Strengthening communities through post disaster landscape: case of former union carbide site Bhopal

Abstract

The reuse of derelict sites for new purposes is becoming more and more important as time goes on. This project will identify the environmental concerns of remediating a brownfield, the various benefits of converting an industrial brownfield into a park/garden, and the most effective remediation strategies to clean up such properties. More specifically, the project explores the site of a former pesticide formulating plant, UCIL, Bhopal. Bhopal has witnessed one of the greatest industrial disasters in the history of mankind. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas. For decades government and non- government organizations have tried to mitigate the impact of the disaster of 1984. These attempts have at the most proved to be marginally successful. The plant is located on the exact property for more than 5 decades and thus poses inherent environmental challenges such as soil and water pollution. To remove extremely harmful contaminants and restore the soil and groundwater, the redesign of the site integrates various bioremediation methods and brown earth work techniques. The aim of this thesis is to take these attempts a step further, the site of the former Pesticide plant facility will inspire revitalization of the surrounding community, provide underserved recreational opportunities, remove the stigma associated with the site, emphasize the history of the facility and the surroundings, and will be restored to reflect the natural environment that once existed 15 years before the tragic Bhopal Gas Tragedy incident in 1984. The Union Carbide factory is an example of landscape change, in which the identity of the landscape is formed, reformed and transformed by local, regional and global agendas. This impacted the landscape identity and its relationship to activities undertaken by the communities in that space. The change in perception of the same land, pre disaster and post disaster, is to be studied and an action plan is to be formulated to remediate it.