Governance

It is really the small changes, the ones that you see everyday, but don’t quite remember seeing, that seem to change a Street. As one street changes from being a quiet street to being a busy street, somewhere else another street begins its transformation. Every changing street changes its neighbourhood, and every changing neighbourhood changes the city. The small changes are seen everywhere, in almost every city in India. In Bangalore, it’s the Adiga’s lane off Bannerghatta road, in Mumbai, it’s the Hill road in Bandra - streets that are “not the same anymore”. Here, in Bangalore, we have been…

It is really the small changes, the ones that you see everyday, but don’t quite remember seeing, that seem to change a Street. As one street changes from being a quiet street to being a busy street, somewhere else another street begins its transformation. Every changing street changes its neighbourhood, and every changing neighbourhood changes the city. The small changes are seen everywhere, in almost every city in India. In Bangalore, it’s the Adiga’s lane off Bannerghatta road, in Mumbai, it’s the Hill road in Bandra - streets that are “not the same anymore”. Here, in Bangalore, we have been…

ROADS AND TRANSPORT - 2013 - PROBLEMS • BBMP and BDA have been slow to develop Priority Corridors (BIG 10, Outer Ring Road). As a result, vehicles don’t choose to stay on arterial roads. • Road surface quality is extremely poor, and is made worse by inadequate planning for rains. • Speed of construction is ridiculously slow. BDA /BBMP /Metro all seem in slow mode. • Over-emphasis on vehicular movement. Pedestrians and cyclists suffer as a result. • Inadequate bus fleet, plus weak last mile connectivity. At least 1500 per year needed to be added. • TTMCs in wrong locations,…

ROADS AND TRANSPORT - 2013 - PROBLEMS • BBMP and BDA have been slow to develop Priority Corridors (BIG 10, Outer Ring Road). As a result, vehicles don’t choose to stay on arterial roads. • Road surface quality is extremely poor, and is made worse by inadequate planning for rains. • Speed of construction is ridiculously slow. BDA /BBMP /Metro all seem in slow mode. • Over-emphasis on vehicular movement. Pedestrians and cyclists suffer as a result. • Inadequate bus fleet, plus weak last mile connectivity. At least 1500 per year needed to be added. • TTMCs in wrong locations,…

Sumeet Moghe writes: Bangalore City Police needs to answer - How long is the lunch break at a police station?I'm just back from a thoroughly unprofessional experience at MICO layout police. This is with regard to my passport verification. The constable had arrived at my home on Saturday and after taking my neighbour's signatures, asked me to visit the police station with a list of documents and 3 passport size photos between 10AM and 6PM. I visited the police station at 1420 today. There was no one in Room #1 when I arrived and there was one more person waiting to get…

Sumeet Moghe writes: Bangalore City Police needs to answer - How long is the lunch break at a police station?I'm just back from a thoroughly unprofessional experience at MICO layout police. This is with regard to my passport verification. The constable had arrived at my home on Saturday and after taking my neighbour's signatures, asked me to visit the police station with a list of documents and 3 passport size photos between 10AM and 6PM. I visited the police station at 1420 today. There was no one in Room #1 when I arrived and there was one more person waiting to get…

In India, as in other emerging economies, the physical development of the city is influenced by the everyday practices of its people. The Urban spaces are continually transformed by social, cultural, religious, political, economic and other practices. Currently, these practices intermingle with each other and with the streets of the city in a random manner. The formal plan of the city finds it difficult to account for these everyday practices due to their changing nature and because they have not been sufficiently documented or analysed. To understand this phenomenon, a series of workshops with architecture students comprising of both conceptual…

In India, as in other emerging economies, the physical development of the city is influenced by the everyday practices of its people. The Urban spaces are continually transformed by social, cultural, religious, political, economic and other practices. Currently, these practices intermingle with each other and with the streets of the city in a random manner. The formal plan of the city finds it difficult to account for these everyday practices due to their changing nature and because they have not been sufficiently documented or analysed. To understand this phenomenon, a series of workshops with architecture students comprising of both conceptual…

In the past, people lived in small, isolated communities where artisans and farmers bartered goods and services among themselves. Distribution was limited to how far people could walk, and advertising to how loud they could shout. Today, things are different. Our ways of communicating have taken new forms. As you go through the City, you see advertisements painted on walls, posters of election campaigns, hoardings that hide heritage buildings or that become facades of contemporary buildings. The city has become our canvas for communication. Signages, messages and markers We could categorise these ways of communication into Signage, Messages and Markers.…

In the past, people lived in small, isolated communities where artisans and farmers bartered goods and services among themselves. Distribution was limited to how far people could walk, and advertising to how loud they could shout. Today, things are different. Our ways of communicating have taken new forms. As you go through the City, you see advertisements painted on walls, posters of election campaigns, hoardings that hide heritage buildings or that become facades of contemporary buildings. The city has become our canvas for communication. Signages, messages and markers We could categorise these ways of communication into Signage, Messages and Markers.…