Analyzing commons on the bellandur lake edge

Chapadgaonkar Vedika Satish Ruta

LA4012

Bellandur lake has a rich, cultural and religious diversity around it with many temples and ritualistic places on the lake edge. Various communities living on the edges of bellandur lake are connected to the lake because of these rituals, culture, and occupational activities. Due to this, there are many religiously and ecologically bound common spaces on the lake edge. These commons due to urbanization, political pressures, and depletion of the ecological layer have lost their essence and their linkages to the different communities. In order to revive the commons, the connection between community and the lake needs to be restored.

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Intricate system of lakes | Lakes in Bangalore function as a complex system of shared resources that benefit the communities that surround them. Lakes are a complex interrelated system of people, culture, history, and communities, as well as an ecological system. Hundreds of lakes originally dotted Bangalore's regional topography, but only a small number remain today. Many of these tanks were originally constructed to irrigate neighboring farmlands and provide water to nearby villages.

Bellandur lake- one of the largest lake in bangalore | Bellandur is the largest lake in the kormangala challaghatta valley with agriculture, cattle washing, fishing, cloth washing as major occupations. Communities here are divided on the basis of caste and occupation. Bellandur lake has a rich, cultural and religious diversity around it with many temples and ritualistic places on the lake edge.

Religious and ritualistic commons | Various communities which are settled near the lake are directly or indirectly related to lake via these ritualistic places and act as commons in this area. A transact that stretches from bellandur lake to the agara lake passing through many such common grounds is full of myths, stories and narratives of communities settled on the edges of bellandur lake. Local stories, narratives, myths can also be a key to look at the influence of community and their needs on spaces and their connection to commons.

Intensity map of resources required by each community | Bellandur lake has very diverse culture on its edges with 6 villages occupied by 10 different communities each associated with a certain occupation. Due to urbanization, political pressures and pollution many of the communities have lost their connection with the lake and its resources. Because of which, new connections between communities of different villages are sprawling up, thus forming new commoning practices.

Pressures of stakeholders on lake edge | There are 3 types of edges around bellandur lake- barrier edge, buffer edge and porous edge which are either formed naturally or because of certain pressures. These pressures have resulted in change in landscape dynamics around 75 m buffer zone of lake.

Pressures on village level commons- Kempapura village | These pressures have not only affected the lake edge but they have also affected the critical points where the ecology interacted with the community and their rituals, thus resulting in loss of connect between community and commons.

Pressures on village level commons- Kariamman agrahara village | These pressures have not only affected the lake edge but they have also affected the critical points where the ecology interacted with the community and their rituals, thus resulting in loss of connect between community and commons.

Refining and restoring commons | To restore the commoning practices, all fabrics of a city, namely social fabric, ecoloical fabric, economical fabric and religious fabric needs to be revives, restored and regenarated. Ecological common spaces such as lake edges, rajakaluves, buffer edges cater to a vast range of biodiversity. Multiple stakeholders, pollution, urbanization and encroachment has led to depletion of this ecological fabric. Restoring the ecological fabric will not only help in connecting community to the lake but it will also help in bringing back the lost biodiversity around lake.

Refining and restoring commons | To restore the commoning practices, all fabrics of a city, namely social fabric, ecoloical fabric, economical fabric and religious fabric needs to be revives, restored and regenarated. Cultural and ritualistic common spaces such as burial grounds, ashwathkattes, temple katte, community grounds, festival grounds are the most vibrant spaces around the lake edge. Urbanization and encroachment has led to depletion of this cultural and religious fabric. Restoring the religious fabric will help in enhancing the cultural vibrancy around bellandur lake and will also help in reviving old cultural practices.

A story of intertwined systems | The lake gets its identity because of its resources, its humungousnes and also by the commoning practices around it and these practices or places get their identity because of the community living there. So in order to revive commons the connection betwen community to lake needs to be restored.