Invigorating the publicness of new town city centres:Acase of C. B D. Behlapur, Navi Mumbai

Abstract

The Central Business District is a dense area within a city which is characterized by high economic activity, encouraged by public activity and provisioned with an appropriate ecosystem and infrastructure to support the livelihood of city dwellers. But the CBD in today’s cities, is experiencing a rapid decline, and is turning into dormitory towns dominated by a single land use. New towns in India emerged against the context of a growing realization of the need for planned and orderly growth of Indian cities to manage their rapidly expanding population. They gave planners a chance to create a city, envisioning the ideal urban society. Adoption of western models of planning was proving to be unsuccessful and the Indian cities tend to adapt with respect to their surroundings. The satellite town of Navi Mumbai was planned as a countermagnet to the city of Mumbai. The city was planned around multiple nodes, and one of the nodes, Belapur, was envisaged to be the Central Business District of the new town. It was planned at the same time for the shift of capital from the old core city of Mumbai. The whole purpose of attracting the population from Mumbai to Navi-Mumbai was unsuccessful. The city was not taking shape as it was envisioned. The aim of this academic thesis is to vitalize the city center of Navi Mumbai. This will be done by understanding and studying the current dynamics of the city center and looking at ways to enhance the public realm of the CBD, along with establishing a synergistic relationship between the physical, social and economic assets that are existing. Using the tools and concepts of pedestrian-friendly design, a new layer of pedestrian activities will be induced, which will enliven the otherwise dormant pedestrian realm.