URBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD
Yamunanagar Jagadhri City Scape
YAMUNANAGAR JAGADHRI
Geographical Location
The district derived its name from town Yamunanagar, which is located on the western bank of the river Yamuna. The shape of the district is triangular with base made by boundary with Himachal Pradesh in the North and apex touching Karnal district in the South. It is bounded by Uttar Pradesh in the east. Yamuna river makes boundary between the district and Uttar Pradesh State. To its west lies Ambala district and in the southwest is Kurukshetra district. Yamunanagar district lies between 29° 55' 44" N and 30° 28' 34" N latitude and between 77° 04' 20"E and 77° 36' 05" E longitude. It has a geographical area of 1,768.00* sq.kms which comprises of 1,676.64 sq. kms. of rural area and 91.36 sq.kms of urban area.
Towns surrounding Yamunanagar
Natural features
The district has a sub-tropical continental monsoon climate where we find seasonal rhythm, hot summer, cool winter, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature. In winters, frost sometimes occurs during December and January. The district also gets occasional winter rains from cyclones. The rain fall is mostly restricted to rainy season. The district has Shivalik hills and foot hill rolling plain in the north and north- east, and flood – plain along the Yamuna River in the east and south- east. The important rivers/ streams of the district are Yamuna, Sarasvati, Chautang, Rakshi, Somb, Boli, etc.
Connectivity with other major towns/ cities
Two National Highways and two State Highways are passing through the twin towns. They connect the city with National Capital which is about 205 kms away, and State Capital which is about 112 kms away and also links other important cities of surrounding region e.g. Ambala, Panchkula, Paonta Sahib, Kurukshetra, Saharanpur, etc The network of roads has helped industrial growth of the town despite its locational disadvantage. Yamuna Nagar and Jagadhri are bounded on its east by Western Jamuna Canal and Yamuna River itself.
Primary access roads
The urban Centre is linked with all major towns and cities of the region by way of four highways passing 'through it. The road linking Yamuna Nagar and Jagadhri also known as Railway Station Road, where major commercial activities are located and workshop road connecting Yamuna Nagar and Jagadhri Workshop are the major commercial streets. Panchkula—Jagadhri Yamunanagar Saharanpur (NH-73) passing through the towns is functioning as main artery. It is not only to take up heavy volume of traffic having origin and destination beyond these towns, but it has also to cope up with the intra-city traffic. The situation has worsened further with the establishment of mini-secretariat and judicial complex in sector-17.
Area
It has a geographical area of 1,768.00* sq.kms. which comprises of 1,676.64 sq. kms. of rural area and 91.36 sq.kms of urban area.
Yamunanagar Mean Temperature and Precipitation (1990-2019)
Climate: Temperature, Winds (Temporary and Permanent), Rainfall, Humidity
The district has a sub-tropical continental monsoon climate where we find seasonal rhythm, hot summers, cool winter, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature. In winters dense fog occurs during December and January.
The district also gets occasional winter rains from cyclones. Rainfall is concentrated in the monsoon months of July and August. May and June are generally the hottest months in the year with the mean daily maximum temperature at 38.6 °C and 38.7 °C respectively and mean daily minimum temperature at 23.6 °C and 26.1 °C respectively.
The heat in the summer season is intense. With the advance of the monsoon by about the end of June, there is a slight drop in the day temperature but the nights still continue to be quite warm.
The weather during monsoon remains oppressive due to high moisture in the air. After the withdrawal of monsoon by mid-September nights become progressively cooler but day temperatures slightly increase. The decrease in temperature is rapid from November. January is generally the coldest month.
During the winter season, cold waves sweep the region in the wake of passing western disturbances and the temperature drops down occasionally below the freezing point. Frosts are a likely phenomenon in the district on such occasions.
Vegetation
The district has a favourable climate for the growth of rich vegetation owing to reasonably good rainfall and elevation. Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), Kikar (Acacia nilotica), Aam (Mangifera indica), Jamun (Syzgium cumini), Peepal (Ficus religiosa), Badh (Ficus bengalensis), Neem (Azadirachta indica), etc are the important tree species grown in the area.
Safeda (Eucalyptus hybrid) has been introduced since 1963 in the forest areas as well as agricultural fields and along the roads.
Historic places in Yamunanagar
History
Jagadhri is not only known for its temples, but is also an industrial hub with several metal, steel, timber, paper, and sugar industries. Yamunanagar was earlier known as ‘Abdulahpur’. Prior to Independence, over 5,000 people resided in and around Jagadhri Railway Station and Old Radaur Road area. After Independence and partition, many refugees and migrants from Punjab province of Pakistan shifted to Jagadhri adding a new cultural dimension to the town.
The migrants were allotted specific areas in the town such as Model Colony, Gandhi Camp, etc. As the years went by, geographically both Yamuna Nagar and Jagadhri extended further to cater to the increase in industries and surge in number of migrants. The concentration of industrial activity enabled the twin towns to become of the one largest revenue generators for Haryana state.
Culture
Yamunanagar's culture and language are related to Haryanvi's. Many people here also practise Buddhism, as it is claimed that Lord Buddha delivered his speech at a location called Sugh, which is only 5 kilometres from Yamunanagar. Yamunanagar's people are quite simple, and they advocate basic thinking and live their lives with a lot of oneness and togetherness between themselves.
The evenings of Yamunanagr will resonate the laughs and the small talks that happen in the residential colonies of Yamunanagar. Also, there is a mixed culture in this place, due to the influx of immigrants from across the border and from different parts of the country, due to the industrialization of the place. There is a large section of Punjabis in this place as well.
It is one of the melting pots of many forms of culture and people from varied backgrounds and religions, co-exist in harmony in this industrial hub of Haryana.
Model Town, Rampura Colony, Model Colony, and other locations have a mixed culture because they were the first places where refugee settlements were established. Following the partition, many Punjabis from both Pakistan and India selected this location as their permanent residence. As a result, there is a considerable impact of Punjabi culture in this location.
Primary occupation
Almost 80% of the population live in urban areas, and therefore engaged in tertiary occupations. The percentage of main workers engaged in agriculture has come down from 26.3% 2001 to 8.69% in 2011, however marginal workers contribute to large extent to the agricultural activities (16.63%). Faridabad ranks amongst the top in industrial activities of the state. Faridabad is also known traditionally for cottage industries such as cotton cleaning, pressing and printing.
Famous for…
Jagadhri is well-known for its high-quality metalware, notably in aluminium and stainless steel. In addition, Jagadhri runs a number of businesses, including timber trade. Jagadhri also provides a religious experience for visitors, since it is home to numerous historic temples, including the Lath Mar Mandir, Khera Mandir, Gauri Shankar Mandir, Mansa Devi Mandir, and Guga Madi Mandir. Yamunanagar is famous for the bunch of compressed wood units and paper businesses. It is also known for the Kalesar National Park located at the Shivalik range of Himalayas. Yamunanagar also attracts religious visitors in Kapal Mochan, Panchmukhi Hanuman Mandir and Santpura Gurudwara.
Major challenge the city faces
After Faridabad, Yamunanagar is Haryana's largest industrial city. Pollution in the city is constantly rising. In the city, there are hundreds of small and large metal and plywood units. A thermal plant with a sugar and paper mill is also present. As an industrial city, pollution is growing on a daily basis. As a result, individuals are becoming more susceptible to illnesses. Along with air pollution, water contamination is becoming more prevalent. Poisonous water from industrial facilities is being discharged directly into the Yamuna canal.
The Cal Solid Waste Management Plant, which was intended for the disposal of the entire district's waste, has been closed for four years and is located on the Jagadhri-Ambala route. For over four years, thousands of tonnes of waste have piled at the shuttered facility. The nasty odour coming from here pollutes the environment. When there is no space inside the factory, municipal cars have begun dumping waste near the company's entrance.
The city's transportation system is likewise a major issue.
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD - SECTOR 18 HUDA
Sector 18 HUDA
Location
Sector 18 is a developing neighbourhood located between Sector 17 on the east, Roop Nagar colony on the North, Sector 18 Part II on the South and Sector 21 on the west. Because of the increased population in sector 17 the neighbourhood was developed to cater to increasing needs of people.
The neighbourhood is divided into two parts wherein the western portion consists of space for shopping area, community Centre, temple, primary school and residences along with a community park. The eastern portion is in a similar manner with residences surrounding the park and another empty block of land for further development of offices. The development started in 2006 for the expansion of city to cater to the increasing population. The neighbourhood largely consists of residential spaces with very little commercial activities. The total area of the neighbourhood is approx. 33.83 acres (136905.15 sq.m).
Ped Shed Analysis
Neighbourhood delineation
The neighbourhood has been first defined based on Clarence Perry’s idea of neighbourhood with residential units among commercial centres, primary schools and parks. Furthermore, the homogeneity of houses has also been taken into consideration with 10 Marla 6 Marla and 4 Marla plots. Delineation is also based on the existing roads land use access points and prior set boundaries of the area.
Natural/ man-made features
There are no specific natural features existing in the area. However, some features like green belt have been added in periphery of neighbourhood to buffer it from the main road. The neighbourhood also encompasses 2 community parks which act as a recreation space for people of all ages.
Primary/ secondary access roads
Sector 18 HUDA Jagadhri is well connected to main access road of city that connects the city of Ambala to Yamunanagar. This road directly leads to the national highway connecting it to various other cities. The neighbourhood is divided into primarily two sections by the division of roads in perpendicular manner. Towards north, a service lane is provided along with the main road as the road is a tributary of the main connecting road.
3D Land use mapping: View of Neighbourhood from Southern Access
Settlement pattern
The area has been planned in a grid pattern, dividing the area into two. Both the pockets are centralised by parks surrounding which residences have been planned. All the are in the neighbourhood is well planned and is still in developing conditions.
Settlement type
The settlement is completely formal and pre planned by the department of town and country planning in Haryana. The commercial areas residential pockets and parks everything has been planned and the development is continuously taking place.
3D Land use mapping: View of Neighbourhood from Western Access
Figure Ground Diagram
Land use patterns visible
The following is land-use break-up in percentage, based on a visual reconnaissance of the study area.
Landuse pattern of Sector 18 HUDA
Dependency on neighbouring localities
The neighbourhood is mostly dependent on its neighbouring localities for even the daily needs like dairy and groceries. Nevertheless, the neighbourhood embodies a community centre, a temple and a primary school which suffices the population for different activities.
Area
The neighbourhood largely consists of residential spaces with very little commercial activities. The total area of the neighbourhood is approx. 33.83 acres (136905.15 sq.m).
Neighbourhood Vegetation Mapping
Vegetation
The neighbourhood has several green pockets and parks where trees are in abundance. Poplar tree is grown on private land and also along the road routes. The natural vegetation is mainly developed through plantation drives in the neighbourhood. Pine, Shisham, kikar, Aam, Jamun, peepal, Neem, Ashoka etc. are the important tree species grown in the area.
History
Sector 18 is a developing neighbourhood located between Sector 17 on the east, Roop Nagar colony on the North, Sector 18 Part II on the South and Sector 21 on the west. Because of the increased population in sector 17 the neighbourhood was developed to cater to increasing needs of people. The development started in 2006 for the expansion of city to cater to the increasing population.
Primary occupation
The area of sector 18 HUDA is known as posh area in the district of Yamunanagar as it comprises of huge villas and bungalows. The people in this area are either industrialists with paper mills or shop owners in the main market area. Some of them are also government officials as the area is easily accessible to the nearby district court and police headquarters.
Culture
The culture in sector 18 is totally in consensus with the rest of the city. People here speak Hindi and Punjabi as their main languages and celebrate the festivals like Lohri, Diwali, Holi together. The evenings are full of kids roaming around and playing in the streets or in the parks the neighbourhoood culture is very close knit and is a melting pot for various cultural activities.
Famous for / significance / Identity
Sector 18 HUDA is a very new neighbourhood established in 2006 and is known for its huge houses, villas and bungalows. It is considered as the posh area of Jagadhri where the creamy layer of the city resides. The area provides easy accessibility to nearby hospitals schools and other services.
Major public spaces within the neighbourhood
There are 2 community parks in the area around which the residences are placed. There is a community centre, few shops providing emergency and basic needs and a temple which is under construction.
Issues faced by the residents of the neighbourhood
Major challenges/ issues the neighbourhood faces
The neighbourhood is located close to different necessary services but is not self-sufficient. Since the neighbourhood is still in developing conditions there is not a well-established commercial area. Only few basic shops are existing that provide emergency series like medicines. Furthermore, towards the western area of the neighbourhood, one can notice the lack of street lights which make the area even more unsafe especially at nights. The neighbourhood also suffers frequent power outages which mould the neighbourhood as comparatively less desirable than the other areas of Jagadhri.
MAPPING
Depth mapping:
Neighbourhood connectivity analysis was conducted using the software depthmapX developed by researchers in UCL, London. In this study the depthmap is created using axial aps where the first step was to convert the plan of the neighbourhood into simple lines along the road this all line ap was taken to the software and converted into axial ap in order to observe the whole system of connectivity in the neighbourhood. The following table and figure depict the level of connectivity at different points in the neighbourhood.
Neighbourhood Depth Map
Visual mapping
The entire neighbourhood is planned and divided into plot sies of 220 sq.m. or 144 sq.m. though the development started in 2006 but still of 340 plots only 187 plots have houses on them. These houses are most up to G+2 floors.
The Southern west section of residential pocket is barren and is also considered one of the most unsafe areas in the neighbourhood the figure below shows different housing typologies in the neighbourhood.
Photographs of various dwelling unit typologies found in Sector 18 Jagadhri
Grid mapping
For the purpose of the auditing, the entire neighbourhood was divided into 6m x 6m grids.
A total of 28 unique grid-squares (points) with unique combination of parameters with respect to their physical attributes and use were chosen for mapping of various performance parameters across these grid-points. The following table provides a list of these grid-points and the factors that are associated with them.
Pictures of Unique Grid Conditions
Mapping of Unique Grid Conditions
Grid Points with Unique Conditions for Mapping
Shadow mapping
Neighbourhood auditing was conducted in the on the month of November 2021 for 5 days. The following figure shows the shadow mapping for three of the five days studied and at different times i.e., morning afternoon and evening a change in shadow length is noticed as the day goes on. Also change can be observed for Day 1 to Day 5 as the winter season sets in.
Shadow mapping of neighbourhood for three days
Landscape mapping
The neighbourhood is enriched with trees that provide shade along the roadsides, in community parks as well as the commercial and public areas. Wide range of trees like the amaltas, neem, peepal, Ashoka form major vegetation structure of the neighbourhood.
AUDITING
Weather Data
The neighbourhood auditing was conducted for 5 days in the month of November measurements of various parameters like the light levels, sound levels, thermal levels have been noted at different times of the day with the help of mobile applications. The following table depicts the weather conditions on the auditing days.
Weather data of auditing days
Sensory Auditing
Sound Auditing
The neighbourhood is analogously extremely al with sound levels not exceeding 50 to 60 dB during most of the times. Only in the afternoons and evening a little higher sound levels have been observed which reaches up to 70 to 80 dB. The inner portion of neighbourhood has high sound levels because of increased activity at different times of the day. This is near park and the surrounding areas. The secluded area on west of the neighbourhood is comparatively quiet as there is minimal movement of people. Same is the case with the northern side of the neighbourhood. Though it is connected to the main road, the sound levels are low.
Neighbourhood Sound Profile
Olfactory auditing
The odours in the neighbourhood are mostly neutral. Good smell levels were observed in areas near park and near green belt where good smelling flowers and grass can be observed. At point 12, garbage has been dumped which made the area smell bad. But this does not spread to other areas because of the roadside trees and enough buffer created by the buildings. At point 6, the construction materials have created a bad smelling environment. The neighbourhood also has pleasant selling areas uh as the community parks with different sweet smelling flowering plants.
Auditing was carried out at different times of the day on five days and the level of fragrance or odour was recorded on a scale of -3 to +3 (-3 being the most obnoxious odour and +3 being highly fragrant).
Neighbourhood Olfactory Profile
Energy Auditing
Thermal Auditing
Thermal auditing of the neighbourhood was conducted for five days with the help of a mobile application. The data for all the grid points were taken note for four cardinal directions. The thermal energy levels were further analysed with the help of thermal imagery in the application where 5 colours namely red, blue, cyan, green and yellow depicted the thermal levels.
Neighbourhood Thermal Profile
Light auditing
The neighbourhood is a planned development and most of the plots here are still empty. The area comprises lots of open spaces defined by the empty plots community parks green belts and wide roads.
High intensity of light in open areas and places away from buildings and near empty plots has been observed. Areas between buildings have comparatively lower light levels as the streets are a bit narrow. Reduced lux levels under trees can be noticed. In most sections during the night, the illumination level on the road surface was less than 4 lux (unless measured directly below the street light). Only a few spots with several street lights had lux values in the 7-1 1 lux range. Higher amounts of illumination were found in areas direct under the street light which reached around 21.
Neighbourhood Illumination Profile
Water auditing
The surface permeability of various points in the neighbourhood was studied and mapped. It can be said that the surface permeability of the neighbourhood is around 30-40% in most areas, which indicates the proportion of pervious surface to impervious across the public realm of the neighbourhood.
Neighbourhood Permeability Levels
Social and Behavioural Auditing
Generational auditing
A generational audit was undertaken to survey the number of people belonging to various age groups active during various times of the day.
It was found that almost all of the times, people of the age group 25-55 years were most active; the reason can be the ongoing construction works in different parts of the neighbourhood. This is followed by the 15-25 age group, who were somewhat more active during the late evening hours along with young children who come out in the evening to play. Older people of more than 55 years of age were seen to be active in the afternoon and evening hours.
Average number of males and females seen outdoors during various times of the day
Average number of males and females seen outdoors during various times of the day
Gendered auditing
It was noticed that female activity was comparatively lesser than that of male but during the evening hours a lot more women can be seen around in the neighbourhood, especially near the parks than during times of the day.
Activity auditing
The neighbourhood is comparatively less populated, and the activities are mostly people going for work influx of domestic help, vendors and other service people. Only in the evening the people come out in the streets for leisure like gather in community parks children playing around old people having conversations etc.
Neighbourhood Activity Levels
Interpretation and Conclusion
Inter-relationship of data
The findings from the data obtained various mapping and auditing studies conducted had been presented under respective head in the foregoing sections. It this section, it has been attempted to draw inferences from the various findings. Firstly, a graded scale was established to score the characteristics and performance of the neighbourhood on various mapping and auditing parameters (Table 06).
Table 07 shows the detailed scoring of various mapping and auditing parameters that was done across the twenty-eight grids audited. From a correlation analysis (see Table 08), certain inferences could be drawn with respect to the neighbourhood characteristics.
It was observed that Depth map score of any grid point inversely correlated with the activity levels, that is, greater the connectivity of the grid-point, less is the activity. The same is the case with sound levels, olfactory, lighting and thermal levels in relation to connectivity
On the other hand, visual appeal, shadow, landscaping and permeability improves with greater connectivity.
Activity of the neighbourhood is inversely correlated to most of the other parameter; with decreased light levels, sound, depth, the activeness of the zone increases.
Shadow levels seem to be inversely correlated to landscaping as this might be owing to the fact that most of the shadows created in the neighbourhood are because of the placement of buildings and the narrow roads at some points.
Table 6 Scoring criteria
Table 7 Scores of various mapping and auditing parameters (Min = 1, Max = 5)
Table 8 Correlation between various mapping and auditing parameters
Conclusion
Table 9 below summarizes the scoring of the neighbourhood characteristics and performance parameters on a scale of 1-5. Based on this analysis, a 5-point grade scale has been developed representing the neighbourhood performance on various parameters. An average of all these scores may be used to represent the overall performance of the neighbourhood by a consolidated Neighbourhood Score.
Table 9 Mean scores of mapping and auditing parameters (Min = 1, Max = 5)
Neighbourhood Scoring
The neighbourhood auditing was primarily used to identify the issues within the neighbourhood in aspects of the parameters measured. The different issues have been highlighted along with each auditing stage which can further be used for future development purposes. In sector 18 Jagadhri, the development is going on rather slow and the neighbourhood is experiencing issues in fulfilling even their basic daily needs, so the facilities for the same can be developed soon by the respective authorities for the convenience of the residents. The process of this study makes the results strong as they are completely quantitative and the parameter are appropriately measured. This results in better outcomes. The process of this study can be taken up for the study of other neighbourhoods which may help understand the city and the variations within it.
