Last year, a friend’s smart and talented daughter got admission at the most coveted Architecture & Environment / Urban Planning University in Ahmedabad. I assumed they would be excited, as I was. After a lot of debate at their home on the ‘earning potential’ of the degree, she hesitantly joined. Only to drop out in one month and join for a computer science course in Manipal, to everyone’s relief in their family. Disappointment was only mine. If I can start all over again, I would want to go to that university to study.
Over 400 million people today live in urban areas in India and it is expected to be over 800 million people by 2050. If quality of our life is any yardstick for development, the urban planning crisis should be the most debated topic now (a weak law enforcement is an elephant in the room even if planning succeeds). Massive multi-billion dollar infra structure projects are under way, but footpaths are nowhere to be seen. With public transport, waste management, traffic, etc., the list is longer. A professor once mentioned that all we have is architects and civil engineers, but there are no town planners/urban designers. A recent editorial column by a public policy expert highlight that we are now woefully short of talented civil engineers as well.
We make and consume products and services that are essential to improve our quality of life and convenience. The mixer grinder, the washing machine, the refrigerator, large screen flat TV, the car, and the likes. We promote them, make people feel wanting or aspiring for. Businesses get built, standards keep evolving, and product innovation happens. Because all of us want a better quality of life.
If we all are wired for wanting better quality of life, why are we not aspiring for better urban spaces, mobility, cleaner streets and foot paths? What will it take to have these aspirations and meet those demands? (I don’t know the answers.) Without these, there is no ‘better quality of life,’ irrespective of the latest high-end OELD TV or room-size refrigerator. It is not just the lack of convenience, but the reverse. It is steady degradation of our quality of life.
On a different note, for many corporate organizations, general and mental well-being of their employees are increasingly becoming a priority. For someone who reaches their workplaces every day after two hours or more in traffic, navigating dangerous roads, aerobics in crowded buses/trains and haggling with auto drivers, what well-being efforts will be really effective? What role can/should corporates play in making our cities better? [This question perhaps could trigger unfavourable responses]. Social challenges are deeply interlinked and every stakeholder will have a role to play.
For now, maybe lack of healthy urban spaces, footpaths, and public transport should be categorized as a national disaster/calamity and then institute remedial measures. Hope floats.