It’s one of the most frequently asked and open-ended questions — why is Bhubaneswar not regarded among great cities that the world talks about despite being regarded as the country’s first planned capital city after Independence?
Well, perspective and understanding of every individual varies. The meaning of ‘great city’ differs from person to person as some look for a place to live, some think from an economic point of view while others are attracted to the facilities and services which the city has to offer.
Are we moving from trademark big cities with concrete, glass and steel, digitisation of both governance and infrastructure towards smarter cities in our imagination? Our understanding of a smart city is changing from one where digital technologies and big data can be used to get the most out of existing physical infrastructure. It therefore becomes extremely significant in making cities even more liveable and productive, and addressing the challenges of urbanisation including congestion, pollution and public amenity.
This is already happening in Songdo in South Korea, unlike Smart Janpath in Bhubaneswar. The city of Seoul purposefully built a smart city adjacent to Incheon International Airport. Spanning 600 hectares, the city boasts 40 per cent green space, green buildings said to use 20 per cent less water and 14 per cent less electricity than a typical city of the same size, sensors to measure energy and temperature and monitor transport lines, universal broadband and a system that converts kitchen waste into clean energy.
Songdo represents a broader idea that great cities of the world will be more than just physical constructions, regardless of how far technology advances them. Indeed, the most liveable cities, those that are equitable and creative, are made through politics.
Certainly in Bhubaneswar there is a definite sense amongst many thinkers that if you can get the right shape or form of a city, then that will somehow lead to a better outcome. This is certainly the way that technology companies and corporations sell the future smart city idea, like the internet of things, the value of big data to city governance. It is some kind of puzzle that puts the bits together to get a bigger picture.
However, many smart cities, including Bhubaneswar, were trapped inside consulting firms, leaving behind what people want.
Away from Songdo, good policy is said to be at the heart of Melbourne’s strategies that have repopulated its inner and middle urban areas. By focusing on containing the sprawling city and making it more compact, the Victorian government created a more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly city centre — something that Bhubaneswar used to be long ago, but has lost significance.
This has added a fine grain walkable network to the entire downtown of Melbourne. The laneways were there the whole time, it was a matter of rediscovering, redesigning, and repurposing.
Melbourne’s laneways succeed because of the way people dwell and connect within them. It is about integrating the importance of sociable public spaces in which people can access unfamiliar knowledge and expand their horizons. The takeaway from Melbourne is that it’s the people who build the city, not the other way round, as we see in Bhubaneswar, where cycling infrastructure collapsed.
In other words, cities blend together in a trusted environment, enriching the city experience beyond a place to merely inhabit. Because our cities are diverse, messy, humans are always on the edge of chaos. Bhubaneswar must stop this direction of travel that one algorithm can sort out all the mess, that there is a city code that works out every problem. It places the city more and more into the hands of people who understand it the least.
In reality, has Bhubaneswar ever wondered what is the common thing among top-ranked cities in the world? What makes Auckland, Perth, Sydney, Barcelona, Seoul, Stockholm and many others the best liveable cities? They have something in common, planned development, at their very core.
Bhubaneswar must realise a city which is a result of technology and evolution, combined with planned development, is the most preferred. This planned developments forms the backbone of all activities taking place in the city and is responsible for their overall functioning. This helps in providing a minimum level of quality of life to its residents.
Cities which are built for people, and not for vehicles or buildings, are some of the great cities. This part is getting missed in many of the cities. It needs to be kept in mind that the ultimate purpose of having a city is to provide comfort, security, safety and utility to its residents. A city without people is merely a ghost town. People are the essence of any city and provide life to it.
Cities are often looked down upon for their massive resource consumption and wastage. Since cities primarily serve the purpose of trade among other activities, they have a concentration of wealth. From this wealth, cities buy and consume resources. Administrators who focus on providing maximum out of minimum resources are the key players in making cities sustainable and efficient. Wastage increases the cost of living in urban areas and is ultimately cross subsidised among its residents. Increased efficiency also helps in providing a higher population-holding capacity in most of the cases.
Every city is different, like humans. Each city offers something unique. Irrespective of the comparisons between cities on the basis of different parameters, each remains unique in its own. They have a feel and identity of their own. It may be its magnificent buildings, green areas, open spaces, pedestrian friendly transport system, extensive use of ICT, architectural heritage, tourism significance, etc.
A great city is not something which is impossible to have, but still only a few are well known globally. If some of the key points are kept in mind while planning and managing the city, impressive changes can be made. Bhubaneswar is not an exception.
Bhubaneswar must reinvent itself before the concretisation over its ideology is erased, leaving behind a hot chamber without spring, winter, monsoon, autumn. Bhubaneswar has all the ingredients to become a Singapore, but it needs to find the Lee Kuwan Yaws.
