105

The Agency of Mapping in South Asia:

Galle-Matara (Sri Lanka), Mumbai (India) and Khulna (Bangladesh)
Kelly Shannon

South Asias ad-hoc project modus

urbanisation.

The territories cities and landscapes of South

Asia are under incredible transformation due to man-

The challenges and strategic importance of real-

made and natural conditions. As countries in the

ising urban design in South Asias contemporary

region are undergoing a process of decentralisation

context of borrowed visions, abstract land-use plan-

and devolving responsibilities, spatial planning and

ning and a diminishing political will are, obviously,

urbanism are greatly affected particularly in terms

innumerable. How to qualitatively intervene as an

of infrastructure provision, environmentally-respon-

urbanist in such a context? How to make a differ-

sive growth and transformation, synchronisation

ence in the sea of commercial mediocrity, on the

between government agencies, community partici-

one hand, and in the cancerous-like spreading infor-

pation and institutional strengthening. Cities and

mal landscapes of poverty, on the other hand? How

their hinterlands are simultaneously reaping the

to intervene in highly contestatory sites to simulta-

benefits and pitfalls of the regions near-universal

neously create new opportunities for development

endorsement of the neo-liberal urban develop-

while qualitatively responding to the specificity of

ment paradigm. Urban and rural cultures alike are

local contexts as opposed to generic city devel-

overlaid with new spatial logics of global tenden-

opment? How to structure fragments of the urban

cies. There is enormous pressure from deregulated

fabric strategically in order that they have meaning-

real estate speculation threatening the heritage

ful leverage effects?

of ancient urban fabrics as well as of neighbouring

fragile landscape ecologies, which is compounded

Interpretative mapping

by the fact that cash-strapped governments are

There are no easy answers and/or recipes to these

retreating from the public realm. Globalisation is also

questions, but it will be argued an understand-

spatially leaving its imprint as cities and landscapes

ing of contexts, based on fieldwork, can allow for

are progressively being built by an ever-more frag-

the feasible projection urban visions and strategic

mented, piecemeal and ad-hoc project modus

urban design projects that can make more evident

funded by established and newfound fortunes of

particular sites inherent qualities and creatively

national and international developers and lenders,

marry ecological, infrastructural, and urbanisation

development aid projects and (often corrupt)

issues by solutions that cut across multiple scales

governments. At the same time, natural disasters

and sectoral divisions.

are increasing in severity and frequency arguably

due to climate change and the flagrant disregard

Indeed, it can be argued that interpretative

of the environment in the relentless dive to impose

mapping is a first step to transform a territory. An

imported terms of reference for modernisation and

understanding of the context and the reading of sites

02

Mapping Urban Complexity in an Asian Context: Spring 2008, pp. 105-119

106

from diachronic and synchronic perspectives are

the territory. In the 1990s, descriptive urbanism

necessary in order to create modifications that have

surfaced a spectrum of new modalities of drawing

logic and relate to the particularities of places and

and mapping, coupled with informed descriptions

situations. It opens up contemporary possibilities for

that have revealed patterns hitherto invisible in the

developing an urbanism that evokes an intelligence

shape of contemporary urbanism. At the same time,

of place encompassing geographical/topographi-

a danger continues to loom, for as urbanist Bernardo

cal and climatic realities, tangible and intangible

Secchi warns description seems, today, to have

heritages, the messiness of everyday urbanity and

become the principle form for the organisation

possible futures.

of the discourse, through which the city planner

seeks and controls the coherence of his positions

In the past decades there has been a search for

[yet what is] problematic in this tendency is, in

new tools to describe, understand and interpret the

fact, the frequent dissolving of city planning activity

processes conditioning emerging urban landscapes.

into a sterile desciptivism, which bypasses the new

In a seminal text, Present and Future of Cities,

without revealing it.2

Ignasi de Sol-Morales categorised five platforms

to see, understand, problematise and judge complex

Nonetheless, heeding this caveat, descrip-

networks of interaction: 1) mutations: sudden proc-

tive urbanism can be operative as an evolution

esses of mutation in existing and newly emerging

from mere urban history towards urban analysis

urban contexts are difficult to comprehend within

through the careful and critical reading of layered

urbanism history; 2) flows: the juxtaposition of a

and contested territories towards designerly inves-

multiplicity of flows, resulting from the accumulated

tigations of potentials. Interpretative mapping allows

interconnections of meshes requires new archi-

for multiple perspectives and methods of looking at

tectural responses; 3) habitations: the continuing

history, contemporary reality and data. The interplay

relevance of alternative procedures to the conven-

between paradigms, discourses be they political,

tional approaches to mass housing, often evident

scientific or populist forces, circumstances and

in developing countries vis--vis the rationalisation

hazards has resulted in contemporary cities and

of do-it-yourself construction, self-help, soft tech-

landscapes that are neither smooth nor understand-

nologies, light planning, etc.; 4) containers: the

able from a single perspective. The implicit and

proliferation of places, not always public, nor exactly

explicit translation of discourses to physical form is

private, in which are produced the exchange, the

further modified by continuous practices of every-

expense, the distribution of gifts that constitute the

day life.

multiple consumption of our highly ritualised societies (museums, stadiums, shopping malls, theme

The notion of descriptive (landscape) urbanism

parks, etc.); 5) terrain vague: the need to conserve,

can be used as a method and a critical discourse

manage and recycle the residual spaces of the city

for urban analysis. The critical assessment and

as spaces of vacancy and absence, as a critical

construction of mappings, overlays, narratives

safeguard against a banal, productive present.1

and urban biographies convey social realities on

the ground. And since the paradigmatic and the

De Sol-Morales was one of many to introduce

descriptive can never be fully disassociated from

a new vocabulary to name the contemporary proc-

one another, the urban analysis demands a back-

esses of urbanisation. A base problem, however,

and-forth method oscillating between the two

remained the difficulty in visually representing

involving different scholarly and creative skills:

the phenomenon and structurally intervening in

scientific researcher, participating observer, stirring

107

narrator.

and ideologies. The resilience and potency of the

cities multi-layered narratives questions the popular

Urban analysis from above includes the layered

assertion of a linear development path from tradi-

mapping of a city/territory. It embraces historical

tion to modern or from local to global whereby a

and contemporary mapping. The historical evolution

next phase replaces a previous one.

of a place can reveal its inherent logics. The view

from above included the reading of ecosystems,

Moreover, the mapping and critical evaluation

watersheds and geographical/topographical forma-

of master-plans and projects-in-the-pipeline is

tions, etc. which are critical to a comprehensive

essential in order to understand and moderate the

analysis of the larger territorial setting. It makes use

visions of policy making and realities of developers

of all available information produced by all avail-

or donors. Access to information is sometimes prob-

able techniques (from primitive mapping to GIS).

lematic and handicapped by confusions between

It requires the cross-reading and interpretation of

realities, maps and plans. Maps, as graphical

raw data of different nature and a difficult process

representations of reality are mostly purposeful

of editing to make the underlying logics of the terri-

(even if unspoken as such) in some cases even

tory legible. Drawing is a tool to select, compare,

serving as straightforward police and military tools.

combine, analyse and describe tendencies and the

Meanwhile, the plan an idealised state of an imag-

latent capacities of the landscape and its relation to

ined future reality is the operative mechanism for

urbanisation.

urban development. Unspoken purposes or unrealisable dreams are projected upon the territory in a

Analysis from above needs to be complemented

fashion that often has little to do with the existing

by analysis from below where an understanding

typo/morphology and landscape.

of the territory or the landscape and its everyday

use can be mapped from a haptic and experienced

Mapping is inevitably subjective and the manner

sense. Urban analysis from below is premised

in which one plans, frames, scales, gathers,

on fieldwork. Fieldwork is an essential component

reworks and assembles documentation is a highly

of the urban analysis to augment the understand-

mimetic and thus creative act. Far beyond mere

ing of places from above. Although quantitative,

description and a mirror to reality, maps are narra-

descriptive and consensus data abounds in many

tives in the form of drawings, collages, diagrams

of todays urban contexts, it tends to be either very

that reduce to an essence and reveal hidden poten-

general or edited to reflect decision makers policies

tials and disclose conditions for the emergence of

and emphasis. Due to the general unavailability of

new realities. Diagrams as projects in the making

precise information, fieldwork takes on heightened

unfold and uncover potentials through their inevi-

significance; it serves as both ground-truthing and

table abstraction, selection and omission of facts.

as a base for the discovery of unspoken/unwritten

Speculative techniques of mapping are operative in

realities. Fieldwork can also be understood as a sort

the sense that they reformulate the reading of the

of critical realism (critical in the process of selec-

existing territories and set the stage for the inaugu-

tion and what to map). A critical reading of urban

ration of new worlds. The combination of multiple

fabrics and morphologies and patterns of function-

views and scales by innovative representational

ing (inhabitation, mobility, production, etc.) can be

techniques results in new associations between

made in both a diachronic and synchronic sense.

disparate facts of urbanisation over time. However,

Layered narratives can reveal cities urban histo-

mapping is never fantasy. It never looses its realistic

ries as complex spatial translations of different eras

content. Its capacity to grasp real observable data,

108

Fig. 1: Geological Map of the Island of Bombay, 1864. Image courtesy of the author.

109

issues and tendencies and its interpretative force

countryside. The British introduced a host of new

offers a reasonable/reliable check of truthfulness.

crops in Sri Lanka tea, rubber and spice which

Its performance in interpreting and grasping observ-

worked with the topography and soil types. Large

able data, issues and tendencies offers a reliable

plantations developed and a rural/urban hierarchy

monitoring of truthfulness.

became firmly established; settlements are nestled

in the protective cover of dense vegetation. In the

Mapping South-Asian cities and landscapes

Indian case, Bombay (coming from the Portuguese

Throughout history, South Asian cities and land-

good bay)4 was originally an archipelago of seven

scapes have been travelled to, mapped, chronicled

islands inhabited by fishermen. As the British East

and described. The biographies of the territories

India Company established the regions foothold of

remain dependent upon who was mapping and

economic importance, the east coast of the islands

narrating and for what purpose. The cases investi-

became the companys first port in the subcontinent

gated here the southwest (Galle-Matara) coast of

and eventually the capital city for the colonising

Sri Lanka, Mumbai (pop. 13 million), the economic

company Bombay became an important centre of

engine of India, and Khulna (pop. 2.3 million), the

international commerce, industry and culture. The

third largest city in Bangladesh, were significantly

harbour was strengthened, the shipyard modernised

transformed into sites of geo-political and economic

and the city fortified. Low-lying marsh lands were

importance during the colonial era first by the

filled and by the early 19th century, the islands were

Portuguese and British. All were territories where

agglomerated into what is now known as Salsette

extreme world-view narratives and ideologies (polit-

Island. Reclamation of the eastern seaboard contin-

ical-economic models) were tested, spatialised and

ued into the early 20th century as the port expanded.

materialised. Cities and landscapes were carefully

The citys industrial legacy was rooted in the

charted and maps of the period highlighted the stra-

Eastern Docklands, its textile mills, primarily located

tegic, infrastructural and instrumental implications

in Girangaon (in the centre of the Island City) and

of the landscape in relation to control and exploita-

the various railway lines connecting the two. Under-

tion of the territory. [fig. 1] Not only were landscapes

standing the historical transformation from seven

radically altered, but also colonial space was viewed

islands to an archipelago proved important in terms

as a laboratory, champs dexprience (experimental

of projecting a restored wetland ecology, new social

terrains).3 Cities and landscapes were developed

spaces along the infrastructure axes and connec-

with distinct political and administrative precincts,

tions between the defunct mill sites and the eastern

industrial areas, housing quarters and commercial

docklands. In Khulna, the city rose from a hamlet

districts. Colonial planning in South Asia is also

to a thriving river port and administrative city due to

widely recognised for its brutal containment strate-

its relation to the nearby Sundarbans (the worlds

gies of racial segregation. Meanwhile, parallel cities

largest mangrove forest) and important train link to

of survival and self-organisation developed along

Calcutta. Colonial maps of Khulna are related to the

side the uneasy heritage of colonial urbanism.

train connection thereby underlining the citys role

as a productive hinterland for the empire.

In Sri Lanka, the majority of the population lived

in the drier inland locations and the coast was only

Beyond historical mapping of the layered narra-

inhabited by small Muslim trading communities. It

tives of landscape and cities which reveals the

was only during European colonisation that coastal

extent to which urban planning and city building

habitation was aggressively pursued linking

is inextricably tied to historical paradigms the

trade routes to pure exploitation of the productive

research gaze of a foreign architect/urbanist is able

110

Fig. 2: Greater Metropolitan Mumbai - Landscape, Infrastructure, Urbanisation. Image courtesy of the author.

111

to reveal the perceived, often contested, layered

act as sponges or natural drainage systems. Along

realities of the city and its larger territory. Mapping

the southwest coast, four sponges were identi-

contested territories industrial roles, ecologi-

fied: the sub-regional watersheds of the Gin Basin

cal constraints and urban challenges

reveals

of Galle, the Koggala Lake (lagoon) ecosystem,

a tension between old and new ideologies and

the Polawatta Basin of Weligama and the national

realities, as well as between local, national and

watershed of the Nilwala Basin of Matara. There are

global agendas. The urbanists gaze and descrip-

also limited and threatened areas of mangroves,

tive map-making can be instrumental in clarifying

wetlands, marshes, saltpans and mudflats.

the territories essence, revealing hidden potential

and disclosing conditions for the emergence of new

Traditionally, waterways were the primary organ-

realities. Working between multiple scales allowed

isers of the territory not only spatially, but also

for the discovery of potential sites for intervention

with regards to economics (paddy cultivation and

and where the social needs of the inhabitants could

fishing). Unfortunately, the network of rivers have

be negotiated within the present process of unbal-

become underestimated, relegated as backsides

anced development.

and left to piecemeal development, as road-based

urbanism prevails. On the whole, rivers have lost the

Territorial structuring

spatial status that they held during the colonial eras

Understanding the shifting relationships (smooth

when they were an active part of civic life and struc-

and conflictual) between landscape, infrastructure

tured urbanisation. Yet, the distinct eco-systems of

and urbanisation became a base for descriptive

waterscapes provide places with identity, particular

(landscape) urbanism in the three contexts. The link

economic and socio-cultural activities and, if prop-

of various qualities and opportunities of the terri-

erly exploited, an affordable and ecological means

tory to their typo-morphological settlements were

of water-based transportation. In addition to rivers,

mapped in order to gain insights into the logics of

the southwest coast is also marked by an exploita-

development.

tion of its coast for tourism where if the beaches

are not the most spectacular, they are certainly the

In Sri Lanka, the territory was read as a series of

safest, as those in the east and north are out-of-

fields (mostly productive) that are backdrops for a

bounds for most tourists due to the on-going and

series of lines (infrastructural links) and points (urban

escalating ethnic tensions of civil war. At the same

areas, temples, schools, etc.). Along the coast are

time, waterways remain a threat from flooding

patches of higher ground, typically planted with

and more catastrophic events such as tsunami

coconuts and giving shade to settlements. Within 5

evidenced in 2004.

km of the coast, there are productive midlands which

are characterised by a dispersed and fine-grained,

The challenge in balancing post-tsunami human-

extensive network of tertiary roads. Towards the

itarian relief and reconstruction with long-term

highlands, settlements are sparsely settled, with

sustainable development is compounded by the

minimal infrastructure and accessibility, amongst

concurrent construction of the highly contentious

tea and rubber plantations.

80m wide, 128km long Southern Expressway (linking

Kottawa in the outskirts of the capital, Colombo, to

The existing low-land paddy structure follows

Matara in the south). Prior to both the expressway

the invisible geo-morphological layers of fault lines.

project and the December 26 tsunami, the countrys

The paddy, together with a system of rivers, lakes

Southern coast was a relatively quiet region, with

and lagoons form watershed catchment basins and

a string of secondary and tertiary towns clustered

112

along the coast and strongly connected to a double

occupied by the mountainous Borivali National Park

infrastructure bundle of rail and road the single-

(with its important lake system). The urban area is

track rail line that ends in Matara and the parallel

condensed into 350 square kilometres supporting a

2-lane Galle Road (connecting Colombo to Matara).

high gross residential density of about 34,000 resi-

This infrastructure generated a nearly continuous

dents per square kilometre. Public open space is

strip of development often only one building deep

limited, accounting for only 1% of this area. Indeed,

between larger settlements; coherent sea front

space of any kind is only acquired at a premium.

development was impossible. At the same time,

The islands landscape is threatened by the proc-

the region was marked by a rich mixture of dichoto-

esses of urbanisation as the dense green structure

mies such as global/local, large/small, urban/rural

of the park is encroached by informal settlements

where coastal cities, fishermen settlements and

and the water network (including wetlands) is indis-

tourism were spatially woven into a hybrid mosaic

criminately filled and/or polluted with solid waste.

along the coast and structured by the congested

In terms of infrastructure, the railway and roads

and continuously animated infrastructure lines.

compose a strong north-south connection, which

Smaller inland settlements, whose inhabitants were

nonetheless remains insufficient to support the 6.5

primarily engaged in agricultural-based activities,

million commuters who move in and out of Mumbai

were dependent upon the coastal cities for social

daily. At the same time, potential water transport

services. The introduction of a new territorial scale

is undermined as government proposals favour

by the expressway, coupled with reconstruction

massive road building. The urbanisation is dense

following in the wake of massive infrastructure and

and covers most of the Island. A dispersed, yet

settlement erasure, has tremendous implications for

growing, territory of informal housing clusters along

urbanisation and the future of the landscape. There

infrastructure lines and tends to occupy land that is

is an obvious close link in positive and problematic

environmentally fragile.

terms between the expressway and post-tsunami

redevelopment of the coast. Not only will the shift-

At the scale of the Island City, the ecological

ing infrastructure hierarchies and new development

structure is basically non-existent due to extensive

significantly challenge the present-day livelihood

land reclamation. Landscape is perceived as small,

and urbanisation trends of the region, but it will also

dispersed pockets of man-made parks in addition

alter the functioning, ecology and imagery of the

to a number of urban beaches. The south-western

landscape. How to integrate the new infrastructures

tip is marked by the famous Malabar Hill offering

and development most appropriately remains a crit-

spectacular views to its wealthy inhabitants. As a

ical question.

result of the de-industrialisation process, the railway

infrastructure is oversized for its primarily passen-

In Mumbai, the relation between landscape,

ger use. The north-south connection overshadows

infrastructure and urbanisation was mapped at

a weak east-west road link, mostly composed by an

three scales. The metropolitan-scale landscape is

articulated eclectic overlap of different urban tissues.

formed by mountains, plains, marshlands and water

The post-industrialisation process has created a

structures. The natural topography, to a large extent,

series of vacant spaces along the rail lands, the mill

dictates the course of infrastructure (roads and

lands (private, National Textile Corporation [NTC],

railways) and urbanisation has tended to linearly

including the related residential blocks for the

develop and spread along these lines in the valleys

workers chawls) and the eastern docklands. Most

[fig. 2]. Mumbai covers 438 square kilometres of

of these sites are concentrated in the core of the

Salsette Island, although almost a fifth of this area is

city and form a system of potential sites for further

113

development.

dependant group of children and few adults, putting

high demands on the professionally active people.

In Khulna, mapping the transformation of the

Spatially, the dense core of the city remains bundled

territory over its history reveals the shifting relations

along a stretch of 15km between the Rupsa/Bhairab

of urbanity to landscape and infrastructure. The

River and the parallel Jessore Road; however, with

spatial growth of the city is explained by its topog-

development of the Bypass Road to the west, both

raphy; it developed as a linear city. In pre-colonial

planned and speculative urbanisation has begun.

times, the settlements occurred on the natural levee

The university campus promises to be a new core

(2-4.2m above sea level) of west-side of the Rupsa

area and all the plots adjacent to the highway has

and Bhairab riverbeds. During the British colonial

been sold. At the same time, the water-based

era, Khulna grew due to its role as a river trading

urbanism of the city is falling into disrepair and

port city with administrative headquarters and

the massive industrial platforms, structures and

market centre. The Jessore Road was an important

infrastructural networks are abandoned. The State

transport link to the north and the corridor urbanised

remains the owner of a vast amount of property

over time. In 1885, the road was paralleled by an

significant holdings are in the under-utilised rail

important railway link with Calcutta (which has only

yards. The city, nonetheless, remains a centre for a

recently been restored). Originally Khulna oper-

largely productive hinterland.

ated as a collection point for hinterland agricultural

production (primarily jute, rice, tobacco, sugar cane

Urban/rural tissues

and more recently shrimp) and natural resources

The major structuring elements of the cities and

(primarily fish and wood). It was established as a

landscapes are relatively easy to identify whereas

significant industrial base specialising in jute mills

understanding the major built volume of all terri-

with raw materials supplied from the nearby Sundar-

tories, the urban fabric the often uncelebrated

bans. The large and prosperous mills were linked to

(predominantly residential) infill is more complex.

the riverfront and serviced by an extensive railway

However, it can be argued that the anonymous

network. After the Partition of India in 1947, the jute

fabric is at least as significant in defining the char-

mills flourished under East Pakistani management

acter and culture of any given territory as are the

and housing colonies, schools and social/cultural

larger structures. To further understand the territo-

amenities augmented the progressive mill layouts.

ries of Galle-Matara, Mumbai and Khulna, a 1969

Once Bangladesh gained independence in 1971,

method of fabric analysis by Caminos, Turner and

the mills became state enterprises and slid into a

Steffian of Massachusetts Institute of Technology5

vicious cycle of under-investment, an inability to

was revisited. The systematic representation of

properly compensate workers, dwindling orders

400x400m sample tissues revealed the correlation

from the world market (as plastic gained in popu-

between various settlements, their geographic and

larity) and strikes. Mill after mill began closing their

cultural contexts. The making of the squares often

doors. The city lost its economic driver.

literally included the putting on the map elements

un-recognised, not officially mapped and docu-

Meanwhile, new infrastructures and programs

mented. The compilation of an urban tissue atlas of

have located in Khulna. Its urbanised area is rapidly

sorts facilitates comparative analysis and remains a

growing due to a rural-urban immigration, with

useful testament to the variety and richness of settle-

a large proportion of the population occupied in

ment morphologies. Admittedly, the danger of such

informal market activities. The demographic compo-

analysis lies in the ease with which it can become

sition of the population is out of balance with a large

highly mechanistic. However, if well-balanced, it can

114

reveal the inner-workings and provide a materiality

in Mumbai. The fabric analysis confirmed that

to cities and their neighbourhoods.

the city is defined by multiple conflicts, dualities,

juxtapositions and tensions. It is a city of enclaves

In Sri Lanka, sample tissues were mapped and

of extreme richness and unimaginable, heart-

revealed the inherent structuring logics of the rhizo-

wrenching poverty; a city of mushrooming growth

matic territory. At first, the territory appears as a bit

of high-rises towering over super-dense carpets

of everything nearly everywhere. However, upon

of slums; a city of multiple uses of parasitic

closer readings, the nuanced logics of urbanisation

and productive territories. The neighbourhoods

could be distilled. The simultaneity of concentration

researched include: Ganesh Lane (A), Phoenix Mill

and dispersal was explained by understanding the

(B), hospital area (C), Mahalaxmi Circle (D), BDD

micro-systems and hybrid economies of the region.

chawls (E), Dadar West (F), Fort area (G), Vihar

There proved to be a complementarity of large mono-

Lake & N.I.T.I.E. (National Institute for Training in

functional areas (primarily industry or agricultural

Industrial Engineering) (H), Bandra East (I). The

patches) and small fragments. It was also observed

inverse figure ground reveals a large variety of foot-

that new concentrations particularly post-tsunami

prints (from XS to XL) but all, nonetheless, with high

aid projects are creating new concentrations and

ground coverage [fig. 3]. There are two exceptions

thereby destroying the traditional fabric a second

to this. The first is Dadar West (F), the first planned

time over.

suburban area of the city where strict building

regulations were applied and where proper sani-

The series of figure/ground drawings (sampling

tation and open space ratios were an integral part

areas from dense urbanity to tiny hamlets) proved

of the development. A second exception is Vihar

that the predominant footprint is that of a single

Lake & N.I.T.I.E. (National Institute for Training in

family house and that the density ranges from 0.3

Industrial Engineering) (H) which should be even

households/ha to 15 households/ha. There is an

more open. The tissue is within the Borivali National

obvious close link between topography, produc-

Park and Vihar Lake is the citys largest fresh water

tive land and vegetation: in the rural areas, paddy

body (essential for the citys drinking water and as a

accounts for 30-50% of the land, 10-30% for tea

catchment basin for seasonal rains). N.I.T.I.E legally

cultivation and 25-30% for uncultivated land/

occupies space in the landscape, however the other

mixed vegetation; the peri-urban settlements have

settlement are informal and illegal encroachments

gardens with mixed vegetation and coastal settle-

which pollute the environment. Clusters of informal

ments have mere coconut plantations and limited

settlements are also evident in Bandra East (I)

gardens. Topography also influences infrastructure

otherwise an area formerly known as Queen of the

and programming: roads in the countryside follow

Suburbs (linked to the Western Railway) and with a

topography as do the settlements always on slightly

large catholic population. The BDD (Bombay District

elevated land; coastal settlements are strung

Development) housing area (E) also has a particu-

along the linear bundle of railroad and Galle Road.

lar figure ground whereas the project includes the

Awareness of the regions local logics particularly

grid of 35 prototypical 4-story one-room tenement

understanding the tendency for ribbon development

blocks. These so-called chawls were developed by

and dispersed urbanisation of the hinterland was

the British as workers housing. The land-use map

fundamental in creating feasible visions for structur-

shows the mixed-use nature of Mumbais urban

ing a potential future.

tissues. Exceptionally, the Fort area (G) has little

diversity; in fact the area is devoid of formal housing

Nine representative fabrics were investigated

whereas it continues to serve as the citys main

115

Fig. 3: Fabric analysis in Mumbai. Image courtesy of the author.

116

commercial, office and government facilities area:

class housing colonies of 3-5 floors (Nirala) by the

it boasts wide sidewalks and ample maidans (public

Khulna Development Authority. Surrounding the

green spaces). Ganesh Road (A) is in the heart of

new development is Bagmara, an informal housing

Girangaon and its traditional shop-house tissue is

area of semi-permanent or temporary housing struc-

transforming with the addition of office buildings

tures with predominately rural typologies. Clusters

growing due to the closure of mill lands. The

of small grain housing are incrementally developed

Phoenix Mills (B) fabric typifies the development

and nestled amongst dense vegetation and small

practices underway in the city whereby mills are

water bodies. Finally, a tissue of the colonial fabric

transformed to malls and flyovers divide old dilapi-

was analysed. It represents the oldest planned

dated tissues (and classes) from renovated ones.

residential area of the city and is typical of a British

Finally, the vegetation map [fig.4] is consistent with

garden city colonial settlement. Today, the area

the other mappings. The hospital area (C) has a

is clearly a high-class neighbourhood; the streets

series of unexpected and well-maintained parks

are wide, tree-lined, in good condition, unoccupied

and gardens, scattered between the various hospi-

by hawkers, have proper drainage (some of them

tal and medical buildings and Mahalaxmi Circle (D)

even footpaths) and there are no retail shops at the

has various public green spaces including the

roadside. The result is that they are used only for

circle itself which hosts a public garden and a public

through-traffic and rather empty in comparison with

sewage plant.

other streets in Khulna. In some parts of the area

(mainly along the river side, with personal ghats),

In Khulna, five extremely contrasting fabrics

high-class officers reside (judges, district commis-

were mapped. Bara Bazar the original area of

sioners, etc.), but most of the buildings are used for

settlement in Khulna is the super-dense, primarily

administrative and governmental functions (court,

wholesale and storage area sandwiched between

jail, Sundarbans Forest info-centre, etc.). Additional

the main vehicular road (Jessore Road) and the

analysis was completed which made more visible

Rupsa and Bhairab River. Narrow streets are

the invisible structuring logic of different settlement

appropriated by street vendors and the relation to

patterns. For instance, a highland/lowland compari-

the river is purely pragmatic a backside for loading

son between the tissue of Rupsa and Nirala confirms

goods. The Rupsa slum, located in a low-land, is

that the low economic classes are often left to the

similar in terms of ground cover, but not nearly as

most vulnerable and fragile ecologies. Land-filling

dense consisting of low-rise katcha (temporary

is an expensive undertaking and larger-footprint,

structures) and timber industries perpendicular

formal housing develops, while the marshy, unhy-

to the river; the sample fabric also hosts a gated

gienic lowlands become illegally appropriated by

housing community for Christians. Khalishpur, in

the poor. Also, real and perceived, explicit and

the citys former economic heart, along the river,

implicit boundaries of Rupsa and Colonial sample

hosts a number of jute mills on government property

tissues revealed that the visual and physical frag-

(the analysed area includes one of the few working

mentation of the fabric by gates, fences and walls

mills Crescent Jute Mill). There is informal appro-

is complemented by unseen divisions of religion,

priation by slum dwellers on the non-gated areas of

social groups, etc.

the neighbourhood. In Nirala/Bagmara there is an

apparent spatial collision of very different grains and

The agency of mapping in South Asia

tissues. The southern fringe of the city was once

South Asian cities are struggling to transform

low-lands and marshes; in the 1990s, part of the

qualitatively. They are embroiled in the process

area has been reclaimed for planned, upper-middle

of redefining their place in the worlds mental and

117

Fig. 4: Vegetation maps of nine areas in Mumbai. Image courtesy of the author.

118

physical landscapes. At the same time, urban devel-

in its orientation towards the liberal private market

opment, at the regional and city-scale can no longer

has seemingly forgotten to provide public services

be controlled by the classical tools of the master

to the majority of its inhabitants. Design is able to

plan, land use plan and building plan in the tradi-

overcome antitheses that are insolvable in non-

tional sequence. As plans and zoning regulations

spatial terms (political claims, social programmes,

are carefully designed, reality in the field follows its

etc.) (Design) research has an advantage in that

own logics. Changes in politics and economics have

it not necessarily solves problems, but can ques-

led to South Asian cities entry to globalisation.

tion and reformulate problems, form insights and

suggest possible outcomes. The staging of spatial

How to intervene as an urbanist in such contexts?

scenarios differs from that of making forecasts and

The contemporary project mode of city building has

the precise testing of desirable situations for which

not only been embraced by planning and design

certainties are required. Design as a tool for nego-

disciplines, but also by real-estate developers, city

tiation, whereby specific solutions for strategic sites

marketers and neo-despotic decision makers. The

are investigated, has the luxury of being both very

urbanist/planner has the job to re-think, re-visit

concrete and yet open for alternatives and modifica-

and re-learn means for intervention. Interpretative

tions.

mapping is the first step to transform a territory.

The agency of mapping is the initiation of design

Finally, there are two other emerging trends in

research. As Corner writes,

mapping methods that can expand the agency of

urbanists. First is the mapping/projection of actors

Mapping is a fantastic cultural project, creating

and stakeholders. In light of a global retreat of the

and building the world as much as measuring and

State, new stakeholder coalitions are required not

describing it. Analytical research through mapping

only for modernisation and development, but also for

enables the designer to construct an argument, to

safeguarding the interests of the (partially margin-

embed it within the dominant practices of a rational

alised sectors) of the population and for protecting

culture, and ultimately to turn those practices

the environment. Ultimately, a civic society requires

towards more productive and collective ends. In this

some-sort-of balance between private and collective

sense, mapping is not the indiscriminate, blinkered

interests, between representative and participatory

accumulation and endless array of data, but rather

democracy. An example of such mapping/ projection

an extremely shrewd and tactical enterprise, a prac-

was made for Mumbai which reveals how to crea-

tice of relational reasoning that intelligently unfolds

tively engage, for a project on mill and port sites,

new realities out of existing constraints, quantities,

a wide array of actors. A series of new coalitions

facts and conditions.6

were considered, while at the same time recognising that the private sector is the dominant actor in

The agency of mapping is the beginning of design

Mumbais real estate. The proposal works with the

research; it aims towards the provisional synthesis

notion of public-private partnerships, the leasing of

of several factors and at multiple scales. Following

state land to developers and the selling of key sites

an understanding of South Asias interdependen-

to create necessary capital for public infrastructure

cies of landscape, infrastructure and urbanism, it

(re)development. Second, is the development of new

is possible to project new relationships. Through

GIS-data-based visualisation tool for the interactive

a dynamic interplay of urban visions and strategic

exploration of three-dimensional landscapes. The

projects designs can then make realistic, yet radical,

development of Lenn3D was funded by German

amendments to the regions project mode, which

Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) from

119

2002-2005. The prototype software creates digital

Urban Dwelling Environments: An Elementary Survey

visualisation of vegetation and plant life and allows

of Settlements for the Study of Design Determinants

for the automatic generation of plant distribution

(Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1969).

maps. The Khulna design studio, to be completed

6. James Corner, The Agency of Mapping: Speculation,

in Spring 2008, will work (through students of the

Critique and Invention, in Mappings, edited by Denis

University of Wageningen) with the enhanced

Cosgrove (London: Reaktion Books, 1999), pp.211-

computer tools and extend the plant database to

252.

species indigenous to Bangladesh. The descriptive

(landscape) urbanism analysis/design will add a

Biography

progressive new tool to its investigations.

Kelly Shannon is an associate professor at KU Leuven,

Belgium. Her teaching and research is situated at the

Notes

crossroads of urban/landscape analysis and design and

1. Ignasi de Sol-Morales, Present and Futures. Architec-

with a particular focus on South and Southeast Asia. (kelly.

ture in Cities, in Present and Futures. Architecture in

Cities (UIA Conference Catalogue) (Barcelona: Collegi
dArquitectes de Catalunya and Centre de Cultura
Contemporania de Barcloan, Actar, 1996), pp. 10-23.
2. Bernardo Secchi, Descriptive City Planning, Casabella, 588 (March 1992), pp. 22-23 (English text pp.
61-62).
3. Gwendolyn Wright, The Politics of Design in French
Colonial Urbanism (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1991).
4. In an attempt to overcome its colonial era, the government decided to change the citys name in 1997. The
official name of the city is now Mumbai, named after a
local deity.
5. Urban Dwelling Environments, published in 1969 by MIT
Press aimed 1) to dramatise the correlation between
settlements and the geographic and cultural context ...
2) to illustrate various levels and aspects of the physical
environment 3) to compare and contract different products and their relationship to effective demands 4) to
find a framework for a more comprehensive approach
to settlement development and design [v]. The authors
sought to better understand the relationship between
people and their dwelling places in the context of rapid
social change. And for them, analyses are no more
than catalysts for leading questions about the relationships between socioeconomic contexts, housing
demands and environmental products and no more
than raw material for the formulation of hypotheses [vi].
See: Horacio Caminos, John Turner and John Steffian,

shannon@asro.kuleuven.be)