Defining Modular for Sustainable Future

By Anoop Jha

Sustainable Modular Unit for Design, Architecture and Planning

Modular planning and design is not a luxury, its necessity of time due to scarce resources, ever growing population, industrialization and mass production, automation, emerging and rapidly changing technology, wide gap of demand and supply, time constraint, need for efficient integration, rapid expansion and need for fast and easy maintenance and reproduction. In context of above observation let’s analyze the elements and process which are and can be made modular for optimum utilization of time and resources for the better future. But one should not be confuse modularity with monotony; Modular units need to be flexible for the customization based on region, location, altitude, culture and other environmental constraints. 

Modular Elements in Design - Design elements, patterns, motifs, pixels, Canvas/ Panel/ Base, printing, casting moulds, design tools, frames, pallets,

Modular Elements in Architecture - Architectural elements like door & windows construction items like tiles and glass panels, false ceiling panels, etc., Toilet, Kitchen, Structural elements, prefabricated modules,

Modular Elements in Planning - Replicable city grid, clusters, modular infrastructure, Modular neighborhood sectors, Modular housing units, Street section templates, street hardware etc

Pedestrian Desireline - Significance in, Landscape Architecture, Transport and Urban Planning

By - Anoop Jha

Desired natural and organic Pedestrian Movement Vs Planned synthetic and rigid Transit Network

Pedestrians are a very important element and regular attribute of transit-scape and landscape of any city, they often assume secondary position when it comes to transit plan of the city. transport models revolves around the vehicular dominance, transportation plans are prepared for smooth flow of vehicular traffic and after that pedestrian facilities are integrated rater retrofitted into the vehicular movement plan, through pedestrian underpass and over-bridges, with discontinuous patches of footpaths which is not suitable and safe for even healthy and active city dwellers, not to speak of physically challenged, differently abled and old aged population. Pedestrian circulation and their movement desire-line should be mapped and considered at the beginning and throughout of transport planning process. 


When it comes to landscape planning or outdoor public spaces, again pedestrian desire-lines are often ignored, result can be observed  everywhere  across city- broken fences, walls and barriers to avoid longer route and vehicular traffic, impression of casual pathways made by regular shortcut movement of pedestrian on the otherwise planned green fields and formal landscaped areas. All this because of ignorance to pedestrian desire-line and lack of comprehensive walkability plan for the city, neighborhood, and public spaces which should be otherwise vital and compulsory part of Transport, landscape and Urban Planning process. 

Transportation Viscosity - Resistance in Collective Travel

By - Anoop Jha

Understanding Qualitative aspect of Transportation

Transport Viscosity and bottleneck 

Transportation viscosity or transit viscosity is a resistance faced by commuters while travelling collectively in any given urban or regional setting; it can be sophisticated qualitative criteria to understand and judge the congestion level of any city and can help improve the life of city. Transit viscosity is made of many tangible and intangible elements like, No. of Vehicle per unit length of Road, Surface Material, Condition & Texture of Road, Street Edge, Manmade or Natural Obstructions on Road, Ongoing Development work in Process in the corridor, Ongoing O & M of Road of other infrastructure concealed within the road or corridor, Transport Signage simplicity, visibility and condition and location, Driving Behavior of individuals, pedestrian behavior etc. Most of the characteristics stated above are related to socio-economic condition of city, efficiency of administration and education level of community. Role of planners here is to understand the nature and reason of these frictional elements of transportation which causes transit viscosity and to plan accordingly to reduce the friction.    

Local Ecosystem : Model for adaptive growth

By - Anoop Jha

An autonomous and sustainable model for planning

Understanding the intricate pattern of  local ecosystem of any region which is adjustable and adaptive to its constantly changing environmental parameters like micro-climate, inhabitants, pace of activities, external tangible influences etc. could prove to be the key to future sustainable model for Urban and regional development. 

There are ample of example of such ecosystem throughout the world with  its peculiar challenges and solutions. ecosystems can be as small as an small island or a patch of land on a river bank, or it can be as big as a regional watershed catchment area of forest of Amazon, but each of these autonomous ecosystems have some kind of  similarity  which is absorptive capacity of these ecosystems, they seem to have inevitable capacity to nurture and absorb the growth within its somewhat flexible envelop. 

Natural ecosystems try to maintain a unique environmental conditions necessary for its existence from its constant physical and chemical activities. For example, river bank of an urban settlement which acts as the only grazing land for  buffaloes and cows of the small villages trapped within the city fabric in the process of urban expansion, can be an interesting area of study related to ecosystem.It is more or less similar cycle of activity flux everyday in the somewhat flexible envelop of this river bank grazing land, though constantly being influenced and invaded by the development activities of city and natural cyclic activities like annual flood. another example can be the Large forest of Savanna, which apparently seem calm from a distance but  buzzing with life cycle activities of flora and fauna inside its dense green envelop, constantly nurturing, changing, adapting  and absorbing the growth, while maintaining its ecosystem. Urban and Regional Planner need to study, document, analyse, extract, and implement the similar autonomous model of growth and planning for a sustainable future of cities.

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

Changing Scale of Innovation – from Architecture to Urban Planning

By- Anoop Jha

Next generation of Urban Planning inspired by Architecture Evolution

Evolution of Construction Technology and new construction Materials inspired the Architects in past to experiment with the form, scale and aesthetics of buildings, technology fueled the growth of architectural innovation and the broadened vista of modern architecture. Complex and sophisticated simulation tools and software, advanced construction equipments, advanced structural engineering and emergence of new stronger and flexible construction materials combined with creativity of Architects made this architectural revolution possible. Urban planning was of relatively much larger and complex nature, incorporating architecture as one of the element. For the long period of time technology was of little importance in urban planning except the transportation revolution of Mass Rapid transit systems and emergence of steel as high-rise construction material which shaped the development of urban planning to some extent.

Technology in recent past has made tremendous development like satellite images and advanced mapping technology, Geographical Information System (GIS), sophisticated analytical tools and software, new resource management techniques, modeling prediction tools, automation, integrated infrastructure systems etc. and it is growing exponentially, which is giving tremendous possibilities for urban planners to experiment in the field of urban habitation, buildings of near impossible height and scale, urban transit systems, environment, and core urban infrastructure, utilizing resources, use of previously untapped potential of region and inaccessible terrains, and planning in extreme climate. We can see the impact of state of art technology manifesting itself in the new planned cities, future urban development proposals, emerging revolutionary thoughts on next generation of cities. The kind of innovation which was only visible in architectural domain till recent past is now have become a regular feature of urban planning processes an proposals.  

Pro-poor Regional Planning: Strategic proposal

By- Anoop Jha

Mainstream Socio – economic Integration of poor and underprivileged

Impact of Regional Planning is slow but it is long-lasting. It is directly related to growth of region hence it has to be inclusive for downstream befits. It has evolved to cater to a much larger population base. It shapes the socio-economic future trends of the region and even the nation. There are different strategies which can and should be adopted as part of the Regional Development Plan and Regional Tourism and transportation Plan. Some of the pro-poor strategies for regional planning are as follows –

Social Integration of poor and underprivileged strata of society

Reviving and reinforcing local art, culture, history, of the region   

Promoting local Artisans, craftsman and artists,

Establishing Service and food processing industries

Creating zonal art, craft, food-grain, Wholesale and retail markets as active and vibrant nodes

Networking nodes through all weather road

Small scale industries

Training

Storage facilities

Hospitality

Natural eco tourism, Food and eateries 

Rural tourism

Culture trekking

Nurturing talent pool

Resource mobilisation,

Micro financing and community based program 

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

Every city has stories to tell - What planners can learn from them

By Anoop Jha 

Tender and holistic side of Urban Planning

Every city has past layers of experience covered under the veneers of present. There are mysterious and fascinating stories created by time, locked in the hidden recesses of the city waiting to be explored. Every corner of city has impression of time engraved on its surface, which tells stories to passers by. Stories created by the residents of city and told to residents of city.

Cities are like story book .Older the existence of cities bigger the story book. City is a cumulative experience of mankind; it is result of evolution of mankind as an efficient species. Cities have evolved and will keep growing and expanding like living organism, amidst all this evolutionary history there has been numerous experience gathered by city dwellers which has been passed on from generations to generations, some of which has even become myth.

Nature of Stories varies from region to region and as per characteristics of city. Every city with similar characteristics  have something similar to tell, for instance towns of hills have similar stories derived from the generations of experience emerged from somewhat common experiences of similar climatic conditions, similar terrain, similar lifestyle and available facilities. Modern fast pace cities have somewhat common stories to tell from the similar problems and opportunities available in cities tike, traffic, high-rise living, mass transport, entertainment etc.

Because of such mysterious and interesting characteristic of cities it has attracted attention of , writers, poets, film makers, artists etc. They either dig into the history of city or carefully watch the ongoing flux of life of city to get inspired.

Though all this is an glittering ornament of experience, made with cumulative effort of generations of city dwellers, molded and carved in the heat of time, Its an important role of an urban planner to dig into the history of city to understand the nature and temperament of city, to learn the lessons from the stories of experience and then only plan, expand and revitalize the city which can be readily accepted  by residents of city without their feelings of attachment with city being hurt, with which they have grown. This is an essential part of the holistic planning but unfortunately we tend to neglect this tender but vital part of city planning process.

Caught in the process: Urban and Regional Planning process requires a fresh approach

By - Anoop Jha

Flawed bottom-up process in Urban and Regional Planning

Too much focus on  process and micro management poses many dangers in planning process and leads to content deficit, blurred vision and ignorance to outcome.

Scale of Urban and regional planning demands a macro level approach to begin with. It requires a top down approach which means, vision of the planning assignment should be stated and crystal  clear and outcome after the whole gimmick of  planning process should be defined, planners need to start from there backwards up to the conceptualizing the project and steps to be taken.

whole process should be oriented towards achieving the goal. but most of the corporations, consultants, planners, governing authorities miss this vital point. for example in a normal routine planning process, at preliminary stages of projects only few senior people are involved but as the project moves towards finalization more and more people chip in and give comments which lead to major re-adjustments in the project at the later stage of project which is not good for any projects health, idea is to urge as many senior planners, authorities and stakeholders in the beginning of the project life cycle for the process of review and feedback. Another example of wastage of time in the process is that some of  the corporate bodies often miss the objective of the project, because they are so much caught n the process of corporatisation, making presentation with fancy jargon words, decorating charts, quoting someone else's statistical inferences etc. Their process is bottom up kind, they are least concerned about the future outcome of the project. they want to en-cash the opportunity of present ignoring the future.

Focus of urban and regional planning should be on analytical inferences of gathered data in terms of trends, regional context, indexing of available social and physical infrastructure, resource mobilization strategies, preparing development matrix and and strategic proposal rather than micro managing the process.

Urban Transport Surveillance in Indian Context

By - Anoop Jha 

Only Fraction of Technology Potential is being utilised at present in India

Transport Surveillance in India is at nascent stage,  though it is vital for Transport Management of any city.

The implementation process is slow due to resource constraint and wherever it is implemented either technology is old or underutilized. While Transport surveillance covers a wide spectrum of functions related to planning and monitoring, only fraction of facility provided by advanced technology is being used in India at present. Urban Transport Surveillance is capable of capturing, processing and analyzing huge amount of data in real time and provide timely information to manage the complex nature and unpredictable nature of urban transportation. 

Urban Transport Surveillance package can include many functional and analytical aspects depending on the needs of client, It can give real time traffic movement feed on map by collating all the data captured from different strategic locations like Junctions, Transit Nodes, Multimodal Hubs, which can be accessed online by commuters, It can give stress alarm in case of congestion level and can suggest alternative route to commuters, can inform relevant authorities and departments regarding the stress situations, like damaged vehicle, damaged road of facility, accidents, fire, congestion etc. These technologies have intelligent alalytical tool witch can identify the actual cause of transport stress, for example, it can identify and track the cause of transport conflict, like unidentified objects, Vehicle in stress or any intentional mischief like vehicle going in wrong direction or person crossing the road at wrong place and time, based on pre-installed object templates using size, speed and direction of object, and can warn manual surveillance unit to take immediate action.It can also do behavioral tracking with or without manual assistance, which includes identifying person in stress, or in danger, or tracking suspicious behavior etc. In-spite of such wonderful facilities provided by urban surveillance technology we are utilizing only a fraction of it , and mostly in the monitoring of traffic rule offenders, and to issue challan or fine, which should be tackled by educating citizens backed by strict traffic regulations rather than relying on expansive cameras. Camera and surveillance infrastructure if to be installed or in place, should be used for wider purpose of integrated traffic management and transport research, rather than just recording or monitoring small fraction of traffic rule offenders.

How reliable are socio-economic future projections?

By - Anoop Jha

There are always some uncertainties of projections in planning process.

While preparing vision and development plans, planners heavily depends on socio-economic projections short to medium and long term. Based on such projections development plans are proposed for a region or a city, both strategic as well as physical plan. It is an effort to look into the future and plan according to that. For regional vision plan these projections are based on analyzing voluminous amount of social and economic data of the region collected over long period time and referring to survey data archive, which shed some light on decades of  growth pattern of the region. For urban and regional projects, projections are made based on samples collected over relatively shorter period of time.

There are number of theories, school of thoughts, methods and simulation tools which have evolved in course of time for the socio economic projection. Data gathering process are becoming more and more efficient, Simulation tools are getting faster and efficient as well capable of handling large amount of data in no time, Still there is an uncertainty of projections in current planning projections. Future Projections are as accurate and reliable as its tools are i.e. gathered data, sample questionnaires, size of sample, hetroginicity of sample, inclusiveness of sample, simulation tools- software & Computers,  apart from that there are  other factors like willingness and efficiency of of consultants/ surveying agencies responsible for the outcome, human error, time constraint, political influence. Under so many of environmental influences future projections are bound to be hazy, hence there should be certain provisions of  compensatory flexibility both in terms of tangible and intangible inputs in the planning model, especially in physical planning and development plans, to make plans as realistic and as accommodative and future proof as possible.

Intercity travel congestion - Need for a new regional planning approach

By - Anoop Jha

Too much focus on urban planning and too little regional planning

Intercity Transport

Regional Development Plans in terms of intercity mobility plan are long term planning process which are primarily Policy level decisions and most of the time such projects remain stagnant at strategic level. Very few of these projects gets implemented in time while situation keep becoming increasingly critical, for example- intercity traffic congestion.

Most of the proposed projects are capital intensive and hence undergo long review process and witness relatively less thrust from political arena, while other mounting  large numbers of smaller projects at urban level demands immediate attention at the same time and witness  more political willingness, due to relatively shorter implementation period and medium to small  investment in comparison to regional development project, particularly in Transport sector. 

At national and regional scale government has so many pressing priorities in terms of public welfare and social infrastructure like, health, education, water and sanitation etc. that they tend to push  back some elements of physical infrastructure projects like upgradation, widening of existing intercity roads, crucial regional transport junctions, new bypasses, and expressways link roads.  In regional transport plan another reason of choked intercity transport corridors and delayed project implementation is that regional plan are placed lower in terms of prioritized projects, because their immediate priorities are close to core of the city and as we go further from center of the city nature of project starts changing from urban to regional, and projects in regional category are part of later phases of the projects and mostly strategic in nature with some physical planning proposals. 

Need is to identify and prepare  exhaustive list of planning indexes like, demography, revenue, technology,  covering large spectrum of subjects and society, and based on those index a blanket matrix should be created to arrive at more realistic priority list of project.

Designing Golf Course – Creative side of sports

By - Anoop Jha

Why designing Golf Course is so different from most of other sports

Golf is one of the fastest growing popular outdoor sports in the world. It is quite fascinating and very different from other sports in terms of its playfield design and layout in the midst of lush undulating surrounding; it has a touch of natural ecology with varying texture of surface made of grass, sand and water, with carefully placed and maintained vegetation. Though it is a laborious game but it is quite rejuvenating in terms of environment.

Designing a Golf course is very different from designing fields and courts for other sports like, football field, Race track, tennis, badminton, swimming pool etc. because of scope for flexibility and creativity it provides in terms of planning and design elements for localised treatment while staying within the prescribed standards. Most of the other sports have a very standardized and rigid layout for their field and court, and provides very little flexibility and scope for creativity in design, except envelop i.e. indoor and outdoor stadium buildings / envelop. Golf course provides a much wider scope for creativity which is specific to physiography and profile of site.  

Layout Design Guidelines

Par - 3 :  250 yards [230 M] & below

Par - 4 :  251 to 450 yards [410 M]

Par - 5 :  451 to 690 yards [630 M]

Par - 6 :  691 yards [632 M] or more

Typical elements of a hole on a golf course

1.   Teeing ground

2.   Water hazard

3.   Rough

4.   Out of bounds

5.   Sand bunker

6.   Water hazard

7.   Fairway

8.   Putting green

9.   Flagstick

10. Hole

Integrated Infrastructure for Sustainable Urban Planning

By - Anoop Jha

Integrated infrastructure is the key to sustainable infrastructure planning. Planning at Urban or Township scale involves an intricate system of utility infrastructure like power, water, sewage, drainage, HVAC. All these utilities and services need to co-exist together while every system plays a crucial role in proper function of city as a whole. 

Integrated decentralization for planning

Integration and decentralization both have their own advantages. Integration has some fundamental befits like - optimized resource, saved time, centralized supervisory and partial control, possibility of automation, less manpower requirement, wastage control, resource efficiency etc. while decentralization presents its own set of benefits like- better management and control, output efficiency, better understanding of the system, better control, modular unitisation, replication, last mile value addition etc. but for a sustainable urban infrastructure planning a hybrid these two systems should be used which we can call “Integrated decentralization”. It would advantages both the systems fused together for best results and optimization.  

Perception of space – a function (f) of Space

Regional and Locational shift in Perception of space

Space function and origin

Perception of space in terms of physical location of observer plays a crucial part in understanding planning of urban built form and is a vital part of Urban Planning, but the roots of such perception emerges from regional level. It is also related to conditioning, space perceived by residents of mountainous, hilly and undulating terrain are totally different from space perceived by person living in  flat terrain. Similarly space recognized by a person who spent most of his life in sprawling rural setting  can be totally different than a person living in an urban setting, It can be either” a not so pleasant shock” or “a surprise” or “an aspiration” for an individual while changing their location from hills to plain or rural to urban or vice versa. Usually what happens is that people constantly living in mountainous and hilly terrain witness only finite view due to restrained field of view by mountains,  hills and valleys, and when they occasionally come to plain and see that there is no limitation on the field of view, when they realize that they can see upto the horizon, it’s a pleasant shock to them.

Similarly when a resident of sprawling plain terrain goes for a vacation to some hill station or otherwise, they find it as a one of the finest moments of their life, primarily because of limited and ever changing field of view provided by hilly city,  they have a totally different experience of space that is finite which they have never experienced in life living in plains. Similarly a person living in a rural setting with sprawling, sparse and low-rise settlement when encounter with a city with medium to high-rise and dense built form and architecture, its not the rush of city that strikes him most, it’s the “Built Form” that strikes him dumb, he curiously looks out of the window of train and bus and cab, to see the buildings touching the sky, public spaces formed and enclosed by surrounding buildings. Suddenly he finds himself enclosed and restrained in the built form of the city which provides finite field of view with claustrophobic environment which is a paradigm shift in perception from the earlier experienced freedom of unlimited perceived space of rural setting. 

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.