Evolving Local Area Plan Mechanism for Commercial Precincts with Heritage Value in Core City
Local Area Plan is a relatively new statutory planning mechanism, which has now enabled micro-level planning of existing, developed urban areas. This LAP mechanism is envisaged primarily as an incentive based approach to improve connectivity, land utilization, infrastructure and urban form of an existing urban area. The LAP mechanism has a large potential of being used for two broad purposes: (a) planned improvement of existing urban areas through incentivized redevelopment & infill (b) Planned improvement and conservation of older urban areas with heritage value.
However, this LAP mechanism is still evolving, and needs be researched upon, tested and clearly illustrated through real cases. Currently there is no illustrative example of LAP for improving a Commercial Core Area with Heritage Value. In this context focus of this DRP is to research and prepare an illustrative LAPs for Improving a Core Area Precinct with Heritage Value in Walled City of Ahmedabad, and provide recommendations to evolve and strengthen the LAP mechanism for enabling more of such LAPs to improve commercial and mixed use areas of historic core cities.
This will require the students to carry out surveys and site studies to understand current issues on ground as experienced by stakeholders, along with detailed study of the current statutory mechanism, regulations, incentives and institutional framework. Also the students will have to be closely familiar with and evaluate the recent projects in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Amritsar, and other cities in India and Abroad.
The DRP will be conducted in coordination with MHT, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and other key stakeholders. In the previous years similar set of DRP was carried out for improving a residential precinct with heritage value – namely Dhal ni Pol, and they benefited from as well as contributed to the realization of the project. The DRP is open to the students from urban planning and urban infrastructure programs, who will work in collaboration with one another and with MHT and AMC’s Heritage Dept. and focus on conducting various studies to structure and prepare a Local Area Plan
