Friday, January 25, 2008

Some articles



Here are some articles on city renewal in Calcutta, written over the years. (Open the links given below in new windows.)

The city from here, a photo essay (1996)

Falahak, Inshallah (Flowering - God's Will): the struggle of the labouring poor, and a vision, strategy and programme for tenant-led basti and city renewal (1997)

Renewing the City: Efforts to Improve Life in Calcutta’s Urban Slums (2002)

The city from here: urban development and slum communities in Calcutta (2004)

"In Search of Ramrajya", essay written on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of India's independence, 15 August 2007.

Photo: Achinto

Friday, January 11, 2008

Basti redevelopment in metropolitan Calcutta


Priya Manna Basti, Shibpur, Howrah.

All my dawns cross the horizon
And rise from underfoot.
What I stand for
Is what I stand on.

Wendell Berry


Context

Metropolitan Calcutta’s basti dwellers have lived as tenants in their hutments for several generations. They form the bulk of the poor and low-income population of the metropolitan area.

Through the Basti Improvement Programme undertaken from the early-1970s, some basic, long-due attention to bastis was begun. The living environment was significantly improved through in-situ improvements.

With growth in basti population, living densities have increased. Civic amenities, such as water and sanitation are deficient. Environmental health risk in basti localities is quite serious; incidence of gastro-intestinal and waterborne diseases, infant mortality testify to this. In some areas of Howrah, dry latrines in bastis pose severe health risks.

The population in most – though not all – basti localities continues to remain at a low socio-economic level. Unemployment, insecure livelihood, lack of education and skills, school drop-out, low wage employment prevail in such localities. In the context of economic globalisation, the basti dwellers are not at all well-placed currently to realise secure livelihood and positive stakes in the rapidly changing world. The reach of NGOs is very limited, and their activities are predominantly of a philanthropic nature, rather than for long-term positive change and structural transformation.

The degraded conditions in bastis and the poor quality of life of basti dwellers is most acute in the large Muslim bastis spread across Calcutta, Howrah and the municipal areas on the two sides of the Hooghly.

The time has come for bold, visionary, committed and purposeful action to positively transform the physical and social landscape of Calcutta’s bastis.

Shelter, livelihood and education must form the three basic pillars of any positive intervention in favour of basti dwellers in metropolitan Calcutta.

Shelter, Housing

Just as land to the tiller was the basic slogan inspiring transformative action in rural West Bengal, today one has to call for ‘shelter to the dweller’ in the urban context. Ultimately, the present bharatiyas or tenant dwellers in bastis have to get title to their dwelling. But the dwelling would be something like a 250 sq ft apartment in a redeveloped complex.

This calls for state action to take over all Thika land in the metropolitan area. This requires an appropriate strategy in order to pre-empt any judicial action. It is not simple, but it is not at all impossible. It has to be established that the public interest is being served, and that an offer is made to the Thika tenants which is at least as good as their present status.

Thika land has to be taken over, land consolidation needs to be done, and with the involvement of private developers a new salubrious complex constructed, in phases. All present dwellers would more and better quality built-up and common space, with civic amenities. They would have to pay a modest sum for title to such a unit. Credit financing would support this. And substantial additional residential and commercial built-up area would also be created, for sale at market rates to higher-income sections. This would give a good return to the developer, while also achieving important social ends. The economics of basti redevelopment would also allow for taking care of the interests of the Thika tenants, besides enabling the creation of a fund for ongoing social and community development activities in favour of the basti dwellers.

The Calcutta Corporation has shown remarkable success in undertaking various water supply and sewerage augmentation programmes to meet the emerging needs of newly developing areas. This augurs well for the future, keeping basti redevelopment in focus. To support the newly developed complexes in erstwhile basti localities, augmentation of water supply is needed, and also installation of sewerage lines etc. These would be undertaken by the Corporation or municipal authority. But when the present basti area is being considered for improvement in civic infrastructure, this also becomes an opportunity to assess the infrastructure deficit in the entire locality, and the augmentation plan prepared accordingly. Given the huge spread of basti localities across Calcutta and the metropolitan region, basti redevelopment thus becomes part of a large urban renewal programme, beginning with the city- and metropolis-wide basic infrastructure upgradation.

Large-scale illegal construction in basti localities across metropolitan Calcutta – poses severe threats to the future of basti dwellers. Bastis are becoming even more congested, sanitary conditions are significantly worsened. Most of all, the possibility of wholesome redevelopment of the entire basti, with the requisite civic infrastructure in place to support a completely redeveloped complex, is doomed.

Basti redevelopment rests most crucially on the awareness, active and organised involvement of the basti dwellers. That entails a major programme of grassroots action, education, capacity building, leadership development, organisational building and development. This is also a kind of ‘infrastructure’ development, that must parallel the physical infrastructure programme.

The KUSP project was recently begun (supported by the UK govt). This project’s goals are poverty reduction and habitat improvement in bastis. It has to be ensured that the project does actually improve the lot of poor. Equally, KUSP has to be strategically utilised in furtherance of this vision of basti, city and metropolitan renewal.

Livelihood

Bastis are also the site for extensive tiny-scale manufacturing activity. Several essential products in the city are produced from bastis – e.g. garments, footwear (leather and rubber), paper products. Traditionally bastis have been the sites of a large number of small industries and crafts. But the plight of the workers and owner-workers in all these trades is vulnerable. Given the unorganized nature of these trades, workers and small traders are at the mercy of middlemen and large traders. Lack of access to capital and hence reliance on high interest charging money-lenders; lack of proper marketing opportunities; lack of skill and technology upgradation - are some of the principal problems affecting the trades. Given that all these trades together employ a few hundred thousand workers, their vulnerable situation poses a severe threat to their livelihood and hence also to the future of the city.

In such a context, there is a need for an action-research effort on basti-based manufacture, towards comprehensive structural upgradation of these economic activities. The resulting benefit from such structural upgradation, to the large numbers of workers and small entrepreneurs tied to these trades – is much more than anything the state or NGOs can achieve through their livelihood and employment generation activities. Following upon the research study, a pilot project could be taken up to implement the recommendations in a specific area. Thus, a local skill development and marketing centre could be started in an area where a trade is concentrated.

Such an effort also requires the awareness and active participation of the workers and small entrepreneurs in basti-based manufacture. An action-research project could also be the means for identifying and mobilising all the stakeholders.

Such action is already being initiated by the state govt, e.g. in flower market, zari-making, in Howrah. This has now to be given a larger vision and thrust.

There are several capable and experienced scholars, professionals and researchers in Calcutta who could make a valuable contribution to such an endeavour. The Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, a renowned academic institute, could also conceivably be involved in this. Financial support can be obtained for such an action-research programme – e.g. under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Education

In the sphere of education, special mention must be made of Urdu medium primary education. The number of schools is highly inadequate to meet the demand for primary education, existing schools are highly overcrowded, and the quality of the existing schools has to be drastically improved.

An enlightened initiative aimed at Urdu medium primary education is seriously needed. This can begin with a rapid assessment study on the existing schools in Calcutta and Howrah. This could be based on a pilot initiative, taken up in 1 ward in Calcutta and / or Howrah.

Child Rights & the city



From a children’s rights perspective, the most important issue is child survival. Bastis in metropolitan Calcutta severely threaten child survival. An analysis of child mortality statistics for Calcutta, Howrah and other adjacent municipal areas, would reveal a significant differential between the figures for the Hindu and Muslim communities. This is primarily a proxy indicator of basti / non-basti differentials in environmental health. But there are also specific problems and issues characterizing Muslim bastis. In sum, living conditions in Muslim bastis are very poor, and the final consequence of this is high infant morbidity and mortality.

Perhaps the most acute problem obtains in basti areas (e.g. in Howrah) where service latrines are still in use. Despite a law banning this, and the central govt’s scheme of subsidy assistance to eradicate such latrines, they remain. A major reason is corruption in the local bodies, whereby the subsidy is falsely siphoned off without actually constructing a sanitary toilet.

Over the last decade, the phenomenon of illegal building construction in bastis, and especially in Muslim bastis, has become rampant. This severely worsens the already terrible environmental conditions. For instance, excreta from the flats in the new illegal buildings is discharged into open drains below. Drains are severely clogged, leading to flooding during the rainy season. The incidence of gastro-intestinal and malarial diseases is high. The principal cause is lack of access to adequate supplies of clean drinking water, compounded by inadequate sanitation.

Primary education is also a vital issue in Muslim bastis. Despite the growth of school-going and also female school-going, there are still a large number of children who are unable to go to school. Non-school going still remains deeply entrenched among the poorest section in the bastis. But perhaps an equally deplorable situation exists in regard to the primary schools in Muslim bastis. The quantity and quality of infrastructure and teachers in such schools are highly inadequate to the real needs. Hence, every year, tens of thousands of school graduates are produced, who only add to the ranks of the unemployed and unemployable. Hence, today we are also witnessing the phenomenon of reverse discrimination – where boys are taken out of school to work, though girls are encouraged to continue.

The above rapid summary of some of the crucial issues facing hundreds of thousands of metropolitan Calcutta’s children – is intended to highlight the dimensions of the problems, their structural nature, and the complexity attending them. But they are not insoluble. A number of concrete proposals have been developed by the city’s activists and planners over the years, including in recent times. But these proposals only point to the need for drastic institutional reform, without which any positive change is not possible.

Urban Conservation – Putting The Last First


House in North Calcutta.

In April 2000, I was invited to speak at the seminar on "Conservation after Legislation: Issues for Bombay", organised by the Urban Design Research Institute. Here is the paper I presented at the seminar. I am grateful to Devananda Chatterji, architect, and Manish Chakravarti, conservation architect, for their valuable contributions to my presentation.

I recalled this yesterday, and shared it with Manish in the context of a dialogue on strategic inititives in urban heritage conservation. I wrote to him:

It is somewhat dated, but still largely relevant. For instance, developments in the last 7 years or so have heralded a new city, leaving out the main city, even south Calcutta, with the bypass, the stretch from Rajarhat to Garia and beyond, condo complexes, malls and private vehicular transport coming to define the city. All infra investments are targetted in this belt, leaving long-neglected areas forever neglected, and converting not so neglected areas into now neglected zones.

The aesthetics dimension is also there, of no more houses, only apartment blocks; some expensive, fancy complexes like Ambuja, Hiland, Merlin, South City etc, with their style of "aesthetics"; but by and large small plots converted into apartments, with the ugliest of buildings replacing handsome houses.

Meanwhile, blighted areas continue, especially slums, without adequate infra; the shadow looms over them of large-scale eviction of basti dwellers, in one form or other, and the puttting out of basti lands into the (legal, large promoter-based) real estate sector. In places like Howrah, and also Jadavpur, complexes are coming up on the site of erstwhile factories; acute disparities coexist, breeding violent tension, waiting to erupt and explode in destruction and loot.

Democracy - in terms of transparency, accountibility, public interest and good governance - is the casualty.

I reproduce my paper here.

1. Sutanuti

North Calcutta, or the district historically known as Sutanuti, even today, despite its largely degraded and blighted character, is a gateway to a rooted awareness of refined urban living, in the personal and private domain as well as the public and communal. Aesthetics is writ large upon the whole environment. The distinctive architecture is a celebration of eclecticism. Local climate, quality of light, space, material, form and function are all woven together to create an engineered space that breeds human comfort, creative stimuli, fulfillment, leisure, social intercourse, cooperation, civics and enlightenment.

Great personalities in history, social reformers, bhaktas, freedom fighters have lived in this place.

But Sutanuti today is largely degraded and blighted. The beautiful buildings themselves are in a highly deteriorated condition. Their inner courtyards run into sewerage flooding. Drainage in the area as a whole is poor, and leads to flooding in the rainy seasons. This poses a grave threat to the physical survival of the structures themselves, and hence to the overall fabric of the locality.

Social services in general are over-stretched, as south Calcutta has come to dominate the life of the city. Wealthy and affluent families based in north Calcutta, would typically either acquire other properties in the south, or even move lock-stock-and-barrel.

What is to be done?

In such a context, conservation should be the preferred form of development and development has to be the preferred form of conservation.

The most crucial lack, is of a vision of a positive, thriving, ethos, capitalising upon the heritage resources. Only that vision could inspire a conviction that something can be done, and therefore the various other related technical tasks should be speedily attended to.


The biggest bang for buck, is in developing a positive vision, and in communicating this to large numbers of local people The inspiring vision should be one that can embrace any other vision of any other stakeholder, rather than negate it. It should be something that is without offence to anyone else’s civic claim.

So whose vision is it - this is crucial.

After envisioning, one is faced with the dirty problems like sewage flooding, which makes any vision crumble in the harsh heat of clear daylight. So the sense and situation of empowerment of the visionary is crucial. How empowered is this entity, to engage in infrastructural, financial and such matters? In a blighted and disempowered environment, such empowerment is rare. Such envisioning would therefore instead come from a more empowered milieu, but from someone who would claim that it is the heritage resources of the disempowered locale that have empowered them.

Visionary policy, legal, infrastructure and financial strategies are called for.

What could Sutanuti be: it could become a completely improved, highly attractive place to live, visit, shop, for recreation, a culture destination, with shops, museums, restaurants, cafes, art galleries, theaters, film halls, music and dance performances. Also expensive residential and office spaces for services-related enterprises. Basic fairness of property transfer has to be ensured, to bless the whole process. .

In the prevailing milieu, there is an inherent notion of the undesirability of commercial activities, in regard to old joint family owned properties. This calls for creative communication essentially, that uses a conservative attitude to promote a new breed of activity, which is commercial, but also simultaneously cultural and social.

The role of the Corporation would be to enable everything necessary to happen. This means appropriate tax and re-use regulations.

The ethic - honest conservation, honesty to circumstances, rather than authenticity. The curatorial issue is of interest to museum conservationists. But how can the buildings stand – that must be the compelling concern.

People must either become a profiting partner of a new regime or give way to it.

2. Metropolitan renewal

The conservation of Sutanuti may be seen in the perspective of renewing the blighted metropolis of Calcutta, of rebuilding this city in the spirit of the aesthetics and public values implicit in the historic quarter. We said the immediate conservation action in the district itself must be inspired by a discernment and appreciation of the valuable sensibility stamped upon the environment. The gift endowed to Calcutta, for its future, by her earlier generations, is this inspiration of a concretised vision of refined urban living.

Past and future are inextricably locked. So far this has been Calcutta’s curse. The challenge is to make it a blessing.

There are a number of very serious threats to the long term health and well-being of Calcutta. The city is sprawling eastwards over the sensitive wetlands (which are part of the Sundarban deltaic eco-system). For over a decade now, the impact of this has been felt on the city’s drainage system. Within the city, there are severe disparities and inequities in provision of civic services. Maintenance and development of service infrastructure is hostage to the free-riding and pillaging by the powerful and rich. Environmental health is consequently seriously threatened by water-borne and malarial diseases. Lack of access to adequate supplies of drinking water, which is compounded by inadequate sanitation – this is the principal environmental problem for Calcutta. Municipal statistics from Howrah suggest that infant mortality rates in slums are significantly higher than that in non-slum areas. A third of the metropolitan population lives in slum settlements, where the conditions are most degraded. In some areas, service latrines are used by over a hundred persons. The city as a whole becomes a zone of conflict and violence, between the haves and the have-nots, with the middle-classes getting it from both sides. The degraded and poverty-ridden slums of the city are like subterranean boiler-rooms producing crime and riots, which can make city life nightmarish.

Frontally addressing such larger, fundamental questions, with a view to humane transformation is the greatest act of homage to the city’s historic heritage. This can only help to protect the continued existence of the fabric woven out of the structures.

3. Canal-side renewal

Immediately adjoining the historic district is the Beliaghata canal-side area, that is today one of the most blighted, decrepit and foul environments. Large numbers of squatters live beside the canal, on its sides and over its bed. There are large congested, low-rise basti or slum pockets. A quiet process of illegal conversion goes on. There are closed, sick or obsolescent factories. Large tracts of vacant land. And a canal, that was once navigable is now dead, and a foul sewer.

The renewal of the canal-side area would directly be in the interest of conservation of Sutanuti. It would lead to the installation of infrastructure access points. It would demonstrate that a blighted area can indeed be transformed. And bring about a thriving residential, commercial, institutional, civic and cultural complex right next door, which would bring in powerful currents of change.

Flooding occurs because of the siltation of the canal and building upon the east Calcutta wetlands. In 1999 October, flooding reached peak levels and is likely to continue unless de-silting is undertaken from the Bidyadhari river to the inner city. The authorities say they are doing this, but given the presence of squatters along the canals and the apparent lack of land for their relocation, there will continue to be a problem. And if force is used to evict the squatters, and then the canal work is done, the basic social problem will remain. Experience has shown that they simply return after some time.

It is this very blight that affords the possibility of comprehensive area redevelopment, something that could integrate the aesthetic, environmental, social and commercial. In 1995, an independent, civic effort was initiated, through Unnayan, to develop a viable plan for the proper rehabilitation of the canal-side squatters. Eventually, this led to a blueprint for highly remunerative area renewal, involving revitalisation of the canal and navigation, and large-scale residential, commercial and institutional developments – which would also satisfactorily provide for squatter resettlement. Together with visionary and committed conservation-related regulations, such an area renewal focus and its infrastructural investment could also catalyse a major restoration process in Sutanuti. The proposal also enabled a bold new vision of Calcutta’s future as a bio-technic city, a powerful organism for the sustainable and bio-regionally appropriate development of city and hinterland in the riverine, deltaic southern Bengal.

Conservation should therefore also mean conservation of the natural features like the canal, whose health is vital to the long-term well-being of the city.

The canal nework of Calcutta stretches into the city’s hinterland, the lush green deltaic ecology of Sourh bengal which includes Sundarbans. A canal city was conceived of for a culturally vibrant populous lively city, a green tropical city with water, reflecting the articulate nature of its presently distressed people.

Broadbasing conservation - so that it becomes something reaching out to and touching the everyday life of ordinary people. Thus conservation related to urban activities : well-known shops and markets, open spaces, water-bodies, cafes, book shops, cinema halls, associations and Puja committees, trees (and hence place names), cemeteries, shrines, etc.

4. Building civic ownership from below

But something like this calls for an institutional ownership and capability that is currently non-existent. Nor has the civic consciousness of the citizens reached a stage of taking unequivocal and unassailable ownership for the future of the city – something that would then drive city planning and management.

The lack of public ownership of public domain concerns – that is the key limitation. Privatisation of the public domain is the character of the age, and to see that happening through an apparent public domain concern is terrible, with deep damage. Building such civic ownership – when formal authorities and institutions are riddled with incompetence, apathy and corruption – is the foundational infrastructural requirement.

The conservation domain is not now occupied by someone empowered, visionary and transparently public rather than private. It is time to move in this direction.

City and metropolitan renewal has thus perhaps necessarily to begin with community and slum renewal. Planning wisdom has to discern that empowering the vulnerable, for social and economic betterment, improved shelter and habitat, and building public ownership and cooperative action for environmental justice may be the foundation and catalyst for rebuilding the blighted city. Public ethics is the key to renewal.

Conservation has to get out of its ghetto by addressing the problems of ghettos.

Whose heritage? It is the duty of a conservationist to explore and discover the myriad unknown hidden sensibilities to place, manifested in humble shrines and other sites. All these offer powerful potential to connect people to place in a visionary forward movement. And these would tend to be in blighted unserviced areas, where the sensibility can be an important element in opening up a local renewal process. The sprouting points of renewal initiatives. This calls for transcendence from an elitist fixation with the city, which in the ultimate analysis is very limiting, and devoid of imagination.

In systemic terms, lack of awareness, disempowerment allows the free-riding and pillage, and this makes he city a fount of inefficiency, unreason, ugliness, all of which should be seen and felt to be as distasteful as they are. Hence, improvement in the lot of the disenfranchised should be in the direct long term interest of anyone wanting the city to be a thriving, well managed, efficient place.

Slum renewal begins the process of infrastructure upgradation and improved urban management – which conservation goals can only benefit from.

The action orientation has to be one of constituency building, building of alliances, for the future of city. Conservationists must seek to educate the others about aesthetics of built form, even as they learn the aesthetics of civics.

Public ethic, public domain activity – is a subject that needs to be looked at, and not assumed. Public issues are used instrumentally for private ends. Instead organisational means must be used instrumentally to serve public ends.



Photo: Achinto.


5. An initiative in Howrah

It is only the potential value of land under present depressed use that offers the resources to address the huge social development and infrastructure gap, in a capital-starved environment. But in the present climate, even this requires some initial economic growth which eludes the metropolis. In 1994, the Govt of West Bengal announced its new economic and industrial policy. But nothing substantial has materialised, simply because there is no land for industries proximate to Calcutta. Howrah, with its huge tracts of industrial land, presently under closed, sick and obsolescent industry, could provide the answer. And this could also afford the means to begin the long-term process of laying the much needed infrastructure.

The whole effort may be dedicated to the future of the children and the children of the future. For environmental health risk ultimately translates into infant mortality. Today in PM Basti, and the larger locality of Ramkrishnapur, in Howrah, Calcutta’s historical ‘other’, where large numbers of small children in slums die prematurely, such an effort at rebuilding the city from the bottom upwards is actually being made. Currently this is focused upon building Howrah Pilot Project, a grassroots organisation to be a capable vehicle of community awareness, cooperation and empowerment of the poor. In parallel, there is an advocacy and constituency-building effort for neighbourhood-level area improvement. This can catalyse attention to the basic problems of degradation, lack of adequate sanitation etc, as well as neighbourhood-level institution building. The effort in Priya Manna Basti is also sought to be replicated in slum neighbourhoods in other parts of Calcutta.

Post-script

The well-being of Calcutta can be seen in the light of the highly polluted state of the river Hooghly, along whose two banks the metropolis lies. But the nearly extinct Hooghly dolphin, locally known as shushuk or shishumar, and mythologically identified as a protector of children, still finds cause to leap up from the polluted river. There may be hope yet for its cousins in the Brahmaputra, Karnali, Yamuna and Indus.



A rescued Ganges River Dolphin.

Reference to context



Here is a picture from Calcutta. Its on the Prince Anwar Shah Road connector to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.

What does this picture show?

How is it that this happens?

What does it say about the city and the state?

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Where Architecture is a Rotting Corpse


Salt Lake, Calcutta.

In August 1995, while I was working as a consultant on an environmental management strategy & action planning project for metropolitan Calcutta, I requested my friend Devananda Chatterji, architect, to write a note about the nature of building regulations in Calcutta and how this affected architectural aesthetics and practice. Deva was kind enough to comply promptly. He wrote a note titled "Where Architecture is a Rotting Corpse."

I remembered that a couple of years ago, and searched in vain for Deva's note. Fortunately, Deva managed to find his copy and shared it with me. He wrote:

I have not changed the content though my views about urban densities have changed after doing the canal proposal (of Unnayan). In fact, in all other aspects the canal study demonstrates the ideas discussed here, as all these were done around the same time. I guess things are not so bleak now as compared to the situation when this was written, though current developments remain thoroughly lop-sided, as we had discussed in our long dialogue on slum development a year ago.

I reproduce Deva's note here.

A note on Building & Planning Regulations in Calcutta

Though one would understand that the object of formulating building and planning regulations would be to ensure an acceptable standard of public health and safety for the citizens, here in Calcutta we have a situation that is restrictive to the point of effectively shutting out quality and creativity in the built environment. As we know, a city can never be noteworthy without a high standard of architecture, urban design and public spaces. So where do we stand in contemporary Calcutta?

At present, building regulations here seem to be based on the premise that every individual or agency putting up a building is simply out to make the maximum profit from it at any cost, and therefore such intent must be thwarted. But in practice nothing is thwarted and in spite of the customary demands and impositions by the approval functionaries, real estate profiteering at all cost remains unchecked, thanks to the massive and well-oiled network of corruption and local politics.

In the context of the current industrial decay, property development is one of the few fields where business is flourishing and permissible building densities in Calcutta are high as compared to other Indian cities. Among other shortcomings, the regulations and controls are so framed, that to avail the maximum permissible saleable area at least cost, that every developer wants, in almost all cases the result is a monstrosity, even with frequent attempts at external cosmetics. While various rules concerning different parts of buildings prove to be unnecessarily restrictive in practice, increasingly the buildings are of dubious liveability and often unsafe.

Since exceptions prove the rule, what happens when for some reason, a well-meaning person or group sets out to put up some genuinely creative, innovative and pathbreaking project in terms of design or construction? But such a situation is off course a long shot and the situation at present is such, that even mainstream buildings of good and decent architectural quality are difficult to put up without the intervention of powerful backers.

Architects, non-architects and regulations

Because of past practice, a large section of building professionals allowed to prepare building plans and handle their implementation in the Calcutta area, are not qualified architects. Nor are most functionaries handling the statutory building approval process in the relevant departments. Few, if any, among either of the above groups have any concern for or exposure to quality, imagination and subtlety of design. Though architects are the only professionals trained to conceive buildings from different aspects and in their totality in the complex world of today, they remain marginal players in the building field in Calcutta and of very uneven abilities and goals. Though such trends are likely to persist for now these can only plunge the city into further depths of disgrace.

A way to address this impasse could be to develop different approval systems for different kinds of projects within a flexible system of controls and guidelines. First of all, building and planning regulations and urban design guidelines need to be framed for lower densities by a body of professionals known for their creativity, knowledge, liberal-mindedness, foresight and integrity. Departmental staff handling the approval process need to be adequately trained to understand such regulations and can then assess average building plans submitted following such regulations.

At another level, developers, or other promoters, organisations and patrons can be offered tax, FAR or other suitable incentives to put up buildings of architectural quality and creativity and with public oriented features such as arcades, open spaces, terraces and landscape. Only a body of appropriately qualified people can approve such projects. Some form of screening process may be required for submitting such plans for approval by such a body, as this is not just a matter of cosmetics or ostentation. But all approval processes need to be streamlined and flexible and avoid delays.

While professionals can be made accountable with respect to regulations laid down by their professional bodies and associations, unless the approval authorities are also made accountable, the prevailing chaos is bound to prevail. Some of the personnel in the municipality have even been known to act on individual whims and prejudices. In view of recent events in the city, although there may not be any foolproof and practicable method of extensive checking for structural risks and fire or other hazards, it may not be a bad idea to conduct some form of periodic inspection of premises and recommend steps to be taken by the owners and occupants.

As things stand however, Calcutta has neither a development plan nor any urban design guidelines for different areas, not to speak of any environmental or conservation policy, but only some lopsided building rules, resulting in a situation that only contributes to the degradation of the city. There is an urgent need to bring together the best minds in each of the above categories and frame relevant regulations and guidelines. Things being what they are today, it should be noted that, contrary to popular perceptions, the best minds may or may not be among those who are commercially the most successful or able to hold senior positions in government departments or academic institutes.

In this context, one may think of certain approaches to building that have been practised in various cultures at different periods of history, including ancient India, and some form of these have been considered across the world in recent times. For the bulk of building activity such as mass housing and commercial and office accommodation, systems of different building patterns and details can be developed by highly talented professionals and popularised through building manuals. Engineers, technicians and even some architects, can then adopt such systems, within the framework of imaginative and farsighted planning, urban design and environmental guidelines.

Naturally, such systems of building patterns and details must offer sufficient variety and flexibility for individual needs, with the possibility of extensions and alterations and of combining different systems, but involving simple, cost-effective and environmentally friendly construction methods and technical systems, as far as possible. Before they are propagated, the systems for adoption need to be carefully selected on the basis of their merit. Exercises such as these would require intensive studies and public discussions may be considered.

All public, prominent or important buildings, facilities and areas must be designed and supervised by registered architects, landscape designers, urban designers, planners etc. as the case may be. Aesthetics, originality, innovation must be encouraged rather than suppressed for all levels of building activity but such projects, large or small, must be done by professionals who are fully qualified in the relevant field. Obviously, such work can only be assessed and approved by a body of people who are likewise qualified in that field. This approval body can have discussions with the authors of the plans and should have the authority to make allowances and exemptions from specific provisions of the regulations, if need be, to achieve a high standard of excellence, at their discretion, as well as the authority to reject substandard work or suggest improvements.

At present, though the Calcutta Municipal Corporation allows different professionals to prepare building plans and handle their implementation, registered architects are permitted to take up any project, whereas others are permitted to take up projects of any size, complexity or importance, provided these do not exceed a certain height. It is meaningless to impose restrictions in terms of height alone but should also involve project size, type, importance and design manoeuvres. In architectural terms, tall buildings are not necessarily difficult projects but because of their civic prominence, they need to be designed and implemented with care. As mentioned earlier, in practice the abilities and ideas of architects and related professionals vary widely and if need be, truly unconventional or pathbreaking work may be referred to an independent panel of relevant professionals of proven creativity, discernment, openness and personal integrity.

The city beautiful

Whatever exists in the name of a planning process in Calcutta, there seems to be little awareness of various aspects of modern day city building. For instance, a diversity of street and plot layouts can be encouraged rather than the same gridiron pervading the entire city and leading to dreariness, monotony, uniformity and confusion since most places appear the same. Urban design guidelines specific to different areas need to be framed with adequate attention being given to public open spaces, heritage conservation, mixed-use areas with multi-use building complexes. Pedestrian plazas, alleyways, covered streets, arcades, overhangs, terraces, different levels above and below ground, pedestrian bridges and underpasses etc. are some of the features that can greatly enhance and enrich the urban experience.

Row houses with inner courtyards and other building typologies can be viable in specific situations. Landscape or other features such as the recently built musical fountain in the maidan need to be located with much greater care. Public amenities with barred access and heavy railings around them are a testimony to the pointlessness of the whole exercise. As mentioned above, all public areas must be designed by talented professionals with relevant qualifications. Needless to state, the entire planning approach needs to be in tune with the unique riverine ecology of the region with sufficient consideration for greenery, water, wildlife, fisheries, recycling and renewable energy systems.

Though it not within our scope here to discuss infrastructure, it may be pertinent to make certain observations in this regard. Apart from the small road areas in Calcutta, the chaotic mix of different types of transport and the pathetic condition of the road surfaces, much of the traffic congestion is a result of disruption caused by digging. When new areas are developed, public road networks and their widths and parking areas must be predetermined after careful studies of projected building and traffic densities. Separation of slow moving vehicles and adequate bays for bus stops are essential even at the cost of saleable plot area.

Building rules need to address the problem of dumping building materials on roads and pavements. Although urban roads are unthinkable without pavements, when these are completely appropriated by stalls and dwellers, movement of people is reduced to naught. The present system of door-to-door garbage collection in some parts of the city needs to be rigorously enforced and maintained in all areas and local people must be organised to prevent any form of litter in the streets and public spaces.

Sewerage, underground drainage, conduits for underground cables and pipes should be laid out at the time of road construction to avoid disruption once the road is in use. Surface drains are not just unsightly but also breeding grounds for disease and cause of accidents while overhead wiring is also unsightly as well as hazardous. Unless there is adequate supply of treated piped water, the proliferation of tubewells can only lead to the lowering of the water table, arsenic and other forms of poisoning and soil subsidence leading to building collapses. All this is well known but what is lacking is the political will and administrative mechanism to make things happen.

Construction alternatives

In the present economic situation all but the moneyed classes are being priced out of the city. The issue of land prices is also too complex to be discussed here but the other aspect of real estate prices is construction cost. The most expensive construction materials here are cement and steel. Where tall structures and large spans are involved there is at present no alternative to large quantities of cement and steel. But where smaller structures are concerned there are several sound techniques to reduce the input of these materials. Since labour costs are low in India and unemployment high, labour intensive construction techniques can reduce construction costs appreciably and many of these techniques have been included in recent editions of the National Buildings Organisation (NBO) code.

Although the current building rules of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation officially accepts the provisions of the NBO code, in practice only standard construction methods in RCC and brick are acceptable to the Corporation functionaries because they lack the awareness of, and the competence to deal with other systems. This is certainly a good situation for the cement and steel industries and their dealer networks since, no matter how much under financial strain, prospective house builders or purchasers have no alternative but to beg, borrow or steal to afford buildings constructed with conventional materials and technology.

As a matter of fact there are various construction methods such as hollow walls made of brick, thin folded, curved and mullion walls in brick, arched and corbelled openings, vaulted, domed and corbelled roofs, reinforced brick and filler slabs and roofs, hollow RCC slabs and roofs, jack arches, lime plaster and mortar, lime concrete, composite lime-cement mortar and plaster, which are only some of the methods in use outside Calcutta or in other parts of the country.

Hollow walls and roofs as mentioned above, not only economise on material but also provide insulation from heat while being strong enough for smaller buildings. Construction with soil-cement blocks with brick or RCC inputs where necessary, can reduce costs and are environmentally friendlier than burnt clay products as they eliminate the energy required for firing. These are all included in the NBO code but it is unlikely that much of these construction methods would be acceptable to the Corporation and neither professionals nor house builders, developers or organisations would take chances for fear of work getting held up.

One can think of CGI roofs with adequate insulation, which can be perfectly viable as a cheap roofing alternative and so can terracotta tiles, if their quality is improved. Though asbestos is controversial, in the form of sheets and other building products it is known to be harmless. In certain situations, thatch roofs with fire retardant chemicals can be quite feasible. Plastic sheets may be used as a waterproofing backup if need be. Composite roofs of tile or thatch with CGI or asbestos backing are also possible and economically sound. Some of these are standard approaches yet they are no longer considered respectable and it is doubtful whether their use will meet with approval, except in the case of sheds or temporary structures.

The brickfields in Ranigunge and nearby areas used to manufacture beautiful glazed terracotta floor and cladding tiles with different colours and designs till the early part of this century. If such products can be revived and sold at reasonable prices, it would be a welcome addition to the aesthetics of building. The feasibility of manufacture of hollow concrete blocks, micro-concrete and foam-concrete products etc. in this region needs to be explored as these can provide various constructional options.

At larger scales of operation, various prefabricated systems were considered promising not so long ago. Although some attempts were made in this direction by government agencies nothing much came of it eventually. Much more R&D work needs to be done and the setting up of building centres by non-profit organisations and funded by government or industry should produce results, since there is no dearth of people with talent, ideas and experience, but good marketing and promotional skills are equally important. However, if the local bodies reject all new development the whole enterprise would be reduced to a colossal farce.

Finally, no amount of legislation and regulation can improve matters unless these can be enforced in the face of mounting corruption, vested interests and political and factional one-upmanship.

About architects



My friend and former fellow researcher-planner, Devananda Chatterji, who is an architect, sent me this a couple of years ago. He wrote:

"Architectural aesthetics is not seriously addressed in the building regulations here, but any aesthetics at a regulatory level is so difficult in a plural and fluid world. We can see this in terrible form with the cartoon."

The aesthetics of Calcutta's public spaces



by Madhumati Dutta

You pave paradise, put up a parking lot ~ Joni Mitchell.

Middle class Kolkata is happy to have at last joined the international consumer club. Whilst our common facilities ~ roads, urinals, water, electricity, public transport and so on ~ remain poor, enormous retail chains are springing up, so are flyovers, food multinationals, entertainment parks, and so are millions of cell phone shops, cyber cafés and STD booths.

Come, let’s admit it, we all like the fact that we don’t have to ask our cousins in America to get us non-stick pans. But whilst we celebrate our new consumerist status (and I’m not going into “how much a person should consume” a la Ramchandra Guha), I want us to think a bit about the sorts of public spaces we want.

If we assume that malls are a must, let us at least get architects with imagination to make them. Let them be out in the open air instead of in closed, air-conditioned holes, with trees and water bodies, and places to sit and chat, have tea.

Right now, the City Centre (Charles Correa) is an exception. Most of the malls are walled in, and some older ones can kill hundreds if a major fire breaks out.

Less said about the post-independence public buildings, the better. Most of them are unimaginative boxes, and many of them, most pathetically, have ugly protrusions in the front that succeed in concealing the windows (I never knew windows were an ugly sight).

Sometimes exceptions (like Rabindra Sadan with its unnecessary flourishes) can be worse, and I marvel at how the ugliness of these buildings is accentuated by a combination of wall paint (blue, brick red, yellow, lime green, off white, white, plus a design in mosaic in the case of Rabindra Sadan) that just doesn’t gel.

Can we not at least imitate the amazing architecture of Laurie Baker, Revathi Kamath, Vijay Matai, Kamal Mangaldas, Gautam Bhatia and many others, which is, at the same time, at one with nature, open, balanced, inexpensive, easy to maintain and indigenous?

Baker, for example, has used simple exposed brick structures, with traditional black cement or red tile flooring, arches, corbels, double walls to keep the buildings cool. His ornaments are the sloped roofs and large windows, small water tanks with lilies, interesting steps, arches, local woodwork and greenery ~ none of which look out of place, and most of which have an utility.

The divide between the haves and the have-nots has become more marked with the presence (or absence) of air-conditioning ~ glassed enclosures keep in the fortunate whilst heat and pollutants are let out into the streets for the benefit of the unfortunate masses. A few people are keeping cool at the cost of global warming, which will impact their as well as others’ children.

One cannot wish away air-conditioning, but perhaps we should try to avoid it through more carefully planned structures. Large windows, cross ventilation, more open spaces, double walls, hollow bricks on the roof, various types of insulation (for example, thermocol), canals around the building and similar methods should be explored.

In fact, we (or rather our contractors) say that we can no longer afford the thick walls and high ceilings of the past ~ but have we made an honest calculation ~ where we take into account the direct and indirect costs of air-conditioning over the entire life of the building? Grills are a huge favourite with Kolkatans. They keep thieves and birds out, of course, but they appear to have gone far beyond their utilitarian purpose. Not only are they everywhere, but they also insist on your attention with their elaborate curves or geometry.

Much of the house-builder’s creativity is invested in creating his/her own unique grill design, which sometimes ends up strongly resembling the white alpana that young girls use to paint on floors for festive occasions. Yet grills and alpana are not the same. Grills are made of iron, and they keep you and your vision in. And so minimising them is the best possible course of action. They impose the least when the gaps are maximised and the lines are straight. One can even do away with them if one doesn’t keep much money or valuables at home. Even if the city planner cannot do much about the individual Kolkatan’s taste in grills, he/she can set an example by simplifying the grills in public spaces ~ railings, dividers, traffic police sit-outs and so on.

The attention being given to the city’s public greenery is far from adequate. There are not enough trees, and the parks are very run-down. Dust collects on the leaves; the grass looks like the sparse hair on a balding head. Some of the open areas are suddenly blocked by monstrous structures like the green-walled swimming pool on Southern Avenue’s central boulevard which, if it can continue to exist, makes the road one of the prettiest in the city.

I find it difficult to understand how somebody could have thought it necessary to build something on a green space in the middle of a road that many consider to be the city’s loveliest. I fear the tasteless whims of one corporation boss after another. I fear the cuts that are going to be available from one construction project after another.

Another space that one may call semi-public is the office ~ private as well as government. Those who run these offices and even those who occupy them usually have a very limited idea about the service that these offices should provide. In their view the home is where we need to be comfortable and the office is for work, and work does not require any ambience or physical comfort.

Thus toilets are a preview of hell, the furniture and equipment is laden with dust, the walls have a generous spattering of betel leaf juice, gaudy calendars, cobwebs and nothing much else, and the floors look uncared for. The food, provided by grimy canteens or roadside shacks, is often unhygienic and unhealthy.

Yet many of us spend the major part of our lives in these offices. If anyone talks about unsanitary toilets or puts up paintings on the walls, he/she is laughed at. The mindset is such that attempts to make the office a more attractive and comfortable space is considered “feminine” and there is no room for “femininity” in a place that deals with the big bad world. This mindset has to change.

The office may not be a place for leisure activities such as watching TV, but making it cleaner and visually attractive, providing facilities for physical health would only enhance productivity and encourage employees to spend longer hours there. Customers and clients would also be more comfortable. Making the office a better workspace does not, by the way, mean disposing of all the old furniture and fittings.

I have seen the disposal of beautiful wooden furniture in exchange for plastic and synthetic cloth, for example, which is artificial, non-biodegradable and non-lasting. Old mosaic floors have been covered by garish red vinyl, which, over the years, turns maroon with accumulated dirt. Disposal has to be done cautiously, and not with the sole purpose of filling the pockets of contractors.

I have dealt with a few issues ~ there are many others ~ like the need to have flyovers and their negative visual impact, the amputation of trees to accommodate hoardings that block the sky to promote consumerism, temporary structures that are ugly and obstruct movement (but which also represent employment in the unorganised sector), disappearing or ill-maintained water bodies, the indiscriminate disposal of waste, and overflowing garbage vats.

All these issues are contentious, none of them have easy solutions, but we have to start giving them the importance they deserve, and we can, at worst, find compromise solutions.

I love this city. And so I want it to embrace change without losing all that it already has ~ age, culture, character. And I want it to be choosy about the direction of change. Let it not take up change that breeds inequality, that encourages consumerism and that is not environment friendly. Let change be, in every sense of the term, aesthetic.

The author is Professor of Economics, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah.