Strengthening the City’s Blue-Green Connection: a Case of Edulabad Precinct

Abstract

Cities worldwide are experiencing a massive growth in terms of population and built mass. The ever-growing population and the consequent development aspirations are putting the ecologically rich areas at the forefront of destruction. By 2050, around 60% of the world population is estimated to live in cities. This further puts the ‘blue’ - water bodies and the ‘green’ - flora and fauna - at the risk of depletion, which are crucial for maintaining livability within cities as well as impeding climate crisis. Indian cities, like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, which have various natural and manmade systems in place, are facing extreme climate events, due to urban development being insensitive towards the Blue- Green infrastructure. The current study looks at Hyderabad, as a mosaic of Blue- Green system with a focus on the developmental trends within the metropolitan area. The Blue- Green system of Hyderabad consists of a chain of interconnected lakes, surrounded by a variety of flora and fauna, in a dendritic drainage network. These lakes were constructed as an alternate flood – drought regulatory mechanism. The water flows from one lake to another, through chain like channels ultimately draining into the river Musi. In the last few decades, these lake systems are increasingly disappearing due to an increase in urbanisation. As the frequency of climate related disasters are increasing in the recent times, the loss of system in place is only magnifying the consequences. The context of Edulabad, in the Ghatkesar locality of east Hyderabad, is chosen for the purpose of study. This area is crucial to Hyderabad’s Blue-Green network and has experienced increase in real estate pressure in the last two decades, due to the Warangal highway and the Outer Ring Road. If the current trends of development continue, the Edulabad lake system and the remaining water channels, crucial to this watershed, would be lost. The study aims at designing a context level blue-green plan, suggesting a responsive built form, which safeguards blue-green network without compromising on the development front.