Flood mitigation measures, accessible and safe public spaces and pedestrian-friendly walkways are all part of solutions suggested for the area around the 1.3-km-long Mullassery canal as part of an urban design competition. It had invited entries in an attempt to troubleshoot the environmental, infrastructural and social challenges that the area presents, without displacing people in the vicinity.
As part of EnteKochi, an urban design competition was organised by the Kochi Corporation in association with GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation) under the Sustainable Urban Development – Smart Cities project (SUD-SC). Under the project, GIZ is working on behalf of the German development ministry under an Indo-German bilateral cooperation to promote sustainable urban development.
A nine-member jury of urban designers, researchers, academic experts, and architects recently selected three winning entries out of 117 submitted by teams from across the country. To ensure resilience to climate change, the winning entries focus on solutions such as multifunctional urban spaces and floodable landscapes, where water can be allowed to expand along the banks during high levels of rainfall, and when the water recedes, those areas can be used for purposes like sports. Softening of canal edges and removing its concrete banks to replace it with green patches that allow water to percolate was also suggested, besides integrating the KSRTC bus station well with the surrounding areas to be turned into an accessible, safe and gender-sensitive space.
Turning the canal edge into a walkway with a bike path that could connect the bus station, boat jetty, and the nearest metro station, streamlining informal vending spaces, restoration of the Jewish cemetery in the area, creating safe well-lit public spaces and an amphitheatre in the vicinity of the Indira Priyadarshini Park were proposed by the winning entries.
For K.T. Ravindran, Delhi-based urban designer, chairman of the Architectural Heritage Advisory Committee of INTACH and head of the jury, the methodology proposed by the winning entries looks at the locality and people’s needs with as much importance as the environment. “The people are usually left out of such proposals. Rather than a definitive scheme, it is a methodology that can be implemented with public participation as and when issues arise, and can be replicated as per the context. It looks specifically at gender issues, vendors, and social and economic systems on the streets,” he said.
Georg Jahnsen, an urban planner and project manager for SUD-SC, who was part of the jury, said the ideas would require a few months to be further detailed before they could be implemented. While implementation and procuring funds will be the Kochi Corporation’s mandate, GIZ and the supporting planning agencies Urbanista (Germany), Urbz (Mumbai), and Design Combine (Kochi)) offered technical expertise with the competition and fine-tuning of solutions. The solutions, in their implementation, will take into consideration the consent of the people living and working in the area and will not cause any displacement, Mr. Jahnsen said.
The winning entries, once detailed, will have to be presented before the corporation council for its approval, besides consulting all other stakeholders, including people in the vicinity of the canal, said Rajan Chedambath, director, Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C-HED), which is coordinating the competition locally.
“Some roads passing by the canal are fairly narrow and to what extent work in the area might be possible without affecting transport is not clear. Improving the living standards of residents in the vicinity and renovating the KSRTC bus station will be essential to make the project meaningful,” said K.V.P. Krishnakumar, councillor representing the area.