Project description

Introduction

Kullu, the headquarters of the district, is situated at an altitude of 1200 mt on the confluence of Savory rivulet and Beas river. Kullu district forms the eastern part of central Himachal Pradesh with its headquarters at Kullu. The valley is known as the “Valley of Gods”, located on the banks of river Beas. The Dev Sanskriti of the valley blends faith, mythology, and history to create and sustain a unique bond between the mundaneand the divine. 

Objective

To map and document various effects and occurrence of previous climaticdisasters in the region

Studying the old and new development pattern to identify the vulnerableregions

To identify various existing approaches and methods (Local and global) for mitigating the adverse impact of cloud burst, landslide and earthquake

To suggest context based planning and design strategy for mitigating the adverse impactofnaturaldisasters instudy area 

The project shall take up a detailed study of a few settlements in the hilly region of Kullu and Manali to demonstrate the level of current resilience. It should help in identifying the appropriate methods and actions to improve the present condition and reveal the appropriate traditional approaches used in past to survive the impacts of disasters.  The study shall explore the new settlement regions with relation to disaster readiness through climatic resilient planning and design strategies.

Preliminary Findings

• Old settlements like Naggarstill holds a character of a place which is lost in case of Manalidue to the economy push of tourism. - Urbanism and lifestyle demanding new typology of built masses.

• Land value, sprawl and market forces governing the form, size and shape the development.

• Lack of bye-laws, environmental awareness, and trained professionals is resulting in chaotic development leading to haphazard settlements.

• Change in the mobility pattern, infrastructure, services and the transformation from rural to an urban character has not been addressed by the urban local bodies

Lead author

Aniket Sharma ( aniket@nith.ac.in )