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Koliwada water edge in monsoon season

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pani walla: [pan-i-wah-lah] nounHindi for one employed in a water related occupation or activity

This project re-envisions the role of infrastructure and proposes mechanisms for its transformation from a merely transportation, supply or disposal agent to a social amenity that addresses local cultural specificities and enables economic growth, focussing on water related infrastrucutre.This micro-scale intervention can be scaled up to provide macro-scale, long term solutions to Mumbai’s ongoing problems of water drainage and supply. The proposed system of water armatures and enclaves addresses the duality of a wet city and a dry one, while engaging with the ecology of public space as it functions with and without water. A dual interpretation of built form and public space is proposed, as the system turns upside-down in the heavy monsoon season, accepting that the water problem is an inherently dual one; a problem of excess and a problem of deficiency.

The inadequate water infrastructure inequities within Mumbai are usually regarded as solely an engineering challenge and thus one to be addressed by the input of large infrastructure investments. Such large interventions also often wipe-out the existing low income communities, altering the integrated social fabric into an economically segregated one. However, the complexity of water politics in Mumbai as well as the exploitation of this deficiency by the tanker industry raises the question of what happens once something as essential to human survival as water is privatized and commodified. Adding to the persistent water scarcity, seasonal flooding during the monsoon period poses an additional water threat for the city, which vacillates between draught and flood conditions. The deficiency in water distribution and sanitation infrastructure in informal settlements, in addition to the vulnerability of such areas in terms of seasonal flooding, raises serious health and environmental issues for both informal settlements and the city as a whole. The selected site, namely the fishermen village in Colaba, is taken as a test site for the application of the system which is designed as a model that can be adopted by other communities with similar issues.

Through a systemic observation of the ways in which people in Mumbai interact with the water cycle and appropriate infrastructure, the proposed infrastructure of water collection, transportation and disposal aims to revolutionize current water usage and consequently regenerate the urban form around it. Informal settlements become active zones of flood mitigation for the city as their soaking zones plug into a city-wide, east-west drainage system, and thus these problematic locales re-emerge into zones of opportunity. Micro-systems like this can connect to each other to provide flood prevention for South Mumbai. In the process of this infrastructural upgradation the internal microeconomic systems of such areas are reinforced while at the same time creation of new jobs and income opportunities is triggered.

PANIWALLA: A Water Strategy for Urban Regeneration

Koliwada water edge in dry season

Seyoon Kim, Hoi Ka Karin Lam, Eunryung Lee, Maria Louca

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FORMAL DISTRIBUTIONThe water supply issue is currently perceived solely as an engineering challenge.

Water supply issuesIn informal settlements, community taps provide for water needs. Approximately 13% of these are contaminated due to the poor sanitation conditions.

INFORMAL DISTRIBUTIONThe deficiency of the water supply in informal settlements is exploited by the paniwallas, an informal network that distributes potable water in the city utilizing water tankers.

FLOODINGThe urban landscape of Mumbai radically changes in the monsoon period. The water issues are intensified as the city’s water supply infrastructure is paralyzed during the flood season.

This proposal introduces a new layer of community based pani-wallas that operates in between the existing formal and informal distribution networks and allows for plug-in locales for both layers. The layer is also responsive to the seasonal landscape changes

in Mumbai (due to Monsoon flooding) and introduces a bilateral system to improve both the existing living conditions and the city’s drainage system.

Walk

Bike

Rickshaw

Truck

ANALYSIS AND INTENTIONS

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Current stormwater drainage

Proposedcity-wide intervention

Annual flooding

Informal settlements

The proposal introduces a micro-scale infrastructure for informal settlements in Mumbai that addresses the city’s ongoing water supply and drainage problems. The micro-system acts as a catalyst and allows for development

opportunities in the sites for intervention. The anticipated change is projected in multiple scales and timeframes of economic and physical growth.

Mumbai Colaba

Space occupied for vending activities

Drainage armature _ macro infrastructure

Informal settlements _ micro infrastructure

Insert microinfrastructure Connect microsystems into large scale drainage system

Thicken connection to enrich social fabric.

CITY SCALE STRATEGY

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Existing

Flooding zones Proposed drainage pattern Settlement-wide water flow Spatial intervention

Proposed

Insert micro-infrastructureLocal authorities provide for the insertion of a community

well. The upkeep of the space is ensured by the insertion of

religious spaces around it.

Expand system tocreate local network

Piping along the armature allows for grey-water

distribution sites and a secondary network of

community spaces.

Grey water distribution

Potable water distribution

Vending activities

Community well

Municipal pipe plug in

Public Toilet

School

Existing fabric

Armature piping

Temple

Connect to city’s networksFormal and informal potable water distribution plug-ins are created along the armature. The upgraded public toilets are located nearby, thus future connection to the city’s sewage system is facilitated.

Trigger local industry growthIndustry specific interventions become integral part of the inserted infrastructure and enhance the existing social,vending and fishing activities. Additionally, physical connection along the waterfront to the city’s major tourist i site can allow for the introduction of new economic activities.

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DESIGN STRATEGY FOR KOLIWADA

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Armatures

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Ground-level intervention

Underground intervention

The intervention proposes a system of public spaces that are varying in size and programmatic intensity. The initial site strategy allows for the allocation of program according to the proposed drainage pattern and identifies the locations where the system can potentially

plug into the city’s existing formal drainage and water supply infrastructure. Additionally, it allows for the plug in of the informal paniwallas (water suppliers) in order to address the potable water needs until a city scale system is developed.

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11. Community well2. Water tank3. Community pipe4. Municipal pipe (future)

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Ancillary connections

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The final phase of the waterfront development in Koliwada proposes the insertion of a spine of spaces along the water that attempts to place the fishermen’s village into the broader context of Colaba. In this sense, a trajectory is traced connecting the Gateway of India (one of the most iconic landmarks of the city) to the urban village of Koliwada thus triggering a possibility for the emergence of new industries related to tourism.

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Community centerpublic restrooms

Grey water distributionFishermen’s dock Fish market

TRANSFORMATIVE URBAN SPACE Main artery

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The radical change in the urban landscape of Mumbai during the Monsoon period highlights the necessity for design that is responsive to a shifting reality of both water excess and water deficiency. In this context, the system is designed as a fluctuating urban space that

adopts to the hydro-reality of the city. The space is continuously redefined according to the presence (and thereafter the absence) of water. At the same time, the definition of a wet and dry zones reverses and becomes ambiguous with the seasonal shift.

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New housing typologiesCommunity center public restroom Temple Soaking ground

Street becomes a system of two folded layers. The folds allow effective drainage and facilitate soaking. Periodically the folds make space to accommodate program.

SITE-CITY CONNECTION

Gateway of India

Koliwada

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[Slum sanitation organization]

Slum dwellers

NGOs

Local organizationsand authorities

Federal andinternational aid

Family relocation in local setting

Provision for temporary housing

PorosityStreet widening

Existing drainage system

Public toilet upgrade

Introduction of artery piping

The proposal operates as a connective layer between all levels of community, regional, federal and international organization agents. Realizing each component of the intervention requires cooperation between two or more agents. In the local level, the intervention becomes an incentive for community organization. This self organization allows for a reform in community management, while at the same time encourages the inhabitants in developing local government modules.

The design explores the possibilities for alternating space configurations in the wet and dry seasons. While in the wet season space is experienced as a series of small pockets of activity (dry zones), in the dry season, the space and activities are re-configured in a linear fashion. As the city fluctuates from wet to dry, activity patterns and spatial experiences also shift to further animate the space.

SITE REDEFINITION IN CITY CONTEXT

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FLUCTUATING LANDSCAPE

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

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[Slum sanitation organization]

Slum dwellers

NGOs

Local organizationsand authorities

Federal andinternational aid

Family relocation in local setting

Provision for temporary housing

PorosityStreet widening

Existing drainage system

Public toilet upgrade

Introduction of artery piping

[housing and development corporation]

Connection to city network

Iintroduction of soaking grounds

Water/slum drainage edge development

Provision for community facilities

Enhancement of fishing industry

Provision for public space[Paniwalla plug in]

[Education]

[Income]

[Municipal connection plug in][Flood mititgation]

Connection of dwellings to the system

Introduction of wet rooms introduction of new typologies

City-wide drainage upgrade

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REFERENCES:

• Blinkhorn T. , Gupta A. (2006) The Mumbai Sanitation Program. Partnening with Slum communities for Sustainable Sanitation in a Megalopolis. Water and Sanitation Program south Asia Mumbai India

• Urban Age,(2007) Urban India:Understanding the Maximum City. London School of Economics and Political Science.• Marhur A., Gunha D. (2009) Soak, Mumbai in an Estuary New Delhi, India: Rupa and Co. Publishers• Bunschoten R., Hoshino T., Binet H. (2001), Urban Flotsam: Stirring the City, Rotterdam, Netherlands: 010 Publishers• Murthy, R., Rao Y. R., Inamdar R., (1998) Integrated Coastal Management of Mumbai metropolitan region, Goa, India National Water

Research Institute• City Profile Series. (2005) Mumbai, India: Disaster Risk management Profile• Kirkwood N., Cooper N., Maximum Mumbai, Minimum Mumbai: Repositioning the Cotton Textile Mill Lands Girangaon, Central

Mumbai, India, Boston Massachusetts: Harvard Graduate School, Department of Landscape Architecture.• CRIT, (2007) Housing typologies in Mumbai: Mumbai, India: Collective Research Initiatives Trust.• Risbum R,: The case of Mumai, Inida, New Delhi, India School of Planning and Architecture• Ananthakrishnan, M. (1998). The Urban Social Pattern of Navi Mumbai, India. Blacksburg, Virginia : Virginia Polytechnic Institute and

State University• Gov. of India Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty. (2009). National Policy on urban street vendors, New Delhi: India• Date, V. (2001), Open spaces in Mumbai. In Mukherjee D. N. (Eds.), Understanding our civic issues. Mumbai, India : The Bombay

Community Public Trust. • TISS and TUVA (1998). A Census Survey of Hawkers on BMC Lands- Draft Report. Mumbai, India. : Hawkers Association In Mumbai.

Retrieved in http://www.karmayog.com/hawkers/tisshawkersurvey1998.htm• Saha. D. ( 2008) CONDITIONS OF `DECENT WORKING LIFE´ OF STREET VENDORS IN MUMBAI. Mumbai, India. : Tata Institute of

Social Sciences. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/pdf/rdwpaper27c.pdf