URBAN PLANNING

The Samosa Mela at Shivajinagar is a study conducted as part of a CEPT-CPP Summer school on The Everyday City that was held in June 2016 at the IIM Bangalore campus. It was a collaborative effort between CEPT University, Ahmedabad and the Center for Public Policy, IIM Bangalore. As part of the two-week workshop, the participants worked in groups to identify & analyse the everyday activities on the streets in different locations in the city. The Samosa mela project was done by Drashti Amin, (Anant Institute of Architecture, Ahmedabad), Akshata Bhandiwad (CEPT University, Ahmedabad) & Suyash Bhardwaj (NIT, Surat). The…

Remember the tragic incident that happened two yeas ago, where a nine-year-old child fell into a gap in the footpath during heavy rains, was carried by the gushing storm water and was found dead in a lake three kilometres away? The incident evoked sharp criticism and responses. A Public Interest Litigation was filed on the issue. The High Court asked the BBMP to repair all the deathtraps on footpaths and clear the encroachment. It's almost two years since then. Has the attitude of the administration changed? And has there been enough precaution this rainy season? Citizen Matters did a reality…

The growth and development of humanity in the modern age kickstarted from the time of Renaissance. The hub of all new thoughts and ideas was Europe and it was the Silicon Valley of sorts back in the days. Colonial powers carried the ideas and the mindset with them as they traveled and took control of lands across the world. It intensified as we made rapid advances in technology in the late 19th and 20th centuries. But something else also happened at that time. Humanity went completely out of sync with nature and we declared war on the ecosystem that had…

Recent events in Bengaluru have again brought the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) issue to centre stage. It is a welcome development since it is a constitutional requirement as per the 74th Amendment. An MPC was constituted in 2014 covering the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) jurisdiction. Until May 2016, the MPC had never met although there is likely to be a first meeting on June 1, 2016.   What is the ideal jurisdiction of the MPC for Bengaluru while providing background context about the MPC? We feel that Bengaluru will be better served if the MPC is constituted at the Bengaluru…

Even as the torrential rains in December improved groundwater tables, unchecked extraction of groundwater by water tankers is a cause for worry. Who will bell this cat? Even as the mercury soars, the increase in groundwater level and storage in reservoirs have eased the concern of residents over water shortage in many parts of Chennai. After the record rainfall last year that resulted in severe flooding, the ground water level in many areas around the city has increased by 6-8 metres, with some areas even recording an increase of 10.5 metres, according to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage…

With the rains on their way in, it's a good time to clean up our rainwater filters, sumps and recharge wells.Lately we have received a lot of queries on how to go about with ground water recharge. Groundwater recharge can be achieved by digging recharge wells and redirecting rainwater into them.  Below are the phone numbers of some of the well diggers who can dig wells upto 40 ft deep Krishna : 99862-03022 Pedanna : 97424-23145 Antony: 80507-95139, 90357-10920, 9100691501 Kanthappa: 99169-85003 Muniyappa: 94485-70684 Mohan: 99869-22193 This brochure also provides some information on the process of locating and digging the…

As I drive past the roads of Bengaluru, all I see is huge hoardings of various developers and builders with beautiful pictures of residential and commercial complexes, wooing buyers of all types! Gone are the days when cinema ads dorned our roadsides. What hurts me most is the fancy names that these builders give to their projects, which come up on the grave of thousands of fruit-yielding trees or fertile fields-Green Orchards, Gardenia, Trees, Shrubs, Riverside, Lakeview and what not! Housing is important and it is but natural for every human being to look for a shelter. But this latest…

 As the flood waters started to recede, one of the main issues that the city of Chennai grappled with in the aftermath of the recent floods was the clearing of tonnes of garbage strewn all across the city. Chennai Corporation employees with the help of volunteers cleared 1.32 lakh tonnes of garbage from the streets of Chennai. This was a grimy reminder of the impending crisis of solid waste management (SWM) faced by the residents of Chennai. According to The Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT), the city generates 6,404 tonnes of garbage every day with an average per capita of…

Kaikondrahalli and Kasavanahalli lakes have been in the news for disturbing reasons lately - the rampant real estate developments in the valley zone that may lead to drying up of the downstream lakes and massive flooding in the next rainy season. There is an ongoing petition to raise awareness on this issue. However, it is business as usual at the government offices. Authorities seem to have been quietly sanctioning one project after another. While there is Shriram Chirping Woods project that has been sanctioned in the valley zone, there is also Bren Imperia that has partly been built on the valley…

The idea of the 'Everyday city' is based on the concept of Everyday Urbanism that was proposed in 1999 by Margaret Crawford & others, wherein the city is seen above all as a social product and which focuses on informal urban spaces. They point out that it is not what the planning initiates for the city but what the people seem to generate as an outcome of their everyday needs. How relevant is this in the context of the Indian city? And, how does it work for Bangalore & other cities? What is the Everyday city here? Is it ...…