HISTORY
Still Demolishing
Although urban renewal goes back at least to the
rebuilding of Rome by Augustus, modern attempts can be said
to have started with late-19th century Paris and Baron Haussmann.
Then, Paris was the cultural capital of Europe and one of
the world's most developed cities. Nevertheless, the
physical
infrastructure of the city was failing in the face of
increasingly rapid growth — as the effects of the Industrial
Revolution took hold and combined with the economic impacts
of war and social upheaval.
From the 1850s into the 1870s, Haussmann supervised a
program which demolished large areas of slums and narrow,
crooked medieval streets, replacing them with new
neighborhoods, plazas, and traffic circles, and the broad,
tree-lined boulevards that are still the hallmark of Paris.
His programme also rebuilt other infrastructure and services
in the city: railroad lines and stations, sewerage, street
lighting, regular collection of garbage, and large parks. It
also led to large numbers of the working class and the poor
being forced to move to the suburban areas of Paris,
effectively reserving large areas of the city for the middle
and upper classes.
Just like what is happening in Indian cities today.
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Sprawl spreads development out over large amounts of land; puts long
distances between homes, stores, and job centers; and makes people
more and more dependent on driving in their daily lives. The impact
of this sprawl on the natural resources of the area is far more
alarming. By consuming farmlands, it reduces a country’s productive
agricultural land base even as the food demands on that same land
base from a growing population increases. It pollutes air and water.
There is more. As stretches of concrete roads increases, so does
dependence on cars and pavement and so does smog and pollution.
Sprawl wastes tax money. Taxes subsidise huge amounts of money spent
on new roads, water supply networks, new schools, hospitals, and
other civic amenities at the expense of the needs of the people who
lived here originally. This leads to degradation of our older towns
and cities.
However, there are ways to prevent or at least control these
impending disasters. How?
- By making significantly
greater investments in clean public transportation, including
modern, efficient bus service, with clean vehicles
- Planning pedestrian-friendly
developments where people have transportation choices
- Providing good walking and
bicycling facilities around shopping and parks; and implementing
traffic calming measures
- Building more affordable
housing close to jobs
- Ensuring that the public, who
live in and around the cities, is involved the in transportation
and land-use planning processes
- Making real estate developers
to pay impact fees to cover the costs of new roads, schools,
water and sewer lines
Urban renewal is a function of urban planning that in
Europe and the United States reached its peak from the
late 1940s through to the early 1970s. It has had a
massive impact, often destructive, on the urban
landscape of many cities and continues to do so in the
present day. Indian cities are now beginning to
‘reconstruct’ themselves as they grow in size and
wealth
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Anyone who lives in the capital today has borne the brunt
of ‘urban renewal’. No, you don’t have to own illegal property
to be the victim. You could just be caught between the
crossfires. The warring parties are the irate residents and
government officials who woke up too late. The term often
implies the use of legal instruments to reclaim private property
for civic projects. While envisioned as a way to redevelop
residential slums and illegal commercial areas, "renewal", has
always triggered protests. In the second half of the 20th
century renewal in the developed world often resulted in vast
areas of cities being demolished and replaced by highways and
expressways, housing projects. |
