2004

2010
2015

2020

Introduction :
Kalyan-Dombivili (KD) is a twin city
in the Mumbai metropolitan region. KD
is an interesting example of a fast-
growing city within a metropolitan
region, because it exemplifies the
expansion of Mumbai’s metropolitan
region to the east and inland. KD also
falls within the Mumbai Metropolitan
Regional Development Authority
(MMRDA) area, which covers a total
area of 4355 sq. km. The land use in the
city has changed over time, with a
strong tendency towards mixed land use
and high levels of population density in
the city centres.

DOMBIVILI FIGURE GROUND STUDY

U R BAN D E S I G N N I K E T N. P A I - B39 S E M - IX L.T. I .A. D . S.
 Built
Unbuilt
Railway Tracks
Nalla
Road Network
The whole region has seen a majority of residential land use though some mixed use projects have came up in
recent times. All the streets here are very informal in nature leading to various kinds of activities that adapts as the
day progresses. Predominantly the area surrounding the Dombivili station experiences a drastic change in its
activities throughout the day. As a result of some schools in this area, at afternoon and evening at specific times
there is traffic because of the school busses. During the after school hours transition in activities is seen.

A predominant hierarchy in roads is seen where the Manpada road which can be considered as the heart of the city
i.e. it’s the main primary road inside the city, leads to many secondary and tertiary roads as one leads oneself
inside the city. Talking about the land use the area around the Manpada road, i.e. the area close to kalyan shilphata
has industrial land use, and as we come towards to the city, a dense residential land use can be seen. The area that
I'm catering is the newly developed area where a sparsity is seen in the earlier map of 2004, specially in the
southern region. In the further years, a growth in the densities is seen in the southern region predominantly.
Although this is not a planned city, the municipal corporation here that is (KDMC) has made sure by laying some
rules that every residential cluster has one garden or open space which will cater to the aged people and toddlers
of the particular area. So in the dense urban fabric, some porosity is seen in the form of open spaces. The city has
a very strong network of autoriksha’s as a main transport inside the city. The streets are pedestrian friendly, with
footpath's wherever required. Majority of the streets have some or other pause points for aged people in form of
newspaper cutta, etc. Predominant trees are seen on the streets everywhere that gives a cosy feel for pedestrians.
Finer grained streets can be seen as the roads lead to the residential blocks, explaining the hierarchy of streets. The
southern and the southwestern portion lie in the gram panchayat region where very low density is seen in the year
2004. Many farmlands are seen in these region which are yet to be developed.

Looking at the evolution in the google maps since 2004, one can easily notice that there is no particular way in
which the city has grown. In 2004 the southern region which lie in gram panchayat, majority of farm lands can be
seen. But as the time progressed residential development started densifying in that area, leading to the
requirement of public transport and need of more public amenities. Hence we can conclude that dombivili city is
an unplanned region but still it pocesses many open spaces which include playgrounds, gardens within the
different communities.

U R BAN D E S I G N N I K E T N. P A I - B39 S E M - IX L.T. I .A. D . S.