Revitalizing Daily Travel - Mumbai, India

• Main Author: Lokre, Saanika Sameer
• Other Authors: Architecture
• Format: Others
• Published: Virginia Tech 2017
• Subjects: Mumbai; India; Railway Market; Bazaar
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/74948

Cities are a way of life. They are an amalgamation of cultural background and urbanism, which determine the quality of life, environmental sustainability, social behavior and economic well-being. Since the ancient times, cities have been the way to define the growth and development. The development of the cities depended upon availability of resources for a better livelihood and the way humans utilize the resources. Even today as cities develop, people hope for better living conditions. Urbanism plays a major role in the development of cities, being a combination of cultural and urban living. Urbanism has brought various downfalls along with progress. Has urbanism made development a monotonous concept? These days, cities are urbanizing at a fast rate not considering their future consequences. Having lived in Mumbai, I have seen it grow into a megacity. The countless problems that urbanism has brought to accommodate the massive amount of people migrating into the city has affected the quality of life of people immensely. However, is it for the better or worse? People all over the country want to have a piece of Mumbai, the city of dreams. This growth in the population has overpowered the city. Mumbai is famous for its railway system. It is the lifeline of the city. However, due to the amount of people using this system, the travel is more of a chaos. Every railway station has a main access road filled with hawkers and commercial storefronts. People in Mumbai are always in a rush, so these hawkers and commercial stores are a necessity to their daily life. People shop for their daily necessities while returning home to save time. However, these streets are extremely chaotic and crowded. My thesis focuses on how this space can be utilized by three consumers - the traveler, the shopper and the one who does both. It aims to decongest this main street and make travelling by local trains convenient. The site I have chosen is located in the heart of Mumbai city and is one of the most important railway station on the Western Suburban railway system. It is known as Dadar railway station. More than 500,000 people use this railway station daily. With the maximum number of incoming pedestrian traffic, my design can be used as an example for other railway stations throughout Mumbai. === Master of Science