Bhopal Gas tradegy site: memory and interventions in landscapes of urban tragedy

Ref.: 195
Key theme: 03 Visual integrity of historic urban landscapes
Date of reception: 18/11/2008

AUTHORS (*Main author)

BALLAL, Amritha * (India) - SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE,

ABSTRACT

On the night of December 3rd 1984, the Union Carbide Plant in the city of Bhopal, India, became the site of
one of the world's greatest industrial tragedies- The Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Today the former factory site
stands abandoned and neglected. The settlements around the factory, some of the poorest in Bhopal,
inhabit highly toxic land which is still to be decontaminated after 25 years of the tragedy; the ground water
is poisoned from leached chemicals; there is no supply of running water. The death toll now stands close to
20,000. Bhopal is yet to come to terms with being synonymous with this horrific tragedy, a denial
manifested by years of neglect of the site. At the same time, for the communities affected by the tragedy
the site has become the heart of years of grass root activism for justice. In 2006 I became involved in this
highly complex issue as the architect for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Memorial, after winning a national design
competition for the same. This paper shares my teams on ground experience of a site whose legacy in
India both reflects and has helped to shape modern society and consequently proves to be of great value
for the understanding of our current way of life1. In doing so it raises pertinent questions that identify with
the conferences prime construct - What is a Historic Urban Landscape (HUL)? How can contemporary
architecture be integrated harmoniously in a Historic Urban Landscape? What is a meaningful or significant
contemporary architecture in a Historic Urban Landscape?
The proposal rests the brief of `memorializing' the overwhelming context of the site on the most visible and
tangible relic of the tragedy- the existing factory building itself- in the process avoiding inflicting alien
commemorative gestures on a highly sensitive site. Preservation the physical integrity of the factory
structure and retaining its visual dominance of the low lying skyline of north Bhopal is one of the key
aspects of the proposal. The design interventions integrate with the existing context visually and
programmatically towards revitalization of the entire precinct. The objective is to visually, physically,
culturally and emotionally re-integrate the landscape with Bhopal City.

Implementation of the proposal in the absence of any existing policy on protection and management of
urban industrial heritage sites has been immensely challenging. While parallels might be drawn with other
case studies such as Hiroshima in Japan and in the rehabilitation of adoned steel factories of Germany,
Bhopal faces added complexities due to the economic and socio- political compulsions unique to third
world urban scenarios. The ongoing process has to be flexible and inclusive to bridge largely conflicting
viewpoints of the various stakeholders, from the victims to the state, who lay claim to the site. To overcome
a daunting lack of administrative will, media and non ­ governmental organizations have been engaged to
spread public awareness. In the face of constant vandalism the local community based organizations have
been instrumental in helping to protect and document the complex. One of the most crucial aspects has
been to convince the administration that the structure needn't be dismantled in order to be decontaminated.
The matter is under litigation and we have extensively used the databank of ICOMOS and TICCIH on
industrial and modern heritage to make our case for balancing heritage with environmental concerns.
Bhopal, through the magnitude of its complexity and context, will be instrumental in setting a precedent for
addressing issues of remediation and revitalization of scarred landscapes and urban voids, in India and in
similar third world urban settings through an inclusive, participatory process.

Figure 1 : The Abandoned Union Carbide Factory at Bhopal, the morning after the Gas leak. Photo by
Raghu Rai
Figure 2: View of the existing Factory and post the proposed conservation

REFERENCES

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