A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1986

The city of Guwahati is facing an acute shortage of land for housing. With the sudden increase in its population, after the shifting of the capital from Shillong the problem has become serious . Although the demand for raw land is high most of the hills of the city are still lying vacant. The hills in the inner city belonging to the public sector have been occupied illegally by settlers who, while trying to reap the maximum benefit out of land, resort to indiscriminate cutting for construction without any engineering background. This has lead to land erosion and many storm drains in the city get flooded due to heavy siltation. For proper development of hills special technical measures are to be adopted and the knowledge of geology and geotechnical engineering helps in a great way . This study stresses the need for better understanding of the problems of appropriate hill development for Guwahati and reviews that various aspects that lead to such developments. To give a guideline for the future hillside developments a complete methodology starting from setting up design criteria, analysis of the hills by sieve map technique, selecting a sample area and then proceeding to give a design solution as part of a demonstration project are shown in depth.