In these times of an increasingly private world, urban designers and planners must reassess: how are their project designs and policies affecting people-to-people connect and quality of life in cities. The profit-driven development in cities, where land value is enormously high, should give sufficient space for creation of public spaces to improve livability, happiness and community engagement
If cities are our homes, public spaces are our living areas where we enjoy with family, friends, colleagues, relatives and spend quality time. Public spaces are instrumental for building social cohesion in a city and to build belongingness. People gather at these places without any specific purpose, people just sit and relax, engage in a community activity or sometimes even speak to strangers. And, then they disappear in the veins of the city, going about their fast-paced day-to-day lives.
Just think of any famous city, the first thing that comes to mind is its most popular public space. Cities cannot ignore these places for profit-driven development model. Since measuring the direct impact of public spaces on quality of life is difficult, profit-driven approaches to development neglect the significance of public spaces. Uncontrolled and rapid urbanisation is creating unmanageable settlement patterns with extremely low shares of public space. United Nations has also highlighted in its report in 2015 that many cities in developed countries are also experiencing a dramatic reduction of public spaces.
The ‘modern cities’ of India are no different. And, most of the new development in cities, residential or industrial, have neglected public spaces in their planning and this is reflected in the data released in 2016 on per capita availability of public space in cities worldwide. Indian cities performed very poorly in the index.
A study on public spaces highlights that merely 1.28 sq. m of Mumbai’s public space is available per person. Delhi is slightly better at 12 sq. m pp; whereas all major global cities provide healthy public space: for instance, London (31.68 sq. m), New York (26.4), and Chicago (17.6). It is not a surprise that these are among the cities with popular and successful public places, such as the Royal Parks in London and Central Park in New York.
Global outlook
Community connection is weakening in cities quite fast. The phenomenon, which had started engulfing metro cities a few decades ago and is spreading everywhere, could be reversed if existing public spaces are maintained well and their importance is not neglected while building new cities.
Adequate availability and access to public spaces is also about shared prosperity and enables citizens to share each other’s word in different ways.Amanda Burden, the former New York City Planning Commissioner, gave significant importance to reviving and creating public space as she believed that lively and enjoyable public places are the key to planning a great city. She believes, “public spaces are what that make a city come alive.” Her work on the High Line Project in New York is one of the most talked about projects on public spaces. She is not alone. Renowned Indian architect and winner of 2018 Pritzker Prize BV Doshi also believes that the core of a city is its public spaces for
citizen participation.
Public spaces as defined by UN-Habitat are “all places, including streets, publicly owned or of public use, accessible and enjoyable by all for free and without a profit motive”. The SDG 11 also talks about its significance and one of its objectives reads, “By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities”. The importance of public space is highlighted in international agendas, and diverse organizations started piloting the role of urban planning and public spaces
in cities.
For instance, UN Women launched the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces report, which enhanced public spaces designs with better lighting and CCTVs to prevent and respond to sexual violence against women. There are more onboard, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on sustainable forestry and the World Health Organization (WHO) on green spaces and health.
Building public spaces is not just an aesthetic issue for a city. These are the places where the diversity of urban populace is reflected and celebrated.
European Cities are known for sidewalk cafes. Why can’t our cities have sideway cafes instead of encroachment for parking or extending shops? The instant response to this question will be that Indian climatic conditions are not favourable. Agreed, this cannot be done in most of the cities but what about cities in the hills or what about building extended walkways and allotting some specified space to the food outlets, cafes or street vendors. This will not only save these places from encroachment or illegal parking but it will lead to ensuring that designated spaces for pedestrians are not encroached upon. Businessmen would not like to restrict the flow of customers. The nitty gritty of such plans can be worked out in detail as per climatic and pragmatic requirements of a particular city.
In recent times, India has not built any successful public space that became a rage among people. Sabarmati River Front in Ahmedabad, open gyms in Delhi and parks constructed by Mayawati government are some of the examples of new public spaces. These are the places which are still fighting for relevance, as desired, among locals. Our new cities are also facing the same problem. Gurgaon is a typical example where town planners did not even bother with footpaths, leave alone open parks and squares. Though all the private townships have such open public spaces those do not allow access to ‘outsiders’.
Successful Public Spaces
Public places are for people to meet and socialise. And for this, the physical environment must be welcoming, accessible, safe and convenient. In the absence of these characteristics, people will refrain from activities in the public sphere or will keep them at a minimum. There can be numerous examples of beautifully designed public spaces which could not attract public and were abandoned because of not having such characteristics.
River ghats are an example. While the ghats of Varanasi are examples of vibrant public spaces, other haven’t had similar success. Varanasi, the ancient Indian city, sprungup and prospered along the River Ganga and is well-known for its series of ghats, which are among the most popular public spaces of the city. People, locals and tourists alike, have been gathering in large number on ghats of Varanasi to perform their routine or religious activities. One can find people doing morning exercise, teaching students, performing religious activities, bathing, sipping tea and having a discussion on socio-political and economic issues. People find a way to relate to the place and own it virtually.
The reason for the success of these public spaces is simple and straight-these places provided people with a sense of belongingness. The ghats of Varanasi provided people with an adequate place to sit, stand, interact, engage or have a tea with people. I assume, apart from being one of the main religious centers for Hindus, such setting gave impetus to the cultural prosperity of Varanasi and attracted people from all over the world.
However, there are many cities along the river Ganga but since they did not have well-maintained ghats could not become popular among the public. People may argue that the ghatsof Varanasi became popular because of the religious significance of the river and temples nearby in Varanasi. In that case, the logic should also apply to other cities which are on the bank of river Ganga and have religious significance. Take the example of Prayagraj erstwhile Allahabad. The city is well-known for Kumbh Mela-the largest gathering of people on a specific duration of specific years. Despite such a religious significance, these ghats of Allahabad could not become a popular attraction point for people on the rest of the days; especially among locals.
Steps in Rome, historic neighbourhoods of Paris and Shanghai, rolling landscape of central parks in major metro cities. Public spaces become attractive to people only when these places are welcoming and make people feel safe. If people risk being stabbed or robbed, the chances are people will not use such a public space. You will surely find many such places in every city in which people may enjoy during the day but avoid going in the evening or at night. Delhi has many such places. Deer Park in the posh Green Park locality of Delhi and Buddha Garden are the two examples.
If conditions are favourable, however–there is a wide sidewalk, the place is well lit and a nice park nearby– the probability is higher that people will go outside just for the fun of it: for a stroll and a bit of fresh air. Making of successful public spaces happen over a period of time but due caution on certain features make them popular among citizens and tourists alike.
Public places are for people to meet and socialise. And for this, the physical environment must be welcoming, accessible, safe and convenient. In the absence of these characteristics, people will refrain from activities in the public sphere or will keep them at a minimum. There can be numerous examples of beautifully designed public spaces which could not attract public and were abandoned because of not having such characteristics
Focus shift
Indian cities have had adequate public spaces as per the requirement of those times. All the rulers whether they were Mughals, Rajputs or Marathas had built public spaces. Even the British had built public spaces such as Company Baghs. But many cities built in independent India ignored this component of urban planning and design.
There is no doubt that commercial interest always battles against community spaces. It is their responsibility of community and citizens to take ownership and not allow any invasion, encroachment, ignorance or any kind of misuse for any vested interest. The new trend in cities is creating private ‘public spaces’ where the poor do not have access. Most high-income colonies are increasingly becoming gated and the parks/public spaces are controlled by societies which put restrictions on their use. Forget the poor and ‘outsiders’, even the children of the colony are not allowed to use them so that ornamental nature of garden or park is not spoiled. The reason for such control by local Resident Welfare Associations is that they spend money from their pocket for maintenance and the public agencies responsible for it shy away. One specific department or agency should be assigned to look after the issues related to public spaces whether it is about their maintenance or access.
In today’s development regime, a lot of attention is indeed paid to improving the aesthetic appeal of a city through public spaces, but it generally promoted the central and more representative spaces, which can improve the image of the city and attract businesses and tourists. Central Park of Delhi near Connaught Place, Salt Lake Area in Kolkata, Fort Area in Mumbai are some of the examples. Public spaces are not just about aesthetics but their role in an urban setting is much beyond adding visual appeal. There is no arguing that these places are important. But they are isolated oases in an increasingly fragmented urbanity. The effort should be that every citizen of a city should be able to access good quality public spaces and be part of the growing prosperity of a city.
Public spaces are also representative of diversity, community sharing and democratic expression. These places provide citizens with breathing space and relief from their hectic urban life. The spaces are also associated with the evolution of new ideas, communities and social movements. All the new urban development happening and even the existing ones should reassess the community need for vibrant and lively public spaces and work to plan the development of their cities keeping this in mind.