Urban sustainable intervention to address the physical factor for degradation of visual place quality in the hilly urban region: A case of Manali town, Himachal Pradesh.

Abstract

The depletion of urban aesthetics is a major issue in the urban hill town due to the rapid growth in urban infrastructure. The potential for growth in the urban hill town is at a very rapid state, which affects the local population and its ecological environment. Urban sustainable development in urban hill towns is a crucial challenge. This type of uneven development leads to a degradation of the visual quality of place in hill towns, which defines the overall evaluative image of the town’s urbanscape. Manali is located in the northern part of the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh, India. This study intends to investigate the physical parameters of this decline and assess possible solutions for improving hill towns’ visual quality. The study’s thorough grasp of the problem and its possible solutions is based on the author’s integration of concepts from several different domains, such as urban design, planning, and architecture. This research emphasises the vital role of visual aesthetics in enhancing quality of life of both inhabitants and visitors to the region. Furthermore, it determines the adverse effects of decreased perception. The research proposes approaches to enhance the deteriorated visual quality of the urban environment in Manali, a hilly town. These strategies comprise augmenting public spaces, giving priority to pedestrian infrastructure, and encouraging community participation in the design procedure. The research is based on enhancing the visual place quality of areas within Manali town, including Manali town, old Manali, the ISBT, the Tibetan colony, and the mall area, utilising surveys based on questionnaires and dimensions of visual place quality. The study implemented the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology to evaluate and rank various physical factors. The results yielded viable solutions, such as the enhancement of street squares, sidewalks, and widths, as well as the revision of planning and development regulations and legislation. The findings of the research may have potential applications in identical topographically undulating areas.