Elevating financial profile of a community is much easier than perceived.

By – Anoop Jha

Creating community potential inventory and building capacity

When it comes to economic development of a region or community, there are always two choices available for the governing authorities. First, to let the business go on as usual that is apparent in majority of cases, second, to take deliberate catalytic measures to enhance the economic profile of a community as a whole and hence elevating financial profile of the individuals and households. In the first case, all the efforts of government remains targeted to somehow sustain the past economic growth rate of the region, general governing psychology is to please the community with showing little increment in overall growth rate, hence securing the vote bank and if that is not possible there are so many tricks to present even weak economic profile and data in number of glorified ways. If you want to taste a flavor of statistical manipulation, a widely recommended book is “How to Lie with Statistics -by Darrell Huff”. Anyway, coming to the second case, it takes a vision, intelligence and determination of government and policy makers to elevate the financial profile of a community and individuals in a real sense, which is after all not that difficult as historically projected by government itself by blaming lack of resources or by policy makers, relying too much on age old economic theories, failing to understand and tap emerging possibilities, or by mainstream media which is more concerned about blaming administration and debating on trivial statistics rather than educating and helping community to find out other additional possible economic resources and options.

There is one fundamental flaw in the way government approaches the community economics. Their current method and thrust is to gather information form community, derive inferences from its analysis, propose measures to tackle it and allocate the fund to achieve the same for the given time period and done for a while. But this model is not sustainable because in this model community is totally dependent on external aid and support while their potential remains untapped. Community needs an economic model which puts community economic growth on autopilot mode; of course they need some kind of assistance from government also in terms of strategic structure, creating infrastructure and some monitory help in the beginning. A better model of economic growth for a region would be to extract the previously untapped potential of a community, every household, and every individual for their own development. A community holds key of its own success, they have huge unrecognised potential in totality, which if tapped and nourished can help them create a much better economic profile.

Census or community data are mostly related to demography and they are quantitative in nature. Here is a list of data items collected during survey by Census of India. http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/data_item_collected_in_census.aspx  

What is lacking here is the qualitative data.  Qualitative data is essential to understand the potential of individual and community as a whole, and to formulize a holistic economic strategy for the region and community which is beyond time or resources.  Government should also include qualitative items in census survey while asking questions to individuals and household like what is their strength, what economic activity they would like to peruse given a choice or if made mandatory? What are their economic aspirations? What are their hobbies or talent in which they would like to get training and government support to take it further as an additional household economic activity? What are the three immediate measures and assistance they are expecting from government as an individual or household to peruse their dream leading to economic development? What are they good at? What are the excess resources which they would like to share or transfer to society or community if needed, whether its material, time or knowledge?

Government need to prepare the inventory of potential and talent lying within the community itself. They have to find and create and nourish entrepreneur in every household and should provide every possible support and training for the same, if they want to raise the economic profile of any community, society or region. These entrepreneurial activities can be in addition to their primary economic activities. They need to create entrepreneur out of every housewife, out of every teenage, out of senior citizens. Each one of them have latent talent which need to be unlocked for they own sake and for the sake of better and autonomous society. All they need to do is to identify the potential, building capacity on that direction and create linkage between talent and market, rest of economic activities and growth will follow on its own.

Tracking morphological changes and development dynamics of a City

By - Anoop Jha

Reinventing landscape in the heart of Delhi – A case of Central Park, Connaught Place

Lively and green Central Park of Connaught Place is situated right in the of heart of Delhi, enveloped by colonial architecture and streets radiating from its centre. Above, it’s a ground for recreation, occasional festivals and celebration and below its transit hub with massive underground network of metro rail system.

Visible changes in Central Park character

This park has gone through several physical changes, adopted new landscape strategies to adjust to the social and infrastructural needs of time, as apparent from the changing views of satellite images captured at different time of last decade. Some of these landscape changes can be due to emergence of underground metro system and in view of recent Common Wealth Game as part of city revitalization projects. Though changes in any city are not mush apparent as experienced in day to day life, but these changes can be easily noticeable if observed for a long span of time.

Study of changing morphology and understanding the built dynamics of any city or part of it can be a very interesting subject as well as very valuable input for planners to project and decide the course of future development of that city. It can also enrich the knowledge of planners and will helps understand the nature, behavior and temperament of city. Fortunately there are many tools and much data is available for the study in this direction and will be available more abundantly in the future. May be its time to review and revise the planning course structures as well in the light of emerging technologies and data inflow which was not the case few years back. 

A different view of Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) Mumbai

By Anoop Jha

Satellite images showing construction stages of Bandra Worli Sea Link

Time-lapse satellite images of BWSL

Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) connecting western suburbs to main business district of Mumbai, Nariman Point, is a cable stayed 8 lane bridge. The foundation stone was laid in 1999. All the eight lanes were opened to traffic in March 2010.

Need for new strategic intervention to reduce transport accident and casualties

By – Anoop Jha

They need to understand the difference between luxury and necessity!!

Who do you think should feel responsible for those accidents in fog-ridden winter days, Is it fault of drivers, is the fog itself to blame, is it casual traffic monitoring and operation, is it lack of proper signage at critical road locations, is it implementation loophole or is it unequipped vehicle which makes it vulnerable as sitting duck in the low visibility of fog? Though each of these components are crucial in safe and efficient transportation there are some easy fix to curb the traffic accident which transport governing agencies either have failed to understand or have ignored them.  They have failed to understand the difference in the luxury and necessity.  They have also failed to understand the priority in transport planning and management. 

Intervention at production & supply level

Take for example a very small component of transport domain called “vehicle fog light”.  Most of us will agree that fog light of car can be a life saving component in winters, it can help avoid a majority of accidents which occurs on the roads across the India every year though majority of cars and other vehicle miss this vital component. If you think you are a smart guy just because you have already installed fog light in your car, you are wrong. You are not safe till every vehicle on road has this fog light installed, and there is no doubt if every vehicle on road would be equipped with fog-light it will drastically reduce the winter road accident rates. But question is though it sounds good to have fog light in every car on road how would you make that happen? Do you think a stringent rule or policy will help? May be stronger implementation or monitoring? A higher penalty may be? Though it might work in certain pockets, but it will certainly not work throughout the country. Commuters have and will always find a way to avoid these traffic rules no matter it’s for their own safety. They will wait every foggy year to pass thinking that its matter of few days and they will get fog light installed next winter unaware that these few days which they are purposefully ignoring can be vital for their survival and well being of others on road.

What about those lives lost on road due to lack of life saving devices and equipments which should be part and parcel of every car including lowest segment cars,  though it was absent at the time of accident which would have saved those precious lives otherwise, just because government and lobby of car manufacturers thought that these are luxury items and this choice should be left at the will of  end users who are either totally unaware of these vital life saving devices and equipments or they already  have other immediate financial priorities which makes is easy to forget the relevance of it.

Here, the definition of luxury and necessity is not clear. What government thinks as a luxury item like fog light and life saving car devices is actually necessity to curb the road accident and to save life.  If government will leave these vital choices at the consumer end or at the will of end user, they will certainly fail to implement it across the system or proposed region due to sheer number of users. Though it is much easier for government to control and implement policies at the manufacturer or service providers end, like car manufacturers and suppliers.  How can a government or transport regulatory body allow a single car without equipped with these life saving devices, extreme weather lighting like fog-light, emergency communication devices, first aid kits, etc. to enter into the country or market? 


All that a government or transport regulatory body has to do is to add a simple rule into the rule book of car and vehicle trade at manufacturer’s end that “No manufacturer will be allowed to launch any car or vehicle model of any segment in market without these life saving devices”. If these devices are mandatory part of the car package and capital cost consumer will definitely buy them but if left to their choice majority of them will definitely won’t care to install them. Some kind of acceptable pricing arrangements can always be done, but there should not be any compromise on quality of product which can prove vital for life.Old transport strategies need to be reviewed time to time as well as new and innovative strategies need to be formulated for sustainable urban transport and for a safer future.  

Oh, those few awkward moments in an elevator!!

By – Anoop Jha

Built architecture also demands user interaction, engagement, privacy.

Need for user engagement 

You must have frequently faced those few awkward moments while running up and down in an elevator in a multistory office or apartment building which makes a hundred meter vertical race of few seconds look like never-ending marathon. There are innumerous possible scenarios which make you feel awkward and uncomfortable in an elevator, like standing next to your boss in an elevator after missing a crucial deadline today, close encounter with some colleague whom you don’t appreciate much because of many reasons, travelling with someone you just had argument with on some issue, thought of someone monitoring your every move through elevator camera making you conscious of your dress, your gesture and your conversation, if that’s not enough, what about a familiar security guard in the elevator who keeps track of your movement inside out of building and gaze you with vigilant eyes every time you ride the elevator, may be a crowded silence of office elevator can scare you a little in rush-hour of the day if you are a claustrophobic fellow or may be a vacant apartment elevator with flickering tube light and grungy noise of faulty machine at late hours of night reminding of the horror movie you saw last Friday  with your friends would possibly scare you to death if you are little weak at heart.







Those old school theories of elevator speech and elevator story preached by every business mentor also doesn’t seem to take away that awkwardness of elevator ride because such conversations seems so fake and plastic, because everyone knows the trick of trade now and hidden intention of those momentary utilitarian ice breaker speeches and it also becomes annoying for those uninterested or unintended fellows around. 

A user environment demands useful interactions, purposeful engagement and privacy of spatial and virtual domain in addition to convenience and safety. Musical intervention, audio visual inputs in architectural or urban environment, interactive surfaces, sculptures and landscape elements are some of the tools to provide such user experience and we need to explore more in this direction. It’s high time that architects, user interface designers, mechanical engineers, sound and light engineers, psychologists,  behavioral experts and other interested  individuals and groups should come and work together to provide a complete architectural experience to user whether inside elevator or across the span of architectural features spaces.

Is Debate a right model for development process or is it a drain on resources?

By Anoop Jha

Understanding the structure and psychology of debate and its assumed relevance in planning process

They think that debate can solve the planning and development issues!! You must have seen some of the so called “eminent intellectuals” fighting with each other on air, on some news channel, defending their stubborn, idiosyncratic ideologies and opinions towards some development issues or other. Debate has become such an obvious routine event across the span of media that nobody cares for anybody’s opinion anymore. You already know what its likes. It appears that these intellectual guys on air have started taking “on screen debate” as a freelance job option or a tool to be in limelight rather than taking these development issues seriously and really getting involved in it with an intention to bring forth a plan which can solve the given development and planning issue and will help fuel the growth of region and nation.  

On air debate vs dissertation panel 

What is wrong with debate? Let’s try to understand the structure and psychology of debate. The moment we go for a debate our available resources gets split in two visible contradictory parts one “for” and other “against” the issue at discussion, while both groups start investing their time, energy, efforts in collecting evidence to justify their stand, meanwhile issue for which they are fighting starts losing its significance only being replaced by individual’s monumental idiosyncrasies and group’s ego. Ego manifesting at its best and expertise either being channelized in an unconstructive direction or being exhausted, this is what the structure of “debate” has been from time immemorial. They don’t mind debating at all because they have been taught and brought up like this in school. What they teach in school is to take a stand, right or wrong and defend it, in this much celebrated phenomenon called “debate” where more cunning and smarter guy would be awarded, isn’t it? The smarter orator will always win, no matter what side of debate he or she is on, it’s like that most of the time.

Now let’s take another example with a similar discussion platform with similar expert panel, but having a totally different approach towards any given issue. Let’s see ideally what happens in a design, architectural or planning dissertation jury. This jury process involves an identified design, development, planning project or issue which they want to structure and resolve as a final outcome, within a given time frame with a panel of diverse expertise having focused intention to arrive at some solution with consensus. These jury members of dissertation or thesis panel might also have their own idiosyncratic view toward any particular issue or design project which might be totally different from other co panel members like in the case of “those experts, debating on air”, but their approach and efforts towards any particular issue is totally and fundamentally different from those of “on screen debating intellectuals”.  Unlike the experts and politicians in on air group discussion and talk shows, these panel members are here with an intention to make that project work, these experts are here to give feedback, they are here to give a positive direction to the project, they are here to invest their expertise in the success of project and resolving the issues in a constructive way keeping their ego aside, they are here functioning together cohesively in spite of their ideological differences because their intention is to “resolve the issue” and “make this work” .

Of course every development project or planning issue has some externalities associated with it both positive as well as negative; every economic activity has some kind of social and environmental cost to pay. We often tend to forget that there are grey shades as well; it’s not always completely black or white. We don’t always have to take a stand for either black or white. Let’s think collectively without being prejudiced toward a new or old idea, listening to each other, paying attention to every voice, where no one feels excluded, trying to reach at consensus where everyone is a winner.

It takes a group effort, involvement of experts as well as community and stakeholders on same platform to take development work forward and to resolve planning issues; they have to work and think cohesively to arrive at some unanimous decision in spite of varied individual’s opinions. Then only we can create a society were majority of population is satisfied, not like debate which divides society, were even after the resolution of issue half of the segment still feel that there has been injustice because other segment of society has won in debate. It takes constructive criticism not the aggressive debate to build a vibrant society and strengthened nation. 

Pinpointing accountability for smooth operation and better urban governance

By - Anoop Jha

Overlapping responsibilities: is it a reason for disorder?

Every now or that there are apparent disorders and visible chaos in different corners of cities due to unclear or overlapping allocation of responsibilities among different governing and implementing agencies of city, like for instance - any emergency situation where everyone is confused what to do next, whom to approach first, who is to take action first. 

Overlapping  responsibilities of Agencies

Like breakdown of a vehicle in right in the middle of a road stretch or busy road intersection, what next, it can be a nightmare for the vehicle owner; it can happen to anyone, anytime. Vehicle can be in a stress situation while on road due to several reasons, may be due to badly maintained car, may be bad roads with deep pothole, ongoing underground infrastructure maintenance work on road without proper warning signage, rash public transport driver, faulty road signal, improper unmaintained signage etc. Who is accountable for that traffic pile up and chaos following that vehicle breakdown? Is that vehicle owner, is that traffic management authority, is that maintenance department, is that some other department whose maintenance excavation is going on or someone else? No one is clear what immediate measures to be taken and who is to come forward to normalize the situation. No backup plan. Everyone shedding their responsibility, No accountability

To avoid the urban operational chaos and disorder in day to day city activities or in emergency situation a proper accountability platform has to be created where every governing agency and stakeholders would be made aware of their assigned responsibilities in every possible urban scenario whether it’s usual day to day or event specific function or an emergency situation. Role of an urban planner is to stipulate different possible urban event scenarios beforehand as well as assigning responsibilities to concerned agencies to tackle such perceived scenarios with the help of governing authorities.