Old new city : a study of spatial interactions in traditional neighborhoods of Kolkata to identify a new paradigm for urban design

This thesis through study and analyses endeavored to demonstrate how various interactions in the urban fabric of old neighborhoods of Kolkata made them more humane, inclusive and ecologically less harmful. It highlighted how these interactions of urban elements and activities of old neighborhoods have the potential to benefit new urban developments. And it calls for modem designers to study and realize the great potential of this new design paradigm which is based on increasing interactions in the urban fabric. Three different neighborhoods from Kolkata were selected, which provided a comprehensive sample of traditional urban fabric of the city. It was found that in many cases the observed conditions were in contradiction to the principles of the modem urban design. And in some cases certain aspects were observed that are completely ignored or overlooked by modem designers. After subsequent analyses it was inferred that there is one fundamental difference between old and new cites. The modem approach is to segregate different elements and activities, while in old cities these interacted with each other and created the livable conditions. The study focused on various interactions of the urban elements in the neighborhoods and grouped them into four categories: 1. Nature and urban elements 2. Built and unbuilt spaces 3. Transportation modes 4. Residential and commercial activities It was observed that these interactions encouraged and facilitated the following positive qualities in the neighborhoods.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Guha, Debmalya

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• James Wescoat.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55139

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/55139