Reinstating urbanism through open space design in emergent urban fabric: a case of E-8 extension, Bhopal

Abstract

Urban sprawl is a quivering topic of discussion for urbanists around the world. It was after World War II, that American cities found solace to the sudden demand of quality housing by blurring urban edges into ‘suburbia’. Ever since then, speculations on suitability of this idea of horizontal expansion of cities has been extensively debated. The extensive literature available discusses urban spral both as a process as well as a product. These continued discussions suggest that sprawl is now an urban phenomenon and the morphological output of it is referred as ‘emergent urban fabric’ herein. Various characteristics, drivers and challenges of emergent urban fabric have been discussed in detail. Considering the case of Bhopal, the development of the city can be broadly categorized into three phases, The Walled City, The Capital City and the Emergent city. One of the case examples of emergent city form in Bhopal, E-8 Extension has been explored in detail in this study. Overlaid analysis of multiple dimensions helped reach a curated set of issues and potentials demanding intricate spatial surgeries and suggestive methodology of future development. The key findings from best practices of sprawl management from around the world were then coordinated with the spatial features that form image of Bhopal like Interactive lake front, avenues, functional open spaces, etc. to devise suitable design strategies. It was also taken into account that unlike the planned city of Bhopal, the Emergent city lacks social cohesion and does not value the existing ‘green and blue’ assets. The design scheme envision to create an engaging, ecologically responsive and self-reliant urban extension which reiterates the city identity. To ensure fulfilment of this vision, focused objectives were derived and the strategies were then webbed with these objectives and ecosystem services. Broadly, the strategies include provision of natural trails to network the existing greens, revitalization of main axis to function as economic spine, inducing a commercial plaza in large amorphous zone, pedestrian and bicycle route along canal, engagement with river and canal, form based codes for further development, village transformation guidelines, rules for further land acquisition and development and a comprehensive plant palate to cohere with the ecological wealth of the city.