Category: Cities

Emerging Exchanges: New Architectures of India

Post author By arzan
Post date April 30, 2009
1 Comment on Emerging Exchanges: New Architectures of India

Over the next two days I will be attending this conference at the Architectural League in New York City.

It’s been a while since an architectural-themed conference on India has taken place here in NYC and it should be interesting to see the dialogue that it generates.

Hosted at the New School auditorium, the conference sold out a few days ago. Nevertheless there are tickets available for the keynote address at the end of Day 01.

Participants include:

Himanshu Burte, Prem Chandavarkar, Kenneth Frampton, Soumitro Ghosh and Nisha Mathew, Sudhir Jambhekar, Rajeev Kathpalia, Anupama Kundoo, Reinhold Martin, Gurjit Singh Matharoo, Anuradha Mathur and Dilip da Cunha, Rahul Mehrotra, Geeta Mehta, Vyjayanthi Rao, Samira Rathod, Margie Ruddick and Tom Zook, Michael Sorkin, Neerja Tiku, and Billie Tsien and Tod Williams

The conference looks to understand the growth and development of Indian architecture and cities overall in the time frame of an overall growth in Indian economy, and its standing in the global scenario.

However the choice of participants seems to be a bit peculiar. There are the usual high profile “suspects” and then others that are probably there because the US-based co-chairs had heard about them. And somehow my feeling is that it does not reflect the ground realities.

As much as he is reviled in the architectural community in India, I would have loved to see Hafeez Contractor present and talk about the conference. As my friend and landscape architect Runit Chhaya of Design Cell NYC puts it “Hafeez is today, probably the only architect in India who gets buildings sold, just on his name and fame “.

I will be covering the conference in detail. If you are going to be attending, give me a shout in the comments section.

Cities Landscape Public Realm

City Water Bodies: Urban Wetlands

Post author By arzan
Post date March 31, 2009

Sunil Laxman over at Balancing Life writes a very convincing case for Urban Wetlands. Most Indian cities have lakes or water bodies that are part of the city, but many of them are in a really bad shape.

Urban wetland management unfortunately is not much of a concept in most of India. Yet this lake is just one example of the kind of diversity and richness of life in lakes around the city. It is also a fine example of a lake that could easily be made into a city nature park. To do that, only a little needs to be done to protect the wetland. Obviously, preventing encroachment around the lake would be a priority, as would be stopping the flow of untreated sewage that is choking the lake would be an obvious other step.

In addition, the usual mismanagement of “lake development” that most city authorities eagerly embrace should be avoided. Usually, the city decides to build a big “garden” around lakes, which means manicured lawns, paved paths, lots of flowers and trees that don’t usually grow in wetlands, and a complete destruction of the wetland around lakes.

This usually ends up slowly killing the lake. Most of these birds live and nest amidst the reeds that grow in lake wetlands, nurturing a rich ecosystem that supports frogs, breeding fish, small reptiles and small insects. Unfortunately, “beautifying” or “developing” lakes by building parks only breeds mosquitoes (by killing off fish and dragonflies that eat them, and breed in the reeds). The Yediyur lake in Jayanagar was a thriving lake that was killed off by just this effort of “development”. First came some lawns, and then there were motor boats and motor scooters, and now it is just a little swamp that breeds mosquitoes.

Continue reading Sunil’s entire entry here.

Cities Infrastructure

Mumbai: Big Steps in Infrastructure in 2009

Post author By arzan
Post date December 31, 2008

The new year will be a busy one for the infrastructure sector as some prestigious projects finally see completion and with others scheduled to take off. The much touted Bandra-Worli Sealink, an urban haat in Navi Mumbai on the lines of Dilli Haat, eight flyovers on the Western and Eastern express highways and 50 skywalks are expected to be ready in 2009.

But it will be a mixed bag for Mumbai’s infrastructure agencies as public toilets under Nirmal Abhiyan and projects like rental housing would be only partly ready before the year ends.

Bandra-Worli Sealink

The long-awaited Bandra-Worli Sealink is expected to be commissioned by March 2009. The Rs 1306-crore link is 6 km long and commences from the Mahim interchange (intersection of the Western Express highway and S V Road at Bandra) and ends at Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road in Worli.

The flyover at Love Grove Junction in Worli, Cloverleaf Interchange at Mahim intersection, the solid approach road from Mahim interchange up to the start of the toll plaza at Bandra and the public promenade is complete.

Crucial work on construction of cable-stayed bridges with viaduct approaches extending from Bandra to Worli, is also done, except part of the sea-link towards the Worli end. The project is being implemented by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) through contracting agency Hindustan Construction Company (HCC).

Prompted by concerns about traffic dispersal towards the Worli end of the link, the MSRDC has adopted several measures like construction of steel car decks, widening of roads and trimming landscapes on the dividing lanes and footpaths to accommodate the huge traffic expected to hit Worli.

Art Cities

Shadowboxing: Shahid Datawala

Post author By arzan
Post date November 19, 2008

Architecture of decline

Shahid Datawala’s photographs of spaces in Mumbai meant for human habitation don’t have any people in them because he says that amid the chaos and hubbub, there is a lot of loneliness in the metropolis.

In his show titled Shadowboxing, he is displaying the photographs—which feature tall buildings, concrete shells of unfinished structures and dilapidated interiors—in pairs to highlight, as he puts it, the disparity of Mumbai’s living spaces. This disparity comes in many forms: “You’ll have flats here going for Rs20-30 crore and a slum a few metres down,” says Datawala. “Or, you will have incomplete buildings (only partially built) which have been like this for 25 years in the middle of the most expensive real estate.” Some pairs capture this dichotomy very starkly, such as the two stairwells placed alongside—one is spic and span, with smooth surfaces and sharp lines that intersect cleanly at various angles; the other has so much peeling paint and rubble on the floor that its dilapidated state looks almost grotesque.

Datawala’s diptych. Shahid Datawala

Most photos placed side by side, though, are not about simple contrasts, but are often slight variations on the same theme—there are two doors, one looking into a kitchen, the other with a curtain and a mailbox, both pictures of well-worn domesticity. There is no obvious pattern to the pairing. “I have put the old with new, the old with the abandoned, or the new with new,” says Datawala, who is also the chief designer for Pallate, a Mumbai furniture store. “I want to provoke the viewer to imagine and to think.”

Cities

Cities without ideas

Post author By arzan
Post date November 19, 2008

Op-Ed by Gautam Bhatia in the Indian Express.

In levels of squalor, inefficiency, noise, disorder, visual pollution, weariness and decay, few would disagree that today’s Indian city is a waste of space. But instead of tackling real problems, there is quicker relief in merely changing its visible contours. Armed with theatrical ideas of international appeal — buildings of mirrored glass and steel — it is easier for the city to be seen as progressive, rather than actually being so.

In the 60 years of urban design since Independence, the mindless borrowing of foreign ideas has left the Indian city teetering between awkward extremes. The citizen is condemned to half-baked clones of foreign models: Indonesian and Columbian rapid transit models, American clover leaf roads, New Jersey malls and cinemas, and Californian housing plans. The pretend suburbs of any expanding metropolis are filled with Malibu Villas, Westwood Townes, Amby Valleys, Beverly Parks and Darlington Heights — pretty English villages and LA condominiums set in a new Indian location. Has there over been a clear attempt to create an Indian place, based on our own urban demography, lifestyle and economics?

Few amongst Delhi’s elite corps of architects and urban planners would argue a case for the design and urbanity produced by the architecture of Greater Kailash. Yet when the metro proposed a raised line cutting through it, their protests conveniently overlooked the incoherent quality of the place, and raised abstract objections about sight lines, noise levels and urban visibility. While their effort at maintaining an architectural status quo is laudable, they sadly overlooked the potential to generate a more vivid engagement of citizens with their changing neighbourhoods.

Cities Environment and Climate Public Realm

Open Spaces for the People

Post author By arzan
Post date October 2, 2008

For the people

Much of our experience of a city depends on its public spaces. Yet in India, citizens seem unaware that they have a right to a hospitable city. We examine some of the reasons

Himanshu Burte

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.

Cities Education

Mumbai to be focus of MIT UrbLab Conference

Post author By arzan
Post date October 2, 2008

The MIT Urbanization Laboratory is organizing a symposium on the culture and politics of urban change that will be held from 1-5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3, 2008

This event will use Mumbai, India, as a case study to examine how architects, urban designers and planners are responding to the challenges and opportunities of rapid urbanization in the developing world. Speakers include professionals and academics from India as well as economists from the World Bank and Rockefeller Foundation.

Cities Housing Real Estate

Mumbai: Affordable Housing 100 km. Away

Post author By arzan
Post date September 14, 2008

In a recent article the Mid-Day talks about how affordable housing is now at least 100 km away from the city center. According to developers, these are the places where one can find affordable housing which is in the 1500-3000 Rs per sq.ft. bracket. From reading the article below, I wonder if this is another ploy by the developers to push their products now that they have bought the land and are ready to exploit it in these far flung suburbs.

There’s more bad news if you plan to buy that dream house in the city. Prominent builders in the city, who attended the FICCI real estate summit on Thursday, said the common man can now afford a house only more
than 100 km outside the city.

Most of the builders stressed that one has to consider options as far as Karjat and Kasara to buy a flat within one’s means. Mohan Deshmukh, former president of the Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry, said, “In the current scenario, if one has to find an affordable house, he has to go at least 100 km away from the city. There aren’t many affordable houses in the city.” The builders defined affordable housing as anything between Rs 1,500 per sq ft and Rs 3,000 per sq ft.