Envisioning the Mega city: Visions for Mega Buildings or Building the mega visions?
Envisioning the Mega city: Visions for Mega Buildings or Building the mega visions?
Milestones are not the destinations in themselves but rather pointers of the path further ahead. They become excuses to ponder and reaffirm the course of journey. Mega city status to Ahmedabad city has potential of being such a milestone. To ponder and envision its directions.
As living organisms, cities have always grown as well as transformed. It feels that growth and change up till recently had not mutated its DNA and city evolved retaining its identity, image and humane qualities. Textile mills, automobile and bridges over river were no less drastic interventions, yet the city remained a big village where human bonds were not severed. 4.9 million of yesterday to 5 million of today cannot suddenly put compul...
Milestones are not the destinations in themselves but rather pointers of the path further ahead. They become excuses to ponder and reaffirm the course of journey. Mega city status to Ahmedabad city has potential of being such a milestone. To ponder and envision its directions.
As living organisms, cities have always grown as well as transformed. It feels that growth and change up till recently had not mutated its DNA and city evolved retaining its identity, image and humane qualities. Textile mills, automobile and bridges over river were no less drastic interventions, yet the city remained a big village where human bonds were not severed. 4.9 million of yesterday to 5 million of today cannot suddenly put compulsions threatening the fundamental values of coexistence (with man and nature and of man and man), deteriorating the qualities of life and interactive humane habitats.
Can we ponder?
Cities are a living organism and therefore has complex dynamics. Not all of its variables can be or even should be expected to resolve in singular way. Therefore while development vision and its sustenance base may be held as the Constance, there should be enough laterality in its application and resolutions from time to time through the instruments of planning. This calls for institutionalising and democratising the process rather than the finality of the physical blue print. There is a lack of the fora as well as format for the participation of diverse group of citizens in the visualisation and formalisation of the development directions as well as priorities. We need to install a body consisting of citizens, professionals and experts from diverse fields of development rather than the overbearing presence and the interference of the elected representatives or the bureaucrats that prevail now. Both for continuity of vision as well as truly participatory and democratic yet professional and objective development such an institution is greatly required. The primary mandate of this institution should be to create overall development framework and not the specific projects, which should emerge in consonance with the development goal and with the statement of priorities of these goals as the given development brief it should be entrusted to design and develop professionally. For example Ahmedabad has historically shown that how its citizens, the guilds (trade Mahajans) and the institutions charted the visions of its developments and realised them independent of the Bureaucracy of the authorities.
Urban developments in country like ours largely imply not a clean slate development but invariably restructuring of the existing and therefore very close check on the ground realities of each local context becomes critical in guiding directions as well as limitations of its further developments. This is where the development norms and development control regulations have ought to be contextual rather than universal and performance based rather than prescriptive. Here often one finds byelaws or the controls to be alien to the local milieu and a mismatch to the ethos of the place as well as the people it represents. Solely quantitative and standardised norms for the provision of open spaces, margins of buildings, radius of no development from historic resources etc. are some of the examples in case.
The other particularity of Indian cities is that it is has deep rooted traditions and a long history. We need to pride with the fact and make every effort to retain ethnicity and identity of each place. There has to be very different approach and policies governing such historic cores. Unfortunately, progress and modernity is often confused with change and renunciating the past. At least such a misconception seems to persist with the politicians, bureaucrats ad the private development patrons as so called development priorities and policies seems to deny learning from the traditional wisdom and evolving and adopting them for the contemporary times, they seem to ape the glamour and glitter from an alien context. For example, the rat race among these players to create tallest building in city outskirts or promote mega malls over market bazaars or to subsidize multiplexes to promote tourism rather than to conserve its heritage, which as such is the genuine source for tourism.
Harmony with tradition and conservation of natural resources are the two fundamental tenets on which our development frameworks need to base upon. With visionary development framework, with participatory decision making mechanisms, with responsible professionalism and conscientious development patrons, we can rebuild our nation, back to its humane, environmentally sensitive, socio-culturally responsive and contextually unique living environments.
-Yatin Pandya
Milestones are not the destinations in themselves but rather pointers of the path further ahead. They become excuses to ponder and reaffirm the course of journey. Mega city status to Ahmedabad city has potential of being such a milestone. To ponder and envision its directions.
As living organisms, cities have always grown as well as transformed. It feels that growth and change up till recently had not mutated its DNA and city evolved retaining its identity, image and humane qualities. Textile mills, automobile and bridges over river were no less drastic interventions, yet the city remained a big village where human bonds were not severed. 4.9 million of yesterday to 5 million of today cannot suddenly put compulsions threatening the fundamental values of coexistence (with man and nature and of man and man), deteriorating the qualities of life and interactive humane habitats.
Can we ponder?
Cities are a living organism and therefore has complex dynamics. Not all of its variables can be or even should be expected to resolve in singular way. Therefore while development vision and its sustenance base may be held as the Constance, there should be enough laterality in its application and resolutions from time to time through the instruments of planning. This calls for institutionalising and democratising the process rather than the finality of the physical blue print. There is a lack of the fora as well as format for the participation of diverse group of citizens in the visualisation and formalisation of the development directions as well as priorities. We need to install a body consisting of citizens, professionals and experts from diverse fields of development rather than the overbearing presence and the interference of the elected representatives or the bureaucrats that prevail now. Both for continuity of vision as well as truly participatory and democratic yet professional and objective development such an institution is greatly required. The primary mandate of this institution should be to create overall development framework and not the specific projects, which should emerge in consonance with the development goal and with the statement of priorities of these goals as the given development brief it should be entrusted to design and develop professionally. For example Ahmedabad has historically shown that how its citizens, the guilds (trade Mahajans) and the institutions charted the visions of its developments and realised them independent of the Bureaucracy of the authorities.
Urban developments in country like ours largely imply not a clean slate development but invariably restructuring of the existing and therefore very close check on the ground realities of each local context becomes critical in guiding directions as well as limitations of its further developments. This is where the development norms and development control regulations have ought to be contextual rather than universal and performance based rather than prescriptive. Here often one finds byelaws or the controls to be alien to the local milieu and a mismatch to the ethos of the place as well as the people it represents. Solely quantitative and standardised norms for the provision of open spaces, margins of buildings, radius of no development from historic resources etc. are some of the examples in case.
The other particularity of Indian cities is that it is has deep rooted traditions and a long history. We need to pride with the fact and make every effort to retain ethnicity and identity of each place. There has to be very different approach and policies governing such historic cores. Unfortunately, progress and modernity is often confused with change and renunciating the past. At least such a misconception seems to persist with the politicians, bureaucrats ad the private development patrons as so called development priorities and policies seems to deny learning from the traditional wisdom and evolving and adopting them for the contemporary times, they seem to ape the glamour and glitter from an alien context. For example, the rat race among these players to create tallest building in city outskirts or promote mega malls over market bazaars or to subsidize multiplexes to promote tourism rather than to conserve its heritage, which as such is the genuine source for tourism.
Harmony with tradition and conservation of natural resources are the two fundamental tenets on which our development frameworks need to base upon. With visionary development framework, with participatory decision making mechanisms, with responsible professionalism and conscientious development patrons, we can rebuild our nation, back to its humane, environmentally sensitive, socio-culturally responsive and contextually unique living environments.
-Yatin Pandya