Cities must thrive!
Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/
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Offering economic choices and linking them to urban public spaces.
There is an inherent insufficiency in the way we plan urban
spaces world over, that is a flaw of inertia, a self-limiting prophecy, that is
this notion of designing mono-functional public, semi-public and outdoor
spaces, irrespective of their size. The idea that a particular space and asset
should only function in a way as per its perceived functionality. Because it
has been done this way all along, the inertia of centuries. The perception
itself is limiting, hindering choices and discarding opportunities. The idea
that a parking space is to be designed and used only for parking cars or bikes
with almost no functional heterogeneity. The idea that parks must only serve
recreational and health purposes, denying multifunctionality. The idea that
school should only be used for teaching, that too for an assigned grade, an
asset that remains idle for the rest of the day and night, for instance. And
more.
This inertia of what a city can offer to its citizens is
inherited limitations of capabilities that we had centuries ago. The
century-old idea of what city spaces should comprise of, the idea of its
functional constituents like land use or degree of land use heterogeneity is
based on human capabilities of calculation, modeling, and scenario building.
Fitting the infinite choices within half-odd dozen land use, or a dozen or two
land use compatibility matrix. While the computation power enabled by tools that
we have today, has increased astronomically in past century, city planning
frameworks and methodologies have not used them effectively world over.
On the other economic side, there are way too much of lost
opportunity cost and several barriers to economic choices. If we just observe
the skill profile of individuals, households and society around wherever we are
or try recollect from our memories, if we do that even without any matrix, it
is easily noticeable that we are surrounded by a lot of talent and scores of
people with borderline entrepreneurial drive, irrespective of age, gender and
ability. For instance, the guy just retired from financial services, with
immense wealth of industry knowledge who can offer banking, investment, and
financial advice to others. The homemaker who is excellent at cooking and
baking. The part time worker who also has a knack of art. The business student
who can teach the basics of marketing to others. And many more alike, possibly
million others, who want to do something about their spare time and talent, but
find processes too taxing, convoluted, and tortuous, and confronted by not
having accessible, affordable and legit neighbourhood spaces to get in touch
with their prospective customers. Those who may not be willing to go through
the preparation of full-fledged business plan, or too shy or feel incapacitated
to launch a startup, or may find business registration processes, tax
compliance and legality of businesses too complex, or may not be willing to
invest in commercial property, but who might still like to try some economic
activity, given a choice, given a humble non-imposing space in their
neighborhood, on a nominal per day or hourly basis, those who might like to
start small, with simple handholding, who might opt to rent a few square feet
in public space, if available, where they can try sell their product or
services. Not to be generalized as street vending activities, nor to be tagged
as informal economic activity. The current threshold to enter into economic
activity is too high for them to give it a try, so most of them simply drop the
plan, and hence the loss of opportunity cost.
It is possible that through urban planning and urban design
interventions, and through some procedural elasticity, city administration,
labor department, and tax authorities together may solve this dilemma. This is
to be done on a pilot scale for a year or two, before scaling up. What is
required from them is that city administration allows experimental economic
activities in a range of urban public spaces, they carve out hundreds or
thousands of such small spaces from the existing public spaces and urban residual
spaces to facilitate these economic activities, allow multifunctionality of
semi-public spaces on a timeshare basis, and offer them to these people on a
temporary basis, also allow real-time changes in land use at granular scale of
square feet or so. Labor department that may allow such activities to happen
while assuring the support infrastructure is in place, tax authority issues
easy online and offline formality to be done for the legitimacy of such
economic activities, further without the tax liability in say first 6 months.
This period with access to space for functioning, will be sufficient for people
to try many economic activities that they think they are capable to execute,
without the associated burden, they will get real taste of trying new things
hands-on and may decide if it makes business, societal and personal sense for
them, and many of them may later decide to continue these activities on a
regular basis while switching to formal business protocols and tax regime.
How difficult it could be to liberate economic choices even
for experiment’s sake, how difficult it may be to repurpose public outdoor
spaces and reassign multi-functionality in semi-public spaces to make them more
heterogeneous and allowing integration of economic activities in them. If we
remove the bureaucratic processes associated with it, rest is a fairly easy
task and target to achieve. Any city and its citizens can thrive, it’s a matter
of making choices that we haven’t made till now out of inertia, or possibly not
thought about them.
Author: Anoop Jha
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[Recent update
Starting 2024, launching urban management, interior design, home decor and commissioned artwork services in the Netherlands, serving local as well as international remote clients.
Please Note, that I am also conducting a FREE 45-minute online individual consultation on your interior design and home decor needs and aspirations if you are in the Netherlands or even internationally. Drop me an email at anoop.jha@gmail.com
Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/
Instagram interior design page @urbantenets
Instagram fine art and illustration page @urbanoregional
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#opportunitycot #economy #city #urbaneconomy #economic #urbanplanning #urbandesign #publicspaces #livelyhood #vocation #community #Rotterdam #Amsterdam #Utrecht #Hague #DenHaag #Netherlands
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