Redflags in riverfront development projects!

It is said that water gave birth to civilization. Humans are attracted to watersides. In today’s context, riversides provide a quaint bliss away from the man-made grey jungle and hence present a recreational hot spot. The combination of riverfronts with urban sprawls addresses two bigger problems – water health maintenance and city beautification. In the Indian context, riverfront development projects have given mixed results.

Waterbodies have always been an attractive place in a city for tourists and residents alike. Hence, it has the potential of being a cultural, heritage and tourist hub for the city. When put in the context of urban planning, waterfronts can greatly monetise the emanations of the river surface. It can become a focal point for active and passive activities; business opportunities; and most importantly, a congregational public space.
Historically, riverside development has gone through an entire circle starting from the discovery of river banks as a vital base for economic activities and transportation. This led to attracting more and more people to settle near river banks with the proliferation of trading and manufacturing activities. The sad thing about Industrialisation is that it highlights the extent of the greedy nature of human beings. As the use of riverside fronts increased in the economic activities, the rapid depletion of limited resources began to occur taking a direct hit on the water health and that of areas around it. This is the stage where most cities scramble to manage waterfronts. However, the increase in climate change awareness and the need for nature’s touch within urban sprawls has led to planners rediscovering waterfronts now.

Riverfront development projects

The point of the riverfront development project is to illustrate the connection between access, greenway development, and market demand. The demand for a developed riverfront has increased as more and more cities are urbanising. This is reducing the avenues for recreation and open spaces. The increased footfall in such areas will attract high end investments and motivate people to indulge in the adventurous experiences that a city provides.
The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project has been ranked amongst the ‘100 most innovative projects’ by KPMG, one of the world’s top advisory firms. The project was ranked based on its performance in making Ahmedabad city more sustainable and rejuvenating its urban spaces. The project including revamping a 10.5 km stretch, reclaiming over 202 hectares of encroached land. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation started the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (SRFDCL) in 1997. “The project has reconnected the city with the river and has positively transformed the neglected aspects of the riverfront,” states the corporation’s website. They have built a river side promenade, a biodiversity park, facility for water sports etc. For the implementation of phase 2 of the project, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation allocated `1050 crore. Under the next phase, multilevel parking, a pedestrian bridge, and a sports complex will be opened. More than 250 million litres per day of sewage was diverted from the river under the project by building sound sewage infrastructure. The project has also rehabilitated over 10,000 slum dwellers in pukka houses in its first phase. Another key aspect of the project is that out of the 204 hectares of reclaimed land, 85 per cent is to be devoted to public amenities. Only 14 per cent — 29.5 hectares —has been earmarked forcommercial development.
The SRFDCL has removed encroachments from the riverfront, cleaned the river by diverting the industrial waste, and formed a healthy dynamic with the commercial units. However, this is one case, and also the oldest riverfront project in India. As principal these projects strive for a balance within the ecological cycle at the riverfronts while enhancing the functionality of the area as a public space. As the Government of India keeps adding more names to the list of projects in this section, most of them seem to lack in their fundamental requirements.

River Health taking the plunge

Principally, Urban Waterfront Development projects have to define how they will provide a recreational and beautification plan for the river. In order to assess the legitimacy of this provision, Team Urban Update discussed it with Dr Bhakti Devi, Founder of Jal Smriti and President of Water Resources Council. She opined that even the name – ‘riverfront development project’ has several red flags. “These projects focus on how to beautify the river edges while ignoring the river’s health”. She stated that such projects have a history of removing the river’s connection to the soil by cementing its edges. “They fail to understand that in order to sustain the natural water cycle the river has to stay connected to the soil and the ecological system it belongs to.” She added that the ambitions of municipal corporations to maintain the river sites are not feasible. The only way to sustain its maintenance is by encouraging the community to enhance its engagement with the river body’s preservation. The current state is that the community is not attached to its city hence are not engaged in the process of preservation.

Are parks and walkways along the river edge a solution?

It is the ecological function of rivers to provide a social value to the area. On consequently, several riverfront projects incorporate walkways and parks. The Goda Park consisted of a 2.5 km walkway along the Godavari River. Due to lack of maintenance, the area became a platform for illegal activities. Dr Devi suggested that at the designing stage, corporations can crowdsource the ideas and adopt a ‘place-making’ approach. How these public spaces should be planned, designed, and managed, should be in line with the community belonging to the area. “Put simply, it involves looking at, listening to, and asking questions of the people who live, work and play in a particular space, to discover needs and aspirations,” reads she wrote in an article. Once people see their own ideas being reinforced at the policy level, their incentive to further their involvement will increase.
The Yamuna Riverfront Development Project includes three 25-km-long stretches along the riverfront of Yamuna. The stretches- Asita East, Asita West, Golden Jubilee have been completed, while Nizamuddin Bridge – DND Flyway (East) is nearing completion. Ashok Kumar, Director of Horticulture, Delhi Development Authority while commenting on the project informed that the Asita West area is open for booking and activities such as laser shows, and private events. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Master Plan 2041 dictates that a green buffer zone be created along the river. According to Kumar, the authorities will avoid the creation of another failed Goda Park by hiring security guards to protect the stretch.

Conclusion

Though these projects were conceived to protect rivers and create a healthy public space, the route they chose is highly influenced by commercial activities. The majority of funds under the project are dedicated to the construction of a promenade, boat trips, shopping, theme parks, restaurants etc. These development projects have been reduced to mere river beautification. The work does not reflect to the aspirations of the citizens hence it becomes even more difficult for the corporations to maintain them. While creating a commercial complex is one way to develop an area, it cannot be the course for the redevelopment of waterfronts. The programs introduced by the central government are meant to beautify the area and attract more footfalls to the location. However, their proposal does not guarantee the sustainability and protection of the delicate riverside ecosystem from increased human exposure.

Over the last decade, more and more cities have started focusing on urban waterfront development (UWD) and since then several projects have been taken up. There is biological evidence that nature’s exposure to human beings has a positive impact on their health and well-being. This proves that a city cannot just be a network of pavements