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Contents

FOREWORD

Water UrbanismKate Orff

INTRODUCTION

From Anandavana to VaranasiDilip da Cunha, Geeta Mehta, Kate Orff, Julia

Watson

ESSAY

Restoring Agency to Urban Stakeholders Through Social

CapitalGeeta Mehta
1

Re-imagining the Assi NallahProductive. Adaptive. Constructive.

2

Life-Death CycleRedefining the Death Experience to Become more Ecological and

Dignified

Varanasi in FluxTransforming Public Spaces into Seasonal Maidans

4

High Ground + Low GroundGanga Floodplain Urbanism

5

Forest of Bliss Restoring Varanasi’s Resilience

6

Trans-AggregationMicro Transactions to Macro Change

7

Four CommonsVaruna as a Cleansing Biotope

AFTERWORD

Message from Consul General of India, New York Mr. Sandeep

Chakraborty

END

Acknowledgements

Catalog
1%

Contents

FOREWORD

Water UrbanismKate Orff

INTRODUCTION

From Anandavana to VaranasiDilip da Cunha, Geeta Mehta, Kate Orff, Julia Watson
ESSAY

Restoring Agency to Urban Stakeholders Through Social

CapitalGeeta Mehta
1

Re-imagining the Assi NallahProductive. Adaptive. Constructive.

2
Life-Death CycleRedefining the Death Experience to Become more Ecological and Dignified
3

Varanasi in FluxTransforming Public Spaces into Seasonal Maidans

4

High Ground + Low GroundGanga Floodplain Urbanism

5

Forest of BlissRestoring Varanasi’s Resilience

6

Trans-AggregationMicro Transactions to Macro Change

7

Four CommonsVaruna as a Cleansing Biotope

AFTERWORD

Message from Consul General of India, New YorkMr. Sandeep Chakraborty

END

Acknowledgements

FOREWORD

WATER URBANISM
Kate Orff
Water is constantly in motion, changing states, crossing borders, nourishing
(and destroying) life. How can water and urbanism be considered together
as a generative frame for urban design practice, social life, and ecological
regeneration? The spring semester 2018 urban design studio investigated
urbanization challenges in Varanasi India, one of the most significant
religious sites along the Ganges River. Our goal was to develop a
comprehensive understanding of water systems and social life and how
these systems interrelate with a specificity of context, land, economics,
religion and urban-rural pattern. Student projects for re-imagining Varanasi
combine the exploration of water, economic, social, spatial, and power
dynamics to propose resilient urban forms. Rather than “solve problems”
and advance land-centric modes of development we aimed to envision an
alternative conception of infrastructure and the city centered on water
systems, landscape revitalization, health and equity.

Columbia UD Faculty: Kate Orff (studio coordinator), Dilip DaCunha, Geeta

Mehta, Julia Watson
Introduction

FROM ANANDAVANA TO VARANASI

Dilip da Cunha, Geeta Mehta, Kate Orff, Julia Watson
Varanasi was once known as the Forest of Bliss, or Anandavana. It has
been a spiritual hub for Hindus and Buddhists over centuries and today is a
bustling city with incredible pressures on its infrastructure. Located between
the “Assi” nallah and “Varuna” river – the chapters of which also frame this
publication, the city today faces urban pressures typical of modern Indian
city including the degradation of traditional water management methods that
have been halted and destroyed; the Neglect of talabs and rainwater
management; mass deforestation, pressure and development focused on
the River “front” while the inland interconnected water bodies are neglected;
air and water pollution; public health and the increasing domination of
private motorized vehicles dominating public spaces. At the same time, we
do not see Varanasi as consisting of problems to be “solved” but rather as a
way of thinking differently about an alternative conception of development
driven by a reconnection with the productive lands, with water and social life
at its center, rather than by the private car and developer prerogatives.

Like many cities in India and elsewhere, Varanasi is at the intersection of

two water systems, as described by Prof. Dilip Da Cunha in this video: flows
and holdings. The first system begins here with the River Ganges or Ganga
as it is called locally. Varanasi is on the banks of this river. It extends via
tributaries to points across the northern plains of India above Varanasi and
deep into the Himalayas, drawing water from rain, melting snow and
receding glaciers. It also extends via an infrastructure of pipes and drains to
fields, industries, homes, and entire cities that draw water from it and return
waste to it. This is a system that operates at a sub-continental, national and
even international level, with issues that are out of the city’s control. Four
major issues of concern are: waters rising with climate change beyond the
already 30 to 40 feet that they do each monsoons; increasing household
and industrial waste in the Ganges basin; increasing volumes of silt coming
off the Himalayas that buries the ghats and fills the some temples on the
ghats under many feet of mud and debris each monsoon; the project
already underway to inter-link India’s rivers with siphons, dams, and canals
promises to make the flow of the Ganges past Varanasi more unpredictable.

The second water system begins with the monsoons, a wind laden with rain
that blows from June to September. It feeds tanks called kunds or talabs.
These tanks are connected in series by their overflows, called nallahs. Once
operated and cared for by local communities, tanks gave people a certain
autonomy with the rain that fell in their catchment along with water from
higher tanks that resulted in them making strategic relations with neighbors.
Today this system is in disrepair, overwhelmed by a real estate pressures,
breakdown of the local custodianship systems, water supply and drainage
system that speaks the language of the river rather than the tanks, but also
endangers the river. The two systems are divergent. It is a divergence that
was encouraged by the English East India Company, which occupied
Varanasi in the 1770s, and extended by the British who took over the
governing of India in 1857 until India’s independence in 1947. Driven only
by an imagination focused only on river hydraulics, they turned away from
rain to rivers, constructing three sides to Varanasi: a) a “front” side on the
river which is today the face of the city embellished with ghats populated by
tourists and pilgrims who venerate the river ; a middle city that Mark Twain
on a visit describes as a “vast mass of building, compactly crusting a hill,
and is cloven in all directions by an intricate confusion of cracks which stand
for streets;” and a periphery of communities around abandoned tanks, many
of them built over, made into ill-functioning parks, or lying derelict and
polluted.

Varanasi is also at the intersection of two modes of habitation: sedentary

and nomadic. The first mode of habitation ‘originates’ on the outer bank of
an ancient bend of the meandering River Ganges atop an alluvial bluff
subject to erosion by the river and many nallahs. Rising sharply from the
river, this bluff slopes gently to the west. The settlement on it begins as
intensely urban on the river with the stone steps of ghats that have over the
last couple of centuries extended to cover the entire face of the bluff.
Populated with shrines, these ghats are the site of several activities from the
celebrations of festivals to religious rituals to everyday ablutions. The
settlement transforms from these ghats to the west, eventually transitioning
from a dense settlement into a rural hinterland of villages and agricultural
fields. The second mode of habitation has occurred for centuries on the
sand bar across the river. It is the inner side of the bend across from the
ghats that typically ‘grows or shrinks with depositions by the river. Hidden
with the rise of the Ganges during the monsoons being as much as thirty to
forty feet, a vast portion of this bank is exposed when the river falls. It is a
place for agriculture, grazing and the temporary settlements of nomadic
pastoralists, craftspeople, musicians and others who crisscrossed the
northern plains, more so in the past than today.

Columbia Faculty: Kate Orff, Dilip da Cunha, Geeta Mehta, Julia Watson

Special Advisors: Prof. Joy Sen, PhD, Prof. Arkopal K. Goswami, PhD, Prof.
Bhargab Maitra (IIT), Students and Faculty of Banaras Hindu University
Essay

RESTORING AGENCY TO URBAN

STAKEHOLDERS THROUGH
SOCIAL CAPITAL
Geeta Mehta
The sight of the majestic waterfront ghats, or steps leading down to the
Ganges in Varanasi is unforgettable. From the twilight of dawn until after
dusk, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims crowd along these steps to bathe in
the sacred waters. Probably one of the most intensively used public spaces
anywhere, the area is surprisingly clean and well maintained, unlike the rest
of Varanasi, where trash heaps pile up in the streets, kunds (tanks), ponds
and green spaces are neglected, and the overall level of city management
leaves much to be desired.

The explanation for this sharp contrast lies in the matter of leveraging or
ignoring the agency and civic engagement to the people of Varanasi. Over
centuries, a system of maintenance for the ghats has been developed in
which responsibility for every square foot is linked to a specific temple or
family. It is a system of social capital that keeps the ghats looking as good
as they do. Maintenance of the rest of the city is the purview of the
government, which does not have the capacity or funds to do the job. This
was not always the case. While the temples nearby usually cared for kunds,
ponds and public spaces were the responsibility of the people who lived
around these public assets. Responsibility for managing them was passed
over generations of families, who were recognized at religious or secular
processions and festivals.

How can we bring that sense of responsibility and caring for the urban
commons back to our cities today? Kunds in Varanasi were clean so long as
people depended upon them for water. The advent of tap water has resulted
in people turning their backs on kunds, and allowing their drains and
garbage to pollute them due to lack of adequate sewage systems or trash
collection. The connection between residents and water has been severed
and social networks and social capital of communities lost. Anthony Lovin,
co-author of Natural Capitalism, argues that in order to curb air pollution
from cars, the exhaust pipes of the car should be mandated to vent into the
passenger cabin. The technology to make zero emission cars already
exists, but manufacturers have no incentive to invest in this technology
unless required to do so. Democratizing urban management, connecting
people to the true impact of their actions, and developing methodologies so
that people are able to help manage their environment is the key. The
faculty in the studio challenged students to deeply investigate reviving the
lost sense of connection between a people and their environment. To do so
is the only way to build a sense of agency, responsibility for public assets,
and a movement for grassroots city management in partnership with the
government. People need to be empowered as citizen stakeholders, not as
helpless victims of government inefficiency. There needs to be social
accountability in the system, which is difficult to rely on just by replicating
the systems of the past, as people are more mobile and travel across India
and beyond. Challenges abound. Does our highly individualistic sense of
modernity allow for such a community-based approach to the most vital
functions of running a city? Does the toxic asymmetry of work-life imbalance
allow time for individuals to contribute to community projects any more?
What could be the mechanisms for enhancing social capital? Can modern
social media and technology enable crowdsourcing of responsible
citizenship? Can social capital be counted and accounted for, in a world
where every thing is increasingly measured in terms of money? Might
systems of incentivizing social good be more suited to the modern and more
mobile lifestyles? Might pilgrims also have agency for improving Varanasi?

Urban design and architecture are social acts, so they must have a social
purpose. Students’ explorations of the issues mentioned here are
documented within the pages of this book.

RE-IMAGINING THE ASSI NALLAH

Productive. Adaptive. Constructive.
Stude nts : J es s e Hir ak awa, X iaof ei Hu ang, M arnfah (Fah) Ka nj anav anit, Shi h Hao Lia o

What if the Assi Nallah was a

productive landscape to drive social,
economic and ecological
development?
Our proposal aims to restore value to the Assi Nallah by creating a
productive landscape along this waterway where communities can coexist.

The overall design strategy is to adapt the Assi Nallah into an articulate
system of holdings and flows with platforms and folds in the landscape that
treats water biotically before it reaches the Ganges. First, we will encourage
locals to clean up the solid and/or plastic waste in exchange for social
capital credits. Then, locals will engage in landscape manipulations to
create folds in the ground to slow down water flow for treatment in
anaerobic platforms and filtration landscapes. Finally, these platforms can
be a starting point for economic development like hostels, working spaces,
or any other public needs.
Communities will serve as stewards of the reimagined Assi Nallah and
through the concept of social capital, our design will allow communities to
work together to maintain and benefit from the environment.
The Assi Nallah reimagined as a productive landscape: the watershed of the Assi

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Project Introduction Video

What is a Nallah?

A nallah in Varanasi is currently an open drain that meanders through the

city carrying sewage and runoff to the Ganges. These nallahs have become
key conveyances in the city. Traditionally a nallah has served versatile
functions, and in Varanasi a nallah was once the lowest portions of an
agricultural surface, allowing water to gather and flow.
Assi nallah (crossing Nagwa Road) runs through the city as a drain collecting all runoff and
waste.

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Locating the Assi Nallah within Varanasi

Depending on the time of year, they carried overflows of monsoon rains or

were cultivated as fields of holdings. At other times they carried flowing
water, appearing as tributaries of a river rushing towards the Ganges. This
is a local response to the wide fluctuation between dry and wet seasons in
India.
Evolution of a nallah

Rapid urbanization has caused these nallahs to fold in unnatural ways. In

some areas they have become concrete or brick-lined ditches. The Assi
Nallah in Varanasi has been reduced to a sewage drain.
Along the Assi Nallah there were multiple forms of encroachment, our team continued to
research these forms as a driver for change. The Recharge Point Dry -out and Confluence
Point became two of the main factors when implementing change to the Assi Nallah.

Assi Nallah vs. the Current Sewage Treatment System

The current sewage system has an expansive network of drains to transport

sewage to pumping stations. However, these pumping stations require
continuous power to pump sewage to poorly maintained treatment plants.
Large investments will probably not make this system successful. The
current development of Varanasi’s sewage treatment system is neither
strategic nor effective.

Under the government’s Ganga Action Plan II and Jawaharlal Nehru

National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) plan, Varanasi has planned
huge investments in the sewage treatment system to pump waste away in
non-strategic locations.

Varanasi’s existing sewage treatment system is stressed and only treats a

small percentage of the sewage before releasing it into the Ganges. Most of
the cities’ human waste is directed towards nallahs and not connected to a
proper sewage system.
Existing sewage treatment system within Varanasi

The majority of Varanasi is not connected to a sewer line, and only 60% of the area around the
Assi is connected to a proper sewage line.
The development timeline of the sewage treatment system

With projected population growth, these infrastructures and the substantial

investment made towards their construction will become even more
inadequate by 2035 due to the city’s rapid growth in population.
Our team wants to challenge the proposed investment of 11.5 million dollars
for the new planned sewage treatment plant that may become obsolete
before it gets online, versus the much smaller investment needed for the
landscape filtration system proposed along the Assi, which will reap several
ecological and social co-benefits.
Proposal

Our proposal aims to restore value to the Assi Nallah by creating a

productive landscape along the waterway for the community to benefit and
coexist.

The re-imagined Assi Nallah as a productive landscape: the watershed of the Assi

Overall Design Phasing

The overall design strategy is to adapt the Assi Nallah into an articulate
system of holdings and flows, with the platforms and folds in the landscape
that treats water biotically before it reaches the Ganges, and benefits the
communities it flows through.

Collecting
First, locals will be incentivized to collect trash along the Nallah. They will
earn social capital credits, which can be exchanged later for services. This
is similar to the Carbon Credits or airline points system.
Constructing
Once the trash is gone, locals can start to transform the land for productive
purposes, and earn social capital credits. The incentives for this step will be
to gain ownership of land for their homes and the use of public land on the
edges of the water treatment bioswales for agriculture.

Producing
Third, the area will become a productive landscape for medical and
agricultural products. Platforms will start to be introduced across or near the
Assi nallah to provide working spaces for agro-processing and crafts.

Building
Last, new owners will be able to receive social capital credits for providing
services on these platforms: maintaining public spaces, planting trees or
any other services to improve their communities.

The four phases: Collecting, Constructing, Producing and Building

Design Language - Folds and Platforms

Through a series of folds and platforms that adapt to the hydrological flow,
these interventions will have multiple functions and programs responsive to
the people living along the Nallah. Some will be simple interventions while
some will be more complex.
Crossing platforms and terraced filtrations

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Platforms as a place of crossing and work space opportunities

Site 1 - Assi Origin

At the origin point of the Assi Nallah, existing conditions and surrounding
communities inform the design of the productive landscape.

The system of folds and platforms demonstrates how a decentralized and

biotic sewage treatment system can work. Since the landscape filtration
system cannot treat all the wastewater, our proposal incorporates platforms
that provide initial wastewater treatment by removing the solids and
reducing the smell. After this step, bio-filtration takes place to further clean
the water. Runoff water is also treated through these folds in the landscape
that act as bioswales.
Origin of the Assi Nallah and a ritual site along a pilgrimage route

This treated wastewater and runoff water is channeled through the site into
a larger water body that is designed alongs the open (maidan) spaces.
Water from this water body filters into the existing kund (tank) and filters out
to become the starting point of the Assi Nallah.

Our design strategy is to first complete building up the existing abandoned

Kund to allow communities to conveniently use this water body for washing
and fishing. Nomads, vendors, and the surrounding community can occupy
the open space around the kund.
A dharamshala (pilgrimage hostel) as a platform that fits into the land while also filtering its
sewage and local runoff.

These platforms of biotic sewage treatment infrastructure are expected to

be owned and maintained by Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, an entity that
currently has jurisdiction over the State’s sewer system. Farmers and
maintenance workers are expected to work, on their respective sites
together, to maintain this water treatment system.

On top of the platform, we propose programs such as a dharamshala

(Pilgrimage hostel). These pilgrims can become a continuous source of
funding for this system. Industries can be generated from the productive
landscape such as food processing, bamboo crafts, Ain wood production,
medicinal plant production, etc.
This system of folds and platforms accommodates the flux in water levels between dry and
monsoon seasons.

Site 2 - Assi and Ganges Confluence

At the confluence of the Assi and Ganga, this project celebrates this holy
intersection by transforming an existing park into a delta of temporal
productive landscape- for use by pilgrims and able to accommodate the
flood waters of the monsoons.

This system of folds and platforms will demonstrate how sediment flows
through the confluence. Ultimately, trapping the silt and sediment from the
river and nallah.
Confluences are traditionally sacred places where the Assi Nallah and Ganges river meet will
now be celebrated.

The ghat area has been designed as a series of landscape folds that filter
runoff before it flows into the Ganges River. These folds also create
terraced platforms for temporal agriculture.

The landscape folds in between the the existing communities and weave in
to occupy the new ghats, activating the adjacent public spaces. Since the
Assi Ghat area is a popular location for guest houses and many tourists to
go, a vibrant public space can attract tourists that can add to the local
economy and become a source of funding to maintain these ghats.
The confluence will serve as a temporal productive landscape with filtration ghats

This proposal will enable stakeholders such as boat makers, farmers,

tourists, and brick makers to take advantage of the temporal landscape.

Time iteration showing water flux from dry and monsoon season.
Like the previous site, this system of folds and platforms is designed to be
resilient to the flux in water levels between dry and monsoon seasons.
3D Exploration

Through CNC modeling we were able to explore different folding typologies

in the landscape.

If We Want a Clean Ganga, We Need to Start with the Nallahs

With urban nallahs running into it, it is not surprising that with the steep rise
in urban population has made the Ganges, which is considered as a holy
river by millions of people, among the most polluted in the world. It receives
three billion liters of untreated waste everyday via nallahs like the Assi. The
Indian Government, along with numerous foreign and local entities have
invested considerable amounts of money, time and infrastructure over the
past 30 years into cleaning the Ganges. However, their solution of building
large-scale infrastructure to intercept and treat sewage along the 2,500 km-
long river is not resilient, effective, and lacks social benefits. A proposal for
an alternative and more robust strategy is provided here.

LIFE-DEATH CYCLE
Redefining the Death Experience to Become more
Ecological and Dignified
Stude nts : Tz u - y ing Ch uang, Ze nan ( J im my ) G uo, Yi qi M el

What if death & cremation rituals in

Varanasi were reimagined as
dispersed sites of regeneration and
restoration on the Sandbank of the
Ganges?
Introduction

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Our project focused on death rituals in Varanasi and their impact on local
and regional ecosystems.

Bodies & Wood: Cremation cycle

Thousands of people from India come to Varanasi each year to be cremated

on Manikarnika Ghat after their deaths. Forests are decimated, and tons of
wood, (especially mango wood from nearby areas) are shipped to Varanasi
for the cremation process.

Holy city of Benares (Varanasi 1910) 1

Varanasi’s death industry has great potential of being more ecologically

friendly while also preserving the existing rituals and religious heritage.
Project Video

Life Death Flow (Mapping Analysis)

Extraction Landscapes that Support Ritual Practice (regional scale)
 1/2

The overwhelming increase in the demand for cremations at Manikarnika

Ghat has resulted in overcrowding and pollution of the air and water.

Current death-wood flow (city scale)

The experience for families who come to cremate their loved ones is no
longer as dignified as it once was in part because of the pressure of
numbers. It has pushed some cremation ceremonies to the sandbank
across the Ganges River. Today, with the construction of new bridges
across the Ganges this sandbank is being eyed for real estate, threatening
its fragile ecology.
Site Context
Five interventions on the sandbank across the Ganges

We therefore propose regenerative and protective infrastructures on the

sandbank side of the Ganges in the form of five light-touch fingers, including
one that will serve as a new cremation ground, relieving the pressure on
Manikarnika Ghat.

Section - site context

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Intervention Strategy
Journey through the new ritual landscape

We adopt strategies to heal the local and regional ecological systems of the
Ram Nagar area that involve reviving existing temples and kunds (tanks),
reforestation, agriculture, and settlement.
Sandalwood tree - ceremonial path

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The ritual experience of walking in the landscape is enhanced with

immersive planting.
Body ashes - Mango wood tree

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We complete the death-life cycle by encouraging the mingling of ashes with

soil in a ritual involving the planting of a tree. It establishes a connection
between people and plants that families can visit each year and nurture.
Improve the local economy

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Our project provides job opportunities in the boating, wood and tourism
businesses that can be directed to local low-income communities.
Site Design - a New Ritual Landscape
Site design from Ramnagar to the Ganges
Compost Garden: Remains of un-burnt bodies will be turned into fertilizer

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Ritual & cremation site plan

Cremation Dome & Death Hotel design module

Ritual & Cremation section

Program and Future Scenario

Life death program and water filtering system

Normal condition

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Ritual landscape unlocks future opportunities for reforestation and development while
preserving the sandbank ecosystem

Conclusion
View towards Manikarnika Ghat from 2nd Floor of proposed Crematorium Dome

Our scheme for the sandbank side of Varanasi offers a more dignified and
ecologically beneficial alternative to the current death ritual in Varanasi
while respecting the traditional importance of Manikarnika. It also protects a
fragile ecology and gives new life to ancient systems that integrated
forestry, agriculture and water management.
1
The Holy City of Benares (Varanasi), 1910. British Library

VARANASI IN FLUX
Transforming Public Spaces into Seasonal Maidans
Stude nts : Ban Ed ilb i, Fatma Mh moo d, Hua ny u Chen, Xi any ao Xia

What if all public spaces in Varanasi

were flexible, adaptable and
resilient maidans?
Due to Varanasi’s religious importance and the number of festivals that
occur in different seasons, the population fluctuates throughout the year
from 1.2 million to 6 million. 1 This flux in the number of people consists of
pilgrims, tourists and nomadic groups. Nomads and workers from
surrounding towns also come to Varanasi in order to sell their goods for
rituals, and use Varanasi as a ground for living and production. The flux and
flow through Varanasi is not limited to people, but also to the annual rainfall
which changes the landscape, the celebration of festivals, migratory birds
that come from Siberia from November to March, and seasonal flowers that
are used in festivals.

The Varanasi Development Authority has prepared a 2031 Master Plan that
is meant to expand the city to accommodate the growing population. Our
project challenges the 2031 Master Plan by looking at Varanasi as a pulsing
city rather than static and linear growth entity, where public spaces should
be flexible, adaptable and resilient to accommodate the intensifying
seasonal flux of people, flora and fauna.

Project Video

Actors in Flux

We analyzed the layers and flows in Varanasi and linked the flows to four
actors: the people that come for festivals, the fauna that is grown nearby,
the migratory birds that occupy the Ghats and the Sandbank, and the
Ganga River’s dynamic edge that defines the Ghats and the Sandbank.
Identifying the actors in Flux

Elements and Beneficial Transactions in a Socio-Ecological Community

We analyzed the flow of our four actors through Varanasi, to understand

where they originate, and the beneficial transactions between them, and
noted the following:
• The pilgrims and tourists coming from all over the world are a major
trigger for commercial activities in Varanasi. The nomadic Banjara tribal
population coming from Rajasthan also add to it.
• The migratory birds that fly from Siberia to the wetlands in Varanasi and
the Ghats create an attraction for bird watchers and therefore an income
source for boatmen.
• The diverse flora species that grow around Varanasi include native
species as well as those from South America, Australia and Europe.
• The flow of the Ganga River that causes dynamic changes in the
Sandbank due to Monsoon and seasonal changes
The trajectories of the four actors

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Cycles of Flux

We have traced the cycles of our actors throughout the year in Varanasi,
and how they fluctuate in different seasons in relation to cycles of monsoon,
migration, cultivation, and celebration. The flux of birds occurs between
November to March. Festivals that attract tourists and pilgrims coincide with
harvesting seasons to celebrate good harvest, and water affects them all
including festivals and crops.
The flux of people, birds, flora and water throughout the year

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Adopting the Maidan Concept to Accommodate Flux

Our proposal adopts the concept of maidan, which is an open space that
allows for flexibility in program, porosity, density of users, and adaptability to
different seasons. Talabs, parks and the edges of the Ganga River are
common public spaces in Varanasi. They are identified as
potential maidans which can be transformed into seasonal, adaptable and
resilient spaces to absorb the intensifying flux.
Current approach to planning

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Talabs, parks and the edges of Ganga as potential Maidans

Site Typologies

Three types of flexible public spaces, where the flux is most concentrated,
were chosen to test how they perform in relation to the calendar. These are
Chakra Tal (pond), Beniya Park and the Ganga River’s dynamic edge.
Design strategies will be developed for each site typology, which can be
used to transform similar public spaces into maidans in other locations too.

Chakra Tal, Beniya Park and the Ganga River’s edge are future typologies of seasonal,
adaptable and flexible maidans

Maidan Infrastructure

The infrastructure of a maidan consists of two types, permanent and

temporary. The permanent infrastructure has been designed to appropriate
the sites to be adaptable and flexible. It is designed to provide direct access
from the city fabric to the maidans by removing fences and physical barriers,
and enabling the maidan to become an extension of the pavement from the
alleys. Dense trees are planted along the periphery to define the maidans to
prevent encroachment and provide shade. The temporary infrastructure is
designed to allow the maidans to perform in response to different seasons. A
kit of parts that can be aggregated and amplified to accommodate the flux of
religious tourists has been proposed to create this temporary infrastructure.
The material palette of the infrastructure is based on locally sourced
materials that can be self-organized and locally managed.

Permanent Infrastructure
Wayfinding infrastructure to provide a direct access from the dense urban fabric to open
Maidans

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Infrastructure Performance in Different Seasons

The performance of each site was explored for different seasons and
festivals, especially Makar Sankranti (January), Shravan Mas (July-August)
and Dev Deepawali (November), to show how the infrastructure can perform
at times of low water levels, high water levels and when there is a large
number of pilgrims and tourists respectively. The kit of parts allows the
infrastructure to be moved between the maidans depending on the seasons
and the needs.

Seasonal maidans

Chakra Tal as a Maidan

Chakra Tal is currently an abandoned natural pond that once was an

important social space for communities and a flourishing habitat for wildlife
Chakra Tal currently overtaken by invasive plants

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Our infrastructure aims to connect rituals with the revitalization of

the talabs (ponds) by introducing dams at the entrance of waterways into
the talabs to act as silt traps during the monsoon. The residents will be
encouraged to harvest this silt during rituals and then use the silt in
community gardens along the talab. Service hubs and market stalls are
proposed at the periphery to integrate the talab with the community and to
turn it into a front yard rather than a backyard, the way it once used to be.
Sewage treatment tanks are proposed to purify the water from the
residential developments into the talab and to sustain the talab ecosystem.
The kit of parts engages residents in maintaining the talab and sustaining the ecosystem

The images show how the talab can be integrated into the community as a
front yard rather than an abandoned backyard, while responding to different
seasons: with commercial activities during Dev Deepawali, to store of water
during Monsoon, and for seasonal agriculture.

Commercial and agricultural activities during Dev Deepawali and a source for water harvesting
during Monsoon
The residents around the talab will be incentivized to maintain the talab for
earning Social Capital Credits by desilting and planting trees. These credits
can then be exchanged for getting market stalls, agricultural produce, and
other benefits. To implement this, Varanasi Development Authority can
initiate changing the talab to a maidan through providing paving, dams and
silt traps for talab revitalization. The residents’ associations can be
authorized to manage the system of Social Capital Credits and help in
training the residents to maintain the talab.

The operation and revitalization to be managed by Varanasi Development Authority and the
maintenance performed by the community

Beniya Park as a Maidan

Beniya Park is currently occupied by different groups of people. Nomads

use it as a temporary shelter, flute makers use it as a shelter and production
space, and residents around it use it as a playground. The park is currently
enclosed and fenced separating it from the surrounding urban fabric with an
unfinished abandoned structure that was supposed to be a fish market and
is currently used as a toilet.
Abandoned fish market and dry wetland
 1/6

Beniya Park can be transformed into a productive maidan, with the fences
removed to create a direct and continuous access. Trees can define the
park and prevent encroachment. The wetland has been shown revived in
the drawings to function as a bird habitat. The kit of parts shows the
temporary elements that correspond to the needs of Beniya Park in different
seasons. The service hubs, distribution centers, markets and shelters have
been designed to serve the transient populations
The kit of parts will enable inhabitation by nomadic groups to be more comfortable?

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At Dev Deepawali time, Beniya Park can be filled with shelters and markets,
while the wetland can become an attraction for bird watchers. In Monsoon,
Beniya Park can be equipped with shelters and markets, accommodating
the displaced activities and population from the Ghats

Revived wetland will attracts birds, and a market will serve the flux of people during Dev
Deepawali time. Temporary structures will house the people and activities displaced during
monsoon.

The abandoned fish market is re-adapted as a storage and distribution

center for the modules. The buildings adjacent to it are adapted as service
and information hubs that include toilets, money exchange and Internet
facilities. The community living around the Park will be incentivized to
become responsible for planting trees and maintaining the Park or for
running the service hubs to get Social Capital Credits. These can then be
redeemed for utility payments. To implement this, Varanasi Municipal
Corporation can become a partner by accepting Social Capital Credits as
utility charges

The operation and revitalization to be managed by Varanasi Development Authority and the
maintenance performed by the community in exchange for Social Capital Credits

Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Sandbank as Maidans

In their existing condition, Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Sandbank lack

resilient spaces and infrastructure that correspond to seasonal changes.
Physical barriers along the Ghats prevent continuity of public spaces and
soiled water outflow are currently contributing to the pollution of the Ganga
River.
The current condition of Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Sandbank does not respond to the
seasonal changes Varanasi witnesses

An extension to the edge of the Ganga River is introduced by adding

floating docks and gathering points that will ease the intense crowds and
provide a continuity of public spaces along the Ghats. During the monsoon
season, Ghat activities can be temporarily shifted inland to seasonal
markets and ponds. The kit of parts highlights the temporary elements that
correspond to the needs in different seasons. The information and service
hubs, and distribution centers are incorporated within the design, along with
markets and shelters for the transient populations.
The kit of parts responds to the edge’s seasonal changes through temporary infrastructure

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The edges of the Ganga River drastically change at times of low and high
water. During the monsoon, the slower current at the Sandbank allows it to
be a maidan for pilgrims and Aarti ceremonies, while it remains an
agricultural and recreational space during Dev Deepawali and other times of
the year.

The sandbank is a maidan for Arti during Monsoon and an agricultural land during Dev
Deepawali

By incentivizing the Ministry of Tourism to be responsible for adding way-

finding and informational signage throughout Varanasi, tourists and
transient populations can navigate the city. Temples along the Ghats can be
given permission to temporarily move the proposed floating docks during
the Monsoon to the Sandbank side.
The operation and revitalization to be managed by Varanasi Development Authority and the
maintenance performed by the temples

Material Flows Through Maidans

The maidans are proposed to operate as an expansive network to

accommodate the flux of materials and services to respond to the users’
needs and to maintain the performance of the sites. Public transportation
may be provided to further connect the maidans where feasible. These
networked maidans will ease the mobility of the four actors through the sites.
Transient populations will have information to use these maidans. Crops
grown in the community gardens around the talabs can be moved to the
markets in Beniya Park and the Ghats along this network. During monsoon,
the displaced population from the Ghats can move along this network to
shelters and markets at Beniya Park.
Maidans operating as a network through easing the movement of the four actors identified
previously

Conclusion

In order to prepare Varanasi as a pulsing city that accommodates the flux,

public spaces can be made resilient by making them flexible, adaptable and
seasonal, i.e. like maidans in the true sense of this space typology. This is
essential for the future of Varanasi as the flux of people intensifies due to
increasing demand, and the water level rises even more due to climate
change.
Varanasi 2050 vision
1
“The Indian And Foreign Tourist Visits In Important Tourist Places Of Uttar Pradesh In Year 2011 To 2015”. 2018. Uttar
Pradesh Tourism. http://www.uptourism.gov.in/site/writereaddata/siteContent/tourism-stats.pdf?cd=MwAwADcA.

HIGH GROUND + LOW GROUND

Ganga Floodplain Urbanism
Stude nts : Yan mi n Ba o, Yuq i Cui, Car ol ine J e on, Ye onk y u Park

What if a strategy of sculpting the

landscape into High Ground and Low
Ground became a model for future
Ganga floodplain urbanism?
High-Ground + Low Ground: Ganga Floodplain Urbanism proposes an
innovative strategy to improve the livability as well as the economic and
social conditions of residents in the heavily populated floodplain along the
Ganges River. Instead of annual inundation and hardship in low lying areas
inhabited by poor and migrant populations, a strategy of sculpting a low-
ground + high-ground landscape allows people to live safely on high ground
while the low-ground is used for seasonal agriculture and the easy drainage
of high waters. In this way the low-ground sites in and around Varanasi can
be safely inhabited.
Floodplain Urbanism in Varanasi

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Project Video

Incremental Floodplain Development

In the floodplain site between the Ganges River, the Ring Road, and
Banaras Hindu University, we propose a settlement strategy of ‘fingers of
high ground’ by using a combination of soil from cut and fill operations and
dredged river silt to build the fingers. This will be followed by an incremental
building strategy on top of the fingers based on the mohalla, a prevalent
neighborhood typology in Varanasi. The low-ground areas between the
fingers will become capable of draining water to the river during monsoons
while serving as ground for urban agriculture during the rest of the year.
Infrastructure and transportation is also proposed along the spine of the
fingers, which will enable people formerly living on the low-grounds to have
better connections with the city and its infrastructure, and live with
resilience, harmony and improved economic opportunity

Floodplain Development Proposal

What is Floodplain Urbanism?

Meander is a winding curve or bend in a river that results from both
erosional and depositional processes. It creates low-lying areas on either
side of a river i.e., a floodplain. Currently, the floodplains along the Ganges
River are unsuitable for development due to their geographical condition.

Even the Varanasi Master Plan of 2031, which proposes to expand

urbanization, does not deal with the low areas which flood each monsoon.
The disregarded floodplain causes hardship to the poor and marginalized
people who settle in the informal settlements in the floodplains due to lack of
choice.
Floodplain along Ganges River
Varanasi 2031 Master Plan

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What is the existing condition of the site?

Across the Ganges River from the site a major project is underway: the
development of a multi-modal terminal on National Waterway 1 that is
expected to serve cities from Allahabad to Haldia. Along the stretch of this
1620 km project, Varanasi is one of the major cities. The key benefits from
this terminal is the sand and silt that will be dredged annually for the cargo
ships to traverse the river. With the large amount of river silt, we propose to
build fingers of high-ground to improve living conditions in the floodplain of
the Ganges River. 1

Our site is the low-grounds between the Ganges River, Ring Road highway,
and Banaras Hindu University. Each one of these have different
development characteristics of low and high grounds.
Site Condition | Topography
 1/4

“Thousands of citizens have been stranded and are suffering due to heavy
rains and water logging in Varanasi..” – Piyush Surana
Development with Existing Urban Fabric
The Ganges River, Ring Road highway, and Banaras Hindu University is
the geographical high-ground infrastructure adjacent to the low-ground.
Distinguishing High-Ground and Low-Ground defines the incremental
operation strategy that could be applied to the low-ground.

Defining High-Ground + Low-Ground

*Three High-Ground + Low-Ground *

1. The Ganges River deals with levee [high-ground] built from sand dredge,
that deposits and drains the Ganga [low-ground]
2. The Ring Road highway bund [high-ground] helps to connect and
expand through agriculture [low-ground] and its market.
3. The Banaras Hindu University is surrounded by mohalla [high-ground]
settlement, a typical community formation that involves religion,
occupation, and social class in Varanasi, that structures itself around an
infrastructure such as, water catchment [low-ground].
Levee+Ganga Operation

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“How can we design to live with Ganga River in harmony?”

Resilient + Incremental Design Strategy

As the current low-ground sits below the monsoon flood level, the
communities living there have to relocate themselves annually. To make a
resilient living space in the low-ground area, this project proposes an
operational strategy of three high-ground and low-grounds.
High-Ground + Low-Ground Operation

“How can we incrementally develop the low ground area to become

resilient?”

Once the three operations – levee + Ganga; bund + agriculture; and

mohalla + water catchment – are applied, the low-ground area can be
improved incrementally by building high-ground for habitation from dredged
sand and using mid+low-ground for seasonal agriculture to enhance the
economy and ecology of the area.

The project proposes to begin with a finger of high ground across from the
port development, then expanding both ways from there with a high-ground
mohalla typology and low-ground agriculture. During the monsoon, the low
lying area will drain out the flood water while leaving high-ground mohallas
dry and resilient.
Incremental Development

How does a ‘finger of high-ground’ work?

With high-ground formation made up of dredged sand and silt, the new
urban fabric will regenerate incrementally using a mohalla typology around
water catchment structures. The mid-ground will support terraced
agriculture. And the Low-ground will drain out monsoon water during the wet
season and support seasonal urban agriculture during the rest of the year. It
will create a new source of income that will turn informal communities into
“communities in formation”.
High-Ground Finger Formation

Who are the stakeholders?

Planning in Varanasi is done by the Varanasi Development Authority. This
project strategy will give them a way to develop the floodplain. Once the
high-ground is built, the demand for real-estate will rise. This will justify
building high-ground with the large amount of annually dredged silt from
National Waterway 1 development. However, it is important that they ensure
that the poor are not pushed out of this area by real estate pressures.
Levee+Ganga during Dry Season

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Bund+Agriculture during Dry Season

1/2
Mohalla+Watercatchment during Dry Season

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Conclusion

The proposed ‘fingers of high-ground’ on the low-ground in Varanasi can

become a prototype for the floodplain all along the Ganges River. This
model of development provides an opportunity for the vulnerable areas to
house marginalized populations. The High-Ground + Low-Ground approach
to urbanism can improve economic opportunity as well as bring resilience to
settlement in the Gangetic Plain.
Resilient Floodplain Through the Development of High Ground Fingers

The annual rise of the Ganga cannot be avoided; we can live in harmony
with it.
1
http://www.alevelgeography.com/meanders/ http://www.onegeology.org/extra/kids/earthprocesses/meanderingrivers.html

FOREST OF BLISS
Restoring Varanasi’s Resilience
Stude nts : Dav id C hon il lo, J or ge Es p inos a G o nz alez , G igi Si ngh

What if Varanasi’s unique sacred

landscapes could be restored through
pilgrim rituals to improve urban health
and ecological resilience?
The Ganga river’s severe flooding is increasing proportionally to the
depletion of forests. Forests hold wetness and regulate flows. Reversing
deforestation will make living in the Gangetic plain more resilient as well as
increase biodiversity and provide various services at a local level.

1
Severe flooding along the Ganges

There is an urgent need to protect waterfronts on the Ganga River from

floods. With the current infrastructure and resource management proving
inadequate, we turn to afforestation. We see it as a means to mitigate all
types of issues related to population, including health, malnourishment,
pollution, pests, global warming, among others.
Future vision of the Forest of Bliss propagating from water bodies and sacred routes

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Project Video

Anandavana

Varanasi was once called “Anandavana”, meaning Forest of Bliss. This

ancient place has invited millions of pilgrims to share in its spirituality and
connect with it through the forest. Today, this magical landscape of the
forest is lost, only seen in historic images.
 2
Lambragraon Gita Govinda, Kangra, 1820-30, Ludwig Habighorst Collection

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The loss of the forest is a tragedy for those who love Shiva and care about
the pollution of his sacred body.

But it is possible to revive Anandavana.

 5
Banaras Ghats, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, William Hodges 1798

Water-Spirit Connections

Recovering the Relationship Between Nature and Sacred Rituals

Hinduism centers on respect and care for nature and rituals. Pilgrim routes
have always followed water bodies, giving them an importance and
meaning.

Focusing pilgrims’ energy on care for nature can have an amazing impact
on the ecology that surrounds them. This is a great opportunity that benefits
from the number of visitors Varanasi receives each year, and will likely
receive in future.
The map in the Kashi-darpana, a medieval text, includes equal parts of both sides of the river
Ganga, Varanasi city side and Ramnagar side, within the culture zone of Varanasi 6

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The New Sacred Route

We propose a new pilgrim route that connects all the existing ones. Pilgrims
will enter the city through Dashashwamedh Ghat, follow a course to the
Varuna, and return along this river to the Ganga River.

This route abstracted as a straight path in this drawing serves as a ground

for initiating a forestation strategy. We visualize the forest extending from
here like fingers toward the countryside.
Abstraction of a pilgrim route through Varanasi that will begin the reforestation of the city. The
staging grounds for the production and initiation of the forest are highlighted in yellow.

The three sites of intervention:

1. Ghats: Fertile soil deposited by the Ganga River (especially after

Monsoon) will be gathered, sculpted and carried to particular sites
through rituals by pilgrims.
2. Kunds: Schools and temples surrounding these tanks will coordinate
tree nurseries as well as collection of cow dung and clay to produce
bricks and pots.
3. Varuna: This will be a site of community-based nurseries involved in
transplanting trees along the river and protecting trees with brick lattices.
Axonometric views of staging grounds and seeding grounds in two different scales explaining
the operations and temples involved

Sciences Behind Rituals

We work with a diverse palette of native trees and trees that will benefit
people and the ecosystem. The more diverse the trees the better. The
output of forest nurseries involves a complex coordination of plant growth
with the calendar of festivals in order to leverage the most for the
propagation of trees.

Universities can be in charge of coordinating forestry practice and social

rituals.
Perspective view of a ghat where soil ritual can be performed in forest nurseries to gather
fertile alluvial sediments and sculpt them on movable platforms to be carried to nurseries
located at kunds

Perspective of a kund hosting a soil gathering ceremony, transplanting rituals, and production
of tools like pots and bricks needed for reforestation
Perspective view of the Varuna river becoming a forest finger extending towards the horizon

Restoring the Forest of Bliss

Mitigating Severe Flooding and Habitat Depletion in the Gangetic Plain

The forest will start to grow from our proposed route toward the countryside
aiming to ultimately achieve a single patch of forest cover in the future for
the whole Gangetic Plain.

Varanasi should restore the Forest of Bliss as a priority

Conclusion

With a constant stream of local resources including fertile sediment, rain,

cow dung, clay, and one million annual spiritual pilgrims visiting, Varanasi
has the potential to become the forest it once was. The energy and
dedication of pilgrims can be leveraged to propagate trees through social
ritual coordinated by community-based agencies, spiritual leaders, and
educational institutions. This forest aims to provide various city needs needs
by infiltrating the current infrastructural system, changing the matrix,
localizing resource management, building community, and starting a global
ecological revolution that reclaims our neglected ecology.
1
Relief and Rescue Operations Continue in Flood Hit Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Pti
- https://www.financialexpress.com/photos/business-gallery/354933/flood-in-patna-allahabad-ndrf-air-force-continue-relief-
and-rescue-operations-in-flood-hit-uttar-pradesh-and-bihar/2/

2
A festival of Krishna: featuring Under the Kadamba tree, paintings of a divine love and Ateliers of love, a film on DVD, a
journey of poets, painters, and patrons Harsha Dehejia - Lustre Press, Roli Books - 2008

3
A festival of Krishna: featuring Under the Kadamba tree, paintings of a divine love and Ateliers of love, a film on DVD, a
journey of poets, painters, and patrons Harsha Dehejia - Lustre Press, Roli Books - 2008

4
A festival of Krishna: featuring Under the Kadamba tree, paintings of a divine love and Ateliers of love, a film on DVD, a
journey of poets, painters, and patrons Harsha Dehejia - Lustre Press, Roli Books - 2008

5
Select views in India: drawn on the spot, in the years 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1783, and executed in Aqua tinta William
Hodges - Edwards - 1786

6
Jayaswal, Vidula & Shukla, Uma. (2016). Summary and Deductions. 317-331

7
Benares illustrated. James Prinsep-O. Kejariwal - Pilgrims Pub. - 2009

8
Singh, Rana. (2017). Sacredscapes of Banaras (Kashi/ Varanasi): Cultural Landscape and Cosmic Geometry. Context:
Built, Living and Natural [ISSN: 0973-502X; DRONAH, A-258, South city 1, Gurgaon, HA 122007, India]. 13. 11-22

TRANS-AGGREGATION
Micro Transactions to Macro Change
Stude nts : Donov an Du nk ley , Sar itz a M ar tine z Rodriguez , Ni omi Sh ah, So fia Val div ies o

What if planning and design were

shaped by hidden transactions of local
social networks?
Our project challenges the top-down masterplan approach to designing
Varanasi. By seeing the city as a system of transactions in the hands of
people as city makers, we adopt a ground-up approach to design that
recognizes that change can be generated by people who live in the area.
We see transactions as dynamic sites of exchange that occur between
actors on multiple scales almost constantly in Varanasi. We will focus on
them as opportunities of intervention that in the future will be play a critical
role of restoring the habitat and elevating the living quality of residents by
addressing issues of water quality, the treatment of the city’s edge and
waste management.

The spatialization of transactors

A Transaction in this context is an exchange of resources between people

and the environment. The people, being agents of change, are then referred
to as Transactors.
During monsoon season at Dashashwamedh Ghat

After the Monsoon

The Aggregation of Transactions

Project Video

Analyzing the Grounds of Transactions

Existing water infrastructure and the physical region of boatmen, weavers and farmers

Existing Water Infrastructure and The Physical Region of Boatmen,

Weavers and Farmers

Looking at the locations of existing economies and their physical

relationship with open space and existing water infrastructure, we are able
to determine the agency and reach of transactors.
The simultaneity and chain effect of transactions
Reintroducing externalities

Reintroducing Externalities

Organic waste, mud and sediment, waste material from industry such as
plastic, and skilled labor such as weaving and farming all become essential
to the network of new transactions. Using monsoon mud deposits as a
ground building material, we will be able to increase water absorption
throughout the city and soften the edges of the ghats by creating slivers of
green spaces that become retention sites and opportunity for filtration. The
base of the ghats are then extended into the river through docks kept afloat
by recycled waste. These docks contain space for aqua-agriculture.
Through gravity-based water filtration, the entire city becomes a means of
addressing waste management and water quality.
Transactors and their tools

Transactors and Their Tools

Unfolding the activity involved in these transactions allows us to understand

the skill-set and existing incentives for local labor. The territorial ranges and
materials used in this labor are then mapped out to identify the externalities
created as a byproduct.
Place of the proposal

1/2

Zooming into Dashashwamedh Ghat and the associated marketplace we

begin to study the granular activity in areas of concentration. We then
identify the types of industry in which these transactions occur in order to
determine the scale at which they can occur.
The spaces were transactions occur

The Kund as a Community

Existing condition of Lakshmi Kund

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Lakshmi Kund
 1/2

Revitalizing a sense of Community at the Kund

Identifying those who already have an association with the kund and those
who live in close proximity to the kund allows us to know what types of
programs and activity can occupy the new community space. Each of these
stakeholders will have a responsibility through their changed habitats to
address the maintenance of the kund. The kund then becomes a point of
commerce, public space and a source of clean water for domestic use.
Recharging the water system in Lakshmi Kund

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The Market as a Connector

Isolating transactions in the market
 1/5

Isolating Transactions in the Market

The market is the location of transactions that are very informal. Yet each
involves a particular sequence of events that include where materials come
from and where externalities go. Here, we can facilitate transactions in more
efficient ways while providing the opportunity for upward mobility of those
who rely on these economies.
The transactors at Dashashwamedh Ghat

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The market at Dashashwamedh Ghat
Transformation of the market

Our interventions allow business to be conducted all year round through the
use of floating platforms that connect as walkways during the monsoon
floods. Repaved streets address flood inundation of the area.
The Ghats as Public Space
Softening of the ghats and the creation of public space

Softening of the Ghats and the Creation of Public Space

It is vitally important to address the collapse of Varanasi’s ghats caused by

erosion from the flow of the Ganges, particularly during the monsoon
season. We do this by ‘softening’ it in parts with interventions that deploy
the craft of weavers, boatmen, farmers and potters. It provides them new
opportunities for employment in parallel with new skill sets that they may
require and access to education through social credits. It also creates
accessible public space for everyone’s use.

Existing condition of Dashashwamedh Ghat

1/2
The floating jetty as a transactor

Interconnected Landscapes through Transactions

Interconnected landscapes through transactions

By seeing Varanasi as a landscape of transactions, we stop seeing
elements like the river, kund, markets, ghats, etc. as land uses and
recognize their connections through people as transactors operating on
multiple scales. Small changes in rethinking externalities and enhancing
micro economies can lead to big impacts like clean water, waste reduction,
and revitalized ecologies of the city.

FOUR COMMONS
Varuna as a Cleansing Biotope
Stude nts : Fais al Alz ak ar i, Yu e Hi lar y He, Rui lan J ia, Xi aoha n W ang

What if water commons became

drivers of regional/territorial planning
and urban landscapes?
Tragedy and opportunity of the commons
 1/4

Water in Varanasi is facing a “tragedy of the commons” 1. It suffers from

overexploitation and severe pollution.

Working with water in four “commons”—clouds, nallahs, kunds and

aquifers—we propose to turn Varanasi around, beginning with one of its
most significant landscapes: the Varuna River. Seen as a tributary of the
Ganges and now made into a drain through misuse by the city, we see it as
an opportunity to transform the city from a land-based entity to one that
organizes around its water commons. Identifying four water commons in
Varanasi and looking at them in different time frames, we recognize that
each has its own rhythms and encourages its own means of accessing and
relating to water. The project explores and enhances the relationship of
these four commons, allowing them to operate in a sustainable system, one
that takes advantage of fluctuations in rainfall, humidity, water table depths,
saturation of soil and flows.

Four Commons aims to restore the value of Varuna as a spiritual spine, a

cleansing biotope and a driver of Urban Design.

What is a “Tragedy of the Commons”?

When individuals overexploit and pollute a shared-resource system

according to their own self-interest, behaving contrary to the common good.
This behavior leads to the loss of the resource.
Tragedy of the commons
Opportunity of the commons

From Urbanization to River-ization

Varanasi is situated between two water commons: The Varuna River in the
north and The Assi Nallah in the south. The current “Varanasi 2031” Master
plan proposed by the authorities is based on ring roads; it does not take into
account the actual ground truths of the city’s rich landscape such as natural
water bodies, whether in the form of flows or holdings. As a critique of the
2031 Master plan, this project proposes a flip in the way modern planning is
practiced, by leveraging the natural water resources to become drivers of
planning, beginning with The Varuna river.
From urbanization to river-ization

Four Commons

Water Commons at a regional scale

Regional water commons

What are the Four Threatened Water Commons in Varanasi?

The project identifies four water commons in

Varanasi: clouds (rains), nallahs (flows), kunds (holdings) and aquifers (deep
holdings). We designed this system to meet the residents’ needs for water
and prevent the floods that frequently occur in the city. The project Four
Commons aims to construct an environment that nurtures a diverse species
of animals and plants, and one that cultivates the commons as the future of
the city.
Four threatened water commons in Varanasi

Turning Varuna into a Cleansing Biotope

Varuna should not be a sewer line

Long ago, Varuna River was recognized as the lifeline of Varanasi. The
pure and medicinal properties of the water nourished various types of herbs
on its banks and met the needs of the city. The farmers of this area were
dependent on it for drinking, irrigation and cattle rearing purposes. In the
present scenario, the situation has changed drastically. Varuna is one of the
most polluted rivers of India, becoming a drain that runs sewage to the
Ganga. Four Commons proposes a strategy to revive the Varuna not merely
as a flow to the Ganga but as a lifeline along which a city can grow and
flourish.
How Do We Turn Varuna into a Cleansing Biotope?

The project’s various operations revolve around understanding the

conditions of high-ground and low-ground along the Varuna River, working
with the opportunity of the middle-ground.
Operation: Productive Terracing during dry and monsoon seasons

Productive Terracing

Productive Terracing places community settlements on higher ground, while

the middle ground becomes terraced farmland that carries with it water run-
off guided through filtration nallahs. These waterways will filter water run-off,
and at some points, also serve as a holding system creating kunds or ponds
along the way where clean water is stored for irrigation as well as domestic
purposes.

During monsoon season, Varuna’s water level rises up, which will cover a
large portion of the terraces where water will be held to fertilize the
farmland. This operation also proposes tubewells as a ground-water
infiltration process to recharge the aquifers. Water stored in kunds can fill
the recharging tubewells to help water make its way underground.
Operation: Trash Catchment during dry and monsoon season

Trash Catchment

Trash Catchment proposes to look at a bridge not only as means of

crossing, but also as an infrastructure that helps cleansing Varuna, as a
trash catchment operation. The trash screen bar at the water surface level is
proposed as the first layer of catchment during dry season, whereas there is
a second layer of trash screen for wet season between the two levels of the
bridge.
Operation: Water Treatment System

Water Treatment System

Another operation proposed is the water treatment system. We propose

constructing wetlands along the Varuna River which can treat the grey water
that is discharged by the surrounding buildings as well as water runoff. At
the same time, we propose taking advantage of the roofs of buildings for
harvesting rainwater which can be stored in nearby kunds.

Two Different Moments Along Varuna

Turning Varuna river into a cleansing biotope identifying two moments

We identify two moments along Varuna, The Crossing and The Confluence,
each defined by a primary node.
The Crossing: a Cultural Node

The Crossing is a site in Varanasi with a large area of settlement between

the railway track and the Varuna River. We have identified the actors who
can be potential stewards, including for example, the cultural and
educational institutions as well as the religious community around the area.
Urban actors of Crossing as potential stewards

1/4

Proposed Concept

After looking at the topographical condition, the high ground vs. low ground
and water flow, we come to the conclusion that the city has turned its back
to the Varuna River. Our concept proposes to leverage the Varuna to once
again become the front of the city. With this goal, we have designed a series
of holdings in the form of talabs (ponds) as well as kunds (tanks) where
water flows through a filtration nallah (waterways) that starts from the
railway tracks, situated on a higher level, down to the Varuna River. The
idea is to be able to filter and store water at different locations. At the
Varuna, we propose to soften the river’s edge to create different ecological
habitat areas as well as constructed wetlands that help in bioremediation-
wastewater treatment for the wastewater that is discharged by the buildings
along the river.
Leveraging the river as the front of the city

1/2

Also, at the Varuna’s edge, we propose to create elevated platforms that are
used as area where Aarti (prayers) can be performed and a public space
that serves as a maidan (public space). We propose a farmer’s market here
for the nearby eco-community. By creating a resilient river edge, Four
Commons aims to activate Varuna’s edge around the year during wet as
well as dry seasons.
Crossing section

Activities adapting to the changing water level

Activated edge along Varuna river

The Confluence (As an Agricultural Node)

The Confluence is where the Varuna meets the Ganga, and is bordered by
existing seasonal agriculture and informal village settlements.
Urban actors of Confluence as potential stewards

1/4

Proposed Concept

After looking at the topographical condition, the high ground vs. low ground
and water flow. We propose to thicken the Varuna at low points, in order to
provide ecological habitat areas, while placing the eco-community
settlements on higher-ground to make them more resilient. Seasonal
terraced agriculture fields have been proposed in the middle ground. During
dry season, the middle ground can become productive landscape and
during monsoon season, it can hold water at the terraces to keep the soil
fertile and to serve as a way to recharge the aquifer.
Filtration nallahs (waterways) are designed according to waterflow analysis,
so all sewage as well as stormwater can get filtered before entering the
Varuna. The project includes various urban actors such as farmers as well
as fishermen in the design process as potential stewards.
Productive landscape and settlements

1/2

At the confluence point, we propose to open up the Varuna with a delta

designed to create a set of floodable islands that serve as the last layer of
water-bioremediation as Varuna enters the Ganges. During dry season,
these floodable islands can become destination points for boats and tourist
flows, hosting various types of public spaces as well as a farmer’s market.
Confluencing section

1/2
Productive terracing adapting to changing water level

Productive terracing during pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons

Conclusion

We envision the four commons intersecting in different ways, by different

means, and at different times to restore the value of the Varuna River as a
spiritual spine, a cleansing biotope, and a driver of Urban Design in
Varanasi. This Four Commons project suggests considering water
commons as the future design strategy of Varanasi, and recognizing their
value as drivers of regional planning. The residents of Varanasi will, then,
benefit from a water oriented city where they will have access to clean water
for drinking, irrigation and cattle rearing purposes in an ecological
environment that can once again hosts a diverse species of animals and
plants like it used to.

Project Video
1
Garrett Hardin, ecologist, 1968 published article in Science.

2
Image Credits: Kate Orff. https://goo.gl/maps/wZ2AEfE7fax

Afterword

MESSAGE FROM CONSUL

GENERAL OF INDIA, NEW YORK
Mr. Sandeep Chakraborty

It is said that Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older than
even legend and that it looks twice as old as all of them put together. As a
city, as a society, Benaras or Varanasi is indeed a microcosm of India. It
lives, loves and evolves through a constant confluence of chaos and
creativity. Varanasi is the fountainhead of the indic civilization and unites
and exalts the people of India like no other city in India. The deep connect to
Varanasi attracted me to joint endeavor of Columbia University’s Urban
Design Program and Varanasi Design Studio of IIT Kharagpur. It was
indeed befitting that the final presentations of “Rethinking Water Urbanism
in Varanasi” took place in the Consulate on May 3, 2018 in the presence of
academicians, students, architects and designers who worked intensively
on issues related to Water Urbanism and contemporary developmental
challenges in Varanasi. The designs and the presentations were indeed
thought provoking and offer solutions to the problems of the city. The next
challenge will be take them to the policy makers and implementers.
 End

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Published By:

Columbia University
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Urban Design Program
411 Avery Hall, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10027
United States of America

Columbia Faculty
Kate Orff, Dilip da Cunha, Geeta Mehta, Julia Watson (Aqaba Site Faculty:
Ziad Jamaleddine, Nora Akawi, Petra Kempf, Laura Kurgan) Roving
Engineer: Jason Loiselle

Columbia University Students

Reimagining the Assi Nallah:
Jesse Hirakawa, Xiaofei Huang, Marnfah (Fah) Kanjanavanit, Shihhao Liao

Life-Death Cycle:
Tzu-ying Chuang, Zenan (Jimmy) Guo, Yiqi Mei

Varanasi in Flux:
Ban Edilbi, Fatma Mhmood, Huanyu Chen, Xianyao Xia

High Ground + Low Ground:

Yanmin Bao, Yuqi Cui, Caroline Jeon, Yeonkyu Park

Forest of Bliss:
David Chonillo, Jorge Espinoza, Gigi Singh

Trans-Aggregation:
Donovan Dunkley, Saritza Martinez Rodriguez, Niomi Shah, Sofia
Valdivieso

Four Commons:
Faisal Alzakari, Yue Hilary He, Ruilan Jia, Xiaohan Wang
IIT Student participants:
Dipanjan Nag, Nausad Ahmed, Anuradha Chakrabarti, Sunny Bansal, Thaju
Zaman, Arpan Paul, Shivran Wattamwar, Vidhu Pandey, Aarsi Desai,
Deepanjan Saha, Jyoti Kiran, Debanjan Kayal

Special Advisors:
Prof. Joy Sen, PhD, Prof. Arkopal K. Goswami, PhD, Prof. Bhargab Maitra
(IIT), Students and Faculty of Banaras Hindu University

Curated and managed by:

Ban Edilbi, Jesse Hirakawa and Niharika Kannan

Copyright © 2018, The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New

York. All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval, without
permission from the publisher.