URBAN PLANNING

For my first post, I’ve decided to chronicle the three-year struggle to get Corporation of Chennai to provide a raised permanent concrete median opposite the Perambur Railway Station extending upto Adayar Ananda Bhavan, covering Venkatraman Canal Street and Perambur High Road intersection, similar to the median installed opposite to the Railway Kalyana Mandapam on Perambur High Road. In April 2015, residents from Perambur filed petitions with the Corporation of Chennai asking them to replace the existing median made up of concrete blocks. The centre median made up of concrete blocks had surfaced or carpeted with the level of road due…

In some neighburhoods, citizens are vexed by an increasing number of bars and pubs, and the dramatic change in the surroundings as a result. There have been various instances of conflict between residents and these establishments, and also a demand that BBMP should address this properly. This is doable, but only if we correctly identify the problems. (a) The first challenge is that people who want to set up the establishments are themselves property owners in the area, which causes discord between the neighbours in terms of what they themselves want. (b) The second is that often those letting their…

In some neighburhoods, citizens are vexed by an increasing number of bars and pubs, and the dramatic change in the surroundings as a result. There have been various instances of conflict between residents and these establishments, and also a demand that BBMP should address this properly. This is doable, but only if we correctly identify the problems. (a) The first challenge is that people who want to set up the establishments are themselves property owners in the area, which causes discord between the neighbours in terms of what they themselves want. (b) The second is that often those letting their…

On Sunday morning, we did a walk in the Basavanagudi neighbourhood. It was not an “early morning walk” but a walk that started only at 9am after breakfast was done. Just to make it a little easier for everyone. It was a walk conducted for my students in a course I'm teaching this semester on the Everyday City at the Azim Premji University. The open courses at APU are elective courses offered once a week over the semester for students in the Masters Programs in Development / Education / Public Policy & Governance. The focus of the Everyday City course…

On Sunday morning, we did a walk in the Basavanagudi neighbourhood. It was not an “early morning walk” but a walk that started only at 9am after breakfast was done. Just to make it a little easier for everyone. It was a walk conducted for my students in a course I'm teaching this semester on the Everyday City at the Azim Premji University. The open courses at APU are elective courses offered once a week over the semester for students in the Masters Programs in Development / Education / Public Policy & Governance. The focus of the Everyday City course…

In December 2016, a workshop on ‘Trees, Culture & Urban design’ was held in Bangalore as part of CEPT University’s Summer Winter School program. The focus of this 10-day winter school was to study the practice of tree worship in the city. Specifically, it looked at how people generate and sustain community spaces through worshipping the Peepul tree (Ficus Religiosa) shrine with its serpent stones and the raised platform around it, locally called the Ashwath katte. This workshop was based on previous research. The paper can be accessed here: The practice of tree worship and the territorial production of urban…

In December 2016, a workshop on ‘Trees, Culture & Urban design’ was held in Bangalore as part of CEPT University’s Summer Winter School program. The focus of this 10-day winter school was to study the practice of tree worship in the city. Specifically, it looked at how people generate and sustain community spaces through worshipping the Peepul tree (Ficus Religiosa) shrine with its serpent stones and the raised platform around it, locally called the Ashwath katte. This workshop was based on previous research. The paper can be accessed here: The practice of tree worship and the territorial production of urban…

The BMRDA Act was passed in the mid-1980s, to set up the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, and to empower it to direct the planned development of the state capital region. Since its founding, however, the BMRDA has done nothing useful, because the state government has always preferred it that way. Why was the BMRDA set up, then, if no one wanted it to do anything? It's hard to be certain, but if I had to guess, I would say the answer lies with Ramakrishna Hegde. Hegde was an unusual Chief Minister, in one very important way that we are…

The BMRDA Act was passed in the mid-1980s, to set up the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, and to empower it to direct the planned development of the state capital region. Since its founding, however, the BMRDA has done nothing useful, because the state government has always preferred it that way. Why was the BMRDA set up, then, if no one wanted it to do anything? It's hard to be certain, but if I had to guess, I would say the answer lies with Ramakrishna Hegde. Hegde was an unusual Chief Minister, in one very important way that we are…

On the afternoon of 28th april 2014, I had set myself the task of observing two street corners at either end of Noronha road at Russell market in Shivajinagar - a corner at the Broadway street end and a corner at the St.Mary’s Basilica end (Fig.1). I am reproducing here what I noted and what I sketched there. These were ordinary activities. They probably happen everyday. I observed the urban space – how the vendors create their informal selling spaces on the street and how walkers/shoppers enter these selling spaces and engage in a bargain, a conversation or a purchase.…