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.

Increasing Life Span of Government Housings of Chandigarh – A Need-Based Approach to Retrofit Through Prototype Study of E-Type Housing

Abstract: This paper describes a project undertaken by the authors during their post-graduate studies at the University of Shefield. The intent of the project was to identify building(s) that need up-gradation/retroit, establish why retroit is required, what kind of retroit is needed and which techniques to employ, using a case-sensitive approach. However, the scope of this paper is limited to the irst two objectives of the project and the recognition of retroit techniques is left open-ended so as to leave room for future debates and deliberations.The city of Chandigarh has always been highlight prominently on India’s architectural heritage map. Various buildings designed by Le Corbusier and his team (comprising Pierre Jeanerette, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry) are like jewels (to be treasured) on this map. Still, ever since these buildings, especially the government housings, came into existence, no systematic procedures have been undertaken to analyse and assess their deterioration with time and usage. Passing down the streets of Chandigarh, one would observe how drastically the housings have been modiied, and in some cases, have lost their original appeal.The paper is essentially drafted in three parts. The irst part illustrates the conditions and political background in which these buildings were designed, so as to better understand the essence of this architecture. The second part tries to comprehend the current state of one of the many types of the Government Housings present in Chandigarh – the ‘House Type E1’ in Panjab University. Lastly, the authors use various scales, like present seismic byelaws and Computer Aided simulation tools, to evaluate how the given housing now fares in terms of structural stability and thermal & visual comfort.

Conclusions: The Future of Planning Education in India

Abstract: The future of planning education is only partly located in planning schools where the students are provided with education and instruction apart from self-learning. The future of planning education would increasingly depend on other sites such as local communities, which produce planning knowledges, and are the object of research for planning faculty and the students. Government of India, state governments, local governments and global players would equally play a significant part in impacting planning education. This chapter explores three such areas, which could play pivotal role in transforming planning education in India. These broad areas deal with the subject matter of quality of planning faculty, critical reasoning against popular narratives and purposes of planning.

Integration of Structures in Students’ Design solutions: A Tool for Assessment

Abstract: Traditional teaching practices are often questioned over their failure to generate interest and profound understanding of structures among students that further affect its integration in design solutions. Alternative teaching practices though claim to be more effective, need a sound evaluation measured through assessment of the level of integration of structures in design solutions- the ultimate objective of such courses. This paper evaluates the integration of structures in design solutions of architecture students. The integration assessment framework used for evaluation is based on building systems approach across three dimensions of performance, physicality and visual. It has been developed after comparing four prior frameworks with a 4-point scale and customized to suit the context of the academic environment. The framework offers flexibility in its use for different technical knowledge levels for each successive year of Bachelor of architecture program. The expert opinion followed by testing on design samples from all the program years further refined the framework. The study was then scaled up to include students from first to fourth years for three architecture schools that have completely different institutional environment. The findings revealed that including structural resolution in a design studio mandate may result in higher resolution of structures in design solutions but it is the building typology and student interest that may result in higher visual integration of structures in design solutions. Furthermore, the institutional environment effects can be seen in the setting of studio mandates where architecture school in technical campus laid more emphasis on resolutions of structures and services when compared to other architecture schools

Mathematical Modeling of Environmental Optimization of Urban Green Systems: With an Emphasis on Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to evolve a Mathematical Model which can be applied to any Urban Green System to achieve maximum environmental benefits from the limited amount of urban green space. Most of the urban green spaces being designed and developed do not have their functional use, ecological stability, social benefit and economic sustainability at their optimal. To overcome this fragmented development, holistic multidisciplinary approach towards functional, ecological, social and economical aspect needs to be developed and adopted. Six major parameters have been identified that can influence the indicative environmental health of any urban green system. These are: Fragmentation of urban green, Biodiversity, Naturalness, Pollutant and Air quality, Hydrology and Noise. The model proposed to be developed, would be a multi-objective optimization model, wherein the objective is to maximize the environmental benefits with optimizing the fragmentation, biodiversity and naturalness keeping the minimizing results of pollutants in the air quality as indicators. The overview of the model is intended with a minimization of the economic factor. Further, an attempt is made to provide suitable numerical values to the mathematical model based on real life data from typical sites from the metropolitan area of Delhi.