> > > the link has some images!!! > > > Naresh V Narasimhan > Architect - Principal > > Venkataramanan Associates > www.vagroup.com > > > >>> >>> http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/the-democratic-design-10425 >>> >>> The democratic design >>> >>> Bangalore of the coming decades should be the city its residents dream of, >>> say planners. >>> >>> Re-imagining cities cannot be done through a top-down approach, believes >>> Naresh V Narasimhan, principal architect at leading Bangalore architecture >>> and urban design firm Venkataramanan Associates. Narasimhan should know. He >>> has been a part of thinktanks such as the Bangalore Agenda Task Force >>> (BATF), a collective headed by Nandan Nilekani that acted as a conduit of >>> ideas between citizens, corporates and civic agencies in the early >>> Noughties. Today, Narasimhan is using experience gathered in working for >>> the BATF and other urban planning think-tanks to imagine the next >>> Bangalore, literally. >>> >>> He is spearheading a crowd-sourced project called Next Bangalore >>> (nextbangalore. com), which aims at collecting people's knowledge about >>> places, challenges and opportunities in the city. Through a website >>> developed and maintained by the MOD Institute, the research arm of his >>> firm, work is on to build a 'Bangalore change map' - both as a knowledge >>> resource and an impulse for urban development. >>> >>> "Solutions that only look at one aspect of the city's development are >>> band-aid solutions, " says Narasimhan. "All the city's problems are >>> completely interlinked. If you think in terms of solutions like 'create >>> more public spaces', 'build cycling tracks' etc, you are just looking at >>> the tip of tip of the iceberg, " says Narasimhan. "The vision of a city >>> cannot be decided by bureaucrats and politicians alone. We want it to be a >>> democratic process, and Bangalore Next is just a piece of the puzzle. " >>> >>> The MOD Institute has created an interactive map of Bangalore that asks >>> users to imagine one place they would like to change in the city. Using a >>> drop-down menu, users can give suggestions about how they would like to >>> change a certain aspect of the city and give suggestions on topics like >>> 'traffic', 'housing', 'environment' and 'culture'. Whether users are >>> bothered about a dangerous street crossing, too much noise at a particular >>> location, lack of public transport, absence of pedestrian paths or lack of >>> greenery, they can indicate locations on the interactive map that they >>> would like to see changed. >>> >>> The posts will be collected on the Nextbangalore Change Map and the ideas >>> collated are being timed for submission to the government panel that will >>> draft the next iteration of Bangalore's Comprehensive Development Plan, a >>> 10-year city plan that is up for revision in 2015. >>> >>> The basic idea came from projects in other cities like Hamburg, Sydney and >>> Melbourne. The Digital Sydney programme run by the local government, for >>> instance, crowdsourced the visual identity of the city and offered prizes >>> for best ideas. >>> >>> Narasimhan is just one among the many individuals working towards >>> Bangalore's rejuvenation. Ashwin Mahesh, an urban development expert >>> credited with creating a unique unidirectional bus system in the city and >>> the Bangalore Transport Information System (BTIS) which is now used by the >>> traffic police department, works for Imagine Bangalore. This is a >>> collective of like-minded citizens with experience in solving urban >>> problems. >>> >>> "Citizens have to become problemsolvers and participants, " says Mahesh. On >>> the BTIS website, for instance, users routinely post problems related to >>> traffic and other issues giving specific locations. These messages are >>> noted by the traffic police and suitably actioned. >>> >>> Mahesh has also created B City, a 'governance observatory', which monitors >>> the work of eight civic agencies - among them the municipality, the >>> electricity board, the water and sanitation board, the transport department >>> and traffic police. Again, citizens are free to provide feedback and >>> register complaints. Mahesh's current dream mission is the 'Praja Factory' >>> - a Khan Academy-like public education project that will teach citizens >>> lessons in civics - not as it is taught in dry school textbooks but as it >>> is applied in society. "You will get more people to solve problems if they >>> know how to solve problems, " says Mahesh. >>> >>> The aim is to create an ecosystem of people who can bring about change, >>> says Mahesh. "Each of us - individuals, corporates, technologists, urban >>> planners and architects - has our own areas of competence. If corporate >>> entities focus their CSR activities on their own areas of competence, >>> that's great. Why should a technology company be building schools?" Imagine >>> Bangalore, is working to engage the private sector in public causes. For >>> instance, it asked a cycle manufacturer to donate vehicles for a pilot >>> project inside the IISc campus. It also got two city malls to fund >>> additional cameras for the traffic police to use in enforcement work. "Just >>> with that idea, the traffic police generated lakhs of rupees in >>> enforcement, " says Mahesh. >>> >>> >>> Naresh Narasimhan >>> Sent from my Phone > > > -- > This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the > intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged > information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender > by reply e-mail and destroy all copies and the original message. Any > unauthorized review, use, disclosure, distribution, forwarding, printing or > copying of this e-mail or attachment(s) in this e-mail is strictly prohibited > and may be unlawful.
