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By: Abha Sharma and Meenakshi Dhote.
1. Architect, Urban Designer, Environmental Planning Department, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, Delhi, India
2. Dean, Academics, Department of Architecture and Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, Delhi, India
Redevelopment has replaced the word “development” in popular discourse on Indian Cities. Our cities are being transformed through this process. When we examine redevelopment from various perspectives, one notices paradoxes and conflicts. This makes it even more important to see redevelopment from these varied viewpoints so that the approach to redevelopment is not simplistic and short-sighted. The context itself needs introspection as it changes and is time, space and culture-bound. “Context” in the case of redevelopment is seen through two lenses. One is of the “Site” and is its surroundings, physical and social. The other being “Redevelopment” itself and the possibilities it holds. The paper starts with a broader theoretical discussion on “Redevelopment” and its “context”. From there, it narrows down to the redevelopment of General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA), New Delhi and its various contextual potentials. One of the contexts deliberated is the green network around the site and the responsibility of increasing green cover and biodiversity for the city. Such case scenarios and many others conclude that a deliberation on the context opens up multiple possibilities that can make the exercise of redevelopment sensitive and fruitful, not only for the site but also for the city.
Keywords: Context, GPRA, green networks, redevelopment, urban connections
Citation:
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