URBAN PLANNING

I’m sitting at Lalbagh gardens. The sun is already strong but it doesn’t bother me. I sit in the shade of a Tree, listening to the birds. I can’t see them but know they are there somewhere up in those branches. I sense a gentle breeze. I could have been someplace else. But, I am here and I wonder: Why do gardens matter to us? Not all of the Public spaces in the city are what Lalbagh is. So, what is Lalbagh? How did it come about? How much of what Lalbagh is comes from the trees that belong here?…

It is really the small changes, the ones that you see everyday, but don’t quite remember seeing, that seem to change a Street. As one street changes from being a quiet street to being a busy street, somewhere else another street begins its transformation. Every changing street changes its neighbourhood, and every changing neighbourhood changes the city. The small changes are seen everywhere, in almost every city in India. In Bangalore, it’s the Adiga’s lane off Bannerghatta road, in Mumbai, it’s the Hill road in Bandra - streets that are “not the same anymore”. Here, in Bangalore, we have been…

ROADS AND TRANSPORT - 2013 - PROBLEMS • BBMP and BDA have been slow to develop Priority Corridors (BIG 10, Outer Ring Road). As a result, vehicles don’t choose to stay on arterial roads. • Road surface quality is extremely poor, and is made worse by inadequate planning for rains. • Speed of construction is ridiculously slow. BDA /BBMP /Metro all seem in slow mode. • Over-emphasis on vehicular movement. Pedestrians and cyclists suffer as a result. • Inadequate bus fleet, plus weak last mile connectivity. At least 1500 per year needed to be added. • TTMCs in wrong locations,…

In India, as in other emerging economies, the physical development of the city is influenced by the everyday practices of its people. The Urban spaces are continually transformed by social, cultural, religious, political, economic and other practices. Currently, these practices intermingle with each other and with the streets of the city in a random manner. The formal plan of the city finds it difficult to account for these everyday practices due to their changing nature and because they have not been sufficiently documented or analysed. To understand this phenomenon, a series of workshops with architecture students comprising of both conceptual…

In the past, people lived in small, isolated communities where artisans and farmers bartered goods and services among themselves. Distribution was limited to how far people could walk, and advertising to how loud they could shout. Today, things are different. Our ways of communicating have taken new forms. As you go through the City, you see advertisements painted on walls, posters of election campaigns, hoardings that hide heritage buildings or that become facades of contemporary buildings. The city has become our canvas for communication. Signages, messages and markers We could categorise these ways of communication into Signage, Messages and Markers.…

In the past, the making of urban form in an Indian city like Bangalore was an outcome of the spontaneous growth of a settlement. The city had winding streets that were primarily for people and not for the automobile. There has been a tremendous change in the economic life of the city and in the present times the experience of the city lies in its high-rise buildings, its flyovers and its high speed traffic. Every piece of architecture in the city strives for its own individuality and its own identity. Today, a street is defined by high compound walls that…

Traffic congestion due to increased private vehicles and expensive public transport, respiratory diseases from polluted air, pedestrians' problems owing to poor roads and footpaths et al, have become a part of life of Bangalore. Here are some disturbing realities and possible remedies to these interlinked challenges. A joint discussion held by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), in Bangalore on March 22, 2013 rated the Karnataka capital among 14 Indian cities which have high particulate pollution. They warned that it may enter the ‘critical’ category if the situation is not addressed…

A few months back, when Union Minister Jairam Ramesh made an observation that in India we have more temples than toilets, there was a general unqualified uproar among the political class who demanded an apology even regarding a genuine concern, as always.As a resident of a ‘so called' well planned and affluent locality like HSR Layout, my observation is no different than the Union Minister. Construction workers waking up as early as 4 am to answer their calls of nature in an empty site nearby or dark spaces away from the view of early morning walkers is a regular ritual.…

As residents of Bangalore, many of us know that the transport situation in the city is far from ideal. And considering the status of progress of various transport initiatives, the road to an efficient urban transportation strategy is fraught with obstacles. The process is bound to be messy and appears to be expensive in terms of time, money and the effort it will demand. However, the cost of not doing the integration is far higher than that of avoidng it. Radha Chanchani, an urban planner working with the Indian Institute of Science, said, "Urban planners consider transportation as an important…

The Greek word Oligarchy means 'Government of a few rich people for their own advantage'. It was coined by the philosopher Aristotle 2300 years ago (he also coined the word Democracy). An Oligarch is a very rich businessman or businesswoman with a great deal of political influence. For convenience, we'll shorten the word to Olly.Karnataka politics has traditionally been funded by various lobbies of Ollys like the liquor lobby, the mining lobby, real estate lobby, and the contractors' lobby (in urban bodies elections). When a politician needs money to fight an election, an Olly funds him, and the Olly in…