Le Corbusier Lives in China

Bijlmermeer neighbourhood, the south-east suburb of Amsterdam, which today houses almost 50,000 people of over 150 nationalities, was designed as a single project as part of the modernist approach to urban development. Its first few buildings were completed towards the end of 1960s, after which some residents begun to move in what was advertised as ‘paradise with modern towers’. The original neighbourhood was designed as a series of nearly identical high-rise buildings in a hexagonal grid and has been called honeycomb housing. The urban planning principles were influenced by CIAM, the International Congress for Modern Architecture, set up by Le Corbusier, the master of modern Architecture and his contemporaries.

Le Corbusier’s idea of urban planning was the concept of ‘Radiant City’, wherein, the people were to be put in multi-storey housing so as to allow for large open spaces for recreation and green cover. The circulation was to be at two levels, the elevated roads to reduce traffic congestion and hence pollution and lower level for pedestrians and bicyclists. Upwardly rising residential towers would provide residents with the views as also clean air and sunlight. The original honeycomb housing can be seen in Photo 1.

Photo 1: Aerial view of Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam

This location of Bijlmermeer was selected as it was then outside the city of Amsterdam and land costs were low. However, it took a long time before the public infrastructure such as good roads and metro line were constructed to provide good connectivity to the place. The residents of Amsterdam lost interest in the project and subsequently, it was used as a social housing which came to be occupied by the immigrant community of the city. The Surinamese immigrants were located here by the government, in what then became social housing. It became essentially a low-income neighbourhood. Low-income neighbourhood with concentration of immigrant community also meant high levels of unemployment among the youth of the neighbourhood. Eventually, it came to be known as a neighbourhood with high crime rates. The grade separation of roads provided automobiles to move fast on the elevated roads but the spaces below when the roads crossed the pedestrian walkways created potential negative spaces wherein crime thrived. In an endeavour to reduce crime in this neighbourhood, the city of Amsterdam decided to convert this into mixed-income neighbourhood, that is, to gentrify the neighbourhood by attracting middle-income families to it.

However, high rise living is not conducive to the living style of middle-income groups, who prefer to live in low-rise condominium housing so that the children can play outside and parents can keep a watch on them. The new concerns such as of safe cities and climate change mitigation efforts such as promoting cycling, has led to flattening of the roads wherein the mixed traffic, motorised as well as non-motorised and pedestrians can move together. In all, many of the high rises have been torn down to create a safe and liveable neighbourhood. The neighbourhood has now good public transport connections and a commercial centre with multifarious activities. There has been conscious efforts to convert unsafe spaces into safe spaces.

Photo 2: Renewal of Bijlmermeer, with low rise apartments

We shift to another continent, another country, China, another era, twenty first century. China, in its rapid pace of urbanisation and strides towards modernisation has also adopted vertical urban form. The cities, central parts as well as the peripheries are transforming into high-rise complexes. Within the city, the former low-rise housing with lower per capita living area have given way to multi-storey buildings, about 25 to 30 storey high having modern facilities and higher dwelling unit size. The per capita living area on an average has increased from 5.3 sq m per person to 36.6 square per person in 2016 (Source: http://www.chinabankingnews.com/2017/07/07/chinas-per-capita-residential-space-rose-40-8-square-metres-2016/). To keep lands free for green spaces and other public goods such as roads, gardens, education and health facilities, convention centres and sports complexes, the housing form has taken to be multi-storey.

On the urban periphery, in the rural areas and peri-urban areas, the high-rises house the rural population. The rural residents, some out of choice (mainly the young generation) and some by mandate (mainly the elderly who prefer rural housing type for social reasons) have been shifted to multi-storey buildings to release rural lands. In some villages, the village committees, which are the local governance units, have sold surplus lands through long term leases. The profits from such land-sales have been invested in improving the rural conditions and constructing public amenities of the urban areas. Such profits have also been used to cross subsidize new housing construction. 

Photo 3: A Village near Suzhou City in South China

Photo 4: New High Rises on Suzhou City’s Periphery, China

There has been a push in the recent years in China for increasing urbanisation, which is seen as a way to improve the living conditions of the rural population. The proportion of employment in agriculture in 2017 has come down to 17.5% in China from 55.3% in 1991 (Source: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS?locations=CN). Large number of rural residents are employed in non-farm work and a large proportion of agriculture is in the green houses with the application of modern technology. There is a shift towards industrialised agriculture, an aspect which is being promoted by the national government. Industrialised agriculture requires large land parcels. Further, the Chinese government is paying the farmers to grow trees, which will contribute towards carbon sequestration to meet its commitment under the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) after the Paris Agreement on Climate Change Mitigation. This also requires that lands be released.


A village in Suzhou City’s periphery in South China – Suzhou is a tourist town with traditional Chinese gardens of the former elites – where the residents were either engaged in some business (See Photo 3) or the males working in the city, was to be transformed into high rise living. Clearly, many had shifted out of agriculture to non-agriculture occupations and were unmindful of moving into modern housing. The type of modern housing that is coming up in this village’s periphery and likely for also this village can be seen in Photo 4. Photo 5 shows that general landscape of cities in China, which is of Suzhou city. Photo 6 is the landscape of peripheral areas of Tianjin City, which is an industrial city and this road is towards the Tianjin Free Trade Area.

Photo 5: From the internal city highway, Suzhou City, China

Photo 6: In Tianjin City Free Trade Area, China

Thus, we see very much the modernist transformation of China’s cities and its peripheral rural areas. This is very much the idea of New Urbanization, which is managed and is focussed on releasing lands for private and public transportation, green spaces and other public amenities. It is Le Corbusier ideas in practice in the twenty first century!

Darwinism on City Roads and Transit – Unleashing the Animal Spirits

Everyday, returning home safe seems to be now becoming a great achievement! It was normal to return home without any much event on the way. But, those days of complacency, so to say, on the roads are gone. Any mishap or a conflict or worse accident may occur not due to one’s own mistake but because of many other factors beyond one’s own control. We say truly, we are in god’s hands if one leaves ones house for some work. For the poor, the wrath of god can visit even their homes during monsoon or when the local government decides to undertake ‘development’ while demolishing their homes!

The Mumbai stories of 4-5 people dying on railway tracks everyday or occasional stampedes as on the Elphinstone road footoverbridge, reminds of the hazards in everyday transit. Four people die on Delhi roads everyday. For Ahmedabad, the rate is low but recorded at 6 deaths per week on the city roads due to accidents. If there are no serious accidents resulting in deaths, there are minor accidents causing denting of vehicles. Dents on the vehicles are now new fashion statements! If not an accident then a skirmish, due to two vehicles brushing each other, and one of them decides not to ignore this brushing and wanting to vent out all the pent up anger compounded due to various frustrations on the other party. These have become part of everyday life in our cities. And add to it, the cow nationalism makes one even vary of brushing a cow on the roads; the ‘mother cows’ who have been left to fend for themselves, unleashing their animal spirits on the roads, foraging garbage and eating plastics.

Let us leave aside the road accidents and deaths or injuries caused due to them, sheer time spent on the roads due to rogue behavior of the drivers itself causes higher exposure to vehicular fumes and hence health impacts. The anxiety on the road due to the grid-locks, once again caused due to ‘I will not let any one go before me’ syndrome, or the everyday struggle to be ‘oneup’ on the road against other drivers, be they cyclists, scooter/ motorbike wallas, four wheeler drivers, autorickshaws and all goods transport vehicles is too much with those with low tolerance levels to shocks. Everyone wants to go first, the large vehicles such as buses and trucks want to push their vehicle first while trying to make space amidst multitude of small vehicles. The cyclists wanting to find space while stopping a truck. The two-wheeler wallas, always angry that the big cars are taking up too much of space, wanting to go first. There are unlimited and unmatched matches on the road to go first. It is daily struggle for mobility on the city roads.

All these while, on most junctions, in case of Ahmedabad, no one respects traffic lights if there is no police manning the junctions. What an irony; traffic lights are for self-regulating traffic! If there is no policeman or para-policeman manning the junctions, invariably, even during light traffic, there are jams, and then struggle for ‘I go first’ or ‘I will not allow anyone else go first’. Survival of the fittest, one who has quick reaction to jam and finding few inches of space to but-in his/ her vehicle. Interestingly, some of these complicated maneuvers are undertaken by some drivers while constantly talking on their mobile phones.

On the road sides, there is struggle to walk on footpaths, as they are encroached upon by vehicles or vendors. Inspite of the Vendors’ Act, no spaces are found in the city to locate them, no governance mechanism except those of ‘agewans’ that is ‘local leaders’ who in a sense are weekly hafta collectors. One is not sure whether there is low capacity to govern street trade or lack of willingness to govern street trade that has caused the situation we are in. It gets worse when a big car stops on a narrow road to purchase goods from a larri, unconcerned about the roadblock the person may cause on the narrow roads.

Thus, people walk on roads, cyclists who should be in the left-most lane are in the centre of the road and on junctions while turning right are in the front of a bus or a BMW. Where do we see such ‘all are equal on road’ syndrome!

Since the animal spirits have been unleashed in the Indian economy, the state taking a back seat in even regulating the economy, this spirit has been passed on to all the spheres of life, including the roads. Survival of the fittest. Or to say, survival of the most risk-taker on the street.

Earlier, in our socialist era, ironically the cars thought they ruled the streets. And indeed, transport planning and road designs were only meant for private vehicles, with the emphasis on ensuring that they moved fastest on the roads. Socialist era did not mean more public transport. But, with the unleashing of animal spirits in the economy also led to increased incomes and more personal vehicles, in particular the two wheelers on the streets. In many cities therefore footpaths have not been built or have been narrowed to accommodate the increased private vehicular traffic. The owners of private vehicles are unwilling to give up their right to the road space, the vulnerable – the pedestrians and cyclists – although in larger numbers then motorized vehicles, are unable to voice their needs. Not being given any space on the road, they vent their frustrations by mingling with motorized vehicular traffic.

Darwinism on the roads will not take us anywhere. One place where strict government regulations are required, and that is the roads, in particular the city roads. The government needs to take a call. It has to do both, regulate the traffic as well as increase the supply of public goods in transport. Animal spirits do not help in this aspect of city life. In general in life, unleashing of animal spirits has no limits of self-interest at the larger well being of the society.

What Has Changed in Ganeshnagar – Dumping Site of PAPs in Ahmedabad?

With a team of documentary makers of a channel, I had a chance to revisit Ganeshnagar after about 3 and half years. Last I went was with a group of students, when one room of the present school building was constructed. Then, I wanted the students of planning, housing specialisation doing their studio exercise on rehabilitation strategy, to see how not to do rehabilitation. In 2012, when I went, I was a bit sceptical about going for the fear of being recognised as a member of the Buch Committee involved in the monitoring of Sabarmati riverfront rehabilitation and on whose head the blame of inadequate and inequitable rehabilitation has been laid. Luckily then and even now, my identity did not come to the fore and hence in the way of my visit.

The living conditions in 2016, remains as we had documented at the Centre for Urban Equity (CUE) in Ganeshnagar in 2012 (See http://cept.ac.in/UserFiles/File/CUE/Advocacy/Living%20Conditions%20in%20Ganeshnagar_Resize.pdf). Prior to that, in 2009, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working with the poor and displaced in the city had held a public hearing on displacements (http://cept.ac.in/UserFiles/File/CUE/Advocacy/Public%20Hearing%20on%20Displacements.pdf), also documented extremely poor living conditions in the location. But, there is some change; the height of the garbage dump at Pirana, just across the road from Ganeshnagar, has increased and can now be seen from Ganeshnagar. Earlier, we could only smell the garbage, as the public hearing report documents, but could not see it.

For those who know Ahmedabad, coming from Narol circle and way to crossing Sabarmati river, Pirana garbage dump, which now is about 50 to 60 meters high, comes on the left side, that is to the north of the road and Ganeshnagar is on the right, that is to the south of the road. Standing in Ganeshnagar, if one faces north, one can first see high tension lines passing through, and then the Pirana garbage mountain. This garbage mountain did not exist 4 years back. The garbage dump was and the olfactory senses revolted on reaching Ganeshnagar, but, now one sees, one smells and one experiences the garbage dump! This is the first big change.

Ganeshnagar site has been used for dumping the displaced households from various infrastructure development projects post 2008. Term dumped is used, as they were literally dumped and not shifted through any pre-planning. Hence, there are evictees of road projects, flyover projects, Kankaria lake development projects and the biggest displacement project of all Sabarmati Riverfront project. In 2011 November, about 4,000 to 5,000 households evicted from the Sabarmati riverbank, evicted under the Gujarat High Court order, were dumped on the site in a short period. Ganeshnagar became a large temporary rehabilitation site. The idea was that these households would then be given a permanent rehabilitation unit. Which many were given; taken to Vatwa rehabilitation site, Odhav rehabilitation site, etc. But, many are still left on the Ganeshnagar site. Some 20,000 BSUP (Basic Services for the Urban Poor) dwelling units constructed in the city proved rehabilitation to the project affected people of the city. Imagine, what would have been the plight of these households if JNNURM was not designed and if BSUP was not introduced! In December 2016, about 850 households still remain in Ganeshnagar. Some of them were from the riverfront, and have been given an allotment letter for a plot of land in Ganeshnagar. Strangely, there was no map accompanying that would tell them which plot of land in the large site.

There were some households who were evicted in 2008 and have been living on the site since then. Post 2011 dumping of the riverfront evictees, our public hearing and pressure of the NGOs who went to assist the large mass of evictees in 2011, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) constructed water supply points with water taps and public toilets. The water taps are broken, the hardware vandalised and stolen, and no water is coming.

Public Toilet in Ganeshnagar

The public toilets are not maintained and are now filled with shit. The area around the public toilets is also full of animal and human shit, plastics and all kinds of rubbish; completely unusable! This forces everyone to defecate in the open! Do we have to go anywhere to witness hell! Nehruji said about Kashmir, if there is heaven on earth, it is here it is here! We have to say about Ganeshnagar, if there is hell on the earth, one of them is here! The second change is that the facilities provided by the AMC for the residents of Ganeshnagar rehabilitation site, as many have been allotted plot of land on the site, are now under total disrepair and unusable.

Broken water taps

The third change is that two rooms of an anaganwadi, which also came through the pressure of the NGOs, have been constructed. Thankfully, they are working. A lady came at about 10.30 am and was cleaning. There is also a school building now. The school is working. But, the rooms are also used for gambling and drinking when the school is closed. The caretaker (chowkidar) of the school, who had objected to the abuse of the school premises, was murdered two months back.

Anganwadi at Ganeshnagar

School at Ganeshnagar

The fourth, and probably the most dangerous change that has come is setting up of a unit of ‘gau rakshak dal’ (a cow protection unit – dal in a sense is a mini battalion). The organisation was constructing a pucca building in the centre of the site. The representative of the unit, who got a whiff of our visit to the site, came instantaneously as we entered, even before we could get out of our vehicles. He asked us in some minor menacing way, who we were. Our answer to him was the same question bounced back. After telling his affiliation and on our query as to what he was doing here, he said, he was providing water to the site residents. Any guess as to what would be coming forth here in the future! The impacts of demonitisation were ofcourse not missed out on us.

Urban Planning, New Urban Agenda and Inclusive Cities

Context

Habitat III held at Quito from October 17 to 20, 2016 is successfully over, declared UNHABITAT. The communiqué from UNHABITAT also states that the ‘New Urban Agenda’ has been adopted by the countries. The Habitat Conferences are events to set urban development agenda for the next 20 years and hence in this context, the New Urban Agenda is an important document. The first Habitat Conference was held in 1976 in Vancouver and the second was held in Istanbul in 1996.  The New Urban Agenda has been set out also in the context that more than half the population in the world is now residing in urban areas, cities and towns, across the world. Many more will transit to urban areas in the next two decades, particularly in Asia and Africa.

Therein lies the importance of New Urban Agenda for India. India is on the path to urbanize, expecting 600 million residents or 40% are expected to be residing in the cities and towns in India by 2031. If urban India were to be a country, that it would be the second largest country in the world! The full pdf document of the New Urban Agenda is available on the Habitat III website link: https://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/

The New Urban Agenda

The New Urban Agenda says all the right things. The agenda acknowledges that: “Since the United Nations Conferences on Human Settlements in Vancouver in 1976 and in Istanbul in 1996, and the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, we have seen improvements in the quality of life of millions of urban inhabitants, including slum and informal settlement dwellers. However, the persistence of multiple forms of poverty, growing inequalities, and environmental degradation, remain among the major obstacles to sustainable development worldwide, with social and economic exclusion and spatial segregation often an irrefutable reality in cities and human settlements.”

“We are still far from adequately addressing these and other existing and emerging challenges; and there is a need to take advantage of the opportunities of urbanization as an engine of sustained and inclusive economic growth, social and cultural development, and environmental protection, and of its potential contributions to the achievement of transformative and sustainable development.”

“By readdressing the way cities and human settlements are planned, designed, financed, developed, governed, and managed, the New Urban Agenda will help to end poverty and hunger in all its forms and dimensions, reduce inequalities, promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, in order to fully harness their vital contribution to sustainable development, improve human health and well-being, as well as foster resilience and protect the environment.”

The New Urban Agenda rests heavily on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set up in 2015 to be achieved by 2030. The SDG 11 is: to achieve “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable human settlements”.  The SDG 11 is about both urban and rural settlements. But, since the expected transition is towards urbanisation, this goal becomes extremely important for urban settlements. The New Urban Agenda has principles and commitments. It then lays out implementation plan with regards to:

i)       The Transformative Commitments for Sustainable Urban Development in the areas of (a) Sustainable Urban Development For Social Inclusion and Ending Poverty, (b) Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Prosperity and Opportunities for All and (c) Environmentally Sustainable And Resilient Urban Development

ii)     Effective Implementation through (a) Building the Urban Governance Structure: Establishing a Supportive Framework, (b) Planning and Managing Urban Spatial Development, and (C) Creating Means of Implementation.

iii)    Follow-Up and Review.

Urban Planning in the New Urban Agenda

Urban Planning has been recognised as an important tool for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. The agenda talks about integrated planning and balancing of short term and long term needs of the cities. The agenda does talk about relating urban spatial planning with social and economic conditions. It talks about promoting planned urban extensions; infill; prioritising urban renewal, regeneration and retrofitting (primarily to contain urban sprawl) as appropriate; providing high quality buildings and public spaces; promoting integrated and participatory approaches involving all stakeholders and inhabitants; avoiding special and socio-economic segregation and gentrification; preserving cultural heritage; and preventing and containing urban sprawl. The urban renewal commitment includes upgrading of slums and informal settlements. The agenda states that “We will promote …..” the above. Hence, lets investigate each one of these commitments from our Indian experience of how urban planning has worked out or not worked out.

The first issue is with regards to containing urban sprawl through planning. Urban sprawl in the Indian cities have happened due to the real estate interests in cahoots with those in the executive and elected wings of the government. The mid-2000s saw expansion of urban boundaries of many metropolitan cities namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. Ahmedabad’s boundaries were expanded from 198 sq km area to 466 sq km area, that of Bangalore from about 250 sq km to about 800 sq km. and so on. The purported idea was to have planned development within the new jurisdiction. Also, their respective urban development authorities’ boundaries too were extended to undertake planning in the peri-urban areas, i.e. laying of physical infrastructure lines of water and sanitation and put in public transport system.

Has that happened? Yes, the roads have been laid out. In case of Ahmedabad (I have close experience of this city) the roads have been laid out without appropriate footpaths and edges. Public transport system has not followed. This has created need for more private transport and hence already, the roads are getting clogged even before the densities have increased. The water and sanitation infrastructure is also not yet in and hence infrastructure in the extended areas are private, provided by the residential estates themselves in case of formal developments and by host of informal water providers in the informal settlements. Our research at the Centre for Urban Equity (CUE) in one large informally developed area shows that this has led to multiple conflicts (See http://cept.ac.in/centre-for-urban-equity-cue/policy-briefs; http://www.crdf.org.in/cue/saic/). The formal residential estates in the city, due to lack of centralized water system are mining the ground water, at the peril of sustainable development!

Source: http://www.crdf.org.in/cue/saic/

The sprawl has followed revoking of the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA) in 1999, which led to possibility of accumulation of large parcels of land by the developers. These lands were purchased on the city’s periphery. Their prices would not have sky-rocketed if they were not brought within the municipal limits. Once a few real estate projects come up in the newly extended boundaries of the city, the municipal government is forced to put in at the least roads, which then pushes up the land market prices benefitting those who have accumulated lands in the newly extended city limits. Ricardian principle of land rent states that as more and more lands are brought in use, the price of best lands increase as some uses are ready to pay more for central or best location. Thus, new land supply not necessarily reduces land prices, but on the contrary increase the land prices. Thus, the new real estate projects on the city’s periphery comes at high prices than expected while the city sprawls and makes it all the more difficult for the municipal government to invest in infrastructure. But, the high-end real estate projects that come up cannot wait till the municipal water and sanitation network comes in. They invest in their own; septic tanks for sewerage and groundwater mining tube-wells, the latter leading to depletion of ground water.

Affordable Housing and Planning

If the city has already sprawled, what needs to be done. The obvious answer is refill, as the New Urban Agenda suggests. But, these refills also come at high costs as the land prices have already increased on account of sprawl. The refill therefore does not address the requirements of low-income housing in the city. The land prices going up makes all plots precious and hence are not available for squatting by the poor. The first phase of informal settlements’ or slums’ development in the cities have been on the public lands. Post enactment of the ULCRA, the private lands were brought by the owners under informal settlements to avoid their acquisition under the act in case these were categorised as surplus. At least, informal housing was possible within the city limits. But, post revoking of ULCRA, this option has gone for the low-income households. The informal settlements then developed on the sub-divided agricultural lands outside the municipal limits. The CUE study of Bombay Hotel area is one such informal settlement that developed in 2000s (See http://cept.ac.in/UserFiles/File/CUE/Working%20Papers/Revised%20New/31CUEWP%20-31-Bombay%20Hotel.pdf). The circumstances of its development is also unique, but, we do not go into this at the moment.

The infill in the sprawled parts of the city would be affordable for the low-income housing unless public lands are made available and the municipal government decides to use these for this purpose than selling them for raising finance. Consequently, the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) schemes under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and recent Affordable Housing schemes are all largely outside the city limits or on the periphery of the extended city limits. Already, the economic segregation has happened through the land market logic. In cities with social segregation, another layer of segregation is added to the economic segregation. Can such divided city structures be undone now through urban planning interventions? What would such an intervention be?

The New Urban Agenda talks about relating spatial planning with socio-economic goals. It also talks about doing away with segregation in the city on the class, caste and religion basis. The pathways to such an city future is more public housing at affordable rates than leaving housing to the market.

Provision of ‘Housing for All’ will require first of all lands available at affordable rates. Land price escalation due to urban sprawl does not help. In particular, the poor prefer locations near their place of employment and would prefer in-situ redevlopment in case of slums or central location in case of new housing. Does urban planning have mechanism for the same? Yes, in the case where Town Planning Scheme (TPS) mechanism is used, under which a certain percentage of private lands are acquired by the planning authority in lieu of providing infrastructure. These become the public lands, used for raising finance and also for public housing. This mechanism is useful if it is used with the right spirit. All depends on the orientation of the state government in using such lands for low-income housing. Availability of a mechanism does not mean that it would be used. In Ahmedabad, such public lands – these are called lands reserved for Socially and Economically Weaker Sections (SEWS) lands – have been used for the purpose. But, not always. A great amount of such lands have been encroached upon for other uses.

As mentioned earlier, planning often comes much after the developments have already taken place. The permissions for formal real estate projects are given even when the TPS is in draft stage. The informal developments happen whether there is TPS or none. When the TPS comes to an informal settlement, the land appropriation for public purpose can lead to significant demolitions. In instances where informal developments have already happened, a new mechanism of planning has to be introduced; it has to be flexible and negotiated solution. These have to be tripartite negotiations, between the occupants, the planning authority and original landowner. Hence, urban planning automatically would not lead to the goals of the New Urban Agenda or the SDG 11. There has to be inclusive governance mechanism in place for urban planning to play a transformative role for equitable cities.

In all, there are multiple challenges to be faced if urban planning has to meaningful and address SDG 11 of inclusive and sustainable urban development. I have not discussed here the issues of resilient and safe cities, as this would be another article. It is clear from this discussion that urban planning as practiced now will not rise upto the challenges of urban development in the present state of Indian cities. Planning has to be redefined; its mechanisms have to be redefined and associated legislation need to be modified to truly address the requirements of creating habitable cities that would respond to the socio-economic needs of the current population. Do we have this courage to be self-critical and bring about much needed reform in urban planning approach and mechanisms. If yes, the urban future in India is bright.

Smartly, It’s Old Wine, Old Bottle and A New Label

Welcomingly, since 2006, as a country, we have paid attention and devised, funded and implemented programmes and projects for urban development. The label under which this happened may not have been liked by many, but, that JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) brought for the first time relatively massive funding for urban development, mainly urban infrastructure projects such as water supply, sanitation (sewerage, rainwater drains and garbage management), public transport, housing for the low-income households and heritage. Cities and states capable of taking advantage of the national government funds have benefitted. Well and good.

Suddenly, post May 2014, the new national government, with a different colour of their flag and policies, inundated us with new buzz words, one of them is the ‘Smart Cities’. We knew then that it was Smart to talk and do something about cities. But, that’s all we knew. Frantic efforts at finding meaning to the phrase Smart City, imagination to the concept, and framing of aspirations about the city-images begun to be build. Those who won the race were the IT Companies, who begun to sell dreams about cities managed through IT-enabled infrastructure, technology-led city life, seen in the Sci-fi, James Bond and many other Hollywood films. The whiff of such an automated, high-tech driven life intoxicated urban-dwellers. Press a button, the garbage is gone, and so on.

In this imagination, GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec City), was being developed, much before the Smart City mission was envisaged by the national government. Original plan only stated a city that was managed by technology through a Central Command and Control Centre (C4). The emphasis was on technology and its control over city’s management through “efficient, safe and smart buildings’. But, the newer posting on GIFT City’s website says that it will be benchmarked against such specially developed centres in existing cities such as La Defense in Paris, Pudong in Shanghai, and so on. The site now states that this project would be having “high-quality, mixed use district of residential, commercial and open space facilities that optimize land and real estate values.” In addition, idea of ‘eco-city’ too has been introduced in the concept of GIFT city, which will have green buildings.

Another buzz-word in the GIFT City is the Transit Oriented Development (TOD), that is bringing high density development on a transit corridor to reduce travel requirements and hence through that reduce carbon emissions. Never mind if Indian cities have higher density than suggested for a TOD development in the American context! The GIFT City land area is about 3.58 sq km, and people can go from one place to another in GIFT City walking, or cycling. TOD is a concept relevant for large cities, say where people commute for more than half an hour. Hence the introduction of TOD in GIFT city is a misconception or use of just another buzz-word. At best, GIFT City will be a township abutting Gandhinagar, with high-end real estate. This article is not about the GIFT city and hence we move on.

Smart City: Concept

Smart City as an idea, is one that is data intensive, networked city, in which, “networked products gather, store and share user data” for real-time decision-making in managing the networks, towards “highly-efficient living environments”. The decisions are automated. The main idea is systems approach to city management for obtaining day-to-day efficiency in urban living.

To understand in simpler terms; lets take example of Delhi metro or Mumbai’s suburban train. Smart systems will have real time data on: (i) where each train is, (ii) number of people in each coach in the train, (iii) number of people on each platform on the metro/ suburban train stations, (iv) time taken to embark or disembark from a train and time taken to clear the platform, (v) time taken for disembarking commuters to leave the platform after going through the exit gates that are automated through magnetic cards (we do not have this system in Mumbai), and so on. If there is congestion on a platform, or a problem in one train, and so on, can be corrected in real time and the commuters informed.

In other words, Smart Cities concept if required to be implemented, humongous data would be required. Data collection on all aspects of city living is not a bad idea. But, currently, data do not exist. Smart Cities are data-intensive. Data can be used for improving living conditions and data can also be improved for surveillance! We will have to see how the data is going to be used.

But, what are the proposals that our cities have sent under the Smart Cities Mission. The proposals have come in the context of the guidelines issued by the Ministry. The Smart City features mentioned in the guidelines are: (i) promoting mixed-land use, (ii) housing for all, (iii) walkable or cyclable localities, (iv) adequate green cover, (v) variety of transport options including TOD, (vi) citizen-friendly governance, (vii) giving a brand identity to a city and (viii) applying smart solutions to infrastructure services. Nothing problematic about these features and these then becoming goals! In fact, these are welcomed goals; whether we will be able to achieve them requires one article for each one of them, and can be written about subsequently.

Smart City Proposals Received

The actual proposals from the cities received by the Ministry of Urban of Urban Development (MoUD) are with regards to vast array of projects; to name a few types: affordable housing / slum redevelopment; retrofitting or redeveloping open spaces; retrofitting or redeveloping lakes or lakefronts, riverfronts, seafronts; retrofitting or redeveloping business districts and markers; developing heritage areas; improving flood management; improving street facades; transit infrastructure development; mega projects such as convention centres, stadiums, museums, etc.; incubation centres; rental housing; GIS-based property and land management systems. Are these all technology-intensive; answer is NO. Why are they part of Smart Cities? Answer is that these projects are required for our cities; whether implemented under the rubric of urban renewal or smart cities!

These projects were proposed also under the JNNURM and will be covered under the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) programme, which is yet to take-off. Some exceptions such as of flood management, city level mega projects, open space redevelopment and business district development were not covered in JNNURM. JNNURM and AMRUT are project-based programmes while Smart Cities is area-based, that is multiple projects converging in one area. AMRUT, which replaces JNNURM is for all cities whereas Smart Cities programme is for only 100 cities, of which 20 cities have sent their proposals in the areas mentioned.

In a way, Smart Cities is a new label, same contents, same implementing agencies the local governments. Same wine, same bottle new label.

Then why new label? One that in the partisan Indian politics JN of JNNURM would not have stuck well with the incumbent dispensation at the national government level. New label gives a new identity. Anyway, it is Smart to be having the same old wine in the same bottle. Who cares for the label if the wine is favourable!

Why Women Do Not Feel Safe in Cities?

A few days back, driving slowly on a pot-holed road of Ahmedabad, a young man, probably in his mid-twenties, driving a car purchased for him by his parents, most probably his father, was honking impatiently to overtake me on a curve. The honk said: “Get out of my way, the royal prince is coming”. Partly out of my pride and partly due to prudence in driving in the situation that I have described, I did not make way for the modern day prince to pass. This angered him. At the first opportunity that he could overtake me, as I was driving at the normal speed of 30 kms an hour, a speed that you can drive on Ahmedabad roads, he slowed the car, looked behind to see who the woman was, a fleeting thought passing his mind that now I will harass her by driving at about 10 km per hour so as not to allow her to drive at my speed or pass him. This resolve of his lasted half a minute; probably he may have realized that I was not of the age when he would get fun harassing me. He went away. But, I was cautious; I slowed my speed further to allow him to disappear so that he does not get the idea to follow me for further revenge.

After all, ‘revenge’ so to say, is a fun game for some now. Or women are a fun game for some now, as we now understand from Jyoti Singh’s experience in Delhi – drunk men wanted fun. The two taxi drivers picked up a girl on footpath in Kolkata recently to have fun through the night, fun ending they killed her. And many more as such incidents are being regularly reported in dailies. While moving in a car, being cautious through the day and not generally venturing out on the streets late at night, women of our class are protected from such fun-seeking prowlers. But, the experiences such as the one narrated in the first para are common for many. These desires to have revenge on people, women particularly, who have nothing to do with the revenger, is new, of last decade or so. Economic reforms, ensuing consumerism and commodification of women’s bodies, have lot of answering to do for the state of affairs.

In some of our recent researches on women’s safety in public spaces in Ahmedabad, 52 per cent women using the Sabarmati Riverfront space and 57 per cent women using Lal Darwaaja bus terminus and areas around for shopping, reported sexual harassment. In the first public space, a single woman was not found using it; women users always came in groups or accompanied or with kids, but never alone to even take a morning walk. The second public space had to be navigated alone for taking public bus, but, women avoided dark lanes, footpaths that had parked vehicles or abandoned vehicles and cars, and parts that had men’s urinals.

To think of the reasons for such harassment, there are many. First one is, inspite of 67 years of independence and Indian Constitution that give Right to Equality before law (Article 14), traditional value systems continue to dominate family and gender relations in public life due to prevalence of patriarchy, which is male domination in power. Hence, how can a woman not give me a way? But, inspite of it, and reforms on account of Indian Constitution and some decades of nation building, women have progressed. Families have supported women to progress; government programmes too have supported women to progress. Women have indeed come out in the public sphere and hence episodes of harassment in public spaces being experienced and reported. This does not mean that women are safe in private space as 70 per cent women have experienced domestic violence in India say statistics. In fact, to escape the domestic violence, women have begun to come out of their homes to seek independence from this tyranny. Violence on women in the public space is a public concern, while domestic violence, some may argue is not a public concern. I disagree that domestic violence is not a public concern; it is as women should report to law for such violence.

Male supremacy being challenged in the public spaces has invited a backlash, something we see now. While women’s coming out and challenge to patriarchy has invited another dubious backlash, of assertion of religious fundamentalism, a practice that is now visible across two major religions in India and across many parts of the world. The increase in religiosity, more as a ritual than the spirit of religion, is pushing for reassertion of patriarchy. While these cultural expressions of patriarchy have become aggressive, there is also massive failure of mobility of large masses of young men entering the labour force due to economic model practiced and lack of improvement in quality of human resources. For example, quality of education is very poor and one sees little possibilities of improvement in them. There is lack of decent work (at adequate wages, decent working conditions and with social protection) opportunities, creating frustration among the youth, particularly of the lower income classes. Some of that is getting directed into criminal activities and violence. Women, become objects of their such‘games’.

Lack of development and mobility opportunities, and being thrown in the harsh ‘survival of the fittest’ game, never experiencing human treatment at home or in the society, a segment of population has indeed become ‘cannibal’, a metaphor used by Lu Xun, a well-known Chinese litterateur of late 19^th to early 20^th century, who in his story Madman’s diary, the “madman” sees “cannibalism” both in his family and the village around him, and he then finds cannibalism in the Confucian classics which had long been credited with a humanistic concern for the mutual obligations of society, and thus for the superiority of Confucian civilization. The story was read as an ironic attack on traditional Chinese culture and a call for a New Culture. In another story titled ‘Ah Q’, he portrays the character as one who is a bully to the less fortunate but fearful of those who are above him in rank, strength, or power. We see this cannibalism in play today. This is not just among a segment of the have-nots who have preyed on women, but, also men in power, who think women as objects of their desire.

But, such behavior of private spaces has now become public due to three major state failures. One is failure of criminal justice system and of police system. I am not knowledgeable on these issues but basing these statements on what I have read. Incidents of police themselves preying on vulnerable is now known and women generally tend to fear policemen and refrain from going alone to the police-station, particularly women of low-income classes as they are not expected to have any political or financial backing.

Lastly, there is much desired in the design of public spaces which have to appear safe through safe infrastructure and sensible and human-centric design. Our enquiry in the safety of public spaces for women’s safety begun from this concern, which have been described at length in one upcoming paper of the Centre for Urban Equity at CEPT University. There are others as well on the website that discuss the safety concerns of women in resettlement sites and informal peri-urban housing area in Ahmedabad and in all types of residential localities in the city of Guwahati.

The broad findings of these studies related to infrastructure planning and design are:

i)             Lack of walkable and wide footpaths forces women to walk on road-sides, navigating the parked vehicles and hence squeezed to walk on narrow stretches and become vulnerable to robbery and physical harassment such as pawing. Hence, there is a requirement of wide footpaths to walk safely. Is that possible? There has to be a holistic approach to street design so as to cater to the largest proportion of street users and not just the private motorized vehicles.

ii)           Lack of well-lit road-sides and public places do create a sense of insecurity among the women users of these two spaces. The public spaces and roads have to be well-lit. There is a need to set up a governance mechanism so that it is possible to maintain public spaces well-lit at all times.

iii)        While activities and people on the road make women feel safe, over-crowding increases the possibilities of their harassment, particularly physical harassment such as pawing.

iv)        Over-crowded spaces where women feel more harassment could have vigilance / surveillance mechanisms including policing during peak seasons.

v)          There is a need of street activities that go on till late night. In Indian situation, and in eating out cultures such as Ahmedabad, street food markets could create a sense of security on the streets and other public spaces. There can also be thought of houses opening up on the street fronts, shops opening on the street fronts and so on, to have diversity of activities.

vi)        Derelict areas, spaces where there are waste dumps, wreckage, parked cars and carts, and public toilets frequented by men, are all found to create a sense of unease among women as they fear assault in such locations. This is an issue of city management and there is a need to improve maintenance of city’s assets.

vii)      Predominant use of any space by men also creates a sense of unease. Men tend to hang around pan parlours/ cigarette shops, tea stalls, eateries, sitting on their vehicles or standing around. Such places need to have more surveillance. But, additional activities to such places could be attracted so that the spaces are also visited by families and groups of women. Culturally, women do not loiter around. But, if the perception of public spaces changes to being safe, there is likelihood of increased use of these spaces.