LEADER ARTICLE
Hope in the Cities

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">They can be Heritage & Happening<br /><br />The quality of life in Indian cities has deteriorated steadily over several decades with unplanned construction pitted against aging infrastructure and decaying civic institutions. <br /><br />Even as the economy has been liberalised, urban governance appears to be stuck in the ancient regime. The causes are well known: Weak property rights, defunct civic bodies, unimaginative planning, the list goes on. Nonetheless, this paralysis has created a unique opportunity for the longer-term regeneration of Indian cities. <br /><br />Rapid economic growth has transformed cities across Asia since the mid-eighties. First Singapore and Hong Kong and now Shanghai — shining skyscrapers and gleaming shopping malls have changed these cities beyond recognition. In particular, commercial districts have been torn down and completely rebuilt. The building boom in South East Asia may have slowed in recent years but tall cranes still continue to dominate the skylines in Beijing and Shanghai. All this in sharp contrast with the unimaginative concrete blocks that Indian architects still insist on churning out. True, there have been some improvements, we see the odd interesting design in Gurgaon, Haryana, but these are still the exception. <br /><br />However, the real opportunity to transform Indian cities lies not just in their new buildings but in their old, pre-Independence architecture. The building boom in the rest of Asia has erased effectively all history. Beijing, for instance, is now a combination of Communist concrete and new steel. With the exception of the historic Forbidden City, little remains to remind the visitor that for centuries this city was the epicentre of one of the world''s great and ancient civilisations. Eventually, all Asian cities will end up looking like clones of each other. This is ironic at a time that the original prototype, Singapore, is itself working hard to preserve the little that is left from its colonial past. <br /><br />This is a very big opportunity for Indian cities to create cities with ‘character'' that will live beyond current architectural fashion. Antiquated tenancy laws, and sometimes sheer indifference, has allowed a surprising amount of old architecture to survive into the 21st century. A stroll along Mumbai''s Fort area, Delhi''s Connaught Place or Kolkata''s BBD Bagh will show up wonderful old buildings in stone and brick. This is not just true of the commercial districts, but even of many residential areas — the homes of rich merchants in North Kolkata and Old Cuffe Parade in Mumbai. These old structures may often appear dilapidated but they were constructed last and usually they need little more than a bit of paint and imagination (and, of course, the removal of those irritating billboards). <br /><br />We have to be especially conscious about this issue at this point in time because economic liberalisation presents both an opportunity as well as a danger. As India''s economy gathers momentum, its cities will face the same pressures faced by other Asian cities. Economic prosperity will mean that alternative uses for the land will begin to tempt developers even as economic liberalisation renders irrelevant antiquated laws about land use. The changes are necessary, but do we really need another shopping mall to prove this? <br /><br />The key to saving these buildings (indeed whole neighbourhoods) is to find imaginative ways to re-use them on a commercial basis. The current conservation strategy, wherever it exists, is merely to ban all change. This is counter-productive as it dooms architecture to steady degeneration and irrelevance. A few buildings may be saved by public spending and enthusiastic individuals, but city-centres cannot be regenerated by turning them into lifeless museums. <br /><br />Europe provides several good examples of how old city-centres can be kept vibrant though urban re-engineering. One way is to pedestrianise whole areas, encourage restaurants/bars/ cafes and support cultural activity in the traffic-free spaces (e.g. Covent Garden in London). This not only allows preservation but generates jobs, profits and social interaction. Another way is to continue using the buildings for their original purpose but steadily update the usage. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, for instance, continue to use buildings that are almost 1,000 years old (contrast their state of preservation with the relatively young Walled City in Delhi). In both cases, preservation flows from imaginative usage rather than fossilisation. Continuous use of buildings is the best antidote for decay.<br /><br />These suggestions and ideas are nothing new to India. Over the last decade, palaces and forts in Rajasthan have been reborn as hotels. However, it is yet to be tried on a large-scale in most other India''s cities. Certainly, this is not just applicable to the four metropolitan cities but a myriad smaller towns across India — from Varanasi to Panaji. Money is not likely to be a problem since private entrepreneurs will invest in these projects as long as they have a commercial incentive to do so (as happened in the case of the heritage hotels). The important thing is to create the incentive framework that will encourage the process of urban restoration. We need to act now before this unique window of opportunity is lost, and the best way to begin is to have a visible success story in one of the larger cities. This can be used to demonstrate the potential success of such a strategy. <br /><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">(The author is chief economist, Deutsche Bank, Singapore)</span></div> </div>