BUILT FORM AND ROAD NETWORKS

Ancient and pre-industrial urban planning in Guwahati

showed a more general and common sense phenomenon
of coordination among and between physical structures
and natural environment, giving the city its overall shape
CONNECTIVITY AND JUNCTIONS
and form. CONNECTIVITY

JUNCTIONS

Comparative maps showing built forms for traditional and

modern neighbourhoods.

Source: smartnet.niua.org

Except the National Highways, the other roads are very narrow, zig-zag and the width is not more than 12 metres. The
structural expansion along these roads leads to congestion and hence not favourable for high speed traffic. The scope
for expansion of these roads are limited as the land on the either side are encroached upon by other activities.
A number of important flyovers and over bridges has been constructed in the city during recent years at the important
crossroads in order to decrease traffic snarls and help in smooth plying of vehicles.

Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),

STAGE II (GUWAHATI): BUILT FORM AND ROAD NETWORKS Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 1
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE OF GUWAHATI
Intangible Heritage and Cultural features Tangible Heritage

Assam, located south of the eastern Himalayas is one of the Seven Sister states. Known Guwahati has a rich heritage like all other old cities. Lost amongst the concrete ultramodern
for its rich culture and diverse population, the culture of Assam is a fusion of Indo megastructures of today, the city still has a number of heritage structures to brag about. It is
Burmese, Mongolian and Aryan influences. The beautiful land is a little paradise on a blessed with a vast history and has a number of ancient temples, which led to it being
rocky terrain and worth to be discovered for its pristine beauty. called as ‘City of Temples’.

Art And Craft : Kamakya Temple :

The Arts and crafts of Assam
Kamakhya Temple, the ancient
are world famous for unique
traditional methods of Shakti temple, is an important
production and for tribal art pilgrimage destination for Hindus
forms like bamboo and and Tantric worshippers.
cane, silk, jewellery etc.
Assam is the home of several Navgraha Temple :
types of silks, the most
prominent and prestigious
Navagraha temple on top of
being Muga, the natural
golden silk is exclusive only to Chitrasal Hill is dedicated to nine
Guwahati. celestial bodies and is also a
major cultural heritage of
Guwahati.
Jewellery :
The jewellery is usually Umananda Temple :
hand-made, and the designs
One of the highly revered shrines
depict flora and fauna.
in Guwahati, Umananda Temple
dates back to the 17th century. It
is sacred to Lord Shiva. Apart from
its religious significance, the
Bihu Festival : temple is also known for its
stunning architecture.

Bihu is a set of three Heritage Home :

important Assamese festivals
in the Indian state of Named ‘Borooah Nilaya’, it is
Assam[4]—Rongali or Bohag located near Jorpukhuri, Ambari
Bihu observed in April, and is almost a century old.
Kongali or Kati Bihu observed
in October, and Bhogali or
Magh Bihu observed in
January.

Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),

STAGE II (GUWAHATI): TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 2
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
TYPOLOGY OF HOUSES
Guwahati's building stock dominated by 3 groups of In rural areas, locally available houses are typically built with lightweight material like
bamboo,wooden plank, thatch etc. are used.
building typologies
● Traditional Assam-type houses
● Confined clay brick masonry houses,
● Ductile and non-ductile rc frame structure

Wind flow in houses to reduce humidity View of house showing material

Assam-Typ Assam-T
e house ype
Ductile and non-ductile rcc structure around the house
city of with a
Assam type houses(35%) Guwahati two-way
Assam-Type Architecture with typical sloped
•It Is a style developed in the state of Assam in India during the late wooden roof
modern period. It is found in Assam and Sylhet region beams and
•The houses constructed using this style are generally termed as columns
Assam-type houses, consisting usually one or more storeys.
•The houses are built to be earthquake proof
• Made from materials ranging from wood and bamboo to steel and
concrete.

Plan variation of typical Assam type house

Buildings are constructed on both flat and sloped terrains. On flat grounds, the buildings are typically rectangular or L or C layout. On other
surfaces, such as highlands, they are usually rectangular in shape, accessed via the hillside. The roof is typically erected by high gables to
overcome heavy rainfall in the region, where walls are usually timber-framed, plastered with cement. With high ceilings and well-ventilated rooms
Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),
STAGE II (GUWAHATI): TYPOLOGY OF HOUSES Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 3
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
Ikra house
Ductile and non-ductile rc frame structure
● Built with lightweight locally available materials like bamboo,
wooden planks, thatch etc. The urban and suburban housing stock is dominated by reinforced‐ concrete frame buildings
● RCC or Brick footing holding bamboo posts. (with clay brick masonry infill walls) up to 8 stories high. There are a few commercial buildings with
● Brick or stone masonry walls up to about 1 m above the plinth. greater story numbers, i.e. ranging from ground floor plus 8 (G+8) to 10 stories (G+10). The
● Roof generally consists of GI sheets supported on wood/bamboo municipal area of Guwahati city is largely characterized by multi storied RC frame structures. The
truss/rafters dwelling units are mainly 2 to 3 stories high with an average story height of 3.0 to 3.3 m.
The roofs are generally pitched due to high rainfall in the rainy season.
Since the year 1995/96 there has been a phenomenal increase in construction of multistoried
(mostly G+53 to G+8) apartment and commercial buildings.
The promotion for housing finance under the national housing policy fuelled the growth of
apartment housing in Guwahati since the year 1990

UFB4L-Unreinforced burnt clay brick

masonry in cement mortar
Rectangular burnt clay brick are used for URM buildings as well as for
infill walls of RC frame and steel frame structures (bricks of first class
are used for load‐bearing buildings)

● sloping roofs with light Xl sheets

● supported by timber trusses · bands at tie and lintel
levels
● temporary construction for retail shops etc.
● mainly single story
Older (non‐ductile) RC frame building for (left) residential use, (right) commercial use.

Newer (ductile) RC frame building. (Ductile) RC frame building under construction

(residential use).
Traditional Assam‐type houses replaced by masonry houses in the city

Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),

STAGE II (GUWAHATI): TYPOLOGY OF HOUSES Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 4
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
ECONOMIC PROFILE OF GUWAHATI Floating Population and Sectoral Composition

Besides the normal population housed in the city, there is a floating population of about
Economic Generation in city 10% which comes to Guwahati for daytime activities.

Guwahati has become one of the major hubs of economic activity in the entire North-East This puts heavy and concentrated pressure on the city. Therefore it is the urban informal
India. sector which has to absorb the excess manpower in the absence of a well developed
formal sector.
The establishment of Guwahati Refinery in 1962 marked the beginning of industrialization in
the city. The construction of bridge over River Brahmaputra at Saraighat and the shifting of
capital from Shillong to Guwahati in 1972 made tremendous economic impact on the city. Employment Growth in Urban Formal Sector

Distribution and Growth of Workforce

The workforce participation rate (WFPR) as per

the 2001 Census is computed for Guwahati
Metropolitan Area at 34.8%.

The WFPR in Guwahati in 1991 was 32.2%. The

corresponding male and female figures were
52.4% & 8.7% respectively. Guwahati has
considerable low female worker participation. The importance of the informal sector in terms of sustaining the livelihood and well-being of
a sizeable section of local and migrant rural population cannot be ignored.
It is seen that the work participation rate in
Guwahati Municipal Corporation Area During the period 2001 - 2011, the informal sector accounted for around 90% of city’s total
increased from 32.3% in 1971 to 33.2% in 1991 to employment level, which indicates the fact that the formal sector plays a very insignificant
35.1% in 2001. role in Guwahati’s economy.

Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),

STAGE II (GUWAHATI): ECONOMIC PROFILE Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 5
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
 Per Capita Energy Consumption 322 kWh

Present Distributing Grid 150 MVA Narangi Grid

Power Cuts Frequent

Solar Energy Users 3%

Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),

STAGE II (GUWAHATI): PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 6
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
 Present Population of Guwahati 12.5 lac
Present Production Capacity 110.85 MLD
Present Actual Production 73.4 MLD
Overall per Capita water availabīlity at Households 35 LPCD

Maximum Supply Hours 2-3 hours / day

Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),

STAGE II (GUWAHATI): PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 7
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
 Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),
STAGE II (GUWAHATI): PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 8
Prof. Barsa Mohanty
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Solid Waste Generation
Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) looks after the solid Waste Management
activities within its jurisdiction.

Presently important sources of solid waste generation are -

Collection Transportation and Disposal of Solid Waste
● Residential areas including slum habitations
● Fruit and vegetable market There is adequate facility of water for cleaning and measures are taken for sanitization inside
● Hotels and restaurants the station along with the provision leachate treatment facility.
● Hospitals
● Drains de-silting The compost plant in Boragaon, Guwahati was commissioned in the year 2010 which uses the
● Commercial & Industrial wastes from these areas Wind Row Composting Technology with the installation capacity of 50 TPD. Presently it
produces a 5 TPD of compost daily.
Current average waste generation rate in Guwahati -

SOURCE UNIT GENRATED / DAY TOTAL WASTE, TONS / DAY

DOMESTIC SOURCES 2.66 Kg. / HOUSE HOLD 490.64
MARKETS 3.0 Kg. / UNIT 4.72

COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS 1.62 Kg. / UNIT 62.97

HOTELS & RESTAURANTS 83.89 Kg. / UNIT 11.4
SCHOOLS & INSTITUTIONS 2.5 Kg. / UNIT 2.5
STREET SWEEPING AND DRAIN
CLEANINGS 48

OTHERS 6.61
TOTAL WASTE GENRATED ,
TONS/DAY 626.84

Current state of Waste Disposal

The processing plants are not in working condition. No proper disposal method has been seen
in the West Boragaon dumpsite. The municipal trucks simply carry the wastes and dump them
to the landfill site.

Dumpsite is adjacent to Deepor Beel, which is adversely affecting the water quality and
ecological balance of Beel. The threat of climate change has now focused attention on GHG
generation from solid waste management activities.

Riya (2), Shashwat (12), Vadhanshu (31),

STAGE II (GUWAHATI): PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Varnita (34), Vishakha (37)

SETTLEMENT PLANNING 9
Prof. Barsa Mohanty