[Sample] Cubbon Park Enhancement and Edge Activation Plan, Bengaluru

Returning the Park to the City

Cubbon Park, gazetted in 1870 and extended by Sir Mark Cubbon to its current 120 ha extent, had by 2019 been progressively eroded by road-widening, government office encroachments, and deferred maintenance. The enhancement plan was commissioned in 2020 to reverse a century of incremental degradation and reposition the park as Bengaluru's premier civic commons.

The plan's primary intervention was the closure of the park's internal road network to private vehicles — removing approximately 6.4 km of through-traffic routes and reallocating them to pedestrians, cyclists, and the heritage carriage drives. A peripheral road ring absorbs displaced traffic, while 14 reinstated entry plazas create legible, welcoming thresholds from the surrounding street grid.

“Cubbon Park is one of the few places in Bengaluru where you can hear birds. The plan is about protecting that rarity.”

— Conservation Architect, Biome Environmental Trust

Post-completion assessments (BBMP, 2023) recorded a 61% increase in daily park visits and a measurable improvement in ambient noise levels — from 68 dB to 52 dB on the former internal road axis. The park now formally includes a 2 km heritage walk, a restored lake, and a children's nature trail.