Kottivakkam Kuppam Living Archive
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This website is a living documentation of Kottivakkam Kuppam Cultural Landscape
March 2018
"குப்பம்" (Kuppam)
‘Kuppam’ according to Tamil literature were used to refer to Neithal villages — fishing hamlets, one of the earliest settlements of this coastal city of Chennai in South India. However, today these words and their significance have faded in memory and are used in a derogatory manner. Once thriving communities, they are now threatened by weak infrastructure and threats of man-made changes and natural disasters. read more.
Cultural Landscapes
Cultural landscapes are those where human interaction with natural systems has, over a long period, formed a distinctive landscape. These interactions, in the case of World Heritage cultural landscapes, are of outstanding universal value.
Coastal Commons that are created by the interaction of nature and man are a type of cultural landscapes set in Urban centers. The values of these landscapes and their various uses are not captured or managed as such, leading to their degradation of their values over time.
The Beach is a Highly contested public space where livelihood and recreational spaces, in the name of ‘beach beautification’, often determine who has access to the beach.
Insufficient data on the values of fishing landscapes beyond capital gains, exacerbates the vulnerability of these communities in addition to weak enforcement of policies, and mismanagement of coastal commons.
KOTTIVAKKAM KUPPAM CONTEXT MAP
CRZ II | Village Code: 7 | Ward: 183 | Kanchipuram District | Assembly constituency : Shozhinganallur
Kottivakkam Kuppam is a roughly 200 year old fishing hamlet located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Around 350 families, with population of 1507 residents, most of them belonging to third generation fishing families occupy around 5.4 ha of land for housing and livelihood. There have recently also been mix of new settlers not involved in sea based occupation in kachha housing.
Their customary rights and self-governance practices, have for centuries helped safeguard the coastal areas as well as supporting their people and livelihoods. Their traditions and lifestyle reflect their relationship to the sea. While fishing as an occupation has always existed alongside recreational spaces, post Urbanisation, their spaces are increasingly threatened and contested.
January 2022
January 2002
RESOURCE MAP FOR KOTTIVAKKAM KUPPAM
Above Resource Map was created along with the residents demarcating the important spaces used by residents.
During the cyclones and high tides, the entire community is sheltered within the Nellai Nadar School's community hall. There are many amenities that are not well maintained or lacking.
Most suggested priority areas: closer market, Day care centres for working parents, Libraries, Computer Center, Subsidised Dispensary, Alternative Livelihood Options along the beach, Waste Collection, Cold storage for fish, recreational facilities for women and young girls, are some of the amenities that residents wanted more of within walking distance.
In 2009 Kottivakkam Kuppam along with Neelangarai and Palavakkam was Reclassified from CRZ III to CRZ II to promote development along the coast, despite being home to endangered Olive Ridley Species. (Earlier no development was allowed within 200 metres of high tide line in the area. But reclassification into CRZ II allow, now allow development closer to the shoreline but on the landward side of an existing road.)
Nearly 3 million fish workers along India’s coastline depend on fishing for their livelihood and many more are engaged in inland fishing in rivers across the country.Tamil Nadu made up about 71 billion Indian rupees in gross valued added from fish products towards agriculture across India in fiscal year 2019. The GVA from this state contributed to 4.8 percent of fish products nationwide. - WEIGO 2018
Coastal commons that lie at the interface of land and sea, are of immense significance to fishing communities (Dakshin Foundation, 2009), who have over centuries evolved a deep connection to the landscape, fostering their own unique socio-cultural practices, which oversee and manage the coastal resources.
THE PROJECT IS INSPIRED BY PIONEERING COASTAL COMMONS MAPPING IN URUR KUPPAM, CHENNAI
This study takes inspiration from pioneering ideas of scientific mapping techniques of land use through community participation along coastal commons by K. Saravanan, a GIS specialist and resident of Urur Kuppam Fishing hamlet, Chennai. As traditional government land use had always demarcated such areas as "non-revenue" wastelands (Poromboke in Tamil), the mapping done by Saravanan, suggests alternative forms of representation of land values to truly understand the relationship, ecological knowledge and uses of the commons by Fishers.
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