People, Places and Relationships

Abstract

The big question that haunts urban design today is the classic chicken and egg question: people first? Alternatively, places first? Our cities are a synthesis of a physical and social fabric that confront and interact with each other in urban design. A new approach to urban design aims to sustain urban life’s social and cultural aspects, including people’s needs, wants, and hopes. Sustaining the socio-cultural fabric of cities can ensure people-centric and inclusive cities. This research investigates the five dimensions: people, places, networks, activities, and territoriality in Ranchi; which constitutes the social fabric of cities. These, when put together, arrange like a solved jigsaw puzzle and give a character to the city. Ranchi was created in Nov 2000 as the capital of the newly formed state of Jharkhand, located on the eastern side of India. In the past, Ranchi was known as the summer capital of Bihar and was a little larger than a town in terms of development. However, since then, it has been vigorously expanding in size, infrastructure, and population. This sudden expansion has created stress on the existing built environment. The large forest covers, agricultural lands, diverse culture, and pleasant climatic conditions have degraded and mainly decreased. The narrow roads and old buildings cannot bear the load of changing requirements, fast-improving technology, and a growing population. Hence, the built environment has been rendered unsustainable and unadaptable through the fastidious changes of the present era. Communities and lifestyles formulate the people dimension, followed by spatial structure and legibility as places. Networks encompass connectivity and accessibility, whilst activities encompass occupations, interactions, and engagements. Finally, territoriality can be defined as utilising space to communicate ownership and convey a sense of personal space and comfort zones in existing communities. With a focus on guidelines, the outcome of this research informs both policies and practices. With the help of user perception surveys and extensive visual observations, this research establishes ways and means to sustain and enhance the existing cultural and socio-spatial relationships in the urban fabric.