URBAN PLANNING

Electronics City on the fringes of Bangalore may be better known as the Silicon Valley of India - home to the likes of Infosys and Wipro - but what fewer people recognise is that it is also a shining example of growth that brought inclusive development in its wake.Governments of the world, NGOs, economists, civil society, school-children, college-professors, and the UNO are all busy trying to figure out a way in which development can take place without marginalizing certain sections of the populace. They've all tried to solve the pertinent puzzle of how we can acquire land for development, and…

If you live within three km of South End circle, you have good news - you can throw away your wall clocks and wrist-watches, for the city administration has now put in place for you a fancy timekeeper, a 61 foot high ‘sky-kissing', ambara chumbana clock tower at the traffic intersection that chimes out the hour, every hour.With elections approaching, perhaps those sitting in decision-making kursis felt that just as the rural raitaru have been promised free electricity and other handouts, we the educated urban citizens too needed some goodies and gifts, so that we do not feel left out.…

Trees are as much a part of urban infrastructure and planning as roads and buildings, and most town and country planning acts worldwide include well thought-out provisions to nurture and protect trees. But Bangalore had clearly not been in sync, as was evident from the conclusions at a recent meeting of the Environment Support Group (ESG) on the 26th of January, 2013.The meeting included people from various backgrounds - students, professionals, civic representatives and had been convened with a view to seeking public opinion and consent to amend the KPTA (Karnataka Tree Preservation Act, 1976). Among those attending were D…

Anyone watching the EWS evictions in Ejipura is bound to feel heartbroken for the victims. But this is a tragedy that need not have arisen at all. We allow these problems to build up right in front of our eyes, knowing fully well that they will blow up one day. That has to stop. It is not easy, and it is requires long, dedicated attention to a STRATEGY of fixing the housing problem. There is simply no other way.Here's my letter to the CM today, asking him to put such a strategy in place, starting with the Budget he wants…

"BBMP wards are becoming unmanageable with a single commissioner and resources thinly divided," said Dr A Ravindra, Former Chief Secretary and Urban Affairs Advisor to the Chief Minister, Karnataka. He was delivering the key-note address at a seminar on ‘Reorganizing Bangalore into two or more Municipal Corporations'. The panelists at the seminar. Pic: Shamala Kittane The seminar was organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Bangalore on January 19th and was attended by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, K. Dharmarajan (Chairman of Committee of Experts constituted by Govt. of Delhi to draft a new Delhi Municipal Corporation Law), D Venkatesh…

"We've waited 16 years and it's with several attempts that we've been allotted the site. We've also also availed of bank loans for construction of houses and have been regularly paying property taxes to BDA", was an appeal made by a plot owner to the then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. This appeal was made by a number of BDA site allottees in December 2010, requesting Yeddyurappa to cancel denotification of the land on which their sites stood, in JP Nagar VIII phase.Click here to see the map Bangaloreans swear by BDA sites and it would not be an exaggeration…

What can we do to make sure the kind of tragedy that we are witnessing in Ejipura does not come back to haunt us again and again? Nothing short of a comprehensive review of the housing market will suffice, because there is a fundamental problem - the cost of land is so high that too many people are priced out of home-buying. Here are some things we can explore to overcome that.1. Can the impact of 'land value' in housing projects be reduced?The biggest stumbling block in cities is the scarcity of good quality land. As a result, land prices are…

In the last few years, quite a few individual residents in Bangalore have installed solar panels on their rooftops, that produce electricity to power their homes. A small number of these people have also connected their solar systems to the BESCOM grid and there are many others who would like to so too.What is Solar Power?Photovoltaic (PV) panels are ones in which the main operating elements are semiconductor materials like Silicon. When sunlight strikes these panels, electric power output is created which is Direct Current (DC power), like that of a battery. To run home electric equipments, one option would…

Earlier in December, the Karnataka High Court issued a judgment saying dogs deemed a menace or seen to cause nuisance can be exterminated by Bangalore authorities whether or not there is evidence of their having mauled or bitten children or adults. An independent dog with collar companion to indigent humans. Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna failed to define the terms "menace" and "nuisance". Bangalore-based voluntary organisation, Voice of Stray Dogs, has made a detailed assessment of the judgment. The lives of the independent dogs in Karnataka's capital would thus depend on arbitrary definitions that may be…

"The provision of secure, well located cycle parking is essential if people are to be encouraged to use a bicycle as a means of transport. By indicating to the public that cyclists are welcome, cycle parking facilities act as a message to motorists to consider cycling in the future." - "Cycle parking" Information Sheet - Apr 2004, issued by Sustrans and Cyclists' Touring Club, UK  Cycle stand installed at Puttenahalli Lake (Pic: OP Ramaswamy) Cycle parking at public spaces has never been a priority in Bangalore, and for that matter anywhere in India. Most residential and commercial spaces are designed with no consideration for…