Adopt inclusive, sustainable urban design

Cities are where the majority of Indians will live in the near future: over 50 per cent by 2050 People move to live in cities to realise their dreams of a better life – better education, better healthcare, better livelihood options, better services, etc. – for themselves and their families. It is, therefore, for the cities and city planners to work towards fulfilling these dreams. Among the prerequisites is the meticulous planning and design of cities.

Take for example, air pollution in our cities. This subject is back in the headlines due to the poor Air Quality Index (AQI) in our national capital. Vehicular pollution is considered a big contributor to the problem. Cities can be designed to reduce vehicular pollution. Among the measures required are design of streets and sidewalks that encourage walking and non-motorized transport. Access to certain roads could be restricted to bicycles, pedicabs (including electric ones) and pedestrians. Electric mobility and the metro are changing the mobility landscape in many of our cities. The success including enhanced ridership of metro systems depends among others, on efficient first and last-mile connectivity. These can be achieved in a ‘green’ way by encouraging electric and shared mobility options.

Effective and innovative urban design can meet other objectives too. It is necessary that cities are designed to be inclusive, and accommodate needs of all classes of citizens. Persons with Disabilities (PwD) are one important category. Several aspects are mandated by law in our cities. Design of footpaths, roads, public buildings, etc. must be such that they provide easy access to the physically challenged. City planners and architects must ensure that these requirements are met in full and in an effective manner and that this section of citizens can be mainstreamed to create a more inclusive society. Other categories are the elderly, children, and women. These have special needs which must be catered to. The design of the urban landscape must consciously take into account these needs and provide for them.

Yet another aspect is sustainability. Cities must be designed to achieve the sustainability objectives in all respects. Take for example water conservation. This is going to be a crucial aspect as per many experts and there must be constant effort to build in water security in our city design and planning. Protection of water bodies and rainwater harvesting are some elements of this effort. In addition, building design must enable water metering of individual tenements; buildings must be capable of receiving and distributing both fresh (drinking) water and recycled water for other uses. There could be other measures too. Waste management too is becoming a challenging task in our cities and calls for innovative long-term planning
including waste reduction and efficient, safe disposal. These and several other efforts will help make our cities future-proof and improve livability.

Above all, city managers need to make conscious attempts to engage with citizens and capture their voices so as to ensure that all elements of urban design and planning reflect the needs to the central stakeholder, namely the citizen.

This issue of Urban Update covers urban design in detail. Readers are welcome to write in with their views.