This is a part of SUM Net’s initiative with colleges of architecture, planning, other disciplines to promote academic work on sustainable urban transportation.
The course was offered in the first term of the 2013-14 academic year. It was offered as 3-credit elective at CEPT, as an Urban Landscape Design studio at BNCA, Pune and as 6-day workshop at PVP College of Architecture, Pune.
The CEPT students took up an exercise of addressing the transportation aspects of a proposed Knowledge Precinct in Ahmedabad, that is the area in which a number of educational institutions such as Gujarat University, CEPT, IIM, CEE etc are located.
Students at BNCA and PVP CoA worked in two wards in Pune, that is Dattawadi and Aundh. They studied transportation patterns, conflicts between different modes, different uses and activities on the streets, and especially the facilities for non-motorized transport. Students also had detailed and structured interactions and inputs from the local communities and different user groups, as well as the municipal ward officials and elected representatives. Using their own studies and observations as well as the community inputs, the students have prepared designs that were again presented back to these stakeholders. The feedback is being incorporated and it is planned to submit the designs to the municipal authorities for consideration for implementation.
The work at BNCA also had the benefit of guidance on both transportation aspects as well as methods of deliberation and community involvement from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute, Perth. This is as a part of a project supported by Aus AID Public Sector Linkages Program, titled ‘Stemming car dependency and improving transport options in Indian cities’ and guided by Prof Peter Newman, Prof Janette Hartz-Karp and colleagues.
Content : Impacts of automobile dependence; Current policy and practice in urban mobility; Engaging stakeholders/ different street users; designing inclusive streets
Methods : Lectures, group discussion; Interactions with NGOs; Street observations, analytical assignments; Creative expression and design work.
The course outline and materials would also be made available to other colleges interested in taking up the course as a separate elective or as part of existing courses or studios.
For more information contact CEE UrbanA 10 Garden Estate, 167/1 Nagras Road
Aundh, Pune 411007
sanskriti.menon@ceeindia.org