KOCHI

Vision Document and Action Plan

SPA-D 2020|2nd Semester

Arkadipta|Fareed|Kavita|Mansi|Olivia|Shinjini|Walsado
VISION Statement

Imagining “Water as the lifeline of the city”

Water as an asset, linkage, and unifier. To provide improved

quality of life by harnessing it as a productive landscape
through resilient solutions
Asset
Kochi has germinated and defined itself through water time and
again. This strategic settlement with its proximity to water has
triggered growth - fostering ecology, local economies, trade. In
times to come, the city will enhance as a model, creating foresight
for sustainable growth by invigorating its relationship with water
and contributing to the quality of life of its residents and visitors.

Linkage
Linkage is vital for city growth. Before the onset of the rail and
roads, water was paramount in connecting the city. These linkages
allowed movement of not only people and goods, but as a system
played a greater ecological role. The linkage will be a fresh start to
restore Kochi’s natural order and reap the benefits of a future city
centric to water.

Unifier
Man has always associated water with everyday activities such as
rituals, swimming rites with friends or reclusive boat rides. It is
stitched intricately in the fabric of Kochi. Even in it’s heterogeneity
it has not resulted it loss of local identity but has embraced civic
pride. The city intends to retain the same sentimental value
preserved for so long by defining water as a public space through
interactive edges to promote social inclusivity and cultural
diversity.
Asset
Ecology

01 Objective

Restore the disconnected ecological networks – blue and green

network.

Strategies

o Linking the blue ecological system will create city-wide corridors

accessible to all. It will also unclog the current system, to help
dissipate the issues of flooding and tidal fluctuations. This network will
also revive the water system and its proximity, allowing it for multiple
uses in the city.

o Green networks will be incorporated along the blues, acting as a

buffer to curb indiscriminate construction along the edges.
02 Objective

To protect low lying areas from flooding and freeing up ecologically

sensitive areas .

Strategies

o De densifying low lying and low density areas and re-densifying the
higher ground through land use swap by transferring development
rights to unlock the potential for more dense and mixed use built
form. This will result in freeing up of the low lying areas for softer form
of urbanism with high density and compact development.

o Introducing sponges - Absorptive landscapes for filtering and

dispersing flood waters during storm events.
Sponges are also diverse ecotones designed with topographic
variations to support a range of ecological conditions from
marshland to transitional wetland, to floodable parts and green
spaces at lower elevations alongside new and existing
development.
03 Objective

Reinforce coastal interface to improve overall resilience to degradation.

Strategies

The settlements in Kochi are located too close to the shore and are
subject to coastal hazards and erosion.

o The first line of defence is to increase the

distance between the built and the shore
by introducing groynes to reclaim an
adequate beachfront.

o Hard edges do not allow natural

accretion of sediments. To fix this, a buffer
between the beach and the built will be
introduced in gradual order from smaller
coastal vegetation to larger ones and
increase retention of soil.

o The immediate context to the barrier

islands is the lagoons. Mangrove Parks will
be reintroduced to these areas to attract
fauna. These areas will also act as a
natural sponge to dissipate the forces of
tidal surges and tsunamis.
Linkage
Economy

04 Objectives

Restore and conserve natural and cultural heritage for sustaining the
urban biodiversity, for creating awareness among people and for
empowering the local communities.

Strategies

o Respond to the inherited landscape by promoting and developing a

culture of ecotourism – identifying and protecting pristine landscapes.

o Creating places of work through clusters of local business and

incubator spaces which will cater to the development of the local
workforce.

o Carrying out
developments within
each locality,
creating a special
sense of place which
enables the visitors to
experience the
lifestyle of the fishing
and agricultural
communities.
05 Objective

Formulating self reliant regions in the city, to achieve

reduced dependency.

Strategies

o Disintegrating mono-functional zones into polynucleated

developments to increase opportunities in the area by establishing
functions of varied dimensions.
06 Objective

Promotion of multifunctional development which, will be

pivotal in formation of liveable neighbourhoods.

Strategies

o Creating activity centers in the neighbourhood to minimize the

pressure on existing centers. They will also help the people of the
neighbourhood to have close proximity to commodities of daily
needs.

o Providing e-vehicles for last mile connectivity.

o Providing better accessibility by improving walking links to public

facilities.

o Introducing places for people to meet, be part of their community

and to be creative.
Community

07 Objective

Introduce new integrated city greens in pockets within the city in guise of
public spaces to support outdoor activities and people to socialize.

Strategies

o Using existing parks and open public spaces to

integrate public functions in a cohesive
manner, to achieve thriving urban life.
Developing river front and promenades
distributing series of vibrant public activity
anchors to bind the greens in a network.

o Designing space with diverse and dynamic

interfaces for hosting diverse range of
activities like markets, concerts, art
installations, educational programmes,
protests etc.

o People centric streets with dominant widened

public realm, cycle tracks, pedestrian paths
and adequate streetscaping.

o Designing various climate responsive and

shaded open space typologies to encourage
outdoor activities throughout the year.
08 Objective

Elevate the status of natural water streams from ‘backyard’ of the city
to ‘centrepiece’ of surrounding neighbourhoods; and to make them
an integral part of everyday lifestyle of the citizens of Kochi.

Strategies

o Designing the urban interface with

water as an interactive edge by
removing physical or visual barriers and
offering direct access to water by
providing diverse water based features
like kayaking, barges, floating
boardwalks, stepped ghats etc.

o In urban setting, giving variety of

intimate public functions on both sides
of water and connecting them
through multiple new pedestrian and
bike bridges.
Imageability

09 Objective

Reinforcing the local identity of Kochi to strengthen its image (of a

water-based city)

Strategies

o Utilizing the upcoming water metro route to ease accessibility

and utilizing new visual anchors of identity along image
corridors. Creating a clearly defined Urban Edge.

o Controlling the urban

elevation and initiating a
design dialogue in tandem
with the vocabulary of
existing built form. Gradual
improving on the environs
to reinforce it’s local
distinctiveness.
o Deriving a conjugation of all the aforesaid strategies through the
creation of third place phenomenon.

o Kochi Bienalle is a major contributor to this phenonmenon. A

space to fuse the idea of community and social engagement by
leveraging the power of creative economy.

o Decentralizing the Bienalle where the layers of ecology,

economy and community overlap would result in the formation
of spaces where people can be treated as social equals.
Unifier
10 Objective

Introduce natural filters and aqua farms to filter grey water coming from
households before entering the main water system.

Strategies

Channel the grey water from households into a system of water hyacinth
ponds, which later go into aqua farms as nutrient rich feed for fish. This
system allows for a natural and inexpensive treatment of waste water.
11 Objective

The is an existing economic network in the inland waterways by means of

the National Waterway – 3 or the west coast canal spanning 168kms. This
network of waterways mainly caters to the formal and large-scale
economic activities. There is no platform however for the small-scale
informal activities in the society, which can benefit all walks of people.
The objective is to Distribute and integrate local and small-scale
economic nodes/anchors throughout the city using existing waterways.

Strategies

o The nodes will function as a confluence of functions to cater to the

economic needs of the locals in its vicinity.
o Function as focus points of multitude of economic activities such as
community markets, small-scale industries, docking yards, etc.
o Create navigable water networks linking the economic nodes for
transport of goods and commodities.
12 Objective

Providing variety of life style and

entertainment options for all people of
all walks of life.

Strategies

o Developing public functions and

spaces near new economy nodes
along water ways to integrate
seamlessly with other activities
around to encourage public
engagement.

o Reviving the culture of social

gatherings and discussions groups
by contemporizing traditional
reading rooms and youth centers
for dynamic uses and situating
them near new developing
economic nodes.

o Creating youth centric co working

spaces and recreational hotspots
like pubs, cafes, theatres, multiuse
destinations for diverse cultural
groups in new live work
neighbourhoods.
13 Objective

Induce a direction for growth and future developments with

emphasis on the identity of the city.

Strategies

Propose developmental guidelines on built environment such as

street widths, setbacks, form, building heights, and architectural
elements. The guidelines should be framed keeping in mind
adequate freedom of variety for buildings, emphasizing on overall
unity of built forms.
Visualization

Ecological interventions to mitigate natural hazards

Land Swap Method

 “The third space”

Multi functional development

Integrating green and blue networks

Interactive interface with water

People centric and dynamic public spaces

Exploring Economic potential of local economy

Neighbourhood level water interfaces

integrating local economies with existing waterways

Harnessing water as an asset, linkage and unifier