Article

Dhruvita D. Zala, SVNIT, Surat, Gujarat, India; Dr. K. A. Chauhan ,SVNIT, Surat, Gujarat, India; Dr. J. E. M. Macwan ,SVNIT, Surat, Gujarat, India

Vadodara has secured its name in the list of 100 Smart cities under the Smart City Mission of Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India launched in June 2015. Sustainable and Smart city aims at long term high tech solutions. Cities have turned into concrete jungles due to advent of machines and over population. Vishwamitri river has acted as an urban spine to the city even though it’s not a perennial as it divides it geographically into eastern and western region. While the river under design consideration i.e VMC area is 16.5 kms. The average width of the river is 500m while its depth is 8-10 mt. The 25km stretch of river passing through the city is the only river in the country having 206 crocodiles living in the urban context. A socio- economic survey was conducted for deriving the design proposal which included 25% of stake holders including ages , workers, slum dewellers , 50% of experts including VUDA and VMC officers. The rest 25% included the college and institute heads and faculty opinions. Even a movie is made showering the existing profile of the river. The state has cleared 66-acre plot for developing the crocodile park and a garden to boost the natural ecological balance and sustainable tourism. This paper envisages the Development to create a ‘Cleaner, sustainable, diverse and integrated’ river front for Vadodara to add flavor to the dead urban dense fabric. The river has become largely inaccessible from the city, and is no longer seen as an asset even though it has got potential to generate employment, education, recreation, business and provide inclusive growth. The first initiative will be to map the existing land use and propose the barrages to check the flow and accessibility of water for a sustainable development against seasonal flooding. Proposal for commercial development in the form of ratri bazaar, crafts centre, exhibition grounds, sports ground can add to the revenue for financial sustainability. The design proposal will provide new public spaces, heritage walk ways, botanical gardens, crocodile parks, exhibition grounds, promenades, footpaths and ghats along the riverbanks to add to the environmental and cultural sustainability. To promote walkability and cycle friendly environment larger blocks are broken into smaller ones. Paper focuses onto bringing a holistic urban innovation for the people of Vadodara. It will also talk about the volumetric guidelines, svp (special purpose vehicles), boosting of the recreational, commercial and green land use for a better sustainable futuristic urban planning.