Understanding mass rapid transit system related urban development of existing core areas in a city: case study of Kolkata

Abstract

Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) has created a significant impact on urban development in the core areas of cities throughout the world, and has been running along the movement corridors, especially in and around these areas resulting in a deterioration of the overall urban environment. It has also become evident that, in these core areas of the cities, mostly in the developing countries, like Kolkata, these developments have been largely uncontrolled, sporadic and piecemeal in nature, creating haphazard and chaotic spatial/ physical environment, primarily influenced by unregulated market forces.As a result, these core areas require immediate intervention to rectify the problems, as well as to arrest any further deterioration of the spatial /physical environments. However, in cities like Kolkata, these interventions are based on conventional Urban Planning paradigm, and so far have failed to address the situation properly. Thus an investigation of the impact of MRTS on these core areas is required to understand these developments which are generally occurring in an intermittent manner, thereby formulating necessary recommendations from an urban design viewpoint. Accordingly, in this paper an attempt has been made to thoroughly understand the said impact, primarily from an Urban Design viewpoint in order to guide these developments in the desired direction.