Tenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

Rapid urbanization, high rural-urban migration rate has resulted in exponential growth with deteriorating urban environments for Indian cities, especially with historic cores. Since the 1992 eighth five-year plan, a lot of urban planning oriented proposals and guidelines have come up to alleviate the cities of the issues related to uneven development patterns, urban housing, and social infrastructure. However, they have yielded deficient solutions and have proven to be short-sighted. Since the inception of five-year schemes, the role of public open spaces and streets in the liveability of Indian cities, have been overlooked. These approaches are also unsustainable as they have overlooked the crucial role of urban public green spaces in improving the city’s health. Taking the case of the city of Jaipur, the study critically evaluates national-level planning schemes, guidelines, and their role in the city-level master plan, along with descriptive terminologies with respect to urban public green spaces. Simultaneously, the master plans of Jaipur since 1971 were analyzed for the evolution patterns of urban public green spaces, streets and possible options across the city were then identified. In addition, the identified pockets were studied for users and activities pattern, accessibility, approachability, permeability, and urban built form. Thereafter, these pockets or stretches were evaluated for their potential as qualitative urban public green spaces at the city level. The research concludes with probable options and design methods for creating public spaces, along with policy-level recommendations for the city of Jaipur as well as for other Indian cities.