Detailed Development Plans for the Residential Zone ready

Auroville Today: What specific work has been assigned to you by the Town Development Council (TDC)?

Luis: I have been asked to make the detailed development plans for sectors 1 and 2 of the Residential Zone of Auroville. These two sectors comprise a large portion of the Residential Zone. The plans were completed in July last year, but we were requested to supply some more information. This has now been provided in a second document.

Who is ‘we’?

The team consists of Kaja Delezuch, a Polish town planner who has been working at the TDC for over a year and is now part of the team, myself and a number of volunteers. This is something of a skeleton team. I have been trying with the TDC to build a full-time technical and experienced team as the TDC itself lacks technical expertise in certain areas. There are many resourceful people working for the TDC, with goodwill, ideas and inspiration, but there is not a team that can provide a steady management based on its technical expertise. Such a team is long overdue.

What kind of town planning office would be required?

Because of its size, because of its ideals and because Auroville is unconventional, Auroville needs a sound town planning office. Auroville, of course, is still small, with only 2,400 registered residents. However, there is a large influx of temporary residents such as volunteers and guests; and Auroville employs over 4,000 people who come in from outside. This has planning implications, such as with regard to housing and mobility. To pinpoint an ideal size for an Auroville town planning office is difficult. However, the present situation is untenable. For an effective office for the present situation, you would need double the staff, working on a permanent basis, apart from those working part-time or hired to do a specific job only.

Could we employ a professional town planning office to do the work?

The TDC outsources a lot of work to individuals. However, there is no outsourcing of work to a reputed town planning office outside Auroville. I am sure this would be counterproductive, as those offices have their own system of working that might not be suitable for Auroville, as Auroville presents challenges that are unusual for professional town planning offices. But as long as Auroville cannot manifest an effective office, outsourcing to experts and individuals who may not be based in Auroville is the only solution I can see to bridge the gap.

What are the most significant features of the detailed development plans for phases 1 and 2 of the Residential Zone?

We have tried to work on the basis of the premises of the Master Plan as delineated by Roger Anger, concentrating on the low-density areas of sectors 1 and 2 of the Residential Zone as a gradual approach to an increased urban density of the city.

If you look at the present development in these zones, you will see that neither the Master Plan nor Roger’s Directions for Growth have been followed. Auroville has been allocating land to housing projects on an ad-hoc basis. Maitreye II, to give an example, is a high density building in an area where there was no provision for that. Arati is a low-density development built in an area envisioned for high-density buildings. In addition, there are areas, such as Grace and Surrender, where there is more population than planned.

Another concern is the development of private gardens which diminishes public green spaces. Maitreye I, for example, is low density, which is according to the plans, but the residents have fenced off a portion of an area which was earmarked to be public green space and turned it into private areas. Auroville is intended to be a ‘green city’, but these type of developments go against that.

The detailed development plan sanctions small fenced-off gardens connected to isolated housing developments located in low-density green areas but it opposes those private gardens in areas earmarked as urban. Once there is no longer a threat that cows and goats will invade these residential developments, all these fences should come down and let their land integrate into a common territory. The fences of today often, if not always, fall where the public spaces should be. Paradoxically, the in between space instead of becoming a space for integration has become a space for segregation. The next residential projects have to be open projects, where there are people’s amenities, people can circulate. And this is how they are described in the DDP.

Your plans also have a provision for the Lines of Force?

Of course! When Roger set out the main principles for the town plan of Auroville, the Lines of Force were included as one of them. They are essential for Auroville to become a green city! If you do not have those buildings, you cannot have a city with that amount of green space. The provision for the Lines of Force, along with the Crown and the Matrimandir Lake, is also written into the L’avenir d’Auroville mandate (2007) as a significant element.

Two Lines of Force are envisioned in sectors 1 and 2 of the Residential Zone. A very big line of force borders sectors 2 and 3. It is placed on top of the radial which separates sectors 2 and 3. It is a bit difficult to imagine how that will work with traffic, but this Line might perhaps become possible once Auroville is a car-free city. I mean a city free of the need to use private vehicles to the extent that it does now, a city that sets priorities for non-polluting modes of transport so as to make community and visitors change their mobility patterns.

Progress community is part of the second Line of Force. It is planned to house 500 people, which is about 1/4th of the present population of Auroville. This Line of Force will be a great opportunity for testing and explaining what these buildings can do. We propose that Auroville concentrates on exploring higher density developments rather than continuing building new low-density communities. It is a very important pillar of the city.

You are talking about a huge apartment block?

No. The Lines of Force should be more than just apartment blocks. In fact, the Master Plan only indicates the width, the length and the height. It could be one big structure, but also a number of smaller structures could constitute the Line of Force. They should not only house residences but also small workspaces and public amenities. Provisions could be made for greening walls and roofs. However, Lines of Force are very complex. For example, they have an effect on wind circulation that needs to be tested to produce benefits and resolve difficulties.

It is important to remember the Lines of Forces, as envisaged by Roger, are very permeable, locally varied structures, not only providing the residential units but also forming a sequence of commonly used spaces, with diversity of qualities and privacy levels – all this creates an unprecedented opportunity to exercise a model of collective living so imperative to Auroville’s ideals. Lines of Force should not be treated as stand-alone entities but rather elements closely interwoven into the local urban fabric, staying in close relation and enhancing the public realm quality of the areas neighbouring them.

Two years ago, Gilles Boulicot did a study on water management [Harvesting rainwater for Auroville’s water needs, AVToday #284 March 2013] and Suhasini Aiyer made a Land Use plan for Auroville. [AVToday #290 September 2013]. Have you incorporated their findings in your plans?

Yes. The chairman of the Town Development Council, Mr. B.V. Doshi, has been very active in making us work together and taking into account each other’s recommendations regarding the water management and the sensitive areas in the two sectors of the Residential Zone. Open channels or drains have been designed in both sectors which will allow storm water to flow into the Matrimandir Lake. This will not only be a beautiful embellishment but also create a nice biodiversity corridor.

Do your plans recommend that ecological architecture be practised?

Yes and no. The plan is not prescriptive. It does not specify using specific alternative building materials such as earth bricks or ferro-cement. Ecological architecture is still very young. But Auroville, of course, is a perfect place to experiment with that concept. This should be and I think is in everyone´s agenda and it is certainly formulated like this in the DDP.

We are concerned about the urban harmony. That is lacking in the present developments, where most architects have built without consideration of what already exists in the neighbourhood. We are being very strict about the urban form, not only about where you can build, but also where you can build three or more stories and where you can only build one, and where the ground floor should be designed for public amenities and so on. In future, the architecture has to conform to the plans, include public common areas and, as much as possible, abolish private gardens. Projects will also have to align with neighbouring developments.

One of the difficulties of apartment blocks is noise pollution. This could be solved by using glass, but this necessitates air-conditioning, which is high-energy consuming and not to everyone’s liking. Do the plans have something to say about that?

An architecture needs to be developed where ventilation, light and noise prevention are combined. We have given guidelines but the detailed exploration of the above is in the hands of the projects’ architects.

But unless this problem is solved, people will not be happy to make donations for moving into large apartment complexes such as the Lines of Force. Many people have been fleeing the cities as they are fed up living in apartment buildings. How do you change that?

We have to find the appropriate building technology, and well-trained architects and visionaries who can come up with convincing designs. Aurovilians have to work together to find innovative ways to progress, and not stick to the well-trodden paths.

You mentioned that you envision a car-free city. How realistic is that, taking into account that the majority of the city is still to be built, which will bring in a lot of construction traffic, and that in some seasons the climate is not conducive to walking or cycling?

First we all have to agree that this is to be done. Car circulation can be easily restricted, it happens in cities all over the planet. Once you have agreed on this, you’ll find solutions and come up with plans for reducing the traffic. For example, the access to lorries that provide the goods for the city could be restricted to certain times of the day. Construction traffic could be channelled to follow specially landscaped roads which could be redesigned after the construction work is over. Private cars could be shared, to minimize their number. Taxis is a big problem also. The number of taxi companies that operate within and around Auroville is big and it keeps growing. I cannot believe that an innovative community like Auroville has not found a way to crack this model. A mobility model inspired by the Uber model could work.

But, most importantly, a detailed design of convenient walking and cycling paths will over time help change the daily pattern of the inhabitants of the Residential Zone. The DDP makes a provision for an uninterrupted shaded walking network throughout the Zone. In the urban areas, the incorporation of a covered walkway into the proposed project becomes one of the parameters given to the architects. In the green areas the detailing of Green Corridors ensures continuous shaded connections, entirely separate from the currently used motorised transport routes. This walking and cycling network became a crucial driving aspect of the detailed planning for the Zone. The proposed changes and improvements will happen gradually over the years and will require, as previously mentioned, re-evaluation of the necessity for fences which, at the moment, create barriers – a significant challenge in providing a practical and complete inner zone/sector connectivity.

What about access for people coming from outside, for example to visit an Auroville restaurant, a workplace or an office, or simply to meet up with friends?

At present there is no critical mass for a sound public transport but that doesn’t mean we should resort to purchasing cars and bikes and hire taxis. Vehicle-sharing is very developed nowadays all over the world, using non-polluting traffic, e.g. electric cars. It is all possible if the will is there. That’s what planning is about.