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urban design:
revitalization of river edge,
ahmedabad, india
- ashish mayer

Ahmedabad, which is going through a phase of rejuvenation (when the design was proposed) needed revitalization of the walled city which was virtually under chaos of city services planning and development.

Keeping the Master Plan of Ahmedabad city as the basis of future developments, the Central Business Districts seem to have a direct connection through a road running parallel to the river joining the Airport, old CBD and the one for future.

Going through the studies of landuse patterns, the development along the river shows drastic commercialization oh the stretch. Lands with big open areas and bungalows were gradually converted to high rise apartments or hotels using 'river view'' as the slogan to sell property. The river that enjoyed interaction with the city population at one time, was hence 'barricaded'. The Vadaj dam had resulted in virtual drying of the river in the city area and slum encroachments also played a major role in disturbing the river front.

The design solution proposed for the stretch included rehabitation of slum dwellers, accentuation of fort wall, delopment of green belt along the link road, and a walkway between the river and the link road. Paid parking nodes, sunday market and food joints were incoporated to generate funds for maintenance and facelift