Abstract:
Chennai is a city with various water sources like rivers, lakes/ reservoirs, and tanks.
Yet the city experiences floods and drought alternating every year. One major
reason for the issue is the rapid urbanization in the water catchment areas of these
water resources. In the core areas of Chennai, most of the lakes and tanks have
become distinct because of the rapid urbanization trends at the global level.
Chennai has a vast peripheral line where the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA)
has been spread out over almost 3 districts in the state, making it the second largest metropolitan city after Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR). While the
government has been striving to match the demands of the people in the city, on
the other end trying to resolve the environmental problems like floods and
droughts. The peri-urban areas in the cities are the vulnerable areas where the
change can be brought in. Peri-urban areas can be of various characteristics like
the IT, industrial, tourism, etc. but all these factors should blend in with the
ecological factors in the neighbourhood.
The existing strategies in the greenfield development areas have a fragmented
development, lacking social cohesion and community sense in comparison to the
urban core areas, which are the oldest communities of the city and have a sense
of belonging and community cohesion which lacks in the peri-urban settlers as they
are mostly the migrant workers or people who tend to live in gated communities,
away from the chaotic urban cores. Social cohesion makes the living quality better
for people enabling them to be self-sufficient and resilient.
A major part of the thesis is to understand the nature of existing water catchment
areas around the selected waterbody and the nature of development happening
around the Puzhal lake and its catchment area. The catchment area surroundings
can be conserved, prioritizing nature over humans. The urbanization that has
already happened in the catchment can be revived or can be preserved from
causing further damage to the catchment terrain by providing urban design
guidelines. In addition to the ecological interventions, creating spaces for the
people of the neighbourhood to utilize the common spaces would form the scopefor urban design interventions. The catchment area, lake, and their peripheries can
be protected to maintain their purpose and prohibit concretization.
The minor part of the thesis is to understand the Peri urban fragments of the city
and the significance of ecology i.e. open spaces, water bodies and the
transformation zone of grey to green spaces, their contribution in making the place
resilient in terms of ecology and social aspects. The thesis focuses on the network
of open spaces in peri urban areas that can be preserved ecologically, serve as an
asset (breathing space), made socially inclusive with the surrounding
neighbourhood, and can make an optimistic difference in the resilience of the
fragment