Guwahati - Urban Morphology

Urban Morphology

Guwahati's 'urban form' is somewhat like a starfish. With a core in the central areas, the city has tentacles extending in the form of growth corridors towards south, east and west. In the past few decades, southern Guwahati areas such as Ganeshguri, Beltola, Panjabari, Jatia, Kahilipara, etc., began forming a southern sub-center surrounding the capital complex at Dispur, principally depending on the GS Road corridor.

The Panjabari area which is near about 5 km from Dispur is full of natural beauties and climatic condition are somehow similar to Meghalaya. Shankardev Kalakshetra is one of popular tourist spots in this area.

The core area consists of the old city with Pan Bazaar, Paltan Bazaar, Fansi Bazaar and Uzan Bazaar, each one facilitating unique urban activities. While Paltan Bazaar is the hub for transportation and hotels, Pan Bazaar is centered around education, administrative, cultural activities, offices and restaurants. Fansi Bazaar is the hub for retail and wholesale commercial activities, and Ujan Bazaar mainly contains administrative, retail and residential areas. With these bustling areas, the city core is a busy and lively part of the Guwahati. Ulubari, Lachit Nagar, Chandmari and Zoo Road (R.G. Baruah Road), which have a mix of retail-commercial and residential areas, can be considered an additional part of the core.

The most important corridor is along the Guwahati-Shillong (GS) Road towards the south (almost 15 km from the city-center). The GS Road is an important commercial area with retail, wholesale and offices developed along the main road; it is a densely built residential area in the inner parts. The capital complex of Assam at Dispur is in this corridor. This corridor has facilitated the growth of a southern city sub-center at Ganeshguri, along with other residential areas to the south developed during the past few decades.

The corridor extending towards the west (around 30 km from the city-center) contains a railroad linking Guwahati and other parts of the North Eastern Region east of Guwahati to rest of western Assam and India. The corridor links residential and historically important areas such as Nilachal Hill (Kamakhya), Pandu, and Maligaon (headquarters of Northeast Frontier Railways) before it separates into two: one towards North Guwahati and the other continuing west towards LGB International Airport via the University of Gauhati (Jalukbari). There are many river ports/jetties along this corridor.

The third major corridor extends towards the east (around 15 km from the city-center) linking Noonmati (Guwahati Oil Refinery - IOC Ltd.) and Narengi, and has facilitated residential growth along it.

Highway NH 37, which encircles the city's southern parts and links the southern corridor in Noumile to the western corridor in Jalukbari is currently supporting rapid development. Similarly, the VIP Road linking Zoo Road with the eastern corridor and recently completed Hengerabari-Narengi Road are also supporting massive residential development to the east.

In brief, the major components of Guwahati's urban structure are:

• The core or the 'city center' with Pan Bazaar, Paltan Bazaar, Fansi Bazaar and Ujan Bazaar
• The extended core with Chandmari, Zoo Road and Ulubari
• The north-southeast Guwahati-Shillong (GS) Road Corridor
• The southern sub-center of Ganeshguri
• The western corridor towards Kamakhya, Jalukbari and LGBI Airport and
• The eastern corridor towards Noonmati and Narengi

The city is having notable changes in its morphology with rapid expansion. The Khanapara road is being converted into four lanes and it will be extended up to a Changsari in the near future. Projects are undertaken on the outskirts like the water park in Rani, which has brought those far-flung areas under city reach by visit by tourists. The road towards Airport from Jalukbari is also being converted into a four-lane road. Two five star hotels are on the verge of being set up, raising hopes that by a decade or so, the city will be twice its size now.