Resuscitating Urban Residual Spaces to Integrate the Fragmented Urban Fabric: A case of Union Carbide disaster, Bhopal

Abstract

Cities are composed of many types of spaces, including those which exists between the built environment, wedges of spaces defined by the infrastructure of transportation, communication, industry and development. The urban space thus exists in different shapes, sizes and is located at various places in the city. In the process of development, urban space is seldom thought of as a space with properties of shape and scale and with connections to other spaces. These spaces are often left over or lost in time and space. The thesis explores the residualness and various types of residual spaces created due to a major traumatic event, the Union Carbide disaster. After 33 years, the disaster still lives its life in the form of physical and spatial disabilities, stigma and memory due to which the area is stuck in space and time. The project focuses on the precarious landscape created due to the settlements and the trauma associated with it and develop strategies for urban restructuring of the area through Urban Design strategies. The broader level strategies talk about access to basic infrastructure, open spaces and community level activities together help in healing the traumatic memory of the settlements around by understanding and utilizing the potential of residual spaces.