Enhancing vitality of public spaces: a case study of MP nagar zone-1, Bhopal

Abstract

The term vitality means “state of being strong and active”. When we talk about vitality in public spaces, it means presence of people from different age groups and gender for doing optional activities are active in city at various times. Public space which are safer, desirable, and attractive has the capacity for offering more choices for social activities. Vitality deals to the degree with which an urban space is socially successful. Even though cities are composed of both public and private spaces, the first ones are responsible to envelop it with identity and meaning. Whereas, today’s public spaces have been constructed by several dull, monotonous, spiritless blocks similar to buildings spread out everywhere regardless of public needs. In surveys of people across the various country it was found that when people describe their communities now, they refer to streets that are too wide to cross without feeling endangered by traffic, sidewalks that are too empty to feel safe, lack of various activities, a lack of places to sit or stroll and a dearth of interesting and attractive things to look at. Urban vitality is an essential element to achieve urban quality of life. The aim of my study is to enhance vitality in public spaces of MP Nagar zone-1, Bhopal through Urban Planning/Design interventions. To achieve this aim, my objectives will be, first to understand vitality in public spaces through various theories and concepts related to vitality and urban public spaces. Then identification of indicators to measure degree of vitality in a public space through various case studies and final selection of indicators as per the study area. Then those indicators are studied on site and issues are identified such as areas of absence of activities, compatibility of business use and user groups, lack of comfort and safety due to no street lights, no sitting space, lack of sidewalks etc. and the area most vulnerable are identified for proposals and recommendations. For data analysis, temporal study of building use activities and people footfall is done to understand how the area changes with time and how it affects the footfall in the area. The vulnerable areas are recommended with proposals such as availability of night cafes and eateries, availability of street lights, sitting space for people, availability of continuous footpaths, use of vacant land etc.ii Enhancing Vitality of Public Spaces. A Case Study of MP Nagar Zone-1, Bhopal The outcome of the study will be improvement plan of MP Nagar zone-1 for attraction of large user groups and activities.