India’s coastline is the seventh longest in the world. Over 7500 km long, the coastal area remains of high strategic, economic and societal importance to the country. Rich in resources, India’s coastal districts house over 17% of India’s national population.
However, in our quest for modernity, we have strayed from our traditional and local practices, haphazardly building infrastructure to meet immediate needs. As we delve deeper into the indigenous cultures, we discover timeless wisdom that has sustained generations.
Documenting and purposefully extrapolating this wisdom allows us to chart a more sustainable path for future growth.
Diu, an island situated slightly off the coast of Kathiawad in Gujarat, is facing significant challenges, such as water scarcity, dependence on mainland resources and vulnerable water access.
As a microcosm of global climate change struggles, Diu presents an ideal context for developing resilient living solutions. Defining the problems requires a deep understanding of Diu’s built-unbuilt environments, analysing its architecture and designing and creating a layout within the framework of India’s development schemes.
Such explorations challenge conventional architectural paradigms and seek sustainable design solutions aligned with the island’s cultural values.
Field studies show the need for better waste management, the revival of traditional water systems and the establishment of sustainable economic activities.
Addressing these concerns means bringing together diverse stakeholders to develop scalable, nature-based solutions for water scarcity and safety in urban archipelagos. It is essential to leverage indigenous practices and cross-disciplinary expertise to address global climate challenges.
The agenda
This is further validated in the agenda of the Archipelago Agenda, a project established by Pratt Institute, Pace University and Singapore University of Technology and Design with Universidad del Desarrollo and Anant National University as partners.
Anant Fellowship in Sustainability and Built Environment advocates a unique approach to address these resiliency challenges through its module on Unbuilding Architecture by Priyamwada Singh, Visiting Faculty, Anant Fellowship in Sustainability and Built Environment, Anant National University.
This involves addressing the inefficiencies of single-use structures by advocating for multi-use spaces that facilitate efficient, collaborative and sustainable communities.
By emphasising the synergy between built and unbuilt environments, a dynamic interplay of spaces accommodating diverse activities and interactions is encouraged. With this understanding, multi-use public spaces are proposed in urban and rural areas in Diu by Anant Fellows Rafsana Yeamin and Prerana NT, Anant Fellows 2023-24, Anant Fellowship in Sustainability and Built Environment.
Providing a public space that not only serves as a community centre but also as a water retention pit to recharge the depleting groundwater levels helps reduce material usage, decrease construction time and ensure efficient resource consumption.
Providing space for community activities such as fish net weaving, stitching, farming and cooking makes the public spaces more welcoming and increases local ownership, especially when built in rural coastal areas where public spaces are often overlooked.
Replicating this approach in a workshop at Singapore International Water Week, Anant Fellows Mishal Desai and S Gopika, Anant Fellows 2023-24, Anant Fellowship in Sustainability and Built Environment, proposed repurposing a golf course into a temporary water shelter reservoir during extreme flowing events to minimise damage to the city.
The public recreational space would double up as a flood mitigation project in this case.
Climate change impacts like erosion, cyclones, floods and sea level rises also disrupt traditional economies in coastal regions. Coastal fisheries face issues like habitat destruction, overfishing and pollution. It becomes essential to address these concerns and provide new economic opportunities to the local population.
Anant Fellow Sadam Ashraf, Anant Fellow 2023-24, Anant Fellowship in Sustainability and Built Environment, suggests that an incubation centre in such areas can support new businesses that are aligned with sustainable development principles. In Diu, this can be done by start-ups improving supply chain logistics in the seafood industry or addressing plastic waste management — the same model can be applied across other coastal districts.
The incubation centre can serve as a hub for all such initiatives, providing entrepreneurs with access to critical resources and markets. By offering seed funding and a supportive ecosystem, the incubation centre will foster innovation and turn promising ideas into viable, scalable businesses that benefit the coastal community.
Expanding to both micro and macro scales, localised interventions and overarching masterplans are needed to address key issues in coastal areas.
While micro-level solutions incorporate traditional knowledge into integrated design projects, macro-level analysis considers existing projects and proposes developments to create an integrated resilient development plan.
(Gopika Suraj Rao is from Thiruvananthapuram, Mishal Desai is from Valsad and Sadam Ashraf Parray is from Anantnag. They are the authors of this piece. Views expressed are their own.)
