Environmental Planning Studios

The studio exercise focused to address issues pertaining to environmental concerns at various urban and regional scale. A major studio work was undertaken during the third-semester Environmental Planning students (Batch 2018) which was undertaken as a part of BReUCom Project Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The focus was on understanding the genesis and impact of water and heat stress on the City of Jodhpur and finding ways of building resilience for the city, using qualitative research methodology. Towards this 18 students accompanied by faculty members visited Jodhpur city for ten days for an on-the-site experiential learning. The students, during this period, were also guided by Mr. Andre da Silva Mano, a GIS expert from the University of Twente, Enschede, Netherland, and Mr. Farhad Contractor, an ecologist and water resource conservation expert. Dr. Mahendra Singh of the Mehrangarh Fort Trust and Architect Anu Mridul in addition to leading NGO’s enlightened the group with the history of the area, building-construction techniques to resist heat and the traditional water conservation system of the city. This has helped the students to better understand the local context and the different ways the local community is coping up with the stresses. To achieve climate resilient development a conceptual framework was suggested using, available strengths and opportunities of Jodhpur city. Emphasis has been given on the methodology to address the issues with people's participation as well as by developing the short-term remedies to reduce the stress levels in building resilience within the communities.