The SCMS School of Architecture in collaboration with the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C-HED) and the University of Reading participated and spearheaded the primary data collection to map the vacant lands within the jurisdiction of the Kochi Municipal Corporation. This included all 74 wards of the Kochi Corporation covering approximately 95 Sq. Kms. The project involved a series of webinars which included international and national experts who had participated in a similar exercise in various cities across India and the world. The primary objective of the webinar series was to develop a methodology and working system specific to Kochi city.
Following the webinar, workshops on GIS and the mobile application Epicollect 5 were conducted, first for the faculty team and then later on for the students to assist in effective data collection. A series of meetings were held with various stake holders to fine tune the methodology and the mechanism of communication during the on- field survey.
A pilot survey was undertaken over two days with 8 faculty members and 18 students covering three wards to test the mechanism and collate the data collected. Finally, the complete on-field survey was conducted over all remaining 71 wards over 6 days. In all, 780 student days and 180 faculty days were clocked for this phase of the project. Nearly 5000 vacant plots were identified in the process.
The second phase involved the compilation of the data collected and assimilating this data in the GIS format with four categories of land specifying various land area ranges from 15 cents to above 5 acres. This data was then handed over to the Kochi Corporation at a function attended by the Kochi Mayor.
A training for the officials of Kochi Municipal Corporation was also conducted to train the on- field officers on GIS and how to retrieve data for identifying vacant lands for any developmental works.
The project was a funded by Research England through the University of Reading represented by Dr. Angelique Chettiparamb Rajan. SCMS School of Architecture received a funding of Rs. 8,65,800/- (Rupees Eight Lakhs Sixty-Eight Thousand Five Hundred Only) for the planning and execution of the project.
