Mitigating the ecological and socio- cultural impacts of transport terminals on urban landscapes: a case of Belapur multimodal transport gateway, Navi-Mumbai
- Vol.87(8), Aug
- Mumbai Indian Institute of Architects 2022
- 41-51p.
This thesis looks at the manifold impacts of transport terminals on the urban landscape. Over the past few decades, transport infrastructure. projects have defined the urban landscape and continue to do so. The research investigates how transport infrastructure was dependent on natural features of the landscape in earlier days, subsequently how they became independent of the natural setting due to technological advancement, identifying stages of intervention resulting in damage to environment, and dwells into the possibility of mitigating the impact of damage at a particular site. The sustainability movement of 21st century prioritized environmental considerations in transport infrastructure projects. The thesis focuses on direct and indirect impacts of transport terminals on the urban landscape in terms of ecology, land use, pollution, heritage, economy, culture, etc. The case of Navi-Mumbai is studied as the city planning is based on the principles of Transit Oriented Development. The role of transport terminals in shaping the city and their immediate, and long term impacts on the landscape are studied, and the case of the upcoming Multimodal Transport Gateway at Belapur is taken up owing to the ecological sensitivity of the place due to presence of wetlands which could be endangered due to built development, regional connections it proposes to serve, socio-cultural context, heritage, and economic aspects. The intent of the design intervention is to mitigate the ecological and socio-cultural impacts the transport gateway would have on the wetlands of the place by leveraging the presence of a transport terminal to promote eco-tourism to inculcate a sense of stewardship among citizens and thus, conserve the ecology of the place. Keywords: transport infrastru