Manali and its Sub-Region - Government of Himachal Pradesh

Vision 95 Multi - nodal urban structure - New civic spaces and publicplaceRe-organisingfunctionaldistributionNew city- levelpublic spacesHigherconnectivityThe Manali town center has, over the years grown into a highly mixed, over crowdedcacophony of architectural forms. All major functions at town level, fromadministrative buildings to the main bus terminal, hotels to retail/wholesaleshopping and cultural buildings are gathered here, overtaking residential functions.In this town center, city level functions and local area functions overlap, somehowinhibiting the expansion and expressions of both. As the town is growing in size andcomplexity, it is imperative that some functions at town level move out to areaswhere larger foot prints of buildings are possible, thus releasing the space in the citycenter for tourism as well as the celebratory events of the city.Besides, the linear structure of the town is traditionally organised along the highwaythat cuts through the center and this has brought in excessive traffic to thepedestrian dominated area. The linear form, however, opens up the opportunity tostring new public spaces of city level functions along this spine within easilyaccessible distances. As the northern parts of Manali are high in land profile and theland parcels get smaller and smaller as a result of this geography, the natural growthdirection for the town is towards the South, where larger land parcels can be found.The length of this new linear center can be within 2.0 Km distance which is easilywalkable. Introduction of an electric public transport vehicle with low floor andopen sides can enhance this center, making it possible to move passengers withluggage and tourists. This connectivity between main town level functions wouldalso provide for effective accessibility to the citizens of Manali, to their newlycreated civic nodes and recreation centers.The other major urban design moves are the creation of a new pedestrian bridgeusing an iconic suspended form and a second vehicular bridge that would connectthe institutional areas on the left bank with the proposed bus terminal and SciencePark. By improving the link between the two banks of the river, the opportunity tocreate new public spaces and functional centers across to the left bank opens up.Coupled with the proposal for creating a by pass for the N.H. 21 along the river edge,Manali would become a well connected multinodal town where the convenience offunctional segregation would exist along with a high level of connectivity. From theGreen Tax barrier in the south to the Hidimba temple on the northern hill, the townwould enjoy four separate linear connectivities (Three vehicular and onepedestrianized with public transport) in the north-south direction. Along with this,vehicular bridges and a highly imageable pedestrian bridge would connect the towncenter to the new center of the left bank. Altogether, ten new urban nodes would becreated within this well connected movement network.The vision here is for a new well-integrated and connected, but functionallydisaggregated morphological structure for the town of Manali and its sub-region.This vision is to simultaneously address the current problems along with variousproposals already mooted by the Government, while infusing a physical growth thatdoesn't challenge the genius of Manali.