New Urbanism is quite old

By- Anoop Jha

New Urbanism is the phenomenon of urban awareness and urban restructuring in the 1980s, originated in US and further replicated throughout the world. It was primarily based on holistic concepts of urbanism like Walkable neighborhoods, Landuse restructuring etc. etc.

It’s high time that architects, planners and urban designers should pause for a moment and question themselves that whatever work they are doing since quite some time, is it something new or is it just inertia of decades old “New Urbanism”? Is it “New Urbanism” which current urban era  demands or something else, something new, relevant and refreshing? Isn’t it that New urbanism is quite old a theory now, might be relevant only in few pockets of worlds? 

Urban Planning and Design has to reinvent itself from time to time. This whole idea of time span and speculating direction of urban growth is vague and misleading.  We should be little skeptical about guiding our future urban development plans based on quarter century old theories. 

Interior Design - A reflection of self rather than a design platter

By - Anoop Jha

Indian homes tell rich stories of evolution and experience.

What is interior design for an average home in India? What is perceived notion of high end interior design by an average city dweller? Is it an extravagant expression of “new rich” in town or an effort of “not so rich class” to live classy rich life? Whatever it is they usually feel proud showcasing their home interior and décor, no matter whether they are rich or not so rich, no matter whether it’s extravagant or modest.



[Handpicked Books]

     

When it comes to average middle class home interior you will find few similarities, an overwhelmingly stuffed home, because they need and inherit too many things to make their life vibrant and cope with so many rituals, social events, festivals, changing seasons etc.  and they don’t generally discard old household items in India since they have emotional value attached to it like furniture inherited from grandparents, no matter whether they have already bought a pair of PVC chair and an steel wardrobe last festive season on a mega discount offer they will keep the old furniture and items as well. Minimalistic interior is either not their choice or maybe they can’t afford it. You will find multipurpose household items, like the steel or wooden trunk which is used to store many non-seasonal household stuffs along with hardly used inherited and memorial items and which can also be used as TV stand or temporary bed in case of long social visits like couch surfing. You will find same contemporary interior lighting unit or decorative fixture in majority of houses which they all buy from the same neighborhood market. Almost similar finishes, similar wall colors and textures, similar window grill design, similar exposed interior lighting, may be little different furnishing based on little varied choices of occupant. You will sense a fusion of different culture with miniature painting of Rajasthan hanging on the wall to Feng shui wind chime hanging on door. But they seem quite content in their home, that’s what matters! No matter how limited is the space inside home; they have huge space in their heart to welcome you.

                 

What is interior design for rich or even ultra rich in India? They can afford an architect or interior designer. You will find their home lavishly decorated and minimalistic at time, with all those wonderful finishes and concealed lighting, but you know what, story doesn’t end here. When the job or interior design is over now starts the real interior design and decoration process of Indian home. Don’t forget the real architects and Interior designers of Indian households are the lady of the house, who chooses the next big change in the interior layout and furnishing, she decides, where to adjusts, accommodate and place those ever growing inflow of household stuffs and home décor items of which they are very fond of. If the same architect or interior designer who did the interior of home returns after five years to that home he or she will be totally surprised to see how rich and diversified the interior has become in this short span of time, with all those variety of decorative items which have been either received in gift or collected over visit to different parts of country or world. None of which are matching either to each other or to originally perceived interior design. Some of the home décor items are from Japan, some from Singapore or Thailand may be Egypt or south Africa or might have been bought from neighborhood Sunday market, some inherited from generation some preserved from childhood, some ethnic or some space age, though they look wonderful together and presents an ever-changing interior landscape telling story of its evolution and rich experience, its reflection of occupants of the Indian homes.  They don’t just get their interior designed in a go, they create it with their own hand in course of time.     

Data mining of local print Media for contextual urban planning

By - Anoop Jha

Analyzing vast database of local and regional newspapers

Media is called the mirror of society and it tells the stories of any region and its people as seen and gathered with continuous efforts.  Imagine the amount of data and information media might have gathered collectively in course of decades of exploration, about any particular region, its people, community and their behavior, their needs and aspirations, their strengths and their opportunities, their social and economic dynamics and potentials. 


[Handpicked Books] 




This huge amount of data can be of tremendous importance for planners and policy makers, if filtered and analysed properly. Let’s take print media for the purpose of data mining since it would be easier to dig from the decades of archive, of national, regional and local newspapers.

Collage of print media

What’s the standard way of research for different planning projects? Planners are generally dependent on secondary data in elementary stage and primary data at later stage to arrive at a conclusion in term of what could be the best suitable plan for a city or region. 


When it comes to secondary data collection, most of the time it’s either published reports or online database which is user uploaded content on which they rely. This relevant information may be authentic, may be half baked, may be partially relevant, may be totally wrong or may not be available even.

Local & regional newspapers

What about local print media? Have we forgot to explore the rich and authentic information which the local newspares have generated across a large time span. Though its little tiresome to filter all those relevant information about the particular region or issue from the thousands of chronological issues of dozens of national and regional newspapers and magazines. But no information can be as authentic, precise and relevant as the collective database of this vast landscape of print media not even primary data. Need is to encourage and formalize a methodology to utilize this untapped knowledge of print media for the planning process.

Induced Eureka moments

By - Anoop Jha

Using knowledge to validate the creativity

If you are one of those creative souls like writers, director, fashion or product designers, architects, interior designers or planners, you must have, at random times experienced those intentional or uninvited eureka moments of creativity when you think you have cracked the code. In that moment you are absolutely sure what you are up to and sure about where you are going.  One might think it’s just a matter of chance, a coincident. Think again, it might be subconscious mind working unconsciously on the project you got last fortnight but couldn’t get time to sit and draft a blueprint. It might be your active eyes looking for inspiration into the hidden recesses of surrounding or on the bright facades’ of city streets, without you noticing it and it suddenly manifests itself in form of idea or solution which you were looking for.

Apparently it’s possible to increase the frequency of occurrence of those creative eureka moments by remaining consciously vigilant to surrounding environment while identifying existing problems and possible solutions and getting inspired by the dynamics of environment at the same time.

One can increase the probability of finding right solution by conscious and frequent encounter with ever increasing and freely available creative resources like online data repository. The more you explore more you become confident about what you are aiming for and at the same time you open the door for creativity surge. You got to find out and see every existing or proposed green skyscraper and sustainable development project first, if you are set to create a green architectural or planning masterpiece for example.  

Role of Managers as Decision Maker

By - Anoop Jha

Planning and Architectural decisions which can save valuable time and resources

The future course of any planning or architectural project is shaped by decisions made at different stages of project by able managers. A manager should have strong organizational capabilities to manage the limited resources in most effective ways, excellent interpersonal skill sets like oratory command, active listening, backed by groomed personality, delegational capabilities, strong sense of intuition, superb management and leadership capacity which reflects in swiftness, smartness and precision of decisions made in the crucial moments. Managers should be capable of perceiving macro level issues which might emerge in course of project as well as should be capable of understanding and analysing minute details of project and process if required.

In planning and architecture every now and then macro level issues demands attention as well as swift and smart decision from managers. A wrong decision can be a toll on already limited and pressing time and resources while a sensible decision which emerges from the wisdom and experience of managers can save a lot of time and hassle.

Now, what is sensible decision and how can one arrive at a sensible strategic decision?  A team leader or manager is like a captain of any dynamic sport, who has to constantly change, modify and revive his or her strategy, negotiating twists and turns of this dynamics and unpredictability of the game, accommodating and absorbing changing situations, while keeping his or her focus on the end result i.e. winning the game.  In the similar way a manager or team leader has to constantly reinvent its strategies meeting the project needs, accommodating dynamism of project with the focus on timely completion of projects with effective utilisation of resources at hand.

Conference cum Exhibition on Sustainable Mobility -2011

4th ANNUAL URBAN MOBILITY CONFERENCE CUM EXHIBITION-2011 AND SIXTH REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT (EST) FORUM IN ASI

Programme

Conference cum Exhibition on Sustainable Mobility

Organized by

Ministry of Urban Development

Government of India

Insititute of Urban Transport (IUT)           

United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)              

World Health Organization (WHO)

Ministry of the Environment,

Government of Japan

VENUE: The Manekshaw Centre, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi-110070, India

3rd to 6th December 2011

New Delhi

PROVISIONAL CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Conference Chair: Prof. Saugata Roy, Hon’ble Minister of State (Urban Development), Government of India

Source: iutindia.org

Fueling Smart Growth through intelligent Urban Planning

By - Anoop Jha

Principals and tools of Smart Growth

Integration

        Integrated Infrastructure and services

        Regional integration

        Integration of different strata of society

        Contextual development

        Integrated governance and single window clearance

Slum Integration

Urban growth 

Decentralization

        Decentralized responsibilities for better function

Decentralized risk allocation

Downstream benefits

Modular Planning

       Replicable and Expandable planning 
       modules

        Modular architecture

        Modular construction

Intelligent Management System

        Intelligent Building Management System (IBMS)

Construction Management System

Advanced Transport and Traffic Management System

Intelligent Transport

Parking and Tunnel Management System

Flood Management System

Disaster Management System

Resource Management

Automation

        Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)

        Automated Waste Collection and Treatment

Safety

        Intelligent Urban Surveillance

        Fire and Life Safety

        Post Disaster Recovery Masterplan

Centralized helpline

Green Development

        Renewable energy

        Alternative energy

        Smart grid

        Solar passive architecture

Education

        Optimum utilization of resources

        Better Health and sanitation

Better livelihood opportunities

Exposure to new plans, policies and technology

Public Policy and Governance

        Updating old policies

Participatory planning

        Inclusive planning

Roadmap of future development

Language of City - Study of population flux in a City

By - Anoop Jha

Fluctuating population density of urban public spaces

Urban eco-system comprises of to distinct layers one static built mass, and second, dynamic floating and moving population. This static-dynamic  interface can be an interesting subject of study. Imagin fast pace time laps photography capturing to and fro movement of colony of black ants targting an abandoned sweet candy lying spotless white floor. Now imagine movement of population (ant) in a sprawling city (floor) on any average day.

 

One of the ways to study the intracity population flux can be as follows.

Demarcating zones in the city based on functional characteristics like, offices, residential, commercial, educational, recreational, transit etc, further deviding zones in smallest possible zones to be covered by an individual, lets call it urban pixel , studying each of these pixels for a given sizable period of time using time-laps photographs, vedios and conducting survays, preparing index and assigning rating to each of these small zones in term of population flux, which means assigning a range of rating based on tentative number or quantum of population present at that particular zone or pixal, deriving matrix of population flux for the entire city and further preparing population flux plan for the city.  

Missing active layers of master plan

By Anoop Jha

Mapping of Active Layer, a new way of planning Cities

Layers in City Masterplan  

Master planning process through out the recent past has remained somewhat similar across the regions and continents in spite of technological advancement. From the technical point of view (apart from creative side) development of city master plan needs a totally new approach. We need to use the technology, tools, and resources available in a best possible and creative ways. 

There are two sides of Masterplan one is creativity, other is logic. There is always some logic that goes into preparation of masterplan. Masterplan is outcome of logical interpretation of gathered data related to city and region, based on the inferences derived from the analysis of data, hence richer the data-set more sound would be the masterplan. Planners talk about smarter cities but there master-plans look like same old conventional map, most of the city planners do not understand that its high time that master planning process need to change.

Either Planners are unwilling to take a new approach to develop masterplan by exploiting the potential of available technological resources or possibly age old development guidelines are so lenient and flexible that they do not feel the need to do so. 

Its high time that Urban planners should understand the significance of active mapping layers

Apart from usual layers of masterplan like Landuse, Infrastructure, Transport Network, Settlement, Built mass, there are numerous other possible layers which can prove vital for the city planning and which are currently being ignored, Lets call them "Active Layers of Masterplan". Theses layers are dynamic and qualitative in nature in a sense there behavior keeps changing and locations shifting, but after analyzing for certain period of time a recognizable pattern emerges which can be further act as an additional layer and criteria for developing a holistic and realistic masterplan. similarly we can have many more layers and criteria to further articulate the masterplan. These no. of active layers tend to increase as we understand the significance and impact of such criteria on city planning and lives citizens, as well as when we mobilize the resources to collect as much data as possible, no. of layers also tend to increase with the advancement of mapping technology like, GIS, satellite image interpretation, etc. one Very crucial thing to understand related to these layers in totality is that all of these layers can be directly or indirectly related to and influencing each other. thence all the permutation and combination between these layers in terms of impact, should be carefully studied to logically  arrive at a holistic situational analysis and furtehr prepare masterplan. Some of the possible "Active Layers" which can be included in planning process can are as follows - 

MISSING ACTIVE LAYERS OF MASTERPLAN

- City Noise Layer /  Decibel map of city - (for livability assessment, landuse and transport planning) 

- Heat / Temperature mapping (for livability, built mass  orientation and location of city axis and public spaces, plazas)

- Day Shadow land Light Layer (for livability, built mass orientation and location,  public spaces location, walkability)

- Night Light mapping (desirability, safety and security, walkability, nightlife, understanding cold public spots,)

- Tecom and Mobile Signal mapping (accessibility, density flux analysis, concentration and movement pattern of population) 

- Time series density mapping

- Movement and Density pattern in seasonal variation

- Social interaction mapping

- Accessibility mapping,

- Mapping of Public Semi-public and private domain

Perception of space – a function (f) of day and night

Dramatic shift in Perception of Space during Day and Night.

Day and Night, an ever existent inseparable phenomenon, it’s an external influence on the perception of space, architecture and built form, an environmental influence which alter the experience of space in dramatic way, but we pay very little attention on such a wonderful aspect of such powerful influence while planning an urban setting, or while designing interior of a building. 

In day sun light is ambient and almost omnipresent when it comes to outdoor urban setting with an interplay of light and shadow, but mostly the experience of any specific outdoor space is more or less uniform and little monotonous throughout the day, while night provides infinite possibilities to create, mould, play with space, volume and ambiance outdoor as well as indoors using variety of light sources. Volume of space is directly proportional to intensity of light source, sources of artificial light give a totally different perception on a dark night compared to day time since the space that we perceive and experience in night time. In this case the bright perceived space slowly merges into the  dark sphere of night. Hence night provides ample scope of creating user experience in an urban setting and its responsibility of planners, and architects  and landscape architects to plan and design lighting of public spaces as well interiors of a building with an aim to provide a unique experience of end use in night period. 

Contemporary Architecture of India in flux

An observation on architectural character, practice, reason of flux, and control instruments     

There used to be a defined boundary of what is called “Contemporary Architecture” in every era since past few centuries, but the boundary of contemporary architecture at present, in the middle of first quarter of 21^st century, has become a multi-domain experience with organic boundaries of different school of thoughts melting into each other. Earlier there used to be some set of rules and inspiration, material and climatic constraint, to govern and guide the aesthetic elements of localised architecture which in turn used to give defined architectural and urban design character to neighborhoods and city, but apparently we are losing that cohesiveness in contemporary urban fabric because there is no virtual or enforced control over the aesthetics of architecture at present In the developing countries like India, which is tissue of urban fabric. That does not imply that we want another Chandigarh, its for sure, we don’t want another Chandigarh by Le Cob., that is an old story, needs and lifestyle of people have changed, so the architecture and planning.

There are guidelines for the construction and execution but no rules or guidelines for architectural aesthetics, and its solely on the mercy and idiosyncrasy of either Clients who have their own idea of what contemporary architecture should be (i.e. they want their house to be either like the house of “Mr. X”, or more lavish and grand than “Mr. Y”, or exactly like the house featured in that architectural magazine “Z”) or it depends on majority of young architects for which its more about pressed necessity of earning bread & butter rather than using and  implementing the hard earned architectural knowledge , most of which are either victim of commercialization, crippled and forced to follow the market trends (which in fact doesn’t have any architectural  trend except copying from other contemporary developments or from history or from google image search results).  

If you inspect deeply you will realize that this apparent chaos of architectural design and aesthetics is actually nobody’s fault , at least not of any individual  because it was bound to happen and its all because of  technological advancement, which makes information and tools abundant. Architects as well as clients are immensely exposed to influences from all across the world due to free and unlimited information, architects  were never so free to  experiment with design and form of buildings due to computer modeling and simulation as well as unlimited possibility that structural design provides at present due to advance technology, equipments, material etc. There is no constraint of material, you have all the construction material at your disposal in any  part of the country, there is no architectural constraint of climate, because architecture has increasingly become active rather than passive,  you have all the equipments to control and maintain the indoor climate. But amidst all this, if the architecture and city planning need design guidelines, development control regulation, urban design guidelines or a separate nodal governing authority to maintain the aesthetic and cohesiveness of city, so be it.

Definition of “Per Capita Consumption” need to be modefied - Water Sector

By- Anoop Jha

Apparently “per capita consumption” figure is used in financials, estimates and projections of every project, and DPRs across the country and across the sectors, but apparently age old definition (Per Capita Demand in litres per day per head) and formula of “per capita consumption” seem to be flawed and vague. Let’s consider Water Sector for example.

There are few reasons for this apparently flawed 

First, this formula invariably assumes that all the water is being consumed at household, institutional or community level for some useful purpose, but that is not the fact. The fact is “the collective water losses at household and institutional level are huge in any given community, settlement, or housing society”, leaking taps, pipes due to “lack of maintenance and willingness to maintain” and water wastage related to casual behavior of users “due to lack of education and sense of responsibility”  are a regular phenomenon of almost every household. Planning bodies and Policy makers have to understand that unless they stop these water losses or unless they change the definition from  “Per capita Consumption” incorporating the water losses, there demand estimates, future projections, projects cost estimates, will inevitably  be vague and skewed,

Some interesting extract from the discussion on “India Water Portal” (indiawaterportal.org) on the similar subject are as follows-

Link: http://www.indiawaterportal.org/ask/5409

“ When the norm for a large city is 250 lpcd, it doesn’t mean the residents actually get or use 250 lpcd. A large city has many other water needs such as public use in offices, railways stations, commercial places, for fire fighting, public horticulture, etc. All these are distributed over the population and indicated as per capita use” - Chetan Pandit

“The norms do not take in to account the climate. No distinction is made between Delhi that has a huge water requirement for desert coolers in summer and a bath twice a day is not a luxury; Pune that uses some coolers but not as common as Delhi and usually bath once a day is enough; and Copenhagen where the maximum summer temperature in 17 C and most of the time it is below 10 C” -Chetan Pandit

“Water consumption is affected by various factors which are variable and hence it is difficult to precisely assess the demand of public. There are empirical formulas available for estimating a fair value of domestic consumption for design of water supply systems. However, Indian Standard (BIS):1172-1993 is the basis of 135 litres/capita/day. This 135 litres/capita/person includes drinking (5 litres/capita/day), Cooking (5), Bathing (55), Washing of clothes (20), Washing of Utensils (10), Washing & Cleaning of house (10) and flushing of toilets (30 litres/capita/day)” - J.Harsha

Second, basis, thumbrules, lifestyle, requirement and related values for arriving at “standard per capita water consumption” in different urban areas changes in courses of time and cahnge as per seasonal variation which need to be accounted for calculation per standard water consumption” Standards need to be revised after a certain time interval.

“Details of present norms for water consumption are available in CPHEEO Manual on Water Supply and Treatment and Per capita water supply in selected urban centers of India is available at Water Supply, Sanitation and Solid Waste Management in Urban Areas by National Institute of Urban Affairs, 2005”

Third, accuracy of standard per capita water consumption figure is directly proportional to the size of sample (no. of household) surveyed, which may vary from agency to agency which prepares the report. Larger the sample more realistic the results would be. There should be Policy norms for minimum size of sample to be surveyed and heterogeneity of the sample.

Conservation Projects: From Liability to Asset

By : Anoop Jha

Architectural conservation has traditionally been considered as public or state responsibility and very few private entities are interested in taking up such projects, though state like Orissa is having Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model for conservation projects. A country with rich history and centuries of traditions like India has also rich Architectural assets which are often neglected and difficult to conserve due to its sheer abundance, Though national and international agencies like “Archeological Survey of India (ASI), UNESCO, etc. are taking active measures to conserve the heritage of India, but it seems that it’s time that private entities and investors should come forward to conserve the architectural heritage of Nation. I think it can prove to be quite a lucrative option for private investors if government acts as a facilitator and if some relaxation is given in heritage conservation planning process along with some incentives. It would prove to be a win-win situation for both public and private entities.

This is how it will work. Architectural conservation projects have few elements in common –

●      TECHNIQUES – its technical aspects of conservations projects, there are technical guidelines, policy norms, etc. it’s simply art of engineering.

●      HERITAGE VALUE – every historic architectural asset has a heritage value attached to it, and if methodically and convincingly approached by private agencies, government or public agency will certainly come forward to facilitate the conservation project of any nature, because conserved and maintained heritage is an asset for any state, which they often fail to take care of because of other pressing welfare responsibilities and limited financial resources.

●      EMOTIONAL VALUE – It has high perceived emotional value for, a Nation, a State, a certain group, or certain individuals, this high emotional value can be translated into monetary value with certain effort and proper strategy

●  UTILITARIAN VALUE – This is the most important aspect of any conservation project because this is what makes it as a commercial viable project, to make this model viable government will need to act as a facilitator and will have to draft special policy considering the special and sensitive status of such projects, policy also have to incorporate privet participation and related relaxation in terms of some norms and subsidies etc. to attract the investment from private investors.

Commercial Development Cost: PPP Projects

Cost Comparision of Commercial PPP projects 
(Cost in Rs. Cr.)

Post by: Anoop Jha

Urban Infrastructure : Investment Vs Operations and Maintenance (O&M)

Investment Vs O&M

Urban Infrastructure Cost

Per Capita Investment Cost by Sector

(Rs at 2009-10 prices)

Source:  Report on Indian  Urban Infrastructure and Services 

Per Capita Operations and Maintenance Cost (annual) by Sector

Source:  Report on Indian  Urban Infrastructure and Services 

Urban Infrastructure Investment Requirement (2012-31)

(Rs crore)

                            

Source:  Report on Indian  Urban Infrastructure and Services 

Operations and Maintenance Expenditure by Sector (2012-31)

Source:  Report on Indian  Urban Infrastructure and Services 

Pattern of per Capita investment in different urban infrastructure sectors and O&M cost are somewhat different from each other, while Urban Roads demands more capital investment , Water Supply, Sewage, SWM, Urban Road & Transport require more O&M investment. 

"Water utilities in India are typically able to recover only 30-35 per cent of the operations and maintenance (O&M) cost.Even with current levels of highly inadequate service, solid waste management accounts for 25-50 per cent of a ULB’s expenditure (World Bank 2006), but cities recover less than 50 per cent of the O&M cost, according to a study by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. ULBs will be required to invest 54 per cent on capital investment and close to 25 per cent on the O&M of physical assets by 2021-22. In practice, user charges cover less than 50 per cent of the O&M cost of basic infrastructure services in India, on an average"

Source:  Report on Indian  Urban Infrastructure and Services 

Urban Infrastructure Investment Requirement in India : 2012-31

Urban Infrastructure Investment Requirement: 2012-31 (Rs crore).

Total Expenditure        3918670

 Urban Roads              1728941 

 Urban Transport         449426 

 Renewal and Redevelopment including Slums 408955 

 Water Supply             320908 

 Sewerage                   242688 

 Storm Water Drains   191031

 Capacity Building       101759

 Traffic Support Infrastructure    97985

 Solid Waste Management         48582

 Street Lighting            18580

 Other Sectors             309815

"Almost 44 percent of urban infrastructure investment over the 20-year period  is accounted for urban roads. The backlog for this sector is very large, ranging from 50 per cent to 80 per cent across the cities of India.  Sectors delivering urban services such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste management, and storm water drains account for  about 20 per cent"

Source:  Report on Indian  Urban Infrastructure and Services 2009-2010