We hear a lot about cities in the West competing for the loyalty of their residents. In India, we hear muted noises about the need to attract people to our cities so that investment flows in.
No one will deny that much of what people feel about a city depends on their experience of its public spaces. Are the streets safe? Are they fun to walk down? Are there lots of things to do, apart from eating in sidewalk cafes (though that is a pleasure in itself)? And yes, where will the children play?
Walk around Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata, for instance, and the answers to these questions vary in detail or nuance. But the broad problems stay the same. Unlike many Western cities and suburbs, a lot is happening in our towns and cities. In the West, the city is often empty. In India, it is bursting with activity. But there is not enough of some things (good parks, playgrounds, even simple signage and street furniture), too much of others (private vehicles), and all flow together in extremely disorganized and inefficient ways. The reality is that public space in our cities is not hospitable.
‘My space’ in the city
Part of the problem is that no one in our cities takes responsibility for the people’s experience of public spaces. Not the planners, not the architects (who are limited to specific projects), and certainly not the municipal authorities who, if they are lucky, find themselves barely able to stop the city from falling to pieces. As for the politicians, public space is only the setting for their political action. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens seem unaware that their streets and parks could actually be much better. Or that they have a right to a hospitable city.
This problem is universal. Manhattan as we know it today is remarkably hospitable in its public space. However, at one time, it had less of the vibrant life of parks, playgrounds and “bonus plazas”. Famous destinations, such as Bryant Park, were viewed as unsafe. People hurried past them. Over the last two decades, after the incessant prodding of visionaries—such as the late William H. Whyte and the late Jane Jacobs, who wrote with passion and knowledge about the value of vibrant public space—the city has got its act together.
Including citizens
“Indian cities already have great urban spaces. By putting in social amenities, urban services and, above all, a high degree of maintenance, we can once again reconnect these invaluable assets to the city without gentrifying them,” says K.T. Ravindran, professor and head of the department of urban design, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.
Unfortunately, the bureaucratic imagination in India is that of a chowkidar (watchman), viewing each visitor as a potential threat. Unless city managers accept that their job is to constantly deliver a better city to the people, not protect it from them, the city cannot improve.