An Attempt to Assess the Need and Potential of Aesthetic Regeneration to Improve Walkability and Ergonomic Experience of Urban Space

Abstract

The tempo of Industrialization within a city and that too in a developing context, along with rapid and uncontrolled urbanization and consequent expansion tend to reveal a lack of attention to the inner well-being of its communities and constituent individuals comprising the communities. Hence, a gap between the choice of a decision maker determining the expected conditions of the livability of urban environment and the quality of life expected by communities and individuals is gradually aggravated. Contemporary approaches in city planning however advocates more inclusive and ‘people-centric’ development to ensure processes of regenerating the city, as a whole. To explore the interrelationship between the communities and the spaces, the paper focuses on two specific public spaces of Kolkata. They are a dense urban retail activity-feeding armature called Gariahat, and a relatively interspersed green belt dotted with recreational facility called Rabindra Sarovar. The paper compares the two areas based on imageability, average footfall of users or people and their impact on the basic functionality, overall aesthetics, imageability, and the inclusion of livable infrastructure design. The paper assesses the gap between available and expected levels of infrastructure and designed aesthetics concerning the two cases. It subsequently draws meaningful insights for creating a stronger linkage between the variable needs and collective decision-making. The objective is to augment a range of experience of urban spaces including variety and heterogeneity. The linkages will boost aesthetic regeneration and that may be possible through an integration of improved walkability and ergonomic experience in the urban spaces.