Transformation of the urban structure of Patna: the influence of river Ganga

Abstract

Rivers inspire and sustain diverse cultural beliefs, values, and ways of life, in addition to connecting people, places, and other forms of life (Anderson et al., 2019). The course of urban edge and city center expansion are dependent on rivers. This makes river cities an important case to research how the role of natural processes interacts with spatial morphology in the development of cities. This research intends to do a detail survey of one of the city along main stem of river Ganga. City of Patna in the state of Bihar has been selected as case study area for this research as it is third most populous town among the main stem of Ganga River and has significant historical background being one of the earliest urban centers in region. The changing urban structure, river profile and cities function over decades provides the need to do a thorough research to understand whether the transforming city’s urban structure has any influence of the River Ganga. To determine the transformations in urban structure firstly the Urban Structure characteristics and indicators has defined through an extensive literature review and it has given the variables as, Population Density, change in Landuse distribution, available network and other environmental factors has been studied in order to understand the influencing characteristics responsible for urban river edge transformation in Patna. Also to understand the river city integration from user’s perspective, measurement of sense of place has been done through perception survey and spatial cognition survey. The results of analysis of urban structure components shows that Spatial differentials in rental value change shows a strong negative correlation between the prices and the population density. Similarly, The Landuse mix shows a strong relation with availability of accessible and integrated network to river possess a better Landuse mix over the time. The perception survey reveals that the city dwellers have difference of opinion when asked about the attachment with river and sense of place of being in a city with River Ganga. The spatial cognition survey reveals that there a need to establish closer water connect in form of recreational activities in order to enhance river city integration. The results of this study suggests that there is a strong relation with availability of water along the cities edge, strong network connections and recreational activities gives strong reason to city dwellers to connect to their river edge. Therefore, further strategies and intervention in this direction would help enhance river city integration.