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Peri-urban Water Management in Gujarat

Jul 17, 2023 – Aug 5, 2023

Ahmedabad, India

Sandro Marpillero

and

Sonal Beri

Research Question

Peri-urban areas in the city of Ahmedabad offer a case study for the impact of urban and infrastructural colonization in relation to its current phase of hyper-development. In particular, the territory to the west of the Sabarmati River, around which the city had settled, confronts polluted and drying up underground aquifers, which had played a crucial role in the history of architecture in the form of the stepwells, sometimes characterized as inverted temples (Image 1). Most stepwells, which were conceived as civic spaces to access the aquifer and contain monsoon water, are in disrepair and are the subject of significant preservation interests, as in the initiative launched in 2022 by the WMF and the Tata Group.

In addition to the stepwells there has been a system of manmade rainwater ponds called Talavs, closely related to a regularized pattern of agricultural villages, that not only collected water for local usage, but also helped in recharging the underground aquifer (Image 2). Ahmedabad had, according to some estimates, around 2,000-3,000 rainwater ponds that have now been reduced to a few hundred, often ending up as dust bowls or garbage collecting sites, under attack by an inordinate urban growth that is swallowing agricultural settlements with high-density residential clusters and gated communities.

The following documents are available to reference in PDF format:

Peri-Urban Water Management in Gujarat.

The RudabaiStepwell close to Ahmedabad was built by a princess, its Vav-Type in support of women, creating a social space to socialize while fetching water from the aquifer.

Drawings by Anant National University. Photo by Sonal Beri.

Typical Gujarat’s pattern of cultivations with three villages and their relative Talavs, connecting network of irrigation lines, and secondary ponds to control monsoon water.

Images from Google Earth.

Left: David Wild, Collage: LC, Nehru, Chandigarh (1982); Right: Three examples of Architecture Masterworks in Ahmedabad that we will visit.

Left: Collage by David Wild from his book Fragments of Utopia, published by Hyphen Press. Right, from top to bottom: Photo of LC Mill Owners’ by Motaleb Architecten; Photo of Kahn by Sonal Beri; Photo of Doshi provided by Doshi Foundation.

The city of Ahmedabad and its growth to the west fringes is pushing into agricultural land, absorbing historical villages.

Maps provided by the City of Ahmedabad Planning Office.

Detail from map of study area: the Village of Ghumahas already been encroached by clusters of new development, while the Village of Godhavilies between a planned “knowledge and institutional zone” and the new Ahmedabad’s ring road under construction.

Aerial view from Google Earth with an inset detail of Anant University Plan provided by our Partner Anant University.

The QR Code on the right side of the section through the ModheraSun Temple and its Kund-type Stepwell (1026 CE), is a short video testing the integration of sketches, documentation, and video footage, to introduce the notion that historical architecture operated as an environmental apparatus.

Section drawing provided by Anant University and all photos by Sonal Beri.

Methodology and Process

The infrastructural paradigm that characterized India’s model of modernization after its legal de-colonization and independence in 1947 (Image 3) has reached a point of no return relative to the effects of the culture/nature juxtaposition set by Western ontology, which considers “nature” as infinitely exploitable, thus affecting political, urban, and aesthetic categories.

The workshop focused on an area edged by irrigation canals, at the threshold between the city and its new infrastructural boundary, tackling a systemic framework about the phenomena of water, its historical role (through step wells and talavs) and the challenges that are being faced right now between pollution, hyper-development, and stormwater management. Several villages display conflicted conditions (Images 4 and 5). The workshop was organized through a first week, to be held at Avery Hall, of research and gathering of documentation on systemic topics (agriculture, topography, hydrology, infrastructure) followed by two weeks based in Ahmedabad. During the first week overseas visits to both stepwells (Rani-Ki Vav, Patan; Sun Temple, Modhera; Rudabai Vav, Adalaj; etc.) and rural villages (Ghuma, Shela, Manipur, Godhavi, Kaneti) were complemented by events that expose students to the rich Indian culture related to rituals and celebration of water phenomena.

The collected documentation in sketch and digital formats informed the second week in Ahmedabad, during which students worked intensively in a studio space where further encounters with local constituencies supported the production of their ideas at multiple scales. Various techniques of representation were tested, according to each student’s preferences, from clay models to collages, including possible 3-D animations that incorporate videos shot at the architectural sites and villages visited (Image 6). The workshop established a working relationship with students from the Anant University School of Architecture, whose semester begins on July 15th. Based on agreements with that school, they contributed to the research topics related with water management practices, towards integration of new paradigms of development focused on environmental quality. for their campus, which is located inside the study area. The workshop relied on research about stepwells already gathered by Anant National University, the archives on these urban topics held at the Vastu Shilpa Foundation (Ahmedabad) and the ongoing initiative “Waterspace” by the Miralles Foundation (Barcelona).

Output and Findings

The goal of the workshop was to produce mappings that allow students to understand the significance of the villages’ ponds in the area, in terms of the regime of land cultivation and water management that has been established over time, while also documenting historical examples of water-oriented architecture. The significance of water bodies (secular, religious) and the agricultural regimes that were part of the region’s settlements led students to formulate a vision for a strategically selected probe and/or a manifesto that re-inscribes water bodies in integrated urban/rural dynamics, with full consideration for their systemic and poetic dimensions.

Similarly to previous traveling workshops, such as the one conducted about Rome on the occasion of the MAXXI Initiative “Roma 20-25,” a report of the activities and findings was assembled at the end of the workshop. While the 2015 report (additional upload) was made in support of the installation at the museum, this 2023 workshop’s report acts as preparation for a Fall Advanced Studio that critically approaches the same area in the context of Ahmedabad’s bid for hosting the 2036 Olympics, in order to envision a radically different model of Olympic Village focused on bringing to the foreground its future occupation by local populations and connection with existing villages.

Site Visits

Due to its historical intertwining with the seasonal phenomenon of the monsoon, the state of Gujarat in north-western India offers an opportunity to look into the dynamic tensions between social stratifications and historical agricultural practices relative to managing the regime of water. This workshop examined the peri-urban areas in the city of Ahmedabad as a case study for the impact of urban and infrastructural colonization in relation to its current phase of hyper-development. During their two weeks in India, students lived together by taking over a full Haveli in the city’s historical center. From there, the first week included visits to Gandhi’s Ashram, sites of historical stepwells (both of ’kund’ and ‘vav’ type), modern architecture (Doshi, Correa, Kahn, Le Corbusier), rural and archeological villages.

After a full week of preparation at GSAPP, the workshop benefitted from establishing a relationship with Anant-U university, located in the study area. The Vastu-Shilpa Foundation (Ahmedabad) provided key support in establishing this relationship, through the active involvement of one of its founding Trustee and Chair Professor at the school. Anant-U acted as host, providing work space and support from the fabrication shop, during the second week of work in India, leading to a final installation at the Ahmedabad Textile Mills Association (ATMA). While completing their own work, the GSAPP students took it upon themselves to lead an undergraduate class at the launch of their semester-long studio on the same topics.

Installation

At the conclusion of the “Peri-Urban Water Management in Gujarat” summer workshop, participants presented an installation titled “We Stand in a Crisis with Water” at the Ahmedabad Textile Mills Association (ATMA). The presentation encompassed a series of scrolls outlining narratives and rituals of water in Gujarat produced by Allon Morgan, Camila Botero Echeverri, Daniela Pereleche Ugas, Daniel Yunhua Li, David Zhang, Marberd Bernard, and Omer Gorashi. The graphic and video works installed on the second floor of the building, considered as a verandah between historical city and peri-urban areas, focused on the brise-soleil’s threshold facing the once monsoon-flooded river, which is now bounded in concrete as an artificial pond.

The mappings featured as part of the installation explore the significance of the ponds in the nearby villages, in terms of the regime of land cultivation and water management that has been established over time, while also documenting historical examples of water-oriented architecture. The significance of water bodies (secular, religious) and the agricultural practices that were part of the region’s settlements led students to formulate a vision for a strategically selected probe and a manifesto that re-inscribed water bodies into their interconnected urban/rural dynamics, with full consideration for their systemic and poetic dimensions.

The students’ poetic manifesto reads: “What will you do without water? / Is water separate from anything? / All-knowing, humans yearn to control it. / Borderless, with rhythms of its own / Birthing traditions and rituals / Only to be replaced anew, in justice / Or convenient injustice / To sip the last drop. / Rivers protest their march / The land refuses that gift. / Where does water go when we draw it?”

Other 2023 workshops

Strategies for Implementing Large Scale Public Projects	Shachi Pandey	Across New York City	Aug 11, 2023 – Aug 25, 2023
Honolulu, HI Frequency: Urban mobility patterns across time, space, and scale	Kaz Sakamoto	Honolulu, Hawaii	Aug 10, 2023 – Aug 18, 2023
On Circulations And The African Imagination Of A Borderless World	Mabel O. Wilson, Mario Gooden, Emanuel Admassu	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania	Jun 20, 2023 – Jul 3, 2023
Modern Architecture in Havana	Belmont Freeman	Havana, Cuba	Jun 7, 2023 – Jun 17, 2023
Real Estate Finance: Incentivising Capital to Create Better Outcomes in the Built Environment	Chris Munsell	Across New York City	Jun 5, 2023 – Jun 16, 2023
Un-archiving LA	Felicity Scott, Mark Wasiuta	Los Angeles, California	Jun 5, 2023 – Jun 15, 2023
An Atlas of Dust	Jorge Otero-Pailos	Across New York City	May 22, 2023 – Jun 9, 2023