School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi

About: School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi is a education organization based out in New Delhi, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Smart city. The organization has 278 authors who have published 347 publications receiving 1665 citations.

Construction of Environmental Knowledge: Experiences from India

Abstract: This paper explored key issues in how knowledge of the environment is constructed in the Third World. Drawing on which, it showed that there are both explicit and implicit ways in which this knowledge is contested. Particularly, it discussed how implicit forms of contestation are problematic in Third World economies because they are exclusionary and also where such issues become ‘headlines’ only after environmental damage and accompanying social injustices have resulted. It concludes by raising crucial questions for environmental research in the Third World where there is limited role of governments and communities in protecting their environment.

Analyzing Risk and Disaster in Megaurban Systems – Experiences from Mumbai and Jakarta

Abstract: The inherent qualities of megacities call for specific risk analysis and specific strategies and capabilities in megaurban risk and disaster management. As megaurbanization proceeds at a hitherto unprecedented pace, the vulnerability of the world’s largest metropolises and the risk accumulated in them is gradually being understood. However, megaurban risk and disaster management are yet to be developed and established as full-fledged concepts. Thus far, empirically based knowledge and tools are scarce. The framework we introduce allows for an analytical approach to megaurban risk and disaster based on a systemic understanding of megacities as complex adaptive systems (CAS). Implications of our conceptualization are discussed using findings of empirical research on flooding in Mumbai/India and Jakarta/Indonesia. The application of the framework illustrates its potential for an improved understanding of root causes and effects of megaurban risk and disaster, amplifying factors that increase the impact of megaurban disasters and secondary risks that occur in the aftermaths of megaurban disasters. At the same time the CAS-framework allows for identifying options available for dealing with risk and disasters.

Impact of building regulations on the perceived outdoor thermal comfort in the mixed-use neighbourhood of Chennai

Abstract: The population in urban areas is increasing rapidly around the world in most of the cities. In India, this growth has forced the local governments to review the planning norms regularly with the main focus of making an affordable urban living. This resulted in increasing the built density without evaluating the effect of such developments on human thermal comfort. Outdoor microclimate is one of the significant factors that determine the quality of outdoor spaces. This study investigates the potential impact of the built geometry guided by the newly published development control rules of Chennai, India on the various parameters that influence microclimate. The existing and future scenario has been modelled for three locations in a typical mixed-use neighborhood of Chennai. Further, air temperature and relative humidity were measured in three locations on a typical summer month of May 2018. The recorded data was used for validating the simulated model and calibrating the model settings. Most of the studies on outdoor thermal comfort compare a base case scenario and project future scenarios. This paper is a more realistic comparison of outdoor thermal comfort between the actual resultant built environment guided by the new Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019 for selected locations and the existing built geometry which is the outcome of revised development control rules of 2013. The study found a significant reduction of 18 °C in mean radiant temperature (Tmrt) and a reduction of 12 °C in Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) between the 2013 and the predicted built geometry as per 2019 building rules. Further the duration of extreme heat stress in the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) scale show a reduction of 3 h during the day time. The study will assist urban planners and designers to include outdoor thermal comfort also as an important factor while developing building rules.