Re-imagining The Future Of Cities ‒ Dehradun
Development and change has largely been focused on rural areas. The argument is that improving their conditions would obviate the need for people to move to urban centres, reducing the pressure on the cities. While much of rural India is crying for change, the idea of developing one sector at the cost of another can only be self-defeating. Cities tend to grow anyway and the fact that little is being done to improve, expand and develop them is showing, as they crumble under the pressure of growing demand.
Of course, there may be a few cities which have grasped the nettle, but often this is driven by considerations which are not necessarily in the interests of the people living there and you end up with lakes which burst into flames, roads full of holes, and continuously growing slums in the best of them.
If we go a couple of levels below the metros, the situation is dire and a good example of this is the city of Dehradun. Once full of greenery and a welcoming spirit, today, it is almost grid locked with traffic and civic amenities are barely able to cope. Growing at a rapid pace, it has practically lost its attraction for people who would flock there as a place to kick up their heels and live a good life.
This became the focus of an engaging session on Doon Trivia at the recent Dehradun Literature Festival. “Do not lose heart there is still a lot to be saved in Dehradun, but each person in the city has a responsibility to work for this,” was the heartfelt plea of the young Abhijay Negi, a lawyer activist who is at the heart of the efforts to protect the spirit of the city.
Another Dehradun denizen engaged in the struggle to preserve his city and other parts of pristine Uttarakhand, Anoop Nautiyal, shared some shocking statistics about its growth. According to him, the population of Dehradun has increased from a mere 170,000 in 1961, to an estimated 1,500,000 (15 lacs) by 2020 (no census figures after 2011). That is a stunning 782 per cent increase in 60 years. The carrying capacity of the city relative to the population has been exceeded by far a long time ago and most of this growth would probably have happened after it was declared the state capital.
While identifying the issues that the city was facing, Nautiyal pointed out the conundrum, which probably plagues most such cities around the country when he asked, “Who is the owner of the city, the person responsible for its welfare and growth?” He listed at least eight or 10 different authorities starting from the CM to the Commissioner, the Mayor, the Development Authority, the departments of water, roads, electricity, telecom, police, etc. all of whom are working in their own silos with no one finally calling the shots. There was no grand overarching vision for the city which was acceptable to all these different interests, to preserve the greenery, protect the water bodies, to make the city more liveable and ready for future generations and no single authority to own it.
The growth and decline of a city cannot really be contained by a fiat or an order. It happens as a response to its attractiveness which is based on many factors – ease of living, the environment which includes air quality and water supply, electricity and sewage, transportation which includes its availability, cost and ease of movement, roads, green spaces, jobs, health facilities and much more. As Nautiyal pointed out, on most of these parameters, Dehradun was ranked in the lower level of cities in the country.
The fact is, that a city’s growth adds vitality to it. Rapidly expanding cities like Toronto, Singapore, Dubai and Seoul, are magnets attracting the best skills from around the world. Many of our metros have pulled people in for years, and with this inflow they have flowered and grown in every way. In the last few decades, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad among others, have been growing disproportionately in population and wealth as well. The increase of the population is not the problem, how it is being managed is.
For Dehradun to thrive and prosper, it cannot remain the land of ‘grey hair and green hedges.’ It has always been known as a hub for great schools and this offering is being expanded with many new higher educational institutions. It has been home to many important national institutions like the ONGC, the Forest Research Institute, the Indian Military Academy, the Survey of India, the Institute of Mountaineering, the National Institute for Visually Handicapped, the Indian Institute of Petroleum, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and more. Building on these strengths, there are so many areas that could be developed ‒ information technology, wildlife conservation, tourism, geology, mountaineering and mountain studies, organic farming, senior living, wellness and holistic living and more.
For this to happen, the growth needs to be anticipated, directed and driven, as great growing cities are doing so successfully. Staying with the Dehradun example, while preserving the landmarks that people love like the clock tower in the heart of the city, the beautiful Rajpur Road, and other standouts, can a city be imagined which is widely dispersed, reducing the need for people to pile up in one sector, and giving reasons for them to live, work and grow in different areas. Creating infrastructure like electricity, water, sewage and roads, schools and hospitals in carefully selected parts of the city would encourage people to move away from the city centre. And these facilities should be future ready, with wide passageways, sidewalks, parks for children to play in, places for schools to be located, markets and of course parking, thus reducing the need to pile into the city centre for everything.
The bell is tolling for many cities and towns across the nation as they crumble inexorably. Today’s anything goes approach is a recipe for disaster as stretched infrastructure and facilities are not capable of expanding any further. Nautiyal pointed out that by 2025, there will be more vehicles on the roads of Dehradun than people, and each vehicle will have a daily wait of least 90 minutes in traffic jams. That is not how a garden city wants to be seen.
The question is, will we start working to save our cities, or will we let them keep sliding into oblivion.
The author has over 30 years’ experience in managing brands and businesses. He consults on and writes on retail, ecommerce and marketing. He has been a commentator and columnist in leading publications.
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