climate sensitive urban design - uq espace
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Climate sensitive urban design:
A comparison between Brisbane (Australia) and Nagpur (India)
Renuka Bhoge
MPhil
A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy at
The University of Queensland in 2019
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
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Abstract
Understanding of microclimate is important for built environment professionals to create urban
environments that could encourage users to venture out and enjoy the outdoors. “Urban
‘climate-sensitive’ design is defined as a process that considers the fundamental elements of
microclimates (e.g., sun, wind, temperature) for design purposes” (Tapias and Schmitt, 2014).
Climate sensitive urban design is very crucial especially in modern context where built
environment professionals face a challenge of decreasing the negative effects of climate change
on our built and natural environment through design and planning decisions. The study is carried
out as a comparison between Brisbane and Nagpur with awareness that urban planning evolves
as a response to social, cultural and climate conditions and deeply embedded in socio-cultural
fabric but at the same time comparative research can impart invaluable insights into local
practices, policy making and implementation from other places and valuable lessons can be
learnt. The study has been carried out for pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras in
Brisbane (Australia) and Nagpur (India). Urban design is studied for each era and lessons are
extracted to narrow down a list of climate sensitive urban design elements. It is also crucial to
review whether current planning regulations are adequate to equip built environment
professionals with policies to design a climate sensitive urban environment. This is the intent
behind the document analysis of policy documents developed by the local development
authorities from Brisbane and Nagpur. Through the focus group discussions and personal
interviews of built environment professionals in Brisbane and Nagpur, the research presents the
possible barriers faced by these professionals in implementing climate sensitive urban design
innovations in their current projects. The research highlights that path-dependence is a deep
driver of barriers and limits to adaptation. The research also presents climate sensitive design
innovations from Brisbane and Nagpur where the built environment professionals have taken a
step beyond the barriers to work out innovative solutions.
The term “Aboriginal people” is used respectfully in this document for Aboriginal people of
Australia as specified by Department (2013).
The term “built environment professionals” is used to include urban designers, urban planners,
architects, landscape architects and environmental managers.
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Declaration by author
This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by
another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the
contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis.
I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical
assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial
advice, financial support and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The
content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my
higher degree by research candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has
been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other
tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to
qualify for another award.
I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library
and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the thesis be made
available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of
embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School.
I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright
holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the
copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis and have sought permission from co-
authors for any jointly authored works included in the thesis.
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Publications included in this thesis Designing the subtropical city: an evaluation of climate-sensitive policy effects in Brisbane, Australia Renuka Bhoge, Hannah Nolan & Dorina Pojani (2019) Journal of Environmental Planning and Management To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2019.1689934
I have provided ‘abstract’ in Appendix 7.
Submitted manuscripts included in this thesis
“No manuscripts submitted for publication”.
Other publications during candidature
“No other publications”.
Contributions by others to the thesis
“No contributions by others.”
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Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree
“No works submitted towards another degree have been included in this thesis”.
Research Involving Human or Animal Subjects
Approval number: SEES number 201711-03
Name of approving committee: the School of Earth and Environmental (SEES) Ethics
Officer
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Acknowledgements
This thesis has been completed with invaluable help from many people. First and foremost are
Dr. Dorina Pojani and Dr. Sebastien Darchen for their guidance throughout the research as my
supervisors. I thank the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of
Queensland. I also thank all the professional participants from Brisbane and Nagpur interviewed
during the course of the research. I thank Dr. Sarika Bahadure, assistant professor, Department
of Architecture and Planning, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, for all her
help in conducting field research at Nagpur out of no other motive than friendship.
Also, I would like to thank my friends and family for their constant support. Special thanks are
due for Berry Lin who eased my caretaker responsibilities towards my daughter to facilitate my
long hours of research at UQ campus. I also thank Fiona Scott and Bali Wahyudi for their inputs
from diverse perspectives.
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Financial support
‘This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program
Scholarship’
Keywords
climate sensitive urban design, path dependence, barriers, Nagpur, Brisbane
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC)
ANZSRC code: 120508, Urban Design, 60%
ANZSRC code: 091599 Interdisciplinary Engineering not elsewhere classified, 40%
Fields of Research (FoR) Classification
FoR code: 1604, Human Geography, 60%
FoR code: 0915, Interdisciplinary Engineering, 40%
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Dedications
I want to dedicate my thesis to my late father
Who believed in me, whatever the matter
His support during my fieldwork was phenomenal
Today he is not here to witness my thesis getting final
But I am truly blessed and he, truly exceptional
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Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Dedications .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................... 9
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................. 13
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................ 13
List of Abbreviations used in the thesis ................................................................................................ 15
Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................... 16
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 17
Study Scope ........................................................................................................................................... 18
Theoretical Lens ................................................................................................................................... 19
Research questions ............................................................................................................................... 20
Gaps in current research ..................................................................................................................... 20
Document structure ............................................................................................................................. 21
2. Historical review of climate sensitive design in Australia and India ............................................. 22
2.1 City ................................................................................................................................................... 23
Pre-colonial era ................................................................................................................................. 23
Colonial era ....................................................................................................................................... 25
Post-colonial era ............................................................................................................................... 28
Section summary .................................................................................................................................. 30
2.2 Neighbourhood .............................................................................................................................. 30
Pre-colonial era ................................................................................................................................. 31
Colonial era ....................................................................................................................................... 33
Post-colonial era ............................................................................................................................... 36
Section summary .................................................................................................................................. 37
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2.3 Street ................................................................................................................................................ 38
Pre-colonial era ................................................................................................................................. 38
Colonial era ....................................................................................................................................... 39
Post-colonial era ............................................................................................................................... 40
Section summary .................................................................................................................................. 42
Summary: Climate sensitive design elements ................................................................................... 42
3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 45
Theoretical perspective ........................................................................................................................ 46
Reinforcement and Lock-in ........................................................................................................... 47
Technical path dependence ............................................................................................................ 47
Institutional path dependence ........................................................................................................ 47
Discursive path dependence ........................................................................................................... 47
Case-study settings ............................................................................................................................... 48
Selecting countries for comparison ............................................................................................... 49
Brisbane ............................................................................................................................................. 51
Nagpur ............................................................................................................................................... 51
Data collection and analysis ................................................................................................................ 52
Study limitations ................................................................................................................................... 55
4. Findings 1 .............................................................................................................................................. 56
Brisbane policy agenda ........................................................................................................................ 56
Draft Brisbane CityShape 2026 ..................................................................................................... 56
Brisbane Long Term Infrastructure Plan (BLTIP) 2012-2031 ................................................. 57
Brisbane’s future blueprint (shared vision): eight principles and forty actions to guide our
city’s next exciting chapter .............................................................................................................. 57
Creating Places for People: an urban design protocol for Australian cities ............................ 58
Queensland Development Code Mandatory Part 4.1—Sustainable buildings guideline ...... 58
ShapingSEQ South East Queensland Regional Plan 2017 ........................................................ 59
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Outer Urban Public Transport: Improving accessibility in lower-density areas (October
2018) by Infrastructure Australia ................................................................................................... 59
Nagpur policy agenda .......................................................................................................................... 59
Smart Cities Mission (Government of India Ministry of Urban Development, June, 2015) 59
Nagpur Metropolitan Area Development Plan 2012-2032 ....................................................... 60
5. Findings 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 61
Building design interventions ............................................................................................................. 61
Climate sensitive urban design ........................................................................................................... 65
Open spaces .......................................................................................................................................... 68
Transport ............................................................................................................................................... 73
Urban form and compactness ............................................................................................................ 78
Urban green infrastructure .................................................................................................................. 80
Water bodies ......................................................................................................................................... 84
6. Discussion: Barriers to climate sensitive design ............................................................................... 87
Interventions that slip between the cracks between planning policies and building codes ....... 87
Short term gain vs. long term policy.................................................................................................. 88
Key role of local governing bodies .................................................................................................... 89
Fragmented policy documents ........................................................................................................... 90
Incentives for developers, professionals and end users .................................................................. 90
7. Policy Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 92
8. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 93
Recommendations for future research .............................................................................................. 94
References .................................................................................................................................................. 96
Appendices ............................................................................................................................................... 104
Appendix 1: Classification of historic periods .................................................................................... 106
Appendix 2: Classification of climate zones ....................................................................................... 107
Appendix 3: Questionnaire for focus group discussion / personal interviews. ............................ 110
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Appendix 4: Grouping and regrouping of climate sensitive urban design interventions ............. 111
Initial grouping of the climate sensitive urban design interventions .......................................... 111
Regrouping of the climate sensitive urban design interventions ................................................. 113
Appendix 5: Final Ethical Clearance .................................................................................................... 115
Appendix 6: Publication resulting from thesis ................................................................................... 116
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 116
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List of Tables
Table 1: Document structure .................................................................................................................. 21
Table 2: Matrix of literature review ........................................................................................................ 22
Table 3: List of climate sensitive urban design interventions as consolidated by the present
researcher from the literature study. ...................................................................................................... 42
Table 4: Modified list of present research specific climate sensitive urban design interventions . 43
Table 5: Comprehensive list of climate sensitive urban design interventions for analysis............. 54
Table 6: Initial grouping ......................................................................................................................... 112
Table 7: After regrouping of climate sensitive urban design interventions .................................... 114
List of Figures
Figure 1: Expansion of Nagpur under the Gond rule and an example of local architecture (NIT,
2012) ........................................................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 2: Expansion of Nagpur under Bhonsle rule (NIT, 2012). .................................................... 25
Figure 3: Brisbane, 1839, at the end of the convict era (Holthouse, 1982) ...................................... 26
Figure 4: Expansion of Nagpur under the Colonial Rule (1854-1947) (Nagpur Improvement
Trust, 2015) ................................................................................................................................................ 27
Figure 5: Map of the city of Brisbane (1907). ....................................................................................... 28
Figure 6: Post-independence expansion of Nagpur up to c2000 (NIT, 2015). ............................... 29
Figure 7: Spatial organisation in a camp of Aboriginal people........................................................... 31
Figure 8: Aboriginal camp ....................................................................................................................... 32
Figure 9: Settlements in pre-colonial India ........................................................................................... 32
Figure 10: Step well at Nandanvan, Nagpur ......................................................................................... 33
Figure 11: View of South Brisbane from the town hall c.1895. ......................................................... 34
Figure 12: Kamptee cantonment. ........................................................................................................... 35
Figure 13: Civil Lines, Nagpur ................................................................................................................ 35
Figure 14: Eight mile plains. .................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 15: Suman vihar, Nagpur. ............................................................................................................ 37
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Figure 16: Streets in pre-colonial Nagpur. ............................................................................................ 38
Figure 17: Gond houses (left) and Wadas (Bhonsle) houses (right) (Girhe, 2004). ........................ 39
Figure 18: Queen Street before the great fire. ...................................................................................... 39
Figure 19: Adelaide Street, Brisbane. ..................................................................................................... 41
Figure 20: Streets of Nagpur. .................................................................................................................. 42
Figure 21: Research methodology flowchart ........................................................................................ 45
Figure 22: Comparison chart for Brisbane and Nagpur ...................................................................... 50
Figure 23: Colonial architecture in Nagpur (High court). ................................................................... 52
Figure 24: “12 broadly agreed principles for quality urban places in Australia” (Infrastructure
Australia, 2011) .......................................................................................................................................... 58
Figure 25: Illustrative list of “smart solutions” ..................................................................................... 60
Figure 26: “Refund of premiums charged to owners for new construction projects” ................... 63
Figure 27: Typical mud house at Nagpur .............................................................................................. 64
Figure 28: Typical section through foundation .................................................................................... 64
Figure 29: Typical section through super-structure. ............................................................................ 65
Figure 30: Vertical garden on metro pillars at Nagpur ........................................................................ 68
Figure 31: Pocket park in Kenmore, Brisbane. .................................................................................... 69
Figure 32: King George Square, Brisbane. ............................................................................................ 70
Figure 33: Central Avenue with recessed colonnades acting as shaded walkways .......................... 71
Figure 34: Shop buildings at Gandhi Bagh Market with projected first floor for shaded walkways
..................................................................................................................................................................... 72
Figure 35: Kasturchand Park Nagpur. ................................................................................................... 72
Figure 36: Map of TransLink busway network. ................................................................................... 73
Figure 37: Ideal footpaths of Brisbane. ................................................................................................. 75
Figure 38: Condition of footpaths due to non-maintenance .............................................................. 76
Figure 39: Springfield project brochure ................................................................................................. 82
Figure 40: Thornthwaite moisture derived climate types .................................................................. 108
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Figure 41: The Koppen climate classification scheme ...................................................................... 109
List of Abbreviations used in the thesis
ABCB: Australian Building Codes Board
BCC: Brisbane City Council
CSUD: Climate Sensitive Urban Design
EPC: Environmental Planning Collaborative (India)
FGD: Focus Group Discussion
GHG’s: Green House Gases
HAP: Heat Action Plan
HI approach: Historical Institutionalist approach
ITDP: Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (India)
LDA: Local Development Authorities
NBC: National Building Code of India
NIT: Nagpur Improvement Trust
NMC: Nagpur Municipal Corporation
POS: Public Open Space
TPR: Town Planning Review
RMIT: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
UHI effect: Urban Heat Island effect
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Glossary
Colonialism: “Colonialism refers to that form of intergroup domination in which settlers in
significant numbers migrate permanently to the colony from the colonizing power” (Horvath,
1972).
Imperialism: “Imperialism is a form of intergroup domination wherein few, if any, permanent
settlers from the imperial homeland migrate to the colony” (Horvath, 1972).
Urban green infrastructure: “The biological resources in urban areas that are human-modified
and primarily serve an overt ecological function’ and which are ‘intentionally designed and
deployed primarily for widespread public use and benefit” (Matthews et al., 2015).
Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect: “Urban areas become significantly warmer than surrounding
areas when there is less green cover and more hard surfaces which absorb, store and radiate
heat” (Government) (https://climatechange.environment.nsw.gov.au/Impacts-of-climate-
change/Heat/Urban-heat).
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1. Introduction
“Urban design occurs across all parts of a city, from the inner city to the suburbs and outer
metropolitan fringe” (Infrastructure Australia, 2011). “Urban design is concerned with the
arrangement, appearance and function of suburbs, towns and cities”. “It is both a process and an
outcome of creating localities in which people live and engage with each other, and the physical
place around them” (Infrastructure Australia, 2011). Historically urban design has evolved as a
response to social, cultural and climatic needs of the humankind. The knowledge about planning
and design of the dwellings and settlements was culturally intrinsic and was appropriate for those
people living in that place at that time (Rudofsky, 1987). This is well reflected in the vernacular
settlements of India and aboriginal settlements of Australia as well (which is detailed out later in
the literature review).
If the buildings don’t interact with “external environment” then such buildings depend on the
mechanical ventilation and the internal environment is artificially controlled. This requires
considerable energy (Vyas, 2005). Today the planning and design professionals around the world
are aware that enclosed glass boxes cannot be built in any part of the world without considering
the local climate conditions (Ribeiro et al., 2008). Urban design has to respond to the local
“climate conditions, seasonal variations and climate change” and urban developments should be
planned and designed accordingly “Urban ‘climate-sensitive’ design is defined as a process that
considers the fundamental elements of microclimates (e.g., sun, wind, temperature) for design
purposes” (Tapias and Schmitt, 2014). This approach is important because it uses the micro-
climate for the benefit of planning climate sensitive urban environments. Climate sensitive urban
design aims to use passive design strategies to create human comfort conditions in the built
environment and urban green infrastructure to design outdoor spaces that encourage residents to
venture out and also help in retention and absorption of rain water which helps in “reducing the
Urban Heat Island effect” (Armour et al., 2014).
The purpose of this research is to study the urban design interventions from the planning and
design strategies of the past, examine their relevance in the present context and enquire their
inclusion and implementation in policies and regulations pertaining to climate change in built
environment.
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Study Scope
This research looks at the urban design in Brisbane and Nagpur in pre-colonial, colonial and
post-colonial era. The aim is to probe whether there is any likeness in the urban design
interventions used during these different eras and to learn lessons from the past regarding
climate responsive urban design. In the present time policies and regulations pertaining to built
environment are constantly evolving to accommodate climate change. Urban design
professionals are embracing and implementing these policies and regulations to arrive a climate
sensitive design solutions (Carter et al., 2015). But at the same time they might experience path
dependence (explained in brief before ‘research questions’ and in detail in ‘Theoretical
perspective’) and other barriers. These barriers are studied in this research to understand the
barriers that can deter smoother implementation of climate sensitive urban design interventions.
This research is carried out as transnational comparative study. Healey (2011) says that
transnational comparative studies involves research of local planning solutions and also looking
for data and planning solutions from different places and situations. He further says that
although planning solutions can be time and place specific but comparative studies are needed to
engage with the planning solutions developed in the other developing and developed nations, to
“develop the critical antennae with which to identify and assess the potentials in evolving modes
of policy thought and practices in different contexts”(Healey, 2013). According to McFarlane
(2010) comparative research is not just to compare and distinguish spaces or processes, but it
also helps to understand the existence and evolution of cities and the theoretical framework used
for comparative research can create new debate and pose new questions around the existing
understanding of the facts. Bulkeley (2006) states that “best practices for urban sustainability are
being constructed by a wide range of governmental networks, involving various combinations of
state and non-state actors, in national and international arenas” (Bulkeley, 2006).
The research is done as a comparison between Brisbane and Nagpur due to following reasons:
Researcher’s familiarity with both the cities.
Both the cities have similar climate conditions (discussed later in ‘Methodology’), and thus
deal with similar climate challenges while designing their urban built environment.
Both the cities have a history of colonial occupation. Thus, both the cities exhibit distinct
planning and urban design styles such as pre-colonial (ethnic or vernacular), colonial and
post-colonial (modern).
If Brisbane and Nagpur have above said similarities there are many differences as well:
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Nagpur has higher population density (“the population density of the city is 11,000 persons
per sq. km” (Census, 2011)) as compared to Brisbane (most densely populated area in
Greater Brisbane was New Farm with 6,500 people per sq. km (abs, 2015).
Nagpur is an emerging city under the smart cities mission on the other hand Brisbane is a
developed city.
Although this is a transnational comparative study the present researcher is fully mindful that the
concepts of urban design can be deeply rooted in cultural settings but at the same time it can
impart invaluable insights into local practices, policy making and implementation from other
places and valuable lessons can be learnt (Booth, 2011).
This research pertains to the climate sensitive and sustainable development of urban areas and
would be useful to researchers and professionals involved in the planning and design of urban
settlements.
Theoretical Lens
This research is conducted “through the lens of path dependence theory” (Bhoge et al., 2019).
“Path dependence is a dynamic theory assuming that initial events can increasingly restrain
present and future choices” (Koch et al., 2009). Thus, this research uses the concept of path
dependence to understand whether there are any events in the past that are restraining our
present decisions regarding inclusion and implementation of the climate change policies.
The origins of path dependence lie neither in planning and public policy nor “in the humanities”
but in the “social sciences” and “economics” in particular (Booth, 2011). “Path dependence was
initially developed as an economic theory by Arthur (1989) and David (1985) to explain how a
particular technology can gain an advantage over another based on chance events” (Hensley et
al., 2014b). Low and Astle (2009), state that path-dependence is a “self-reinforcing mechanism”
which suggests use of existing process or technology even if a better option is available. Gains et
al. (2005) opine that path dependence is sought out as a solution for increasing returns by the
theorists but these returns may not be as enhanced as expected but this tool can be certainly used
to change a system and gain more stability after reaching the “tipping point”.
Path dependence is applicable across so many disciplines because it does seem to offer a logical
explanation as to why and how present decisions can be influenced by past, historical events
(Booth, 2011).
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This theory of path dependence is discussed in detail in ‘theoretical perspective’ in Chapter 3 of
“Methodology”. Also, this theory will be used to answer research question 2: Can the principle
of path dependence be applied to this research on climate sensitive urban design interventions?
Research questions
The important research questions that are addressed in this research are:
Research question 1: What are the various barriers that the urban design professionals face while
implementing climate sensitive urban design interventions in their projects?
Research question 2: Can the principle of path dependence be applied to this research on climate
sensitive urban design interventions?
Research question 3: Are there similarities in climate related problems in the case study cities,
and if so, can they learn from each other?
Sub-question: These are the main questions that are addressed in the present research. But as the
research developed one sub-question emerged: Are traditional climate sensitive urban design
interventions still valid and practical in modern times?
Gaps in current research
Sustainable and climate friendly built environment can be achieved through climate sensitive
urban design. Climate sensitive urban design is being researched all over the globe to find climate
appropriate solutions for different climate zones. Present researcher during her own research has
come across research by Chapman et al. (2018) on winter settlements, while Dursun and Yavas
(2015) have specifically studied Turkey for cold climate zone. Ebrahimabadi et al. (2015) have
researched subarctic climates and Koerniawana and Gao (2015) have studied hot-humid
climates. Location specific research includes Djukic et al. (2016) research on Serbia and
Kusumastuty et al. (2018) research on Jakarta. Also research has been carried out on other
aspects of climate sensitive urban design. For example, Yahia and Johansson (2013) have worked
on current planning regulations in climate sensitive urban design and Chu et al. (2017) have
worked on Wind Environment for Pedestrians in Taiwan.
Brisbane specific research on climate sensitive urban design include research by Kozlowski and
Yusof (2016). Research has also been carried out for Brisbane in other related subject area of
water sensitive urban design.
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Research has been carried out on various climate aspects in Nagpur. Research done by
Chaturvedi et al. (2013) highlights the importance of management and distribution of greenery in
Nagpur. Kotharkar and Bagde have evaluated the urban heat island in Nagpur city. Rising
temperatures in Nagpur have been studied by Dhorde et al. (2017). Etchie et al. (2017) have
studied rising air pollution in Nagpur.
Thus, specific research concentrating on climate sensitive urban design from past to future has
not been carried out for both the cities.
The concept of path dependence has been studied in different urban design aspects and contexts
in Australia. For example: in active transport in Australia by Hensley et al. (2014a), in public
transport in South East Queensland by Nassir et al. (2016) and in green infrastructure by
Matthews et al (2015).
Brisbane specific study is carried out by Melville and Minnery (2015), where they have studied
Brisbane’s tram system.
Application of the concept of path dependence, specifically to climate sensitive urban design has
not been done for Brisbane as yet.
Concept of path dependence has been studied by researchers in Indian context in various fields
such as: politics by Subrahmanyam (2006) and Mitra (2013), software industry by D'Costa (2002),
forestry by Kant and Berry (1999), water purification technology by Talat and Bhaduri (2017),
natural disasters by Ghimire (2018) and agriculture by Chhetri et al. (2010). Specific research
pertaining to climate sensitive urban design has not been carried out either in the context of
India or Nagpur.
This is first specific study pertaining to path dependence in climate sensitive urban design for both Brisbane and Nagpur.
Document structure
The structure of the document is illustrated below:
Table 1: Document structure
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2. Historical review of climate sensitive design in Australia and India
The following literature review has been carried out for three periods in the history of Australia
and India i.e. pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. The identification of these three different
periods is necessary to give a structure to the research. The fact is, concepts and practices of
urban design don’t abruptly end with a period but continue to evolve in the next period as well.
Thus, overlapping and continuity of one period can be observed into other periods. Since the
research is about urban design tools to mitigate climate change the literature review has been
split into three levels i.e. city, neighbourhood and street. The matrix of this literature review is
presented in the table below.
Table 2: Matrix of literature review
Source: Author
City level
Australia Pre-colonial Colonial Post-colonial
India Pre-colonial Colonial Post-colonial
Neighbourhood level
Australia Pre-colonial Colonial Post-colonial
India Pre-colonial Colonial Post-colonial
Street level
Australia Pre-colonial Colonial Post-colonial
India Pre-colonial Colonial Post-colonial
Australia: In case of Australia data related to Brisbane is utilized. “Brisbane is in climate zone 2
(Warm humid summer, mild winter)” as per ABCB.
India: In case of India data related to Nagpur is utilized. “Nagpur is in composite climate zone
(Warm humid summer, mild winter)” as per NBC.
Since the study is based on specific eras in history, it is very important to understand their
occurrence. While defining these eras for Brisbane, the present researcher came across many
variations in the time periods of the eras. Many historians and researchers have defined the time
periods of the Brisbane history. These are explained in Appendix 2. After a great deal of research
and deliberation and with lot of invaluable help from UQ Librarian Cathy Bauer, this research
will follow the following period classification.
Brisbane:
Pre-contact (Pre-colonial) Before 1824
Colonial 1824 – 1890
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Post-colonial – after 1890
Though to some this classification might seem over-simplified, but this is used only to facilitate
this research, which otherwise was getting a bit complicated.
Nagpur:
The period classification for Nagpur is as follows:
Precolonial till 1853
Colonial 1853 – 1947
Post-colonial (Post-independence) 1947 - present
2.1 City
In the literature review for cities, the aim is to understand the climate sensitive aspects used in
city planning from pre-colonial to post-colonial era.
Pre-colonial era
In simple terms pre-colonial era is pertaining to a historical period before colonisation.
“Colonialism refers to that form of intergroup domination in which settlers in significant
numbers migrate permanently to the colony from the colonizing power” (Horvath, 1972).
Australia
It has already been proven that Aboriginal people “have been living in Australia for at least
40,000 years, and probably longer” (NMA, 2001). Convict settlement in Brisbane was established
in 1824. Thus, the period before 1824 can be termed as pre-contact (pre-colonial for this
research) period.
In the pre-colonial or pre-contact Australia, the Aboriginal people did not specify areas as cities
but habitat types. “Most groups had access to a range of habitat types: rainfall communities,
open forest and woodland, coastal land systems, marine systems, lagoons, both freshwater and
saltwater riverine and creek habitats” (Memmott, 2007).
Aboriginal people were hunter-gatherers. They stayed at one place till the resources at that place
could support them. Then leave that place and come back again when it has resources to support
them. Thus, their approach towards their habitat was natural ecological balance and sustainability
and not over exploitation.
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India
Nagpur was founded at the beginning of 18th century by the Gond king Bakhta Buland. Till 1738
Nagpur was ruled by Gond Kings. From 1738 to 1853 Nagpur was ruled by Bhosla kings. In
1853 British annexed Nagpur (Census, 2011). Thus, Nagpur’s pre-colonial era is from beginning
of 18th century till 1853. Thus two kingdoms are studied in Nagpur’s pre-colonial period.
The “Gond Kingdom was divided into five main dynasties, namely Mandla, Garha, Kherla,
Deogarh and Chanda. Each of these was further divided into parganahs (small estates or cluster of
villages)”. Since agriculture was the main occupation water management was very crucial for
Gonds. Reservoirs were built for irrigating the land. In order to “increase people’s interest in
building tanks, it was also a practice of Gond rulers to grant revenue or free land to anyone who
built an irrigation project” (Vishwasrao, 2010).
Figure 1: Expansion of Nagpur under the Gond rule and an example of local architecture (NIT, 2012)
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The rule of Raghojirao III was the most prosperous time for the city of Nagpur. During his reign
numerous water tanks, suburban royal gardens and fruit gardens were developed, which were
designed to serve as open spaces for environment and social purposes (Vishwasrao, 2010).
“Recreational spaces such as the Telangkhedi garden and Maharajbaug were also designed”
(Nagpur District Gazetteer).
Figure 2: Expansion of Nagpur under Bhonsle rule (NIT, 2012).
Colonial era
When British arrived in Australia and India, they applied town planning principles, which gave
rise to some important features. The British applied a similar model to colonial cities. Thus,
similarities can be noted in Brisbane’s and Nagpur’s colonial planning. “A policy of deliberate
urbanization”, “the town planned and laid out in advance of the settlement, wide streets in grid-
iron form” (Bunker, 1998), public squares, standard sized, rectangular and spacious plots (Home,
2013), “plots reserved for public purposes and a physical distinction between town and country
(usually green belt)(Home, 1997)” (Miller and Gurran, 2012). These concepts were developed to
ensure openness, air circulation and thus to avoid diseases.
26
Australia
Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, was founded in 1824 as a jail for ‘the worst type of felons’.
Officially it was generally referred to as the Moreton Bay Settlement, and it was not until after
convict times that the name Brisbane Town, and later Brisbane, came into general use. The initial
convict settlement consisted of a wharf, Commandant’s cottage, military barracks, slab huts to
house the convicts, big slab barn for the stores, blacksmith’s forge and brick kiln. Later windmill
and commissariat store were added (Holthouse, 1982). Large gardens were developed to grow
fruits to provide food to the population.
In 1842 Brisbane was declared open for free settlement. Henry Wade’s plan for Brisbane Town
in 1942 was a system of rectangular blocks aligned with a straightened out Queen Street. It
included broad streets (about twenty-eight metres wide), several town squares and a drive
running along the river from the lower end of Queen Street to New Farm. Sir George Gipps,
Governor of New South Wales, reduced the street widths to about twenty metres (Holthouse,
1982). Botanic Gardens were originally conceived by Henry Wade as old Government Gardens
and are one of the few open spaces that have remained undisturbed.
Figure 3: Brisbane, 1839, at the end of the convict era (Holthouse, 1982)
27
In 1864 due to a fire, many old wooden houses in the middle of the town were burnt down. The
town centre was rebuilt in brick (Gough, 1984). “The first bit of legislation in Queensland that
had planning implications was the Undue Subdivision of Land Prevention Act 1885. Although
this was promoted as a public health and anti-slum measure, by mandating a minimum lot size of
16 perches (404 m²) and a minimum frontage of 30 feet (10 metres) this legislation spelt the end
of terrace housing in Queensland and some commentators make the point that it was the
beginning of urban sprawl” (Davis, 2011).
From “D’Aguitar massif and its spur, the Taylor Range, a series of ridges and low hills run down
from the west into Brisbane”. “The summits of these hills and ridges were long favoured by the
elite of the city for their residences”. “The hilltops benefited from breezes which made the sultry
summer months easier to bear” (Hamnett, 1984).
India
Figure 4: Expansion of Nagpur under the Colonial Rule (1854-1947) (Nagpur Improvement Trust, 2015)
The main events pertaining to planning during the colonial era:
Relocation of Bagadganj, Bazonbaug, Pachpauli area due to plague
Establishment of Civil lines and Seminar hills for British residences
Sitabuldi suburb was developed for British army personnel
Well defined land use pattern
(Geddes, 1917)
28
“Consciousness for planned city development was raised by Sir Patrick Geddes, who visited the
city in 1915” (Nagpur Improvement Trust, 2015) (CRISIL, 2015). Sir Patrick Geddes paid a
three days visit to Nagpur in October 1915, along with his colleague, Mr. H. V. Lanchester.
From his report “Town Planning in Nagpur- A report to the municipal council” (1917) Nagpur
seems to be plague ridden and generally unhygienic conditions seem to prevail. The city has
some very congested streets and commercial centres. The following salient recommendations for
city planning are included by Sir Patrick Geddes in his report:
The city is to be planned on the ‘Garden City’ principle.
Reduce congestion to bring in fresh air and breeze to combat the disease.
Revitalize the water bodies because they offer open areas, fresh breezes and active social life.
The city should have vacant/open spaces as play, market and social area.
Post-colonial era
Australia
“The ‘Congress of Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, And Members of Allied Professions’ held in
Melbourne in May 1901 was the first conference on post-colonial town planning staged in
Australia” (Freestone, 2014). In 1916, in Brisbane, the City of Brisbane Improvement Act (1916)
was passed.
Figure 5: Map of the city of Brisbane (1907).
29
Source: https://gisservices.information.qld.gov.au/arcgis/rest/directories/historicalscans/cad_scans/cad-map-8chain-brisbane-
and-suburbs-sh11-1907.jpg
In 1928, Brisbane City Council’s town planner William Earle drafted a metropolitan plan that
features an agricultural belt as a frame for the city. This was consistent with the Garden city
movement that was taking place all over Australia. In 1960’s planners started feeling the threat to
the human scale posed by massive new roads and tall buildings. Colin Buchanan declared in 1964
in Melbourne that the car had killed the streets (Freestone, 2014).
“The Local Government (Planning and Environment) Act 1990 was enacted in April 1991”. The
“word ‘environment’ in the name of the Act allowed for an acceleration of the importance of the
environment in planning which was to follow”. Due to the Integrated Planning Act 1997 (IPA),
“planning schemes in Queensland now had a purpose rather than a definition” and that was
ecological sustainability (Davis, 2011).
India
Figure 6: Post-independence expansion of Nagpur up to c2000 (NIT, 2015).
“Nagpur is several times larger than other settlements of the district and serves as political,
economic and social hub of the entire Nagpur district”. Many “administrative and educational
30
institutions” are also concentrated in the city and Nagpur also enjoys central location in India
which is easily accessible by various modes of transport from all over India. The increasing
importance of Nagpur is also “due to its strategic location”. Thus, Nagpur is experiencing
increased migration but infrastructure is not able to keep pace with the growth and is falling
inadequate. Increased migration has resulted in accommodating the population in already of the
population in the crowded parts of the city, “emergence of high-rise buildings”, destruction of
green areas and encroachment of open areas, disorderly and increased “urban sprawl” and
disorganised development (Bhonsle, 2010).
“Nagpur launched Heat Action Plans in March 2016 in anticipation of upcoming severe
summer, Heat health issues arise once temperatures exceed a certain comfort zone. There is
consistent and extensive evidence of heat risks to health” (Taru and CDKN, 2016).
Section summary
Though Brisbane and Nagpur both were developed by British but both were developed
differently owing to the fact that Brisbane was the convict settlement, thus types of buildings
built consisted of barracks, jails, residences, stores etc. On the other hand Nagpur was almost
developed as a military outpost and held a crucial position because of its geographical location.
Thus, military cantonments were developed in and around the main city. When “Nagpur was”
made “the capital of CP (Central Provinces) and Berar” (NIT, 2015) its political importance
increased and then Civil Lines area emerged in the planning of Nagpur which was a residential
area planned separately specifically for British officers.
2.2 Neighbourhood
In the literature review for the neighbourhood level, the aim is to understand the climate
sensitive aspects used in neighbourhood planning from pre-colonial to post-colonial era. For the
cities to be “considered sustainable” then their neighbourhoods have to meet sustainability
criteria as well. For a neighbourhood to be “environmentally sustainable”, it needs “parks and
“other green spaces” within a walkable distance for its residents. Schools and other amenities
should also be within walkable distance to reduce the automobile trips and reduce the vehicle
emissions (Choguill, 2008).
31
Pre-colonial era
Australia
The Aboriginal people set up their camps depending on several factors like availability of food
and water, the country and the season. Camp size varied as well and could accommodate more
than hundred people and could be occupied for a day or for several seasons. The important
environmental factor for selection of a particular site for setting up a camp was “absence of
ground features that obstructed air flow”(Memmott, 2007). According to the anthropologist A.P.
Elkin, in his work “The Australian Aborigines” published in 1948, the knowledge regarding the
“use of the land and the establishment of camps” has been traditionally “passed down from
generation to generation from the ancestors”. Steele (1983) in his book “The explorers of the
Moreton Bay district, 1770-1830” has mentioned that the narrative of three castaways
(Pamphlett, Parsons and Finnegan) “give a glimpse of pre-contact settlement patterns around the
Moreton Bay” (O’Rourke, 2013). “The castaways encountered at least five camps of between
three and six huts along a distance of about ten kilometres” (O’Rourke, 2013). Petrie (1904)
further suggests that “The spatial organization of camps at intergroup gatherings follows a
pattern that is similar across the continent” (O’Rourke, 2013). According to Petrie (1904) “the
boys or ‘kippas’ had their camps made some six hundred yards from the others, and when these
were occupied, several old men were left in charge and old, helpless people were especially well
looked after” (O’Rourke, 2013).
Figure 7: Spatial organisation in a camp of Aboriginal people
Source: (Memmott, 2007)
32
Thus, it can be seen here that the camps of the Aboriginal people had environmental
considerations, spatial organization and every unit of the community was taken care of.
According to O’Rourke (2013) “the campsites” were quite important for the settlements of
Aboriginal people but there is not enough data to conclude that they were “permanent villages in
the European sense” and also quality and quantity of “historical data” is limited.
Figure 8: Aboriginal camp
Source: Memmott (2007)
India
“The concept of neighbourhood is well defined in Nagpur in terms of its physical territory due
to homogenous character as they belong to the traditional setting. These neighbourhoods have
evolved over a period of time having homogeneity based on same occupation, caste and class
and are termed as ‘vetal’” (Kotharkar and Deshpande, 2012). A typical neighbourhood has open
spaces, community centre and shared well (Kotharkar and Deshpande, 2012).
Figure 9: Settlements in pre-colonial India
Source: (Kotharkar and Deshpande, 2012)
33
Step wells can be defined as water sources such as wells or ponds in “which water may be
accessed by descending a flight of steps” (Amirthalingam, 2015). These wells may often be
enclosed and protected and may contain many intriguing architectural designs (Amirthalingam,
2015).
The stepwell is constructed using stone masonry. It was for water conservation and for
encouraging social life. The underground part of the step well offers a place of relief from hot
sun outside (Documentation cell, 2015).
Figure 10: Step well at Nandanvan, Nagpur
Source: (Documentation cell, 2015)
During the Bhonsle kingdom there were many specialized services such as administration and
defence and commercial activities such as agriculture and cottage industries, on a large scale and
these stimulated the city development on the basis of neighbourhood units. The neighbourhood
units were classified according to the community.
Colonial era
Australia
“The garden was as important a feature of the suburb as the cottage or villa and the ideal suburb
attempted, in its planning and architecture, to evoke something of the peace and solitude of the
countryside” (Low, 2015). Captain Phillip promoted 'the free circulation of air' and kept
34
“building blocks large and streets wide” (Davison, 1993). Also “according to the medical science
of the day, there was a direct relationship between death rates and the density of the urban
environment” (Davison, 1993).
Figure 11: View of South Brisbane from the town hall c.1895. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Brisbane_Town_Hall
India
The neighbourhoods observed in Nagpur during the colonial area can be divided into three
types:
Cantonment (military camp)
Civil Lines (residences for British officials)
The neighbourhoods of the native Indians (still evolving organically, and haunted by
plague due to insanitary conditions and overall neglect)
British cantonments were the military camps, and complete, self-contained communities. The
quarters were divided into Indian and European. Such military camps were usually situated in the
outskirts of the main city (Home, 1997).
For example, “Kamptee is an outer suburb of Nagpur just 17 kms NE from the city centre”.
“Kamptee or Kampthi as it is now known was founded in 1821 when the British established a
military cantonment on the banks of the Kanhan River just below the confluence with the Pench
35
and Kolar rivers”. “The cantonment was developed as a European town, whose main house type
was the bungalow” (Chaubey, 2015).
Figure 12: Kamptee cantonment.
During the colonial era after the mutiny of 1857 British moved away from the city to the ‘Civil
Lines’ that the British Raj had developed it for accommodating offices. It also has very few
private bungalows and wide, tree-lined streets and vistas (Nagpur District Gazetter) .
Figure 13: Civil Lines, Nagpur
Source:https://www.justdial.com/photos/nagpur-flying-club-civil-lines-nagpur-flying-clubs-2rui0yy-pc-40585547-sco-45mxhenx
During the survey of Nagpur city Geddes (1917) found that neighbourhood planning is not
followed. A neighbourhood of brick makers is near a water body and in vicinity to the other
neighbourhoods. The acrid fumes from this neighbourhood are spreading air pollution to other
36
areas and also the run-off from the brick making activities is possibly polluting the nearby water
body. The following salient recommendations for neighbourhood planning are included by Sir
Patrick Geddes in his report (Geddes, 1917).
The relocation of brick makers’ neighbourhood to a not very far but vacant and
unoccupied land, thus, some congestion can be relieved.
Some houses can be built in the place of relocated neighbourhood.
Each neighbourhood to get a centre of its own.
Neighbourhoods should be sunny and breezy.
Betterment of neighbourhood can be brought about by planting more trees.
Post-colonial era
Australia
“The creation of suburbs was a defining preoccupation of Australian society in the 20th century”
(Davison, 2006). “Somewhere in the order of 70 per cent of Australia’s population, now live in
suburban environments” (Salt, 2003). The increase in the suburban way of life in the Australian
cities was further supported by the further increase in the “private motorised transport from
1945 to 1975” (Davison, 2004). “Thus Australia has emerged as an urban sprawl due to her
suburban growth” (Davison, 2006). “Rising energy costs and environmental pollution, near-
bankrupt public transportation systems, a widening gap between house prices and affordable
home loans – are threatening the suburbs”. “State and federal governments are committed to
policies of urban consolidation rather than dispersal” (Davison, 1995).
Figure 14: Eight mile plains. Source: couriermail.com.au
37
India
Figure 15: Suman vihar, Nagpur.
Source: https://www.quikr.com/homes/project/panchvati-suman-vihar+kamptee-road+nagpur+135320
In the post-independence India, “population started migrating from dense city core to the
outskirts of the city”. “The migration of families from the core to the outskirts created a change
in land-use from residential to commercial”. “The neighbourhoods which were based on social
and cultural commonalities started diminishing due to change in occupation and economy”
(Kotharkar and Deshpande, 2012).
Suman Vihar is a neighbourhood situated on Kamptee Road, Nagpur. Salient features include
plantations on road side, on-site vegetation and open spaces in the form of landscaped areas and
playground.
Section summary
As pointed out by O’Rourke (2013) during the pre-contact period the Aboriginal people might
not have had the concept of neighbourhood in the strict European sense but they do display
environmental considerations, spatial organisation and community sense in the design of their
camps.
38
2.3 Street
In the literature review for ‘Streets’, the aim is to understand the climate sensitive aspects used in
street planning from pre-colonial to post-colonial era. “Streets occupy approximately 20 percent
of the total land area in a typical city” (Kost and Nohn, 2011). They are present everywhere and
are very significant. While they can be and should be designed as a public space, the streets are
now merely reduced to channels to carry vehicles. Streets can be designed as a public space
where people “walk, talk, cycle, shop” and also use as a space for socializing which is very
important for vibrant and healthy cities (Kost and Nohn, 2011). “Streetscape is the term given to
the collective appearance of all buildings, footpaths, gardens and landscaping along a street”.
“The streetscape is the visual identity of a neighbourhood and plays an important role in
facilitating interaction between residents and creating a community” (BMCC, 2005).
Pre-colonial era
Australia
Somewhere on the Atherton Tablelands (possibly in “current vicinity of Herberton), another
explorer, James Mulligan, encountered pathways in the rainforest during June 1875”. The track
was “right between the range of hills and the scrub”. “There were roads off the main track to
each of the aboriginal townships, which consisted of well thatched gunyahs, big enough to hold
five or six people” (Ferrier, 2015). The present researcher did not come across any climate
related consideration for these aboriginal tracks; the most important issue being visibility. The
emphasis was being able to get an early warning about approaching strangers without being seen.
India
Characteristics of streets from this period include: narrow, winding paths rather than streets,
beaten paths rather than paved roads, few paved roads, road-side markets, spillage of trade
related activities onto the streets and presence of street trees to provide shade (Narad and Gupta,
2014).
Figure 16: Streets in pre-colonial Nagpur. Source: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-village-settlement-houses-gond-tribe
39
Figure 17: Gond houses (left) and Wadas (Bhonsle) houses (right) (Girhe, 2004).
Colonial era
Australia
In the early convict settlement, which was established in 1824, there were no roads, only tracks
winding through the bush to link official buildings, scattered huts built by married soldiers, and
small clearings made for cultivation of fruit, vegetables and maize. According to (Holthouse,
1982) Brisbane streets were dusty and rutted and goats and pigs were allowed to roam freely on
streets. Chief surveyor Henry Wade in 1842 had proposed 28 metres wide streets which
Governor Gipps reduced to 20 metres. “In 1860’s gas and water supply came to Brisbane, but
the streets were still open sewers for house waste. The unmade roads were impassable swamps
after rain. Australian trees were seldom allowed to remain, although a few decorative English
trees were planted” (Boyd, 1952).
Figure 18: Queen Street before the great fire. Source: talesfromcolonialqueensland.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/great-fire-of-brisbane-1864.html.
40
India
In Nagpur, as is the general trend in India, commercial activities are carried out along the streets.
Geddes (1917) found these streets very congested and unhygienic. Roads were lined with
continuous houses with very little open spaces. Streets themselves were very narrow. The
following salient recommendations for street planning are included by Sir Patrick Geddes in his
report (Geddes, 1917).
Decongestion of streets
Distribution of the concentrated commercial activities.
Existing trees offer comfort from heat and breezes, thus, more trees should be planted
on the vacant/unoccupied land and also along the main roads.
Also by this time the British in India were facing resistance, riots and mutinies from local
populace in many other cities in India. “Wide straight streets removed congestion, allowed free
movement of air, imposed a sense of order, facilitated police control, and broke up densely
populated areas into manageable units” (Home, 2013).
Post-colonial era
Australia
As already stated earlier as per Kost and Nohn (2011) the streets are now merely reduced to
channels to carry vehicles, but this role needs to undergo a change because streets have other
significant purposes as well. Streets should be designed for walking and socializing. Streets can
have a simple design to have large trees and create biodiversity. Wider streets encourage walking
and cycling, a healthy relationship between streets and buildings and enough space for trees
(Mayors, 2011).
41
Figure 19: Adelaide Street, Brisbane. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_Street,_Brisban
India
“Sitabuldi is an area characterised by dense urban blocks with no green spaces and major
commercial establishment density of over 600 shops and 300 hawkers on the streets. Nagpur
Municipal Corporation (NMC) envisions to redevelop this area through increased transit
connectivity, higher density development, improved walkable block sizes, horizontal and vertical
mixed uses of land and creation of 5 minute walks (between key points in the area)” (Innovation
Centre Denmark, 2016). “NMC along with the transit oriented development of Sitabuldi has
planned for the redevelopment of Mahal through urban design interventions such as street
design, urban form guidelines and improvement of footpaths and other facilities for pedestrians
like public plazas” (Innovation Centre Denmark, 2016).
42
Figure 20: Streets of Nagpur.
Section summary
Streets in Nagpur face crowding at the moment because of lack of maintained footpaths and
absence of bicycle lanes. There is no segregation of lanes for different types of vehicles (two-
wheeler, four-wheeler, non-motorized transport, informal public transport and heavy vehicles).
Summary: Climate sensitive design elements
This chapter focusses on specific variables (climate sensitive urban design interventions obtained
from the literature review) and defines the specific viewpoint (climate sensitivity) that the
researcher will take in analysing and interpreting the data to be gathered. From the literature
review a list of urban design interventions is extracted which is presented here in a tabular form.
This list of urban design interventions forms the basis of this research.
Table 3: List of climate sensitive urban design interventions as consolidated by the present researcher from the literature study.
Climate sensitive urban design interventions City Period
City Natural ecological balance and sustainability Brisbane Pre-colonial
open spaces Nagpur,
Brisbane
Colonial
water bodies to refresh air Brisbane Colonial
wide streets Nagpur,
Brisbane
Colonial
public squares Brisbane Colonial
public spaces Brisbane Colonial
spacious plots Brisbane Colonial
ecological sustainability Brisbane Colonial
heat action plan Nagpur Post-colonial
43
decongestion of core city areas Nagpur Post-colonial
Greenery Nagpur,
Brisbane
Post-colonial
control urban sprawl and disorderly development Nagpur,
Brisbane
Post-colonial
fruit gardens Nagpur,
Brisbane
Pre-colonial
Colonial Neighbourhood Maximize air circulation Nagpur Colonial
shared community spaces Nagpur Pre-colonial
step well Nagpur Pre-colonial
defined neighbourhood units Nagpur Pre-colonial
Garden Brisbane Colonial
wide streets Nagpur,
Brisbane
Colonial
decongestion, decentralization by providing every neighbourhood its own centre
Nagpur,
Brisbane
Post-colonial
tree-lined streets Nagpur,
Brisbane
Colonial
sunny and breezy Nagpur Colonial
open spaces Brisbane,
Nagpur
Colonial
landscaped areas Brisbane,
Nagpur
Post-colonial
play grounds Brisbane,
Nagpur
Post-colonial
urban consolidation Brisbane,
Nagpur
Post-colonial
Street Trees Brisbane,
Nagpur
Colonial
wide straight streets Brisbane,
Nagpur
Colonial
Footpaths Nagpur Post-colonial
These urban design interventions have been classified and rearranged using the contemporary
contextual terms. The questionnaire that is designed for the focus group discussions and
personal interviews of the built environment professionals from Brisbane and Nagpur is based
on these ten elements.
Table 4: Modified list of present research specific climate sensitive urban design interventions
1 Urban Form “Urban form is defined as the physical characteristics that make up built-up areas, including the shape, size, density and configuration of settlements. It can be considered at different scales: regional, urban, neighbourhood, block and street” (RTPI, 2015). “The urban form reflects local climate, character and identity, and supports compact, accessible, active and healthy communities” (WBBRP, 2010).
2 Compactness “The term compact city conveys the opposite of urban sprawl” (Neuman, 2005). “Suburban sprawl has become a self-generating, self-fulfilling ‘machine’ that produces an enormous amount of mechanical movement, but is not conducive to natural human actions and needs” (Salingaros, 2006).
3 Water bodies “In urban areas, water bodies have a positive effect upon microclimate of the surroundings with the relative cooling impact it has on evaporative procedure. Hence, evaporative cooling might be one of the pretty efficient methods of passive cooling for urban spaces and buildings”. “Water bodies have also been proven to be influential methods of decreasing urban temperatures” (Manteghi et al., 2015).
4 External shaded spaces
External shaded places such as canopies in parks or park benches provide an opportunity to city dwellers to be physically active and connect with nature. Such
44
spaces can be used on most days except on severe cold and hot days.
5 Community open spaces (aka POS- Public Open Space)
“POS describes vegetated and non-vegetated land freely available to the public within the urban landscape. Vegetated areas include parks, many streetscapes, public gardens, playgrounds, sporting grounds, rivers, lakes, wetlands, conservation areas, some civic squares, community and some rooftop gardens in the public realm. (The variety of spaces included within POS means that it often includes both a mixture of hard (i.e. impervious) and soft (permeable) landscape surfaces” (Davern et al., 2017).
6 Fruit Gardens Fruit trees are a discrete, though often small, subset of urban trees. Fruit trees possess unique benefits and maintenance requirements. Fruit trees possess the same economic and ecological benefits as other urban trees but also possess the added benefit of food production aiding in the food security of an urban area. Fruit trees also have unique maintenance requirements including pollination requirements and pest management to maximize productivity and produce management to minimize damage and risk created by excess fruit (Hopkins, 2013) .
7 Step wells Step wells in India were constructed to collect and store water. In recent years India has faced water crisis which has prompted the Indian government to re-evaluate their importance in today’s scenario of climate change and fluctuating rainfall. The step wells were dug many stories and provided the vital shade during harsh summer.
8 Street trees “Street trees and plantings are essential to the liveability and beauty of our subtropical city centre. They provide shade and lower both surface and air temperatures, cooling our streets and public spaces and reducing the heat-island effect in our city. Street trees also contribute to development aesthetics and marketability” (Council, 2016).
9 Footpath Good footpaths promote safe and comfortable pedestrian mobility. Together with other elements, such as furniture and landscaping, they constitute the primary public space of a city and are accessible to all users, “regardless of age, gender, or special needs”. Good footpaths are inviting spaces where people can meet, talk, sit, and eat (Kost et al., December 2011).
10 Plants and trees as wind breaks
“A windbreak helps to slow down or divert the wind”. “A wind break helps to stabilize the temperature in the house in two ways: wind speed is reduced in winter, which keeps warm air inside the house, and shade trees in summer keep the house temperature lower, thereby lowering air-conditioning and cooling energy costs” (Lallanilla, 2018).
The thought process behind the grouping and regrouping of the climate sensitive urban design
interventions is now explained in detail in Appendix 5.
45
3. Methodology
This section studies the theoretical perspective, the case study settings, and the data collection
and analysis procedure.
Figure 21: Research methodology flowchart Source: Author
Literature review and gap finding
Climate sensitive urban design
Pre-colonial Brisbane and Nagpur
Colonial Brisbane and Nagpur
Post-colonial (modern) Brisbane and Nagpur
List of climate sensitive urban design interventions
Semi-structured questionnaire
Focus groups and personal interviews of built professionals in Brisbane and Nagpur
Document analysis of policy documents of Brisbane and Nagpur
Findings
Discussion
Conclusion and recommendations
v
v
v
Path dependence (Theoretical perspective)
46
Theoretical perspective
Path dependence is the concept that our decision making depends on our past experience and
knowledge and thus may or “may not be open to learning from the current knowledge base”
(Bhoge et al., 2019). Thus, historic lessons form a basis and affect current decision-making
scenario. With this aim in mind the literature review in done in Chapter 3. The literature review
only documents the urban design through the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras in
Brisbane and Nagpur, but the impact of the historic decisions is revealed in the analysis done
after the data collection.
“The core idea of ‘path dependence’ is that, once established, some institutions tend to become
increasingly difficult to change over time, and so small choices early on can have significant long-
term impacts” (Sorensen, 2015).
“Cities are dense collections of institutions, including land development and redevelopment
rules, building standards, rules for the financing, use and maintenance of infrastructure networks,
governance and policy-making structures, parking standards, tree protection rules, public
education systems (including taxation systems to support them), animal bylaws, fire codes,
insurance requirements, property rights, mortgage systems, street and sidewalk standards, water
use and disposal regulations, garbage and waste management systems, public health rules, and
many other formally codified and collectively enforced sets of rules that have been developed as
a part of efforts to collectively shape, manage, and add value to the shared spaces of the city.
The fact that some institution or technology has stayed the same for an extended period does
not necessarily mean that it is path dependent, as it may be the only viable option. Claims of path
dependence must be able to show that other alternatives are available and must be able to
explain the positive feedback effects that generate continuity” (Sorensen, 2015).
“Path dependence can produce benefits by perpetuating past successes, engaging with dominant
institutions and keeping development on the intended track” (Matthews et al., 2015). “On the
other hand, however, path dependence may act as a barrier to institutional change by locking
institutions into specific patterns of thinking and decision making and reducing their ability to
adequately or meaningfully respond to new problems, such as climate change”. “Spatial planning
regimes are vulnerable to path dependence and may resist change imperatives, including the need
to respond to climate change through adaptation” (Matthews et al., 2015).
Based on the work of Low and Astle (2009) and Arthur (1989), Hensley et al. (2014) have
discussed four elements of path dependence which are elaborated below. Hensley et al. (2014)
have opined that path dependence theory is “a useful tool to understand why good practice
47
urban environmental design guidelines that create active and healthy communities are not readily
implemented” .
Reinforcement and Lock-in
Arthur (1989) says that markets can get locked-in to an inferior choice if the process has gone far
enough like sunk costs or in terms of urban design physical infrastructure that cannot be
undone. The present researcher has explored lock-in effect to identify if it applies to climate
sensitive urban design interventions in terms of already existing urban development and building
stock.
Technical path dependence
Low et al. (2005) “term technical path dependence” as “the historical trajectory of policy is
locked into a particular technical form of production or service delivery”. In the context of
climate sensitive urban design interventions there are many paradoxes like increasing the density
can lead to exacerbated urban heat island effect. So there is a common perception that there can
be conflicting results of a particular service delivery. The present researcher has studied these
paradoxes in the light of technical path dependence and has also explored whether this path can
be broken.
Institutional path dependence
Low and Astle (2009) have discussed the claim of “institutional path dependence theorists is that
even in democracies public policies, once they are institutionally embedded, do not respond
readily to changing public preferences”. “That is to say institutions that have grown up around
one sort of problem may be unable to respond adequately when confronted by a quite different
sort of problem” (Low and Astle, 2009). The present researcher has studied institutional path
dependence to understand whether public organizations and policies are ready to accommodate
the requirements of urban design according to climate change, which was almost non-existent
hitherto and is a different sort of problem.
Discursive path dependence
Low et al. (2003) “use the term ‘discourse network’ to describe the specific set of storylines and
arguments that coordinate action in a particular policy domain”. They have argued that
“established policy is institutionally embedded through a network of storylines and
organizations” and quantitative data, projections and mathematical models might be used to
support it. The present researcher has worked to identify these storylines and arguments in the
present context not only in organizations but among urban design professionals, developers and
48
users as well. The research intends to probe what can be done to break the inertia generated by
the storylines.
Case-study settings
The study is carried out as a comparison between Brisbane (Australia) and Nagpur (India).
“Within the field of media and communications, comparative research – defined as ‘a study that
compares two or more nations with respect to some common activity” (Edelstein, 1982).
“Comparative analysis is an old mode of research” which is “widely used within many fields of
scientific inquiry” (Azarian, 2011). Comparison often tells us that things are different at different
places and for different people. If a comparative study is carried out well it can “challenge
conventional wisdom or show how existing academic theories might be wrong” (Bloemraad,
2013).
According to Tilly (1984) there are four types of comparisons:
1. Individualizing comparison: In this case the unique characteristics of each case are studied and
compared and contrasted.
2. Universalizing comparison: The underlying concept of this type of comparison is “that every
occurrence of a phenomenon follows essentially the same rule” (Tilly, 1984).
3. Variation-finding comparison: This type of comparison studies the variation in the “character
or intensity of a phenomenon” (Tilly, 1984).
4. Encompassing comparison: This comparison studies different occurrences “at various
locations” experiencing similar issues and explains their “varying relationships” to the “system as
a whole” (Tilly, 1984).
All four strategies have different applications.
Present research falls under the category of “encompassing comparison”.
Kohn (1989)has identified “four distinct approaches to crossnational comparison within social
science according to their primary purpose”(Donoso et al., 2007).
1. “Nation as object of study”: The object of this study is to understand what is unique about the
particular countries (Donoso et al., 2007).
2. “Nation as context of study”: In this case a model or theory is applied to each one of the countries
from where the data is collected. This type of study is done in “order to support claims regarding
an abstract or universal phenomenon” (Donoso et al., 2007).
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3. “Nation as unit of analysis”: In this type of study various quantifiable aspects of countries such as
“gross national product and unemployment rate” can be studied. Logical relationships are
researched among these aspects, thus each country serves as data source. Thus diversity in
context of different countries is studied (Donoso et al., 2007).
4. “Nation as component of a larger international or transnational system”: This approach compares
countries which are “interrelated due to some underlying process (e.g. capitalism) (Donoso et al.,
2007).
Selecting countries for comparison
Generally depending on the countries being compared analysis will focus on “similarities or
differences” (Donoso et al., 2007). If the comparison is carried out between two similar
countries then the analysis may not bring out the diversity and if the comparison is carried out
between too diverse countries then it might be difficult to focus on minute differences (Donoso
et al., 2007).
According to approaches defined by Kohn (1989) this research falls in the category of “Nation
as context of study” where the concept of path dependence is applied to the comparison of
Brisbane and Nagpur.
This section gives information about Brisbane and Nagpur city which are the two case-study
cities for this research and also details the data collection exercise carried out in both the cities.
As mentioned earlier in the chapter 1 focus group discussion in the main research method for
this research. Wherever it was not practicable for the built environment professionals (from both
the cities) to attend focus groups due to time constraints personal interviews were conducted as
per the availability of the professionals.
For the purpose of the present research, climate zones as per the building codes in Australia and
India have been used as they were found more relevant. Some prominent classification systems
of climate zones are detailed in Appendix 3.
Both Brisbane and Nagpur have been under colonial rule of British for some time in their
political history and offer similar climate conditions, thus, pose design and planning
professionals with similar climate sensitive design problems. Before the advent of British into the
respective countries Brisbane was inhabited by Aboriginal people and Nagpur by Gond tribes.
But the similarity ends here. These two cities exist in different hemispheres and are at different
stages of development. Comparing and contrasting the two cities based on their history and their
development show how different and similar the two are.
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Figure 22: Comparison chart for Brisbane and Nagpur
Brisbane Nagpur
Location Southern hemisphere Northern hemisphere
Development Developed Developing
Status Capital of Queensland “Winter (second) capital of Maharashtra. Though was capital of province of C P and Berar during British occupation” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagpur)
Population “Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of 2.4 million”
Predominantly urban
(Source: https://alchetron.com/Brisbane)
“As per provisional reports of Census India, population of Nagpur in 2011 is 2,405,665 approx. 2.4 million”. (source: https://www.census2011.co.in/census/city/353-
nagpur.html)
Predominantly urban
Area “The City of Brisbane local government area is by far the largest local government area (in terms of population and budget) in Australia, serving more than 40% of the GCCSA's population. It was formed by the merger of twenty smaller LGAs in 1925, and covers an area of 1,367 km2 (528 sq. mi)”.
(Source: https://alchetron.com/Brisbane)
Area of Nagpur District – 9810 km2
Area of Nagpur city – 217.65 sq. km.
Terrain “The city of Brisbane is hilly. The city is on a low-lying floodplain. Many suburban creeks criss-cross the city, increasing the risk of flooding”.
(Source: https://alchetron.com/Brisbane)
“Nagpur lies on the Deccan plateau of the Indian Peninsula”. “Nagpur city is dotted with natural and artificial lakes. “Nag river, Pilli Nadi, and nallas form the natural drainage pattern for the city. Nagpur is known for its greenery and was adjudged the cleanest and second greenest in India after Chandigarh in 2010”. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagpur)
Temperature “The city's highest recorded temperature was 43.2 °C (110 °F) on 26 January 1940”.
“The average coldest night during winter being around 6 °C (42.8 °F)”.
(Source: https://alchetron.com/Brisbane)
“The highest recorded temperature in the city was 48 °C on May 19, 2015, while the lowest was 3.9 °C”. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagpur)
Both cities have rich history but development pattern for both the cities differ vastly. But
surprisingly some problems are very similar. The two cities face similar problems related
to urban sprawl, both the cities have to deal with increasing pressure on existing
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infrastructure and both are affected by the rising temperatures. A few more details follow
below.
Brisbane
In 1824, before Brisbane was established as a penal settlement, it had been inhabited by
Aboriginal people for approx. 46,000 years (NMA, 2001). Aboriginal people inhabited Australia
several thousand years earlier, and British occupation began in 1824. At that time Brisbane was
called ‘Moreton bay penal settlement’ and was a part of New South Wales and Queensland did
not exist as a separate state. Thus, Brisbane started as a penal settlement for convicts.
“Non-convict European settlement of the Brisbane region commenced in 1838”. “Queensland
was separated from New South Wales by Letters Patent dated 6 June 1859 with Brisbane chosen
as its capital, although it was not incorporated as a city until 1902” (Source:
https://alchetron.com/Brisbane).
. Queensland was named in honour of the reigning Queen of England
(https://www.qld.gov.au/about/about-queensland/history/creation-of-state).
“Today Brisbane's housing stock consists of detached houses”.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane). Brisbane sprawls into the greater metropolitan area.
Development authorities are aiming for urban consolidation in the wake of urban sprawl that
Brisbane is experiencing today. Brisbane City Council has recommended “compact urban
development underpinned by a well-designed and responsive built environment” that offers
considerable opportunities for reducing “carbon emissions while improving the productivity,
sustainability and resilience of the communities” (Council, 2017). Brisbane is attracting lot of
international immigration and pressure on the existing land resources and infrastructure is
immense.
Nagpur
India has a very ancient and rich history but the formal documentation of information regarding
Nagpur has begun only 50 years back. The city got its name from the River Nag. ‘Pur’ mean city.
“Nagpur city's foundation was laid by the Gond King of Deogad "Bakht Buland Shah" in the
year 1703. In 1743, it became the capital of Raghoji Rao Bhonsle’s kingdom” (CRISIL, 2015).
“The city of Nagpur was annexed in 1817 by the British after the defeat of Appasaheb
Bhosale in the Battle of Sitabuldi”. “Consciousness for planned city development was
raised by Sir Patrick Geddes, who visited the city in 1915”. “The Nagpur Improvement
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Trust (N.I.T.) was established in 1936 to carry out planned development in the city”.
“The British Government made Nagpur the capital of the new state named Central
Province in mid-19th century”(CRISIL, 2015).
Figure 23: Colonial architecture in Nagpur (High court). Source:https://www.justdial.com/Nagpur/High-Court-Behind-Rbi-Opposite-CP-Office-Civil-Lines/0712PX712-X712-
170208095521-D3Q1_BZDET
The growth of Nagpur has already spilled into the nearby rural areas and the Nagpur
Metropolitan Area Master Plan aims to develop Nagpur as a metropolitan area. The planning
concerns are dense city core areas, urban sprawl, and rampant growth of high rise buildings and
loss of greenery (NIT, 2015). In the wake of climate change, Nagpur is facing many overheated
days in summer and has launched a ‘Heat Action Plan’. “Nagpur is also one of the 100 smart
cities being developed, and is getting a metro rail system” (GOI, 2015).
“Nagpur is the political, economic and social hub of the entire Nagpur district”. It is
experiencing migration from surrounding rural areas, because of which the existing
infrastructure is falling inadequate and is under lot of pressure (Bhonsle, 2010). As in
Brisbane, this has led to accelerated urban sprawl.
Data collection and analysis
The input data for the focus group discussion/personal interviews is the list of identified urban
design tools. The questions for the focus group discussion/personal interviews are based on
these urban design tools, their importance in making the cities climate resilient and their
implementation.
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The professionals interviewed include urban planning and design professionals and
environmental management professionals from both the cities (term ‘built environment
professionals’ is used to address them all). The ‘snow ball’ technique is used for recruitment of
the professionals.
The key research method used in this research is Focus Group Discussion. In a focus group,
people “meet in an informal setting”. The number of people in a focus group is “usually between
6 and 12”. The focus group meets to discuss about a specific topic which is pre-determined by
the researcher. The focus group has a “facilitator or moderator” to keep the group discussion on
track but otherwise the questions are semi-structured so the group is focussed but is free to
discuss that topic from as many aspects as they want. The groups are structured in a way to keep
them “homogeneous”. Focus groups are not just discussions intelligent, logical and structured
discussions from the participants carefully selected based on their experience and expertise. The
background activities to conduct a focus group include “formulating a schedule of questions,
selecting and recruiting participants, choosing a location, transcribing data and thinking through
some of the ethical issues and power relations involved in conducting focus groups”(Clifford et
al., 2016).
“Focus groups can last about one or two hours”. In “semi-structured interviews” the main part
is the “interaction between interviewer and interviewee”, but focus groups are different because
of the interaction between the group members, which tend to produce more diverse interaction.
In the same time to interview one person it is possible to gather more and diverse information
from a focus group. They also tend to be less expensive. “Both semi-structured interviews and
focus groups can be used as ‘stand-alone methods’, as a supplement to other methods or as a
means for triangulation in multi-methods research” (Clifford et al., 2016).
The focus group discussions/personal interviews at Nagpur were conducted from 12th
December 2017 to 16th January 2018. During this period 20 participants were involved. Four
focus group discussions were conducted: 3 with 3 participants each and one with four
participants. Rest seven participants were personally interviewed. The participants included 12
planners, 4 environmental professionals, one engineer, one landscape architect, one conservation
architect and one urban designer.
The focus group discussions/personal interviews at Brisbane were conducted in February and
March 2018. . During this period 12 participants were involved. One focus group discussion
involving 3 participants was conducted. Rest nine participants were personally interviewed. The
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participants included six planners, 2 engineers, 2 architects, one policy expert and one landscape
architect.
The participants both in Brisbane and Nagpur were very co-operative and some participants
found questions different from what they have done till now and displayed lot of enthusiasm
towards the research.
Data collected is in the form of recorded Focus Group Discussions and personal interviews. The
recordings are then heard and reheard to transcribe. After transcription the transcripts are read
and reread to identify the trends and to do the coding. The general criteria to identify the trends
are as stated below:
The ideas which are repeated by more number of participants.
The ideas which are very different from most of the participants.
The ideas which the participants have clearly said are important.
The identified trends are categorized in following categories:
Trends common to both Brisbane and Nagpur.
Trends in Brisbane.
Trends in Nagpur.
Outliers for both Brisbane and Nagpur are identified separately
The questionnaire was semi-structured and built environment professionals from both the cities
discussed about climate sensitive urban design interventions which were not included in the
questionnaire. These frequently discussed interventions are identified during the analysis. After
the analysis of focus groups and personal interviews regrouping of climate sensitive urban design
interventions is done. The thought-process behind the grouping and regrouping of the climate
sensitive urban design interventions is explained in the Apeendix-5. The comprehensive list of
climate sensitive urban design interventions used for analysis is in Table 5 below. Each of these
climate sensitive urban design interventions is discussed and analysed in the Findings
Table 5: Comprehensive list of climate sensitive urban design interventions for analysis
Regrouped headings Sub-headings
Urban form Compactness Urban form Campus planning
Water sensitive urban design Water bodies Step wells
Urban spaces External shaded spaces
Public open spaces
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Urban green infrastructure Fruit gardens Street trees Plants and trees as wind breaks and shades
Transport Footpaths Pavements Walkability
Building design Building design Building materials
Climate sensitive urban design
Study limitations
The limitations were mostly related to the recruitment of the participants and they were mostly
overcome.
Some participants who were approached were not ready to do a face-to-face interview. They
would rather fill questionnaire than attend an interview. Some participants were more
comfortable in doing focus group discussion rather than a personal interview. In Brisbane 7
participants promised to be in the focus group discussion but only 3 turned up on the day.
Participants may prioritize other more important work and no show is a limitation. Focus group
discussion is a quick method of gathering data but at the same time it is very difficult to get
participants at one place at particular time due to practical constraints. But finally the participants
who were on board were very well informed and I thank them for sparing their time to
participate in the research.
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4. Findings 1
The present researcher has undertaken ‘document analysis’ of council and state policies for both
the case study cities. A small paragraph with brief introduction and explanation is included here
for each policy document. Relevant portions of the policy documents pertaining to the climate
sensitive urban design interventions discussed in this thesis are discussed in Chapter 5: Climate
sensitive design applications. The aim of this study is to collate the issues discussed by the built
environment professionals in the interviews with the provisions in the policy documents.
Brisbane policy agenda
Seven policy documents from Brisbane are studied in this section.
1. Draft Brisbane CityShape 2026 2. Brisbane Long Term Infrastructure Plan (BLTIP) 2012-2031 3. Brisbane’s future blueprint (shared vision): eight principles and forty actions to guide our
city’s next exciting chapter 4. Creating Places for People: an urban design protocol for Australian cities
5. Queensland Development Code Mandatory Part 4.1—Sustainable buildings guideline
6. ShapingSEQ South East Queensland Regional Plan 2017 7. Outer Urban Public Transport: Improving accessibility in lower-density areas (October 2018)
by Infrastructure Australia
Draft Brisbane CityShape 2026
“The Draft Brisbane CityShape 2026 presents Brisbane as a city of the future with a focus on five
major themes, most of which include climate sensitive design elements”:
“Calling Brisbane home. Building new sustainable developments that recognize the unique
qualities of neighbourhoods in the style of an urban village. Urban villages are a mixture
of vibrant shops, services, apartments and entertainment venues at the heart of existing
suburbs. They are either rebuilds of older shopping centres or new development using
land being amalgamated from other uses to create new centres” (Council, 2006).
“Keeping Brisbane moving. Creating a strong network of cross-city public transport, roads
and walking and cycling paths that link homes, workplaces, shops, schools and facilities”
(Council, 2006).
“Keeping Brisbane green. Keeping green spaces large and connected and protecting them
and our waterways from development” (Council, 2006).
“Putting Brisbane to work. Encouraging employment in major shopping centres, major
industrial areas and specialist employment precincts, with an expanded city centre as the
economic heart” (Council, 2006).
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“Protecting Brisbane’s identity. Protecting neighbourhoods with backyards and traditional
character housing from over-development, while allowing for a mix of housing styles”
(Council, 2006).
Source: Council (2006)
Brisbane Long Term Infrastructure Plan (BLTIP) 2012-2031
“This Brisbane Long Term Infrastructure Plan (BLTIP) 2012-2031 is Council’s long term
infrastructure policy for the city”. “The BLTIP aligns infrastructure delivery with Living in
Brisbane 2026 – a shared vision for the future of Brisbane City”. “Implementing the BLTIP will
contribute to the ‘triple bottom line’ which may be summarised as: growing the economy–
enhancing the city’s capacity for long term economic growth, building communities–supporting
a growing and diverse Brisbane population” and “enhancing the environment–managing and
mitigating the impact on the natural environment” (Council, 2012).
“Based on forecasts which depict the future for the city in terms of population and economic
activity, the BLTIP identifies actions to deliver infrastructure strategies for: transport, water,
energy, telecommunications, waste management, social infrastructure and green space, key
districts – Greater Central Business District (CBD), Australia TradeCoast (ATC) and South West
Industrial Gateway (SWIG)” (Council, 2012).
“The purpose of this plan is to: ensure that infrastructure provision is consistent with the city’s
economic, social and environmental aspirations, guide the prioritisation and alignment of
Brisbane’s infrastructure building and asset maintenance program, ensure Brisbane receives an
appropriate return on its infrastructure investments, realise savings, synergies and
complementarities that are available from simultaneous, comprehensive planning and delivery of
different infrastructure classes, provide a reference for other levels of government to consider
their complementary roles in contributing to Brisbane’s infrastructure, provide a reference for
the private sector to consider its role in contributing to and investing in Brisbane’s
infrastructure” (Council, 2012).
Brisbane’s future blueprint (shared vision): eight principles and forty actions to guide
our city’s next exciting chapter
“The eight principles are: create a city of neighbourhoods, protect and create greenspace, create
more to see and do, protect the Brisbane backyard and our unique character, ensure best practice
design that complements the character of Brisbane, empower and engage residents, get people
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home quicker and safer with more travel options and give people more choice when it comes to
housing” (BCC, 2018).
Creating Places for People: an urban design protocol for Australian cities
“The Protocol aims to create productive, sustainable and liveable places through leadership and the
integration of design excellence” . “It establishes 12 broadly agreed principles for quality urban
places in Australia. These principles can be applied to any project or location – whether it is in a
large capital city, regional centre or rural town” (Infrastructure Australia, 2011).
Figure 24: “12 broadly agreed principles for quality urban places in Australia” (Infrastructure Australia, 2011)
Queensland Development Code Mandatory Part 4.1—Sustainable buildings guideline
“This is a guide to assist building industry professionals and homeowners comply with the
sustainable buildings code May 2011”. “Under section 30 of the Building Act 1975 (BA), the
Queensland Development Code (QDC) and the Building Code of Australia (BCA) are codes for
the purposes of the Integrated Development Assessment System (IDAS)”. “The IDAS is a
system of approving development assessment under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 that
integrates land-use planning and building works”. “Effectively for building works, the QDC and
BCA provide the relevant building assessment provisions”. “These prescribed building works are
assessed as either Code or Self-assessable development when evaluating a building’s design and
fixtures when they are submitted as part of a building development application through IDAS”.
“In accordance with the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 section 233(7) and section 86, the QDC
and BCA override any similar provisions of a local government’s planning instrument”. “The
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QDC and BCA regulate sustainable building designs and features, and local governments should
not include additional or more stringent measures in a planning instrument”. “Where a planning
scheme, local planning instrument or local law is inconsistent with a regulation, such as the
Building Regulation 2006, the planning scheme, local planning instrument or local law is of no
effect” (Government, 2011).
ShapingSEQ South East Queensland Regional Plan 2017
“ShapingSEQ sets a framework for our growth, so that we can maintain everything that makes
living in South East Queensland great, while taking advantage of the opportunities of the fastest
growing economic region in the world – the Asian-Pacific region”. “At the same time, it will help
manage the potential impacts of population growth to deliver housing supply and affordable
living options, and support the planning and delivery of critical infrastructure, while protecting
our natural environment and our lifestyle” (Queensland, 2017).
Outer Urban Public Transport: Improving accessibility in lower-density areas (October
2018) by Infrastructure Australia
“This paper assesses the quality and accessibility of public transport services in Australia’s five
largest cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide”. “Infrastructure Australia
commissioned spatial analysis from GTA Consultants to compare transport behaviours and job
accessibility in inner, middle and outer urban areas”. “It revealed the extent of disadvantage in
some areas compared to others, and the impact on travel patterns and liveability”. “Two key
trends emerged: public transport disadvantage in outer suburbs is significant and public transport
use is lower for people living and working in the outer suburbs” (Infrastructure Australia, 2018) .
Nagpur policy agenda
Two policy documents from Nagpur were studied in this section.
1. Smart Cities Mission (Government of India Ministry of Urban Development, June, 2015)
2. Nagpur Metropolitan Area Development Plan 2012-2032
Smart Cities Mission (Government of India Ministry of Urban Development, June, 2015)
“In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core
infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment
and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and
the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to
other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. It is
60
meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalysing
the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country”(GOI, 2015).
“The core infrastructure elements in a Smart City would include: adequate water supply, assured
electricity supply, sanitation-including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and
public transport, affordable housing-especially for the poor, robust IT connectivity and
digitalization, good governance-especially e-Governance and citizen participation, sustainable
environment, safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and
health and education” (GOI, 2015).
Figure 25: Illustrative list of “smart solutions”
Source: GOI (2015)
Nagpur Metropolitan Area Development Plan 2012-2032
This policy addresses fundamental sustainable development issues like soil, water and air-quality
management and management of energy to the extent possible influenced through the
development planning process. But there is no mention of climate sensitive urban design.
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5. Findings 2
In this chapter the list of climate sensitive urban design interventions as consolidated by the
present researcher from the literature study is used to analyse the data collected from the focus
group discussions in both cities. Analysis is done for the seven consolidated climate sensitive
urban design interventions as discussed in earlier: (1) building design interventions; (2) climate sensitive
urban design; (3) open spaces; (4) transport; (5) urban form and compactness; (6) urban green infrastructure;
and (7) water bodies. The analysis explains the prevalence of the path-dependence whereever
applicable and appropriate.
Building design interventions
The New world city design guide: Buildings that breathe (Council, 2016)emphasizes the need for natural
illumination and green building ratings like Green Star, NABERS and EnviroDevelopment. Built
environment professionals from both the cities (Brisbane and Nagpur) opined that green
buildings can influence climate sensitive urban design. Green buildings promote natural
ventilation and natural illumination by virtue of their design. This “reduces the need for”
mechanical ventilation and “artificial lighting” and thus reduces “energy consumption” and
related emissions (Council, 2016).
While some participants in Brisbane stressed the need for designing the buildings by the
standards laid down by green star rating to make buildings more sustainable and energy
conscious there is also an argument against green buildings that they are expensive. The
argument that green buildings are expensive is deeply embedded in the professional realm in the
form of ‘storyline’ that forms a barrier to its widespread acceptance and implementation and that
is why it demonstrates ‘discursive path dependence’. More quantitative research endorsed by the
Council highlighting the cost-benefit analysis of green buildings will be the path breaker here as
it will help the building professionals base their decisions on evidence rather than on ‘storylines’.
Professionals from both the cities also agreed on some other points like: orientation of buildings
can affect microclimate and use of sustainable building materials in building construction can
also help achieve climate sensitive urban design, which is also supported by Brisbane. Clean, Green,
Sustainable (2017-2031) which says that “responsible material selection protects environmental
biodiversity, ensures the health of occupants and minimises environmental impacts” (Council,
2017). Despite agreeing to the fact that designing houses to the optimum orientation can
maximise wind and sunlight, the professionals from both the cities agreed that it is not always
possible to do so due to various constraints for example street frontage.
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Majority of participants from both the cities agreed on the fact is that a significant proportion of
recently constructed houses do not meet “minimum building requirements when checked after
construction” (Moore et al., 2017). “This means neither building codes nor state planning
systems are achieving sustainability goals required for a low-carbon future for cities and
buildings” (Moore et al., 2017). Participants from both the cities pointed out the voluntary use of
guidelines for achieving sustainable built environment cannot take sustainability too far. “Clear
and enforceable standards for environmentally sustainable design are needed in both building”
codes “and planning regulations” (Moore et al., 2017) enforced by both Brisbane City Council
and Nagpur Municipal Corporation.
While dealing with increasing population, built environment professionals from both the cities
are advocating compactness and vertical development but professionals in Brisbane are advising
to be careful while embracing vertical development because as you go higher and higher you
need more energy for elevators and pumping water and you might not get much of natural light.
Professionals felt that the mansions that are getting constructed today in Brisbane are opposite
of the climate sensitivity because they take up the whole block, there is no room for green
surfaces, no ability for wind to blow, and because they want to be so close to the edge of the
block they have no eaves, no overhangs in the building, outside spaces are getting smaller and
smaller and we have a tiny little deck. Buildings are designed for European climate not for
Queensland climate. Professionals pointed out ‘institutional path dependence’ here because they
observed that the architectural education till now has been focussing only on building design and
is unable to educate architecture students about climate sensitive urban design that interacts with
the local climate and outdoor spaces. Thus the whole architectural education has to embrace
change and align the delivery of the education to the climate sensitivity. Basic interventions like
orientation of buildings and other passive design techniques can cut down on sun and maximize
the breeze. These interventions are easy to follow and are not expensive. One participant also
pointed out that councils do not spend more money to hire trained, qualified and experienced
planners and they prefer to cut down on costs by hiring inexperienced planners and this is
resulting in poorly designed building stock.
‘Institutional path dependence’ is observed here because Nagpur Municipal Corporation till now
was focussing only on regulating the building stock but now it has to deal with a totally different
challenge of incorporating climate sensitive building design interventions and professionals are
expecting a policy change here. It is very difficult to undo the existing building stock, thus ‘lock-
in’ is observed here but for the new developments in Nagpur Metropolitan Area (NMA), Nagpur
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Improvement Trust (NIT) has included “sustainability” chapter in the Development Control
Rules (DCR). In this Nagpur Improvement Trust has offered incentives to the buildings
conforming either to Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) or Green Rating for Integrated
Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) green building ratings. Incentives by Nagpur Improvement Trust
“shall be in the form of refund of premiums charged to owners for new construction projects on
the basis of the level of certification achieved” (NIT, 2015). The incentives are detailed below:
Figure 26: “Refund of premiums charged to owners for new construction projects” Source: (NIT, 2015).
Present researcher recommends that such incentives should be offered by Nagpur Municipal
Corporation for Nagpur City area as well to achieve the sustainability goal by encouraging the
professionals involved. The professionals also explained the impact of history on the housing
typology which can be explained as ‘technical path dependence’ because after gaining
independence from British, Nagpur has forgotten its traditional climate sensitive urban design
interventions and has now locked-in the ‘air-conditioned box’ kind of housing typology. This is
an example of path dependence carried from colonial era. Some participants suggested more
research into the city’s past climate sensitive urban design interventions in much more detail and
sensitizing professionals and residents to their own history can be a path breaker here.
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Figure 27: Typical mud house at Nagpur Source: Burele and Valsson (2016)
Figure 28: Typical section through foundation Source: Burele and Valsson (2016)
The vernacular construction technique of Nagpur is ‘timber and mud’ construction. Some
professionals were concerned that this traditional knowledge and skills will be lost to time if not
revived because this technique faces a tough challenge from modern materials which are cheaper
and many are prefabricated and thus, can be installed faster as well. The vernacular building
materials and techniques are ignored in architectural education as well, as these are not included
in the curriculum and new, upcoming professionals are not introduced to these techniques.
There are handful of skilled masons and craftsmen who are trained in these techniques which are
on the brink of extinction. Professionals from Nagpur wanted a more comprehensive plan for
the protection of vernacular building materials and building techniques, including special markets
and special projects showcasing these materials and techniques.
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Figure 29: Typical section through super-structure.
Source: (Burele and Valsson, 2016).
Climate sensitive urban design
New world city design guide: Buildings that breathe (Council, 2016) states that consuming “78 percent
of the world’s energy and producing 60 per cent of all carbon dioxide, cities are a major source
of carbon emissions” (Council, 2016). Participating professionals from both the cities indicated
that climate sensitive urban design interventions should be able to address the local climate
conditions because in both the cities there is a decline in the use of passive design strategies and
rise in the use of air-conditioning. In both the cities buildings are getting constructed which are
either totally made of glass or are hot boxes with “no operable windows” and “cross-
ventilation”, and need “heavy air-conditioning” (Bhoge et al., 2019), popularly known in India as
energy guzzlers, as they consume huge amount of electricity.
Participating professionals from both the cities complained that climate sensitive urban design is
certainly not a compulsory part of architectural and engineering curriculum at the moment
because hitherto these challenges were not that confronting but now they need to be addressed
at all levels. Now it is the need of the hour to revamp the curriculum and align it towards climate
sensitive urban design. Professionals from both the cities stated that it should be ensured that the
engineers and architects don’t get their professional accreditation unless they had completed and
passed components of climate sensitive urban design in their degree.
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Participating professionals from both the cities also observed that climate sensitive urban design
interventions are viewed as a financial burden by developers and private customers. This is
‘discursive path dependence’ wherein the storyline about climate sensitive urban design
interventions being expensive is getting propagated not only among organisations and
professionals but general public as well. The path breaker here would be more quantitative
research detailing cost-benefit analysis of climate sensitive urban design interventions. Such
research should be carried out and promulgated at public events promoting and showcasing
climate sensitive urban design projects. This would be an excellent platform to educate general
public about the advantages and cost-benefit analysis of greening so that people stop looking at
them as a financial burden. Much was said about bringing awareness to the general public, but
more aggressive campaign is required to bring about that awareness. Apart from the research and
public events suggested earlier, a BCC approved catalogue detailing the cost-benefit analysis of
climate sensitive urban design interventions should be made available to general public, which
will help them make an informed decision regarding any financial investment in climate sensitive
urban design interventions.
Planning professionals from both the cities observed that the new houses in some parts of the
city are built only as investment property. So they are built for investors and there is no thought
for people who are living in them. In Nagpur a decline has been observed after the current
government introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) for every property transaction.
Planning professionals from both the cities believe that to make a real impact you need
consistency of policy and regulation and it is quite ironic here that the government that creates
all institutions and organisations itself suffers ‘institutional path dependence’ in terms of
permanency of policy it creates. In both the countries, government functions for a fixed term,
this can “give rise to volatile market conditions” because “one government might” give a
significant amount of assistance and subsidy to solar panels and wind and then the next
government sort of does away with all of that for political reasons. So the industry is very unsure
“about the long term commitment to” these issues. The government is “often out of step with
both the commercial sector and the population on this matter” (Bhoge et al., 2019). Many
participants in both the cities saw legalization of policies as a path breaker in this matter.
Participating professionals from Brisbane asserted that there is lot of ‘institutional path
dependence’ involved in the policies around construction and maintenance of climate sensitive
urban design interventions. They felt that everybody seems to know a lot about it but some
changes have to be brought about to actually make it happen and it would be a challenge to
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bring about that change because of the various stakeholders involved. The challenges involved
are: the developers necessarily do not want to pay for climate sensitive urban design
interventions, the local development agencies necessarily do not want to maintain the climate
sensitive urban design interventions, the state government does not always know the best way to
communicate to the concerned stakeholders that how climate sensitive urban design is done and
is done well and the community doesn’t know what the climate sensitive urban design
interventions are for and their advantages so they do not want to pay for it. The main thing
would be integrating climate sensitive urban design policy with local planning scheme instrument
to integrate design strategies that promote climate sensitivity as this integration will improve
outcome and increase compliance. So at the moment climate sensitive urban design interventions
are only there for the developers to consider but, it should be integrated with local planning
scheme and made more compulsory. Another path breaker would be giving incentives for
providing these strategies. If local government agencies can promote climate sensitive urban
design and offer incentives like an extra story, so developers get benefitted and in return
developers provide better landscaping or elevated greenery. Maybe negotiations would be
required between the developer and the local government agency to find the middle ground that
can benefit both that parties and get better outcome. Prototype buildings showcasing what
climate responsive and climate sensitive buildings look like can prove to be path breaker as well.
Both the cities (Brisbane and Nagpur) can have big public sector buildings that have innovative
climate initiatives embedded within them.
Poor urban design without climate sensitive urban design interventions would be a case of ‘lock-
in’ where streets and external shaded spaces are designed not considering shade and natural
vegetation. Participating professionals from both the cities opined that this will have detrimental
effects especially on aged population in summer, as they cannot venture out without proper
shade and would be stranded alone at home. They cannot meet anyone under the shops or sit
on a bench to talk to each other, because that design is not there.
The participating professionals from Nagpur sounded optimistic towards Nagpur’s climate
sensitive future since all the metro stations are going to be covered by solar panels and all the
metro pillars will have green walls.
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Figure 30: Vertical garden on metro pillars at Nagpur
Source:http://marathi.eenaduindia.com/State/Vidarbha/Nagpur/NagpurCity/2017/04/19165133/News-in-marathi-nagpur-metro-vertical-garden.vpf.
They think of it will be a path breaker from ‘institutional path dependence’ because they were of
the opinion that climate sensitive urban design interventions are not consciously used anywhere
in city at the moment to tackle the urban heat island effect or monsoon flooding. Participants
said while planning new projects for the city, urban designers are not included in the planning
team. They mainly blamed it on lack of awareness towards ‘urban design’ as such among local
governing agencies and general public and lack of major impetus in bringing about a change. A
change is needed because Nagpur is sprawling and policies encouraging climate sensitive urban
design are needed because Nagpur needs to expand and grow but by respecting natural resources
in and around Nagpur.
Thus in Brisbane there is an effort and policy regulations around climate sensitive urban design
whereas in Nagpur the concept of urban design is still in infancy.
Open spaces
Participating professionals from both the cities (Brisbane and Nagpur) emphasized the
importance of open space citing both environmental and social reasons. Open spaces provides
the residents, not only, a respite from polluted air but also a place for socialization. At the same
time they also admitted that urban land is under tremendous pressure from development
projects and it is becoming increasingly difficult to retain open spaces in the city. According to
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some participating professionals in Brisbane the open spaces and parks must be able to carry out
a very important role of retaining and holding water by its porous, green cover during a flood
event.
Participating professionals from both the cities (Brisbane and Nagpur) advocated for small
‘pocket parklands’ which are sold off because they are difficult to maintain. People really love to
visit big urban public spaces but these ‘pocket parks’ are just as important and the city needs
these as they can be easily accessible for the aged and young mothers with kids. Most
participants recommended a pocket park of a house block or half a house block size with a large
tree in it as it provides habitat for fauna and flora and shade and breaks up urban context and
people identify with it. In some parks green gyms are developed for residents to exercise which is
observed in both the cities. One participant from Nagpur regretted that some designers are
obsessed with the scale of the large open spaces in European countries but for Nagpur’s hot,
tropical climate the city needs small, shaded spaces. The scale of open spaces makes lot of
difference; they should be of comfortable size depending upon the local climate conditions.
Figure 31: Pocket park in Kenmore, Brisbane. Source: Author
Participating professionals from both the cities felt that residents themselves need to be more
proactive in demanding park spaces and their maintenance from the local governing authorities
and for this it is extremely important to design spaces for people and get them out of their
houses. If people are indoors all the time then they won’t appreciate the water bodies and green
spaces that they have. People need to be made aware and conscious of natural and manmade
environmental assets in their city so that they also want to protect it and be an active participant
in the process.
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Most of the participating professionals from Brisbane strongly advocated the use of awnings
something which modern buildings in Central Business District totally lack. If all the buildings
have awnings then there is a continuous shaded walkway for residents to walk under. They also
said that because of climate change, the periods of heat are longer and more intense and thus
inadequate shade will stop people from going out in Brisbane in summer which is contrary to
Brisbane’s sub-tropical outdoor lifestyle. They also pointed out that developers are also well
aware of the potential of the open spaces in the development as it usually means higher returns
and quick sale.
Professionals from Brisbane cited King George Square as an example of very badly designed
open space because it doesn’t have any trees, it is fully paved and instead of reducing it would
create heat.
Figure 32: King George Square, Brisbane.
Source:https://www.google.com/search?q=king+george+square+brisbane+aerial+viewandrlz=1C1GGRV_enAU753AU753andsource=lnmsandtbm=ischandsa=Xandved=0ahUKEwj82q_piu_fAhXUUn0KHVwJDocQ_AUIDig
Bandbiw=1920andbih=1069#imgrc=AFt6RZnvZ5-FbM.
Professional participants from Nagpur pointed out that the Central Avenue Market was built by
British during the colonial period. It is a colonnaded structure and people can very comfortably
walk in the market under those colonnades and it saves them from harsh climatic conditions, but
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it is quite surprising that whatever development has happened beyond that, none of the markets
have been developed as colonnaded shopping centres.
Figure 33: Central Avenue with recessed colonnades acting as shaded walkways
source:https://www.google.com/url?sa=iandsource=imagesandcd=andcad=rjaanduact=8andved=2ahUKEwjy8az8jO_fAhWYTn0KHeNMAk4QjRx6BAgBEAUandurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fhotel%2Fin%2Fpritam-central-avenue-nagpur.en-gb.htmlandpsig=AOvVaw16U8C93h87IU3xtwuv2pzgandust=1547618044004815.
In Gandhi Bagh area, which is a commercial area, they have specially planned projected buildings
so that spaces below them are shaded walkways. Such covered shopping in commercial areas will
offer some respite to residents in Nagpur heat and as such should be encouraged.
Participating professionals from Nagpur experienced a bit of ‘lock-in’ when it came to open
spaces in the old city because it is already saturated with existing physical urban infrastructure.
This is path-dependence from pre-colonial era in Nagpur because old areas of the city were
developed at that time, for that population and that life-style. Further, even if some land gets
freed up residents immediately start using it as a parking space. Slowly that land gets converted
into a legal parking space and as such can fetch high revenues being in prime commercial area.
Participants opined that these parking spaces can be designed in a climate sensitive way with
pleasant tree cover and green surfaces instead of it being totally hard paved because it
exacerbates urban heat island effect.
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Figure 34: Shop buildings at Gandhi Bagh Market with projected first floor for shaded walkways
Sources: https://content3.jdmagicbox.com/comp/nagpur/s1/0712p7104.7104.100805175213.n4s1/catalogue/royal-engineering-stores-gandhibagh-nagpur-safety-equipment-dealers-26d4njt.jpg (left)
https://content3.jdmagicbox.com/comp/nagpur/j6/0712px712.x712.140324112012.f4j6/catalogue/vidharbha-crockery-gandhibagh-nagpur-crockery-dealers-oytkhi2kgb.jpg (right)
In the big open spaces the participants from Nagpur observed ‘institutional path dependence’
because in the design of Kasturchand Park in Nagpur it is observed that it is just a big, barren
public space which offers no particular experience to the residents. A policy change is expected
here even by the residents because at the moment it is not at all useful in summers and is not
inviting because there are no planned activities to attract people. The Nagpur Municipal
Corporation is trying to break the path by proposing a complete makeover of Kasturchand Park
by proposing greenery, trees, park and joggers’ track.
Figure 35: Kasturchand Park Nagpur.
Sources:
http://mh-31.com/nagpur/images/stories/mh/gmaps/Nagpur%20Kasturchand%20Park.jpg (left)
http://tourmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Kasturchand-Park.jpg (right)
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Transport
Brisbane: Clean, Green, Sustainable (2017-2031) states that in “urban centres where transport can
account for a large portion of the local carbon footprint” (Council, 2017), low carbon
infrastructure and services offer significant potential to reduce emissions. For the purpose of this
research the transport modes studied are public transport (bus service), non-motorised transport
(cycling and walking) and, roads and pavements.
Buses carry several passengers at one time, thus one bus can save many road trips by car.
Participating professionals in Brisbane appreciated the south-east busway as it is a major
transport corridor and it takes lot of cars and their pollution off the road. The traditional urban
form that has developed in Brisbane is a low-density urban form which favours automobile
transport rather than pedestrian movement. Brisbane. Clean, Green, Sustainable (2017-2031) states
that “Brisbane’s urban form is now changing, with more higher-density ‘urban villages’ going up
around public transport stations and centres of business activity. This ensures new housing is
located closer to where people work and the services they need, infrastructure is used efficiently
and car travel is reduced” (Council, 2017).
Figure 36: Map of TransLink busway network.
Source:(Blake, 2009).
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In Nagpur, due to absence of organised, reliable and efficient public transport system till now
(City Development Plan for Nagpur, 2041), every household has multiple four-wheeler and two-
wheeler vehicles (for e.g. luna, kinetic, scooter, motorcycles). The frequency of buses can be very
poor in some parts and the residents have to rely on informal and unorganised private transport
modes. There is ‘institutional path dependence’ here as the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’ has
failed to anticipate Nagpur’s development, expansion, and population growth and upgrade the
public transport system as per the public need and demand. However, now Nagpur is getting
metro services now that the city is included in the ‘Prime Ministers Smart Cities Mission’ and
participants want to see a change in the public bus service in the form of feeder buses to various
metro stations. It is quite interesting from the photo below to note that all different users: the
two-wheelers, four-wheelers and pedestrians are using the same street, without any separate
pathways or demarcated lanes (an example of unorganised traffic).
Fig 5.11: Nagpur traffic scenario. Source: http://www.maharashtraspider.com/attachments/Resources/4590-1648-sitabuldi-square-on-15-august.JPG.
Properly designed and shaded footpaths encourage healthy and sustainable movement. There is
quite interesting paradox associated with footpaths in Brisbane, while many participants
advocated green, vegetated surfaces for footpaths for its cooling effect, one participant insisted
that hard footpaths (more smooth surfaces) should be built more because that would encourage
everybody to walk, including pregnant women, parents with prams and aged and disabled. It is
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expected that the addition of more hard surfaces that create heat would be traded-off by people
driving their car less and generating less greenhouse gases but participating professionals were
concerned that the city wold not have enough porous surfaces to absorb water. This might
create a ‘lock-in’ though because once the hard footpaths are built, which are physical urban
design infrastructure and have substantial sunk costs, they cannot be undone. A compromise
might be achieved here though by having footpaths lined with trees.
One participant was quick to point out that according to the new policy in the newer suburbs,
the developer is required to provide footpaths and with this incremental development the city
gets patchwork of walkability which is not connected through. This is a case of “‘technical path
dependence’ where the policy is locked into” (Low et al., 2005) a service delivery method which
is not getting expected results for a continuous walkability. Also some participants said that BCC
needs to step up the maintenance program for the footpaths, otherwise lack of maintenance will
render the footpaths not usable by residents due to cracks and uneven surfaces.
Figure 37: Ideal footpaths of Brisbane.
Source: https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/061046.jpg
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Figure 38: Condition of footpaths due to non-maintenance Source: https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/fc1204833f6b95c6e28d39bad4893a98?width=1024
Most of the participants feel that people need to be educated about the importance of the
footpaths because footpaths are hardly used in Nagpur and people walk on streets because
typically footpaths are either encroached by vendors or not maintained and is one of the reasons
for the heavy traffic. They also strongly opined that it is not just about creating the footpaths but
encouraging the residents to use them as well because in Nagpur the walking experience can be
quite barren as there are not many shade trees. There is a ‘lock-in’ here which is due to the road
widening carried out by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation in the past; during which the existing
footpath became road and trees were cut to make new footpaths. In this process, at many places
there was no space left for planting new trees along the new footpaths thus created.
One participant in Nagpur strongly suggested that there should be a patch of green buffer zone
running between the footpath and the street as it will also offer pedestrians a better walking
experience as the buffer zone can reduce traffic noises and also impart a sense of safety. Some of
the areas fit well under the criteria of compactness and the facilities and amenities are five
minutes’ walk away but the walkability is reduced due to the conditions of the footpath. The
footpaths have lot of obstructions like electric poles, small planters or small rocks or any such
thing. It is possible only for the young and healthy adults to navigate such footpaths but
extremely challenging for old, physically challenged, and visually challenged, pregnant woman or
small children.
As mentioned earlier vendors/hawkers encroach upon the footpaths in Nagpur. These vendors
conduct their business informally on streets and footpaths attracting hostility from the residents,
but the fact is they take care of many informal services for the residents and life would not run
normally without these street vendors, thus they are the ‘necessary evil’ of the city. The city plan
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should take care of it by providing “mini markets for the hawkers in the city” (CRISIL, 2015).
Participants have pointed that street vendors are not accommodated into a separate hawkers’
zone despite promises by Nagpur Municipal Corporation and State Government and
recommendation by City Development Plan 2041. This apathy towards creation of hawkers’ zone
and betterment of footpaths is deeply entrenched ‘institutional path dependence’ as City
Development Plan 2041 points out that “even in the master plan development the infrastructure
for” non-motorised traffic/ “pedestrians is not given a priority” (CRISIL, 2015).
It is quite ironic that old city of Nagpur was once appropriate for pedestrian movement but one
professional participant said that they dealt with a project for developing non-motorised traffic
for the old city and there is ‘lock-in’ effect in old city because it is 300 years old and does not
have any space to provide footpaths or cycling tracks. This is an example of path-dependence
from the pre-colonial era because the old city was developed during that era for that population
and that mode of transport. The lanes which are 3 meter wide once optimum for pedestrian
traffic have been overtaken by the motorized traffic. The old city has already achieved its design
density and is saturated with the existing urban development and physical infrastructure which
cannot be undone. One radical solution that could be considered is to pedestrianize these
popular old city commercial areas but then they have to be serviced with efficient and reliable
public transport service. Nagpur Municipal Corporation seems to be struggling to come out of
the historically embedded policies. Thus, this is a case of ‘institutional path dependence’ and
even people want a policy change as among the interviewed some were active cyclists and some
complained that even their kids are not able to ride bicycle around safely. However, Draft
development plan for the Nagpur Metropolitan Area, 2032, is trying to break this by investing in road
infrastructure in new developments that also caters to the needs of non-motorized transport
modes, primarily pedestrians and cyclists. At this point the participating professionals feel that
policies (e.g. separate hawkers’ zone, multi-use of public spaces) should be designed around
street vending at the same time otherwise same problems may arise in future.
Nagpur, at the moment is witnessing concreting of the city roads which is being done with a
hope to smoother roads with no potholes but many professionals think that ‘lock-in’ would be
created for future development here as the concrete roads will radiate heat and exacerbate the
already existing problem of urban heat island effect. This can be taken care by prioritizing
meaningful vegetation in the master plan.
Also there is ‘institutional path dependence’ because in the road widening exercise by Nagpur
Municipal Corporation Street trees were destroyed and many were not replanted and thus
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footpaths are barren at places. Similarly, during concreting of the roads as well greenery and
street trees are getting destroyed in the process, for which, again Nagpur Municipal Corporation
has no planning or planting program. The state government replanted some trees after public
demonstrations, but the participating professionals are concerned the trees may perish due to
lack of care. Thus, adding to the urban heat island effect.
Urban form and compactness
“Urban form generally encompasses a number of physical features and nonphysical
characteristics including size, shape, scale, density, land uses, building types, urban block layout
and distribution of green space” (Dempsey et al., 2010). If the urban form does not take account
of the local environment then it is highly likely to have detrimental effects for e.g., increasing the
urban heat island effect and increase in flash floods during major downpours among others
especially in Brisbane.
Both Brisbane and Nagpur are experiencing population growth and to accommodate the
population the professionals from both the cities suggest: increase compactness, control sprawl
and encourage vertical development, but at the same time some participants’ observations were
quite contrary. They felt that both Brisbane and Nagpur being very hot, compactness may
actually have negative influence on the climate of the city and may exacerbate the urban heat
island effect. This contrasting argument for compactness is very important as the rational
outcome is that a city needs to carefully design and adopt an optimum urban form solution that
preserves the greenery to prevent lock-in otherwise we will have urban design physical
infrastructure that cannot be undone.
While designing for compactness to accommodate increasing population and also for efficiency
in regards with public transport the problems about heat stress might become more serious and
design decisions have to be taken carefully considering the compactness and greenery paradox.
Participants in Brisbane explained the paradox that the increase in density is often achieved by
compromising the greenery and greenery is important to tackle urban heat island effect enhanced
by increase in the density.
At this juncture participants in Brisbane appreciated the form of University of Queensland, St.
Lucia campus and deemed it as an ideal urban form because of its walkability. In Brisbane
particularly there is lot of ‘discursive path dependence’ around the compactness solutions the
storyline being ‘compactness might not be socially acceptable’ but the participants felt that there
are significant opportunities to increase the density in a soft and gentle way. There are plenty of
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strategies; full occupancy, triple occupancy, re-subdivision of some of the blocks, amalgamation
of re-subdivision, different products, granny flats, these solutions which could across a large
suburban area significantly increase the density. Brisbane. Clean, Green, Sustainable (2017-2031) has
tried to emphasize the issue of the conflict between compactness and greenery. It states “As it
grows and densifies, urban heat will become more of a problem. Brisbane must plan and act now
before heat impacts the city’s liveability” (Council, 2017).
One group of professionals from Brisbane particularly pointed out a case of ‘lock-in’ in
achieving compactness because the issue they wanted to point was that the city land has been
fragmented in to such multiplicity of individual ownerships that it is extremely difficult for the
development industry and the broad planning industry, councils etc. to actually be able to
achieve more compactness. This is an example of path dependence from colonial era in Brisbane
because of the decisions taken regarding the fragmentation of land from the fear of diseases and
fire. They opined that the city definitely needs more compactness around, but the land is
unavailable in sizes that can be readily converted to achieve what the policy documents say.
Participants also suggested that compactness should be a defined and endorsed strategy of the
regional plan, so that will feed through now into the planning schemes of local authorities.
Professionals and policies seem to be endorsing ‘urban villages’ and ‘master plan development’
but again large parcels of land are required to design these developments.
Participants in Nagpur appreciated the campus planning because of the amount of trees and
greenery they offered and its positive impact on the city climate but also feared that these
campuses are also undergoing changes now and being paved over and city is losing its water
absorbing surfaces and climate mitigators.
Most participants were appreciative of the traditional design and planning of old Nagpur and
stated that the smaller lanes in the old city were always narrower about 5-6 feet, it meant that
buildings could mutually shade each other and keep the interiors cool. The other participants
contradicted this by saying the inner core of the city is very dense and has less green spaces as
compared to the outer area. As a result more urban heat island effect is observed in the inner
core of the city, as compared to the outer areas where the greenery is more. In the inner core
compactness is adversely affecting the climate.
City Development Plan for Nagpur, 2041 has observed that there are many governance issues, for
e.g., “There is presence of multiple agencies for single function like urban planning, provision of
housing for urban poor and intra-city public transport” (CRISIL, 2015). There is “lack of
coordination between various agencies for integrated planning and effective implementation
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development in the city” (CRISIL, 2015). “Development projects envisaged in City
Development Plan (CDP) are not reflected in the master plan of the city”. “Urban planning and
preparation of development plans is restricted to Nagpur Municipal Corporation jurisdiction
which is inadequate because it is the urban sprawl and development taking place on the
peripheral areas of the city which will thrust pressure on city’s core services in future”. “The
implementation of the master plan and other plans is not in accordance with the envisaged
implementation timelines and phasing” (CRISIL, 2015).
Urban green infrastructure
According to the New world city design guide: Buildings that breathe street trees are crucial because they
“provide shade, cool our streets and public spaces and reduce the heat-island effect” in Brisbane.
“Street trees and landscaping in laneways, arcades and atriums also” contribute to develop
“aesthetics and marketability as they contribute to the public’s experience of a development”
(Council, 2016). One of the participants highlighted the importance of urban green structure by
saying “Doesn’t matter what the question is, the answer is always street trees” (Bhoge et al.,
2019).
The components of urban green infrastructure studied in this research are: green walls and
elevated gardens, community gardens, street trees and backyards. Professional participants from
the both the cities feel that the policy makers and professionals know what has to be done to
have climate sensitive cities, so the problem is not about knowing what to do but it is more
about doing it. They regretted that there are many government strategy and policy documents
which outline the sustainability goals and objectives but still we are not able to achieve
substantial “sustainability outcomes through building and planning policy settings” (Moore et al.,
2017) available. Here professionals from both cities have pointed out a case of ‘institutional path
dependence’ as they observe that Councils are making policy provisions to accommodate climate
sensitive urban design interventions but now it is important for Councils to step up and focus
more on enforcement and implementation and monitoring of these policies. This can be
attributed in part to weak enforcement and implementation of regulations. Participants in
Nagpur have pointed out a possibility of staff shortage with local governing agency and they
want a separate implementation and follow-up unit for the approved projects to ensure that what
is proposed is actually built. Similar sentiments were shared by professional participants in
Brisbane and they want separate implementation unit at the council as well.
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Participating professionals from both the cities regretted that landscape design in any project is
last to be considered and first to be excluded during project negotiations. Some participants feel
that it is because of developers going after a short term gain rather than working on a long term
strategy. There is always a conflict between getting maximum yield from the site and trying to be
climate sensitive. Typically climate sensitive urban design interventions are seen as additional
cost and this reflects ‘institutional path dependence’ as this has to undergo a change as urban
green infrastructure is beneficial for environment as it enhances fresh air, it increases the value of
a development and thus its cost and also promotes social interaction and cohesion. Participating
professionals said that it is time to break the ‘discursive path dependence’ and the story line that
‘urban green infrastructure has only environmental benefits’ and establish economic benefits of
urban green infrastructure. Council endorsed research on ‘economic benefits of urban green
infrastructure’ should be undertaken and widely propagated among developers and professionals
as a path breaker.
The professionals particularly in Brisbane expressed their concern that backyards are almost
being paved over with because of the difficulty in maintenance and many feel that the wildlife
that comes with the backyard is a nuisance. Tony Hall in the fourth chapter of his book “The life
and death of the Australian backyard” has hypothesised that “contemporary social values and
behaviour are at the heart of these changes”. “People are focusing on monetary goals rather than
quality of life”. “The result is excessive working hours, personal stress and investment in floor
space rather than in enjoyable houses and gardens” (Hall, 2010). The other reasons for
disappearance of backyard include: public policy calling for urban consolidation in pursuit of
greater sustainability and the commercial pressures on developers to achieve higher densities in
pursuit of greater returns from their investment and issues of affordability for first time buyers.
This way the city is losing its precious green cover and water absorbing surfaces. Green building
guide published by Green Cross Australia recommends “porous paving, which can be permeable
concrete pavers, pebble or modular plastic and rubber pavers that look similar to conventional
pavers but these allow water to filter through voids filled with sand, gravel or grass” (Green
Cross, 2020).
Another concern expressed by the professionals in the Brisbane is that people are building huge
houses using almost the entire lot, thus there is no or very little open space available around for
breeze circulation and vegetated surfaces and there is less space for large fruit trees. So they
suggest that we must have garden on the roof of a building and it can make a difference.
Although this sounds like a very ideal solution but the participants were also aware of the
limitations. ‘Technical path dependence’ can be experienced here because roof top gardens can
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be introduced only if the roof is designed for the weight of the soil and thus these gardens can be
only designed for upcoming projects and not for the already existing building stock.
At this juncture the professionals in both cities feel that there is a paradox between UGI and
density. Compactness and density are good for accommodating the increasing population but it
has to be done well to achieve a balance with UGI. One participant in Brisbane cited the
example of development in Springfield where compactness is achieved by providing each
household its small private backyard and utilizing the thus saved space for providing a common
community park.
Figure 39: Springfield project brochure Source: https://communities.lendlease.com/springfield-lakes/-/media/communities/au/springfield-lakes/documents/spl_projectbrochure_oct-2015.pdf
Participants generally held a view that Brisbane has more street trees now than in the past but
one participant pointed out that Brisbane seems to have street trees in big public spaces but in
the places where people actually walk on daily basis they are not there. ‘Technical path
dependence’ is put against for not providing trees on streets is there is no space for trees but
some participants did not believe this. They said, on the contrary, Brisbane has extremely wide
roads and could easily have trees on both the sides.
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Some participants from Brisbane complained that some residents, however, do not like trees and
take help of ‘storylines’ (discursive path dependence) to justify themselves when they destroy
trees. The storylines include: the fruits, branches, leaves or bugs in tree might fall on people and
scare them (especially children) and Australian trees are very “messy and chaotic” and are very
“difficult to maintain” (Bhoge et al., 2019).
One participant from Brisbane opined that there is case of ‘lock-in’ because Brisbane’s history of
chopping off of native plants has already impacted the climate by altering its plant scape and
green infrastructure. This is also mentioned by Judith Powell in her book “People and trees: A thematic
history of South East Queensland with particular reference to forested areas, 1823-1997”. She says that “The
nature and extent of the forests of South East Queensland influenced a range of human activities
including land settlement, building practices, the form of the timber industry, and the transport
networks that developed in part to service and support this industry”. “In turn, these human
activities impacted on the forests and altered the landscapes either temporarily or permanently”.
“This interaction continues today”. “The effects of land clearers and cedar cutters were such that
as early as 1803, Governor King had issued a proclamation forbidding the felling of trees along
rivers and water courses, but to little effect”. “In 1959, only 2.6% of Queensland was designated
as a ‘forest area’; in other words, the state was scarcely well endowed with native forests”
(Powell, 1998).
Some professionals in Nagpur cited another example of ‘institutional path dependence’ where
Nagpur Municipal Corporation needs to step up from just planting trees (as a drive to increase
urban greenery) to actually maintaining and monitoring their survival. Since lot of urban green
infrastructure was affected during the metro project in Nagpur around 200,000 trees were
planted and lot of money was spent not it but professionals complained that the trees have
withered away due to lack of maintenance.
The City Development Plan for Nagpur, 2041 says that “the key issues in the development and
maintenance of green spaces and roadside plantations are water scarcity during the summer
season” (CRISIL, 2015), lack of civic sense among citizens and air pollution due to increased
vehicular traffic. The ‘water scarcity during the summer season’ seems a storyline; indicating a
‘discursive path dependence’ because other sources of water for maintenance of green spaces can
be identified. “NMC does not have adequate sewage treatment facilities in the city for treatment.
Only 22% of generated sewage is treated. Presently, the sewage collected is dumped into rivers”
“and finally the sewage has outfall into” Gosikhurd “dam” (CRISIL, 2015). The treatment,
recycle and reuse of this sewage can be a path breaker here because this recycled water can be
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used for watering the green spaces in summer and it will also improve the health of water bodies
which are going sick with the untreated sewage. Another path breaker which has been used by
Brisbane City Council is the technique called ‘water smart street trees’ where the storm water
gutter on the side of the road is connected to the tree through a pipe and this way the tree can be
passively irrigated without having to put an irrigation system.
The ‘air pollution due to increased vehicular traffic’ seems to be ‘technical path dependence’
because this is a paradox that every city faces and if the city cannot have trees due to air
pollution, air pollution is exactly the reason why cities need more greenery. More research needs
to be done about the species of trees that can be used in urban scenario and their maintenance
and survival. NMC has been providing guidelines for buildings and city development till now but
now it needs to go beyond this role and overcome ‘institutional path dependence’ and work
towards more research and development in climate sensitive urban design interventions to keep
up with the challenge of climate sensitive growth of Nagpur city.
The professionals in Nagpur also complained that there are different governing bodies which are
working at various levels which can lead to chaos and those regulatory bodies need more
cohesion, co-ordination and communication between themselves. For instance URDPFI (Urban
and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation) guidelines state that there
should be 25% green cover in any large township or area you design, but when it comes to plot
level people don’t want to keep any greenery and just maximise on the built-up space available.
This is an example of ‘institutional path dependence’ because NMC has predominantly been a
local development authority for Nagpur but as city grows from ‘tier 2’ city to ‘smart city’ it is
expected that NMC now has more interaction with state and country development guidelines as
well. The City Development Plan for Nagpur, 2041 says that the situation is exacerbated due to the
fact that “the majority of the NMC staff do not have exposure to the relevant act, policies and
guidelines for administrative works”. “Also NMC has not carried out training needs assessment;
there is no training curriculum and budget for trainings”. “Also there are no initiatives for the
skill development of the staff”. “Thus, the teams are not updated about new technologies or best
practices implemented elsewhere” (CRISIL, 2015).
Water bodies
The participants of the focus groups and interviews from both the cities emphasized much on
the benefits of the water bodies. These include physical and mental health benefits and
temperature modulating property of water bodies.
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In Brisbane participating professionals observed that after the drought water bodies are much
more respected and managed but admitted that some water bodies do have quality problems.
Some participants felt that Brisbane is not doing enough and could do much more with water
retention. In the past as well Brisbane has faced drought conditions which may be exacerbated
due to intense heat waves, but still Brisbane is not employing stricter provisions for enforcing
water retention. This exhibits ‘institutional path dependence’ as Brisbane City Council is not able
to respond adequately and take into account possible water scarcity and act on it.
One of the participant from Brisbane mentioned “Living waterways” as a scoring system
developed by ‘Healthy Land and Water’ to ensure that “every development incorporates total
water cycle practices that encourage the rehabilitation and protection of aquatic environments”
(BCC, 2013). It was going to help water sensitive urban design but the professionals and
developers just thought it was a barrier, another cost, another green tape. This is a case of
discursive path dependence where the storyline that ‘the document is just another green tape’ is
used in this particular professional domain and that acts as a barrier in the acceptance and
implementation of the guidelines suggested in the documents.
Participants from Brisbane also pointed out that this might be taken care by offering incentives
to the developers and also by stricter implementation and enforcement from the Council’s side.
“Incentives may be financial or non-financial in nature and include direct financial support, co-
funding arrangements, and provision of drought tolerant plants or rate reductions for water
efficient initiatives” (MWC, 2011). “Examples from other Australian cities are: city of Melbourne
have proposed to increase the uptake rate of rainwater tanks on private commercial properties to
50 times the current uptake/installation rate a year (increase to 300 tanks per year)”. “This will
be done through a combination of education, incentive and regulatory measures; and city of Port
Phillip is considering including incentives within the planning and approvals sector, bulk
purchase schemes for rainwater tanks, additional outreach programs, and rebate programs”
(MWC, 2011).
In Nagpur participants regretted that it is ironic that the city derives its name from the river Nag
which city has now been totally ignored. The existing lakes were manmade by the traditional
rulers of Nagpur. They were constructed as a water conservation strategy for hot summers of
Nagpur but now the catchment area of major lakes is reduced because of construction activity
going on in the catchment area and there is no water supply to these lakes.
Till now Nagpur did not face any water scarcity but now with the increasing population growth,
development and heat Nagpur will need increased water supply. This indicates ‘institutional path
86
dependence’ because till now Nagpur was a small town (100,000 population) and had all the
resources in abundance but now it is undergoing tremendous growth and growing population
will need more water. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is unable to respond adequately
when confronted by the problem of securing new and protecting the existing water sources.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation should focus on maintaining water bodies along with Nagpur’s
development because residents of Nagpur witness water scarcity in the summers.
Nagpur also has a unique cultural issue. During the “Ganesh festival” residents have the tradition
of immersing big idols of Lord Ganesha in the lakes and that was a big cause of pollution of
water bodies. It is not very easy to break from the culture and tradition and the storyline that
‘this is our cultural heritage’ among the residents can again create discursive path dependence but
path has been broken here and separate artificial rubber tanks are installed by Nagpur Municipal
Corporation during the festival to immerse the idols so that the environment impact is reduced.
This demonstrates that people can be made aware and re-educated towards the solutions for the
problem. This is also a good example of breaking institutional path dependence because public
policies “do not respond readily to changing public preferences” (Bunker, 2012) but change was
brought about in this case by public and Nagpur Municipal Corporation working together.
One participant lived in a private ethnic neighbourhood and in that neighbourhood ponds are
used to retain and percolate water but also to regulate the temperature. Also the fountains are
used to humidify the dry, hot air of Nagpur. “Technical path dependence is when the historical
trajectory of policy is locked into a particular technical form of production or service delivery”
(Low et al., 2005). Ironically, step wells, the historically efficient way of rain water harvesting has
totally been ignored and now Nagpur is well locked-out of this option due to preference to other
rain water harvesting methods such rain water tanks but the participants are not very convinced
about the implementation, maintenance and follow-up of these methods. They feel that these
rain water harvesting measures are only on the paper to get the project approved and once it is
approved these never get constructed and there is no follow-up of the implementation from
NMC due to lack of staff.
The technical path dependence is further strengthened due to the problems faced in maintaining
the quality of water in a step well in today’s urban scenario due to seepage, poor sanitary
conditions and surface run-off from roads. Technical path dependence may evolve into
discursive path dependence with the story line getting strengthened that ‘Step wells are not easy
to revive and put them to use in modern times now’.
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6. Discussion: Barriers to climate sensitive design
This chapter highlights challenges and barriers in implementing climate sensitive urban design
interventions in the built environment in Brisbane and Nagpur, identified from the earlier
analysis of focus group discussions. The barriers discussed in detail are: the gap between the
planning and building codes/policies; short term gain vs long term policy; local governing
bodies: their increasingly crucial role in implementation of climate sensitive urban design
interventions and their limitations, lack of consolidation of various policy documents published
by local governing bodies and incentives (for developers, professionals and end users) for climate
sensitive urban design.
Interventions that slip between the cracks between planning policies and
building codes
In Brisbane, at the moment there are many policy documents published by Brisbane City
Council available for professionals in Brisbane which provide an outline about provision of
climate sensitive urban design interventions. Policies are designed for two separate domains: the
planning and building policy settings. Planning policies provide major climate sensitive design
goals and details the achievements of the outcome, but at this moment professionals want some
more information on acceptable design solutions that can be actually executed on site. Building
codes talk about buildings and not about passive design solutions, thus there is gap between
planning and building design codes and climate sensitive urban design is slipping between this
gap.
One interesting observation here is about “Queensland Development Code”. “Under section 30
of the Building Act 1975 (BA), the Queensland Development Code (QDC) and the Building
Code of Australia (BCA) are codes for the purposes of the Integrated Development Assessment
System (IDAS). The IDAS is a system of approving development assessment under the
Sustainable Planning Act 2009 that integrates land-use planning and building works (QDC,
2011). This code passive design details as well about the strategies that can be used to achieve 6-
star for a house; for example outdoor living areas, natural ventilation, optimum orientation to
catch breezes and sunlight, and automated control switches for air-conditioners” (Government,
2011).
“This guideline is to be read in conjunction with the Queensland Development Code MP 4.1—
Sustainable buildings and has been prepared under section 258 of the Building Act 1975 (BA).
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Section 258 provides for guidelines to be made to assist with achieving compliance with the BA,
however strict compliance with this guideline is not mandatory” (Government, 2011).
In Nagpur, the planning guidelines might mention minimum open space percentage for a site as
against the built-up space, but they are not enforceable and detailed out, and are not adhered to
at the site level. As a result, houses are built that utilize maximum space on the site with total
disregard towards any regulation about open space. Moreover, remaining open space is all paved
over, leaving no green, porous surfaces for absorption of rain water. Here again a total
disconnect between planning and building regulations is observed.
Short term gain vs. long term policy
“In order to address climate sensitive urban design at the grass root level, the society as a whole
has to undergo an attitudinal shift” (Bhoge et al., 2019). Instead of looking at the short term gain
from the design and planning projects an unprecedented shift towards long-term policy and
financial investment in climate sensitive urban design projects is desired and necessary. This is
very important to deal with the over-consumption and overuse of natural resources. The world,
as a society is in a consumption mode. It is difficult to address climate sensitive urban design
unless we shift to more sustainable living. At the moment the cities are consuming resources at
much higher rate than they can be replenished back by the nature. Cities have to be more
responsible towards the consumption of resources and to be sustainable cities must give back
more than they are consuming (Bhoge et al., 2019).
For example, when it comes to climate sensitive urban design interventions precious urban green
infrastructure is many times sacrificed for other urban utilities, though urban green infrastructure
is beneficial in the long run for the environment and society as a whole it gets overlooked
(Bhoge et al., 2019). Unfortunately, if we, as global citizens, continue with this attitude then
urban heat island effect will keep on increasing, residents of the cities will be more exposed to
natural events related to climate change and this stress will be felt more prominently, especially
by the vulnerable population ( aged, disabled, children and poor).
The findings from this research tell that the developers may choose a design or technology
which might not be optimum in the environmental performance but may be a cheaper option,
thus thinking about short term gain. It is very important to note here that climate sensitive
design solutions can be quite unique for a particular site/project and research intensive, and may
require considerable financial investment. Investors, developers and designers might make a
significant investment in a project to arrive at a sustainable design solution but there are no
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guarantees on the return of investment, thus many are reluctant to take the risk (Bhoge et al.,
2019).
Therefore, it is very important to understand the affordability of the design solutions and the
willingness of the investors to take a risk. Wang et al. (2010) also agree with this.
However, there is also other side to the argument that under some situations, strict regulations
defining the exact parameters and technology can also cause developers and designers to be less
innovative and the sustainable design, at the moment requires different design solutions for
distinct design problems (Bhoge et al., 2019).
Key role of local governing bodies
The point to be pondered here is policy documents are guidelines and to bring about an effective
change and positive change they need to be more enforceable and mandatory. The discussion
here is about the degree of autonomy enjoyed by the Local Government in Brisbane and
Nagpur. There are two aspects to the autonomy: decision making autonomy and financial
autonomy.
“In Australia, the residential sector is responsible for 12% of total final energy consumption and
13% of greenhouse gas emissions” (Moore et al., 2017). Since the attempts to improve
sustainability in buildings “through the building code in Australia have not been quite successful”
(Moore et al., 2017), local councils now play a crucial role in bringing about that change.
In the previous chapters ‘transport’ has emerged as an important climate sensitive urban design
intervention, but it is observed that in India local governments have limited say in the urban
transport planning decisions. The major two issues observed in Nagpur are: absence of long-
term comprehensive urban transport strategy, lack of integration of planning of major projects
with urban transport network or with land use plan and lack of attention to mobility of people in
the transport master plan.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation has unfortunately not been able to manage the finances well.
There is lack of monitoring and recovery of property taxes and water and sewage taxes from the
residents’. This leads to a financial deficit and Nagpur Municipal Corporation has to often ask
for finances from State or Central Government. As a result NMC has not been able to carry out
many projects like installing more sewage treatment plants in the city among many others.
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Fragmented policy documents
While there are many policy guidelines and documents, professionals have limited amount of
relevant technical information they can access. For sound and informed decision making
professionals need more information such as case studies, project costs and management of the
project.
While carrying out the research, present researcher came across multiple policy documents
stating multiple guidelines about same climate sensitive urban design intervention. Thus difficulty
was experienced in accessing clear and relevant information and guidelines about how to
implement climate sensitive urban design policies and practices, and also their adaption in
arriving at a site-specific design solution (Bhoge et al., 2019). From the analysis in the Chapter 5
there is a strong indication that financial barrier is a major obstacle for implementation of climate
sensitive urban design interventions. From the interviews of the participating professionals from
both the cities (Brisbane and Nagpur) it is quite evident that professionals are looking for a
sound database regarding the implementation and maintenance costs for taking an informed
decision based on financial facts.
Incentives for developers, professionals and end users
Climate sensitive urban design projects that implement the principles of sustainable urban design
are a challenge for investors and developers, presently, because the technology, expertise and
solutions involved are expensive than the traditional solutions (Bhoge et al., 2019). However,
shift to the climate sensitive design is urgently needed because of the negative effects of the
polluting emissions and urban heat island effect. Government and councils can play an
important role in stimulating the green investment by offering incentives for developers,
professionals and end users, in the form of, for example, tax rebates. Although on the short run
climate sensitive urban design projects may require higher investments, but in the long run, they
can designed and funded in a way to benefit all the involved parties and of course, the
environment. These incentives are important looking at the fact that the goals of sustainable
development and that of investors may be divergent.
Investors and developers might be reluctant to invest in climate sensitive urban design projects
due to various financial risks associated with the return on the investment. A lot can also be
attributed to the fact that other solutions apart from climate solutions are also available in the
market. Thus “technical path dependence” can be observed here, because other service and
product delivery pathways are available to deliver a climate sensitive design but there seems to be
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no enough incentive for investors and developers to push for a change. This is one of the
barriers in the successful implementation of the climate sensitive urban (Bhoge et al., 2019).
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7. Policy Recommendations
From the discussion above it is understood that climate sensitive design solutions might have a
place in state planning guidelines but they disappear when it comes to designing and executing at
the local code level. This gap is observed in both the cities (Brisbane and Nagpur). Thus, a
strong ‘design, execute and maintain’ policy is required at the local council level. This gap
between the two separate policy domains needs to be addressed to facilitate successful delivery
and implementation of climate sensitive design solutions for built environment.
In both the cities local councils need to impose some mandatory regulations which developers
have to implement. Thus, investors and developers will keep considering this investment as a
“risk” till they can take an informed decision based on database developed and this database has
to be developed by the local council. This again will entail a financial investment but which will
have a long term benefit. This investment will create a solid foundation for future decisions
regarding climate sensitive design.
Particularly in Nagpur, Nagpur Municipal Corporation needs a financial management program
focusing on the recovery of the taxes which can be further invested back in the climate sensitive
urban design.
The present researcher strongly recommends establishing a centralised and comprehensive
information service to bring together all the available, relevant information in Brisbane. The
database thus created could also include best practice guidelines, case studies of successful
demonstration projects and an educational database. The proposed centralised information
service could also provide estimated costs to build and maintain climate sensitive urban design
assets over 10 years (Bhoge et al., 2019). In Nagpur, however, policies and regulations around
climate sensitive urban design still need to be developed.
In both the cities push for change can be brought about by penalizing for not using climate
sensitive strategies and incentives for using climate sensitive strategies.
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8. Conclusion
The answers to the key research questions are provided below.
What are the various barriers that the urban design professionals face while
implementing climate sensitive urban design interventions in their projects?
There is a huge market potential that in still untapped when it comes to climate sensitive urban
design. For most of the stakeholders, though, financial barrier is the most important barrier that
constrains more aggressive involvement in climate sensitive urban design. At this juncture “Life
Cycle Costing” of climate sensitive urban design interventions could help develop a
comprehensive and holistic approach towards the financial investments. Also, much information
is available and policies and regulations are in place for climate sensitive urban design but lack of
application of available knowledge is a barrier to implementation of climate sensitive urban
design as well.
Can the principle of path dependence be applied to this research on climate sensitive
urban design interventions?
In the analytical framework explained in chapter 1 four elements of path dependence have been
discussed viz. reinforcement and lock-in, technical path dependence, institutional path
dependence and discursive path dependence. In the chapter 5, situations are explained in detail
where path dependence has been observed. Thus it can be concluded, that the principle of path
dependence can be applied to the current research on the climate sensitive urban design
interventions.
Are there similarities in climate related problems in Brisbane and Nagpur, and if so, can
these two cities learn from each other?
There are similarities in the problems faced but the severity of the problems may vary in both the
cities because of the economic and development standing and that is the difference. In both the
cities architecture curriculum in the Universities needs to undergo a change to address climate
change and adjacent fields—such as urban planning, geography, transport and energy need to be
targeted as well to holistically address climate sensitive urban design. More research, however, is
required here to analyze the architecture curriculum in the universities of both the cities for
adapting to climate change.
One very important aspect of governance that Nagpur can learn from Brisbane is the
involvement of public in the urban design and urban planning process. Before taking decision
and proceeding with any public project, workshops are held citywide to sensitize residents and to
94
understand the expectations of the residents. Lot of consideration is given to the public opinion
and involvement of residents also ensures that they feel enthusiastic about their own city.
Because of this involvement residents have a sense of belonging and responsibility towards their
own city. This results in more positive participation and residents do not hesitate to complain
against something in their neighbourhood they do not agree to because they want their city to be
beautiful. In Nagpur, indifference in observed in the residents towards their own city because
they do not feel enough connected to the city.
The most important lesson that Brisbane can learn from Nagpur is the conservation of natural
resources. Nagpur was blessed with huge water reservoirs built by the historic rulers before the
British rule but after independence Nagpur has not been able to take care of its water bodies.
Large construction projects are being built in the catchment area of these reservoirs, drying up
the source of water to the reservoirs. Sometimes left over building materials are just dumped in
the reservoirs beds, damaging the water quality. As a result the water cannot be used for human
consumption and this is resulting in water scarcity in Nagpur in summers when the temperature
can easily reach 480C. Same applies to the greenery and street trees in Nagpur. It is very
important that we do not take the natural resources for granted and use them in a judicious
manner.
Sub-question
Are traditional climate sensitive urban design interventions still valid and practical in
modern times?
The basic elements of climate are air (breezes for effective ventilation), sunlight (for illumination
without using artificial lighting), vegetation (urban green infrastructure), and water bodies. These
basic elements have been used in past to provide climate sensitive urban design to cities and they
are still being used. Some changes have taken place because urban areas need innovative design
solutions since have to be implemented due to lack of available space. Buildings and metro
pillars with vertical greenery are designed to compensate the loss of green spaces in urban areas.
Recommendations for future research
This research can be followed up in many directions. Separate research can be carried out to
further understand barriers to implementation of climate sensitive urban design from developers
and end-users point of view. Also, more research can be further carried out to understand and
increase the awareness of climate sensitive urban design among the end-users as means to boost
climate sensitive urban design demand. Life cycle costing of climate sensitive urban design
95
interventions is another area of research from which the stakeholders can benefit in making
informed decisions regarding financial investment in climate sensitive urban design projects. All
around the world, governments and local councils are offering incentives to various stakeholders
to participate in climate sensitive urban design projects. Comprehensive study of such incentives
can be undertaken and analysed as to which incentives may actually work in a country’s context.
96
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Appendices
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Appendix 1: Classification of historic periods
Brisbane:
Since the study is based on specific eras in history, it is very important to understand when these eras occurred in history. While defining these eras for Brisbane, the present researcher came across many variations in the time periods of the eras in different literatures by different authors. These are listed below for better understanding and clarity.
1. In the book 'Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley' Prof. Paul Memmott calls the aboriginal period as 'pre-contact period'
2. In the book “ ‘The Queensland House' edited by Rod Fisher and Brian Crozier there is a chapter by Robert Riddel” (Riddel, 1994). According to him the periods are:
“Colonial Period 1824-1860” “Victorian Period 1860- 1890” “Federation Period 1890-1915” “Interwar period 1915 – 1940” “Post-war period 1940 – 1960” “Late 20th century 1960 onwards” (Riddel, 1994)
3. In the same book in a different chapter Rod Fisher's classification is as follows
Colonial 1820s – 1880s Federation 1890s – 1910s Interwar 1920s – 1930s Post war 1940s – 1980s
4. A guide by Brisbane City Council (BCC) has detailed the periods as follows:
“Late Colonial period 1870s – 1880s”
“Federation period 1890s – 1910s”
“Interwar period 1920s – 1930s”
“Post war period 1940s – 1960s” (BCC) 5. According to the researching historian, Kay Cohen, at RHSQ Welsby Library, the periods
are:
Convict settlement 1824-1842
Precolonial period 1842 - 1860
Colonial Period 1860- 1890
Federation period after 1890 6. In “A pictorial guide to identifying Australian architecture : styles and terms from 1788 to the
present” (Apperly et al., 1989), the periods have been identified as:
“Old Colonial Period 1788-c.1840”
“Victorian Period c.1840 – c. 1890”
“Federation Period c.1890 – c.1915”
“Inter-War Period c.1915 – c.1940”
“Post-War Period c.1940 – 1960”
“Late Twentieth- Century Period 1960”- Source: Apperly et al. ( 1989)
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Appendix 2: Classification of climate zones
“The climate of an area is unique but is often compared with other climates. Places with similar
climates are called homoclimes” (Linacre and Hobbs, 1977). There are many kinds of climate
classification. Most systems depend on average values of climatic elements, whereas other allow
for the frequency or duration of features such as the influence of particular air masses (Linacre
and Hobbs, 1977)
Thornthwaite system
“Developed by an American climatologist, C. Warren Thornthwaite, the Thornthwaite system
establishes moisture availability at the subregional scale”. “The Thornthwaite system is based on
the concept of potential evapotranspiration (potential ET), which approximates the water use of
plants with an unlimited water supply”. “Potential ET is a theoretical value that increases with
increasing temperature, winds, and length of daylight and decreases with increasing humidity”
(Gabler et al., 2003).
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Figure 40: Thornthwaite moisture derived climate types Source: (Feddema, 2005).
Koeppen’s System
The connection between vegetation and climate leads to the distribution of vegetation and
indirectly to the development of Koeppen’s classification. Koeppen’s system involves criteria of
classification whose selection and ranking depend on convenience and on relevance to the
resulting dominant vegetation. Most climates are labelled by three letters of the alphabet. The
first refers indirectly to the latitudinal zone, the second to the rainfall regime and the third to
temperature characteristics.
“Description of Koppen climate symbols and defining criteria” (Peel et al., 2007).
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Figure 41: The Koppen climate classification scheme Source: (Feddema, 2005).
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Appendix 3: Questionnaire for focus group discussion / personal interviews.
Questions (questions will remain the same for Focus Group Discussion and interviews)
Do you think urban design can influence climate change? Explain in relation to your city.
What comes to your mind if I mention climate sensitive urban design?
Below is a list of climate sensitive urban design tools
Urban form
Compactness
Water bodies
External shaded spaces
Public open spaces
fruit gardens
step wells
street trees
Footpaths
Plants and trees as wind breaks/shades
How and where these climate sensitive urban design strategies are used in your city?
Can you comment on the efficacy and popularity of these climate sensitive urban design
strategies in your city?
What do you know about the climate sensitive urban design from the historical past of
your city?
Think back about your own projects in urban design and tell us about the barriers that
you have faced in implementing climate sensitive urban design strategies.
Suppose that you were in charge and could make changes to government policies to
make it more sensitive towards climate change what would be your top three action
items?
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Appendix 4: Grouping and regrouping of climate sensitive urban design
interventions
Initial grouping of the climate sensitive urban design interventions
The initial grouping of the climate sensitive urban design interventions is carried out in three
steps:
Identification of the climate sensitive design interventions from the literature review
Grouping of the climate sensitive design interventions based on the similarity of the interventions
Ten climate sensitive urban design interventions are included in the semi structured questionnaire
v
v
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Table 6: Initial grouping Source: Author
urban design interventions Identified from literature review
grouping based on the similarity of the interventions
The ten climate sensitive urban design interventions included in the semi structured questionnaire
City greenery, public squares, public spaces, open spaces water bodies to refresh air, fruit gardens control urban sprawl and disorderly development, decongestion of core city areas, wide streets spacious plots, step wells
Public open space water bodies fruit gardens compactness urban form step wells
Step wells Public open space water bodies fruit gardens Plants and trees as wind breaks compactness urban form Street trees Footpath External shaded spaces This is the initial grouping.
Neighbourhood Maximize air circulation, sunny and breezy, open spaces, shared community spaces, garden, step well, defined neighbourhood units, wide streets, decongestion, decentralization by providing every neighbourhood its own centre, urban consolidation tree-lined streets, landscaped areas, play grounds,
Building design Public open space Water bodies Urban form Urban form Urban form Urban form Street trees External shaded spaces
Street Trees, wide straight streets, footpaths
Street trees Streets Footpath
After this initial grouping streets and building design were not included in the semi-structured
questionnaire.
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Regrouping of the climate sensitive urban design interventions
Since the questionnaire was semi-structured the urban planning and urban design professionals
from both Brisbane and Nagpur had opportunity to discuss and highlight the importance of
building design. Though it was not included in the initial grouping of the climate sensitive urban
design interventions, during the focus groups and interviews of the professionals it emerged as
an important intervention and thus ‘building design interventions’ was added.
Professionals not only talked about footpaths and streets but also about busway and bikeway and
thus all these interventions are grouped under “transport” and discussed there.
While discussing about street trees, the professionals also talked about vertical greenery, green
roofs, green walls and such innovative ways of including greenery in urban design and thus an
all-encompassing term of “urban green infrastructure” is used.
Initially public spaces, green spaces and external shaded spaces were all considered separately but
while working on findings, these were all grouped under “open spaces”.
Urban form and compactness were two different aspects but after the regrouping they have
formed one intervention which is “urban form and compactness”.
Interventions pertaining to urban design were not specifically defined initially and new
intervention called “climate sensitive urban design” was included after regrouping to
accommodate all such interventions.
Step sells and water bodies were merged as “water bodies” after regrouping and includes rivers,
fountains, manmade water tanks, lakes, step wells and ponds.
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Table 7: After regrouping of climate sensitive urban design interventions Source: Author
The ten climate sensitive urban design
interventions included in the semi
structured questionnaire
Regrouping for “Findings”
Step wells water bodies
Water bodies
Public open space
External shaded spaces
Open spaces
fruit gardens Plants and trees as wind breaks Street trees
Urban green infrastructure
Footpath Transport
Compactness urban form
Urban form and compactness
New interventions included after the focus groups and interviews
Climate sensitive urban design interventions
Building design interventions
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Appendix 5: Final Ethical Clearance
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Appendix 6: Publication resulting from thesis
Designing the subtropical city: an evaluation of climate-sensitive policy effects in Brisbane, Australia
Renuka Bhoge, Hannah Nolan & Dorina Pojani (2019)
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2019.1689934
Abstract
Faced with global warming, Australia aims to wean itself from mechanical approaches to cooling homes. Cities are searching for passive solutions to residential development. These involve the use of porches, basements, natural ventilation, tree shading and the like. In 2016, the Brisbane City Council introduced the New World City Design Guide: Buildings that Breathe (BtB), a non-binding policy document to guide new development in a subtropical climate. The aim of this study was to establish the effectiveness of BtB on overall development outcomes in Brisbane. We found that development applications received after the implementation of the BtB policy incorporated more subtropical design elements than those applications received before the policy. However, overall designers and developers had responded poorly to subtropical design guidance due to various path dependencies. We conclude that discretionary and flexible planning may not be in the public interest in the present era of climate emergency.