For some time now, we have maintained that - unlike many other public spaces - public parks have the ability to mould themselves in a manner that influences other ideas. This idea has been reinforced time and again in working on the redesign and refurbishment of public parks since 2016 as part of the Pratiti Initiative.
| Location Surat |
Typology Public park |
Site area 29,000 sq. m |
The intent of this undertaking was to identity 100 Public Parks in Ahmedabad to redesign and refurbish. As it now stands, this endeavour has seen the redesign and refurbishment of 12 public parks in Ahmedabad that have been significant at various levels, with 4 more underway. In all, this has meant the re-imagination of approximately 70 acres. More recently, the scope of this initiative has expanded to Daman, and Surat; with public parks now being taken up in these cities as well.
Surat was founded in the late medieval period (1300 - 1500 CE), and then went on to establish itself as an important maritime port where people, culture, values, and goods were transferred between land and sea. However, by the 19th Century - under the colonial rule - the city seemed to have stagnated with approximately 80,000 inhabitants. The opening of the Indian railways allowed the city to, once again, move forward. Post independence, the city became home to many educational institutions.
It was in this context that Shri Jyotindra Dave - a humourist, and prominent essayist - was born in 1901. Defined by his ability to deliver humorous explanations through his various compositions, he was also appointed president of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad held in Surat.
The Jyotindra Dave Park - spread over 29,000 sq. mts - was opened to the public on February 12th 2005 to commemorate this keen humourist. And then, in 2023, it was taken up for redesign under the Pratiti Initiative.
One of the guiding design factors became a grid of palm trees that was already a part of the original layout of the garden. This was then used to create a geometric grid, with axial lines.
Apart from this, the park has three plazas where people can sit, planted with tree pits, with other transitional plazas. Along the East and West ends of the park are dense seating areas.
The park has always been an active one in the context of Surat, with families using its lawns for picnics. As a result, the lawns, and the kids’ play areas are bigger as compared to the ones in the parks in Ahmedabad.
The redesign also includes 2 parking lots, spiral benches, and vaulted pavilions
Much like in the context of Ahmedabad, this park is a way by which to give back fractals of the city to itself.
