REGENERATION PLAN FOR WALLED CITY OF AMRITSAR

Abstract

Cities are like living organisms, and they require constant maintenance and development for their healthy growth, without which, city functions fail and they decay with time. Changes in functioning have to be adopted at proper time with efficient efforts. Through the history we have seen movements dedicated to eradicate tribulations and problems from the structure of the cities. With degrading environment, loss of cultural heritage of core areas and degrading economy, today a movement based on ecological, social and economic sustainability is requirement of time. Regeneration is comprehensive program with active participation of the residents and stake holders to generate an effective plan with social, environmental and economic sustainable concepts to eradicate problems of area. Effective steps have been taken by many countries in this direction. Especially European Union and USA have dedicated agencies for regeneration process and their financial aid. With advancement of technology, cities are facing new challenges of pollution, traffic congestion, loss of heritage, and environment degradation. The aim of this dissertation is to prepare Regeneration plan for the Walled city of Amritsar. The objective of the project is to study the concept of urban regeneration through best practices prevailing in foreign cities, analyze the problems and various plan proposals for walled city and finally to propose regeneration plan for improvement of Walled city area. Amritsar is one of the most ancient and fascinating cities of India. It is spiritual and cultural center of Sikh religion. After becoming the gateway for travelers coming to India on from central Asia and it soon became the centre of various commercial activities. It is a border city located in the northern western part of the state with an area of 139 Sq. Km. History of Amritsar dates back to 400 years, when the city was founded by fourth Sikh guru, Sri Guru Ram Dass Ji, in 1577 AD. From 1665 to 1802 various Misi's were established. Poly nucleated city was merged in the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1802 and a massive city wall was constructed with 14 gates. After independence, city faced setback due to its location close to border. Total population of Amritsar is 1183705 as per census 2011 with density of 8314 persons per sq km. Highest density is VIII within the walled city of 740 persons per hectare which is 10 time higher than the gross density of city. It may noted that walled city occupies area 1/41th of total area of city while it houses 1/6th of the city population. 'Walled city acts as central business'district, and has mixed land-use character. Walled city hosts 22 specialized markets. Total number of tourist visiting Amritsar by air were 0.11 million in year 2007, which is 2.2% of tourist population of country. It has been estimated that tourist visiting golden temple is approximately 30000 per day. Walled city beholds a unique character, as it has witnessed history of 400 years. Buildings belonging to different time periods can be seen in whole of the walled city area. Buildings have unique feature of carved balconies protruding out in street at first and second floors giving shade on to street in hot sunny weather. Most of the features were in wood and later on steel was used. As time changed in modern era these features were lost to tall, glass clad structures over-looking to street below. The main commercial streets are wider and have footpath, but as we go to interior parts of the walled city, the width of street constantly decreases to 3 m. The surveys conducted for the Regeneration Plan for Walled City of Amritsar reveal a sorry state of physical infrastructure. Walled city lacks basic infrastructure facilities. City development plan lists some proposals on up-liftment of the area as road development and pedestrinization projects, no vehicle zone support, parking management and visual intrusion projects. As a JNNURM city, many plans have been prepared for walled city but only few are implemented, Elevated Road Projects (149.49 Cr), Water Supply Projects (19.01 Cr), Augmentation of Sewerage in Walled City Rehabilitation of Water (36.90 Cr), Supply in Walled City (52.97 Cr), Solid Waste Management (72.49 Cr). But none of these projects focus on overall development of program for up-liftment of social, cultural, economic, and ecological aspects of walled city. The loopholes of Master Plan 2031 and City Development Plan 2025 have been analyzed. Analysis of various primary surveys, opinion of experts, visual survey states that transportation, and traffic problem is the most severe problem of Walled city. Unhygienic conditions prevail due to low quality of solid waste management and ix clogged open drainage system. Proposals have been formulated to eliminate these problems of the walled city area. The objectives for the proposals are given below: • Transportation and traffic management: To create an advanced public transport system for the city and develop local public transport for the walled city for better connectivity. To develop better traffic management system with advanced technologies. • Economic up-gradation: To improve tourism of walled city for effective revenue gains. • Socio-cultural up-gradation: To improve the heritage value of the walled city and conduct heritage walks. • Environmental concern: To develop advanced solid waste management program for clean and green city and environment friendly transport for city...............