Eco-Architecture
Eco-Architecture experiment- "Athena", Gurgaon, India
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Expanding Indian Cities: So much to do so little time
Most of us realise that Indian cities are expanding on a larger scale and at a faster pace than ever before, and we dread the negative probability of what the future holds. Will this in fact, as some thinkers have predicted, lead us to anarchy, an uncontrolled growth of slums or/and an ungovernable mess? But for Indian political leadership, it seems dealing with hard questions about how best to manage our massive urbanization is not a priority, and certainly action is not visible in areas other than some capitals like Ahmedabad and New Delhi.
With 250 million people to be added, to all tiers of cities and towns in 20 years, Indian cities, badly need a vision of the future to inspire the next generation of cities to become sustainable, world class centres of urban endeavour, business, finance, sports and culture while ensuring that smaller cities become stronger and participate in the growth in a less haphazard manner.
International experience has demonstrated that India could turn its cities around in a decade. There are examples in India too, of how New Delhi turned around Connaught place, executed the Metro, and created district centres and a number of decentralised regional nodes and corridors and satellites towns in about the last fifteen years. Surat implemented a Waste management plan and cleaned up the city and its streets in under a year. Good exemplary turnaround stories come from Nagpur, Ahmedabad, and exciting project success stories abound in metropolitan cities where airports and transportation is rapidly undergoing a transformation.
The expansion of our capabilities and ambition is urgently required . Reports suggest that at least fifty master-planned cities with a 50-year future outlook need to be planned immediately to ease the pressure of existing centres, create new centres of growth and ensure overall economic growth while the country’s urban population will soar to 590 million in 2030. With 40 % of us living in cities soon, Indian cities should produce more than 70 percent of the country’s GDP, and stimulate a near-fourfold increase in per capita income. Reading these reports, we can be sure, a continued lack of effective policies to manage urbanization will jeopardize India’s growth. The country's reluctance to improve policy support for both large and small cities, will likely further exacerbate urban decay, the poor quality of life for citizens, and will not draw investors to fund projects in India’s urban centres.
However if the country makes and executes the right policy choices, it could potentially boost GDP, create sufficient jobs for the 270 million people expected to enter the working-age population over the next 20 years. The city is best understood as an interminable project- and as India moves towards global leadership in areas of economics, trade and politics, its cities too must transform and play their part in development.
With 250 million people to be added, to all tiers of cities and towns in 20 years, Indian cities, badly need a vision of the future to inspire the next generation of cities to become sustainable, world class centres of urban endeavour, business, finance, sports and culture while ensuring that smaller cities become stronger and participate in the growth in a less haphazard manner.
International experience has demonstrated that India could turn its cities around in a decade. There are examples in India too, of how New Delhi turned around Connaught place, executed the Metro, and created district centres and a number of decentralised regional nodes and corridors and satellites towns in about the last fifteen years. Surat implemented a Waste management plan and cleaned up the city and its streets in under a year. Good exemplary turnaround stories come from Nagpur, Ahmedabad, and exciting project success stories abound in metropolitan cities where airports and transportation is rapidly undergoing a transformation.
The expansion of our capabilities and ambition is urgently required . Reports suggest that at least fifty master-planned cities with a 50-year future outlook need to be planned immediately to ease the pressure of existing centres, create new centres of growth and ensure overall economic growth while the country’s urban population will soar to 590 million in 2030. With 40 % of us living in cities soon, Indian cities should produce more than 70 percent of the country’s GDP, and stimulate a near-fourfold increase in per capita income. Reading these reports, we can be sure, a continued lack of effective policies to manage urbanization will jeopardize India’s growth. The country's reluctance to improve policy support for both large and small cities, will likely further exacerbate urban decay, the poor quality of life for citizens, and will not draw investors to fund projects in India’s urban centres.
However if the country makes and executes the right policy choices, it could potentially boost GDP, create sufficient jobs for the 270 million people expected to enter the working-age population over the next 20 years. The city is best understood as an interminable project- and as India moves towards global leadership in areas of economics, trade and politics, its cities too must transform and play their part in development.
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