Tapping Urban Voids: Transforming Abandoned Urbanscapes to Community Hubs

Across the globe, as existing megapolises expand, cities grapple with challenges of densification leading to the creation of satellite cities. Satellite cities have sprouted as urban offshoots on greenfield sites as a response to urban sprawl & rapid urbanization. India is an example of the same. Witnessing meteoric growth across sectors in the last few decades, it continues to grow with its fast-paced development trajectory. India is expected to house the largest urban population by 2050. Today 55% of the world population resides in urban areas, which is projected to increase to 68% by 2050. This growth is thus leading to the development of complex towns and satellite cities and the challenges that accompany them. While these fast-paced cities excel at providing affluent citizens housing and commercial infrastructure, the livability quotient it provides citizens belonging to varying socio-economic groups is questionable. Gurgaon is one of the four satellite cities of New Delhi. What was once a small-scale agriculture-based settlement is now synonymous with the image of urban India with sprawling skyscrapers, malls, offices and headquarters & houses the affluent. The glitz and glam of the city have transformed the image of the city as the Millennium City of India but as one scratches the surface, it is anything but. It stands to represent the complexity that most megapolises across the globe pose today. Gurgaon sits as an elite urban island with haphazard pockets of development. This was largely a result of the public-private partnership model that wasn’t implemented successfully. Private developers and government agencies developing civic infrastructure were not in tandem leading to a lack of services & infrastructure in the city. The city has seen private development without the required civic infrastructure that would make an egalitarian & equitable space. Public spaces serve only a selected socio-economic stratum, lacking all-inclusive spaces for communities. This paper seeks to explore challenges that Gurgaon is facing, which were only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. In collaboration with Better Life Habitat, a non-profit organization that intends to improve the socio-cultural environment & infrastructure in urban India, this paper investigates urban voids in Gurgaon. The project identified explores the urban development and regeneration of barren lands of the Sector 55-56 market. The 50-acre site exists amidst a bustling residential neighborhood; with four independent open markets, outlining its peripheral arrangement. Though earmarked for green development in the Master Plan, this site has not seen development of any sort. Despite the markets serving as a vital backbone for the residents, their state is abysmal and there is a dire need for intervention. The project seeks to tap on the opportunities and strengths that this site provides - from providing connectivity between the four independent markets by activating the central zone as a communal hub, to retaining & strengthening the existing identity of the individual markets. By redesigning and reviving communal greens, the landscape of these markets would provide the opportunity to serve the larger community of residents of Gurgaon with its strong public character & multi-faceted program. Emphasis in the design process & planning is laid on user-oriented urbanism and the creation of equitable spaces ensuring socio-economic accessibility of all user groups. The design would result in the creation of a unique, one-of-a-kind urban space that would become a platform for community development. The project has been taken on with consultation with HUDA & other government authorities that would lead this initiative to become a precedent, paving the way for such developments in satellite cities across the globe.