Imagine Yangon with underground railways, transport hubs, beautiful parks and a mix of shiny new buildings sitting alongside the historic ones.
That’s the vision of Yangon Heritage Trust, the city’s largest cultural preservation organization, which just released an online guide to its ideas for the future. It outlines four main ‘districts’: downtown, East, West and a ‘Northern historic area’.
Here’s a short summary.
Concentrated development around mass transit
They’re hoping that railways can pass underground through conservation areas – like central downtown – while being elevated elsewhere. Thingangyun Township is touted as a possible hub.
Develop a connected network of parks
They imagine a flow of green space, with ‘green boulevards’ stretching down from Inya Park through to Bogyoke Park.
Protect lakes and green areas
Simples.
Conserve the downtown area
YHT started with its campaign to protect central downtown, which has the highest concentration of colonial-era buildings of any city in Asia. They’ve already started putting blue plaques to mark historic structures. This map highlights those, as well as other key conservation sites.
Define an Eastern growth area
The organization defines the Eastern side of the city — around Pazundaung Creek — as a key growth area.
Define a Western growth area
At the moment one of the city’s biggest assets, the Yangon River, is pretty underused. YHT imagines a proper waterfront there, alongside a mix of commercial, industrial and residential development.
Create a green belt and masterplan for Shwedagon area
This would include a “rigorous protection” of views of Shwedagon, the most important Buddhist monument in Myanmar. Developer Marga Landmark was this year forced to scrap a massive project after strong public opposition over fears it could block views and damage the pagoda.
Define a Northern historic area
This would stretch up to Inya Lake and include conservation of Kandawgyi, Yangon University and colonial-era sites like Windermere, where ministers under former Prime Minister U Nu lived and worked.
Define a mixed use linking zone where the four main districts connect
This would be a transit hub, with a mix of both old and new buildings.
Photos / Yangon Heritage Trust; Inya Lake photo / Flickr; Shwedagon / Aung Khaing / Flickr
