Public spaces have a far-reaching positive impact on the health of people. A host of studies have suggested that the postal code of a person can tell more about their health condition than their genetic code. Now, doctors can also relate diseases of a person from his/her life places, where the person had lived or is still living. This revelation is one more reason for city managers to focus on building and maintaining quality public open spaces and improving urban ecosystem
Our life places, where we grew up, studied and worked, are never mentioned in our medical records but these are as important as any other medical history. The world has industrialized at a fast pace and every city is known for one or more industries. Industries are good for the economy and prosperity of a city but their operations when go unchecked create a problem for the urban ecosystem.
All of us have the stories of Agra where the historic Taj Mahal was getting paler by the day because of industries in and around the city. The Apex court had to intervene and many of those polluting industries had to shut down or shift to other places. If these industries can have a negative impact on buildings and monuments, it is evident that their operations affect the environment and in turn human health too. Delhi has the worst air quality in the country. It requires no mental efforts to guess that people living in Delhi are prone to having Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Asthma, and lung-related diseases. Many industries along the River Ganga or for that matter any river in the country have significantly contributed to increasing pollution level. People living or dependent on the polluted water are at risk to get water-borne diseases.
This story has also a flip side. Cities with a good ecosystem, controlled industrialization, and with an adequate number of open public spaces have resulted in the good physical and mental health of people. The significance of public spaces is generally underestimated in urban planning and design and these are considered a gift to residents of a particular neighbourhood. However, it is not true. These places play an important role in improving productivity and lowering publicexpenditure on health. According to a report, making a space into a place is an exercise that should take into consideration a host of principles. The Five Principles of Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods of the United Nations serve the purpose.
These are:
- Adequate space for streets and an efficient street network. The street network should occupy at least 30 per cent of the land and at least 18 km of street length per km².
- High density. There should be at least 15,000 people per km², that is 150 people/ha or 61 people/acre.
- Mixed land-use. At least 40 per cent of floor space should be allocated for economic use in any neighbourhood.
- Social mix. The availability of houses in different price ranges and tenures in any given neighbourhood to accommodate different incomes; 20 to 50 per cent of the residential floor area should be for low-cost housing and each tenure type should be not more than 50 per cent of the total.
- Limited land-use specialization. This is to limit single function blocks or neighbourhoods; single function blocks should cover less than 10 per cent of any neighbourhood.
Quality of urban life is essential for cities to flourish, prosper and remain vibrant. Cities that improve the quality of life do that by ensuring adequate street space, green areas, parks, recreation facilities and other public spaces. With huge pressure of providing space for living to people coming to cities and to infrastructure facilities for the increasing population, public spaces—including parks and community squares—are increasing in new development schemes
Quality of life for prosperity
Quality of urban life is essential for cities to flourish, prosper and remain vibrant. Cities that improve the quality of life do that by ensuring adequate street space, green areas, parks, recreation facilities and other public spaces. With huge pressure of providing space for living to people coming to cities and to infrastructure facilities for the increasing population, public spaces—including parks and community squares—are increasing in new development schemes.
According to the Global Public Space Toolkit by UN-Habitat, Public space is where people perform a number of functions that are shared with all: moving from place to place; enjoying public recreational and cultural opportunities; visiting other parts of the city or other private locations; shopping; meeting others or simply strolling. The definition covers most of the characteristics of public space. However, in a welfare state like India, accessibility to public space should also be free of any charge.Public spaces should serve one and all without any kind of discrimination; particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups because these are the people who are living in the areas where they do not have access to quality public spaces hence it becomes important for city government to take into consideration their requirements and expectation from a public space while designing.
Now comes the question of a sustainable model of maintaining these spaces because if these are free to all then how are we going to ensure their maintenance, safety, etc. The answer to this query is simple. Public spaces can also beplaces where informal business can be carriedout in an orderly and legitimate way, thusproviding poorer urban dwellers with preciouslivelihood opportunities by providing them with some space to operate on the monthly rental scheme.
It is also important to understand that any investment in public spacesdevelopment, improvement and maintenance can have a multiplier effect. The investment can generate more revenue too. For example, if we decide to improve facilities around the beaches of Mumbai or in some parks in Bengaluru. I am not referring to any concrete development but green development and improvement of basic services to people. Such green investmentcan produce higherreal estate values and this, in turn, leads to higher tax revenue. The same applies to the expansion of commercial activities due to a variety of public space improvements. All these do look like simple solutions to a complex problem but the main thing required to execute these plans is political will and empowered local body that has access to financial and administrative powers to implement plans for the larger public good.