The ‘inequality’ of urbanisation

Urbanisation is not about providing ideal solutions but giving right solutions, the right to housing, infrastructure, safe cities and safe homes, feel speakers at IIA NATCON 2016. By Nandhini Sundar

December 09, 2016 03:36 pm | Updated 03:36 pm IST

Is the manner of urbanisation the product of our economic policies? Is it a product of the quality of growth? Does urbanisation address matters of poverty, migration, and sustainability, integrate informality, build communities, monitor transformations? Is town planning bottom up, does it upgrade slums or thrust the poor into worse levels of informal tenure?

The IIA NATCON 2016 hosted by the Indian Institute of Architects Karnataka Chapter last week raised many a question on the manner of evolution of our cities, the role of governance and social justice, rethinking our public spaces and making our urban spaces sustainable, the architectural practice impacting the city, the resilience of our Indian cities in meeting many disturbing elements and the much touted smart cities concept.

Given the inherent informal nature of Indian cities, the discussions veered around understanding and accepting the present problems and finding the right solutions. Questioning the extent of indigenous influence in our 70-year urban management, architect Kirtee Shah stated, “The pace at which urbanisation is happening is incredible. We are dealing with a new economy, a new way of living and this is bound to bring in inequality, discrimination with elimination inevitable. Major cultural changes are required in dealing with this coupled with getting our systems right and swift in response.”

Concurring, architect Alfredo Brillembourg asked, “Who defines the city? Smart cities destroy democracy. The new villa cities introduce the life of privilege after knocking out existing spaces. Who is determining this investment? Social democracy is for whom? Urbanisation is not about providing ideal solutions but providing the right solutions, the right to housing, infrastructure, safe cities and safe homes.”

Architect Tatjana Schneider said, “Buildings need to be part of the broader solution. When designed purely as objects, they are in isolation from their context. Buildings need to sit in context of the city, socially and conceptually, in terms of use, in relation to surroundings, the flexibility of the spaces and functionality.”

She further added, “When tourists visit for architecture, the designed projects, instead of relating to the local scenario, give a global image. The local scenario is considered irrelevant. Architecture needs to change to equitable development and social justice where it is not confined to the elite.”

Access

Architect Dhiru A. Thadani said, “All our public spaces tend to be civic institutions and most of these spaces are unused, open or unusable. Entrance to public spaces should be easily accessible while the insides should be visible to monitor behaviour within these spaces. This renders the public space safe, such as a park needs to be fenced and not walled.”

Stating that a public space such as a street is constantly changing, accommodating festivals, protests, celebrations, offering multiple uses of the space at different timings of the day and night, he added, “Currently 85 per cent of the street spaces are reserved for automobiles. Efficient public transport can reclaim these spaces as has been done globally. This should be done instead of building flyovers.”

Role of metro spaces

The urban transit spaces such as the metro, the underpass spaces can serve as great public spaces, contended architect Franz Ziegler. “Spaces such as the metro can be made more vibrant, clean, safe, trendy, where it can be used effectively as a public space. Unused underpass spaces and spaces underneath the metro can be converted into commercial spaces or public spaces. We need to have a process of mapping where all interest groups can be brought into discussion, seek coalition, build communities, monitor transformations which together will offer evidence to provide new solutions to problems in an urban space.”

Designing a city can be complicated, yet how can the design parameters be specified when the growth constituents are uncertain and unpredictable. “We will still need to plan and design even if these plans go out of date with the changes in the cityscape”, contended architect Bimal Patel. “Cities evolve over time and to meet this evolution, the fundamental element to be provided is a grid of streets. The city would grow and expand around this grid. Absence of this grid gives rise to problems and impacts growth.”

Architect Aneerudha Paul pointed to the extremely complex system of aspirations and ethnic communities at work in an urban space that will need to be addressed while coming up with the framework of design.

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