Abstract
Pressure
for development on preferred locations in the Himalayan regions has
increased during the last few decades due to urbanisation, population
increase, and high influx of tourists. These preferred locations are
converted into hill towns, making them preferred tourist destinations
and the main economic activity generators of the hill regions of India.
As a consequence of these factors, during the last three decades
development activities have tremendously increased in these seismically
vulnerable and environmentally sensitive hill towns. This unprecedented
development has resulted in deterioration of living conditions, and
environmental and visual quality in hill towns. Building regulations are
enforced in hill towns to control/regulate the ever-increasing demand
for development in hill towns but, as evident from the existing
conditions, hill towns are experiencing numerous problems and concerns
due to inappropriate and non contextual urban development buildings,
thus highlighting inappropriateness of existing building regulations in
the context of hill towns.
This paper discusses
existing development scenario and issues to accommodate future
development in hill towns located in Indian Himalayan region, also
highlights the state of existing building regulations through an
in-depth study of building regulations in major hill towns, and briefly
discuses possible approaches to change existing building regulations for
achieving contextually appropriate development.
Keywords
- Building regulations;
- Hill towns;
- Urban development;
- Residential buildings
Overview of development in Himalayan hill towns
Any
area having an altitude of more than 600 m from the mean sea level or
an average slope of 30° may be classified as hilly in India [1],
which includes the Himalayas, the Central Highlands, the Deccan Plateau
and the north eastern hill ranges. Depending upon the altitude and
prevailing climatic conditions, hill regions have been classified into
three categories as Foot-hill regions (below 1200 m), Mid-Hill regions
(1200–3500 m) and High-hill regions (above 3500) [2].
These different hill regions have varied geo-environmental conditions
and resources available for development. Hill regions are the most
difficult, yet most interesting and challenging terrains, to carry out
any development work as development in Hilly regions is constrained by
difficult terrains, steep gradients, complex geological structure,
climatic conditions and rich flora.
Most
of the hill towns/stations like Shimla, Nainital, Dalhousie, Mussoorie
etc. are situated in the mid hill regions. These hill towns have been
experiencing great pressure for development (due to high population
growth, large tourist influx and better living conditions) from the last
three decades, which has changed the environment and visual appearance
of hill towns. Hill towns have grown many times more than their design
and carrying capacity and are under a lot of pressure for providing
residential, educational, health, work and recreational facilities,
which is further pronounced due to scarcity of buildable land, as well
as high land prices. For example, Shimla is designed for a highest
population of 25,000 on a pedestrian scale, but the present population
of the Shimla town is around 169,758. As a consequence of this, the lush
green slopes of hill towns are converted into barren concrete jungles
coupled with problems like congestion, overcrowding, pollution, traffic
jams, inaccessibility, landslides, forest reduction and slope failure,
which resulted in environmental degradation and ecological disturbance [3] (Fig. 1).
- Fig. 1.Development in Shimla, the largest ridge hill town of north India.
Issues of development in Himalayan hill towns
The various issues/ problems faced by hill towns due to high urbanisation and rapid development are as follows:
- 1.
- Heavy pressure on the housing and existing infrastructural facilities is exerted due to high population increase due to migration from the surrounding regions as well as a high influx of tourists which leads to construction of more multi-storeyed buildings in hill towns for residential, office, and commercial purposes (Fig. 2).
- Fig. 2.Multi-storeyed buildings in hill stations in contrast to traditional development.
- 2.
- Hills stations are mostly located in ecologically sensitive zones. The ecological balance of towns is affected due to high density development having multi storeyed buildings and lower carrying capacities of hill towns. Also, degradation of natural topography, vegetation and disturbance of natural drainage pattern due to massive construction has resulted in environmental degradation in the hill towns [4] (Fig. 3).
- Fig. 3.Conversion of green slopes into multi-storeyed densely constructed buildings.
- 3.
- Hill stations are presently facing problems of congestion, water scarcity, landslides, pollution of lakes and streams, and destruction of scenic beauty and visual blight, which are the outcomes of rapid urbanisation in and around hill towns [5].
- 4.
- In the present context, most of the hill settlements are facing issues/problems related to high development on steep and shaded slopes, insufficient traffic movement, inadequate source of water supply, and disturbances in natural drainage, which are crucial for development in hill towns [6].
- 5.
- Hill towns are susceptible to different types of natural hazards like landslides, earthquakes, floods, cloudburst, fire etc (Fig. 4). Most of the buildings are constructed or being constructed without adhering to safety provisions against natural hazards and are susceptible to heavy damage during the event of any natural calamity [7].
- Fig. 4.Instances of landslides in hill stations.
- 6.
- Hill towns have become concrete jungles characterised by depleting forest/greenery, un-checked construction, barren hills covered with buildings, narrow and accident prone roads, and encroachments on roads and public areas [8] (Fig. 5).
- Fig. 5.Existing development without respecting natural characteristics of hill towns.
- 7.
- Construction/development activity on high and unstable slopes, more than 35° and up to 60°, having a high percentage of ground coverage with no tree/greenery amidst congested localities is taking place thereby limiting natural light, air and ventilation, which is likely to lead to environmental chaos and affect human health and well being [9] (Fig. 6).
- Fig. 6.Massive development of steep and vulnerable slopes in hill towns.
- 8.
- Very high price of available buildable land is due to limited availability or scarcity of buildable land in hill towns due to topographical features. Due to the high land price, most of the residents are not able to purchase good buildable land in hill towns. As a consequence, fertile agricultural land in the suburbs or outskirts of hill towns is used for developmental purposes due to its lower price, which is further facilitated by weak land policies, improper development plan proposals and techno-legal regime, and the weak economic background of farmers (Fig. 7).
- Fig. 7.New multi-storeyed development in the outskirts of hill towns.
- 9.
- There is deterioration in the quality of the living environment in hill towns due to unsuitable and unsafe building stock for habitation (Fig. 8), insufficient infrastructure, narrow roads, and inadequate open spaces and inadequate green areas, which are the outcomes of wrong planning and building regulations and inappropriate planning and design solutions.
- Fig. 8.Unsuitable and unsafe buildings affecting the quality of the living environment.
- 10.
- Inadequate safety provisions for safety against fire in the majority of buildings in hill towns. Also many zones /areas in hill towns have inadequate/no access for fire vehicles, which may result in heavy loss to human life and wealth during the occurrences of fire. Moreover, many buildings in town core area are built with wood and are prone to fire.
- 11.
- Inadequate natural light in existing buildings which results in increased use of artificial lighting for general lighting purposes even during the day time [7] and lack of natural light and ventilation in buildings will lead to dampness and unhealthy living environment in buildings.
- 12.
- Construction of houses, offices and commercial premises without any regard for aesthetics or land use has resulted in conflicting land use/constructions and a scenario is created where construction dominates the natural environment of hill towns.
Many
of the issues of existing development in hill towns are due to the
absence of appropriate building regulation, enforcement of inappropriate
building regulations or non compliance of existing building
regulations.
Building regulations in hill towns
Building
regulations are a set of rules enforced in human settlements aimed to
protect public health, safety, general welfare, and environment. These
are the means by which government/development authority can control use
of available land resources, buildings, infrastructure facilities to
ensure proper spatial organisation and environmental protection in the
city. These also provide important framework and statutory regulations
on the planning, design and construction of buildings and associated
works, making provisions for rendering the safety of dangerous buildings
and lands, and making provisions for matters connected to enforcement
and approval authority [10].
Building
regulations which are enforced in different cities or towns in India
are mostly inspired from National Building Code, Delhi Master Plan/s and
other Indian Standard (IS) Codes [11].
Different State Town and country planning or urban development
departments formulate building regulations under state legislation and
mostly enforce these regulations without any modification in various
cities or towns irrespective of the geo-environmental context of the
city or town. The impacts of these inappropriate building regulations
are clearly reflected in the provision of urban infrastructure as far as
its spatial allocation and distribution and overall urban form i.e. the
built-forms or streetscape for all the categories of land uses [12].
Unlike
most of the ecological sensitive zones/areas of world, Indian hill
towns are peculiar examples of massive urban development in
environmentally or ecologically sensitive areas, which are growing
exponentially over and above their carrying capacities and are
hampering/affecting the ecology at large. No specific building
regulation pertaining to the ecological context of hill towns are in
force to conserve or control the development of Indian hill towns.
Whereas, most of the countries have separate regulations for hillside
development in ecologically sensitive areas, which focus on contextually
appropriate development without harming the environment and ecology of
the region.
Study of existing building regulations enforced in hill towns
To
understand various problems/issues related to existing building
regulations in hill towns, study is done related to different
regulations of residential buildings in major hill towns like Shimla,
Manali, Dalhousie, Mussoorie, Nainital, Shillong, Srinagar and Gangtok
located in the Indian Himalayan region to identify various similarities
and variations, and attempts are being made to understand reasons for
similarities and variations. Building regulations considered for study
are taken from the latest development plans and building bye-laws
available on websites of local governing authorities. Different
documents used in the study are as follows [3]; [13]; [14]; [15]; [16]; [17] ; [18]:
- 1.
- Draft Development plan for the Shimla planning area, 2021.
- 2.
- Draft Development plan for the Manali Planning area, 2021.
- 3.
- Draft Development plan for the Dalhousie Planning area, 2021.
- 4.
- Nainital Lake Region Special Area Development Authority Building Regulations.
- 5.
- The Sikkim Building Construction (Amendment) Regulations, 2000.
- 6.
- Meghalaya Building-Bye Laws, 2011.
- 7.
- Building Regulations and Bye-Laws (Kashmir Division), 2010.
- 8.
- Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority Building Construction and Development bye-laws (Amendment), 2003.
The
general information related to demography, town area, altitude and year
of enforcement of current building regulations is shown in Table 1.
It shows that, all these building regulations are revised in recent
years, to cater the changing needs which are the consequence of the high
rate of urbanisation in these hill towns.
- Table 1. Hill towns in the Indian Himalayan region considered for the study.
No. Town/City Population (mc area) Altitude (m) Year of enforcement of present regulations 1 Shimla 169,758 (2011) 2205 2011 2 Dalhousie 7419 (2001) 1954 2004 3 Manali 17390 (2001) 1826 2005 4 Nainital 38,560 (2001) 2084 2003 5 Mussoorie 26,069 (2001) 1876 2003 6 Srinagar 894,940 (2001) 1585 2010 7 Shillong 143,007 (2011) 1525 2011 8 Gangtok 98,658 (2011) 1829 2000
Building regulations for residential buildings in hill towns
This
study is conducted related to prevailing building bye-laws/regulations
for residential buildings such as, plot size, setbacks, number of
storeys, Floor Area Ratio (F.A.R) and building height. These are the
most commonly specified regulations in prevailing building
regulations/byelaws in different hill towns of India (Table 2).
- Table 2. Existing building regulations in hill towns.
Town Plot area (In sq. m) Coverage (%) Setbacks (in metres)
No. of Storeys F.A.R Building height (in metres) Front Side Rear Shimla Above 200 2.50 - 2.00 4 + 1⁎ 1.75 18.00⁎ Dalhousie Up to 150 70 3.0 - 2 2 11.80 Manali Up to 120 65 3.0 - 2.0 4 + 1 2 18.80 Srinagar Up to 100 40 3.0 - 1.8 1.5 16.50 Mussoorie Up to 100 70 2.0 - - 3 1.30 11.00 Mussoorie Up to 200 65 2.0 - 1.5 3 1.50 11.00 Shimla Above 200 3.00 3.00 2.00 4 + 1⁎ 1.75 18.00⁎ Dalhousie 150–250 60 3.0 3 2 2 11.80 Manali 121–250 60 3.0 2.0 2.0 4 + 1 2 18.80 Shillong Up to 200 50 3.0 1.0 1.0 4 2.0 19.00 Srinagar 100–150 40 4.5 2.4 2.4 4⁎⁎ 1.5 16.50 Mussoorie Up to 300 60 3.0 1.5 3.0 3 1.50 11 Shimla Above 200 3.00 2.0 2.0 4 + 1⁎ 1.75 18.00⁎ Dalhousie 251–500 55 3.0 2 2 2 11.80 Manali 121–250 60 3.0 2.0 2.0 4 + 1 1.75 18.80 Manali 251–500 55 3.0 2.0 2.0 4 + 1 1.5 18.80 Shillong 201–300 50 3.0 1.2 1.8 4 2.0 19.00 Shillong 300–400 50 3.0 1.8 2.5 4 2.0 19.00 Shillong 400–500 50 3.0 1.8 3.0 4 2.0 19.00 Srinagar 150–500 40 4.5 3.0 3.0 4⁎⁎ 1.5 16.50 Srinagar 200–500 40 6.0 3.0 3.0 4⁎⁎ 1.5 16.50 Mussoorie Up to 400 55 4.5 2.0 3.0 3 1.60 11 Dalhousie Above 500 50 3.0 2 2 2 11.80 Manali Above 501 50 3.0 3.0 3.0 4 + 1 1.25 18.80 Shillong Above 500 50 3.0 1.8 3.0 4 2.0 19.00 Srinagar Above 500 40 6.0 3.0 4.5 4⁎⁎ 1.5 16.50 Mussoorie Above 400 50 7.5 3.0 5.0 3 1.70 11 -
- ⁎
- Not specified in current byelaws but present in previous byelaws.
- ⁎⁎
- Not specified in regulations, calculated from ground coverage and F.A.R.
Every
hill town has a different plot area/size limits for different
typologies of buildings, but it leads to the same kind of development
due to almost similar ground coverage and setback conditions (except
Srinagar, where ground coverage permissible for all types is 40%). Only
very few towns (namely Shillong, Nainital, Mussoorie) considered the
road width as a deciding factor for limiting building height and front
setback regulations.
F.A.R
is the regulation which controls the extent/amount of development
permissible on a plot. F.A.R regulation varies from 2.0 to 1.25 in
different hill towns. In most hill towns, F.A.R changes according to
plot area; plots having smaller areas have more F.A.R than plots with
large areas, which results in a large built-up area for buildings on
smaller plots and relatively lesser built-up area for buildings on
larger plots. For example, in the case of Manali, for plot sizes in
between 121 and 250 m2 F.A.R is 2.0, whereas, in same town for plots of above 501 m2 area, F.A.R regulation is 1.25.
Ground
coverage is the regulation which specifies/controls the building foot
print on a plot and is expressed as the percentage of total plot area.
The value of ground coverage varies from 70% to 40% in existing in force
building regulations. Different hill towns have different ground
coverage regulations for similar sizes of plots. But, in most hill
towns, small area plots have higher permissible ground coverage than
large area plots, which results in bigger building foot prints and
higher built-to-open space ratio. Buildings with higher footprints
require more cutting of slopes and trees, which in turn disturbs the
natural drainage pattern. Higher ground coverage of the site results in
less percolation of rainwater into the ground and more runoff, due to
reduction of soft/open areas. Due to higher ground coverage and greater
depth of buildings, there is inadequate sunlight and ventilation in
buildings, which results in higher energy consumption for maintaining
comfort conditions.
Height
of building regulation varies from 19.00 to 11.0 m in different hill
towns. In many hill towns like Shimla, Shillong, Srinagar, Manali etc.
which have higher permissible heights for buildings, it results in
buildings with more heights on small plot sizes, which in turn results
in a development pattern characterised by large volume buildings on
smaller plots without adequate open spaces and appears to be continuous.
Similarly, permissible number of storeys also varies in different hill
towns from 5 (including a parking floor) to 2. Same height and number of
storey regulations are in force throughout the town irrespective of
slope gradient and direction and location and size of the plot, which
leads to similar population densities in all localities without
considerations of infrastructure facilities and characteristics of the
area. Height of buildings is prescribed by consideration of access road
width also, which results in a very limited solar exposure to lower
storey(s) and open spaces in between.
Setback
regulations define the area around buildings which needs to be kept
open to ensure proper daylight and ventilation in buildings, and this
open area around buildings can be used for landscaping purposes. Setback
regulations vary in different hill towns, and small area plots have
lesser setback requirements than large area plots. But the setback areas
provided in the current context are insufficient for buildings to have
adequate solar exposure, and consequently, a large number of buildings
are shaded by the surrounding buildings. Moreover, these setbacks are
uniformly applicable to all slope aspects, not taking into account the
need for having different setbacks for ensuring adequate solar access on
different slope aspects. The space between buildings consequent upon
these setback regulations is less for its proper utilisation for
landscaping or plantations. As a consequence of this, not only damp,
unhealthy and uncomfortable living conditions are present in a large
number of buildings in hill towns, but also once lush green hill slopes
are modified into barren hill slopes mostly covered with concrete
buildings.
Different
building regulations in force in hill towns are decided in accordance to
plot sizes. But while deciding the minimum plot size for different
regulations, front-to-depth ratio is not considered. Existing plots in
hill towns generally follow the natural topographical profile which is
irregular in shape, and it is difficult to construct on such irregular
plots having inadequate depth/width. Development of buildings on such
irregular plots affects the overall development pattern of the town.
Other regulations enforced on development in hill towns
Hill
regions have fragile ecology, and man has a major role to play in
maintaining the environmental quality and ecological balance.
Maintaining environmental quality, natural features, accessibility and
aesthetics are the major challenges for present development in hill
towns. Regulations related to environmental quality, accessibility and
aesthetics in different hill towns are compared in Table 3.
- Table 3. Comparison between environmental, accessibility and aesthetic regulations.
Particulars Shimla Dalhousie Manali Mussoorie Nainital Srinagar Shillong Solar passive regulations ∗ O O O O O O Rain water harvesting ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ O ∗ ∗ Cutting of slopes ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ Tree preservation ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ O O Water resources O O ∗ ∗ ∗ O O Drainage of site regulations ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ Maintenance of upstream drainage pattern ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ Disable friendly regulations ∗ O O ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ Aesthetic regulations ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ O O O View preservation ∗ ∗ ∗ O ∗ O ∗ - ∗ – Regulations specified.
O – Regulations not specified.
Presently,
energy being the most critical issue of development, there are a lot of
concerns at international, national and regional levels related to its
conservation and optimal use. Shimla building regulations have
incorporated regulations related to solar passive design and energy
conservation, to minimise energy consumption in maintaining comfort
conditions in public, government and semi government buildings. No other
hill town has such regulations related to solar passive design in
buildings.
Regulations
related to rain water harvesting exist in most of the hill towns, but it
is not in force effectively as rain water harvesting systems (RWHS) are
not implemented in a majority of buildings constructed [19].
Regulations
related to preservation of existing trees, and plantation of new trees,
are presented in building regulations of hill towns. In spite of this,
all slopes of hill towns appear barren without any plantations, covered
only with concrete buildings, highlighting the need to change the
implementation process. The maximum height of cutting of hill slopes
varies from 3.5 to 6.6 m in hill towns. But in practice, slopes are cut
much more than the permissible value. Some towns have regulations
related to preservation of natural water sources. Every town has
regulations related to the maintenance of upstream drainage pattern, and
site drainage shows the importance of maintaining a drainage pattern.
Accessibility
to buildings by elderly and disabled persons is a serious concern in
hill towns due to sloping topography. Towns like Shimla, Mussoorie,
Nainital, Srinagar and Shillong have regulations related to
accessibility and usage of buildings by disabled people, and provisions
for the design of every public and semi-public building as disabled
friendly.
Aesthetics
and View Preservation regulations are presented in hill towns for the
enforcement of regulations related to prohibition of construction of
more than one storey (in some cases, up to 1.5 m from road height) on
the downhill side of major roads without considering the extent and
quality of view available, as this may result in under utilisation of
F.A.R., and majority of buildings will be constructed in
basements/semi-basements, and having light and ventilation from one side
only results in buildings having dampness and insufficient daylight. To
construct more basements/semi-basements to utilise full F.A.R, the
regulations related to cutting of slope will have to be violated.
Processes of getting development approval from local governing authorities
In
most of the hill towns, architects, planners and civil engineers are
authorised to design and develop proposal/drawings to get approval from
the local authorities. But, civil engineers (though more in number) are
not qualified/ educated enough to design building spaces/areas. There
are very high probabilities that a design developed by them will not be
efficient, and lack in providing necessary services, desired quality of
space and aesthetic values. This condition is worse in some hill towns
where draughtsman is also permitted to design and develop development
proposals for getting permission from authorities. There are no
provisions related to the experience of the civil engineer, planner or
draftsman to undertake building design works/jobs, whereas to design the
structural system of building, minimum experience or qualification of
the civil engineer is specified in the building bye-laws.
While
getting approval from the authority, there are no provisions to check
or evaluate the proposed design of the building and the impact the
building is going to make on the overall street and town environment;
design of the building remains neglected for development permission and
permission is given only on the basis of fulfilling the regulations
(setbacks, No. of storeys, building height etc.).
Structural
design of buildings along with the structural safety certificate is
essential for getting permission from authorities, but there are no
provisions for review of adequacy of structural design in general
loading as well as seismic loading conditions.
Procedures
as well as requisites for getting approval from the authorities are
different in various hill towns. However, in most of the towns,
regulations are not properly enforced and development activities are not
checked by local authorities due to acute shortage of technical staff
and resources. Local authorities are unable to take major legal actions
against such illegal construction activities which gave rise to more
illegal encroachments.
Issues related to existing building regulations in hill towns
From
the above study, it is clear that the existing development pattern and
building regulations enforced in hill towns are not appropriate in the
context of hill towns. The different issues related to existing in force
building regulations in hill towns of India can be classified into the
following categories:
- 1.
- Existing building regulations enforced in Indian hill towns are mostly inspired from the National Building code and Delhi Master Plan(s), and are inappropriate in the context of hill towns, as the geo-environmental and socio-developmental context of Delhi varied to a greater extent from that of hill towns. There are many crucial issues like ecological sensitivity, proneness to hazards, and visibility, which are more critical for development in hill towns and very few building regulations are in force to address these issues.
- 2.
- These existing in force building regulations are uniformly applicable at the town level i.e. same regulations are applicable for land use without any respect to topographical location, slope angle and direction, hazard potential of the site, development pattern and potential. Existing regulations are rigid in nature as the prescribed values of regulations are fixed numbers.
- 3.
- There is a lack of clarity in building regulations, and in some towns all essential regulations are not specified, which result in violation of building regulations by the owner/developer and resultant development will be haphazard and not suitable in context of ecologically sensitive and picturesque natural hill settings.
- 4.
- In many hill towns various regulations related to many critical concerns which are important to ensure appropriate development in environmentally sensitive hill towns are not present in existing building regulations.
- 5.
- The enforcement mechanism for implementing and ensuring effective following of existing regulations is not adequate and there are very less/no provisions which stop illegal and unplanned development in hill towns.
- 6.
- There is a shortage of technical experts in hill towns who can implement existing legislated building regulations in hill towns and ensure that construction activity will be carried in accordance to regulation at different stages. Moreover, the required administrative set up for the efficient implementation and approval process in not present in hill towns.
The
existing building regulations of hill towns are not conducive for
systematic and contextually appropriate development in hill towns.
Therefore, the existing regulations are required to be changed for
having proper development in hill towns. There are various possible
approaches available and any one of these can be adopted for the
amendment of existing building regulations as briefly discussed in the
section below.
Approaches for change in existing building regulations of hill towns
Hill
towns have prescriptive type of building regulations in which
development activity is controlled through rigid regulations like F.A.R,
ground coverage, plot size, setback, and number of floors and height of
building. It has been established that building regulations in hill
towns are contextually inappropriate, and development activity in
harmony with these regulations will be unsustainable. To make
development contextually appropriate and sustainable, changes in
building regulations as well as enforcement procedures are required.
This can be done by any of three approaches discussed below.
- Approach I: Amend existing building regulations and/or enforcement mechanisms to make them more appropriate. This approach can be used on a short-term basis to get an immediate remedial to present problems by amending parts of regulations, adding new regulations in accordance with the need and taking strengthening measures to improve existing enforcement of regulations.
- Approach II: Change of the type of regulations from prescriptive to form based/ performance based/site specific, and formulation of a new enforcement mechanism. This is a long term approach with a focus on changing prescriptive regulations to either form based regulations or performance based regulations or site specific regulations. The adoption of a new approach will result in better performance of buildings, making them more specific to the context of region, zone and street, and have better aesthetic value than the existing one. It requires a lot of resources and technical experts to make implementation plans and monitor all possible implications and impacts of the new changing regulations. Different technical expertise is required by the practicing professionals as well as authorities to execute the development in accordance to new regulatory domain. But with the present type of expertise and qualification of working professionals and authority officials, it is a tedious task to change the regulatory system to make it more performance-oriented.
- Approach III: Combining two or more approaches for area specific building regulations which should be specific to the context of hill towns. In this approach, more than one type of regulation is considered for the formulation of specific regulations in the context of hill towns. The areas to be developed become the basis for the formulation of these area-specific building regulations. Due to the varied context of hill towns, there is a need to study and understand the geo-environmental (geo-technical, ecological concerns and climatic factors), developmental (uses, locational context, existing development pattern and character, available infrastructure, cost, performance and appearance) and technological contexts to formulate building regulations pertaining to the specific context of hill towns. Local conditions and physical context must provide the threshold for the formulation of new regulations which should be place-based and emphasise details.
An
in-depth investigation of existing condition/scenario, available
resources and future extent and type of development in hill towns needs
to be done for adopting the most appropriate approach at any level from
the abovementioned approaches for the amendment of existing
inappropriate building regulations in force in hill towns.
Conclusions
Indian
hill towns, especially in the Himalayan region, are peculiar examples
of massive urban development in environmentally sensitive areas, which
are growing exponentially over and above their carrying capacities and
hampering/affecting the environment and ecology at large. These hill
towns have numerous problems related to planning and design of
buildings, inadequate infrastructure (roads, water supply, sewage,
garbage collection and disposal), improper housing/building stock having
insufficient strength, unprecedented cutting of vegetation and slopes,
pollution, chaos, congestion and degraded living and harm to the natural
environment which affects the ecological balance in and around hill
towns.
Most of these
issues/problems of existing development in Indian hill towns are due to
inappropriate planning proposals and building regulations enforced in
different hill towns. A study of existing building regulations of major
hill towns is conducted to understand various problems/issues related to
building regulations of hill towns, to identify similarities and
variations, and attempts are being made to understand reasons for
similarities and variations. It is found from the study there are large
variations in different regulations which are enforced in different hill
towns. In some hill towns important regulations which are crucial for
achieving systematic development in environmentally sensitive hill towns
are not present and in towns where these regulations are present are
not followed and monitored efficiently.
As
found from the detailed study, existing building regulations enforced
in Indian hill towns are mostly inspired from Delhi Master Plan(s),
which are not appropriate to the context of hill towns, as the
geo-environmental and socio-developmental context of Delhi is varied to a
greater extent from that of hill towns. Contextual inappropriateness,
uniformity, rigidity, incompleteness, lack of clarity, and cumbersome
enforcement mechanisms are major characteristics of existing building
regulations in hill towns.
A
suitable approach/method to modify existing building regulations for
hill towns need to be identified on the basis of an analytical study of
different approaches which can be adopted to modify existing building
regulations to make them contextually appropriate. Moreover, a holistic
approach, which includes formulation of building regulations based on
the geo-environmental, development and technological context, is
required to change existing in force building regulations and make them
appropriate to the peculiar context of Indian hill towns.
Conflict of interest
None.
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- Ashwani kumara, , ,
- Pushplatab
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