RPB

Nothing fills me with greater sadness than to present you with this visual record of how a heritage street has declined to ruin. My oldest is a 1919 photograph of St Thomas’ Street in Fort St George – you see a long line of buildings on the left, each fronted by a verandah, thereby indicating that the street retained its residential character of buildings even then. True they were all offices, but the structures remained. St Thomas Street, photographed in 1919, courtesy Sarmaya India. My Old is a sketch of the same street from 1945, done by Ismena Warren for…

Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, is one of the fastest-growing metropolitans in the country. The growing population and city expansion has stressed the existing infrastructure of Chennai, especially the transport systems. The transport sector needs to be planned to cater to the existing needs and meet the future demands of the growing population by taking into account changing travel patterns. Multiple studies have been conducted to devise a cohesive transportation plan for Chennai such as the Integrated Transport Plan 1977, Madras Area Transport Study 1986, Madras Route Rationalisation Study 1986, Traffic and Transportation Study for MMA 1986, Comprehensive…

Among Asia’s largest perishable good markets, the Koyambedu Wholesale Market Complex (KWMC) was in the news last month following reports that traders had dumped unsold stock of vegetables and flowers on the road. Wholesalers pointed to a drop in demand, underlining that apart from other factors, commercial demand from hotels and catering services had dropped by 50 per cent during the pandemic – a figure that is presumably recovering at a slower rate than expected given the volume of wastage. The President of the Koyambedu Market Licensed Merchant’s Association S. Chandran has been quoted saying “We receive the same quantity…

The Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) is working with the Greater Chennai Corporation to finalize the city’s new parking management policy. The ITDP said that the goals of the new framework included reducing the demand for parking and reclaiming on-street parking spots for sustainable modes of transport – the expectation is that the new policy will minimize traffic congestion, air pollution and accidents.  “In many Indian cities, the phenomenal growth in ownership of private motor vehicles, combined with dwindling investments in public transport, has resulted in streets choked with traffic. Haphazard parking takes up significant real estate on-street…

There is nothing ‘smart’ about a phone whose manufacture involves large-scale evaporation of waterbodies, destruction of large forest areas, production of radioactive waste and poisoning of potable water sources. There is nothing particularly ‘wise’ about humans sacrificing their planet to the fleeting pleasures of tweeting, liking and uploading images via their smart phone internet round-the-clock through enormous heat producing, energy guzzling data centres. This pushes the planet towards the impending irreversible destruction caused by rising global temperatures. The planet is dying. Reducing energy consumption is absolutely necessary to apply the brakes on rising temperatures. It has become the norm to hold industrialists and…

As part of its mission towards a cleaner and greener Chennai, the newly elected administration has announced its plan to revive the Singara Chennai project of the late nineties. The plan is supported by a budget of Rs 500 crores, out of which the Corporation has been allocated Rs 300 crores and Metro Water, Rs 200 crores. In an official quote to the Times of India, the goals of the campaign have been described thus: “The funds will predominantly be used for beautifying Chennai under heads that include solid waste management, artwork, culture, improving greenery, setting up new infrastructure such…

Earlier this month, the automaker Ford announced its decision to close manufacturing operations in India, which at present are at Sanand in Gujarat and Maraimalai Nagar in Tamil Nadu. The decision sent what media has portrayed as ‘shockwaves,’ given that the livelihood of several employees is at stake. In Chennai, this will mean around 2,700 permanent employees and a few hundred contract staff will be thrown out of jobs. While that is no doubt regrettable, what cannot be denied is that this was bound to happen sooner or later, given the performance of the company in India. Also, what is…

As a former capital of many important kingdoms and sub-continental empires, Delhi is a city of outstanding historical significance. The sites that mark important dates and periods of its past are scattered around the city and its hinterland, and widely visited and studied. The architectural breadth of monuments at these sites, and the town planning concepts evident in places around them, have also received a lot of attention. But there is another, less known, side. Diverse historical, cultural, and environmental exigencies, over hundreds of years, have given the city a unique syncretism of cultures. As each dynasty and ruling establishment…

Chennai can be called a groundwater city. Almost 60% of our daily needs is met from Chennai's groundwater sources, both at the macro and micro levels put together. This groundwater source can be sustained only by harvesting rain. Rain can be harvested in only two ways: Collecting rainwater in masonry/plastic tank for immediate use and/or Putting rainwater into the soil which is known as recharge. Chennai's groundwater bank Groundwater should be thought of as a bank. Extraction of groundwater should be compared to withdrawing money from the bank and recharge to be depositing money in the bank. Recharge is of…

The 2021-22 Union Budget announced the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), an ambitious project that aims to provide potable tap water supply to 2.86 crore households by 2024. How will this work out for urban India? Urban India is fast hurtling towards a major water crisis in the years to come. A 2020 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has projected that 30 Indian cities will face a ‘grave water risk’ by 2050 due to overcrowding in cities. A Niti Aayog report too had predicted that 21 Indian cities including New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad will run out of…