The Hindu 18.12.2013
Urban Arts Commission model may solve housing, parking issues
The Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) has come up with a template for urban planning for the national Capital which, it asserts, addresses the issues of housing and infrastructure deficit, unauthorised constructions, in situ rehabilitation of slums, creating more green and open spaces and transit oriented development.
The template based on a dozen studies carried out across various urban scenarios was presented to the Union Urban Development Ministry on Monday and the DUAC says can be replicated in town and cities across the country.
“These three dimensional studies are a way forward; the Master Plan only stipulates, these studies are based on ground realities, they are an example of what can be done to solve the housing and infrastructure problems, cleaning and beautifying the city and laying out a plan for allowing more floor area ration in some areas where expansion can be vertical,” said Commission chairperson Raj Rewal.
Carried out over six months using a special fund released by the Ministry, the studies examine site-specific design for wards, rehabilitation of unauthorised and slums clusters, potential for high rise development along Metro corridors, rejuvenation of gardens and greens, and a unified building by-laws for the city.
A study on the slum cluster of Mohammadpur Village in Delhi where houses stand cheek by jowl with little or no provisions for sewage removal, open areas or even streetlights shows how with a turn-around can be achieved by in situ rehabilitation.
“In Kalkaji vegetable mandi for instance, a three-level parking can take 700 haphazardly parked cars off the road. There is enough space to build a parking and once that gets ready problems like traffic congestion, road bottlenecks will be solved and the area can be aesthetically developed,” Mr. Rewal said.
Proposals for pedestrian and cycling tracks, interconnecting parks and gardens and providing recreational facilities and food courts have also been made.
“Land pooling is an answer to freeing up spaces that can be used for community development and reorganising urban spaces. There is paucity of land and there has been talk of going vertical, so we have suggested that high-rises can be built along transit corridors where floor area ratio can be higher and developers can be incentivised,” he said.