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Architecture for Masses 2019 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning

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market: A case of Krishna R...

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 Crisis of Urban Experience and Life quality- in Indian city
market: A case of Krishna Rajendra Market, Bangalore
Manika Agrawal
Integral University, agrawalmanika5@gmail.com
Abstract – Earlier city markets were considered as a
place which offered interactive spaces, brought different
cultures together, gave us an urban experience and life
quality thus transforming the image of a city by creating
a sense of place and culture. But now, they are known for
congestions, encroachments and diminishing built forms.
There is no area which offers such urban space and
culture to make it come alive. This paper analyzes the
city market of Bangalore, known as Krishna Rajendra
Market (KR Market) which is the oldest wholesale
market in Bangalore and biggest flower market in Asia.
The aim of this paper is to study the old market area of
Bangalore city, identify its urban issues/concerns,
analyze the reason of failure for provision of urban
experience and life quality, and discuss the same on
various aspects of urban design. This analysis and
discussion will lead us to the conclusion that there is a
need to focus on markets for the purpose of social and
cultural experience to get that sense of place back.
Index Terms - Culture, Experience, Life, Place
INTRODUCTION
Firstly, we need to understand what urban experience and
life quality is and why it is important to focus on markets.
Urban experience is not fixed; it is diverse, dynamic and
changes with time due to advancement in technology,
migration of people, etc. Everyday walking experience,
social interaction, cultural values, social values and needs of
the society add up to the urban experience.
In other words, urban experience is shaped by human
behaviour which is demonstrated by social life and built
forms.
Life quality is not just related to the standard of living or
lifestyle; it also includes environment, health, education,
recreation, leisure, social belonging and development. Over
the years, problems like urban crime, poor environment,
traffic congestion and social inequality have emerged which
impact life quality.
Urban experiences and life quality are some of the essential
elements for any active space but now with urbanization
these spaces don’t provide any such walking experience and
space for interaction.
Therefore, it is important to focus on urban experience and
life quality of any space.
Architecture for Masses 2019 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development
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I. Why There Is Need To Focus On Markets?
In India, cities like Lahore, Surat, Mirzapur, Bangalore, etc.
became renowned for their respective skills and
competencies, evolved as trade centers to markets within
India and abroad.
In other words, markets lead to migration from neighboring
areas, bringing diverse cultures together to create a city with
its own distinct image like Lucknow which is known for its
Chikan work, Varanasi for its Banarsi sarees and Surat for
embroidery work.
Now days, people visit there trusted shop in these markets in
a machine like manner rather than for the social and cultural
experience these places used to offer. With modernization,
malls and arcades with better facilities and infrastructure are
coming up which have reduced the dependency of people on
these markets.
In my personal experience, these markets have been a must
visit place during visit from relatives or guest in my city,
Lucknow as people had an association with the place. But
now, we visit malls for their conveniences and comfort due
to their infrastructure and amenities. However an association
with the place is missing.
It will right to say that markets are places which bring the
diversity of people together, whether it is to sell or buy
products, link urban and rural areas or create an active public
space where a variety of people mingle. In order words,
markets have been spaces which used to offer an urban
experience and life quality while walking and interacting.
Therefore it is essential to focus on markets and bring back
their culture and image.
LITERATURE
Firstly, we need to understand what signifies a place. Then
what makes the place lively and last what creates its image.
According to Montgomery, a place is made up of three
elements: activity, form and image and it is further
subdivided into elements like diversity, vitality, landmarks,
scale, cultural association and memory. To prepare a place
all mentioned elements are required together as no element
can work in isolation to create sense of place. Figure1
explains the relationship between these elements and how a
place is created which is lively and forges an image for
itself.
 FIGURE 1
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLACE, CULTURE AND FORM
As per a few writers on spaces and image of a place:
‘First life, then spaces, then buildings - the other way around
never works.’ (Gehl, 1971)
Jan Gehl says in his book that outdoor activities in the
surroundings enhance the physical environment. People only
come to active spaces and not inactive spaces. If people are
not present, ‘Lifeless cities degrade urban life and worsen
conditions of public space and life.’ (Gehl, 1971)
Jan Gehl also draws attention to the fact that for a better
public space, ‘scale and sense’ play an important role. The
senses of listening and seeing create an active space and
become important elements for functioning of a space.
In Jan Gehl’s opinion for a space, attention has to been given
to activities and events which attract people to assemble
rather than the building itself. Traffic and transportation are
also important elements. If there is no chaos or demarcated
lanes, it invites people to come to spaces as they can have a
view of it, its life and the occurring activities. People tend to
go where there is a gathering of people.
Kevin Lynch mentions about how image is created by past
experiences, how people move in a space and introduces the
term ‘Legibility.’ (Lynch, 1960)
He also defines five elements which help create a mental
map through
Architecture for Masses 2019 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development
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‘(1) Path: routes along which people move throughout the
city; (2) Edges: boundaries and breaks in continuity; (3)
Districts: areas characterized by common characteristics; (4)
Nodes: strategic focus points for identifiable physical object
in the urban landscape; (5) Landmarks: external point of
reference.’ (Lynch, 1960)
This helps create a sense of security, human experiences,
allows for communication with context and organize a
space. He says that a city should be designed in such a
way that a person visiting it should be able to create an
image of the place, easily navigate the space and form
experience about the space.
The above three notions by different theorists explain
factors which help a person form - a sense of place, a visual
connection with the space and an experience of the space.
These various factors which leave their impact on people
will help me analyze my case and become a base to study
the KR Market in Bangalore.
THE CASE: KRISHNA RAJENDRA MARKET
I. Krishna Rajendra Market and Its Evolution
Krishna Rajendra Market is also known as KR Market or
City Market of Bangalore in Pete area, the commercial
center of the city. The market is named after the former ruler
of Mysore, Krishnarajendra Wodeyar. It is the oldest
wholesale market of the city and is considered to be one of
the biggest flower markets in Asia. This site has origins that
are closely linked to the formation and evolution of
Bangalore itself. In order to understand the market as it is
today and its significance, it is important to analyze the
spatial, cultural and social evolution of the city.
Pete area in 1537
Early formation of ‘Pete to the north of the fort.
FIGURE 2
IMAGE SHOWING DEVELOPMENT OF THE AREA
The word ‘Pete’; signifies ‘market’, or urban commercial
settlement. In the medieval period (between 16th and 18th
century), ‘Pete’ usually came up near forts. Kempegowda is
said to have established the Pete of Bangalore in 1537.
The century following this saw it grow to become a capital
city of the southern part of the Vijayanagar Empire. The
Bangalore Pete is rectangular in plan, covers 2.5 km from
east to west and 1.5 km from north to south, lay to the north
of the Mud Fort built by Kempegowda.
Architecture for Masses 2019
The Mud Fort was strengthened and expanded in the 17th
century by Chikkadeva Raya Wodeyar of Mysore, who
conquered it from the Adil Shahis of Bijapur. It was
Wodeyar’s descendant, Krishnaraja Wodeyar II who gifted
Bangalore to Hyder Ali in 1758.
Under his reign, the fort was further bolstered by stones and
then passed on to his son Tipu Sultan in 1783.
It was under Tipu Sultan’s rule; the site of the now KR
Market became a battle field. The Pete was occupied by the
British in their effort to capture the Bangalore Fort from
Tipu Sultan’s army.
Shortly after the British won the fort and founded the
Cantonment in 1809, the Pete was excluded from the new
city which was now developed with wider roads and a
modern drainage system. This led the residents of the Pete to
look towards the newly developed areas for housing. This
resulted in their old houses being converted into commercial
establishments—transforming the space into a small market
place that served as a middle-zone between the native town
and the fort area.
1924 map of Bangalore showing the military land dividing the pete and
the cantonment area.
FIGURE 3
PETE AREA IN 19TH CENTURY
Therefore, this transformation signifies that there was
‘Change in Image of place by attempting a shift to create
new Symbolism and Memory.’
In 1921, a market building was constructed and named after
Krishna Rajendra, Maharaja of Mysore. For many decades,
there had existed a park named after Sir Mirza Ismail, (a
Diwan of the Mysore State) that provided color, greenery
and public resting space for visitors of the Market. This park
has now disappeared in the shade of the Mysore Road
Flyover which was constructed in the 1990s. This site was
once a market with an open space for business and social
interaction, creating an image as a space for people to form
memory and symbolism with the place.
As the market grew, there was physical erosion of the
Bangalore Fort walls which attracted merchants and
Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development
3
vegetable vendors from nearby villages to come for selling II. Understanding its Context and Approach
their wares.
There are 1089 markets in the entire Bruhat Bengaluru
The Pete is a dynamic space today which has expanded,
Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) area which is managed by the
although its historical boundaries can still be traced.
Market Department, a government body. Out of these 1089,
7 are traditional markets and KR market is one of these. It is
the oldest wholesale market of the city where people from
Bangalore and nearby areas come to sell and buy goods.

III. Landmark and Connectivity

The site for KR Market has many important landmarks and
transit hubs in its vicinities.
The market has its own bus stand which lies in the vicinity
of the Kalasipalya Bus Depot landmark. The bus stand
connects to all parts of Bangalore. In the site’s proximity,
there are also landmarks like Government Dental College
(the first dental college of the state) and Bangalore fort.
FIGURE 4
KR Market is being taken into consideration for future
KR MARKET IN 1932 developments by building a proposed metro station. Figure 6
helps to understand its location and surroundings.
Earlier the area was ‘Creating Sense of place by Activity and The site is significant for the city because of its location and
Form.’ anchors. It is an area with good connectivity to all parts of
the city which help attract diverse groups of people.
After understanding the location, context, use of site and its
vicinity in a larger context, the following factors emerge as a
concern.
First, KR Market and the Pete area around it fall under a
commercial zone.
Second being the origin of the city, the urban fabric is dense.
Third, site has narrow roads which cause traffic congestion.
Fourth, with future Metro and other similar infrastructure
projects, KR market will continue experiencing a gradual
increase in footfall.
These concerns bring me to conduct an analytical study of
the site through the layers of urban design.
FIGURE 5
KR MARKET IN 2011

With time there is ‘Change in Image of place with change in

CULTURAL ASSOCIATION.’

Architecture for Masses 2019 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development

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 FIGURE 6
LANDMARKS, STREET NETWORK AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY OF SITE AT LARGER LEVEL

All this creates ‘A SENSE of place by LANDMARK,

ACCESSIBILITY and FUNCTIONS.’
dedicated to KR Market building (red building in figure 7)
which signifies its importance for the precinct.
ANALYTICAL STUDIES AND FINDING
I. Figure Ground
First thing we need to understand is the built and un-built
ratio as the market is located in the core of the old city.
Figure 8 show that the site has a very dense fabric. The site
has a built and open space ratio of 1:1. However, this equal
percentage of open space is occupied by encroachments,
unorganized vendors and illegal parking due to which the
place is chaotic.
People cannot have a view or perceive the place or create an
image. No person can visualize and create a memory of
chaos and congestion. In this dense fabric, a large area is
FIGURE 7
DENSE FABRIC IN VOLUME

Architecture for Masses 2019 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development

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 FIGURE 8
FIGURE GROUND PLAN WITH ITS RATIO

II. Building Function, Height and Its Condition the customer choose from a variety of options varying in
quality. So these diverse functions and clustering help
Pete area is famous for its diverse building functions like
increase footfall.
flowers, fruits, vegetables, clothing, hardware, stationery,
The building height on site varies from single storey to 6
grains, rice etc. The prices of these goods are cheap and
storey buildings. No strategy or plan has been followed for
vendors allow bargaining. These two are some of the factors
the heights of the building on site. For example; there is a
which invite people to visit the market.
one storey building which is surrounded by buildings with
The phenomenon of shop clustering occurs in this market.
four storeys and three storeys, due to which natural light and
This helps create a good competitive relation between
ventilation have become an issue for the one storey
sellers. When a business is set up in isolation, it fails to
building. Commercialization hasn’t taken place on any
acquire enough customers. If a person wants to buy a good;
storey expect ground floor as they don’t get any frontage,
as per human tendency, he looks around for options in
visibility and direct access. Therefore these storeys are
multiple shops before finally buying it. This clustering helps
underutilized as compared to the ground floor.

Architecture for Masses 2018 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development

6
The condition in majority of building is bad as it’s shown in
figure 9. Only a few buildings are in good condition like
ones which have been recently re-built or repainted.
Example includes the Clock tower which was repainted in
2016 and the Ganesh temple which is regularly maintained.
So there is a need to strategize the height of buildings on
site, accessibility and frontage to make it an active space
and to improve the building condition to make it worthy of
being the main wholesale market of the city.

FIGURE 9
IMAGES SHOWING BUILDING HEIGHTS AND ITS CONDITION

Therefore there is ‘Need to change PHYSICAL SETTINGS

and FORM to create SENSE OF PLACE which is
diminishing.’

III. Activity Pattern

Activity pattern is studied for parking and vendors to get an
understanding of how the space is being utilized, which all
spaces are used and for what purpose is the space is being
put to use. The figure below tells that there are no FIGURE 10
ACTIVITY PATTERN PLAN IN TERM OF PARKING AND VENDOR
demarcated spaces for vendors, parking and walkways
which create congestion and deter shopping experience.

Architecture for Masses 2018 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development

7

FIGURE 11
EXISTING PLAN OF KR MARKET WITH CIRCULATION PATTERN INSIDE AND
HINDRANCE IN MOVEMENT
Apart from the above mentioned entry, there are two major
nodes (a) Avenue road and Mysore Road junction- Avenue
Node and (b) Mysore road and Sethu Rao Road - Sethu Rao
Node ( for reference look at figure 12).
Avenue Node: Congestion at this node is due to formation
of an unplanned mass transportation hub. Buses originating
from Kalasipalayam heading north and towards the city
meet under the Mysore flyover and exacerbate the traffic at
this junction. The Avenue road junction crossing the market
experiences heavy traffic due to the unorganized movement
of pedestrians and vehicles and the encroachment of shops
onto the road.
Sethu Rao Node: The node at the intersection of Sethu Rao
road and the Mysore road will connect the proposed KR
Market metro station to the market premises. The entry to
the loading/unloading dock of the market is currently
inaccessible due to the congestion at the entrance of Sethu
Rao road.
FIGURE 12
MAJOR ACTIVE NODE
Traffic is a key component in planning and designing an
area. Given that the market is located in a dense and old part
of the city, traffic needs have to be addressed in design;
Architecture for Masses 2018 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development
8
paying particular attention to (a) entry and exit points, (b)
pedestrian and vehicle crossing points and (c) traffic nodes.
The above analysis revealed that there is no frontage to
shops which creates a lack of visual connection. There is no
space to walk to enjoy the experience of shopping. No
allocation of space on streets for parking, vendors,
pedestrians and loading/unloading created congestion and
problems for movement. No provisions have been made for
proper disposal of perishable items causing unsanitary
conditions.
DISCUSSION
To conclude, the site has been transformed as per need over
centuries. Space used for the open market area and
interaction has been taken up by the built form and un-built
area which was reserved for movement has been taken by
vendors and parking.
Therefore, there is a scope to enhance the urban experience
of shopping which can be set as an example for other old
city markets as these are public spaces which offer space for
social interaction, create meaning, cultural association and
sense of place for all stakeholders.
Thus the site offers the opportunity for enhancing and
re-imagining the pedestrian experience while shopping with
the constraint that livelihoods should not be affected.
Therefore, there is a need to bring that life quality, sense of
place and culture back within the markets. Spaces were
meant to be used for social interaction and watching
activities. Spaces should be utilized to it’s their full potential
and design it for the people, sellers and vendors alike. To
achieve these objectives, we need to strategize a place
keeping in mind certain things like (a) enhancement of
shopping experience by providing public realm, (b)
engagement with sidewalks through active use of building
zone, (c) comfortable and walkable areas, (d) improving
accessibility and movement which will create an ease to
navigate and orient yourself, (e) multi modes connection, (f)
creating inclusiveness by bringing different communities
together, (g)welcoming every group not just one specific
group and (h) providing frontage, space for social
interaction and different retail and wholesale activities.
With the help of these strategies, the market has the
potential to redevelop as a public space. Concluding this
paper with the expectation that the above recommended
steps will be taken to improve KR Market, Bangalore. They
will help recover the diminishing fame of the Market in
terms of urban experience and life quality, and these
markets will act as a public gathering space again.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt
gratitude to Ar. Champaka Rajgopal; Ar. Anand
Krishnamurthy and Ar. Bindra Sastry for guiding and
enlightening me about the area. I would also like to thank
Prof. (Ar.) Meeta Tandon, Associate Professor, Integral
 University and Prof. (Ar.) Safiullah Khan, Associate
Professor, Integral University for comments that greatly
improved the manuscript. Last but not the least; I would like
to thank my family: Sanchit Goel (fiancé), Prerna Agarwal
(sister in law), Pulkit Agarwal (brother), Sangeeta Agrawal
(mother) and Anil Kumar Agrawal (father) for supporting
me spiritually throughout writing this paper and my life in
general.

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Rossi, A (1931). Architecture of the city. Massachusetts Institute of
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Mathur A (2006). Deccan Traverses: the making of Bangalore’s Terrain.
Dilip Da Cunha - Rupa.Co.
Pallasmaa J (2005). Eyes of the skin: architecture and the senses.
Wiley Academy.
Nair J (2005). Promise of the metropolis: Bangalore’s Twentieth Century.
Oxford University Press.

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Manika Agrawal, Assistant Professor, Faculty of
Architecture and Planning, Integral University

Architecture for Masses 2018 Ekistics: An approach to urban-regional planning and development

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