Introduction



“niiti”, a Sanskrit word means, in different contexts, policy, ethics, tenets. To us, who belong here, it is our raison d’etre, our touchstone. So we constantly turn to our ethics and tenets when we re-examine the basis of what we do and how we do it over and over again. This is our space to engage with our core, with you, our readers and companions on the path towards an equitable society in the deepest meaning of the word. Over the past years, there are several social issues and organisations that we have engaged with and been enriched with both experience and knowledge along the way. We believe that in creating a conversation platform for those engaged in the field, including some of our clients, partners, all of you out there who have reached this site wanting to be the change and others who have expertise to comment and critique, we can actually crowd-source actions and solutions for some of our most pressing social issues.

Some of these stories feature organisations and people who have been the change; others highlight innovative approaches to long-entrenched social issues; yet others point to ways in which change can be facilitated, simply. If you are inspired by them as well and motivated to replicate their work, or want to share inputs on other bright examples like these, do write to us at info@niiticonsulting.com.

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

FREEWAYFOLLIES

The formal announcement of the new 16 lane freeway proposed to slice through the city of Gurgaon aroused serious concerns with many of its residents. 60mins to 6mins is the USP for the freeway connecting two parts of the city which already has a wide enough road to deal with peak time traffic. While many worried about pedestrian access, cyclist routes, etc … some worried about the awkward disconnections that deepen as the city is fragmented further.

Freeways by definition are controlled-access highways designed exclusively for unhindered high speed vehicular traffic with no signals, at-grade crossings or property accesses. All pedestrian/vehicular crossovers are either over or under passes.

The predatory nature of freeways is manifested in a spatially and socially fragmented city. They do not connect with their sheer size and speed, they divide. They reject the very city they mean to bind because they knowingly relegate the quality of human life thriving in the neighbourhoods: they displace, divide and re-define.

We never learn, do we? There are innumerable instances of terrible things freeways have done to their cities and there are ample ‘been there, done it’ cities who have burnt their fingers only to reverse their own acts. The early 20th century built freeways to counter rapid increase in traffic volumes and to reduce travel time. The fallouts in the past few decades led to widespread public opposition. Proposals were abandoned, significantly scaled back and freeway removal policies were adopted to rip off and reclaim taken spaces in the city. These cities gained both economic and environment revival and have become models for alternative planning thereafter.

Again, freeways are often self-defeating and they inevitably trigger what is called 'induced demand.' The phenomenon is consistent with the economic theory of supply and demand and is often used as an argument against freeways. They are known to generate more traffic over the years as the number of cars and trips go up and in turn clog the same freeway which was brought in to reduce travel time!

That is not all, various other negative externalities compound the same problem. Freeways bring change in land-use distribution patterns – urban sprawl which is directly proportional to higher energy consumption. They are seen to lower abutting property values because of their spatial disconnect topped with air and noise pollution which besides leading to urban blight, has been shown to cause autism in children. An increase in accident fatality rates comes built-in, as does an unaesthetic and inhospitable cityscape with crisscrossing tarred scars, cutting the city's fabric into smaller enclosed pockets of isolated land parcels.

Neighbourhoods remain detached even after bridging them with under and over passes, especially impoverished ones where residents are less likely to own cars or alter ways to improve their quality of life. Over-passes even with escalators are not popular pedestrian preferences over under-passes but the latter are dungeons by night fall unless they have physical/electronic surveillance. Finance limits the number of these passes and leave huge walking distances between them. Walking or cycling past zipping cars on one side and high boundary walls with thick tree buffered development (to cut noise and air pollution) on the other, can't be a pleasant experience by any standards. It can only be boring and yet more boring.

Pro-development governance with its vested interest has supported the freeway without considering local interests. Citizens need to question the very need of a freeway running through Gurgaon. It only adds value to a group of car users and in no way guarantees public convenience or mass utility. Effective traffic intersection engineering and management at the local level coupled with city level traffic planning should counter congestion issues of Gurgaon on the given route. Authorities should invest in building mass transit modes and attempt to implement smart growth policies which support transit-oriented mixed use development, walkable, cycle-friendly neighbourhoods, and encourage mass transit ridership.

Maybe years from now we will tear down these freeways and replace them with parks and boulevards, streets and squares, which truly connect and bind communities together, which make attractive, engaging and memorable public realm, which is pro-people. But must we learn the hard way in a resource-poor and congested country?


RwiteeMandal is a practicing architect and urban designer. She is also a visiting faculty at the Post Graduate Urban Design Programme at her alma mater, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. Rwitee can be contacted at rwitee.mandal@gmail.com