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Case Study 4: Railway Stations

Field Notes

Railway stations as public spaces are blatantly human centric in their form and purpose. From an anthropomorphic understanding, every aspect of a railway station is built to suit the ergonomics of a human. Within such a space, a street animal has to accommodate itself in 'stray' spaces, and with 'stray' humans; expanding the vocabulary of the word 'stray' to include rejected spaces and overlooked humans. These spaces are leftovers (space under seating), or can not be occupied (low height space under a staircase), or the settlements of street dwellers on the footbridges.

Nodal Mapping
The mapping exercise involved duplicating 3 cases present in the space in a digital environment.
 
Moment 1: Railway Station Platform
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The first case depicts the railway station platform scenario. The scene is then marked with notional nodes, which include 'sitting' and 'sleeping' tones (yellow), 'fear' tones of chaotic movement of humans (red) and zones to procure water from puddle from a leaking water dispenser (blue)

The 'sitting' and 'sleeping' tones (yellow) vary based on proximity of humans around. A 'sitting' or 'sleeping' tone, for example, under a chair becomes obsolete when the chair is occupied by a human.

Moment 2: Railway Station Footbridge
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The second case depicts a railway station footbridge scenario. The scene graphically represents the busy movement of humans across the bridge, while the leftover spaces on the edges of the footbridge are occupied by street dwellers and their belongings. The notional nodes are marked, which include 'fear' tones of movement of humans (red), food procuring of organic waste from dustbins (green) and familiar spaces and persons being the street dwellers (yellow).
Moment 3: Lanes Outside the Station
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The third case depicts the space outside the railway station, which is occupied by people who set up carts along the street, and chaotic movement along the streets. Such scenarios observe the animal to recognise some of the people who feed the animal (yellow), chaotic movement of humans (red) and rejected spaces like the one in this case, under a cart (yellow).
Notion Landscape

The case of the footbridge is considered for generating the notional landscape. The notional nodes are marked, which include 'fear' tones of movement of humans (red), food procuring of organic waste from dustbins (green) and familiar spaces and persons being the street dwellers (yellow).

Once the layer of notions is isolated, it depicts a landscape of tones based on the way the animal perceives the space.

Moment Articulation

The articulation at any given moment shows a space riddled with 'fear' tones, leaving barely any intermittent space for an animal to accommodate itself. The only spaces which are safe to navigate to or through are the street dwellers on the edges, and the dustbins, which too are on the edges, where they procure food which is scattered on the floor around the bin.

Thermal Comfort

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Railway_Thermal Comfort_footbridge_iso.jpg
In the first moment of the footbridge, the patterns provide sufficient evidence for the spots which the street dwellers and subsequently the street animals occupy. Having been pushed to the edges of the footbridge because of the constant movement restricted fairly to the central path of the bridge, the street dwellers and the street animals occupy spaces which are comparatively cooler, as seen in the thermal comfort analysis diagram marked in blue.
Railway_Thermal Comfort_footbridge_Top1.jpg
Railway_Thermal Comfort_footbridge_case1_street dwellers.jpg
The footbridge has a very varied spread of hotspots, with only the edges being occupied by the street animals and street humans.
The blue spots provide evidence for the reason of occupying these specific spaces, and placing cardboard pieces on the floor for resting, with the street animals around them in close proximity.
Also an interesting observation (visible on hovering over the image on the left) is the use of dustbins. The street animals, as understood from general experience and through the theoretical baseline data, depend on the organic waste produced by humans. The street animals here scavenge food from these dustbins, which subsequently also determines the area around as their territory. But only the areas around select dustbins are occupied, owing to such one moment shown in the diagram, because of the reason of a slightly cooler space.
The second case, under the flyover outside the station where several street shops are set up during the wee hours and business hours of the day has a very evident pattern which emerges through the year. One side is blatantly hotter than the other, owing to the shading provided by the structural wall of the flyover.
There are stalls set up on either side of the street, while the central path is mainly occupied by travellers to and from the station. A couple of handcarts are also spread across this area.
The street animals here tend to occupy spaces mainly based on familiarity, being in close proximity to the street stall vendors rather than being affected by warmer spaces. This may be due to the heavy footfall in this area which is overwhelming for a street animal.
The third case, the railway station platform, is fairly warmer in several areas throughout the year due to inadequate and insufficient shading. The spaces under staircases and seats are the optimum spaces of thermal comfort, and preferred over other spots on the station.
The seating at the platform provides better shading under them as compared to other spots on the platform.
The spaces under the staircase leading to the footbridges remain fairly cooler through the year as compared to the other spots on the station.
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