Mumbai: “Sixty two per cent of the area under the Mumbai’s eastern waterfront redevelopment project will be open for public,” said Dr Bimal Patel, director of Ahmedabad-based HCP Design, which has designed the revamp of the eastern waterfront stretching from Colaba to Wadala.
On Friday, Patel addressed students of architecture at a public lecture organised by the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), on the redevelopment of the eastern waterfront.
Comparing the existing amenities in the island cities and those to come up in the proposed eastern waterfront redevelopment project, Patel added that of the total area under redevelopment, 62% will be in the public domain such as open spaces and gardens etc, compared to 8% publicly accessible open spaces in the island city. While 36% of the land area will be public streets, as compared to 17% of public streets in the island city.
With a vast experience in urban planning and designing, Patel is the person behind most urban planning projects in the country, including the redevelopment of the Central Vista in New Delhi now.
In 2011, his firm HCP Design, Planning & Management designed the new office space, Swarnim Sankul for Gujarat CM (then or Narendra Modi) and his cabinet. More recently, the Padma Shri awardee has been associated with the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project that is expected to be completed by 2021. He started his architectural career in the mid 80s and made a mark with the revamp of Kankaria Lake Waterfront (2006) and the Sabarmati Riverfront (2002).
After it released a draft master plan in December 2018 for the development of Mumbai’s eastern waterfront, MbPT received close to 1,000 objections that the plan dealt more with commercial development than freeing up open spaces for public amenities.
Calling it a misunderstanding Patel said, “The port development is like a peripheral expansion of the island city. With 62% of the area open to the public, it will look radically different from the rest of Mumbai. The only reason it has more space under the public domain is that there is a scarcity elsewhere in the city.” Patel also clarified that 62 per cent of the area is excluding the plan to reclaim 93 hectares near Haji Bunder to create a central garden, which has been severely opposed by many.
Patel’s presentation showcased how the firm is planning to use the New York-model of grid development, as the land near eastern waterfronts is scattered. “After surveying the land closely and in detail, we have developed the street planning grid by grid, street by street,” he said. His presentation used the example of such planning in New York, Manhattan and even Ahmedabad, suggesting that it can be most fruitfully used in Mumbai. “
Patel who is the president of CEPT University and heads the planning and architecture firm HCP Design Consultantspointed out the importance of maintaining uniform permissible development envelope.
“The current building regulations don’t seem to be framed by architects, but by administrators or by architects who think like administrators. Even the buildings in Ballard Pier were built at different times, but they have the same height and character. Across the world, this principle is followed to maintain the city’s essence, but Mumbai has forgotten it along the way. We are trying to bring it back in our planning,” said Patel
