This document discusses urban voids created by infrastructure in the city of Kharghar, India. It provides background on urban voids and categorizes them as either functional voids (unused spaces) or planning voids (created during the planning process). It focuses on infrastructural urban voids, which are linear spaces cut out of the urban fabric by transportation infrastructure like highways. The document analyzes specific infrastructural urban voids in Kharghar created by roads and examines how they disrupt the urban form and public realm. It argues these voids could be redesigned as public spaces to improve connectivity and create a more homogeneous urban fabric.
Settlement pattern of town (Varanasi) brief history of city evolve , settlement of institution and residents, concepts of the main ghats , master plan of Varanasi
Settlement pattern of town (Varanasi) brief history of city evolve , settlement of institution and residents, concepts of the main ghats , master plan of Varanasi
The Structure of the Presentation:
Introduction to Master Plan
Location
Physiography
Factors for growth potential of NOIDA
Regional setting of NOIDA
Objectives
Population Growth
Development Constraints
Planning and design concept
Salient Features
Land Use Statistics
Proposals
Conclusion
Sabarmati riverfront case study for development of yamuna riverfront agradeeksha sharma
the
the Sabarmati riverfront ahmedabad is a huge successful project. this presentation is about the case study of that riverfront to take the features similar to the the Yamuna riverfront Agra for urban design development project.
This PPT explains the spatial characteristics of the city, how it changed from past to present and what will be the expected areal Expansion of the city due to various factors. it also contains demographic, landuse, problems related to existing services etc.
The aim of the Mission Smart City is to efficiently utilise the available Assets, Resources and
Infrastructure to enhance the quality of Urban Life and provide a clean and sustainable
environment for living and the main focus will be on core infrastructure services like adequate
clean Water supply, Power supply, Sanitation, Disaster Management, Solid waste management,
Waste water treatment, Efficient urban mobility and Public Transportation, Public Healthcare
system, Education, Affordable Housing, robust IT connectivity, e-governance, Safety, Socialsecurity. Smart City needs Smart Citizens too, Smart City needs to be Safe City as well for
citizens live a smooth life.
Some definitional boundaries are required to guide cities in the Mission. In the imagination of
any city dweller in India, the picture of a Smart City contains a wish list of infrastructure and
services that describes his or her level of aspiration. To provide for the aspirations and needs of
the citizens, urban planners ideally aim at developing the entire urban eco-system, which is
represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development — institutional, physical, social
and economic infrastructure. This can be a long term goal and cities can work towards
developing such comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, adding on layers of ‘smartness’.
In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core
infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment
and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and
the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to
other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. It is
meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalyzing
the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country.
In Smart Cities Mission Vadodara 2nd in PPP projects' progress Vadodara, which was selected to
be part of the Smart Cities Mission in September 2016, had zeroed in on 62 projects worth Rs
2,817 crore in this regard. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had launched the
India Smart Cities Award on 25 June, 2017 with an objective to reward cities, projects and
innovative ideas.
"Smart Utilization of Vadodara City's Potential for enhancing Quality of life for the citizens of
Providing Equal Access to Best Quality Physical Infrastructure, Social Infrastructure and
Mobility through leveraging state of the art technology; thus making Vadodara a Futuristic
Global city with focus on enhancing economy, protecting the ecology and preserving the identity
& culture of the city".
Self Sustainable Integrated Township : A resource-based planning to improve t...Sahil Singh Kapoor
The objective of this study is to analyze the potential shift towards Integrated Township development with mixed land use, creating employment opportunities close to residential place and requiring minimum land area.
Strategies for Planning Smart and Sustainable CitiesJIT KUMAR GUPTA
Smart city remains a misnomer. No city on planet earth can claim to be smart. Experts are still searching the soul of smart city in order to precisely define it .Unfortunately smart city has become a money spending/spinning exercise for few individuals/agencies. Entire concept of smart city has been made technology centric, minimizing the role and importance of human beings. In addition, role of Town Planners in smart city has been totally marginalized. How can a city be made smart without intervention of planning and planners. Smart city as a concept has been copied globally to promote operational efficiency and productivity of the cities , with minimum concern for human growth and development. Addressing issue of poverty and making city livable for all should be the agenda of urban growth and development. In the face of homeless people , absence of basic amenities and facilities essential of human living, making city’s smart will be a fallacy and prove to be counterproductive. Cities do not exist in isolation and require the support of rural hinterland. Dealing cities alone by excluding villages will invariably lead to lopsided growth of cities because genesis of majority of urban ills has roots in the neglect of the rural areas. Urban areas must do handholding for the rural areas for synergizing mutual strength and to usher a new era of rational growth. Smart city concept must focus on empowering human being/ living, making them more skilled, create options for meeting the basic human needs and removing the curse of poverty and unemployment.
The Structure of the Presentation:
Introduction to Master Plan
Location
Physiography
Factors for growth potential of NOIDA
Regional setting of NOIDA
Objectives
Population Growth
Development Constraints
Planning and design concept
Salient Features
Land Use Statistics
Proposals
Conclusion
Sabarmati riverfront case study for development of yamuna riverfront agradeeksha sharma
the
the Sabarmati riverfront ahmedabad is a huge successful project. this presentation is about the case study of that riverfront to take the features similar to the the Yamuna riverfront Agra for urban design development project.
This PPT explains the spatial characteristics of the city, how it changed from past to present and what will be the expected areal Expansion of the city due to various factors. it also contains demographic, landuse, problems related to existing services etc.
The aim of the Mission Smart City is to efficiently utilise the available Assets, Resources and
Infrastructure to enhance the quality of Urban Life and provide a clean and sustainable
environment for living and the main focus will be on core infrastructure services like adequate
clean Water supply, Power supply, Sanitation, Disaster Management, Solid waste management,
Waste water treatment, Efficient urban mobility and Public Transportation, Public Healthcare
system, Education, Affordable Housing, robust IT connectivity, e-governance, Safety, Socialsecurity. Smart City needs Smart Citizens too, Smart City needs to be Safe City as well for
citizens live a smooth life.
Some definitional boundaries are required to guide cities in the Mission. In the imagination of
any city dweller in India, the picture of a Smart City contains a wish list of infrastructure and
services that describes his or her level of aspiration. To provide for the aspirations and needs of
the citizens, urban planners ideally aim at developing the entire urban eco-system, which is
represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development — institutional, physical, social
and economic infrastructure. This can be a long term goal and cities can work towards
developing such comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, adding on layers of ‘smartness’.
In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core
infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment
and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and
the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to
other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. It is
meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalyzing
the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country.
In Smart Cities Mission Vadodara 2nd in PPP projects' progress Vadodara, which was selected to
be part of the Smart Cities Mission in September 2016, had zeroed in on 62 projects worth Rs
2,817 crore in this regard. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had launched the
India Smart Cities Award on 25 June, 2017 with an objective to reward cities, projects and
innovative ideas.
"Smart Utilization of Vadodara City's Potential for enhancing Quality of life for the citizens of
Providing Equal Access to Best Quality Physical Infrastructure, Social Infrastructure and
Mobility through leveraging state of the art technology; thus making Vadodara a Futuristic
Global city with focus on enhancing economy, protecting the ecology and preserving the identity
& culture of the city".
Self Sustainable Integrated Township : A resource-based planning to improve t...Sahil Singh Kapoor
The objective of this study is to analyze the potential shift towards Integrated Township development with mixed land use, creating employment opportunities close to residential place and requiring minimum land area.
Strategies for Planning Smart and Sustainable CitiesJIT KUMAR GUPTA
Smart city remains a misnomer. No city on planet earth can claim to be smart. Experts are still searching the soul of smart city in order to precisely define it .Unfortunately smart city has become a money spending/spinning exercise for few individuals/agencies. Entire concept of smart city has been made technology centric, minimizing the role and importance of human beings. In addition, role of Town Planners in smart city has been totally marginalized. How can a city be made smart without intervention of planning and planners. Smart city as a concept has been copied globally to promote operational efficiency and productivity of the cities , with minimum concern for human growth and development. Addressing issue of poverty and making city livable for all should be the agenda of urban growth and development. In the face of homeless people , absence of basic amenities and facilities essential of human living, making city’s smart will be a fallacy and prove to be counterproductive. Cities do not exist in isolation and require the support of rural hinterland. Dealing cities alone by excluding villages will invariably lead to lopsided growth of cities because genesis of majority of urban ills has roots in the neglect of the rural areas. Urban areas must do handholding for the rural areas for synergizing mutual strength and to usher a new era of rational growth. Smart city concept must focus on empowering human being/ living, making them more skilled, create options for meeting the basic human needs and removing the curse of poverty and unemployment.
Built Morphology and the Impact of Planning Policies: Case of Small Towns in ...IEREK Press
The morphology of a city undergoes transformation over time due to a variety of factors. One such factor is the master plan. The master plan is a powerful legal tool, the implementation of which has a lasting impact on the morphology of a town both built and unbuilt. The template for the master plans in India is the same be it a metropolitan city or a class III town. The resultant triggers and impact of this master plan are questionable more so in the case of smaller cities and towns. This paper investigates one such small city in the hinterland of Karnataka through a descriptive analysis of the compact historic city and the new developments; the impact of the master plan and the resulting changes. Through the analysis and arguments presented in the study for the reading of small towns and non metropolitan cities we support alternative readings of these towns and cities. Additionally through the analysis of compact city planning methodologies both historical and current we understand how the two aspects; that is small town urbanization and compact planning methodologies can be enmeshed to create new templates for master planning for small towns and cities. Our study is limited to the master planning exercise in the context of Karnataka and Gadag-Betageri in particular and needs to be further explored with respect to other urban development policies in order to be applicable to small towns and cities in general in India
Planning Smart cities- Concepts and Practices.docxJIT KUMAR GUPTA
Planning remains universal for making cities growth rational and logical. In the absence of planned development, cities cannot be made to grow in an orderly manner. Planners have been making cities different and distinct using different agenda for planning and development of cities. Currently planners are making cities safe, resilient, sustainable and livable. Many nations are vouching to make cities smart. Smart city is not a new concept .It has been followed globally to improve the quality of living and promote operational efficiency and productivity of the cities. It is an attempt to make cities more livable, sustainable and for creating a brand image to attract investment and make them a tourist destination. Globally , smart cities are characterized by high degree of environmental consciousness; using information technology to promote energy/ resources efficiency; creation of knowledge infrastructure; promoting sustainable economic development and high quality of life; ensuring wise management of natural resources through participatory action. According to Forbe, the structure of smart cities will have to be built on eight pillars involving: ‘smart governance, smart energy, smart buildings, smart mobility, smart infrastructure, smart technology, smart healthcare and smart citizens. Based on detailed studies and in depth analysis made of the most successful case studies globally, as how to transform cities into great places to live and make a city great, Mckinsey’s suggests three pronged strategies involving, achieving smart growth, do more with less and win support for change. Considering the entire gamut of urban settlements , a city can be made Smart only if it is planned smart, developed smart, operated smart, financed smart and governed smartly .
The city is the economic and social life, as in the range of human abode, food and so on. The heights of the
dependence of man, his various powers of the time to have done, and by the desire to consolidate and bring
to the life of the necessary coordination with the villages thereof, and in the nature of necessity and for a
dwelling-place and information to build the human environment. In all, according to the nature of the
species, and the culture and civilization of the difference, and principal users, as one element in the human
city, and that the beneficiaries of the effective element of his own. Unfortunately, irregular to pass out to
the cities, especially the metropolises made us to increase of faces, to provide the service, and to the many
questions of the citizens. Smart of this question in recent decades, a number of strategies for the solution of
the great circles that was offered in the academic plans. That is powerful, smart electronic city and citizens
of continuous service users, but unlike electronic city so residents know each client, users smart and play
the role of the citizens of the city, the head of the fountain. Unlike the electronic city, only to meet the needs
of the citizens of the city had no pain, but in the interaction cycle, is exposed to the knowledge of the heads
of men, and were out of the city, provide services in the city, which is done in the way of life of the urban
development. On the other hand, it should be noted, because of the large and the density of the high places
of the cities of the time, already in the cities which have no matter to work on the administration of the
traditional methods of the town is rather moderate. This study tries to explain the history of the electronic
city, he laid the city: and the sorrow of mourning in the city. In this study, we found an expert to other
learned men proceeded so far, better to use.
RANGKUMAN JURNAL INTERNASIONAL :
Prioritas Perbaikan Perumahan di Dalam Pusat Kota Menggunakan Model Analisa Hirarki (AHP) dan Sistem Informasi Geografis (GIS) :
(Studi Kasus Kota Zanjan, Iran)
Soleiman Foroughi, Mezgeen Abdulrahman Rasol
Strategies for Planning Smart Cities in IndiaJIT KUMAR GUPTA
Paper critically lookS at prevailing planning, development and management practices; re-define new order of urban planning, ; leveraging technology; rationalising travel; promoting governance and re-defining design strategies for built environment to make cities more humane, just, efficient, sustainable and happy place to live and work.
As integral part of human history, cities have emerged as great places to live, work and do business. Cities symbolise the dreams, hopes and aspirations of society. Driving infrastructure and technologies, cities are fast becoming hub of economic and technical innovations. Dictating economy, generating employment, determining quality of life, promoting ideas and innovations besides providing quality infrastructures, cities remain crucial to human growth, development and happiness. Despite distinct advantages, cities also represent chaos, disorder, dualities and contradictions. Polarised cities, showing great contrasts of wealth and poverty, lack capacity, capability and will to meet basic needs of shelter, healthcare, education, water and sanitation. In the process, majority of urban residents are being marginalised with quality of life fast becoming nightmare for people opting for making cities and towns, as their preferred place of residence. Population, poverty, pollution and exclusion have emerged the hallmarks of Indian urbanisation. As consumers of enormous energy /resources and generators of large waste, ecological footprints of cities are growing very fast, promoting green- house gas emissions and global warming. With urban population projected to reach 590 million in 2030, greatest challenge before parastatal agencies, professionals and administrators remains, how to harmonise the urban growth with quality of life and make cities great , happy and smart place to live and work. If genesis of problems of climate change, global warming, rising temperature, ozone depletion and rising carbon footprints is in cities then solution for such problems are also embedded in cities. Search for solutions to make cities safe, resilient, inclusive and sustainable would fall in the domain of rationalising prevailing planning, development and management practices; re-defining new order of urban planning, ; leveraging technology; rationalising travel; promoting governance and re-defining design strategies for built environment.
Paper is an attempt to define the role and importance of smart cities in the context of state of art planning and design to promote happiness among the residents and stakeholders of the city .
Paper is an attempt to look at the Indian urban settlements in terms of their planning, designing, travel, buildings etc, identify problems they have and options which can be leveraged to make them more effective, efficient, livable, productive and sustainable
An Approach to Detecting Writing Styles Based on Clustering Techniquesambekarshweta25
An Approach to Detecting Writing Styles Based on Clustering Techniques
Authors:
-Devkinandan Jagtap
-Shweta Ambekar
-Harshit Singh
-Nakul Sharma (Assistant Professor)
Institution:
VIIT Pune, India
Abstract:
This paper proposes a system to differentiate between human-generated and AI-generated texts using stylometric analysis. The system analyzes text files and classifies writing styles by employing various clustering algorithms, such as k-means, k-means++, hierarchical, and DBSCAN. The effectiveness of these algorithms is measured using silhouette scores. The system successfully identifies distinct writing styles within documents, demonstrating its potential for plagiarism detection.
Introduction:
Stylometry, the study of linguistic and structural features in texts, is used for tasks like plagiarism detection, genre separation, and author verification. This paper leverages stylometric analysis to identify different writing styles and improve plagiarism detection methods.
Methodology:
The system includes data collection, preprocessing, feature extraction, dimensional reduction, machine learning models for clustering, and performance comparison using silhouette scores. Feature extraction focuses on lexical features, vocabulary richness, and readability scores. The study uses a small dataset of texts from various authors and employs algorithms like k-means, k-means++, hierarchical clustering, and DBSCAN for clustering.
Results:
Experiments show that the system effectively identifies writing styles, with silhouette scores indicating reasonable to strong clustering when k=2. As the number of clusters increases, the silhouette scores decrease, indicating a drop in accuracy. K-means and k-means++ perform similarly, while hierarchical clustering is less optimized.
Conclusion and Future Work:
The system works well for distinguishing writing styles with two clusters but becomes less accurate as the number of clusters increases. Future research could focus on adding more parameters and optimizing the methodology to improve accuracy with higher cluster values. This system can enhance existing plagiarism detection tools, especially in academic settings.
Cosmetic shop management system project report.pdfKamal Acharya
Buying new cosmetic products is difficult. It can even be scary for those who have sensitive skin and are prone to skin trouble. The information needed to alleviate this problem is on the back of each product, but it's thought to interpret those ingredient lists unless you have a background in chemistry.
Instead of buying and hoping for the best, we can use data science to help us predict which products may be good fits for us. It includes various function programs to do the above mentioned tasks.
Data file handling has been effectively used in the program.
The automated cosmetic shop management system should deal with the automation of general workflow and administration process of the shop. The main processes of the system focus on customer's request where the system is able to search the most appropriate products and deliver it to the customers. It should help the employees to quickly identify the list of cosmetic product that have reached the minimum quantity and also keep a track of expired date for each cosmetic product. It should help the employees to find the rack number in which the product is placed.It is also Faster and more efficient way.
Using recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) for pavements is crucial to achieving sustainability. Implementing RCA for new pavement can minimize carbon footprint, conserve natural resources, reduce harmful emissions, and lower life cycle costs. Compared to natural aggregate (NA), RCA pavement has fewer comprehensive studies and sustainability assessments.
We have compiled the most important slides from each speaker's presentation. This year’s compilation, available for free, captures the key insights and contributions shared during the DfMAy 2024 conference.
Literature Review Basics and Understanding Reference Management.pptxDr Ramhari Poudyal
Three-day training on academic research focuses on analytical tools at United Technical College, supported by the University Grant Commission, Nepal. 24-26 May 2024
Welcome to WIPAC Monthly the magazine brought to you by the LinkedIn Group Water Industry Process Automation & Control.
In this month's edition, along with this month's industry news to celebrate the 13 years since the group was created we have articles including
A case study of the used of Advanced Process Control at the Wastewater Treatment works at Lleida in Spain
A look back on an article on smart wastewater networks in order to see how the industry has measured up in the interim around the adoption of Digital Transformation in the Water Industry.
6th International Conference on Machine Learning & Applications (CMLA 2024)ClaraZara1
6th International Conference on Machine Learning & Applications (CMLA 2024) will provide an excellent international forum for sharing knowledge and results in theory, methodology and applications of on Machine Learning & Applications.
KuberTENes Birthday Bash Guadalajara - K8sGPT first impressionsVictor Morales
K8sGPT is a tool that analyzes and diagnoses Kubernetes clusters. This presentation was used to share the requirements and dependencies to deploy K8sGPT in a local environment.
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER IN CONDENSING HEAT EXCHANGERS...ssuser7dcef0
Power plants release a large amount of water vapor into the
atmosphere through the stack. The flue gas can be a potential
source for obtaining much needed cooling water for a power
plant. If a power plant could recover and reuse a portion of this
moisture, it could reduce its total cooling water intake
requirement. One of the most practical way to recover water
from flue gas is to use a condensing heat exchanger. The power
plant could also recover latent heat due to condensation as well
as sensible heat due to lowering the flue gas exit temperature.
Additionally, harmful acids released from the stack can be
reduced in a condensing heat exchanger by acid condensation. reduced in a condensing heat exchanger by acid condensation.
Condensation of vapors in flue gas is a complicated
phenomenon since heat and mass transfer of water vapor and
various acids simultaneously occur in the presence of noncondensable
gases such as nitrogen and oxygen. Design of a
condenser depends on the knowledge and understanding of the
heat and mass transfer processes. A computer program for
numerical simulations of water (H2O) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4)
condensation in a flue gas condensing heat exchanger was
developed using MATLAB. Governing equations based on
mass and energy balances for the system were derived to
predict variables such as flue gas exit temperature, cooling
water outlet temperature, mole fraction and condensation rates
of water and sulfuric acid vapors. The equations were solved
using an iterative solution technique with calculations of heat
and mass transfer coefficients and physical properties.
Online aptitude test management system project report.pdfKamal Acharya
The purpose of on-line aptitude test system is to take online test in an efficient manner and no time wasting for checking the paper. The main objective of on-line aptitude test system is to efficiently evaluate the candidate thoroughly through a fully automated system that not only saves lot of time but also gives fast results. For students they give papers according to their convenience and time and there is no need of using extra thing like paper, pen etc. This can be used in educational institutions as well as in corporate world. Can be used anywhere any time as it is a web based application (user Location doesn’t matter). No restriction that examiner has to be present when the candidate takes the test.
Every time when lecturers/professors need to conduct examinations they have to sit down think about the questions and then create a whole new set of questions for each and every exam. In some cases the professor may want to give an open book online exam that is the student can take the exam any time anywhere, but the student might have to answer the questions in a limited time period. The professor may want to change the sequence of questions for every student. The problem that a student has is whenever a date for the exam is declared the student has to take it and there is no way he can take it at some other time. This project will create an interface for the examiner to create and store questions in a repository. It will also create an interface for the student to take examinations at his convenience and the questions and/or exams may be timed. Thereby creating an application which can be used by examiners and examinee’s simultaneously.
Examination System is very useful for Teachers/Professors. As in the teaching profession, you are responsible for writing question papers. In the conventional method, you write the question paper on paper, keep question papers separate from answers and all this information you have to keep in a locker to avoid unauthorized access. Using the Examination System you can create a question paper and everything will be written to a single exam file in encrypted format. You can set the General and Administrator password to avoid unauthorized access to your question paper. Every time you start the examination, the program shuffles all the questions and selects them randomly from the database, which reduces the chances of memorizing the questions.
Harnessing WebAssembly for Real-time Stateless Streaming PipelinesChristina Lin
Traditionally, dealing with real-time data pipelines has involved significant overhead, even for straightforward tasks like data transformation or masking. However, in this talk, we’ll venture into the dynamic realm of WebAssembly (WASM) and discover how it can revolutionize the creation of stateless streaming pipelines within a Kafka (Redpanda) broker. These pipelines are adept at managing low-latency, high-data-volume scenarios.
Infrastructural Urban Voids as an Instrument for Homogenous Urban Fabric Case of Kharghar
1. Civil Engineering and Urban Planning: An International Journal (CiVEJ) Vol.8, No.1, March 2021
DOI:10.5121/civej.2021.8102 17
INFRASTRUCTURAL URBAN VOIDS AS AN
INSTRUMENT FOR HOMOGENOUS URBAN FABRIC
CASE OF KHARGHAR
Ar. Harshada Katkar
Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Architecture, Navi Mumbai
ABSTRACT
In historic time social factors around the spatial existing framework generated development of the city.
What we see today is contradictory as economic factors govern the growth of the city. Speed of
transformation is noticeably high, while the growth of the city majors in a quantity of physical
infrastructural development rather than the quality of public life. Ironically, when we look at a newly
planned city like Navi Mumbai infrastructural needs sometimes are becoming the reason for the creation of
urban voids in the city fabric. This paper is going to focus on Infrastructural linear voids which are cutting
the morphology of the city. Urban Infrastructural voids in Kharghar are identified and typologies are
formulated by observational study. This paper investigates if we can utilize these Infrastructural urban
voids holistically to formulate a network of public spaces to bind the city holistically.
KEYWORDS
Urban void, revitalize, Infrastructure, Indian city.
1. INTRODUCTION
Beauty is not unique for everyone, it changes according to perception and context. When we talk
about cities, what we can term as beautiful? Does beauty be only about what one sees? Or what
one experience is also equally relevant and considerable? The beauty of the city lies in the public
realm created. If citizens are enjoying the urban fabric and can connect with it by formulating
memories, then city feels beautiful in an actual sense. As very well said by Jan Gehl, “First, we
shape the cities, and then they shape us.” [1] Planners plan cities with projected scenario
considering particular aim in mind, but it is not possible to project everything for next twenty-
five years as socioeconomic and political changes cannot be predicted accurately. This is the
reason why planning in cities does not work as intended. The city is multifaceted organization
which is formed incrementally by many people for varied functions with related speed. Definite
and detailed plan cannot work out, it needs to be flexible for people and future changes to
accommodate accordingly. Circulation, Land use and focal points are fundamentals for the city
although public realm for people needs to be the central theme. For the space to become place,
the environment needs to be organized and sharply identified. Then people will connect to it by
making memories then it will become a true place, remarkable and unmistakable. [2] If cities are
planned to keep this phenomenon in mind and allowing flexibility, then there would be scope left
for people to alter the urban form if necessary. Incremental development can be promoted
through various strategies to keep wider scope for development of the city. The city can adopt
beautifully in real sense if correct combination of planned and incremental is achieved.
“The city in its totality is understood as geographic plexus, an economic organization, an
industrial process, a theatre of social action, and an aesthetic symbol of collective unity.” [3] The
2. Civil Engineering and Urban Planning: An International Journal (CiVEJ) Vol.8, No.1, March 2021
18
city is a complex fabric woven with multiple layers, and the sequence of the layer makes a
difference in the image of the city. When functionalist cities are planned with major importance
given to land use, then layer of public realm gets second priority in designing of cities.
Industrial revolution changed means of transportation drastically that automatically changed city
planning. Sir Patrick Geddes and Ebenezer Howard introduced land use planning while Le
Corbusier’s Radiant City model introduced new transport pattern in city planning. Modern city
planning revolved around zoning and strong transportation and infrastructural network. This
planning gives priority to physical and infrastructural planning, keeping the sociocultural aspect
unattended. Physical organisation of a city, its industries, its markets and its transportation are
secondary parameters while social life is primary for any city. In last century we have given
importance to the physical planning more than public life. Social nucleus should be the focus
while educational and social needs, libraries, theatres, places of interactions and its interrelation
needs to be the base while defining the neighbourhood. This will result in integrated city fabric
accommodative for all. [4] If citizens are enjoying the urban fabric and can connect with it by
formulating memories, then city feels beautiful in an actual sense. Walkability, connectivity,
active public nodes, response to human scale, safety and security, and many such tangible and
intangible factors help residents to experience city fabric holistically to formulate attachment to
it.
Historical cities of India have the powerful character which engages residents in rich
sociocultural intense fabric because of the flexibility in the pattern. These cities grew organically
according to the needs of people, and piecemeal growth allowed cities to be open and incremental
for the development of a social nucleus rich in diversity and spatial character. Traditional form of
the city was developed around the core area making up of administrative and public buildings.
Compactness of fabric automatically encouraged walkability, and it also promoted the public
realm of the city. Our traditional Indian cities showcased various layers like walkability,
connectivity, active public nodes, response to human scale, safety and security, and many such
tangible and intangible factors. This ensured that the city is experienced homogeneously and
holistically by city dwellers, which made it beautiful in its way. But congestion, restricted
growth, unavailability of modern infrastructure and services created issues in old Indian cities
because of which new planning techniques are introduced in India which would cater to urban
growth and expansion systematically. Social factors around the spatial existing framework
generated development of the city in historic time. What we see today is contradictory as
economic factors govern the growth of the city. Speed of transformation is noticeably high, while
the growth of the city majors in a quantity of physical infrastructural development rather than the
quality of public life. New planning technique majorly focused on Land use planning and
infrastructural development for organised cities. Modern Indian cities are now planned with new
techniques to serve city dweller’s changing lifestyles.
Ironically, when we look at a newly planned city like Navi Mumbai infrastructural needs
sometimes are becoming the reason for the creation of urban voids. For example, areas between
highway and service road, areas below the flyover, and areas below foot over bridges are
becoming dead or underutilized due to unidimensional role in planning which hampers the
experience of the city dweller. If we could compare instantaneous development and piecemeal or
incremental development, then we can observe that instantaneous growth lead to urban voids
while incremental developmental lead to shared spaces. That is why old Indian cities have more
shared spaces than newer development which make them richer in experience. [5] If we can plan
strategy to rejuvenate these urban voids for place making in the city which would act as a
network of public spaces which binds the city then we would have wholeness in the city.
3. Civil Engineering and Urban Planning: An International Journal (CiVEJ) Vol.8, No.1, March 2021
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In this paper we aim to discuss urban void in context of Indian cities. Various researchers have
evolved typologies of Urban voids based on parameters like scale, reason of formulation and its
impact. This research paper will be divided in three parts. First part will talk about theories
related to urban void, its background and entire umbrella of its meaning. In second part Indian
typologies of urban voids will be discussed. Later in third part Infrastructural urban voids will be
focused by taking case example of Kharghar node. The aim here is to understand urban voids
created because of transportation network by taking example of Kharghar node of Navi Mumbai
and its implications on the city. Transportation network is component around which entire city is
formulated in modern planning. It is responsible for modern urban form of the city and that is
why it is essential to analyse it critically.
We will understand infrastructural voids of Kharghar node through analyzing Urban fabric and its
contextual impact on the surrounding through photographic documentation. Discussion about
how these voids are formulated, whether these voids are permanent or temporal, and how it is
disturbing urban fabric of the city would be the next step. We argue that these linear
infrastructural voids are forming a network around the city and acting as dead edge which is a
hindrance in Public realm. The paper concludes that this network of urban voids can become a
network of urban infill which can bind the city by generating active public spaces. Based on
contextual understanding, we are also suggesting ways through which public realm can be
created for citizens through rejuvenation of these voids. This research is limited to understanding
infrastructural urban voids of Kharghar although detailed analysis for formulation of
revitalization plan will be nest step for this research paper.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The term urban void is not very specific, it’s definition is varied according to their origin, their
spatial character, their transformation, their impact, and their history. Literature review on this
helped to understand vast umbrella under which this topic is discussed. We could differentiate
voids in two categories i.e. Functional voids and Planning voids based on literature review.
First category talks about voids which are formulated because of issues arise with the function of
area. Urban Voids are formulated because of under-used land parcels or dysfunctional land
parcels becoming derelict over time as discovered by many authors and interpreted as loose
spaces, vacant spaces, in determined spaces, transitional spaces, neglected space, hard space, in-
between spaces and cracks in the city. Geographer Ray Northam used term vacant urban land
while explaining remnant parcels formed because of geographical barriers. [6] Roger Trancik
coins the term Lost space for “spaces that are in need of redesign, anti-spaces, making no positive
contribution to the surrounds or users.” [7] Lynch defined these spaces as waste spaces which are
neglected, unused or dead. [8] Cracks in the city is term coined by Loukaitou–Sideris meaning in-
between spaces, residual, underutilised and often deteriorating. [9] Michael Greenberg and other
scholars defined term Temporarily obsolete, abandoned, derelict sites (TOADs) for negatively
used sites. ‘A building or lot that has been vacant for two years or more’ is definition proposed by
Johnson for Urban Void. [10]
Second typology of Urban voids talks about voids which are formulated as result of modern
planning system. ‘Planned wasteland’ or ‘new urban desert’ are terms coined for excessively
planned large, landscaped, and open areas near new development used by few people. [11]
‘Space left over after planning’ talks about unnecessary spaces that are formed after site planning
in Housing development. [12] Planning of cities which happens with the basis of grid of
infrastructure and land use tend to produce voids because of future predictions gone wrong or
unclear future plan or uncertain ownership. [13]
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Studies focus on urban voids formulated because of shrinking cities with population decline,
decentralization and residential shift although conventional planning system is also the generator
of urban void. [14] Planning system which responds to functionalist approach focus on
infrastructural development and land use zoning because of which public realm is neglected.
Social interactions and gatherings are crucial to life in the city and that is why it is important to
focus on creating a public realm which is lost in process of planning. Aim of this research paper
is to understand how city fabric is hampered because of planning urban voids and how proper
revitalization can help in homogenous and inclusive city fabric.
3. BACKGROUND
Urban voids in can be categorised on various parameters while in this study consideration is
majorly on reason because of which these are getting created. Urban voids can be categorised
majorly in two typologies for Indian Context based on their formation, i.e. Planning Voids and
Functional Voids. Functional voids are generally found in historical areas of the city while
planning voids are found in planned areas of any city.
3.1. Functional Voids
Functional Voids are left over spaces or buildings which are dysfunctional or misused. Old
historic buildings, derelict factories or spaces, underutilised or abandoned spaces are examples of
this category. Generally, these voids can be found in historic or old areas of city and these voids
are generated with time and technological, socio-political or cultural changes. In Planned cities
these voids can be seen if any built or unbuilt space is left abandoned because of legal disputes or
such issues. Large amount of research in carried out in this by analysing historical areas of city.
3.2. Planning Voids
As discussed earlier New Planning method is focused on functional aspect and urban voids are
generated because of lack of holistic approach in Planning. Land use zoning which results in
segregation of infrastructure and public space is creating dead pockets in the city. Technique
which was formulated, to resolve issues and generate planned cities for masses is giving rise to
mechanical cities without life. It is very crucial to understand these voids which divide the city
fabric and utilise them for active public realm. Categorisation of planning voids on basis of
formation is given below.
3.2.1. Geographical Voids
Geographical voids can be entirely new category but according to research done these voids are
formulated because Natural features like river, Nalas or contoured land are not planned
appropriately. These areas are kept reserved for conservation of nature, but as these areas are not
treated as part of urban fabric and left unattended or not incorporated because of which these
form dividing edges in the city fabric. As a result, these areas slowly get degraded or misused and
disturb the continuity of a city. These are linear voids of the city running throughout the city with
natural feature can be used to create avenues and vistas which can make city beautiful along with
conservation of valleys.
3.2.2. Residual Voids
Fragmented city plans result in unconventional and odd size land parcels which are left out with
no meaning in the city. City planning in India is based on land use plan and plotting is carried out
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with typical sizes and shapes. As a result, residual spaces get formulated in between the building
or around edges, which becomes misused over time. These plots are very small and does not
serve much purpose at a city level although if those areas are incorporated in city fabric as
informal pockets for public use then voids would turn as infill for city.
3.2.3. Large Scale Plots
Planning of the city is done for projected population and density after twenty-five years in Indian
context. Sometimes chunks of lands are kept for future development, although these land invites
negative activities because of its dysfunctionality and location in already developed area. These
are not permanent voids although these areas are dysfunctional and neglected for 20 years or
more sometimes. If we could utilise these areas for public till they are needed for their actual
purpose, then these may act as temporary stimulus for public realm.
3.2.4. Infrastructural voids
Infrastructure is a focus area while planning cities to facilitate services and amenities to residents.
In Planned Indian cities, infrastructure provided is according to projected population because of
which infrastructure remain underutilised till projected population is not achieved. Sometimes it
may take 25 or more years to achieve this projected population. Multi modal transportation
network running across a city which is built to connect the city together sometimes becomes dead
edge which is cutting the fabric because of superficial planning.
Newly Developed Indian cities are planned on modern town planning principles which focuses
on infrastructural need of the city more than a sociocultural need of people. Public realm is not
created in the city and homogenous character cannot be experienced because of dead edges or
urban voids. Elevated infrastructure is dividing communities although if comprehensive and
transparent policy plan is proposed then these may act as a resource which enrich our daily
experience. [15] There are many elevated infrastructural projects in Indian cities which are acting
as urban voids and disturbs the homogeneity of the area. This research will concentrate on one
part of Navi Mumbai i.e. Kharghar node to analyse infrastructural urban voids which are
generally along transport network and can act as temporary or permanent magnet for active
public realm.
4. CASE STUDY ANALYSIS – KHARGHAR
Planning of Navi Mumbai started with the idea of the Twin city of Mumbai. Charles Correa and
his team planned a conceptual plan for Navi Mumbai with new growth centres along with service
infrastructure, public transport, and housing for everyone. Charles Correa wrote in ‘Planning for
Bombay’ that “We would be trying to use this new growth itself to restructure the city, taking the
opportunity to - in Buckminster Fuller’s ineffable phrase ‘rearranging the scenery’”. [16] They
thought Navi Mumbai can act as solution for issues of Mumbai. The team conceptualized Navi
Mumbai with a clear transportation network which would be the backbone of the development
and would also reduce the burden of Mumbai by reducing infrastructural and housing load. Over
time entire plan did not work as imagined as government offices and business did not shift as
proposed, though Navi Mumbai became a planned city with clear infrastructural facilities.
Infrastructural voids are responsible for creating majority of urban voids in planned cities as city
is planned around it. The network of multimodal transportation designed for years to come is
becoming hindrance in holistic urban fabric.
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Figure 1. Map of Kharghar (Network of Infrastructural Voids)
Legend
Skywalk Area between highway and service road
Flyover Metro line
Educational node of Navi Mumbai, i.e. Kharghar is taken for understanding formation of urban
infrastructural voids and its relevance in city fabric. Kharghar is connected to other nodes of Navi
Mumbai by Local railway and Highway while Metro is also proposed for better connectivity.
Multimodal transport system is proposed for faster and safer movement of people. Safety and
security of pedestrian users is considered by facilitating walkability by foot over bridge, skywalk
and underpass near Railway station. (Fig 1) These transportation links are proposed with
unidimensional aspect and public life is not incorporated while constructing them. Streets are not
just for moving people or goods, rather they are also part of social network of the city. Social
gathering and interactions happening on these connecting links make city lively and enriched.
This parameter is neglected while planning infrastructural network for Kharghar because of
which lines of infrastructure are becoming cutting edges at various points. Incremental changes
are not considered while planning the node and that is crucial for making city people friendly.
This research is limited to categorise infrastructural urban voids which are formulated by
transportation links although other infrastructural network and their implications are not
considered in this paper.
5. INFRASTRUCTURAL URBAN VOIDS – KHARGHAR
Urban voids created because of the transportation network in Kharghar are studied through
observation and photographic documentation. The network of multimodal transportation is spread
throughout the area. If we study morphology of the developed part of Kharghar then we could see
linear pockets which are inaccessible to public and creating negative impact on the city. Holistic
planning which addresses infrastructural needs along with social needs of the people is solution
for homogenous urban fabric.
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5.1. Skywalk
Skywalk is constructed to facilitate grade separated pedestrian facility connecting the commercial
and academic areas to the railway station and 120 m long cable-stayed bridge crossing the
national highway. [17] 1780 m long skywalk was designed to cater to 15000 people per day,
while pedestrian footfall is only 5000 today. [18] This skywalk opened for public in 2012 to
facilitate walkability for pedestrians, but today very few people use this facility for a short period
of time in a day. Safety and security is questionable because of less pedestrian footfall and
enclosed character of the skywalk which hinders in visual connectivity which can be achieved
from street. (Fig 2 & 3) Even NIUA has proposed rejuvenation of this skywalk in 2015,
considering land and money invested in particular infrastructure. This linear span of 1.7 km
approximately is acting as urban void in Kharghar city. (Figure 1) Skywalk is not provide active
public realm because of which areas around it are also disconnected from it. Walkability of the
city does not entirely dependent on physical form rather it is more dependent on many intangible
parameters which are related to sociocultural aspects.
Figure 2. Skywalk from Inside Figure 3. Skywalk from Outside
5.2. Area below skywalk
Area under skywalk is marked by CIDCO (planning authority) to avoid encroachment in the area,
but even then people have started using it illegally at some places. (Fig 4 & 5) As this area is not
incorporated in urban fabric visually or functionally, it is acting as a dead edge, which is a
hindrance in visual as well as functional homogeneity. This is acting as linear urban void dividing
city fabric. Illegal encroachments and garbage disposal are main causes which can degrade area
further more in the future.
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Figure 4. Encroachment below Skywalk Figure 5. Garbage disposal below Skywalk.
5.3. Area between Service Road and Highway
Service road is designed parallel to Sion Panvel highway to facilitate vehicular traffic inside the
node. Buffer areas in between these two roads are unorganised and unattended because of which
illegal encroachments started happening recently. (Fig. 6 & 7) This buffer is acting as urban void
as it is functionally or visually affecting negatively in an urban fabric of the city. This buffer can
act as positive space which can act as green area or park or such activities which doesn’t attract
many people though it can benefit indirectly to the city. The incremental aspect needs to be
considered while planning for such spaces.
Figure 6. Encroachment in buffer space Figure 7. Unattended buffer space
5.4. Area for Future Expansion
Kharghar is planned with wide road network and areas are kept vacant for future expansion at
various points. These areas which are along major roads are inviting hockers and informal
activities at some places. These areas are directly attached to road even then unused by residents
of the city positively because of unorganised character (Fig 8). Even squatters are getting
formulated at some points (fig. 9). These areas may be required in future for developmental
purpose but they are acting as urban void for years till the development is needed. Temporary
activities can be good solution in this area.
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Figure 8. Unorganised future expansion area Figure 9. Future expansion area
5.5. Area below Flyover
Sion Panvel highway is a major access link to enter in Kharghar node. Flyover is constructed at
this entrance to avoid congestion and to facilitate smooth vehicular traffic. This flyover is acting
as a hindrance in pedestrian movement across the street. It is acting as urban void by obstructing
visual and functional flow of the area. (Fig. 10) This urban void is derelict space which can
benefit the city positively if incorporated through holistic design.
Figure 10. Area under flyover Figure 11. Unattended area below Metro line
5.6. Area below Metro Line
Construction of Metro line is going on in Kharghar from last decade to facilitate increasing
population efficiently. Areas which are under metro line are dysfunctional and inaccessible to
people for years acting as temporary urban void. (Fig 11) Metro line is passing through centre of
the Kharghar, which makes it even more crucial. We need to understand whether areas below
Metro line are also planned along with Metro line, to have holistic urban fabric. In case of
Kharghar skywalk, area below it is kept unattended for years by authority, a strategy should be
formulated to avoid this for holistic development in a city. It is very crucial to understand these
linear infrastructural voids can play an important part in continuity of urban fabric instead of
becoming cutting or dead edges.
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6. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Infrastructural urban voids discussed above are acting as dead edges, cutting the flow of the city.
We could easily spot these linear infrastructural voids running across Kharghar, forming a
network of spaces. (Table 1) Large amount of shaded areas are available for people to use in the
city in form of these linkages although they are not used because of visual, physical and
functional barriers. Linear spaces kept for future expansions can serve purpose today if utilised
accordingly for temporary activities which can generate public realm in the city. Temporary
vacant areas are running across a central area of Kharghar, although efforts are not taken to utilise
these for creating public spaces. This network of voids is affecting public realm in the city. The
humanistic dimension in planning started in 1961 by Jane Jacobs when she emphasized on public
realm getting hampered because of new infrastructural development like a highway. Willi am H.
Whyte and Jane Jacobs began to point out social life and public realm on streets which are
responsible to make city lively. These urbanists pointed out crucial role of public places in
liveliness of the city. Indian cities need to consider aspect and try to formulate policy for holistic
development which would foster public realm along with infrastructural growth in the city.
Kharghar is planned area with infrastructural facilities and various public areas. Whereas after
analysing these infrastructural voids, we could see that public realm is missing throughout the
city. (Table 1) A city is designed with all infrastructure, but the major link which can bind the
city seems to be missing. Skywalk is built to facilitate walkability, though it cannot do so. Metro
line, highway, services roads, flyovers are facilitating movement but failing to create public
realm.
Table 1- Urban Infrastructural Voids Analysis
Sr.
No.
Infrastructural
Void
Physical Characteristic Current Status Reason
1 Skywalk Enclosed , long , visually
disconnected
Underutilised &
misused
Monotonous and
without activity &
Safety & security
2 Area under
skywalk
Shaded, Disconnected or
inaccessible
Unplanned and
misused
Visual barrier, dead
edge and inaccessible
3 Area Between
Service road and
highway
Open, Disconnected,
Contoured land profile,
Incidental plantation
Residual &
unorganised
Not noticeable, dead
edge inaccessible
4 Future road
expansion
Open, shaded with trees,
Temporary
Unutilised
unorganised &
encroached
Not noticeable, dead
edge,
unnoticed, hidden
5 Area under metro
line
Shaded & inaccessible
Temporary
Unutilised &
unorganised
Visual barrier,
inaccessible or hidden
6 Area Under
Flyover
Shaded, Visually
Disconnected
Unplanned &
underutilised
Visual barrier, cutting
edge
Functionally, Kharghar is planned with necessary infrastructure, but a holistic image of a city is
not created because of edges formed by urban voids in the city. Public open spaces are
superficially planned without considering flexibility and specialization. Functional planning
approach tends to overspecialize public spaces. In developing countries like India, this is more
prominent as historical cities showcase heritage of flexible, multipurpose and incremental areas.
[19] Urban void can become opportunity if flexible and incremental revitalization plan is
proposed to incorporate public realm. Holistic image of the city can be formulated with this
strategy. Urban voids can act as connecting element which retains and builds a local pattern of
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open space. Speculation about network of urban voids can act as medium for paradigm shift in
flexible and incremental urban spaces. Individual void may keep changing although network of
these spaces is constant and can act as opportunity for creating dynamic city which responds to
changing needs of people. [20] The network of Urban voids can be converted into a network of
urban infill to stimulate public realm in the city by creation of active edges. Linear Infrastructural
voids can act as urban infill areas to create beauty in the city by generating an active public
realm. It is very important to understand all parameters like social, cultural, historical,
environmental and aesthetical while revitalising these voids.
7. HOMOGENOUS URBAN FABRIC THROUGH REVITALISATION
Planned developments in India need to be analysed through the lens of sociocultural background
to find missing public realm which was the focus of historic cities. It is crucial to analyse layer of
planned physical environment i.e. infrastructural network which governs the city form.
Infrastructural network binds the city, although same can divide the city if not designed
holistically. Kharghar node showcase this phenomenon of infrastructure dividing the city,
although only transportation links are analysed in this research. Detailed studies can be carried
out to understand other infrastructural layers which contribute in physical environment of the
city. Strategic policies can be planned to bring back public realm and liveliness in the city
through revitalisation of existing urban voids. This research talks about suggestive stepwise
process for transport related infrastructure after drawing conclusions from Kharghar case study.
Other layers of infrastructure and reasons behind formulation of urban voids and discontinuous
fabric will be the next step to understand planned cities in a better way. Contextual changes will
be needed to apply this to another area or city.
7.1. Suggestive Stepwise Process for Revitalising Transport Related Infrastructural
Voids
Transport linkages connect the city although analysis show that these linkages are becoming
reasons for discontinuity of urban fabric which divides the city and affect public realm. If this
network of linkages is revitalised holistically, then homogenous urban fabric which is rich in
sociocultural background may be achieved.
7.1.1. Analysis of Transport Infrastructure of the City
Transportation modes, connectivity, linkages, and major junctions need to be studied through the
lens of the public realm. This analysis would help to find out urban voids which are not
contributing in the city and as a result becoming dead edges. Detailed morphological analysis (for
urban form), functional analysis (for utilisation perspective), visual analysis (for aesthetical
perspective), and activity analysis (for understanding public realm) would give clear idea about
implications of transportation related urban voids. This detailed analysis would be the guiding
factor while preparing revitalisation plan for a network of urban voids for holistic urban fabric.
Network of transportation can be used as missing link to create cohesive and holistic city form
rich in public life.
7.1.2. Morphological Analysis
Morphological study would point out voids which are segregating areas physically.
Transportation linkages can be seen as lines which divide the city in figure ground map, although
co relation of this study with functional aspect would give better understanding about dead linear
edges or patches.
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7.1.3. Functional Analysis
Utilisation of existing transportation links need to be analysed here to check if some patches are
misused or underused or derelict. Results from this study needs to be correlated with other
analysis to have a holistic view point. Temporary and permanent urban voids can be categorised
to have clear vision while proposing the plan. Two typologies of urban voids will have different
strategies to facilitate future growth without creating any hindrance. Temporary voids can be
utilised for innovative purposes like urban farming, art festivals or exhibitions, laboratories for
students, rental shopping or informal markets. The facilities which may be needed for such use
can be created with minimum physical structure to allow incremental changes needed for future
growth.
7.1.4. Visual Analysis
Photographic survey of functionally inactive and physical voids resulted from previous two
layers will give a better picture about these urban voids. Understanding visual connectivity which
is directly related to safety of the area also needs to be studied along with aesthetical perspective.
Abandoned, misused, derelict or underused transportation links may affect surrounding areas also
visually. Thorough analysis will give guidelines for proposal. If visual connectivity or visual
ambience is an issue resulted through analysis, then appropriate measures can be taken to remove
visual barriers and connect the areas. At some places the buffer is needed, such areas can be used
for systematic plantations which can add beauty to the area along with reducing pollution.
7.1.5. Activity Analysis
This analysis considers how people are using these areas. This is the determining factor for
proposal of revitalisation. Various parameters like variety of activities, social interactions,
cultural implications, safety and security, accessibility, and issues of people while using these
areas will help in deciding action plan for these urban voids. Generating various activities can
motivate people to utilise these dead edges positively. Social interactions and safety of the area
will be automatically improved if time is also taken into consideration. Weekly or time bound
informal markets, periodic exhibitions, eateries and seating can motivate people to utilise these
rejuvenated urban voids.
7.1.6. Holistic Revitalisation Plan
Detailed analysis will help in determining strategies which can be applied for revitalisation of a
network of urban voids for homogeneous urban fabric. The design proposal will try to formulate
a plan which would address social, cultural, historical, environmental and aesthetical needs of the
area. Flexibility and incrementalism will be the governing factor in creation of revitalisation.
Network of Urban voids generated because of transportation linkages can become a network of
public spaces which bind the city and enrich the sociocultural aspect of the city by generating
public interactions. Revitalisation of urban voids can benefit the city in various ways as discussed
above, but contextual study and thorough analysis will decide the action plan.
8. CONCLUSION
Navi Mumbai is designed with strong multimodal transportation network and variety of public
open spaces, and even then we cannot experience life in the city. Framework is not cohesive as
well as segregation of public space and infrastructure is creating a chaos in the city. In old cities,
Street reflected character of it whereas roads now days fail to generate public life. Historic towns
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of India were compact, spaces were developed for people and not for cars. We need to understand
that skywalk is not enough to activate walkability in the city. What is needed for pedestrian is
totally different. We are designing multimodal transport system to facilitate fast movement of
people, as speed is important. Sadly, experiential aspect of movement is getting neglected
because of speed which is targeted. Transport corridors are efficiently designed for fast vehicular
traffic although we need to analyse, whether same rules are applicable when we design for
movement of people? We design Skywalk to segregate pedestrian traffic from vehicular traffic to
facilitate obstruction free movement, but is it enough to stimulate walkability in a city? After
analysing urban voids of Kharghar in brief, we could very well see that segregation is becoming a
major hindrance in holistic urban form of the city. A city is a complex structure of various layers
all layers are necessary but the more important thing is their connection with each other. City is
going to change slowly with time, flexible planning which motivates incremental development
can solve these temporary voids which are formulated because of planning for future.
Urban voids can be used as breathing spaces which lowers the density or can be used for
generating activities which densify the area. It is not necessary to reutilise every urban void as
innovative, flexible and temporary solutions can give temporary relief to create appropriate
environment. [21] At the end paper concludes that innovative contextual strategies in Kharghar
are needed for making city more lively and beautiful. Suggestive framework for homogenous
fabric is suggested which can be detailed out and contextualised specifically for each city.
Revitalisation of urban voids is necessary to generate holistic and experientially rich city,
although innovative technique should be planned for the same. Environmental, social, aesthetical,
cultural, & economical value should be evaluated while rejuvenating these voids. Specific and
detailed research on innovative ways through which network of urban voids can be converted to
network of urban infill areas which bind the city by activating public realm is next step in this
research.
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AUTHOR
Ar. Harshada Katkar is an Urban Designer, an Architect and an Educator. Her key
areas of interest are Research topics such as developing urban areas, derelict spaces
and implication of theories like gentrification in Indian context. She was lead
coordinator in developing an innovative pedagogical approach for students. Studio
proceedings of the same studio got published as ‘Recognition of space through
memory mapping–Lateral strategies for Architectural Design Studios’.