Integrated Approach towards Participatory Development of Urban Neighborhood Spaces: Chennai, India

Abstract

The social living of the urban households depends on the physical manifestation of spaces arranged to carry out their day-to-day activities of members including children, adult, women, men, old age, and differently able persons. Urban neighborhoods undergo changes in the spaces in house and building, places in a locality, and the overall built form. The city spaces experience transformation in the house spaces and common places, and the built form experienced the residential character change towards commercial and other nonresidential uses in the neighborhood. The impact of the spatial transformation demands to make redevelopment strategies to resolve the conflict between residential and commercial spaces in the neighborhood. So, the need for an integrated approach towards “Participatory Redevelopment” (PRD) of the urban neighborhood becomes a challenge for the city planners. The new planning model on PRD as an integrated approach developed by the author is followed in the redevelopment project hosted by the Corporation of Chennai. The PRD approach used “C-TC-C” model to follow participation as “Collective-Target Centered-Collective”. The PRD adopts the approach called the five-pillar system (FPS). These aspects are the main focus of this chapter within the context of T. Nagar, a residential neighborhood transforming into a busy retail commercial market area and residential living and parking spaces situated in the midst of Chennai City, the capital of the Tamil Nadu State in India.