TECHNICAL PAPER

Author: Shahanaz Jaleel

STREET AS A SOCIAL SPACE IN NEIGHBORHOODS

ABSTRACT Streets have existed as long as human settlements started. The earlier streets were active spaces of social interaction. Contribution of street as a social space to the neighbourhood was stronger till it started to be used by vehicles making them less pedestrian friendly. Currently the neighbourhood streets are mere areas of vehicular movements alone and have affected the social interaction in neighbourhood. The paper aims to study the residential streets in Trivandrum and to device solutions on how the streets can be made active social space.
Key words: Street, neighborhood, social interaction

To study the activities in streets. To study design strategies involved in transforming a street to a socially active space. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS In the present context of increasing use of social networking sites where people dont prefer to step out of their homes, there is a need to bring them together at the neighbourhood level. It is very important to design the streets such that people are drawn to use it and get to know their neighbourhood well ensuring a very active and socially bound neighbourhoods giving rise to strong communities. The study is done within a limited duration of 3 months starting from the selection of the topic to preparing the report.

HYPOTHESIS Streets could be active social spaces in the new Urban neighbourhoods in Trivandrum.

METHODOLOGY Study the active neighborhood street through literature and live case studies and device solutions to make the new urban neighborhood street in Trivandrum socially active. WHAT IS A STREET?

AIM To come up with design strategies to transform the neighbourhood streets as an active social Interaction spaces. OBJECTIVE
To study the nature and characteristics of

streets in earlier settlements and how the street spaces influenced the activities or vice -versa.

A street is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. Streets are the connections between spaces and places, as well as being spaces themselves. They

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are defined by their physical dimension and character as well as the size, scale, and character of the buildings that line them. Improving the streetscape and pedestrian environment in neighbourhoods can be achieved by adding:

CASE STUDIES
Agraharam, Karamana MSK colony Attukal Attukal Bhagavathy street

Shading Greenery defined sidewalks Seating spaces Reduced vehicular traffic

ANALYSIS AND INFERENCES Social activities in the streets were analyzed: Agraharam Street, Karamana: People tend to maintain their street front as they dont have a compound wall and is directly open to them and have a feeling of ownership on the street. Most people prefer to sit in groups in the steps at the front of their houses for chit- chats. Street served as the play spaces to the children owing to limited traffic and due to lack of a separate play space. The social binding within the community is intact due to common activities and celebrations within the street even though dependency on television and computers have reduced the interaction levels to a smaller extent. Even the working class are socially active as they meet up late in the evenings and also casual talks in the parking lot while they return from work. MSK Colony Street: The shaded streets allow the people to use their front spaces that directly open into the street. Rubble blocks serves as a seating area which are hot spots of socializing. Crowd mainly concentrated near the hypermarket and the upper gaming zones Steps as a seating space are important areas of rest and activity In this case study an active street is achieved as the vehicular traffic is limited due to the level

LITERATURE STUDY: LIVING STREET? A living street is designed primarily with the interests of pedestrians and cyclists in mind and as a social space where people can meet; children can play legally and safely. These roads are still available for use by vehicles, with reduced the speed and dominance of motorised transport. This is often achieved using the shared space approach, with greatly reduced demarcations between vehicle traffic and pedestrians. Vehicle parking may also be restricted to designated bays. BENEFITS: Increasing natural surveillance, which deters casual crime. Enabling the elderly and others with limited mobility to have better access and mobility within in their own street environment. Improving the environmental quality of urban streets, helping to increase the demand for urban living. However, this may increase property values, which can generate both positive and negative impacts

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difference between the connecting street on one side. Also child friendly and a good play area for children. Lack of compound walls and houses directly open to streets allows for frequent meetings. Shading owing to the width of street and height of houses in addition to the tree cover create a comfy atmosphere. Proper street lighting allows activity at night.

well knit community which is totally lacking in the present scenario which reduce the crime rates in the residential neighbourhoods as human surveillance from the inhabitants is enabled when the streets are activated due to social activity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Attukal Bhagavathy Street

The streets are just spaces for movement and are

Books Jacob Allen (1995) Great Streets, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995. Online source Project for Public Spaces, Allan Jacobs, Place making blog [online blog] Available from : http://www.pps.org/reference/ajacobs/ [accessed : 12/02/14] Urban Design blog, Elements of Urban Design, [online blog] available from : http://www.urbandesign.org/elements.html [accessed : 12/02/14] Seattle shared streets blog (2013) Urban Integration Project in Medelln, Colombia [online] 2nd September. Available from : http://parklets.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/urbanintegration-project-in-medellin-columbia/ [accessed : 10/02/14] Wikipedia (2014) Living streets [online] available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_street [accessed : 14/02/14] Natalia Collarte (2012)The Woonerf Concept Rethinking a Residential Street in Somerville [online] available from: http://www.planning.org/divisions/transportation/p apercompetition/2013/collarte.pdf [ accessed : 13/02/14]

devoid of any social activity as the houses are separated from the streets by the compound walls. Only active space is the junction area with shops behind the temple. Streets are lined by compound walls and have nothing like niches or small seating spaces to invoke an interest in anyone who uses the street.

INFERENCE The new urban neighbourhood streets in Trivandrum can be made the socializing space by proving : A shared space- living street/ woonerf Common parking lot along the street Row housing directly opening into street Lowering the compound walls along the neighbourhood street Play spaces/ seating spaces along the street Small streets with cul-de-sacs with a common parking or shaded space in the centre. By introducing small eateries or shops along the streets that could act as active spots of interaction.

CONCLUSION The new urban neighbourhood streets can be the socializing space that will result in a socially

Department of Architecture College of Engineering Trivandrum