Evaluating new towns in the context of mega projects: a case study of the Mahaweli Architectural Unit, Sri Lanka (1983-1989)

Abstract

This research examines new towns constructed for the Mahaweli Development Project (MDP) — a mega dam project — begun in the 1960s, which involved a comprehensive resettlement programme that impacted approximately 1 million people, consisting of compulsory and voluntary re-settlers, and the traditional inhabitants. The key goal was sustainable agricultural reform, powered by hydro-electricity, to generate national economic stability. The initial 30 year MDP was accelerated to 6 years in 1977, and has attracted significant national and international interdisciplinary scholarship which tends to focus on the economic dimensions of the project. However, only a handful of studies examine the new towns designed by the Mahaweli Architectural Unit (MAU); a government initiative under the accelerated MDP, which designed and built 12 new towns between 1983 and 1989, from the perspective of architecture and urban design. The research analyses the design of these new towns in relation to the principles, policies and aspirations of the MDP, and, most significantly, socio-cultural assessment reports produced at the initial stages, which were comprehensive in their scope. These reports made specific recommendations about physical planning principles, and identified concerns about the full implications of population redistribution amidst established multi-ethnic settlements in the Dry- Zone. These same reports underpinned the revised brief presented to the MAU. To evaluate the new towns in the light of these recommendations, this paper draws on archival material at the Mahaweli Archives in Colombo and recent field work in four new Mahaweli towns (Girandurukotte, Dehiattakandiya, Digana and Karalliyadda). The research is also informed by the reflective retrospective writings of the key architects of the MAU and an interview with one of them. The research argues that the MAU embraced the MDP initiative to build sustainable new towns with a certain degree of success. The MAU, which engaged local and foreign architects, instigated a new paradigm of urban design practice in Sri Lanka. However, while the vernacular language employed sought to serve the community and promote urban growth at a rural scale, notable failures can be attributed to the apparent disregard for the detailed assessments and planning recommendations provided to the MAU, despite the rigor of the sociological reports and the architects’ argument for a people-centred design approach. With the advantage of hindsight, this research reflects on the lessons that can be learned, in retrospect, from this ambitious initiative which sought to create sustainable new towns in Sri Lanka in a period of profound political, economic and environmental change. Given the recent trend of the mega dam related resettlement programmes; increasing concern for resettled peoples and renewed emphasis on addressing sociological and environmental impacts, and the escalating number of large scale infrastructure projects in developing countries, and crises ranging from climate change to ethnic conflict — the global reality today — which force displacement, resettlement and redistribution of people, the findings of this research inform understanding of planning, design and implementation in future initiatives. This modest research renews emphasis on the importance of sociological concerns as a key dimension of sustainable development.