Harsha Raju Harsha Raju

Chennai is the fourth largest metropolitan city in India, extending for about 429 sq.km area. George Town gathers most of Chennai’s economy. Lack of squares, parks and playgrounds causes huge traffic and congestion in this area and the abundant residual spaces are poorly used and hence accumulate a lot of waste. This affects the pedestrian mobility, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road most of the time. Despite these problems, the fragmented and unsuitable sidewalks constitute one of the main trading areas, directly opening up to the many businesses along this street, and forming a crucial part of Chennai’s economy.

The strategy is to redesign a major central district of George town – Vallalar Nagar with a ‘catalogue’ of design scenarios and possible configurations for potential extensions of the mobile shops in the streets in order to provide safer spaces for pedestrians and improve the trading capacity of street economy.

This design is based on a modular system that allows merchants to customise their space by adding shelves, tables, and electrical appliances. Subsequently the other complimentary activities such as restaurants and services are expected to settle down around the perimeter of the market. The idea is to give people access to one of the biggest markets in Chennai and formally occupy the space and organise some of the dispersed commercial activities in the area.