Constructing Eudemonia

Generating Positive experiences in the Everyday

As our daily experiences in the city become such an integral part of our memories and associations, what is the quality of the urban space wherein our everyday events take place?

Today, ad-hoc urbanism and stressful urban lifestyle create a state of psychological discomfort which leads to palpating urban stress and anxiety in metros. This conversation brings forth a paradigm shift in the way we look at our cities, to consciously rebuilding the fabric to bring subjective wellbeing at the locus of planning and design. The thesis explores the urban environment understood as an experience that has an emotional stimulus.

The thesis, set in Mumbai is an exploration of experience to a spatial setting, where urban environment is understood as an experience which has an emotional stimulus to understand what is necessary to facilitate urban happiness and wellbeing within the work-live paradigm in the socially incoherent city life.

From this exploration of experience to a spatial setting, the importance of creating pro-social spaces in the construction of joy came through, in the daily movements. As a person’s movement in a city often becomes very controlled within the work – live transect, the railway station becomes a critical node to create a third space which encapsulates joy.

Lower Parel, a mixed-use precinct was chosen as the intervention site due to its sporadic nature of urban growth which makes the experience of even a 10-minute walk in the precinct a stressful one. The project lies in its transitional interface exploring ways to amplify and alleviate the issues of stress and social isolation. Wellbeing can only be achieved when people have a control over their daily routines and experiences, thus the design is imagined as varied trails running through the structure, each with its own speed setting and sequential experience.