A radical solution to make Bengaluru a climate resilient city.

Fighting Bengaluru’s Floods

What did we do?

Bangalore has the world's highest projected growth rate until 2035. Since the ‘90s the city has become the IT capital of the world, and its titles of ‘the Garden City’ and ‘the City of Lakes’ have started to fade away. The city is now known more for its terrible traffic and frequent flooding. This project aims to propose a solution to fix the latter, through specific interventions across the city.

  • 10 weeks [09/2023]

  • Affinity Mapping, Mission Maps, and more…

  • F. Waas, I. Danckaert, L. Cromsigt, N. Kassenaar

  • Users & Society

Objectives

  • Propose a solution to make Bengaluru a climate-resilient, less flood-prone city

  • Identify and leverage specific pain points

  • Establish requirements and a timeline for such a project

CURRENT SITUATION

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CURRENT SITUATION -

Source (right to left): Reuters, CNBC TV18, Deccan Herald

This map by Daniel Brownstein tells the story of Bengaluru’s disappearing lakes. The common theme among encroachments onto lake beds is- they’re almost all IT hubs and business parks. This makes it evident that Bengaluru’s beloved IT industry is a double-edged sword.

The concept.

The project takes Copenhagen’s Hans Tavsens Park as a reference, integrating green and grey infrastructure in the city. It uses the concept of floodable greenery as a first line of defense against the flooding lakes of the city.

(ASCE, 2023)

Final Design Outcomes

  • Our solution.

    The final design is a combination of green and grey infrastructure that restores the city’s lost lakes. Floodable parks are built on the surroundings of each lake, to prevent surges in water levels from affecting day to day city life. The lakes are interconnected underground using a system of grey infrastructure - pipes, pumps and overflow surge tanks - mimicking how the lakes were once interconnected through waterways above ground.

  • Phase 1

    Project development - Working out the technical details and finalising the implementation of the solution must be undertaken by the government with input from city planners. Ideally collaborating with Copenhagen’s SLA Design studio on this to learn from their experience.

  • Phase 2

    Implementing the solution - The project will need to begin with relocating people, business and other inhabitants from encroached lakebeds to other areas. This requires willingness of the people and enough space to relocate them to. Following this, the encroached lakebeds must be cleared of all buildings. Once this is done, the grey infrastructure can be installed and parks can be built around the lakes. 

  • Phase 3

    Running & Maintenance - Once the system is fully installed and running, it may require further modifications or improvements to function at its desired level. The system will also require adequate maintenance on all accounts to ensure that when the monsoons hit, the city and its new suit of armor are ready. 

Expertise Areas

The aim of this project is to provide a solution that will improve the quality of life for the people of one of India’s largest cities, creating value to positively impact their everyday lives. Creating this solution meant keeping the people of Bengaluru as the main stakeholders throughout the process, while ensuring to switch between the perspectives of government, businesses and other relevant players.

Users & Society

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