About the Handbook

Designed as a navigation canal over 800 km long, the Buckingham Canal is an infrastructure project inextricably tied to the landscape. Following a low-lying contour along the Coromandel coast, the canal connects multiple cities while linking numerous rivers, creeks, wetlands, and marshes. Within the Chennai metropolitan region, the canal is influenced by the tides of the Bay of Bengal and the inflows of three river systems. Unfortunately, Buckingham Canal has also become a conduit for the city’s sewage and is in desperate need for restoration and rejuvenation. The canal plays a critical in flood mitigation and if restored holistically, can dramatically improve the resilience and livability of the areas along its length. Team Sponge has adopted a Landscape Approach to offer a holistic vision for the canal as well as the basins contributing to it. The strategies outlined in this handbook focus on a new approach to infrastructure that makes the canal and the city at large more resilient.