Utopia a way of living

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UTOPIA –A WAY OF LIVING

Cities around the world have always shown a progressive evolution right since their initial sprawl.

It is every inch square area that goes into the inception of cities, every square of the city that goes

onto moulding a metropolis and every weave of the metropolis that shapes up a beaming

megalopolis. Demand plays a vital role in shaping the socio-cultural-economic stature of urban

settlements. Utopia by definition is a hypothesis, but by nature has become an intangible part of

the planning processes all around the world, since the advent of the 20th century.

HYPER BUILDING IN BABEL – PAULO SOLERI BUCKMINISTER FULLER – TRITON CITY

It is an ongoing search for solutions to make better and more efficient urban stems. Over the

years, architecture and urban design have had an entwined relationship in shaping the cities of the

future. There have been concepts of Walking Cities, Plug-In Cities, Garden Cities, just with the

intention to contour a sustainable humane habitat, a place with the most ideal of conditions, where

a melange of communities strive and thrive together. With the increase in the influx of migrants to

major cities, the crunch in the availability of ambient habitable localities has with time become

more prominent. Be it, New York, Paris, Tokyo or Mumbai, the need to expand and the need to

facilitate requires clarification.

Alongside towering population, one of the fears that mankind faces today is the fear to cope with

natural hazards. Designers have devised several proposals such as underground and underwater

citadels, flotillas, incremental housing projects and many more to address growth and help

decentralize cities by having contributory zones. Form and function have been the driving forces

for such concepts.

Utopias can be generally categorised in two based on their distinct natures - the world within and

the world without. Utopian concepts that constitute individual aspirations of the inhabitants of

urban settlements, with respect to aspects such as their right of way, the freedom in

communication etc..and other such inclusive requirements, fall within a microcosm. This is where

the manifestations of the inhabitants is taken into consideration at an individual level. It deals with

their interactions, that balance the social milieu. On the other hand, there are utopian projections

where cities have been foreseen to be detached from the existing. They act as plug-ins in

scenarios of requirements and can very quickly detach themselves. Here, the city as a whole is

the cosmos, where everything is modular, and citizens are considered to be of a consistent

character.

CAN RETROFITTING UTOPIA HELP IN ELEVATING THE SOCIAL MILIEU OF A WORKING CITY?

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The MMSEZ & NMSEZ proposals for the area adjoining Nhava Sheva port in Mumbai have been

envisioned as to be the next biggest expansion of the Mumbai metropolis. It would have a target

population of about 10 million. Also the site is majorly Green field in nature, but with agricultural

land and a certain ecological importance. The existing land is partially inhabited by smaller villages,

partially green cover, and partially taken over for infrastructural projects. Incremental development over

such a land would be very favorable in terms of retaining its vitality. Thus, progressive urban design

propositions can be experimented on this site, to ensure a more people friendly – low carbon

footprint development.

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR MMSEZ

What if? The MMSEZ proposal could be designed as to be an extension of the Mumbai life into the

sea that has been the major thread in connecting the historical seven islands of the city. The

question that arises here is whether the pattern in decentralization that has been the current trend

in the shift of the city’s character, be deviated from, by having a diagonal axis seawards. As per

the CIDCO proposals, this new piece of land shall be connected by the 22km long Trans harbour

link. So, to experimentally analyse, if the new city extension would work on water, a proposal

similar to the Tokyo bay Masterplan can be applied to question the core issues the city faces today

on its way to be a megalopolis.

The possible consequences of such a

development would be the impact it would have

on the mangrove cover along Mumbai’s eastern

waterfront. The development may have a major

impact on the waste management system of the

city and eventually be more pressurizing on the

sea, proving to be more demanding with the rise

in its occupancy. However, it would prove to be a

better connecting link to the Elephanta Island

which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and

aid in the eventual preservation of the historic caves and its indigenous villages.

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KENZO TANGE – TOKYO BAY MASTERPLAN

As an example, the Tokyo bay Master plan project conceived by Kenzo Tange in 1960 was one

such proposal to decentralize, an exhausted future Tokyo, by moving seawards. The proposal

encompasses linear distribution of roads emerging from the bay area in to the sea. The first step

was creating the civic axis and a cycle transportation system at a height of 40 meters above

existing Tokyo that only touches the ground at points of interchanges. This system connects to all

major highways and railroads. The traffic circulation system is detached from the ground and

suggests a strong separation between traffic and pedestrians. It was designed to carry up to

5,000,000 people daily. The grid on which the street system is based consists of squares with side

length of one kilometer. The system allows for a step by step expansion from Tokyo to the other

side of Tokyo bay. Public buildings are located between the two parallel highways while residential

areas are attached to the civic axis through a perpendicular street system. Like leaves of a tree

the residential area seems to grow away from the civic axis. The buildings reside on huge

platforms on the water and propose the old relationship between the population of Tokyo and the

sea. This proposal was an extension of the Tokyo life, but in a way insensitive to the footprint it

would have on the aquatic life around the bay. It is comparatively easy to propose expansion as a

green field project, but what happens if the same expansion is super- imposed over the existing

fabric is what concerns urban designers today.

A general slogan of the hour is “Go high with low impact”. One needs to understand that a city

constitutes of several communities some of them indigenous. The sentiment of human relations

needs to be very well understood in order to have retrofits of newer microcosms over the

prevailing ones.

In order to support the idea of retrofitting, the Shinjuku suburban transformation project proposed

by Toshio Ojima in Tokyo, can be put forth to understand symbiotic development. Shinjuku is a

suburb in Tokyo well known for its historic Imperial Palace and the adjoining heritage precinct with

residential development on the eastern side and the highly commercialized western front with sky

risers. Both these zones are very distinctly divided by the centrally running railway corridor and the

station precinct. Ojima had proposed three alternative ways to enhance the human network by

bridging these areas. In the first proposal, he conveniently segregates the layers of circulation i.e.

vehicular and pedestrian. The proposal shows an elevated pedestrian corridor with landscaped

gardens and plazas meant purely for pedestrian access. In his sketches, the corridor is shown to

have voids for visual connection with the vehicular pass beneath. A second proposal was the

creation of a landmark, a visual symbol of fusion. This proposal can be found to be in lines with the

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Paris Arc de Triomph boulevard reaching out to the commercially surrounded La defens building.

The third proposal was of having an “urban complex” over the commercial areas. It was to have

rooftop housing and pedestrian pathways connecting buildings. The houses open inwards creating

smaller community spaces atop the commercial buildings. Another layer of the MRT system was

proposed on top of it all to have better access throughout the suburb. A very complex system of

networks, this proposal however, looks into the communal alcoves that are the cells of the urban

realm.

Existing Shinjuku Proposal 1: Segregated Pedestrian walkways

Proposal 2: Gate square Proposal 3: Urban Complex

In a similar orientation, the proposed MMSEZ project

can be projected as an urban complex. There can be

layers in the fabric, in terms of the functions and their

segregated links could act as alcoves for community

activities. For example, the streets and roads can be

lined with Commercial setups like shops, showrooms

etc... and the floors on top of that can be used as

inward looking residential units. Such a system of

housing can be found to be existing in the chawls in

Mumbai, where common passages and central

courtyards, socially connect all the individual units in

the built form. Also, the pedestrian and vehicular

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access ways can be segregated, by having pedestrian activity on higher levels and the ground

level used only by cars. By raising the pedestrian realm, sympathetic responses can be observed

among the residents and the infrastructure. Since the existing land is majorly agricultural in nature,

such a proposal ensures protection of the environmental fabric of the area. As per categorizing is

concerned, such a development proposal is a blend of the microcosmic and macrocosmic

characters of utopia.

The MMSEZ proposals are predominantly residential in nature. They have been envisioned as to

be the ‘lifesavers’ for the piling low and middle income group migrant population that flock to

Mumbai every year. In terms of housing, proposals can be made to promote low cost pre-

fabricated housing units, with an utility terrace assigned for every house, so that the terrace

becomes a neighborhood connector. The ground can be left completely open only with stilts to

support the units on top. This would help in revitalizing the ground cover as well as retain the

existing agricultural character of the land, wherever deemed fit. A re-generist housing model fits

the requirements of such a proposal, wherein, a single unit can be divided into mid levels to create

hexagonal faces for the inward houses to respond outwards. The intermediate access terraces for

the units shall behave as spill out areas and act as subsidiary community spaces. Such a model is

similar to the model devised by Ar. Moshe Safdie for the Habitat Puerto Rico project proposal.

OVERLOOKING TERRACES FOR INDIVIDUAL UNITS CROSS LINKING COMMUNITY SPACES

RELATION OF THE HOUSE TO THE STREET ELEVATED PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

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MOSHE SAFDIE – HABITAT PUERTO RICO

Habitat Puerto Rico sited on 20 acres of a steep hill was a proposal project to facilitate the middle

income group, with its cost constraints. Achieving a relatively high density, as well as light and

views by utilizing the natural slope of the terrain. At the crest of the hill are shops, cafes,

community areas and offices. Pedestrians and cars travel completely separate paths of circulation,

with parking cut into the slope beneath each house. Substantial areas of the hill are left untouched

to preserve the natural vegetation. Eight hundred pre- fabricated, pre-finished housing units were

delivered on site. Cost was reduced by minimizing the need for internal stairs, avoiding structural

complexity and consolidating plumbing. With all components, manufactured in the factory, the

modules range from 1bhk to 4bhk units in a variety of layouts. Each unit has complete visual and

acoustical privacy and a private terrace shaded by the cantilevered units overhead. This proposal

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was a completely build all and assemble, by nature, effecting the cost limits. The terraces and the

intermediate spaces carved out by the overhung units, form spaces for community activities. This

project is a very apt illustration of retrofitting, without hampering the current footprint.

To summarize, devising solutions based on Utopian concepts to enable an increment in the layers

of a city, can have no definite end. It morphs around the evolving use and future needs of the

people of the city. Utopias – both the world within and the world without are functionally driven and

are need based solutions provided by urbanists & futurists. These are outcomes of democratic

socialism and capitalism. The concept of having a retrofit expansion of a city can definitely

improve the quality of living, provided, it caters to the human perception of an ideal settlement with

ambience as its key driving force rather than regressive form making. As John Simmonds states,

the city is perceived by its inhabitants, based on sight, sound, smell and emotion. The

transparency along the activities of the city, the sound and its envelopes that audibly create an

environment, the levels of human interaction are all guidelines to creating affable spaces in the city

as it progresses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

IMAGEABLE CITY – WORKS OF TOSHIO OJIMA

URBAN STRUCTURE FOR THE EXPANDING METROPOLIS- KENZO TANGE’S TOKYO MASTERPLAN

MOSHE SAFDIE- WORKS

GARDEN CITIES – JOHN SIMMONDS

MANFREDO-TAFURI-ARCHITECTURE-AND-UTOPIA-DESIGN-AND-CAPITALIST-DEVELOPMENT

Probuddha Mukhopadhyay

1st yr. M.Arch K.R.V.I.A