Take garden fences. Perhaps there is merit in the abundance of fences in some cities, given the possibility of vandalism and crime. Doesn’t New York, too, have fences around parks and playgrounds? But does even a traffic island need a fence? Why not just pave it, plant a few trees and place a couple of benches (even the controversial ones that let you only perch, not sit)? That way, no one loses sleep over the fate of the exotic foliage planted to flatter a sponsor’s (or marketing manager’s) ego, rather than respecting pedestrians’ need for rest. This is important particularly in India, where the invisible and disempowered majority still relies on walking as a mode of transport.
Nature, found or planted
The pleasure of walking or being in a public space is often related to the pleasure of being in touch with nature. Many cities have great natural features: Mumbai has the sea (as does Chennai), a neglected river and a national park. Pune has the hills (sadly being cut into), Bangalore, the partly man-made lake system (fast being built over). These can be the greatest public experiences if we manage their edges well. Mumbai’s Marine Drive is an example, as are developments in Bandra.
Where natural features don’t exist, nature can be planted, as in Delhi’s or Bangalore’s gardens. As New York’s Central Park suggests, a more natural environment is anywhere preferable to a typical downtown one. Delhi’s Nehru Park, Lodhi Gardens and the like are much loved by those who can access them regularly. Maybe Hyderabad should reconsider what it can do by the Hussain Sagar (a man-made lake like Jodhpur’s Gulabsagar and Fatehsagar) to make it a more exciting destination?
‘Open’ pleasures
Natural spaces are often left open in a more equitable, “just” manner than other public spaces (though more hospitable elements tend to be reserved for elite areas, unfortunately). Marine Drive in Mumbai is open to the public, as is Chennai’s Marina Beach. In the Mumbai suburb of Bandra, Carter Road (skirting the Arabian Sea) was turned into a public destination by local citizens with great difficulty.
Part of the reason why natural spaces are more likely to be open to access may simply be because of their scale. It is absurd even to think of fencing in Marine Drive.
Public by default
As it happens, some of the most vibrant spaces (that is, those most actively used by the public) in Mumbai, for instance, are near slums. Vacant lots, some reserved in the development plan for recreation or attached to places of worship, become the animated living room and playground of the community that surrounds it. They maintain it, upgrade it (with paving, lighting, occasionally a masonry performance stage)—and eventually, unfortunately, cover it for perfectly understandable reasons.
Public spaces compensate for the impossible conditions of private space in these communities—the way Parisian cafes in the 19th and early 20th centuries did for people too poor to afford good heating for their garrets and rooms. Café culture in Paris and other European cities may well owe much to the poverty of their original working-class patrons. Is there a huge socio-political opportunity that we are missing in our poverty-ridden cities by not attending as creatively to our own public spaces?
Photos
1. Central Park in Connaught Place, New Delhi, is an ailing public space rejuvenated
2. Marine Drive, Mumbai
3. Hyde Park, London
4. The Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, Bangalore
5. Central Park, New York
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