Cities are considered the global face of a country. Looking back, let us remember that ancient civilisation rose and fell with their leading cities. Looking ahead, we must understand that over the next decades of the 21st Century, our cities will continue to grow larger still, and more rapidly too in a technological era. In 1991, India’s population was 856 million, 26% urban. In 2013, it is 1300 million people, with 32% of it urban. The projection for 2030 is 1470 million people with 40% living in 6000 cities. With this tectonic shift of population surging into cities for a better life and living, both government and public organisations need to shift gears to cope with the situation. Let us ask ourselves: Is there any planning for an explosive growth of population and cities? After 66 years of Independence, it is time to make an important transition.

Multiple streams of people from rural areas and culture are ­already intersecting in our cities and towns, and are being swept into its rapidly globalising environment. It is said, “What Indians call cities are mostly half cities and half overcrowded slums”, with poor sewerage and sanitation, and illegally tapped electricity and water supply tucked into nooks and corners. Or what Charles Correa aptly described as a “tale of two cities within one”. Larger populations with fewer facilities are guaranteed to unleash a swarm of problems and tensions in our environment. City development is often strangled because arcane rules survive; or perhaps because it is lucrative for some people. Only good governance and planning can streamline urbansation, and transform cities into economic opportunities, with the potential to lift people out of deprivations to a better quality of life. And for gross national progress.

There is an urgent need to build sustainable cities. To refigure their economic and environmental dimensions, to check the heavy footprints on environment, to control pollution and consumption of natural resources, INTACH can now take on a bigger role and contribute to a nation-wide awareness programme on urbanisation. It is well placed to do so with its vast network of 175 Chapters both in cities and towns across the country. For 30 years we have ­considered ourselves “an army of conscience keepers”, the time has come to also become foot soldiers at the forefront of conservation of our cities. INTACH can take another giant leap forward, by enthusing our ‘aam’ members to become activists to confront unplanned urbanisation.

INTACH invited a few of its long-standing members to give their views on cities.

Dr. Sarayu Doshi, Governing Council member, INTACH: I grew up in Mumbai in 1940s and my memories are of a city with a promenade by the sea and beautiful buildings. The crowded areas with bazaars and shops were in the heart of the city while on its periphery – Malabar Hill and Cumbala Hill – were elegant ­mansions and impressive palaces belonging to rajas and maharajas. The streets were clean and the traffic regulated.

After Independence, the city began to change rapidly. Outside our home in genteel Gamdevi we began to observe a new phenomenon of men sleeping on pavements. During the monsoons, they would sleep in the stairwell of the buildings. They were scruffy and hostile, and would not move from our neighbourhood. We soon realised that they were the first migrants to the city, coming to earn a living. With time, their numbers began to swell, as more and more people came to the city accompanied by their family members. Since they had no place to live in, they occupied footpaths, traffic islands and open playgrounds. At first, they lived under the open sky, later they would stretch a piece of tarpaulin to protect themselves from the weather. Gradually, these makeshift tents ­became permanent on the city footpaths. These people comprised almost 40-50 per cent of the city’s population.

Various attempts have been made to address this problem, but without success. Apparently, the solutions that have been devised so far have not accurately understood the requirements of these slum dwellers. The tenements in highrise buildings constructed as slum redevelopment housing are soon sold by the slum dwellers and they are back on the streets as they prefer to live in their ­shanties, rather than live the type of life imposed upon them by these housing schemes.

These migrants do not accord a high priority to better living conditions. Their aspirations are directed more towards material goods – a TV, a video player, a computer, flamboyant clothes and accessories. They return to their homes only to sleep at night. Their women and children are used to lying in hovels in the villages and are content to live a tiny place with a TV and other amenities. All of them treat their homes as a place to eat and sleep, spending most of the time out on the streets. Town planners have to take into consideration the needs and aspirations of the slum dwellers and think of alternative creative solutions to solve their problems and those of the city.

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Pankaj Joshi, Ex. Director UDRI: Cities have come to be seen as economic engines, enablers of social and intellectual collaboration, and hence the preferred residence for much of the world’s population. Unfortunately, in cities around the world – and especially in India – better economic conditions have not translated into a better quality of life. Today, in Indian cities, there is scarcity of every service integral to a better quality of life... Sadly, the singular pursuit of framing the city’s development in economic numbers ignores these aspects. A Development Plan has to reframe afresh as a city for its people and their aspirations for a better life – a life that has affordable housing, open space, quality health care and education, accessible public transportation and safety for women and children.

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Dr. Manjiri Kamat, Associate Professor of History: Cities in India, like the rest of the world, are undergoing a rapid transformation... Some cities have a heritage that dates back to pre-colonial times while the port cities of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai rose to prominence during the British Raj. New urban agglomerations like Hyderabad, Bengaluru and many others have arisen in the era of globalisation. The principal challenge for urban planners and policy makers is to develop urban spaces in a more holistic manner so as to safeguard the built heritage and promote development with sensitivity for environment. Above all, the stakeholders who are the urban inhabitants must find a voice in shaping the city of the future.

To me, an ideal city should be remembered for its Equality, Adequate Infrastructure, Sense of Belonging, Sense of Place... Why are European cities so beautiful? The central cores with their plazas and gardens are carefully nurtured and preserved. We must ensure that our core areas are similarly restored and revitalised.

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Charles Correa: Architect: The British did not build Bombay – Indians did. The initiative and energy was ours – and the urban context was structured by the British. What is grotesque today is to see all that invaluable initiative and energy running amuck. So 20-storey buildings in Parel are being constructed just 10 feet apart – creating a world without hope for the occupants. A world in which future generations of Indians will be condemned to live.

There is nothing wrong in building for profit – London was constructed by private developers sub-dividing the old aristocratic estates. This is what created Belgravia, Mayfair, Regent’s Park, and so forth. The crucial difference was that these developers building within parameters clearly defined by the authorities, viz. roads, parks, schools, hospitals, etc.

Speak to any American, and they will bemoan devastation of their cities. Development in their downtown areas in the early 20th Century led to a dearth of essential social amenities – which drove families out into the suburbs, leaving behind an urban battlefield, as in the Bronx, Cleveland and Detroit. This does not happen in Paris, London, or Vienna. Why? Because European cities have never allowed FSI to rise higher than their per capita standards for social amenities.

Raising FSI does not help a city – it destroys it. Look at Manhatten today – the only families left are very rich whites and very poor blacks. And from this polarisation follows much else: distrust, violence, crime – which leads to Gated Communities – that escalate the confrontation into a real battle: Them vs. Us. For centuries our cities, like Kolkata and Bombay, have existed with great inequalities – but the maidans and other public spaces were always shared by rich and poor alike. This common ground was the essential safety valve that let it all co-exist. Lose it – and the city goes the way of Johannesburg, Nairobi and Sao Paolo. Is this what we want our cities to become?

I believe in the cities of India. They are our future. Like the wheat fields of the Punjab, and the coal fields of Bihar, they are a crucial part of our national wealth. For our urban centres nurture the skills that we need to develop our nation: Doctors, engineers, nurses, lawyers – these are all urban skills. Then again, they are Engines of Economic Growth – properly managed, they would generate the funds needed not only for their own development, but for the hinterland around (as in the case of Hong Kong and South China). Lastly, they are Places of Hope – for millions and millions of the have-nots of our society, perhaps their only path to a better future.

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Tasneem Mehta, Vice Chairman, INTACH: By 2015, three of the world’s 17 mega-cities will be in India. There will be 34 cities of more than 1.5 million people and 50 per cent of India’s population will live in these cities. The most rapid growth however, will happen in tier-II cities such as Ahama­dabad, Hyderabad... We are at the threshold of an important moment of transformation. This is an opportunity to define ourselves through creative solutions that do not clone worn out ideas.

What is an ideal city? I would insist on green spaces – lots of it, like Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in ­London. The French President recently invited famous architects to rethink Paris as a post-Kyoto city. One of France’s most eminent architects proposed that all traffic should be routed underground and a large green swathe should connect Paris. Another architect would like to create a checkerboard of built and green spaces so that almost every building or complex faces a green area. If I could wave a wand and transform our cities, I would invite the most innovative architects in the world to design these cities but I would insist that each city’s cultural heritage must be privileged along with the building of distinctive contemporary spaces.

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Manu Bhatnagar: Already five states are more than 50 per cent urbanised. The pressure on resources, habitats and biodiversity will be tremendous and sustainability will be a key issue. The human dominated landscape needs to be re-visualised so that human habitats are interspersed with natural habitats, ecological services areas, local nature reserves and corridors in a seamless mosaic.

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K.T. Ravindran: Many of the principles that are emerging in new city designs can be seen embedded in the pre-industrial cities. The lesson that India’s old cities hold for the crisis in modern cities is not a romanticised notion of historic formalism. They are sound principles towards which new cities have to inevitably move. – (Courtesy: Virasat, the journal of INTACH)