Rithika Ravishankar Rajalakshmi

UP4000-3

With the industrial city of Rajkot as the lens, the studio helped gain a brief insight into the entire process that goes behind the conceptualization and actualization of a development plan, bearing each and every stakeholder involved in mind. The broad approach to this zoning proposal was to set the trajectory for the city growth that encouraged mixed uses liberally, and yet exercised partial control on the built development for environmental rejuvenation. Since development is largely a function of market demand, it also helped us understand that the role of an urban planner is by no means all-supreme. It is merely to nudge the growth of a city in the direction that is best suited for equity and sustainability. The city, at the end of the day, must be for all its citizens - and thus, the planner must bear the socioeconomic implications of their work in mind.