatures bring about.

In summary, there is little option but to switch away from fossil fuel dependence to an alternative resource and this is where the alternative of renewable energies can be a viable solution.

Figure 1.9 The atmospheric concentration of CO2 ,over the last 2000 years. Increase since 1750 can be attributed to fossil fuel use.

Figure 1.10 The relation between CO2 and global warming: The reason CO2 levels need to be controlled. Target atmospheric CO2:

Where should humanity aim?Hansen,J. Sato,M. et all 2008.

TCE of coal (all forms), adding up to the impressive amount of 1,100 billion TCE. On the other side is the world consumption rate, which is currently around 14 billion TCE. The current reserves of fossil fuels assuming steady current consumption figures will only last for a certain time before they run out. Oil in the next 46 years, Gas in the next 60 years and Coal in another 110 years. (Newman et all 2008)

1.21 CONSEQUENCES OF FOSSIL FUEL

19

US & Africa wheat Indian cornunknown

see data for details

unknown

unknown

relative to 1990 sea level

over pre-industrialaverage temperature

knee-highflooding

oceans becomemore acidic as they absorb CO2

Greenland icesheet starts todisintegrate.Will take 50,000years to melt but will raise sea levels by 6m.

Huge amountsof CO2 & methanereleased bymelting perma-frost in Siberiaand Arctic.

Ocean floormethane releasedcausing runawayclimate change.Possibility ofmass extinction.

some inlandtemperatures will reach +10°C(+18°F)

GLOBAL WARMINGIF RELEASED

SCENARIO

ARCTIC SEA ICEANNUAL

REDUCTION

SEA LEVELRISE BY 2100

DROWNINGCITIES

% MORE HEAVYRAIN OVER LAND

HEAT

CORN & WHEATYIELDS

OCEANACIDIFICATION

HURRICANEDESTRUCTIVENESS

SPECIES AT RISKOF EXTINCTION

REALLYSCARY THINGS

15,000,000LAST TIME CO2 LEVELS

WERE THIS HIGH

YEARS AGO

MINIMUM TIME NEEDED TO RE-ABSORB ALL THIS CO2 FROM ATMOSPHERE

300,000 YEARS

How Many Gigatons of Carbon Dioxide...?have we released to date?

more can we “safely” release*?

are left to release?

gigatons31CURRENT HUMANEMISSIONS PER YEAR

TIME BEFORE WE BREAK OUR ‘CARBON BUDGET’

* before 2050 and still have a chanceof staying below 2°C warming

1.4°F 2.7°F 3.6°F 5.4-7.2°F 9-10.8°F

average yearly emissions increase: 3%13 YEARS

500our‘carbonbudget’

2,050in estimated remaining fossil fuel reserves

745in fossil fuelreservesof the top coal, oil & gascompanies

380addedsince 2000

1020Gt

added1850-2000

+

30

40

50

inevitable

+1.5°C

-10%

7%

+7.5%

nightmare

+5-6°C

more acidic150%

35-42%

+37.5-45%

Bangkok

happened

+0.8°C

30% more acidic

increasing globalheat waves

Italy, Spain, Greece deserts

every Euro summer a heatwave

“safe” limit

+2°C

dissolvesstops growing

CORAL

Amsterdam

-20%

13%

+15%

tipping point

+3-4°C

dead

New York

+22.5-30%

15% 75%30% 45-60%

-30-40%

20-26%

0.85M 1.04M 1.24M 1.43M

40%30%

informationisbeautiful.net / data & sources: bit.ly/CO2gigatons

Figure 1.11 What are the consequences of global warming?source: Guardian, UK

20

The potential of renewable energies, solar, wind, geothermal is immense and could theoretically be sufficient to power all our cities with clean dependable power. The challenge is the integration with the uses in the cities. The global potential of various renewable energies as calculated by ecofys listed below in figures 1.13-1.16 (ecofys 2008) shows its substantial and the realisable potential is

c. RENEWABLE ENERGIESINTRODUCTION

PART 1: THE ENERGY REPORT

100 PER CENT RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2050WWF has a vision of a world that is powered by 100 per cent renewable energy sources by the middle of this century. Unless we make this transition, the world is most unlikely to avoid predicted escalating impacts of climate change.

But is it possible to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy supplies for everyone on the planet by 2050? WWF called upon the expertise of respected energy consultancy Ecofys to provide an answer to this question. In response, Ecofys has produced a bold and ambitious scenario - which demonstrates that it is technically possible to achieve almost 100 per cent renewable energy sources within the next four decades. The ambitious outcomes of this scenario, along with all of the assumptions, opportunities, detailed data and sources, are presented as Part 2 of this report.

The Ecofys scenario raises a number of significant issues and challenges. The Energy Report investigates the most critically important political, economic, environmental and social choices and challenges – and encourages their further debate.

How are we going to provide for all of the world’s future needs, on energy, food, fibre, water and others, without running into such huge issues as: conflicting demands on land/water availability and use; rising, and in some cases, unsustainable consumption of commodities; nuclear waste; and regionally appropriate and adequate energy mixes?

The world needs to seriously consider what will be required to transition to a sustainable energy future, and to find solutions to the dilemmas raised in this report. Answering these challenges - the solutions to the energy needs of current and future generations – is one of the most important, challenging and urgent political tasks ahead.

500

2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

Remaining fossil fuels

Substitution of traditional by renewable sources

Aggressive end use energy savings and electrification

Baseline:~520 EJ/a

400

300

200

100

0

Fossil & Nuclear

Renewable Heat & Fuels

Renewable Power

Fina

l Ene

rgy

(EJ/

a)

Fossil & Nuclear

Renewable Heat & Fuels

11WWF The Energy Report Page

Figure 1Evolution of energy supply in the Energy Scenario, showing the key developments. Source: The Ecofys Energy Scenario, December 2010.

Figure 1.12 Study by Ecofys shows how it may be feasible to replace all fossil fuel with renewable sources by 2050.source: WWF 2010

ENERGY OF THE FUTURE

Global potential of wind power

Global potential of water power

THE ENERGY MIX Introducing the energy sources of the future

At the moment, more than 80 per cent of our global energy comes from fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal). The remainder comes from nuclear and renewable energy sources, mainly hydropower, and traditional biomass fuels such as charcoal, which are often used inefficiently and unsustainably. Under the Ecofys scenario, fossil fuels, nuclear power and traditional biomass are almost entirely phased-out by 2050, to be replaced with a more varied mixture of renewable energy sources.

The Ecofys scenario takes into account each resource’s overall potential, current growth rates, selected sustainability criteria, and other constraints and opportunities such as variability of wind and solar sources. Technological breakthroughs, market forces and geographic location will all influence the ways in which renewable energies are developed and deployed, so the final energy breakdown could well look very different - while still based on 100 per cent sustainable renewables.

28WWF The Energy Report Page

Figure 1.14 Potential of Solar power for electricity and heat production.

Figure 1.15 The global realisable potential of wind power that could be practically harnessed, offshore and onshore.

ENERGY OF THE FUTURE

Global potential of wind power

Global potential of water power

THE ENERGY MIX Introducing the energy sources of the future

At the moment, more than 80 per cent of our global energy comes from fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal). The remainder comes from nuclear and renewable energy sources, mainly hydropower, and traditional biomass fuels such as charcoal, which are often used inefficiently and unsustainably. Under the Ecofys scenario, fossil fuels, nuclear power and traditional biomass are almost entirely phased-out by 2050, to be replaced with a more varied mixture of renewable energy sources.

The Ecofys scenario takes into account each resource’s overall potential, current growth rates, selected sustainability criteria, and other constraints and opportunities such as variability of wind and solar sources. Technological breakthroughs, market forces and geographic location will all influence the ways in which renewable energies are developed and deployed, so the final energy breakdown could well look very different - while still based on 100 per cent sustainable renewables.

28WWF The Energy Report Page

Figure 1.16 Most of the large hydro power potential has already been exploited. There is a huge potential from wave and tidal power although todays technology allows only a small potential to be exploited.

Figure 1.13 The global realisable potential of Geothermal energy for heat and electricity production.

sufficient todays available and proven technologies. They could possibly offer a solution to the impeding crisis brought on by the reliance on fossil fuels. The use of biomass, geothermal and solar thermal systems for heating and cooling has considerable potential for increasing the share of renewable energy in developing countries. (UNHABITAT 2010)

21

A number of cities mostly in developed countries have risen to the challenge and are defining pathways to achieve the aim of sustainability. Initiatives like eco-city, one planet living, 1000W society, Carbon Neutral Cities are all aimed to achieve this aim.

As a commitment to this many have drawn out plans to achieve their aims and are working towards it. Melbourne for one is aiming to be Carbon Neutral by the year 2020 and Copenhagen by 2025 The way cities are trying achieve this is by reducing the consumption levels, eliminate wastage and increase the share of renewable energies.

1.3 SUSTAINABLE CITIES INITIATIVES

Figure 1.17 The current emissions of the swiss society and the projections as per the 2000W concept.

1.31 RENEWABLE CITIES: IDEA OF AN URBANISM INDEPENDENT OF FOSSIL FUELS

Melbourne has a programme to reduce energy consumptions in buildings, is encouraging citizens to travel by public transport, bicycle or foot. These measures include the introduction of a bicycle rental program and the creation of new urban infrastructure like new cycle paths which motivate people.

Similar initiatives in other cities are all measures to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions which also have an important positive impact on the quality of life in cities. (Singer 2010)

'100 percent renewable' means an entirely renewable power base for the global economy across the life cycle of energy flows, embodied, operational, transport or stationary.(Droege 2009)

• Carbon Of setting• Emissions Trading

Renewable City

Carbon Neutral City

Different Paths To Sustainability

Figure 1.18 Various studies have calculated and proposed solutions to shift to renewable energies. The figure lists the

achievable potential from within the city region explored with these studies. It is much easier to achieve the targets for heat and electricity with smaller and less dense cities as compared to denser

and bigger ones. Bigger the circle more the population density.

Can cities run without fossil fuels, can they function only with renewable energies?

The renewable city concept propose a quantifiable way to determine the sustainability of the cities. The initiatives mentioned before about sustainable cities have some measurable matrix which is more subjective rather than quantitative.

Renewable cities provides a simple one point initiative to determine the green credentials of the city. This idea has been explored for urban regions, small cities and city districts in research studies. In denser cities it becomes imperative to look beyond the city limits

for renewable sources considering the lower energy density achievable from them, but in smaller cities and larger urban regions it is more easy to achieve the target to replace fossil fuels for energy supply.

Some cities and regions already as of today have achieved the target for full self sufficiency in terms of renewable energy to fulfil most requirements. These cities have achieved the target by substituting the requirement for heating and electricity by alternate renewable sources to fossil fuels. Exemplar ones include VÄXJÖ , in sweden, Samsoe in Denmark, Guessing in Austria among a list of notable ones being added to this list.

22

Developing countries are nations which have not achieved the same level of industrialisation as the developed ones have. There is no real definition to define one, there is one for developed countries which fulfil certain parameters, so all countries which fall out of this are considered as developing nations. They have their own set of issues in the urban environment to take a different strategy to achieve the aim of sustainable cities. Figure 1.20 Developing countries are home to more than 80%

of the worlds population.

Figure 1.21 POPULATION GROWTH LEVELUrbanisation rate as well as population growth levels are very high, with population growth rate more than double of that in

the developed nations.

1. 4 DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Figure 1.19 The world bank classification of countries according to the income levels. The nations in the low and middle income

countries get defined as developing countries.

23

The Urbanisation levels are very low so the future trend as mentioned before may be the increasing city sizes and this calls for urbanisation levels to increase. The energy usage currently is very minimal as compared to developed cities and to maintain this and at the same time providing basic comfort resources and a decent lifestyle is a serious challenge. Then there is the matter of energy sources itself, most predominant energy resource happens to be biomass which in itself is a sustainable renewable resource.

The level of development, poverty levels and lack of infrastructure in most developing cities proves to be a challenge as well as an opportunity as more sustainable renewable based infrastructure could be provided there from the outset.Lastly its the structure of the cities, with generally more dense cities in

Figure 1.22 PRIMARY ENERGY USE (KgOE)1990 to 2009Energy usage in developed nations has stabalised while it is growing rapidly in developing ones .

Figure 1.24 CO2 EMISSIONS PER CAPITA. 1990-2009The last few years has seen a dramatic rise in the CO2 emissions from developing countries as the development catches up but is still almost one third of the emissions of developed nations.

Figure 1.23 GDP PER CAPITAThe income levels are vastly different in developed and developing nations. About 5 times different even between the more developed upper middle income nations and the developed nations.

developing nations, in fact out of the top 20 densest cities, all are it the developing nations. And finally the disparity in income levels forces the cities to have slums side by side with fairly well off places within the same cities. What seems to be a matter of concern though is the planning which still is being done with the same fossil fuel based infrastructure and policies in place which the developed countries are trying to get rid of.

In general the rapidly growing cities in developing countries have a number of common features. Their traditional traffic of pedestrians and bicycles is declining and rapidly growing motorized traffic is filling cities to the bursting point. Parallel with signs of economic growth in many cities, particularly in Asia, is a reduction in life quality. (Gehl 2010)

1.41 CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Figure 1.25 Disparity levels in developing countries are much higher than developed ones. Stark levels of difference in living. are visible even in satellite images where improvished neighbourhoods sit beside affluent ones in Sao Paolo.

24

Figure 1.26 Masterplan of Auroville.

AUROVILLE, India A township in South India started in 1968 to be an experimental township in sustainable living. The focus here is on sustainable living at the community level. The township has about 95 different communities living there each ranging from 3 to 85 families in each. All these individual communities have their own sustainability plan independently and some of them are already relying only onrenewable energies to supply all their energy needs. (AVEC 2012)

Given the challenges mentioned before its is imperative that the strategies for a sustainable city there is different from one in developed nations. The strategies that had been analysed focussed on 4 main themes:

1. Masterplanning2. Mobility3. Renewable Energy Generation 4. Energy Efficient buildings

1. 5 RENEWABLE CITIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

a. Masterplan:

Today’s cities have been modified for the fossil fuel era. Spaced out zones for living and working so people have to travel for each activity, wide roads for car traffic, and buildings designed to function only on a continuous supply of energy. The energy for use ironically is mostly imported from somewhere outside the city region.

The urban planning suggests to focus on intermixed zones for working living and recreation to enable more conveni-ently accessible proximity to each other. While the energy generation integrated with the masterplan will have to be fo-cussed on decentralised energy genera-tion to power the city. In the examples looked at The City of Masdar looks at the master plan as a whole entity. The one major solar power plant is the main energy centre besides the individual building s and open spaces which sup-plement the energy generation. In Au-roville in contrast the planning is more decentralised and each community has own structure to plan for renewable energy incorporation. For energy an integrated planning which incorporates all available renew energy options as in Thisted, Denmark where geothermal, Biomass, solar and waste to energy plants are all integrated together. Figure 1.27 Solar water heaters for low income housing at

Betim, Brazil.Amadalvarez, wikimedia commons

b. Buildings:

Buildings today consume the most energy in cities. To get the city on the target for renewable energies it is thus imperative to get this sector to be en-ergy efficient. In developing nations as mentioned in the previous chapter the energy consumption figures are minimal as compared to the developed nations.The need to build half a billion new housing units, not including replace-ments, industrial and commercial buildings - a sizable investment in any count - will also present a major op-portunity to implement energy-saving design concepts and building techniques to provide environmental comfort and reduce operational costsDefining and raising the building stand-ards can have a profound affect on the overall energy performance. In UK the Code for sustainable homes has defined the minimum standard for dwellings and in Rizhao China, each new building must have a solar water heating system installed by law. Learning from traditional building prec-edent where the centuries old construc-tion knowledge for the region adapted to current needs is one solution as is integrating energy generation systems within the build form to reduce need on external sources.

25

c. MOBILITY:Urban transport is one of the major components in the consumption of energy. It is evident that on average distances increase as the area of the city expands - and longer distances will necessarily consume more energy. Having a sustainable mobility network is the basic need for any city to reduce congestion and increase the quality of urban life for the citizens. Because we can always find new ways to increase our car use, building extra roads is a direct invitation to buy and drive more cars. We can find similar examples in Portland, Oregon; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Seoul, Korea, where dismantling large road systems reduced capacity and the amount of traffic. {Gehl 2010 #3}After 100 years of car traffic, the notion that more roads lead to more traffic is accepted as fact. In Shanghai, China, and other major cities, more roads do indeed mean more traffic and more congestion. {Gehl 2010 #3}

For developing nations Bus Rapid Transport Systems have transformed a number of South American cities and incorporating cycling and walking infrastructures is able to solve the last mile connectivity issue. A number of developed countries alike have been inspired by the examples of Curitiba and Bogota to implement urban improvements and social programs. Particularly the principles of prioritized BRT bus systems have been further developed in among others Jakarta, Guatemala City, Guangzhou,Istanbul, Mexico City, Brisbane and Los Angeles.

Figure 1.29 Bike Sharing in Hangzhou.This bike sharing model is being implemented in 19 Chinese cities to solve the last mile connectivity.

Bicycle traffic already plays a key role in the overall traffic picture in many cities in economically developing countries. New direction and reprioritizing of city policy is underway throughout the world. Fortunately, this includes preferential bicycle traffic in many cities in economically developing countries such as Mexico City and Bogota, Columbia, (Gehl 2010)

d. ENERGY GENERATIONClean renewable energy integrated in the built environment is the need today to address the energy needs. It is being done today with innovative uses and at costs which are affordable for the people even in poorer areas. Innovations like solar micro grids help in integrating the infrastructure geared to meet the needs of people where regular electric grid is not operational. Then there are more than one instance of solar water heating systems being incorporated in poorer areas as in Betim in Brazil and Rizhao in China. Bio-centres which have toilets and bathing facilities on the ground floor, which are associated with a biogas plant underground. The gas from the plant is used in stoves, either in the Biocentre building or in an adjoining property, thus saving firewood. They are operational in many slum areas in African cities now helping supply clean energy in the poverty stricken areas.

Figure 1.31 BIOCENTRE in Lagos slum.Biocentres provide toilet and bathing facilities in slums . They do not require a sewer connection as the waste gets treated on the spot, turned into fuel.

Figure 1.28 BRT Bus in Mexico City.Bus Rapid Transport systems have transformed the mobility infrastructure in a number of South American Cities and this low cost and quicker to implement system is being replicated in many developing cities throughout he world.

Figure 1.30 Bright Roofs Study, Dhaka.Renewable energy potential is immense as this study for Dhaka determines that it is possible to cater to all the current electricity needs with the available roof surface area.

26

Figure 1.33 Smog in Beijing, January 2013The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for the pollution in developing cities to a large extent, and the consequences are now coming to the fore of this unrelenting use. Switching base to renewable sources of energy supply and integrated in the urban environment could possible be a solution to a cleaner and healthier city. Source:zmescience.com

A renewable city is a healthy city where people having the option of staying fit by walking, cycling and avoiding the mess of fossil fuel based pollution. A place where more local jobs are created and it could possibly be a harmonious place as everybody can have access to clean energy resources, and access to infrastructure. It can help create a resilient city which is well prepared to cope with global warming and climate change while at same time the reliance on fossil fuels is diminished.

1. 6 INCENTIVES OF A RENEWABLE CITY IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Figure 1.32 Job-years/GWHRenewable energies requires more local jobs than conventional fossil fuels.

27

...Developing countries in the grip of international lending leveraged policies will also benefit from reform of these policies, to advance 100 percent renewable targets not merely as desirable aspects of sustainable development, but the very condition on which to found sustainable aims such as for example the Millennium Development goals.(Droege 2009)

28

2. CHANDIGARH : modernist city familiarised

29

Chandigarh in this thesis serves as a case study of the prototypical model of urban planning chosen for development in the past half century and still continues today.

This Chapter outlines the features of a modernist city and places the Planning of Chandigarh in its context.

It traces the background of the city and the ideology behind the planning of the city.

30

of urbanism. Following the urbanisation precipitated by the Industrial Revolu-tion, when the main means of transport was by horse or on foot, the introduc-tion of mass transport systems broke the necessarily close spatial relation between workplace and residence. Industrial cities had initially grown in terms of density, after about 1870, with the development of suburban railway systems, they began to grow in area too. The early 1900s saw the development of horse-drawn, and then motorised, trams and buses, and of underground railways. Such developments permitted the decentralisation of residential land uses. (Evenson 1966)

Attempts to clear up and decentralize the city may be seen as a first step at the beginning of the last century in the Garden City Movement and in its fur-ther iterations, the most early examples could be counted are the British New towns. (Carmona 2003)One of the forbearers of this movement was Ebenezer Howard, who proposed redirecting urban growth into these new towns that would surround existing cities. These towns were called Garden Cities. Within this overall decentralized nature, each Garden City would have its own centrality, but be connected by transportation lines to the original city. (Holston 1992)Visionaries took this approach of urban-ism forward the most influential has been the modernism movement in Eu-rope propagated by the group of CIAM (Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne), of which Le Corbusier was one of the proponents.

“Somewhere buried in the mind of every planner is the image of a slumless, smogless, crime-free metropolis bordered by unpolluted waterways, abounding in parks and playgrounds, free of traffic problems, and populated by a democratic, enlightened, and prosperous citizenry consistently engaged in productive and creative work, wholesome family life, and the cultural exchange so inevitably engendered, we are told, by those stimulating contacts which the city provides.“ (Evenson 1966)

GARDEN CITY The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained commu-nities surrounded by “greenbelts” (parks).Radburn was founded in 1929 as “a town for the motor age”. It was explicitly designed to separate traffic by mode, with a pedestrian path system that does not cross any major roads at grade. (Evenson 1966)

Before the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, cities were essen-tially small-scale settlements.During the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, major social and economic changes took place in the western world. With increasing popu-lation, and mechanisation of farming produced surplus labour and at the same time, the increasingly prosper-ous towns and cities of industrial and mining districts offered the prospect of employment and a perceived higher standard of living. This caused a mass migration to towns which led further to the growth of the cities. But without an effective public transport, workers had to be settled close to the factories and this was in relatively poorly con-structed and designed workers' housing, producing unsanitary and unhealthy conditions. (Carmona 2003)

So the need for a new type of urbanism arose when this migration created havoc with the traditional cities. Over-crowding conditions and the pollution because of industries within the city made the urban planners to think for an alternate solution and to solve these problems the theories of that time proposed the alternative urban plan-ning modules to cope with it. Such was the effect on the cities that it has been described in terms as “endless prison of squalor and monotony” (Evenson 1966), and that the city has been viewed by many as essentially a “problem” to be “solved,” in the opinion of some by the dissolution of the city itself. (Haas 2010)

Another reason was the technological innovations, especially in forms of mo-bility were to be incorporated within the urban setting calling for a new type

Figure 2.1 Plan of Radburn, NJ, 1929 by Sir Ebenezer Howard.

31

2.1 MODERNIST CITIES They are also deterministic in the sense that the new architecture always refers to some aspect of the new society; (Holston 1990)

Le Corbusier had insisted that all measurements, all ventilating standards, Lighting,equipment and appliances, and all domestic aesthetics should be the same for all latitudes and all needs. “We must find and apply new methods. .. lending themselves naturally to stand-ardization, industrialization, tailorisa-tion.” He believed that by living with the standardized norms of construction, a city environment could be made much disciplined. (Evenson 1966)

By the 1950s and 1960s, modernist planning was the international norm, ac-cepted as a rational solution, “through decision-making perceived as technical”. It aimed to “produce a co-ordinated and functional urban form organised around collective goals”, and to create a “universal, consensual middle-class society”(Holston, 1990). By the mid-1980s, however, the modernist plan-ning project had been seriously chal-lenged by urban realities among others which indicated it was failing in its own endeavour and promoting an alien typo-logical urbanism everywhere.

Modernism searched for alternative, utopian futures through the pursuit of knowledge and objective science. The modernist project has defined urban planning for most of the twentieth century, and remains dominant. Aiming to solve the social crises of industrial capitalism, ‘the project of modernist planning is to transform an unwanted present by means of an imagined fu-ture’ (Holston, 1990). The start of modern period in urbanism is sometimes linked to Tony Garnier and his Cite Industrielle, displayed in Paris in 1904. It became unique because it embraced the basic principles of mass production and industrial efficiency and applied them to city form. The plan rejected the past historical styles and offered a ‘machine age community’ of hydro electric plants, aerodromes and highways all strictly segregated accord-ing to functions. It also separated the building from the street and the pedes-trian from vehicular traffic, so in a way the start of the modernist idea of urban planning. (Tungare 2001)

One of the central design themes of modernist movement was the strict separation of societal functions. Mod-ernist architecture redefines each of these elements and classifies urban social activities into the four functions of housing, work, recreation, and traffic. (Hoston 1990) There would be separate zones for workplaces, residences, shop-ping and entertainment centres. Where possible, work zones were to be further subdivided into office buildings and fac-tories. This principle became standard urban-planning doctrine in Western countries for most of the century. Zoning may thus be defined as the correlation, or typologizing, of social activities, building forms, and planning conventions. Unlike its precursors in the nineteenth century, modernist planning bring together the preindustrial activi-ties into “sectors” of “urban functions.”

The typologies of modernist master planning are not only total in the sense that they impose a totally planned city.

Figure 2.2 City for 3 Million, Le Corbusier.

Figure 2.3 Tel Aviv by Sir Patrick Geddes. 1927 was one of the earlier modernist town planning initiatives.

Figure 2.4 Brasilia, perhaps the only city which follows the rules of modern urbanism most succinctly.

32

From 1928 to the 1960’s CIAM (Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne) remained the most important forum for the international exchange of ideas on modern architecture. It was an organi-zation founded in 1928 by 28 European architects organised by Le Corbusier. It is responsible for a series of events and congresses arranged around the world with the objective of spreading the principles of the Modern Movement focusing in all the main domains of architecture. CIAM’s meetings and pub-lications established a consensus among architects on the essential problems confronting architecture giving special attention to those of the modern city.

The Athens charter promulgated by Cor-busier in 1943 defines the objectives of city planing in terms of four functions. “The keys to city planning are to be found in four functions: housing, work, recreation (during leisure) and traffic” The last function traffic “brings all the other three usefully into communica-tion”. (Evenson 1966)

What distinguished modernist zoning from its precursors is the conception that urban life may be understood for planning purpose in terms of these four or five functions. According to these principles in terms of the defined func-

LIVING

INDUSTRIALNATURE

COMMERCIAL

tions and more important that they should be organised as mutually exclu-sive sectors within the city. Together with the circulation this organisation determines the internal order and over-all shape of the CIAM city.

The force of this Charter lies in giving the place to each function in the city independent of the others, first to the dwellings: the environment of living. The second place is given to the ‘work-ing’, The third is the leisure defined as “culture of body “on one hand and an “intellectual leisure” on the other. To connect them together it relied on technological innovations of mobility for circulation. “When all these goals have received their definitive contain-ers it is possible to give to each of them a respective rightful place and at this moment can interfere the problem of realizing the contacts: that is circula-tion”. (Holston 1990)

CIAM demanded that housing districts should occupy the best sites, and a minimum amount of solar exposure should be required in all dwellings. For hygienic reasons, buildings should not be built along transportation routes, and modern techniques should be used to construct high apartment building spaces widely apart, to free the soil for large green parks. Brasilia perhaps comes closes to what a city built on this ideology would be like. (Holston 1990)

2.11 CIAM DOCTRINE

Figure 2.5 Separation of Functions in a City as propagated by modern urbanist ideals.

33

The influence of the movement on twentieth-century architecture was vast. Planners and designers around the globe undertook projects along the lines set out in the manifestos and at the international architectural congresses that were organised. Perhaps the closest thing to a high-modernist city in exist-ence today, built fully according to the principles, is Brasilia.

In Brasilia's elaborate central plan, housing, work, recreation, and public administration were all segregated into different zones. “The plan made not the slightest concession to residents' habits, desires, or traditions.” Brasilia provides no clue to its own history; it could have been anywhere. “Brasilia is a state-imposed city.” Many aspects of life that would elsewhere have been left to the private sphere were minutely organized. All residents received similar housing. Brasilia's planners grouped the apartment buildings into superquadra to foster a collective life. Each superquadra (roughly 360 apartments housing 1,500-2,500 people) had its own nursery and elementary school. Each grouping of four, superquadra had a secondary school, a cinema, a social club, sports facilities, and a retail sector. (Holston, 1990)

The criticism of Brasilia has been im-mense for the kind of environment it creates of the city. People are relegated to the background and the whole city is like a monument. In Brasilia no streets function as public gathering places; there are only roads and highways to be used exclusively by motorized traffic. “One could fairly say that the effect of the plan has been to design out all those unauthorised locations where casual encounters could occur and crowds could gather spontaneously. “There is a square. The square was a vast, monumental Plaza of the Three Powers, flanked by the Esplanade of the Ministries, is of a scale that would dwarf even a military parade. In comparison, Tiananmen Square and Red Square are positively cozy.” (Gehl 2010)

People who move to Brasilia discover it as a city without crowds. They complain that it lacks the busy corners. the bustle of street life, and the small-scale facades that animate a sidewalk for pedestrians. Of the criticism of Brasilia, one author put it as “It is almost as if the founders of Brasilia planned not to make a city but to prevent one “ (Tungare 2001.)

Figure 2.6 Concept Planning of Brasilia, Lucias Costa. 1956

Figure 2.5 Brasilia, high rise apartment blocks for living.

34

The idea of the Chandigarh- a new city was conceived in 1947, immediately after the independence and partition of India. In the period that followed the division of Greater India into 2 separate countries of India and Pakistan in 1947, an estimated seven million families of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims migrated in between the two new nations.(Evenson 1966) The state of Punjab in undivided India was divided into two and well in this partition and Lahore, the beloved an-cient city of the Punjabis and the former capital of undivided Punjab, was allo-cated to Pakistan. This created an urgent need to find a new seat of governance for the Indian state of Eastern Punjab: to make up for the psychological and emo-tional loss of Lahore and for housing the refugees.

Besides creating a centre for govern-ance and rehabilitating refugees from West Pakistan the new capital was also

The site chosen is free from the existing encumbrances of old towns and old tradi-tions. Let it be the first large expression of our creative genius flowering on our newly earned freedom. —PANDIT NEHRU

intended to recreate the rich cultural legacy of Lahore.

The decision to build a new city seemed like an extravagant decision at the time, but there were practical justifications. After partition, the population of all the existing towns in East Punjab had more than doubled on account of the migra-tion of displaced persons from Pakistan. “Most of these towns, even before partition, lacked essential amenities such as adequate drainage and water supply and none of them had schools or hospitals which could meet the normal needs of the population according to modern standards for such services.” (Malik 2009)

The new city was thus needed not only to serve as a capital but also to reset-tle thousands of refugees, so there was already a large population waiting to settle in the new city even before it laid ground.

2.2 CHANDIGARH

2.21 BACKGROUND

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDYIn this thesis Chandigarh is an exemplar of the tenants of modernist city planning. Proposed by avant-garde groups in Europe and then adopted in India, the tenants constitute a radical reconceptualisation of city life. As put in by Holston in the case of Brasilia, “what is found there in totality has been copied in fragments large and small in cities throughout the world because in the last century of phenomenal urban growth, architectural theory, debate, education and practice have been set in modernist terms.” (Holston 1990) Similarly for Chandigarh , the city planning itself has been highly influential with it being regarded as an ideal urbanising model. As such it has

been replicated in urban development projects since its inception. It is a module having been copied in terms of its basic structure thereafter. “It is not too great a generalisation to say that the modernist vision of a new way of life has fundamentally altered the urban environment in which nearly half the worlds people live.“ (Gehl 2010) Nonetheless despite the changing trends, “If modernism is dying, it nevertheless remains dominant, at the very least in the third world”. (Holston 1992) A study therefore offers an opportunity to evaluate its dominant assumptions in a context to search the possibilities of its transformation to the current ideals.

Figure 2.6 Undivided India. circa 1947

Figure 2.7 New Towns in India based on Chandigarh’s Planning concept. image source Mohan, 2012

Figure 2.8 Plan of New capital City Gandhinagar for a population 150,000. It follows the planning concept of Chandigarh with similar sector layout.

35

LOCATIONLying on the longitude of 76o 48 minutes and latitude 30 degrees 50 minutes, the site chosen for the new city was almost flat laying at the base of Himalayas, with the altitude varying from 304.8 to 365.76 above sea level. The site would possess direct road con-nections with Patiala, Rajpura, Ludhiana and other Punjab towns, and a railroad connection with the main Delhi-Kalka line. (Evenson 1966)

The site is bound by two seasonal rivulets about 10 Kilometres apart, the Patiali Rao to the west and the Sukhna Choe to the east. Although some found the spreading plain of Chandi-garh monotonous, the architects of the city were unanimous in praising the dramatic beauty of the site. Jane Drew Corbusiers Team member, found there “a quality of beauty hinted at in the paintings of Giotto—a quality due to the light, producing at the same time olive and tender pale greens against the vast cyclorama of the intense blue sky of the north Indian plains. Thus the eye is led up to, and is always roving over the background of the endless ranges of the Himalayas, where sometimes, even when the plains are hottest, snow caps

Figure 2.10 DRAINAGEThe flat and gently sloping site is located between two seasonal rivers, Patiali-ki and Sukhna Choe, some 8km apart. On of the streams has been damned to form the sukhna lake on the north while the seasonal rivulet in the middle is carried on along the leisure valley.

River Satluj

10 5 0

River Y

amun

a

To Delhi, 250 Kms ( from Chandigarh)

Ludhiana Pop. 1.6 Million

PatialaPop. 400,000

Ambala Pop. 200,000

Yamunanagar Pop. 350,000

Chandigarh Pop. 1.5 Million

may be seen.” Le Corbusier stated, “The site is marvellous. It is a big chance to have such a view.” (Evenson 1966)

CLIMATEThe climate is one of extremes, with temperature rising to unbearable levels in summer and falling to almost freezing in winter. Total rainfall is in the range of 1.0 m. mostly from July to August in summer. Prevalent winds are from south-east in summer and north-east in winter. The most pleasant season is the transition period from summer to wind-er and vice versa consisting of about five months of crisp, clear weather. In winter temperatures may go down almost to freezing. The summer brings dry heat accompanied by dust storms and hot winds with temperatures often reach-ing as high as 45°C. before the breaking of the monsoon in July, after which the weather continues hot and humid until September when the mild weather begins. Maxwell Fry a team member of Corbusier once commented, "it is not one climate, but six; and it took us a long time to recognise which season governed the others." (Evenson 1966)

Figure 2.9 Location of Chandigarh in the region

Figure 2.11 Weather Data for Chandigarh. The climate is that of extremes with hot summers and getting down to almost freezing temperatures in winter.

2.22 THE SITE

36

2.23 TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY PRECEDENT

There is little in to show in terms of urban “planning” in Indian cities having gone systemic decay, although the treatise on urban planning in India - the Mänasära Silpa-sästrasone is one of the oldest in the world. (Evenson 1966) Also is the the astonishing wealth of public and sacred buildings and the sophisticated housing structures do necessarily suggest a high development of urban culture and highly articulate knowledge of planning and urbanistic methodologies. In fact Harappa and Mohenjo Daro dating from 1500 BC are only the two major discovered cities of a large urban area counting no less than 100 cities. Regardless of the ordered standards by which they may have been initially planned, however, many Indian cities came to encompass a hodgepodge of accretive growth which may have buried the original urban scheme. (Evenson 1966)

The major commercial cities of India, Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta owe their origins to trading centres established by the British, and have expanded in

the same uncontrolled manner as had commercial cities in the West, Exhibiting the same characteristics of congestion and sprawl complicated by additional problems of poverty, unemployment, and overpopulation.

New Delhi, laid out as a new national capital in 1931 by Edwin Lutyens, with a Beaux-Arts plan and suburban densities, had also been subjected to rapid growth, having received a heavy influx of refugees after partition. (Malik 2003)

Most cities though without a formal design, still respected the vernacular with narrow streets which remains a shaded avenue so important in the hot tropical sun. The streets being life of the city which with their myriad hues giving vibrant character to the place.

The houses are inward looking courtyard houses which suit the climate providing shaded areas in the hot sun but allowing it crucially to enjoy in the cold winters. Similarly, residential neighbourhoods are usually organized off from the

Figure 2.13 New Delhi by Edward Lutyens, 1931New Delhi was planned as a Beaux Arts-style Garden City, replete with extremely large building plots and wide boulevards arranged in monumental symmetry.

37

Figure 2.12 Plan of Jaipur, India circa 1770.

main street in narrow lanes which would be usually a commercial hub and they feature all the activity areas along it. Moreover, all residential neighbourhoods always support a variety of commercial establishments—typically on the ground floor of houses—for the everyday needs of the community.

In cities where spatial distinctions based on industrial class relations had arisen, the actual experience of the city is still one of a segregation of classes in most areas. Moreover, wealthy neighbourhoods are often immediately contiguous with poor ones, and in the most dramatic examples of the spatial proximity of socially distant strata, the poorest (illegal but often permanent) squatter communities are found inside middle-class districts. While Indian cities are historically differentiated into several domains, it being a vast country with differing cultural settings, the experience of each, and the quality of its daily life, are a heterogeneous.

As to architectural styles, it has been

said by one observer that “taking the wide view, almost all Indian architecture is international.” (Evenson 1966)Certainly the Mogul tradition has by now become as Indian as it is Moslem, and almost every foreign group to settle in India, including the Dutch, Portugese, and French, has made its architectural mark on what is now considered local vernacular. (Evenson 1966)When Chandigarh was contemplated, the focus thus of urban planning in India was unclear. In the 1950s and ’60s, the idea of a modern city was vital, especially to a new independent country. Local traditions tended to be associated in the minds of many Indians with an obsolete way of life and were considered inapplicable to conditions in mid-twentieth century. (Evenson 1966) The statement by Nehru “Let it be the first large expression of our creative genius flowering on our newly earned freedom” (Evenson 1966) was not merely the expression of an intention but a statement of fact. Chandigarh was intended to serve as a model in city planning for India and even the world.

Figure 2.14 Jaipur Urban spaces. Traditional buildings follow the generic of narrow streets and mixed use of buildings, while buildings open up into courtyards for all year climatic comfort.

38

Although Chandigarh is now forever linked with the name of Le Corbusier, he was not the Government of India's 'first choice'. In the late 1940's very few lndi-an architects were professionally trained in town planning so it was necessary to look abroad for a man to carry out the Chandigarh scheme. The search led to the USA and Albert Mayer. Not only was he experienced, he was associated with American architects and thinkers Lewis Mumford and Clarence Stein.

Albert Mayer partnered with the young Polish architect Matthew Novicki and the they evolved a fan shaped Master Plan based on the garden city concept, and worked out conceptual sketches of the super block. The Plan drawn out placed the capitol complex housing the governing buildings at the north, industrial zone in the east and university zone in the west. The super blocks were arranged around curvilinear streets and a city centre was proposed along 2 wide avenues in the middle.

The super block was designed as a self –sufficient neighbourhood units placed along the curvilinear roads and com-

2.24 EARLIER DESIGNprised of cluster type housing, markets and centrally located open spaces.May-er characterized his method of approach as "empirical" rather than formal, with the physical aspect of the city growing from a conception of life within it. The generating factor of the Mayer plan was therefore the residential neighbour-hood, the overall urban form evolving from the multiplication of such units, rather than from a single dominant formal concept. (Evenson 1966)

In attempting to produce an appropri-ately Indian plan, Mayer had explained, he was not thinking in terms of Indian archaeology, but of modern India. The basic unit of the Chandigarh plan, the superblock, or neighbourhood unit, was described as particularly suitable for India, where much of the population still follows to the village tradition, where "many city dwellers are still villagers and small community people at heart and fairly recently by origin." In describing the basic system, he explained that he was seeking to avoid the "over-scale ste-rility and stiltedness of New Delhi and the over-monumentality of Washington, D. C." (Evenson 1966)

Figure 2.16 Initial concept sketches for the Plan of Chandigarh: Albert Mayer. 1949

Figure 2.17 Drawing from the tradtional vernacular precedent, the housing in superblocks was arranged around courtyrds in Mayers Plan, all set within central garden space.

39

The original plan had romantic connota-tions in it, as mentioned by Evenson. Mayer divided the life of the city into two major functions: The “everyday function amounts to dwelling and work-ing; the holiday function to recreation.” The everyday function is responsible for the pattern texture of the city plan. The holiday function is responsible for the basic conception of the great scale com-position. “In planning the holiday func-tion for the entire city, it is legitimate to strive for magnifying the space which means that there should be a complete continuity of one composition instead of dividing it into unrelated parts.” The planning of the landscaping was inte-grated in as, “In our plan there should be a continuous park system tying all parts of the city with the hills, the great park, the public forum, and the capitol area.” But the whole city was not an au-tomobile dependent one in their vision. “The holiday function can depend very largely on a mass pedestrian movement, just as the everyday function depends

on mass transportation.“

A curving network of main roads was supposed to surround the residential su-perblocks, each of which was to containa central area of parkland. Two larger parks are depicted stretching through the city, and to the east is an area set aside for industry. The initial develop-ment of the city was to take place in the northerly portion of the site, with pos-sible expansion projected toward the south. The flatness of the site allowed almost complete freedom in creating street layout, and what is of interest to note that the overall pattern deliberate-ly avoids a geometric grid in favour of a loosely curving system. (Evenson 1966)

Unfortunately the death of Nowicki in a plane crash brought the work to an end as Mayer felt the task was too over-whelming for him to complete alone.

Figure 2.18 Leaf Plan by Albert Mayer for Chandigarh. free curving streets and large green spaces were reminiscent of the Garden City Concept planning.

40

2.3 CORBUSIERS CONTRIBUTION

After the initial team withdrew from the project, a search for the new architect led them to Europe and this is how Corbusier got associated with the project for Chandigarh.

Chandigarh offered him a chance to implement his visions of urban planning and the Athens Charters functional concept as developed in 1933 under his guidance: a city with separate areas for “working”, “living” and “ care for the body and spirit”, connected by a dominant road system to ensure “circulation”.

The team he has settled on included his cousin Pierret Jeanneret, and the english couple Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew besides a contingent of local apprentices to be trained in India. Le Corbusier took charge of developing the master plan, designing the capitol

complex, and establishing architectural control. The others were concerned with directing the actual construction of the city and designing the remainder of the city’s buildings, including housing for government employees, schools, shopping centers, hospitals, and other civic structures. (Evenson 1966)

The story has acquired the quality of a myth: “within four day of arriving in India in February 1951, Le Corbusier had already modified Albert Mayer`s original fan shaped plan, applying the rules of his hierarchical "V7" road concept and laying the city out according to the guidelines of the CIAM`s Athens charter.” (Malik 2004)

Figure 2.19 Studies by Le Corbusier for the master plan of Chandi-garh.

Figure 2.20 Studies by Le Corbusier for the sector layout.

41

Although Le Corbusier made many radical changes in the Americans' master plan,incorporating his own architectural and city planning ideas, it is a tribute to Mayer and Nowicki's vision that he incorporated several of their main ideas. The basic framework of the master plan and its components - the Capitol, City Center, university, industrial area, and a linear parkland - as conceived by Mayer and Nowicki were retained by Corbusier. The restructured master plan almost covered the same site and the neighbourhood unit was retained as the main module of the plan. The Super block in Mayer's plan was now replaced by what was called the 'Sector' covering an area of 91 hectares, which was approximately that of the size of three-block neighbourhood unit planned by Mayer. The City Center, the railway station and the industrial areas by and large retained their original locations.

The neighbourhood unit retained its centrality in Le Corbusier's plan. But the differences lay in the configuration of the neighbourhood units. While Mayer

had preferred a naturalistic, curving street pattern without the rigidity of a rectilinear geometric grid -- Le Corbusier was adverse to "solidification of the accidental". (Evenson, 1966) For Le Corbusier the straight line was the logical connecting path between two points, and any "forced naturalness" was superfluous. As Holston Points out, Le Corbusier always looked at the city plan in terms of a single cohesive monumental composition - with major axes linking the focal points of the city. “The emphasis on visual cohesion between the various city components was an essential feature of his somewhat rigid grid iron plan.” ( Holston 1990) Other similarities are the employment of a scheme of traffic separation integrated with a basic superblock unit forming the fabric of the city. The most striking difference between the two plans is in the rigid rectilinearly of Le Corbusier’s design which envisaged a strong dependence on automobiles for circulation.

Figure 2.21 Corbusiers team for the New Capital Project: from Left: 1. Le Corbusier, 2. Pierre Jeannert 3. Maxwell Fry 4. Jane Drew

42

“In the context of utopian city and city planning, Le Corbusier is one of the pio-neers who introduced the idea of living in a city that is actually planned, designed and then built. He forced people to think what it will be like to live in an environ-ment that is predetermined. ” (Tungare 2001)

Charles-Edouard Jeanneret was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, in 1887. Trained as an artisan, apprentic-ing under Auguste Perret in Paris he adopted the name Le Corbusier in early 1920s. At the age of 30 he moved to live in Paris and in 1918 published the Purist manifesto, Après le cubisme and in 1920 with the poet Paul Dermée, founded L'Esprit Nouveau. It presented ideas in architecture and city planning which fought against the 'styles' of the past and against elaborate nonstructural decoration, and defended functional-ism. The articles written by Le Corbusier were collected and published as 'Vers une Architecture'. Later translated as “Towards a New Architecture.” (Tungare 2001)

"A house is a machine for living in" and "a curved street is a donkey track, a straight street, a road for men" are among his famous declarations. His books, whose essential lines of thought were born of travels and lectures hardly changed at all in years, constituted a bible for succeeding generations of architects.

In 1922 he became associated with his

2.31 LE CORBUSIER AND HIS VISIONS OF URBANISM

cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and together they opened a studio. The years from 1922 to 1940 were as remarkably rich in architecture as in city planning projects. As was always to be the case with Le Corbusier, unbuilt projects as soon as they were published and circulated, cre-ated as much of a stir as did the finished buildings.

Corbusier had a fascination with automobile and he his ideology of city planning was focussed primarily on this rather than cities for people, “cit-ies must be demolished aim rebuilt at higher densities, to make room for cars, otherwise, things would become as bad as New York, where the congestion is so complete that businessmen have to leave their cars on the outskirts of town and take the tube to their offices. Quelle horreur!” (Scott 1999)

Le Corbusier stated that: “Unless we replace our current haphazard ar-rangements there is no salvation.” He proposed remaking the center of Paris into a modernist city of 3 million; The metropolis where nothing of the old remained. Transportation was clean, organized, and partially invisible. In his

Figure 2.22 Corbusier with the Plan of Chandigarh Le Corbusier’s association with the city was purely fortuitous, a result of Nowicki’s sudden death in August 1950. After years of struggle in Rio, Algiers, Saint Die and Bogota, Le Corbusier, at the age of 62, had the rare opportunity to apply his theories to the design of a new city. Chandigarh was to be his most momentous assignment: the only urban plan of substance he implemented.

43

description he states: “The city of to-day is a dying thing because its planning is not in the proportion of geometrical one fourth.” (quoted in Evenson 1966) The result of this vision was a proposal for a large scale redevelopment of a large area of Paris, which was a city based on a strict grid pattern with cells containing ‘skyscrapers in the park’ and large high-rise developments within areas of open space creating a high population density in the center of the city. The road system itself was segre-gated depending on the type of traffic. Each element in the city has a defined location and there is no overlapping of functions. The huge central station sur-rounded by skyscrapers for business, an area for municipal buildings, universities and museums, the park. On the other side of the city was the industrial quar-ter. The whole city was surrounded by a ‘protected zone’ separating it from the suburban garden cities. The main point to emphasize was that everything had its place and was strictly segregated. (Evenson 1966)

Le Corbusier did not fare well in inter-national competitions, but he produced town- planning schemes for many parts of the world. At one the or another he designed buildings or proposed city-planning schemes for Paris, Stockholm, Geneva, Barcelona, Moscow, Marseilles, Algiers, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires,

He promoted hugeness, hierarchy, and centralism in city structure, and was tremendously influential in leading other modern architects in the same direction. He called for “universal total city planning,” urging “let’s make our plans on a scale with twentieth-century events, Huge!” (Holston 1990)

In his designs for a new “business city” for Buenos Aires, for instance, the full plan can be discerned only from a great distance. Buenos Aires was pictured in his drawings as if seen from many miles out to sea. In his vast housing scheme

for 90,000 Rio de Janeiro residents, the project was seen as if from an airplane miles high. Le Corbusier proposed that the project would “behold a six-kilometer-long highway elevated 100 meters, enclosing a continuous rib-bon of 1 5-storied apartments.“ His proposed cities could be anywhere: free of context, history, or tradition and his schemes the vehicular and pedestrian zones and the functional zones of the settlements were always emphasized. He had no patience for environments that had grown up independently over time. “A city should be treated by its planner as a blank piece of paper, a clean table-cloth, upon which a single, integrated composition is imposed”. His new cities were supposed to be organ-ized, serene, forceful, airy, ordered. (Holston 1992)

He prepared in 1945 two plans for the cities of Saint Dié and La Pallice-Rochelle. At Saint Dié, he proposed regrouping the 30,000 inhabitants of the destroyed town into five functional skyscrapers. These plans were rejected, but they subsequently circulated throughout the world and became doc-trine. (Holston 1992)

Unfinished concrete, with windows sheltered by enormous concrete sun-shades, the sculptural facades, swoop-ing roof lines, and monumental ramps are principal elements of his architec-ture, which immediately influenced architects all over the world.

It was only in 1951 that the govern-ment of the Punjab named him archi-tectural advisor for the construction of Chandigarh. It was For the first time, Le Corbusier was able to apply his princi-ples of city planning on a metropolitan scale and actually have it built.

Figure 2.23 Radiant City by Le Corbusier

Figure 2.24 and 25 Contemporary City for 3 Million, Le Corbusiers Plan for the densification of Paris.

Figure 2.26 Corbusier, freeing up the land by raising functions above ground.

44

Chandigarh comes across as a radically unfamiliar view of total urban order, especially to those familiar with the general disorder and chaos of Indian city streets. The Master Plan creates order by organizing city life in terms of breaking down it down into functional order. The first instance is replacing the street and its system of public spaces

2.32 MASTERPLAN - THE CONCEPT

with a system of traffic circulation dedicated to automobiles. The city that results features a new and total order of parts, in terms of the modernist functions of work and residence. These proposals are firstly to organize the city into exclusive and homogeneous zones of activity based on a predetermined typology of his defined urban functions.

The city planning was a part of the exercise and Corbusier also framed out a set of rules, which he termed as the ‘edict’ of Chandigarh. The edict of Chandigarh is an important reflection of his thought process which is summarised here.

“The city of Chandigarh is planned to human scale. It puts us in touch with the infinite cosmos and nature. It provides us with places and buildings for all human activities by which the citizens can live a full and harmonious life. Here the radiance of nature and heart are within our reach.” (Corbusier, 1950 as quoted from the official website of the Municipal Administration of Chandigarh)

According to the Edict, the city is composed of sectors, each 800 M by 1200 metres, enclosed by roads allocated to fast mechanised transport and sealed to direct access from houses.

Each sector caters to the daily needs of its inhabitants which vary from 500 to 25000 inhabitants and a green strip oriented longitudinally in the north direction stretched centrally along the sector in the direction of the mountains. Along this green strip are to be accommodated schools, sports fields, walks and recreational facilities for the sector. Vehicular traffic is completely forbidden in the green strips where ‘tranquillity shall reign and the curse of

noise shall not penetrate.’ The roads of the city are classified into seven categories, the “sept vois,” or as a system of seven ways.

V-1 Fast roads connecting Chandigarh to other towns; V-2 Axial roads; V-3 Fast vehicular roads; V-4 Free Flowing shopping streets; V-5 Sector circulation roads; V-6 Access roads to houses; V-7 Footpaths and cycle tracks

According to the edict, Certain areas of Chandigarh are of special architectural interest, especially where harmonized and unified construction of buildings was aimed at. Absolute architectural and zoning control is to remain operative where skyline, heights, character and architecture of buildings as planned were not to be altered. No building is to be constructed north of the Capitol Complex. In the industrial area only such industry as that powered by electricity would be permitted, so that the atmosphere could be saved from pollution-

The Lake is considered a gift of the creators of Chandigarh to the citizens and its tranquillity to be guaranteed by banning noises.

THE EDICT

45

Figure 2.27 Concept plan of Chandigarh: The urban form of Chandigarh is a tidy chequer-board pattern, adapted to the particular attributes of the site, resulting in a distinctive distribution of functions and a hierarchy of roads. This city was to be free of the familiar overcrowding, pavement dwellings and squatters’ shanties of many Indian towns. Le Corbusier’s basis for the plan was the ‘sector’ (subdivided into ‘urban villages’ of about 150 families, equivalent to the average traditional settlement found in the Punjab). A classified circulation pattern resulted from his theory of the even Vs (les sept voies). A regular grid of traffic routes (V3) defines the various sectors. These introverted sectors are self-sufficient living units, con-nected through V4 traffic routes. (Architectural Digest, 2003)

46

A city built for speed is a city built for success Le Corbusier

Figure 2.29 The ‘sept vois’ was Le corbusiers system of segragation of traffic based on hierarchy. This was a system he had developed for his masterplan of Bogota, applied in Chandigarh. An ordered matrix of his generic ‘neighbourhood unit’ and the hierarchical circulation pattern of his ‘7Vs’ that has given Chandigarh its distinctive character.

The eventual form generator for the city was the road network, or function of “circulation”. The plan was based on the gridiron defined by a system of seven types of roads as explained further and their intended functions around and within the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood itself is surrounded by the fast-traffic road called V3 intersecting at the junctions of the neighbourhood unit called the 'Sector'. All stoppage of circulation is aimed to be prohibited at the four circuses, at the angles of the Sectors. The bus stops are provided each time at 200 meters from the circus so as to serve the four pedestrian entrances into a sector. Thus, the transit traffic took place outside the

sectors: the sectors being surrounded by four wall-bound car roads without openings (the V3s).

The whole aim of the hierarchal distribution was the intent to keep the circulation free from any slowdowns outside the sector. In essence he was planning a sector for the people and everything else around for the automobiles. Such was the fascination with it that even for crossing from one sector to the next there is no direct pathway and so the compelling reason to use transport.

2.33 GRID ROAD NETWORK

V1 Roads

V2 Roads

V3 Roads

47

Seven kinds of ways were idealised to bring in the modern life the solution of contacts between different areas, which constitute the activity centres of the machinist age.

The V1 is the main thoroughfare reach-ing the city. The V2 take immediately the succession of V1 at the beginning of the city. The main V2 streets are both 3 lanes in one direction and then flanked on the both both sides by a side lanes good enough to accommodate 2 more lanes of traffic. The side lanes are intended to carry the local traffic to the buildings on either side of the carriageway or to the parking lots in front of the commercial zone. The V3s are roads devoted exclusively to vehicular traffic (specially fast traffic) and they were to be interrupted the least. They are surrounding roads of the sectors. Neither the V2 or the V3 street has any buildings opening on to them to impede the flow of traffic. That this objective will result from the elimina-tion of streets is a basic contention of the plan giving the sole use of the road for motorised traffic. The V4 is the linear street having the commercial functions along it within the sector, it connects the sectors

on the shorter side. The V4 streets is delinked from the end roads which lead to the residences, instead converging at 2 points only by a V5 loop. Although the V4 is called the shopping street, it is architecturally segregated and restricted to functions of vehicular supply, access, and parking with no link to the resi-dences as a real ‘street’. It realistically is an attempt to mark out the traditional urban market by reordering relations of commerce and residence, pedestrians and transport by concentrating all the functions in a big block. They bear no re-lation to the street as a socializing space for pedestrians and the marketplace has been architecturally detached from the residential functions completely. The V6s have to give access to the doors of the dwellings. The V7 is situated in the green rib-bon going SW to NE in the direction of the hills. The traffic of the bicycles, to wheelers, auto-cycles was aimed along this separate way along the green rib-bon, but in reality it is disconnected at all sectors by the fast traffic V3 lanes. In true aim of segregation, the two wheeled vehicles were meant to never use the same way as the four wheels and the three wheels.

Figure 2.30 V2 stretch between sector 26 and sector 7

Figure 2.32 Side lanes on V3 roads

Figure 2.31 Buffer space along V3 and houses.

Figure 2.33 V2 Sector dividing road between sector 17 and Sector 16. 3 Lanes on each side and side lanes.

Figure 2.34 V3 Sector dividing road between sector 21 and Sector 22 Source:

Figure 2.35 Rotary on the corner of each sector, so that the traffic automobiles can flow through without ever stopping.

48

The ‘Charter of Athens’ of the CIAM proclaimed the functions of urbanism, referring to this line of conduct the urbanism of Chandigarh emerged as a conclusion. Each function was to be contained in one container and had to find their rightful place on the land. At Chandigarh the place was given to the family containers (the sectors). For the work place was given the Capitol, University, City Center, and a limited industrial land, and for recreation the parks and the lake. As per the charter, each zone is to have its rightful place and they are not to intermix with each other, thus a work place is separate from a residential place. Where zones must mesh, as in the commercial place in a residential sector or in traffic circulation, every effort is made to keep the activities of each as independent as possible.

Corbusier liked to compare the city he planned to a biological entity. In this he identified four basic functions; living, working, circulation and the body and

2.34 ZONING

spirit. This is how he set the definition of the use of the city, “The Master Plan is of poetic significance. It is almost biological in its form. Its commanding head; the Capitol Group; its heart the city commercial center; its hand as the industrial area; its brain the intellectual center in the park land where are the museums, university, Library and other such cultural and educational activities are located. It has its stomach in its city center in the central market, its veins are embedded in the roads, the water, electricity. The whole city is surrounded by open country, but it has its internal lungs too, its green breathing space.” This long simile of a town, known as an organism, can be even further extended to the fact that allowance has been made for growth (Evenson 1966).

Corbusier himself focussed mainly on designing the Capitol Complex, which was necessarily the ‘Head’ of his city. In short, this analogy was used to define the zoning pattern of Chandigarh to cre-ate an order in use of the city.

49

1. Chandigarh City Centre2. Commercial areas along V2 Streets3. Sub city centre4. Proposed city centres

4

1

22

3

A. Industrial Areas Chandigarh

Figure 2.28 Zoning of Chandigarh.The commercial areas are in the middle of the sector while the industries are relegated to the outskirts.

50

The neighbourhood unit in Chandigarh was defined as the sector. The residen-tial sector was defined as the “container of family life”, in modern urbanism. (Edict of Chandigarh). Each sector of approximately 800 M X 1200M had the population varying from 5,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. The dimensions of the sec-tor are derived from the spanish “Quad-ra” of 100 to 110 metres. Whereas the Quadra is based on the strides of a man or the domesticated animals of work in the past, the reclassified interpretation was done by Corbusier for the mecha-nised age and a ratio of “harmonious dimensions” arrived at that is to say seven to eight quadras on one side and and ten to twelve quadras on the other. (Evenson 1966)

Considered as a defined social unit the sector was envisioned where inhabit-ants may find a sense of community identity. The sectors though had no so-cial identity and except physical propin-quity and general similarity of income. (Holston 1990)

The sector is surrounded by high-speed roads with bus stops every 400 meters or so and given 4 entrances in this so-cial group. The fundamental principle of the sector was that no door was to open on the surrounding V-3s. Therefore the

four surrounding V-3s were to be sepa-rated from the sector by a blind wall all along. The entrance of cars into the sec-tors which were exclusively reserved to family life, could take place on four points only; namely in the middle of the 1200 m. in the middle of the 800 me-ters. In consequence, the sector would never receive transit buses or cars as per the Edict, “the V-4 however could accept the through passage of cars and buses but only at low speed.” Each sec-tor would have a green areas oriented in the direction of the mountain, con-stituting a band vertically connecting a series of sectors. (Evenson 1966)

The central V4 street was meant to be the shopping street with shops lined on the south side along a parking strip. The V4 is slightly curved to achieve the aim of resisting through transit traf-fic. The commercial units in the sector are to cater to the daily needs of the inhabitants of the sector and supporting facilities for”family life” as mentioned in the definition of the sector, like schools, kindergartens, religious places are inter-spersed along the middle of it.

2.35 NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT: THE SECTOR

51

V3 Road divind the Sector with a high speed traf-fic ring.

V4 The shopping Street within the sector

V5 Loop road for traf-fic circulation within the sector

V6 The last leg of road network for the automo-biles to the houses.

Figure 2.36 Residential Sector Layout.

52

2.36 BUILDINGS/ ARCHITECTURAL VOCABULARY

Primarily built as government city to accommodate and serve as capital city, building which came up in the formative years were large tracts of ‘Government housing’ built with almost same vocabu-lary from house of Chief Minister to a peon (13 different type government houses were designed) with exposed bricks, sunshades, uncluttered mass of simple geometric lines. While initially government housing was designed and city constructed of mostly of these 13 type houses, 70% of housing in Chan-digarh was to be of private building. To

control unpredictable vagaries of private housing and to ensure realization of form conceived by them takes root, it all came under architectural controls. So have all commercial buildings (along V4 road, city center and along V2 roads) to give a uniform architecrual vocabulary to the built form.

Figure 2.37 All major building details are based on Corbusier’s modular.

Figure 2.38 Brie solie at the High Court building by Le Corbusier.

53

COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

TERRACE HOUSING

DETACHED HOUSES

With a strong control on facade and modularity, the building vocabulary in Chandigarh is a unique one. Separate from the traditional ethos of building culture a uniform pattern is achieved right from the private houses to com-mercial and government buildings with a palette of modular proportions.

Climatically, Chandigarh is a difficult place to build. It is dry and cold in winter one requires a compact house with heating devices and large window areas to admit the sun. The hot dry season demands high ceilings and small openings which can be sealed to keep out the sun and heated air during the day. During the monsoon season, how-ever, when the rain prevents outdoor sleeping and when the air is somewhat

cooler, the house needs large openings to insure extensive air circulation. All the houses in Chandigarh represent to some degree a compromise solution oriented toward the hottest season. In general, houses have been built to give the main rooms protection from heat, with the inclusion of some veranda space and courtyard or roof areas for sleeping. Small window openings have been con-sistently employed in all housing types, partly because of the glazing expense, partly to keep out sun. This has resulted in houses which, although shady in sum-mer, are undeviatingly gloomy, dark, and cold in winter. (Evenson 1966)

COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

PHASE I PHASE II PHASE III

Change in Building Vocabulary in down the years. Residential and Commercial architecture.

Figure 2.39 -2.41 Phase I Figure 2.42-2.44 Phase IIFigure 2.45-2.46 Phase III

54

2.37 LANDSCAPE AND GARDENINGThe garden city concept of Mayer was suitable modified by Corbusier but still ample areas have been provided for parks in the master plan. Almost 35% of the city is green spaces and park-land. Interior belts with small parks and a continuous flowing green belt is combined with the outer green belts to give a verdant feeling to the whole city. The main green belt which was an eroded river valley has been restored and intended to give a sense of direc-tion and dramatically culminate in the Capital. Facing the parks are building groups such as the schools, Art Gallery, the Museum and the colleges.

Corbusier summed up the ideas of green spaces as: “The sun, space and verdure are the ancient influences, which have fashioned our body and our spirit. Isolated from their natural environment, all organisms perish, some slowly some quickly, and man is no exception to this general rule. Our

towns have snatched men from essen-tial conditions, molested them,started them, falsified them, embittered them, crushed them, even sterilized them; the third generation to live in great cities tends to sterility... Shut up in masonry walls and conditioned to the smell of petrol fumes, men in large towns lead a cramped and unhappy life, deprived of the essential joys of life – sun, space and verdure. Unless the conditions of nature are re-established in man’s life, he cannot be healthy in body and spirit.” (Evenson 1966)

According to Corbusier, “the real solu-tion lies in the Vertical Garden City in which the superimposed buildings rise above the park which contains ameni-ties such as sports grounds, crèches, primary schools and clubs. The towns no longer a senseless pile of stone and masonry but becomes a park, and man and nature are harmonized. “ (Evenson 1966)

Figure 2.47 Landscape Plan for Streets

Figure 2.50 Landscape along V3 Street.

Figure 2.47b Small park within a sector.

55

A comprehensive layout and planning right from the beginning of landscape ensured that adequate attention is paid to the selection and placement of trees along all roads. On some of the roads, evergreen trees with large umbrella like crowns have been planted, to form a green tunnel. All the roads other-wise have been planted with shaded trees and dividers with ornamental shrubs, footpaths are shaded by four to five rows of trees. “For the car route, a single or double row of trees with high foliage permit the eye to travel across.”The parks have a significant feature in the modernist urban plan-

ning terminology. Since the streets are no longer the social hubs, the alterna-tive is the green open spaces which are supposed to take over that function. So each sector has a sprinklings of green parks and the major green belt is running through the centre of the city culminating at the north end. Here the rivulet is dammed to form the lake which in the edict is regarded as “a gift from the city planners to the inhabitants of the city” (Evenson 1966). This is sup-posed to be the leisure component as has been described in the CIAM charter of Athens. Figure 2.51 More thn 35% of the land in Chandigarh is green open

spaces.

56

2.38: SITUATION TODAY

The city covers an area of 15000 acres (114 sq. KM) developed in three phases.Sectors 1 to 30 have been developed in Phase-I and the remaining sectors from Sector 31 to 47 have been developed in Phase-II. The development work of Phase-I was started in early 50s. Most of the work in Phase-I was completed by 1975: The development in Phase-II sectors had been taken up simultaneously. The planned population of Phase-I and Phase-II was only 5.00.000 persons.

The City was conceptualized as a consequence of the search for a new capital for the state of Punjab after its breakup during the partition of the country. But ironically enough the state was further divided into 2 in 1965 and a separate state of Haryana carved out.

But since neither of the 2 states could agree to who gets to keep Chandigarh as the capital city, its been resigned the position of an independent city with the administrative centre of 2 states.

Importantly with this division the expansion capabilities of the territory of Chandigarh got rigidly defined. At the same time both the states started their own urban explorations, Panchkula on the eastern fringes by Haryana. Mohali as an extension of the Chandigarh grid by erstwhile Punjab. Today the Population of the agglomeration together stands at over 1.5 million with 1.2 Million within the territorial jurisdiction of the city of Chandigarh.

Figure 2.52 Chandigarh Population GrowthInformation Source: www.chandigarh.gov.in

57

PHASE 1. 1950-1965

PHASE 2. 1965-1975

PHASE 3. 1975-2000

PHASE 4. 2000-

1000 2000 4000Figure 2.53 Chandigarh Phases of Growth

State Boundary

58

3 REVISITING CHANDIGARH: a critique of the planning model

59

This Chapter analyses the city, seeing where the initial planning intentions have led to the situation on ground today 60 years after the inception. A critique based on the criticisms in gen-eral of modernist urban planning ideolo-gies and see their effect in context. In the second half of the chapter an

analyses is done based on the theo-retical context. Starting with the Graph analysis based on the seminal essay by Christopher Alexander “City is not a tree”, then on Bill Hillier’s Space Syntax theory and lastly on the New Urbanist Transect.

60

3.1 MODERNIST IDEOLOGY AND ITS CRITICISM WITH RESPECT TO CHANDIGARH

Urban form With new awareness of the qualities and scale of the ‘traditional’ city, some critics advocated a morpho-logical approach to urban design, based on ‘tried and tested’ spatial precedents and archetypes, and stressing continuity with, rather than a break from, the past. There was a growing influence from theorists unhappy with the achieve-ments of Modernist urban space design: while Modernism’s ‘best solo perfor-mances’ may have been ‘more virtuoso’, they failed to produce ‘good’ streets or ‘good’ cities. There was a recognition that ‘the typical fabric and its overall orchestration were better in previous eras’ (Holston 1990)

“Architecture Disillusion with Modernist architecture - or, rather, with its debase-ment through industrialised production and construction techniques - has been well documented” (Carmona 2003) The urban quality it creates has been questioned by many critics. In respect to Chandigarh the depend-ency inherit on automobiles and the dis-connecting and segregationist approach

is the centrality of this thesis.

1. Jan Gehl questions the effect of modernist approach when he terms the cities as ‘automobile territory’ with razed urban blocks given over to car parking next to intensively developed blocks Cities for people (Gehl 2010). With this exclusive emphasis on cars, there has been - in part, at least - a new concern for the pedestrian, and a desire to create pedestrian-dominant environ-ments (accessible to cars, but suiting the scale, pace and comfort of pedestrians) and environments that facilitate use by a range of travel modes too now as a reaction to this. (Carmona 2003)The idea of having single use zones ex-acerbated the dependency on automo-biles and the logic of functional zoning, reduced the complexity and vitality of city centres. The tendency towards ste-rility was exacerbated by large, generally mono-functional zones having offices or shopping malls only which internalised much of the traditional street life and activity.

61

2. The second criticism is the fact that “Roads did not have the social qualities of streets and tended to slice up and fragment urban areas, causing prob-lems of severance” (Gehl 2010). This is most seen in Chandigarh where the neighbourhoods are so cut off from one another because of the road network from which the whole form of the city is derived. The basic idea of the road network had been to create this division and its effect is that neighbourhoods are now segregated lots as will be described in the subsequent section its effect on density and class in sectors.

3. Another criticism stems from the fact that modernism Modernism was per-ceived to have a lack of dialogue with the end user: Le Corbusier, for exam-ple, had suggested that ‘people would have to be re-educated to appreciate his visions’ (Evenson 1966). By the late 1960s, the cultural and historic attrib-utes of traditional environments, and the way they seemed better able to ac-

commodate and support urban life and activity, were increasingly recognised in contrast to, and as reaction against, Modernist environments. The most debilitating effect noted was “the problem with modernist architecture is not only that it tries to erase the past; it also obstructs the future!”(Valeur, 2012)

4. The concern about the uniqueness of the place and respect for the history and culture of a place is a reactionary approach necessitated by the destruc-tive internationalism of modernism. All over Europe and in the US, during the 1960s and early 1970s, policies that pro-tected historic areas were introduced, and conservation became an integral, rather than peripheral, part of urban planning. (Holston 1992)This has been a debilitating affect on the raze and build new approach of the modernist thought process ever so com-mon in its heydays.

62

Modernism breaks decisively with the traditional system of architectural signs. The preindustrial baroque city provides an order of public and private spaces by following architectural conventions of repetition and exclusion. Modernist city is conceived of as the antithesis both of this mode and of its represented political order. By highlighting the “primacy of open space, volumetric clarity, pure form, and geometric abstraction”, modernism not only creates a new vocabulary of form, but inverts the entire mode of perceiving architecture. The perception of meanings and relationships, is turned inside out—”as if the figural solids of the modernist city had been produced in the mold of the figural voids of pre industrial urbanism.” (Jacobs 1995)

When we compare, in the same scale, the figure-ground plan (here at a 1 square mile zone) of a typical preindus-trial city with that of a modernist city, we make a startling discovery: these simple figure-ground relations produce strikingly inverse orders of solids and voids As Holston observes in the study of these patterns, “the preindustrial city is almost all black in the plan; the modernist almost all white. The former presents a manipulation of defined.” {Holston 1990}

The major transformation in the mor-phological structure of the public space network is from buildings as constitu-ent elements in urban blocks defining ‘streets’ and ‘squares’ changed to build-ings as freestanding pavilions in amor-phous space. According to Modernist ‘functionalist’ ideas, the convenience of a building’s internal spaces was the prin-cipal determinant of its external form.Modernism condemns the street as the “bastion of a corrupt civic order of stagnant public and private values, imposed on the city through an architecture of antiquarian monuments, chaotic streets, decadent ornament, and unsanitary dwellings.” So modern

3.11 FIGURE GROUND INVERSION

architecture salvages it by eliminating the street altogether and inverting the baroque planning convention of figure and ground by the reverse. A comparison of the figure ground of modernist city centers of Brasilia and Chandigarh with more traditional cities like Florence and more recent Barcelona reveals the dichotomy so very clearly. In the modernist city, vast areas of continuous space without exception form the perceptual ground against which the solids of buildings emerge as sculptural figures. (Holston 1990). Even a comparison to traditional Indian cities like Ahmedabad which have literally grown outwards shows the complex matrix of street network which is absent in Modernist ones. Here the buildings are highlighted in a landscape, as isolated sculpture, with each one vying to be recognized as a monument. (Gehl 2010)

Designed from the inside out, respond-ing only to their functional require-ments and to considerations of light, air, hygiene, aspect, prospect, ‘movement’, ‘openness’, etc., buildings became sculptures, ‘objects in space’, their exte-rior form - and therefore the relationship to public space - merelya by-product of their internal planning. (Carmona 2003)

At the larger scale - and based on ideas of providing healthier living conditions, of aesthetic preference, and of the need to accommodate cars in urban areas - Modernist urban space was intended to flow freely around buildings rather than to be contained by them.

The shift towards freestanding buildings was also fuelled by the desire for them to be distinctive reducing the number of pedestrian crossings, limiting the number of other roads connecting into them, and prohibiting private driveways from opening onto them most promi-nent on V3 roads in Chandigarh.

Modernists rejected the city and city space, shifting their focus to individual buildings. .........If a team of planners was asked to radically reduce life between buildings, they could not find a more effective method than using modernistic planning principles (Gehl 2009)

63

These figure-ground diagrams show the different patterns of traditional and Modernist patterns of urban space. The plan for morphologically grown cities as depicted here by Florence, Barcelona and Ahmedabad in comparison to Chandigarh and Brasilia shows buildings as constituent elements in a generalised, highly connected mass ('urban blocks'), which defines 'streets' and squares' and a small-scale, finely meshed street grid.

The street pattern consists of a grid, the cells of which are relatively small. The plans of Brasilia and Chandigarh at the same 1 square represents Modernist building as separate pavilions freestanding in a more generalised type of 'space' and a coarsely meshed 'road' grid.

Figure 3.1 Figure Ground Diagram of City centre Chandigarh

Figure 3.2 Comparative Figure Ground Diagrams of traditional and Modern Cities.

64

The separation of functions of the cities as conceptualized by the modernists, called for the work zones to be separate from living and in Chandigarh central location was originally devised for it. This being inadequate V2’s along one side have also been assigned commercial zones albeit on a smaller scale with lower rise buildings. In the last few years the rise of malls along the highways to the city is challenging the commercial areas.Recent addition has been the IT Park which again is outside the living areas of the city.

Jan Gehl criticises this approach of separation on its creation of artificial places, taking the example of separate leisure areas - “The playground, asphalted and fenced in, is nothing but a pictorial acknowledgment of the fact that ‘play’ exists as an isolated concept in our minds. It has nothing to do with the life of play itself. Few self-respecting children will even play in a playground.”(Gehl 2010)

The thoughts are echoed by Jacobs as quoted in Gehl (Gehl, 2010), According to Jacobs, it is the mixture of uses not their tidy separation which is a precondition of good city life. For a mixture of uses generates more activity throughout the day and night and so adds to the diversity and vitality of an area. Instead she proposes an alternative principle: “ One principle emerges so ubiquitously and becomes the heart of my argument. This ... is the need of cities for a most intricate and close grained diversity of uses that give each other constant mutual support, both economically and socially.

Leon Krier quoted by Carmona (Carmo-na 2003) debunking the zoning system says that that it resulted in “mechanical segregation of urban functions rather than their organic integration.“ Based on his proposals for the reconstruction of the ‘European city’, he argued that there should only be mixed-use urban quar-ters, integrating all the daily functions of urban life (dwelling, working, leisure)

At the level of daily life, these critics argue that such planning concepts as zoning and single use neighbourhoods produce buildings and living spaces which are profoundly alienating, particularly because of the absence of street life Kevin Lynch contends that the long-held urban-planning principle of separation of uses is not only unnecessary but actually antithetical to the creation of vibrant urban areas. With judicious safeguards, commerce and light industry can readily be mixed with residences, as was usual until recent times. This helps to reduce crime because most areas are occupied at all times of the day. Mixed uses also add interest and life to a neighbourhood.(Lynch 1998)

In Chandigarh the zoning has created isolated pockets of activity areas. By and large the city is considerd as “boring” and has the tab of “pensioners paradise” signifying the absence of active life. (Malik 2004)

3.12 FUNCTIONAL ZONING: TYPOLOGIES OF WORK RESIDENCE AND LEISURE

65

1. Industrial Area Chandigarh2. Industrial Area Mohali3. Industrial Area Panchkula

61. Chandigarh City Centre2. Commercial areas along V2 Streets3. Sub city centre4. Proposed city centres5. IT PARK6. Shppoing Malls along Highways

3

INDUSTRIAL ZONES

COMMERCIAL/ WORK ZONES

Figure 3.3 Industrial Zones

Figure 3.4 Commercial Zones

66

Chandigarh as previously mentioned has its planning based on the module of the neighbourhood unit.- the sector. These sectors are used as a segregationists means. The city housing in the first phase clustered the high officials in the north and that is where the larger plot sizes for detached houses are. The density in these sectors is as low as 500 persons per sq. KM in contrast to 8000 per sq. Km the average density of the city. The segregation of smaller sized plots into peripheral sectors and further south has created a segregated city.The villages and squatters have inhabited the fringes and now are an integral part of the city scape.

The highest paid officials, with the largest houses, were located near the Capitol. Conversely, the greater the distance of a sector from the Capitol, the higher the density. Chandigarh was seen as a low-density and low-rise city, with a regular traffic system, so reducing cost of roads and infrastructure.

Madhu Sarin quoted by Tungare, (Tungare 2002) writing in Urban Planning in the Third World. The Chandigarh Experience” (1982), “mentions about the “restrictions on planning design and development on the people resulted in the development

of sprawl squatter settlements around the periphery of the city.” Similarly about the structure of the city, Jim Antonious says “although the physical structure of the city has remained, the original approach of separation of functions has proved unhelpful and unsuitable to Indian culture, and as a consequence in many parts of the city the original use has been varied, incorporating, for example, open markets.” (Architectural Review, 2003)The concept of neighbourhood units itself is questioned by critics. Kevin Lynch debunks the idea of this segregation, “Social contacts may be territorially based at the smallest scale but are otherwise dispersed across large sectors of the city. The connections in the city are based on kinship, work or interests rather than place. “This spatial dispersion seemed to hold for all but a few low income residents of ethnic ghettos. Thus the bounded spatial unit did not fit the network of social interaction. “Moreover when the idea was actually applied it produced a run of stereotyped units. “ (Lynch 1998)

The very essence of neighbourhood units is questioned strongly on the premise that widespread prevalence, strategies of exclusion lead to social segregation and fragmentation. (Carmona 2003)

Figure 3.13 Stark Difference in levels of disparity visible in informal areas and the planned neighbourhoods. Sector 44: dhanas, Chandigarh. Image from google earth.

3.13 SEGREGATIONIST NEIGHBOURHOODS : DIVIDED CITY

67

Figure 3.14 Disparity levels in Chandigarh exists and the poor levels of density in informal areas (slums, villages) is starkly higher than the planned sectors.

Population Density: 8000 persons/sq.KMDensity in unplanned areas: 15,000 Persons/sq KmDensity in Phase 1: 4000 Persons/ sq.Km Density in Phase 2: 8000 Persons/ sq.KmDensity in Phase 3: 12,000 Persons / sq.Km

HIGHEST DENSITY> 12000 persons/ sq.kmHIGH DENSITY < 8000 persons / sq. kmLOWER DENSITY < 4000 persons/ sq. kmLOWEST DENSITY < 1000 persons/ sq. Km

68

During the Modernist period designers looked at the urban road system and saw a confusion of road types performing conflicting ‘functions’. (Evenson 1966) The traditional multi- functional street was seen as ‘the problem’. As a solution, Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin in 1933 introduced a classification system which is been described as “functional classification that brings a clear set of idealized road types” (Holston 1990), in term those road types will perform specific functions. His urban development proposal as implemented in Chandigarh have the forms of roads and buildings liberated from each other. Rather than being locked together in street grids, the Modernist street design model allowed roads to follow their own fluid linear geometry, while buildings are totally separated from it (Carmona 2003). As a result the city seems like a vast highway complex sprawling across the landscape, vividly demonstrating the radically new urban form that resembles a tree structure and demanded by the motor vehicle (Evenson 1966)

The Chandigarh city grid is designed for automobile traffic only and all effort seems directed to keep other uses out. Writing about the Chandigarh in Architectural Review, Jim Antoniou says that “this is a city for the car, and walking around, especially in summer, is a torture. The Capitol monumental area is so far from the center that its access is often difficult for the city’s population. (Architectural Review, 2003) The main axes cross at large roundabouts – about 20m in radius but nearly 30m if you include the traffic lanes. They have three-metre-wide planted central reserves (sometimes narrower than this, sometimes nonexistent); dual carriageway with three lanes a side a green strip 20m to 30m wide between the street and the boundary walls bordering the sector on all four sides. The edict points out that “No door shall open into the V3”

3.14 ROAD NETWORK: CITY FOR THE AUTOMOBILEand this created the sectors as isolated pockets surrounded by a blank wall. As illustrated in the images on the right, all one sees from the outside are blank walls. When there are non-residential buildings within the sector along the V2 there is a secondary access road between the main set of traffic lanes and the building’s façades. Overall, the distance between façades, regardless of building type or function, varies from 60m to 70m (Frederico DE HOLANDA, 2012) all prioritised for the smooth flow of traffic removing any other functional aspect from the street, as this wide space does not allow interaction as commented by Jan Gehl about Corbusiers idea of “wide streets made interaction difficult.” (Gehl 2010)

The road network is so car oriented that cyclists have to navigate some rather dangerous roundabouts at each inter-section of the main grid and pedestrians are prevented from crossing between sectors in many places. With no other viable alternative for moving between sectors, cars have proliferated, not only on the main grid where they have created congestion, but also within the sectors, where the environment is de-teriorating as public space is converted into parking space. (Valeur, 2012)The resulting imbalance of forces tends, simply, to eliminate the pedestrian: eve-ryone who can drives. {Valeur 2012}

Roads can connect places and they can divide them too. In Chandigarh its the latter which is predominant as they are used as structuring elements to divide the city into distinct neighbourhoods.

In the evaluation done by Prof. Prakash and his team, it shows how the leisure valley- the green built shown running through the city is divided by the road network completely isolating parts of it. The character of a continuous belt run-ning through is completely changed as it makes it look like isolated pockets in the sectors rather than one whole green space. (Chandigarhurbanlab, 2012)

Figure 3.5 V7 Road hierarchal road structure

Figure 3.11 The continous Green belts in the city, the leisure valley being cut off by Roads: Symbolic representation:Image adapted from www.chandigrhurbanlab.org.

69

From Top Right. Blank walls facing V3 Streets. Vast distance around the sector boundaries creates unwelcome distance.Figure 3.8 along V2 Sector 22-23 Dividing roadFigure 3.9 Sector 15-16 Dividing roadFigure 3.10 along V3 Road Sector 15-10 Dividing road

70

Le Corbusier saw the traditional street as ‘no more than a trench, a deep cleft, a narrow passage. And although we have been accustomed to it for more than a thousand years, our hearts are always oppressed by the constriction of the enclosing walls’ (quoted in Evenson, 1966).

The viewpoint is in contrast to what a street was defined and now is being reinforced back in the cities. As Gehl writes about this: The street, the place where all the social links are Life in the streets makes the life of a city. It is the place where all the links are created, developed, maintained… From the close friendships with whom you will chat to the passive contacts (just see people in the streets), all this relations make a place alive. (Gehl, 2010)

Similar views are echoed by Allan Jacobs describing about great streets, “Streets are places of social and commercial en-counter and exchange. They are where you meet people. which is the basic reason to have cities in any case,. People which really do not like other people , not even to seem them in any numbers have a good reason not to live in cities or to live isolated from city streets, The street is movement: to watch to pass, movement especially of people: of fleet-ing faces and forms, changing postures and dress. You see people ahead of you or over your shoulder or not at all, absorbed in whatever has taken hold of you for the moment, but aware and comforted by the presence of others all the same. It is possible to stand in one place or to sit and watch the show. ... Everyone can use the street. Being on

street and seeing people, it is possible to meet them ones you know or new ones. “ (Jacobs, 1995)

The disjunction between abstract knowledge and practical experience is exacerbated by the impeccably rational address system, which confronts people with an entirely new vocabulary to describe urban location. As streets are eliminated there is no reference point to speak of. People have difficulty re-membering the exact location of shops in look-alike blocks and the only way seems to be to follow the numbering sequence until one reaches the des-tined number and that in a sector which is almost 100 hectares is sometimes an overwhelming task. The result is a “mac-ro-order but with a micro-confusion that makes locations hard to find” (Evenson 1966). As if to confirm the architectural elimination of streets from the city, the addresses in Chandigarh are simply written as house no/Sector no, or shop no/ sector no.. For example a typical ad-dress would be 145/10 which would be house no 145 in sector 10, relieving any reference to the street altogether. It is the sociability part of the streets which gets missed out in Chanidgarh, where the designation of streets has a different terminology. In Jacobs view-point “Sociability is a large part of why cities exist and streets are a major if not the only public place for the sociability to develop.” (Jacobs 1995). The mod-ernist definition of street function has rendered the city without functional social spaces. This is in contrast to other traditional indian cities where the street where the hustle and buslte of the streets give it the vibrant character.

3.15 DEATH OF THE STREET

71

Figure 3.12 V4 Shopping street in Sector 22The continous Green belts in the city, the leisure Only the V4 was intended as a street having any pedestrians there but incorporating a huge parking lot in front of all shops has meant the social character of the street is completely lost.

Commercial shops

Residences

School

72

To borrow the phrase from Holston, about life in Brasilia, “Life in Chandigarh is standardized, bland, and anonymous - an existence without pleasures. The population lacks small accessible spaces they can stamp with the character of their individual activities.” (Holston 1992) Perhaps this statemnt holds very equally valid for Chandigarh built in with the same ideology. The frequent complaints of residents is the monoto-ny of the built environemnt. The facade of each strictly geometric building has little to distinguish it from the exte-rior of another building in a similar category. Even for a person having lived there for a long time, the similarity of architecture everywhere is a confusing and disorienting at most. It would be almost impossible to distinguishing one residential sector from another, given the similarity in layout and architectural vocabulary.

Owing to its architectural repetition and uniformity, Chandigarh has practi-cally no land marks. Each sector looks roughly like any other. “For those traversing the macro-grid, sectors look virtually identical. Even “sector 17” – the de facto urban centre – is not perceived from the outside: its periphery consists of the ever-present forested strips.” {Frederico DE HOLANDA, 2012}

About Chandigarh sectors, one critic points out that “one of the essential qualities of a town is that it is a gather-ing together of people and utilities for the generation of civic warmth. How-ever overcrowded, dingy, insanitary and airless the old towns may be, most of them retain this quality, which is the essential quality without which a town is no town, with which lack of air is merely a minor nuisance—let us call it towni-ness.” That open space might become excessive and that housing which met standards of space and hygiene might be at the same time ugly and monoto-nous has become increasingly evident (Evenson 1966). As put in by Jan Gehl,

3.16 REPITITIVE FORMALITY

“Contemporary architecture heavily relies on modular design and for this reason produces buildings and spaces that are not alive and do not make us feel alive. “(Gehl 2010). The strict archi-tectural controls means that the similar structure of all buildings in Chandigarh is a monotonous picture of the same formality.

Another has pointed out at city scale, the isolation of the routes and avenues, together with zoning regulations, do not encourage intense urban activity to take place. The city’s own rigid char-acter, lacking urbanity, is an image of a vast series of metropolitan hamlets. (Antoniou, 2003)This is the nature of disorder in Chandigarh. The architecture of Le Corbusier, on both scales – build-ings and city – is hard to reconstitute in the mind: either because there are very few elements of differentiation and you travel through highly redundant schemes (as in the scale of the city); or because, when there is differentia-tion, it is not articulated as a whole, and must be reconstituted in our memory as isolated fragments. (Frederico DE HOLANDA 2012)

73

Figure 3.15 The facade control regulations ensure a uniform character of the architectural vocabulary across the city but it produces a repetitive cluster of building typologies with no distinguishing features.

Figure 3.15 a to d on the right. Similar architectural vocabulary in different housing types.

74

3.17 THE PEOPLE THE CITY PLANNERS FORGOT.

Corbusier it has been pointed out was most interested in creating a landmark, rather than a city for the people. “As time goes on I am sure that every man will understand the importance of Chandigarh: people will go there as they now go to the Piazza San Marco. They will go not because of any individual building but because of the relationship of buildings to site, the environment created, the aspirations of man realized. (Evenson 1966)

In the book "Urban Planning in the Third World. The Chandigarh Experi-ence" (1982), Madhu Sarin presents a critique of the project for this city. Sarin presents Le Corbusier as proud and arrogant, more focused on ap-plying the CIAM abstract models than to address the specific problems of the Indian population for which the city was designed. He accuses Le Corbusier of having rejected previous studies have favored a formalistic and aesthetic conception, without social or cultural considerations. In a similar vein, Ravi Kalia in his book "Chandigarh, The making of an Indian city" (1987), states that Chandigarh was a city "designed, but not planned", because it focused on the physical-spatial design of its urban fabric, but not considered issues such as productivity, reducing social tensions, economic integration of social classes and regional integration.

With a philosophy of Town Planning of “Sun, Space and Quiet” yet Le Corbusier was never interested in Urbanism, he only tuned to it when he couldn’t get enough commission as an architect. Certainly Chandigarh as a town plan, never was the brave new world that Nehru presumed it to be (far from being a futurists city it is not even a contem-porary one) ( Charles Correa – “The view from Banares”.- Quoted in Malik 2004)

In Chandigarh, Le Corbusier imposed his will without consideration to the context of the project. He made no move to

acknowledge the culture and heritage of India, a culture at least a thousand years older than that of Europe. (Evenson 1966) Various villages were left out in the original plan and only bound by a round around to define its boundaries within the city. The poor who came to work in the city found no place and were forced to squat on the peripheries. As the city expanded they were pushed out each time although now having lived where they are, their settlements are a part of the landscape of the city, although time and again rehabilitat-ing the colonies is an ongoing issue to better integrate them within the city. Le Corbusier created an architectural language that removed all ideas that he deemed inappropriate. Unfortunately, one concept that he disapproved was the use of references to past cultures. By not incorporating elements of culture, and advocating the notions of mass production, the architecture could be located anywhere in the world. Chandigarh would be as appropriate for Phoenix as it is for India.. (Antoniou, 2003)

It is true, of course, that Chandigarh would have failed in its symbolic pur-pose if it had not attempted to embody a high standard of physical amenity, one “which would represent an improve-ment over many older towns and which would satisfy the desire to create a truly modern city. Chandigarh was meant to serve as a monument, and it was to this purpose that the central government of India provided generous financial sup-port. The importance of such symbolic showpieces in an undeveloped country should not be underestimated, but the result is that the planners of Chandigarh work in a somewhat sheltered position, isolated from many of the primary prob-lems of Indian planning. Chandigarh has, from the beginning, represented an atypical and somewhat exhibitionistic project rather than an example of how best to cope with major realities of Indian situations. (Evenson 1966)

Chandigarh is a reminder that cities, like human beings, are not easily re-duced to formula, and the "good" city may be as much of a bore as many "good" people. (Evenson 1966)

75

Figure 3.16 Informal markets keep springing up in vacant places and in some sectors they have been permanently accommodated as part of the sector layout.

Figure 3.17 The People the city planners forgot.Street Hawkers and the poor had no place in the planners accommodation, yet they are a very much visible part of the city scape.

76

3.2 THEORETICAL CONTEXT

77

In this section the city is analysed based on the theoretical concepts. Starting with the influential idea by Christopher Alexander about the structure of the city based on mathematical logic as described in his paper: “City is not a tree”. Bill Hillier’s Space Syntax method is used to determine order in the place and finally the New Urbanist Transect is used to determine the spatial mix of the city.

78

3.21 URBAN GRID ANALYSIS

Christopher Alexander, in his seminal 1965 paper "A City Is Not a Tree", argues that modern cities which have been designed from scratch (he calls them artificial cities) are structurally different from cities which have grown over a period of time(Natural cities). Artificial cities lack some essential ingredient which natural cities possesses, and its this ingredient which makes natural cities more interesting and successful places than modern planned cities.

This essay by Christopher Alexander provided a new way of looking at the city. Two simple, contrasting diagrams showed beyond doubt that it is relationships and not separateness that make cities.

Alexander, is a mathematician and an architect/ Urban Planning, and his models are based on the set theory. The Tree and lattice they are both names for structures of sets. In graph theory, a tree can be defined using any one of several equivalent definitions. Probably the simplest definition is that a tree is a connected, acyclic graph. “Connected” means that there is a path from any node to any other node. “Acyclic” informally means that there are no cycles, or loops. An equivalent definition is that a tree is a graph in which there is exactly one path from any vertex to any other vertex. If there are vertices that aren’t joined by a path, the graph is disconnected (and thus not a tree). If there is more than one path between two vertices, that means that there’s a loop (cycle) somewhere in the graph (and thus the graph is not a tree). (Patternlangusage.com, 2013)

Figure 3.18 A comparison of a tree pattern on the top and a semi-lattice pattern on the bottom. The tree structure is made of groups and sub-groups that can be manipulated separately from others. The semi-lattice pattern is purely random without distinct sub-parts.

GRAPH ANALYSIS “City is not a tree”

79

Things that are trees, or that can easily be represented with trees:A family tree An alphabetical list.Most cities that have been developed by urban planners (according to Alexander).

Things that aren’t trees:The World Wide Web.A natural city.The way languages really work (historically, one could travel across a fair portion of Europe and people would always be able to understand the people in the next town, even if the language they spoke was officially called by a different name

He offers a diagrammatic explanation with mathematical language that expresses the difference in the complexity of the organic development and the oversimplification of the artificial city. The tree structure of modernist cities speaks of segregation and lack of overlap of functions. It is tidy, but ultimately does not promote vitality in the human city.

The diagram shows how similar ele-ments can be grouped within a semi-lat-tice structure which allows a far greater number of linkages. ‘We can see just how much more complex a semi-lattice can be than a tree in the following fact: a tree based on twenty elements can contain at most nineteen further sub-sets of the twenty, while a semi-lattice based on the same twenty elements can contain more than 1,000,000 different subsets.

The “semi-lattice,” thus in contrast , is a complicated, difficult to grasp but glorious mess but because it allows for overlap with its additional possible combinations of elements, many different opportunities are opened up. In the everyday city, the semi-lattice is apparent in the overlapping of devices of implementation, of components that make up a city.

According to Alexander, this ordered way of thinking characterised nearly every plan made by town planners and designers in the first half of the twenti-eth century.

Figure 3.19 The number of different connection possibilities with a lattice structure are absent from a tree structure. The number of different overlaps shown in the figure above can be depicted in the graph below.

80

The new cities designed in the last century are what Alexander terms as artificial cites. According to him they lack the variety and liveliness of natural cities.

The units of which an artificial city is made up are always organized to form a tree and according to Alexander “Whenever we have a tree structure, it means that within this structure no piece of any unit is ever connected to other units, except through the medium of that unit as a whole.” (Alexander 1965)

In simplicity of structure the tree is comparable to the compulsive desire for neatness and order. The semilattice, by comparison, is the structure of a complex fabric; it is the structure of living things, of great paintings and symphonies. (Tungare, 2002). So in an artificial city The complexity of the semilattice is replaced by the simpler and more easily grasped tree form.

His basic point is that comprehensively planned artificial cities are based on an over simplified conception of urban form which he terms tree structure. A tree structure is one in which the various parts of whole exist as separate entities. These parts have a relationship to the whole structure but they do not overlap with or relate to each other.

The logic of rigid segregation of functions is that it is far easier for a planner to shape an urban zone if it has just one purpose. When several or many purposes must be considered, the variables that the planner must juggle begin to challenge the mind. Alexander concludes that since the complexity of natural cities is difficult for a human mind to grasp easily, the designers tend to design cities based on the tree structure.

b. ARTIFICIAL CITY

a. NATURAL CITY

Alexander calls the cities which have grown over a period of time and not designed in one go as natural cities. His basic argument is that the complexity of connections and overlaps in these cities is what makes them interesting.

In mathematical terms, a living city is modelled by a mathematical semilattice, in contrast to a dead city, which is modelled by a tree. In a natural city which is a semi lattice, it has a vastly larger number of internal connections than a tree of comparable size has. Not only are there many connections in a semi lattice, but there is a great variety of them and in basic terms they overlap and this is what creates the lively character .

The semilattice, being part of a large branch of modern mathematics, is a powerful way of exploring the structure of these images. It is the semilattice we must look for, not the tree. According to Alexander, every time a piece of a city is torn out, and a tree made to replace the semilattice that was there before, the city takes a further step toward dissociation.

Alexanders thesis is that modern planned cities are sterile places to be in, lacking the richness and interest of natural cities because they do not have the essential ingredient of complex overlapping relationships which are the hallmark of successful cities.

81

From Left to Right.Figure 3.20 Lattice Structure in natural cities as explained by the Graph view and Set View

Figure 3.21a and 3.21b We can see these relationships displayed in two ways. In diagram A each set chosen to be a unit has a line drawn round it. In diagram B the chosen sets are arranged in order of ascending magnitude, so that whenever one set contains another (as [345] contains [34], there is a vertical path leading from one to the other.

From Left to Right.Figure 3.22 Tree Structure as explained by the Graph view and Set View

Figure 3.21a and 3.21b The structure illustrated is a tree. Since this axiom excludes the possibility of overlapping sets, there is no way in which the semilattice axiom can be violated, so that every tree is a trivially simple semilattice.

82

In Chandigarh, the division of the city is in distinct neighbourhood units or the sectors. Each sector is provided with its own local communal facilities such as convenience shops, a local park, a religious place and a primary school, all located at the centre of the neighbour-hood so that they would be within walk-ing distance of and act as a social focus for the residents of the neighbourhood.

Christopher Alexander (1965) described this ordered way of structuring the city around neighbourhood units as tree structure, because other parts of the city (the neighbourhoods) are linked to the centre but otherwise viewed as relatively independent of each other.

When we describe the city in terms of neighbourhoods, we implicitly assume that the smaller elements within any one of these neighbourhoods belong together so tightly that they only interact with elements in other neighbourhoods through the medium of the neighbourhoods to which they themselves belong

Neighbourhoods are envisioned to have a relationship to the centre but not as a strong or overlapping relationships with each other. Alexander’s point is that its the mixture of uses and activities in a town which implies overlap and complexity which make for successful cities. The failure of planning thought therefore was seen to be its advocacy of the opposite: simplicity, separation and order. {kevin lynch 1998}. Chandigarh’s sectors envisioned as self sufficient units but still a part of the city, depict the dis-connect with the overlapping structure of older cities he suggests.

He criticises the separation of pedestrians from moving vehicles a key planning theme in Chandigarh and a tree concept according to him. “At a very crude level of thought this is obviously a good idea. Yet the urban taxi can function only because pedestrians and vehicles are not strictly separated.

The cruising taxi needs a fast stream of traffic so that it can cover a large area to be sure of finding a passenger. The pedestrian needs to be able to hail the taxi from any point in the pedestrian world, and to be able to get out to any part of the pedestrian world to which he wants to go. The system which contains the taxicabs needs to overlap both the fast vehicular traffic system and the system of pedestrian circulation. In Manhattan pedestrians and vehicles do share certain parts of the city, and the necessary overlap is guaranteed”

The basic idea of subdividing the city in neighbourhoods is a premise he finds as not serving the purpose because of the dependency in a city on other parts. “The individual community in a greater city has no reality as a functioning unit. ... People in one community work in a factory which is very likely to be in another community.” It is a very similar situation in Chandigarh where the sectors though planned to cater to all needs, for example sufficient school places, yet children are more often enrolled in a different sector.

At the same time the zoning system where total separation of work from housing, incorporated in the 1929 Athens Charter, is questioned. “It is easy to see how bad conditions at the beginning of the century prompted planners to try to get the dirty factories out of residential areas. But the separation misses a variety of systems which require, for their sustenance, little parts of both.”

Lastly the idea of hierarchy of urban cores realized in, Chandigarh where facilities like commerce get grouped together are analysed as a tree structure by Alexander, “ idea of a single hierarchy of urban cores which is its parent, do not illuminate the relations between art and city life”, this is because the necessary overlaps get missed out. (Alexander 1965)

TREE STRUCTURE OF CHANDIGARH

Figure 3.24 Tree Structure of Chandigarh in comparison to Lattice structure of Manhattan

http://www.rudi.net/books/11913

83

Figure 3.25 Tree Structure of Chandigarh as explained by Christopher Alexander.

For the human mind, the tree is the easiest vehicle for complex thoughts. But the city is not, cannot and must not be a tree. The city is a receptacle for life. If the receptacle severs the overlap of the strands of life within it, because it is a tree, it will be like a bowl full of razor blades on edge, ready to cut up whatever is entrusted to it. In such a receptacle life will be cut to pieces. If we make cities which are trees, they will cut our life within to pieces.(Alexander 1965)

84

3.2 SPACE SYNTAX ANALYSIS

Space syntax shows that spatial layouts have powerful social economic and environmental properties that can be measured objectively. From determin-ing the vitality of the centres, to street quality, property values and residential security and personal safety. (spacesyntax.org 2013)

The analytic process involves what Hillier terms ‘natural movement’ - the proportion of movement determined by the structure of the urban grid. Hillier’s analysis is based on key geometric prop-erties of the spatial configuration of urban areas. These are conceptualized as a series of ‘convex’ spaces linked by straight ‘axial’ lines . From the network of axial lines, each line’s ‘integration val-ue’ can be calculated. The integration value is regarded as a good predictor of natural movement: the more integrated the line, the more movement along it, the less integrated, the less that route is used. (Carmona 2003) The research has shown that there is a strong relationship between spatial configuration and how people move through the city.

The term space syntax is a set of theo-ries and techniques for the analysis of spatial configurations conceived by Bill Hillier, and colleagues at The Bartlett, University College London as a tool to help architects simulate the likely social effects of their designs. The idea is that spaces can be broken down into components and analysed as networks of choices which could then represent-ed to describe the relative connectivity and integration of those spaces. From these analysis it is thought to be pos-sible to quantify and describe how easily navigable any space is.

Research using the space syntax ap-proach has shown how:- movement patterns are powerfully shaped by spatial layout

- patterns of security and insecurity are affected by spatial design

- this relation shapes the evolution of the centres and sub-centres that makes cities liveable

- spatial segregation and social disad-vantage are related in cities

The spatial structure of the street net-work is generally the primary determi-nant of movement, and movement is the lifeblood of the city and creates the dense patterns of human contact that are its main feature.

85

Bill Hillier has extensively theorised the relation between movement and the evolution of the urban grid. His central proposition is that movement largely dictates the configuration of urban space, and is itself largely determined by spatial configuration. The theory’s principal generator is that, “consid-ered purely as a spatial configuration, the urban grid’s structure is the ‘most powerful single determinant’ of urban movement “ (Carmona 2010)

The core concepts of space syntax can be explained through two fundamental propositions. The first proposition is that “space is intrinsic to human activity, not a background to it. Space is shaped in ways that reflects the direct interaction between space and people, and through this the space we create, or the built environment, becomes humanised”

The second core proposition of space syntax is that “space is fundamentally a configurational entity. Configuration, simply defined as simultaneously exist-ing relations, is about the composition of the built form from the parts that are in a unique relationship with each other.” For Hillier , the main fault in many contemporary public spaces is the prioritising of a sense of enclosure over visual permeability into them. The key quality with respect to pedestrian use of public spaces is their ‘connectedness’ . He argues that if design is overlocal-

ised the natural movement pattern is disrupted, and the space tends to be under used. His essential point is that urban designers must understand movement and design places that are connected: ‘Places are not local things. They are moments in large-scale things, the large-scale things we call cities. Places do not make cities. It is cities that make places. We cannot make places without understanding cities’ (Space Sntax, 2013)

“ In an urban setting, a pedestrian jour-ney is rarely single purpose: on the way to somewhere else, we stop to buy a newspaper, talk to a friend, enjoy a view or watch the ‘world go by’. “Bill Hillier terms the potential for such optional activities the ‘by-product’ of movement - that is, the potential for other (optional) activities in addition to the basic activity of travelling from origin to destination. (Space Sntax, 2013)

In my research I am doing this analyses to review the connectivity of the sec-tors in Chandigarh to see if the exten-sive road network has any redundan-cies. At the same time to analyse the effective active spatial network of the city streets.

86

sectors, the circular layout of the street system: street segments are short, presenting frequent inflections, “T” and “L” junctions abounding. (Frederico DE HOLANDA 2012).

Generous open spaces– squares or green areas – are usually located in the inner parts of the sectors, and these are the most segregated bits. Leisure facilities are situated according to the introverted rationale of the neighbour-hood unit, so the access and the main façade of the buildings face the inner streets and what is seen from outside is a blank wall only invalidating the street activeness.

In Chandigarh anything can be situated anywhere since there are no differen-tiating lines and everything is uniform. In their essence all sectors are identical, inserted in the same macro-grid that contains everything. Minor differences aside , all sectors are identical in size, orientation according to the cardinal points, occupation, density and land use. The city is thus syntactically and geometrically undifferentiated (Fred-erico DE HOLANDA 2012).

The main commercial sector - Sector 17 which is supposed to be the city centre does not have the high connectivity or integration as would be expected from such a place. It is characterised by high levels of vehicle traffic as people have to travel long distances to reach the it and there is a high degree of severance between the sector and surrounding neighbourhoods. There is a shortage of public open space and of convivial, non-commercial activities. Except for one V2 street bordering it which has high con-nectivity, it does not exhibit any more than a normal residential sector.

The V3 streets are the most well inte-grated and connected with the sectors less integrated amongst themselves. In conclusion the space syntax is repre-senting quite well the present situation and its modernist system.

The Space Syntax analysis draws out the modernist character of Chandigarh, having main roads and the local small roads that lead to more segregated neighbourhoods. The street system resembles a tree with the main streets getting divided further it goes within the more it gets divided into smaller local streets resulting in a poorly integrated neighbourhood. The high density con-nectivity and integration at the same time seems to favour car traffic rather than pedestrian flows.

The Global connectivity of the city is very good. The grid structure of the network ensures that on a global scale the city remains well connected but the connectivity between neighbour-hoods, between one and the next one is abstract.

In the structural analysis, it brings out that the most active streets are the horizontal V3 and a V2 (shown in red). Yet the V3 street has no activity apart from being a traffic artery showing that the potential of the street is not utilised with other functions. Even the V2 Street depicted as the most active actually has the commercial functions separated from the main articulation with side roads increasing the direct communica-tive distance. All V3’s have a high con-nectivity but since they lack any other functions alongside apart from being traffic routes, they are under utilised for all the advantages.

The intention of the planners was to make the V4 street within the sectors an active one, but in the analysis it does not bring out this outcome. In fact it is no different from any other street within the sector. Although the main roads show good connectivity the streets in the sectors lack it completely requir-ing a labyrinthine route out to the main V3’s. The absence of the Corbusian promenade architecturale, by which movement would imply the discovery in time of new angles, isovists, perspec-tives. Local redundancies exist amongst

3.21 CHANDIGARH: Space Syntax Analysis

87

5000m

Fig. 9. Axial map of Chandigarh

5000m

Fig. 10. Chandigarh’s structural axes

Figure 3.26 Structural Axes in Chandigarh

Figure 3.27 Axial Map of Chandigarh

88

3.3 NEW URBANISM

The New Urbanism movement is spear-headed by the Congress for New urban-ism. It envisages a return to traditional urban form characterised by mixed use and higher density development as a solution not only to the problems of urban transportation but to the per-ceived social problems associated with suburbanisation.

In this thesis the review of it is done as New urbanists advocate an approach which is an antithesis of the modernist movement. It decries an automobile based segregated neighbourhood urban plan to one based on walkable neigh-bourhoods and mixed use spaces. It is the kind of approach which is critical of the modernist thinking and within the current methodology of sustainable urbanist approach.

Principles as advocated by Andreas Duany, one of the founders of the move-ment which have been codified in the charter can be summarised as: (Duany 2013)

1. Walkability: Most things should be within a 10 minute walking distance of home and work in pedestrian friendly streets.

2. Connectivity: Interconnected street grids to disperse traffic and ease walk-ing. A hierarchy of narrow streets, boulevards and alleys and a high quality pedestrian network to make walking pleasurable

3. Mixed Use Diversity: A mix of shops, offices and living spaces in mixed use neighbourhoods within blocks and wihin buildings. Diversity of people in income, age cultural background.

4. Mixed Housing: A range of different types, sizes and prices of housing op-tions.

5. Traditional Neighbourhood Structure: Discernible centre and edge with public spaces in the centre. Highest densities in the centre with progressively lower at the edges.

6. Increased Density: For ease of walk-able neighbourhood and sharing of resources.

7. Small Transportation: Network of public transport connecting cities and pedestrian friendly design of urban net-work which encourages use of bicycles and walking.

8. Sustainability: Minimise impact of development on the environment, promote local production and energy efficiency.

9: Quality Architecture and Urban Design: Emphasis on creating a sense of place with aesthetic and human comfort being given a preference.

10. Quality of Life:Places which enrich uplift and inspire, in

89

THE TRANSECT

Transect is an analytic tool in urban analysis of a region. It is based on the geographic cross section of a region used to reveal a sequence of environ-ments. The theory behind it is that human beings like in nature are all different and prefer a different habitat to one another. Some people like to live in a more urbanised place while others prefer a more rural habitat. It is this mix which creates a really immersive envi-ronment in any urban space as it does in nature where different environments are naturally created.

For human occupied environments, this cross-section can be used to identify a set of habitats that vary by their level and intensity of urban character - a varying range from rural to urban. This range of environments is the basis for organizing the components of the built world: building, lot, land use, street, and all of the other physical elements of the human habitat. In each human habi-tat along the rural to urban Transect,

“immersive” environments are cre-ated - places that have an integrity and coherence about them because of their particular combinations of elements.

The Transect works by allocating ele-ments that make up the human habitat to appropriate geographic locations. For example, human habitats that are rural might consist of wide streets and open swales. Human habitats that are more urban will likely consist of multi-story buildings and public squares. Accord-ingly, wide streets and open swales should be allocated to more rural zones whereas multi-story buildings and public squares should be allocated to more ur-ban zones. This proper geographic “ap-propriation” serves to better integrate natural and urban systems because one is defined in tandem with the other.The Transect approach also controls the geographic extent of zones, disallow-ing the creation of large monocultures of any one particular type of Transect Zone. (www.transect.org, 2013)

Figure 3.28 Transect Zones from T1 natural to T6 Urban core based on the urban spatial qualtiy.

90

Chandigarh has a suburban spread and since each sector layout is similar, the transect of the city is one big suburban spread in the planned areas. The special commercial and industrial zones can be treated as special districts according to the transect as they have an urban typology which is different from the rest of the city structure.

The newer suburbs of Mohali and Panchkula follow the same typology as Chandigarh main city and i the transect therefore I have included them within the same typology of suburban urbanis-tic form.

THE TRANSECT OF CHANDIGARH

91

T1.Natural Zone in the Noth and run-ning along the east of Chandigarh boundary is maintained as a no build natural zone.

T2.The very low density of 500 persons per sq. km spread in these secotrs and to the noth of the capitol complex makes them the right category.

SDThe University and Medical research centre are special zones out of general habitation zones.

SDIndustrial Area in Mohali. No formalised houuing units are cur-rently zoned so is categorised as a special zone.

T3The predominant part of the city is a suburban spread living only zone hence categorised in T3.

SDThe city centre currently has only commercial functional units with no residential units, hence categorised in the SD.

SDThe zone around the airport is a military installation.

SDIndustrial Zone again has no residential component hence categorised as a SD.

T3The suburb of Panchkula has a similar density to Phase 2 of Chandi-garh with a low spread of only 2 or maximum 3 storied high buildings.

Figure 3.29 Transect Zoning of the current situation in Chandigarh.

92

4. ILLUSTRATION

93

In this Chapter, based on the findings of the analysis and the theory, an illustration is presented of a master plan for the city based on connecting routes to increase permeability through sustainable means.

In the subsequent part, a detailed

look is taken at the City centre which functions as a core commercial only area and a proposal to increase connectivity and change the character to mixed use is put forward.

94

4.1 MASTERPLAN ILLUSTRATION STRATEGY

The masterplan illustration strategy focuses on 2 aspects. First is on increasing connectivity through the various sectors in the city, creating direct linkages, envisioned as green pathways which can link up through the green spaces in the city and function as walking, cycling pathways. Better conditions for bicyclists invite more people to ride bikes, but by improving the conditions for pedestrians, we not only strengthen pedestrian traffic, wealso — and most importantly — strengthen city life. (Gehl 2010) They could be further used to channel the water flow acting as a drainage which

collects rainwater for storage.

The second strategy looks at changing the overall character of the street network. From being focussed as roads being used as divisive elements, to change this to have streets which allow through connectivity in the city and act as active streets. As was highlighted in the Space Syntax analysis the V3 streets are most integrated but the other streets within the sectors are left out, this strategy focuses on making the secondary streets within the neighbourhoods as points of interest.

95

Figure 4.1 Linking the Green Spaces in the city.

Figure 4.2 Restructuring the roads to remove the divisive character.

96

The Suburban structure of the city can be modified with the form based planning and the proposal is to change the character of the city centre. This is suggested to be modelled as an urban core and the surrounding areas as an urban centre. The surrounding neighbourhoods can then be general urban zone and this can thus create a immersive areas within the city for different urban environments in the city.

Chandigarh has an extensive green cover with over 35% of the city being parkland and green squares . The disconnected green spaces which get cut off by the road network could be connected to maintain the continuity of the green areas as shown in the illustration.The spread of the city is very compact with the area in the Grid being approximately 6

Images adapted from www.chandigarhurbanlab.org

Km X 8 Km only, and its perfectly flat as well. These green spaces could be connected by a cycling and walking street which has the parks as breakout spaces. These could be a missing connectivity link for improving the walk ability and local connectivity index .In the hot summers this shaded network can become the sustainable mobility network of the city.

b. CONNECTING GREEN PATHWAYS

a. TRANSECT

Figure 4.3 conceptual linkage of Green spaces over the road network.

Figure 4.4 conceptual illustration of Green linking pathways.

97

100 200 400Figure 4 .5 conceptual illustration of linking pathways connecting through the green spaces.

98

4.2 DETAILED ILLUSTRATION FOR CITY CENTRE

Based on the master plan strategy described previously about connecting the city with “green pathways”, I looked at the city centre to put in an illustration in detail integrating it with the same concept.

Based on the analytic finding of the city having a suburban spread. The idea is to change that character to have dif-ferent urban spatial qualities, and the existing city centre, sector 17 is chosen because it is an area which is the most fitting for an densified place because of already higher density and location fitting with the new urbanist aim of a urabn core.

Compared to the mixed use and walk-able zones it promotes, this place is a single use zone and is isolated from the surroundings so is heavily automo-bile dependent. The idea is to explore and see how this could thus be trans-formed. Being a city centre the ideal strategy would be to see how it could be changed to a urban centre and urban core zone.

The aim of the illustration is to develop a vision for the area with the guiding principles:

1. Integrate the surroundings with the new movement routes surrounding the neighbourhoods to embrace the wider city with sustainable walking/ cycling paths creating overlaps.

2. Create a landmark public space inte-grating the streets in the area

3. Create spaces for living so as to give the place a mixed use character and integrate them with the existing built spaces.

4. Evolve the character of the place from a defunct modernist one to a place with active street networks and lively spatial characteristic.

5. Explore a sustainable energy solution for the sector incorporating Renewable Energy generation and use on site

6. Promote a civic identity based on human scale streets and public spaces socially integrated for all sections of the society.

LOCATION IN CITY During the first phase of construction of the city, this was the de facto centre, although with the expansion of city fur-ther south in Phase II and III, it no longer is and remains far off from the majority population which is concentrated in the newer phases. Never the less its the commercial only zone in the city and lies at the cross section of the 2 V2 Streets. The N-S V2 now named as Jan Marg (Public Avenue), culminating at the Capitol , is the main north-south axis of

the city. The other V2 named the Mad-hya Marg (Central Avenue), culminating at the sector 14, is the main east-west axis. The City Center was laid out imme-diately southeast of the intersection of these two axes.

99

Figure 4.6 Location of Sector 17, the commercial city centre.

100

It is one complete sector of approxi-mately 100 hectares and broadly di-vided into a two zones on the north and south. The Southern zone was devel-oped as a centre of district administra-tion, containing the district courts and police headquarters, the fire station and interstate bus terminus, while major commercial and civic functions are car-ried out in the northern section.

The lack of streets had been empha-sised with the figure ground plan earlier as the modernist figure ground inver-sion obviates streets in the sector with focus only on buildings in free space.The free space is constituted internally by parking lots and shopping arcades, and a plaza which is perhaps the only space in the city which functions as an effective urban public space.

The Plaza within this commercial district is perhaps the only public space in the city which actually works. Surrounded by shops, restaurants and other com-mercial activities this pedestrianised

a. BUILT UP USES

space is a hub of activity during the day-time, and particularly so in the evening hours. As a result of its popularity the commercial spaces around have some of the highest rental values anywhere in the country. (Gulvaleen Aulakh Jul 12, 2009 Economic Times, India) As men-tioned by Frederico De Holanda, “it is affording a surprisingly urbane atmos-phere for a modern city. Certainly an oasis of urbanity in what is otherwise a modern urbanistic desert” It is in-teresting how a lively place can flourish in segregated bits of the urban fabric – vitality residing not in the syntax of the place, but in labels defined by land use regulations. Here too, local, not global, morphological and land use conditions are responsible for the success of the place . These local conditions have allowed for the consolidation of Chan-digarh’s actual urban centre, contradict-ing Hillier’s aphorism that “cities make places”, not the reverse. {Frederico DE HOLANDA #2}

Figure 4.8 Built up uses in the sector. Surface Parking lots occupy almost 40% of the built up land area.

Figure 4.9 The buildings in the sector.

Figure 4.10 The view to the Plaza.

Figure 4 .11 general view through the sector.

4.21 ANALYSIS

The sector as has been previously men-tioned is a single zone area with only commercial functions in there. The free space in this case is overwhelmingly as-phalt, as 40% of the built are is allocated to surface parking lots. Since there is no residential component in this sector and people are expected to drive down here this is warranted for. In the ground floor areas, almost 30% is commercial offices and 15% as retail spaces.

A large part of the sector is a bus station in the southern corner. Besides that there is a football field, a Parade ground for official ceremonies and a Mela (Fes-tival) ground for festive gatherings. Cultural facilities are concentrated with 4 cinemas in the sector as well, and a public plaza in the middle of the retail sections. Although with the prolifera-tion of malls on the outskirts of the city, 3 halls have closed down for transfor-

mation.

The complete absence of any residen-tial use in the sector means that the it function only during the working hours of the establishments. The rest of the time they are dead spaces, besides the fact that everybody needs to travel to get there to work because of the mono use zoning.

The aim of the illustration is to find spaces for changing this modernist approach to the new urbanist one by seeking mixed use zones. At a glance the sector seems to be devoid of any expansion space except to go verti-cal, so reordering priorities to include residential part by changing use is an exploration of my exercise.

b. EXISTING URBAN QUALITY

101

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

A. MELA (Fair Ground) Space earmarked for festival celebrations. This is a seasonal used space only.

B. Football FieldA large tract of land earmarked for a football field. Since there is no population in the sector its a very seldom used place.

C. Parade Ground.Infrequently used area for temporary exhibitions

only. There is already another conference place ready now so this could be utilised with some other activity.

D. Corner Vacant Plot. Could be utilised for Mixed use building or housing apartments.

E. VACANT PLOTCould be converted into a multi- storied parking lot and mixed use.

c. EXISTING FUNCTIONS

Figure 4.12 Current uses in Sector 17- the city centre.

102

The built up density of the sector is much higher than the normal residential sectors which have the buildings usually 2 or 3 storied high at the maximum. This commercial sector has the building height much higher with the periph-eral ones all 7 storied high forming hte perimeter. They are all set at an angle to set them off from the street. Within the sector most are 5 storied high commercial buildings with an iden-tical footprint and bay size.

All buildings located in the City Centre and commercial or institutional build-ings located along V-2 roads were subjected to controls. The system of the City Center was based on a grid of columns and standardised shuttering pattern on concrete and a system of glazing or screen walls behind the line of columns. The interior planning was left to the owners whereas in the exterior, only certain variations were permitted to give some variety to the architectural composition.

d. SURROUNDINGS

The sector is bound by the V2 road axial roads on the NE and the NW Side. These dual carriage ways which are 3 lines on each side completely isolated the sector from the surrounding residential sectors. The V3 sector dividing roads on the other sides are dual carriage ways as well with side lanes on both sides making the distance of almost 70 metre in between. Besides that there is a buffer zone of trees to further isolate the sector from the surroundings. From the outside on these roads its virtually impossible to fathom the function or space of the sector with this isolation.

The 6 entry points to the sector have no direct linkages from the surroundings as well further isolating the sector. To get from the surrounding sector in to this one envisages a detour through the one

way streets and only then after turning around on the opposite side can one manage to enter through because the V2 Streets have no cut in between to fa-cilitate a direct entry. The entrances are not emphasised in any way to facilitate direction.

e. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

Figure 4.13 Commercial units along V2 in Sector 22 surrounding sector 17

Figure 4.14 Parking spaces and wide roads increase the physical space between the street on the boundary.

Figure 4.15 The entrances are not emphasised by the built form, rather the profile of the spaces inside remains a mystery from the surrounding roads which have a large buffer green space to increase isolation.

Figure 4.16 The building heights are much higher in the sector as compared to the rest of the city with 7 storied buildings and 5 storied ones as standard.

103

ENTRY POINTS

BUILDING HEIGHTS

Figure 4.18 Entry points into the sector.

Figure 4.19 Building Heights, the overall building heights are more than the rest of the city which have generally buildings 2 or 3 storied high only.

6-7 Storied high3-5 Storied high1-2 Storied high

104

4.23 EXPLORATION OF POSSIBILITIES

a. NETWORK LINKAGES

Figure 4.20 Exploring network connections to flow through the sector.

The exploration of ways to link up the sector and connect it with the surround-ing residential ones is depicted in this figure. The network of green pathways for pedestrians and cyclists and direct link roads crossing through the fast moving traffic lanes can help calm down the speed flow and decrease the bound-ary isolation.

The exploration is done to find :

- CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS to the sector and see how the permeability of the edges could be increased.

- Open space Qualities Urban hotspotpublic plazagathering spotsactive streets

Mix of Uses- reviewing uses to see how to add in the missing residential component into the mix of uses.

105

Figure 4.18 Illustration of active streets which could connect through the sector.

To introduce an active street mix, explo-ration of strategy to form a network of active streets and connect them with the existing plaza in the middle. The active streets are envisioned as hav-ing street fronted entrances and they can link up to the plaza which becomes a major public gathering space in the sector.

b. ACTIVE STREET NETWORK

106

The first integration is the green links as envisioned in the illustration for the masterplan. What I propose is to con-nect them through the exclusive net-work which integrates with the streets and connects the plaza which is to be extended in both directions to form the axis in both directions. The green path-ways link up to the existing green open space (the park) in the surrounding sec-tors forming a direct sustainable link to the sector.

b. WEAVING IN ON STREET NETWORK

a. CONNECTING GREEN LINKS

The next step is to weave in a street network within the existing framework of modernist space. The street network is to form a web of streets in the termi-nologies of traditional city centres with a dense weave. The network extends outwards into the surrounding sectors linking up to the roads there forming a continuous street network outwards in all directions. This is to reduce the hier-archical road network which is designed for high speed traffic only.

4.24 THE APPROACH

107

Figure 4.23 Entry points into the sector.

Figure 4.24 New Street Network.

108

c. REMOVAL OF EXISTING AREAS.

d. REMOVAL OF EXISTING BUILDINGS.

The functions are suggested to be re envisioned, with the football field re-moved as it is an unlikely mix within the city centre. The Parade ground and the fair ground are suggested to be removed as well and these functions can be better placed within the extended plaza pro-viding a more centralised space for them. The freed up space can then be utilised for mixed use functions, incor-porating the living function within this sector too.

The large surface parking lots can be consolidated together into multistory parking lots and some of them marked out in the illustration can be removed.

To put in the road network and to put in the green pathways, some buildings need to be removed. doing so forms a continuous web of circulation space.

109

1. 2

3

1. Parade Ground2. Football Field3. Mela(Fair) Ground

Surface Parking Lots

Figure 4.26 Removing exisitng redundant functions

Figure 4.27 Removing buildings to accomodate the new street network.

110

The resulting masterplan illustrated has the key organising elements are the new street networks and the extended plaza integrated in the green pathways. Adding to the functional mix is the residential housing intermixed in with the commercial blocks. These are envi-sioned as mixed use spaces buildings with residences and commercial func-tions. The resulting masterplan layout is a response of a network of visually in-

terconnected open spaces and Walking/ Cycling paths. The analysis has been used to optimise phasing strategies de-scribed in the following pages.

Figure 4.28 Illustration of proposal.

4.25 THE OUTCOME

111

Multistoried Car Parks

Proposed New Buildings

Proposed Council Building

Proposed Energy Centre

50 100 200

Site Plan

112

3 Areas which have been identified in the sector which could possibly me re-placed with Living and Mixed use areas are: Football Field, in the place is a little used space and could be replaced with mixed use area.Parade Ground - functions as a tem-porary exhibition area currently, this

Currently 40% of the built up surface area is dedicated to Parking Lots. These could be consolidated in the next phase into Multi- storied Parking. The same amount of parking could be provided in 1/5th the surface area and the freed up space is used for Mixed use denazifica-tion.

STAGE 1: RELOCATE IRRELEVANT FUNCTIONS

STAGE 2: CONSOLIDATE SURFACE PARKING LOTS

4.26 BREAKDOWN OF THE PROCESS

function could be better fulfilled in the extended PlazaMela (Fair) ground, again a seasonal used space, this function could be ful-filled within the extended public plaza.All this in the first Stage can introduce Mixed use Living areas in the sector.

113

Figure 4.29 Stage 1

Figure 4.30 Stage 2

114

In the Last Stage the buildings which are free standing with no street presence could be remodelled to face the streets and the lower floor accommodate retail functions. Considering the age of the buildings and the fact that the energy ratings of these could be upgraded.

STAGE 3: EXPAND ALONG PERIPHERAL ROADS

STAGE 4: REFORM EXISTING FREE STANDING BUILDINGS

The Wide space around the sector divid-ing roads can be constricted to form space for additional building pockets which can accommodate housing on the upper floors and retail on the lower floors. This is depicted in the following pages in figure 4.36.

115

Figure 4.31 Stage 3

Figure 4.32 Stage 4

116

4.27 CONNECTIONS

In the master plan illustration the idea of green connecting paths prioritised for walking and cycling, was suggested and bringing it together in this sector is what the aim has been. These green paths can form a legible connection firstly from the surrounding neighbour-hoods and secondly for within the sector. They are intended to connect all the spaces of the sector including the existing bus terminal and the newer functions of housing and the extended plaza. The intent is to establish clear pedes-trian connections that lead through the urban environment of the sector and

the surroundings reducing the reliance to circumvent the ways as is currently required because of the dual carriage-ways which leave no concession for cutting through.

The lengths of the straight paths are optimise to reduce the “tiring length perspective which is describes the situ-ation in which the pedestrian can see the whole route at a glance before even starting out. The road is straight and seemingly endless, with no promise of interesting experiences along the way. The prospect is tiring before the walk is even begun. (Gehl 2010)

117

Figure 4.33 Green Connecting pathways to the surrounding sectors

118

4.28 STREET VISION

Figure 4.35 Street vision after removal of parking lots. Image source: Jacobs, A. 1993

The current street network is as brought out before dedicated to the automobile traffic, and at the same time roads are used to divide the places. My aim has been to red order the priorities reflect-ing on sustainable solutions as the priorities have changed as to when the city was planned out and today. Reflecting this, the aim is to give cre-dence to sustainable means, pedestri-ans, public transport and cycling. At the same time give space for other activities which make a street an active street rather than a linking road for automo-biles.

1. For the sector surrounding roads which are dual carriageways the il-lustration as in figure 4.36 is changed to reflect the street use to make it function able on both sides making crossing over easy. The lanes are suggested to be re-moved and a middle lane dedicated for a Bus Rapid Transport system and one more lane in each direction of traffic left there. The left over space from parking is converted into a wider pedestrian spine and single off-street parking lane left there. The space gained from this can be used to put a block in place reducing street width to make it more human scaled.

2. For the streets within the sector the intent is to mix automobile traffic and pedestrian flow. Interaction between pedestrians and motorists, contrary to traditional planning assumptions, according to Gehl, opines that segrega-tion of cars and pedestrians actually decreases safety (Gehl 2010).

3. Within the sector changing the street as it exists now from a parking lot faced one to as the vision presented in figure 3.45 from Rambalas in Barcelona. This introduces the required green cover to the urban spaces as well.

4. Integration functions of informal markets in the street scape, leaving part of the street dedicated for a lively urban market. This can be a shaded landscaped part within the section of the street going along both axis of the sector.

3

119

Sid

ewal

k

Sid

ewal

k

Traf

fic L

ane

Info

rmal

Mar

ket

PROPOSED SECTION THROUGH V3

Figure 4.36 Existing Section through A-A’

Figure 4.37 Proposal of Section through informal market place.

Figure 4.38 Proposal of Section A-A’P

arki

ng L

ot

Ber

m

Sid

e La

ne

3 La

nes

Par

king

Lot

3 La

nes

Sid

e La

ne

SECTION THROUGH A-A’

Sid

ewal

k

Cyc

ling

Lane

Off

Stre

et P

arki

ng

Traf

fic L

ane

BR

T

Traf

fic L

ane

Sid

ewal

k

Figure 4.34 Longitudinal Sectional Through the N-S Axis.

1

2

4

EXISTING SECTION THROUGH SURROUNDING V3

PROPOSED SECTION THROUGH CENTRAL SPINE

Informal Markets

120

The driving element of the master plan is the aim to create mixed environment that combines places to live with places to work and at the same time creates an environment which is worthy of a cen-tral urban space. Places where “celebra-tions are held, social and economic ex-changes take place, friends run into one another and cultures mix..... where the spaces work well, they serve as stages fro our public lives” (Carmona 2003)

With this intent the illustration suggests to integrate a public space in the urban realm of sector, extending the existing plaza to reflect the increased usage of the functions aimed at. The functions of the parade ground for official ceremo-nial gatherings and the festival ground which were suggested to be removed can be accommodated in this increased space.

For tying it together as a hot spot, a public building is suggested at the in-tersection of the public plaza. In the existing planning, an 11 storied tower has been proposed at this site, however considering the nature of the space, a more public building in my opinion would serve the place to maintain the decorum of the place. A council building for the city- since it does not currently have an independent one- may be hte right place for such a central space.

Informal markets which can act as a hot-spot along the green linking pathways can add variety and liveliness to the for-malised urban core of the city. Set along the pedestrian pathways and extending out the functions of the central spine such a place could be a worthy addition to the functional mix of the central ur-ban core.

4.29 FUNCTIONS AND PUBLIC SPACE

Figure 4.39 View looking towards the NE showing the green connecting spines and the public spaces generated which define the heart of the scheme.

121

Extended Public Plaza

Public Building: Council House

Informal Market space

Energy Centre

122

4.31 RENEWABLE ENERGY INTEGRATION

Farm Waste

Forest Biomass

The Renewable Energy resources in the city are the abundant sunshine which can be harnessed with the solar panels on roofs for electricity generation.

A Waste to Pellets plant is already op-erational in the city from where they are sent to a Thermal Power Plant for ener-gy generation. This can instead be used in a Trigeneration Plant in the Urban development where the waste heat can be utilised for cooling which otherwise goes as waste.

The City neighbourhood is one of the most productive farmlands with a huge potential for farm waste biomass (eai.in, 2013), which could be processed in the similar way to the waste and used for burning in the trigeneration plant. The vast green areas in the city are another source which can compliment in this field.

ABSORPTION COOLINGIs a tried and tested technology which uses any low grade heat source to drive a chemical process to generate cooling. In the case of an urban situation the waste heat from industrial processes which is otherwise released into the atmosphere can be used in the cooling cycle which can make productive use of this energy.

Figure 4.40 Illustration of Renewabl Energy Generation potential in the region

Figure 4.41 Schematic of Absorption Cooling Process

123

Figure 4.42 Location of Energy Centre within the sector which can function as a trigeneration facility. Generating electricity and utilising waste heat for absorption cooling in summers and space heating in winters.

124

4.32 SOCIAL INCLUSION

The segregated city that it is, as had been brought out in the analysis before, Sustianablitlyt matrix suggests to have an inclusive space for all sections of the society and with one of this aim an in-formal space is illustrated here.

The Green Pathways in the central ur-ban space are intended to be places for informal markets where traders gener-ally left out can be accommodated with-in the area. The Informal markets are

Figure 4.44 Illustration of social space with informal markets.

usually the most lively urban spaces in Chandigarh today and having a space for them in the dedicated spine can bring the same character in there as well.

Within the pedestrian axis of the sec-tor, this could facilitate to bring in from every direction, people together for trade, leisure, retail, entertainment and all forms of central urban living.

125

Figure 4.43 Integration of Informal markets withing the sector.

126

4.4 CONCLUSION

127

I had started out with the aim of energy independence for the city from fossil fu-els, but I did realise quantifying it would be an overwhelming task. Nevertheless an attempt has been shown at how the renewable energies could be integrated with in the urban environment.

My concentration on one particular sector in the city has been an attempt to see how the dependence on auto-mobiles so ingrained in the city can be changed by putting in options which are sustainable.

Addressing at the same time issues in-herit in the modernist planning about lifeless places and segregationist conse-quences, the illustration brings out how the place could actually be changed within the existing parameters of urban built space.

The modernist influence has been in-fluential in shaping the cities in the last century. The promise of utopian living did not hold for long although for the time it was successful in addressing the issues at hand, but the planning ideal still holds its sway today. The thesis was started on the premise that since Chan-digarh had been an influential planning module, what could be suggested to transform the drawbacks here could be in a way replicated in most places whiere similar designs have been put in place.

The analysis of Chandigarh had brought out the drawbacks in this urban design ideology and with the thesis illustra-tions I had hoped to address how the planning could be transformed to be brought on to the current thinking of sustainable cities.

128

REFERENCES

Alexander., A (1965). The city is not a tree. Architectural Forum, vol. 122, 1965., 122.

Carmona, M. (2003). Public places - urban spaces: The dimensions of urban design. Oxford [u.a.]: Architectural Press.

Climate Change 2007: Climate change impacts, adaptations, and vulnerability : summary for policymakers : fourth assessment report. 2007. Geneva: [United Nations Environment Programme.

Davis, M. (2006). Planet of Slums. London. Verso

Droege, P. (2006). Renewable City.. A comprehensive guide to an urban revolution. Chichester, England ;, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Academy. Chichester: Wiley

Droege, P. (2009). 100% Renewable Energy autonomy in action. London: Earthscan

eia 2013 Biomass potential in Punjab. www.eai.in/360/news/pages/9840 accessed in May 2013

Evenson, N. (1966). Chandigarh. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Frederico DE HOLANDA. (2012). ORDER & DISORDER IN BRASILIA & CHANDIGARH. Santiago de Chile

Gehl, J. (2010). Cities for people. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Girardet H. (2008) Cities, People, Planet – Urban Development and Climate Change, Wiley, London 2008

Grubler, A., D. J. Fisk, etc. (2012) Chapter 18 - Urban Energy Systems. In Global Energy Assessment - Toward a Sustainable Future, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, pp. 1307-1400.

Gulvaleen Aulakh (2009, July 12). Economic Times,

Haas, T. (2008). New urbanism and beyond: Designing cities for the future. New York: Rizzoli

Henrik valeur. Retrieved from http://henrikvaleur.dk/ accessed on 13 05 2013

Holston, J. (1990). Modernist city: An anthropological critique of Brasília. Chicago, Ill, London: University of Chicago Press.

Jishtu, H. (2013). Renewable Cities for Developing Countries. Unpublished report. University of Liechtenstein.

ICLEI 2009 Local Governments for Sustainability. Sustainable Urban Energy Planning A handbook for cities and towns in developing countries. ICLEI. accessed from iclei.org

IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

IRENA, 2011, IRENA Working Paper: Renewable Energy Jobs: Status, Prospects & Policies [Hugo Lucas and Rabia Ferroukhi]. www.irena.org

Jim Antoniou. (2003). The Architectural Review March 2003: The architectural review.

Kabir, M. H. Endlicher, W. and Jagermeyr, J. 2009 Calculation of bright roof-tops for Solar PV applications in Dhaka Mega City, Bangladesh. in Renewable Energy. Amsterdam, Elsiever

Kaygusuz, K. 2011 Energy for sustainable development: A case of developing countries in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Amsterdam, Elsevier

Lynch, K. (1998, c1981). Good city form. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

MacKay, David J.C. 2008 Sustainable Energy – without the hot air.UIT Cambridge, Available free online from www.withouthotair.com.

129

Malik, B. (2004) City planning and realities -A case study of Chandigarh. Conference of “City Futures”, University of Illinois, Chicago, 8-10 July, 2004

Mohan, H. (2012) Naya Raipur Context Document. International Urban Planning worksop, Raipur.

Newman, P., T. Beatley and H. Boyer. 2008. Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. Washington: Island Press

Nikos Salingaros. Retrieved from http://www.rudi.net/books/200. accessed on 21.06.2013

Pareto, Vittorio E. and Pareto, Marcos P. 2008. The Urban Component of the Energy Crisis. Urbanistica, Forthcoming. Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1221622, retrieved on 22.11.2012

Radzi, A. 100% Renewable Champions. In Droege, P. 2009. 100% Renewable. London: Earthscan

Singer, S. (ed.) 2010 The energy report, 100% renewable energy by 2050. Gland, WWF International

Tony Hursh. Retrieved from http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/images/1/1a/ArtificialCity.jpg

Tungare, A (2001). Le Corbusier’s Principles Of City Planning And Their Application In Virtual Environments. Carleton University,, Ottawa, Canada.

UNDP. 2010. Human Development report. www. hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2010/

UNHABITAT 2010. Sustainable Urban energy, A sourcebook for Asia. [Brahmanand M ed, et all]. www.unhabitat.org

Un-Habitat 2012. State of the World’s Cities 2008/9: Harmonious Cities. Earthscan

Vale, L. J. and T. J. Campanella. 2005. The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster. London: Oxford University Press

WCED [ World Commission on Environment and Development.] 1987. Our Common Future. United Nations. http://www.undocuments.net/wcedocf.htm

WWF 2012 World Wide Fund for Nature- Living planet report 2012 Gland, Switzerland. retreived from wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/.../living_planet_report/2010_lpr/

WWF Sweden 2012 WWF – Urban solutions for a living planet. 2012 WWF Sweden, Ulriksdals slott, 170 81 Solna, Sweden, downloaded from panda.org/urbansolutions

130

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 The Components of Ecological footprint. WWF 2012

Figure 1.2 Number of Earths required if everyone lived as per the per capita consumption figures of the country. retreived 24 10 2012 from www.ecoffotprint.org

Figure 1.3 The Carbon emissions per capita divided by regions. (UNDP, 2010)

Figure 1.4 The projected population of the world, source United Nations Populations Fund 2010.

Figure 1.5 The population growth in smaller cities currently less than 1 million people will probably grow the most. Source UNFPA 2010

Figure 1.6 The Urban population as a percentage of the total population of the country, through the years 1970-2050 source: UNICEF,retreived on 05 11 2012 from http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/urbanmap/ Figure 1.7 The Share of Fuels - 1850 to 2008 source: Grubler 2012, Urban Energy Systems, 2010

Figure 1.8 Oil Production from 1950 to 2050 retreived on 15 10 2012 from peakoil.net Figure 1.9 The atmospheric concentration of CO2 ,over the last 2000 years. IPCC 2007

Figure 1.10 The relation between CO2 and global warming: Hansen,J. Sato,M. et all 2008.

Figure 1.11 What are the consequences of global warming? source: Guardian, UK, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/gallery/2012/sep/27/information-beautiful-awards

Figure 1.12 Study by Ecofys shows how it may be feasible to replace all fossil fuel with renewable sources by 2050. source: WWF 2010

Figure 1.17 The current emissions of the swiss society and the projections as per the 2000W concept.

Figure 1.13 The global realisable potential of Geothermal energy for heat and electricity production. source: WWF 2010

Figure 1.14 Potential of Solar power for electricity and heat production. source: WWF 2010

Figure 1.15 The global realisable potential of wind power that could be practically harnessed, offshore and onshore. source: WWF 2010

Figure 1.16 hydro power potential source: WWF 2010

Figure 1.18 Berger,T and Genske, D 2011

Figure 1.19 Data Source. World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/

Figure 1.20 Data Source. World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/ Figure 1.21 Data Source. World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/ Figure 1.22 Data Source. World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/

Figure 1.23 Data Source. World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/

Figure 1.24 CO2 EMISSIONS PER CAPITA. 1990-2009 Data Source. World Bank. http://data.worldbank.org/

Figure 1.25 DENSEST CITIES retreived from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275108000267

Figure 1.26 Masterplan of Auroville. sourced from Auroville Centre for Urban Research. www.auroville.org

Figure 1.27 Solar water heaters for low income housing from wikimedia commons. pic by Set Domínguez

131

Figure 1.28 BRT Bus in Mexico City. retreived from wikimedia commons. copyrighted by Bertel Bolt-J

Figure 1.29 Bike Sharing in Hangzhou. from wikimedia commons. pic by Payton Chung

Figure 1.30 Bright Roofs Study, Dhaka.

Figure 1.31 BIOCENTRE in Lagos slum. source. http://www.globalenvision.org/topics/urbanization Figure 1.32 Job-years/GWH . Jishtu, H. 2013

Figure 1.33 Smog in Beijing, January 2013 Ssource Guardian UK. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/14/beijing-smog-continues-media-action

Figure 2.1 Plan of Radburn, NJ, 1929 by Sir Ebenezer Howard. image source http://www.cmhpf.org/Surveys/surveymecklenburgpaper.htm

Figure 2.2 City for 3 Million, Le Corbusier. imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.3 Tel Aviv by Sir Patrick Geddes. image source: www.ageinigngmodernism.com

Figure 2.4 Brasilia,

Figure 2.6 Concept Planning of Brasilia, Lucias Costa. 1956 image source: www.ageinigngmodernism.com

Figure 2.5 Brasilia, high rise apartment blocks for living. image source: www.ageinigngmodernism.com

Figure 2.6 Undivided India. circa 1947 imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.7 New Towns in India based on Chandigarh’s Planning concept.

Figure 2.8 Plan of New capital City Gandhinagar

Figure 2.11 Weather Data for Chandigarh.

Figure 2.12 Plan of Jaipur, India circa 1770. image source: www.ageinigngmodernism.com

Figure 2.13 New Delhi by Edward Lutyens, 1931 Figure 2.14 Jaipur Urban spaces. image source: www.ageinigngmodernism.com

Figure 2.16 Initial concept sketches for the Plan of Chandigarh: Albert Mayer. 1949 imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.17 Drawing from the tradtional vernacular image at chandigrah city museum

Figure 2.18 Leaf Plan by Albert Mayer for Chandigarh. imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.19 Studies by Le Corbusier for the master plan of Chandigarh. imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.20 Studies by Le Corbusier for the sector layout. imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.21 Corbusiers team for the New Capital Project: source: chandigarh adminsitration . www.chandigarh.gov.in

Figure 2.22 Corbusier with the Plan of Chandigarh. source: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.23 Radiant City by Le Corbusier imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.24 and 25 Contemporary City for 3 Million, imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.26 Corbusier, freeing up the land by raising functions above ground

Figure 2.27 Concept plan of Chandigarh: original source: Documenting Chandigarh: The Indian Architecture of Pierre Jeanneret, Edwin Maxwell Fry, and Jane Beverly Drew, Vol. 1

Figure 2.29 The ‘sept vois’ image source: arquitecturamas.com

132

Figure 2.30 V2 stretch between sector 26 and sector 7

Figure 2.31 Buffer space along V3 and houses. image source Chandigarhurbanlab.com

Figure 2.32 Side lanes on V3 roads: imagge source wikimedia.commons

Figure 2.33 V2 Sector dividing road between sector 17 and Sector 16. 3 Lanes on each side and side lanes. Source: www.shunya.net

Figure 2.34 V3 Sector dividing road between sector 21 and Sector 22 Source: www.shunya.ne Figure 2.35 Rotary on the corner of each sector, so that the traffic automobiles can flow through without ever stopping. source: www.10yearitch.com

Figure 2.37 All major building details are based on Corbusier’s modular.

Figure 2.38 Brie solie at the High Court building by Le Corbusier. image source: architectural review, issue March 2003

Figure 2.39 -2.41 Phase I image source: imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.43 image source chandigrhurbanlab

Figure 2.46 image source: ageing modernism

Figure 2.47 Landscape Plan for Streets: imagesource: Evenson, N. 1966

Figure 2.47b Small park within a sector. image source: Mohan, B. 2012

Figure 2.50 Landscape along V3 Street. image source: www.10yearitch.com/chd/345

Figure 2.52 Chandigarh Population Growth Information Source: www.chandigarh.gov.in

Figure 3.2 Comparative Figure Ground Diagrams of traditional and Modern Cities. Image Sources: Jacobs, A. 1995

Figure 3.5 V7 Road hierarchal road structure http://urbanvistadotnet.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/3.jpger

Figure 3.11 The continous Green belts in the city, the leisure valley being cut off by Roads: Symbolic representation: Image adapted from www.chandigrhurbanlab.org.

From Top Right. Blank walls facing V3 Streets.

Figure 3.8 along V2 Sector 22-23 Dividing road

Figure 3.9 Sector 15-16 Dividing road

Figure 3.10 along V3 Road Sector 15-10 Dividing road

Figure 3.12 V4 Shopping street in Sector 22

Figure 3.13 Stark Difference in levels. Image source googleearth

Figure 3.14 Disparity levels in Chandigarh

Figure 3.15 The facade control regulations ensure a uniform Image sourced from chandigrhurbanlab.org

Figure 3.16 Informal markets keep springing up in vacant places and in some sectors they have been permanently accommodated as part of the sector layout.

Figure 3.17 The People the city planners forgot. Figure 3.18 A comparison of a tree pattern http://emergenturbanism.com/2009/05/11/the-fundamentals-of-urban-complexity

Figure 3.19 The number of different connection . Alexander, C. 1966

133

Figure 3.20 Lattice Structure in natural cities Diagrams A & B redrawn by Nikos Salingaros http://www.rudi.net/books/200

Figure 3.22 Tree Structure as explained by the Graph view and set View Diagrams A & B redrawn by Nikos Salingaros http://www.rudi.net/books/201

Figure 3.24 Tree Structure of Chandigarh in comparison to Lattice structure of Manhattan http://www.rudi.net/books/11913

Figure 3.25 Tree Structure of Chandigarh as explained by Christopher Alexander. 1966

Figure 3.26 Structural Axes in Chandigarh

Figure 3.27 Axial Map of Chandigarh

Figure 3.28 Transect Zones from T1 natural to T6 Urban core based on the urban spatial qualtiy.

Figure 4.3 conceptual linkage of Green spaces over the road network. image adapted from chandigarhurbanlab.com

Figure 4.4 conceptual illustration of Green linking pathways. image adapted from chandigarhurbanlab.com

Figure 4.9 The buildings in the sector. image source: http://phototravelings.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

Figure 4.10 The view to the Plaza. image source: chandigarhurbanlab.com

Figure 4.11 general view through the sector. imagesource wikimediacommons. copyright:

Figure 4.13 Commercial units along V2 in Sector 22 surrounding sector 17: image source

Figure 4.14 Parking spaces and wide roads increase the physical space between the street on the boundary. Image source:

Figure 4.15 The entrances

Figure 4.16 The building.. Image source: wikimediacommons

Figure 4.41 Schematic of Absorption Cooling Process: image source treehugger.com

ABBREVEATIONS

CO2 Carbon DioxideGWH Gigawatt HourEJ Exo Joules TCE Tonnes of Carbon EquivalentTOE Tonnes of Oil EquivalentTW Tera WattUNEP United Nations Environment Programme

134

135

AFFIDAVIT

I certify that the work presented here is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original and the result of my own research, except as acknowledged, and has not been submitted, either in part or whole, for a degree at this or any other University.

Vaduz, 11.07.2013

Hitanshu Jishtu