Buckingham Canal

The Buckingham Canal, an engineered waterway conceived and built in phases through the 19th century as a navigation canal, is an important element in Chennai’s Urban Heritage. The 35 km long curving spine, intersecting with the city’s three major rivers, marks the canal as a central feature in the city’s geographic and ecological landscape, while also highlighting the ‘shifting morphologies of land and water’. It plays an important part in drainage of the eastern coastal plains and in mitigation of floods by flushing out floodwaters from the city at times of distress.

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However, its drainage capacity has been severely compromised due to drastic reduction in depth and width by mindless developments and encroachments. The course of the Canal through Chennai city has seen a shocking transformation from a buzzing navigation waterway to a sluggish stream of sewage.

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Just-Climate Intervention and Rejuvenation of Buckingham Canal and its precincts form the highlights of the proposal through Social Inclusion, Ecological revival and Spatial Enhancement