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2022 Vol.13, Issue 3

General Article

Achieving urban sustainability for hilly urban areas by addressing degrading visual place quality aspects: A case of dharamshala region, himachal pradesh
Bharmoria Rahul1*
,
Sharma Vandna2
1PhD Scholar, Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, 177005, India
2Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, 177005, India
*Corresponding Author
30 September 2022. pp. 242-265
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Abstract

Rapid growth of infrastructure facilities has seen the growth of small and big cities at a very fast pace, neglecting the growth potential of the respective areas. This has affected areas that should be preserved and not disturbed for any development work. These areas are oddly growing, which is not good, especially given the case of hills, where ecological aspects are of prime importance. Such development also degrades the visual quality aspects of hill towns, which define the urban-scape and overall image of a region. In the hilly region of Dharamshala, located in the north-western Himalayas, India; the structuring and designing of urban spaces has become a difficult task for city planning. Present research work is aimed at identification and analysis of degraded visual place quality aspects of the hilly town of Dharamsala for the purpose of suggesting appropriate remedial measures for improving the visual aesthetics of the area to enhance tourist potential and quality of life for residents alike. For this purpose, questionnaire-based surveys and visual place quality measurements were taken and then analysed for problems and problematic areas by the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique. The study included examination of different physical and non-physical parameters of specific areas in Dharamshala town like ISBT, Kotwali Bazar, Chilgari, Depot Bazar, and Sheela Chowk/Dari by making an analytic hierarchy process comparison decision matrix for criteria and using a consistency index involving priority ranking. Results revealed appropriate solutions like address of street square, street sidewalk and street width in addition to amendments in existing acts and byelaws pertaining to planning and development, etc. These solutions, if adopted, would be helpful for upgrading overall aspects related to the degradation of the visual place quality of Dharamshala town. These results can be advantageously applied to other similar hilly regions.

Keywords
visual quality
urban environment
liveability
urban design
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Information
  • Publisher :Sustainable Building Research Center (ERC) Innovative Durable Building and Infrastructure Research Center
  • Publisher(Ko) :건설구조물 내구성혁신 연구센터
  • Journal Title :International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development
  • Volume : 13
  • No :3
  • Pages :242-265
  • Received Date : 2022-05-12
  • Accepted Date : 2022-09-26
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.22712/susb.20220021
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