Public spaces paramount for building great cities

When we think of cities, we tend to think of skyscrapers, crowded metros and buses, noisy cabs, glitzy markets and their vibrant public spaces. Public spaces change the way people live in a city, improve social cohesion and help people to connect with their cities. City governments need to design and maintain them with community engagement to ensure that they are for everyone and are not violated, invaded, abandoned or ignored

Cities are the hubs of economic activities and employment opportunities. They offer superior lifestyle. The quality urban infrastructure is the foundation for their sustenance. All governments are making efforts to improve urban infrastructure and civic amenities in their respective cities to make life easier and comfortable for their residents. Cities are also about people and social interaction. And, public spaces in cities enable citizens to interact, relax, play and escape from the rapidly-changing and demanding urban life.

Public spaces—parks, squares or chauks, traditional markets, and small plazas—have been integral part of urban design. Traditional Indian cities gave due importance to public places where citizens can interact with each other. There were ghaats, lake side, market areas, gardens and squares at the end of almost every lane where people used to gather for social interactions. This is disappearing fast in mega and metro cities where there is no space left for such places owing to commercial value of available land.

Parks in Indian cities have been encroached upon, or have turned into dumping zones, parking places or not maintained well to attract locals.

River and lake sides have become filthier. And, even the chauks at the end of every road teem with cars and motor bikes and become unsafe for social gatherings.

Widening of roads, introducing metro rail projects and adding more buses to transport department’s fleets will not solve the problem of navigability. Cities also need sidewalks, parklets and pocket parks and cycling lanes to look at these problems from a different perspective

Significance of Public Spaces

Public spaces need to be safer, well-maintained and welcoming. For example, a poorly planned or maintained park can be a place of fear and danger, thus repelling people. A great square, on the other hand, can be a source of civic pride, and it can help citizens feel better connected to their city and community.

This degrading condition of local public spaces over the years has led us to a situation where people gather at a central location for recreational activities like India Gate or Connaught Place in Delhi or at Gateway of India or at beaches in Mumbai. No doubt, such places are of national and historical importance but locals do not visit them for relishing the architectural marvel. People living in dense urban areas find breathing room at such places.

Public spaces in Indian cities have received less attention than they deserve.Most of the global cities have focused their attention to improve public spaces. They not only built parks, parklets and wide sideways but ensured that they are people friendly. Amanda Burden, New York’s Chief City Planner, explains in a TED talk how public spaces make city work. She says, “Public spaces in cities are about where people go and where they meet — that’s the core of how cities work. And for the people, even more important than the buildings are the public spaces in between them. These spaces are what make the cities come alive.”

The design of a city affects how its residents lead their lives. People living in the areas with abundant green space are more likely to be fit. Similarly, more walkable and cycling space on a city’s streets would encourage more people to walk and cycle. University of Melbourne (Australia) published a research in 2013 ‘The Influence of Urban Design on Neighbourhood Walking Following Residential Relocation: Longitudinal Results from the RESIDE Study’. It says that the design of urban environments has the potential to enhance the health and well-being of residents by impacting social determinants of health including access to public transport, green space and local amenities. Walkability is also linked with safety as pedestrians and cyclists account for 40 per cent, according to a study by IIT-Delhi, of total deaths on city roads.

Planning imperatives

ow, when India is planning new cities and refurbishing existing ones, it is required that state and local governments learn from global cities to make our urban environment liveable, navigable and inclusive. Widening of roads, introducing metro rail projects and adding more buses to transport department’s fleets will not solve the problem of navigability. Cities also need sidewalks, parklets and pocket parks and cycling lanes to look at these problems from a different perspective. Most of the global cities we look up to have given significant importance to such spaces.

If we look at the metro cities, all of them are immigrant hubs—whether it’s Mumbai, New Delhi or Bengaluru or Kolkata. People came to cities in want of better lifestyle and settled there. It is a well known fact that more people would come to cities with more economic activities coming to cities. Global urban population has risen to 54 per cent of total population. If the present rate of population growth continues in cities, it is expected to reach 66 per cent by 2050. In India, around 410 million people live in urban areas and it is expected to increase to 814 million by 2050.

City governments face a major task of not only accommodating them in existing set up but also providing a healthy environment to live in. Achieving it in present scheme of things is a challenge for city governments. A comprehensive approach to developing, enhancing, and managing public space requires both “top-down” and “bottom-up” strategies. City leadership needs to take pro-active initiatives for transforming public spaces. A “bottom-up” grassroots organizing strategy by engaging local populace to understand their requirements is also integral to the strategy.

The first step in the direction would be making an honest citywide assessment of how existing public spaces are performing — or under-performing. Communities can be consulted to know if a particular area in the locality often sits empty, for instance, a lifeless building, a dilapidated park. The assessment should include every neighborhood and involve the people who live there as well as other key stakeholders.

With this inventory, city leadership can plan their vision for improving public spaces. Any public space agenda must also be tied to new development projects. This is an opportunity for cities in India because many development projects are underway or to be initiated. They can also take advantage of growing real estate markets in cities by creating incentives for developers to preserve and enhance the public environments that are so greatly affected by their projects. A small tax on new development, such as one recently levied successfully in Chicago, could fund many of the improvements identified in the process of creating a public space agenda.