CONTENTS
Abstract i
Acknowledgements iii
Contents v
List of tables ix
List of figures xi
List of abbreviations. xv
1 Premise 1
1.1 Definition of Resilience 5
2 The aim of Thesis 7
3 Role of Urban Design in Resilience 11
3.1 Role of urban design 11
3.2 CMDA Masterplan for the city 13
3.3 Urban Design Position 15
4 City and its Ecosystem 17
4.1 Location, climate and geography . 17
4.2 Hydrology of Chennai 17
4.3 Floods and droughts of Chennai 19
5 Mapping and Inference of River Basin . 21
5.1 Mapping the natural systems of Adyar river basin 21
5.2 Shifting problems from one place to another- Issues of Adyar River Basin 25
5.2.1 Chembarambakkam reservoir 25
5.2.2 The runway of Chennai International Airport 26
5.2.3 Dumping garbage, sewage and debris 27
5.2.4 Sandbar at the mouth of the river 27
vi Designing For Urban Flood Resilience
6 Analysis and Inferences of the chosen site 29
6.1 The site for intervention 29
6.2 Site Analysis 30
6.3 Opportunities and Constraints 34
6.3.1 Opportunities . 34
6.3.2 Constraints 35
6.4 Natural systems on site 37
6.4.1 Natural drain on site 37
6.4.2 Topography 38
6.4.3 Stormwater drain. 38
6.4.4 Catchment potential 39
6.4.5 Evidence of a lake on site 40
6.5 Transformation of river edge 41
6.6 Issues and Concerns 43
7 Learning from case studies 49
7.1 Cup and Saucer basin, Cook's river, Australia 49
7.2 Room for rivers project, Netherlands 51
7.3 Polder development, East Almere, Netherlands 53
7.4 Hong Kong, China 57
7.5 Learning from Case Studies 58
8 Urban design strategies 59
8.1 Strategies at various scales 59
8.2 Strategies for floodplain restoration 60
8.3 Vision for re-development 70
8.4 Redevelopment area within the site 71
9 Detailed Design 75
9.1 Regulations for development. 77
9.2 Functioning of green infrastructure 80
9.3 Implementation strategy 83
9.4 Life on site . 86
9.5 Conclusion . 87
References 89
Appendices 91
A1. Deriving the Urban form 91