From sebydesiolim at hotmail.com Sat Dec 1 21:25:51 2007 From: sebydesiolim at hotmail.com (sebastian Rodrigues) Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 21:25:51 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] FW: The Emergency Times - 21st Issue In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: First hand information on resistence to emergency in Pakistan. Seby

Visit my blog at

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Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 14:34:46 +0500From: fatimasaeedkhan at gmail.comTo: ratishreekaur at rediffmail.comSubject: The Emergency Times - 21st IssueAs always, print, send, distribute to all you know,pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.comtheemergencytimes at gmail.comIn Complete Unity-- Warmest Regards,FSK® Fatima Saeed Khan _________________________________________________________________ Post free property ads on Yello Classifieds now! www.yello.in http://ss1.richmedia.in/recurl.asp?pid=221 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071201/7b5c7468/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: The_Emergency_Times_21.doc Type: application/msword Size: 5916672 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071201/7b5c7468/attachment-0002.doc From bert_demuynck at yahoo.com Mon Dec 3 06:08:39 2007 From: bert_demuynck at yahoo.com (Bert de Muynck) Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 16:38:39 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Saudi Arbian firm's investment in India Message-ID: <985704.80077.qm@web51401.mail.re2.yahoo.com> [note; sorry for double posting, this reply was send last monday, but as it seems it didn't came through on the list, i send it from another email address, bert] Hi all, Thanks for sending this around Sagar. I saw the news passing by the other day and had some questions about it. Probably to many questions and hope we can discuss some of this on the urbanstudy-mailinglist. My interest is in understanding the rotation of urban concepts, or illusions, that are sustained to connect the new urban reality with the past urban reality, when one talked about the european or american model of cities, their development, concepts, research involved in them. Understandably the massive "urban" explosion in Asia has furthered brought the analysis of the contemporary city towards a point of standstill. I mean, there was talk about European or American urban models being implemented in China (where I am based) but reality on the ground seems to be different, and this comparison can no longer be sustained. Similar situations seem to happen in the Indian context. But with another dream; the dream of the accidental encounter between Shanghai and Dubai on a computer screen. This plan of investment is a first step. When the plan of the Dubai Festival City, which the project below refers to, was announced in 2005, the objective of the design was to 'embrace the architecture of the Gulf, these townhouses and penthouses will combine modern comforts with warm Arabian tradition, all infused with serene and dramatic surroundings,' said Phil McArthur, director, leasing and marketing, Dubai Festival City. (http://www.eqarat.com/j2ee/examples/english/newsletter/172/1.htm) What are Dubai investors going to embrace in Mumbai, New Delhi or Bangalore? The reason to point out of this, is to understand this phenomenon better as I believe the analysis of this could bring a new way on how we understand ourselves and the cities that are being build around, over, under and next to us. How concepts are moving, how finances and investments are moving and how they land again in urban context? I would appreciate if there is somebody that has more examples of either Dubai or Chinese investments, plans being made, architectures being executed, discourses on this under development in the context of India's present and future urban or architectural development. It would be nice to collect more of this, understand them and discuss them on this list. Upon interest. Also the new issue of Metropolis Magazine features, a rather one-side reading although on Dubai's current state of affairs, hinting in this direction and thus providing some evidence in another direction of the Indian-UAE exchange; "There are not enough human beings on earth right now to deal with construction. Most development projects are sold out within days of being announced. They cannot be built fast enough to keep up with demand from buyers in Iran, India, Eastern Europe, and the U.K., and are often paid for by the time they've been completed." (http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=3047) These are initial thoughts of interest in this topic. It could be possible that this already has been discussed on this list, then sorry for that. Regardless I welcome suggestion and further expansion on this. best of regards, Bert de Muynck architect-writer director Moving Cities m +86 135 20700060 ++ ONLINE PUBLICATIONS by BdM +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 'Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation.' Charles Baudelaire The Terrifying Century of Beautiful Urbanism - http://www.monu.org/monu6/Muynck_final.pdf The Rise and Fall of Beijing?s Creative Business District http://www.orgnets.net/bdm_cbd ----- Original Message ---- From: Sagar Gandhi To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 12:40:15 AM Subject: [Urbanstudy] Saudi Arbian firm's investment in India Hello All, Check this article. This might be of your interest. Regards, Sagar Saudi realty firm plans 3 bn investment in India - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Saudi_realty_firm_plans_3_bn_investment_in_India/articleshow/2569401.cms MUMBAI: Saudi Arabia-based realty firm Tanmiyat group is planning an investment of around USD 3 billion in a township project in India, a top company official said. The group has zeroed in on Bangalore for the project, its first-ever in the Indian market. "We are in the final stages of fine-tuning our plans for this township project. We will be ready with the final blueprint within the next 2-3-months," Tanmiyat group's Managing Director Bharat Thakkar said. This would be a mixed-use project and would be completed in phases over a five-year time span, he said. The project would be distinctive and unique in many respects and "since this is our first venture in India, we will use the project to position ourselves rightly in the market to facilitate our growth thereafter," Thakkar said. The group was still fine-tuning various aspects of the project, including the investment structure for it, he added. "The equity component is still fluid and we have yet to decide whether we want to load a debt component onto the project," he said, adding that the average size of the group's projects has been in the range of USD 2.5-3 billion. Being a mixed-use project, apart from residential accommodation, the project would also have commercial infrastructure. "Bangalore is well-known for its IT, BPO and bio-tech establishments and these three would constitute focus areas for us," Thakkar said. -- Sagar S. Gandhi Graduate Student Construction Engineering & Management Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Stanford University -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Urbanstudygroup mailing list Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071202/293c2947/attachment-0002.html From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Dec 4 16:29:00 2007 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 16:29:00 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Mega cities to have 'Unified Metro Transport Authority' soon Message-ID: <86b8a7050712040259g1141d2a4tcbebadb522750437@mail.gmail.com> Mega cities to have 'Unified Metro Transport Authority' soon 3 Dec, 2007, NEW DELHI: The Unified Metro Transport Authorities will soon be set-up in mega cities with a population of more than a million for implementing urban transport programmes and projects. This was announced by the Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran here today at the inaugural day of Institute of Urban Transport (IUT) Conference on "Sustainable Urban Transport". "The present land use and transport policies in India have led to the excessive use of the personalised modes of transportation that causes congestion, air pollution and noise," he said. Terming the Urban Transport as "bloodstream" of the cities, Anwarul Hoda, Member of Planning Commission, stressed on the need of including private parties in the sustainable development of urban transport. "Increasing traffic jams, increasing road accidents, and air pollution level are the few challenging problems in the urban cities," Dr PS Rana, Patron, IUT said. The conference has been organised by IUT in collaboration with Association of Intelligent Transport System (AITS) and support of the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD) to discuss various aspects and options to identify sustainable urban transport. The three-day conference will also discuss the progress of ongoing urban transport projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/bbbb494a/attachment-0002.html From anilaemmanuel at gmail.com Tue Dec 4 16:55:42 2007 From: anilaemmanuel at gmail.com (anila emmanuel) Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 16:55:42 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: global warming is a scam In-Reply-To: <59ead66c0711230623m3cc3af13x290a57fa97becab8@mail.gmail.com> References: <4746b236.1dbe7e0a.3793.02dfSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <59ead66c0711230623m3cc3af13x290a57fa97becab8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <59ead66c0712040325s59b9cee7h5e788be83e643a91@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: anila emmanuel Date: Nov 23, 2007 7:53 PM Subject: Fwd: global warming is a scam *Global Warming is a Scam* *By John Coleman (jcoleman at kusi.com ) * * It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming... it is a SCAM. Some misquided scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data back in the late 1990's to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental-extremism type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus. Environmental extremist, notable politicians among them then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridicules manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment. I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you "believe in." It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a nonevent, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won't believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it. I suspect you might like to say to me, "John, look the research that supports the case for global warming was done by research scientists; people with Ph.D's in Meteorology. They are employed by major universities and important research institutions. Their work has been reviewed by other scientists with Ph.D's. They have to know a lot more about it than you do. Come on, John, get with it. The experts say our pollution has created an strong and increasing greenhouse effect and a rapid, out of control global warming is underway that will sky rocket temperatures, destroy agriculture, melt the ice caps, flood the coastlines and end life as we know it. How can you dissent from this crisis? You must be a bit nutty. Allow me, please, to explain how I think this all came about. Our universities have become somewhat isolated from the rest of us. There is a culture and attitudes and values and pressures on campus that are very different. I know this group well. My father was a Ph.D-University types. I was raised in the university culture. Any person who spends a decade at a university obtaining a Ph.D in Meteorology and become a research scientist, more likely than not, becomes a part of that single minded culture. They all look askance at the rest of us, certain of their superiority. They respect government and disrespect business, particularly big business. They are environmentalists above all else. And, there is something else. These scientists know that if they do research and the results are in no way alarming, their research will gather dust on the shelf and their research careers will languish. But if they do research that sounds alarms, they will become well known and respected and receive scholarly awards and, very importantly, more research dollars will come flooding their way. * *Remember the United Nations had formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the late 1980's with the mission of accessing and countering manmade climate change. The UN had established this global bureaucracy on climate change. It had become the "world series" or "olympics" for Climatologists and Meteorologists and scientists in related fields. You had to strive to be accepted, invited to present and review papers and travel to international meetings of the committee. Otherwise you were a nobody in your field. * *So when these researchers did climate change studies in the late 90's they were eager to produce findings that would be important and be widely noticed and trigger more research funding. It was easy for them to manipulate the data to come up with the results they wanted to make headlines and at the same time drive their environmental agendas. Then their like-minded Ph.Dcolleagues reviewed their work and hastened to endorse it without question. ** There were a few who didn't fit the mold. They did ask questions and raised objections. They did research with contradictory results. The environmental elitists berated them and brushed their studies aside. I have learned since the Ice Age is coming scare in the 1970's to always be a skeptic about research. In the case of global warming, I didn't accept media accounts. Instead I read dozens of the scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct when I assure you there is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. It is all a scam, the result of bad science. I am not alone in this assessment. There are hundreds of other meteorologists, many of them Ph.D's, who are as certain as I am that this global warming frenzy is based on bad science and is not valid. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming. In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped. The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway. I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.* from the desk of *anil laul *c.e.o & principal architect *anangpur** building centre *(the ABC of holistic human settlement design) faridabad, haryana - 121003 (india) *telefax*: +91-129-2512364 *mobile*: +91-98100-59691 *email*: anillaul at vsnl.com, anillaul at rediffmail.com *URL*: http://www.anangpur.com Yahoo ID: laulanil Skype ID: anil.laul -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/05ae4f5e/attachment-0002.html From nandinichami at yahoo.com Tue Dec 4 16:55:19 2007 From: nandinichami at yahoo.com (nandini c) Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 03:25:19 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Parliament Update 12th Session: Q&A Message-ID: <841285.92247.qm@web44810.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> Hi, Plz find attached the second issue of the Parliament bulletin (a compilation of questions and answers raised in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) pertaining to the Twelveth Session of the Parliament of India ( 15 November - 7 December 2007) . This compilation is undertaken by the Environment Support Group and regular updates will be sent out, as and when the Parliament website gets updated. For further queries or comments regarding this compilation, mail nandini at esgindia. org or dkalita at esgindia. org. Nandini Environment Support Group --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-156 Size: 2911 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/6ea10247/attachment-0002.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: POI_Q_A_BulletinXII.2_041207.rtf Type: text/richtext Size: 400888 bytes Desc: Renamed from 'POI_Q&A_BulletinXII.2_041207.rtf' to 'POI_Q_A_BulletinXII.2_041207.rtf' Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/6ea10247/attachment-0002.rtx From sebydesiolim at hotmail.com Sat Dec 1 21:26:20 2007 From: sebydesiolim at hotmail.com (sebastian Rodrigues) Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 15:56:20 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] FW: The Emergency Times - 21st Issue In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: First hand information on resistence to emergency in Pakistan. Seby

Visit my blog at

http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=17

Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 14:34:46 +0500From: fatimasaeedkhan at gmail.comTo: ratishreekaur at rediffmail.comSubject: The Emergency Times - 21st IssueAs always, print, send, distribute to all you know,pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.comtheemergencytimes at gmail.comIn Complete Unity-- Warmest Regards,FSK® Fatima Saeed Khan _________________________________________________________________ Post free property ads on Yello Classifieds now! www.yello.in http://ss1.richmedia.in/recurl.asp?pid=221 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071201/7b5c7468/attachment-0003.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: The_Emergency_Times_21.doc Type: application/msword Size: 5916672 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071201/7b5c7468/attachment-0003.doc From bert_demuynck at yahoo.com Mon Dec 3 06:08:47 2007 From: bert_demuynck at yahoo.com (Bert de Muynck) Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:38:47 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Saudi Arbian firm's investment in India Message-ID: <985704.80077.qm@web51401.mail.re2.yahoo.com> [note; sorry for double posting, this reply was send last monday, but as it seems it didn't came through on the list, i send it from another email address, bert] Hi all, Thanks for sending this around Sagar. I saw the news passing by the other day and had some questions about it. Probably to many questions and hope we can discuss some of this on the urbanstudy-mailinglist. My interest is in understanding the rotation of urban concepts, or illusions, that are sustained to connect the new urban reality with the past urban reality, when one talked about the european or american model of cities, their development, concepts, research involved in them. Understandably the massive "urban" explosion in Asia has furthered brought the analysis of the contemporary city towards a point of standstill. I mean, there was talk about European or American urban models being implemented in China (where I am based) but reality on the ground seems to be different, and this comparison can no longer be sustained. Similar situations seem to happen in the Indian context. But with another dream; the dream of the accidental encounter between Shanghai and Dubai on a computer screen. This plan of investment is a first step. When the plan of the Dubai Festival City, which the project below refers to, was announced in 2005, the objective of the design was to 'embrace the architecture of the Gulf, these townhouses and penthouses will combine modern comforts with warm Arabian tradition, all infused with serene and dramatic surroundings,' said Phil McArthur, director, leasing and marketing, Dubai Festival City. (http://www.eqarat.com/j2ee/examples/english/newsletter/172/1.htm) What are Dubai investors going to embrace in Mumbai, New Delhi or Bangalore? The reason to point out of this, is to understand this phenomenon better as I believe the analysis of this could bring a new way on how we understand ourselves and the cities that are being build around, over, under and next to us. How concepts are moving, how finances and investments are moving and how they land again in urban context? I would appreciate if there is somebody that has more examples of either Dubai or Chinese investments, plans being made, architectures being executed, discourses on this under development in the context of India's present and future urban or architectural development. It would be nice to collect more of this, understand them and discuss them on this list. Upon interest. Also the new issue of Metropolis Magazine features, a rather one-side reading although on Dubai's current state of affairs, hinting in this direction and thus providing some evidence in another direction of the Indian-UAE exchange; "There are not enough human beings on earth right now to deal with construction. Most development projects are sold out within days of being announced. They cannot be built fast enough to keep up with demand from buyers in Iran, India, Eastern Europe, and the U.K., and are often paid for by the time they've been completed." (http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=3047) These are initial thoughts of interest in this topic. It could be possible that this already has been discussed on this list, then sorry for that. Regardless I welcome suggestion and further expansion on this. best of regards, Bert de Muynck architect-writer director Moving Cities m +86 135 20700060 ++ ONLINE PUBLICATIONS by BdM +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 'Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation.' Charles Baudelaire The Terrifying Century of Beautiful Urbanism - http://www.monu.org/monu6/Muynck_final.pdf The Rise and Fall of Beijing?s Creative Business District http://www.orgnets.net/bdm_cbd ----- Original Message ---- From: Sagar Gandhi To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 12:40:15 AM Subject: [Urbanstudy] Saudi Arbian firm's investment in India Hello All, Check this article. This might be of your interest. Regards, Sagar Saudi realty firm plans 3 bn investment in India - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Saudi_realty_firm_plans_3_bn_investment_in_India/articleshow/2569401.cms MUMBAI: Saudi Arabia-based realty firm Tanmiyat group is planning an investment of around USD 3 billion in a township project in India, a top company official said. The group has zeroed in on Bangalore for the project, its first-ever in the Indian market. "We are in the final stages of fine-tuning our plans for this township project. We will be ready with the final blueprint within the next 2-3-months," Tanmiyat group's Managing Director Bharat Thakkar said. This would be a mixed-use project and would be completed in phases over a five-year time span, he said. The project would be distinctive and unique in many respects and "since this is our first venture in India, we will use the project to position ourselves rightly in the market to facilitate our growth thereafter," Thakkar said. The group was still fine-tuning various aspects of the project, including the investment structure for it, he added. "The equity component is still fluid and we have yet to decide whether we want to load a debt component onto the project," he said, adding that the average size of the group's projects has been in the range of USD 2.5-3 billion. Being a mixed-use project, apart from residential accommodation, the project would also have commercial infrastructure. "Bangalore is well-known for its IT, BPO and bio-tech establishments and these three would constitute focus areas for us," Thakkar said. -- Sagar S. Gandhi Graduate Student Construction Engineering & Management Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Stanford University -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Urbanstudygroup mailing list Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071203/293c2947/attachment.html From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Dec 4 16:29:07 2007 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:59:07 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Mega cities to have 'Unified Metro Transport Authority' soon Message-ID: <86b8a7050712040259g1141d2a4tcbebadb522750437@mail.gmail.com> Mega cities to have 'Unified Metro Transport Authority' soon 3 Dec, 2007, NEW DELHI: The Unified Metro Transport Authorities will soon be set-up in mega cities with a population of more than a million for implementing urban transport programmes and projects. This was announced by the Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran here today at the inaugural day of Institute of Urban Transport (IUT) Conference on "Sustainable Urban Transport". "The present land use and transport policies in India have led to the excessive use of the personalised modes of transportation that causes congestion, air pollution and noise," he said. Terming the Urban Transport as "bloodstream" of the cities, Anwarul Hoda, Member of Planning Commission, stressed on the need of including private parties in the sustainable development of urban transport. "Increasing traffic jams, increasing road accidents, and air pollution level are the few challenging problems in the urban cities," Dr PS Rana, Patron, IUT said. The conference has been organised by IUT in collaboration with Association of Intelligent Transport System (AITS) and support of the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD) to discuss various aspects and options to identify sustainable urban transport. The three-day conference will also discuss the progress of ongoing urban transport projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/bbbb494a/attachment-0003.html From anilaemmanuel at gmail.com Tue Dec 4 16:55:57 2007 From: anilaemmanuel at gmail.com (anila emmanuel) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:25:57 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: global warming is a scam In-Reply-To: <59ead66c0711230623m3cc3af13x290a57fa97becab8@mail.gmail.com> References: <4746b236.1dbe7e0a.3793.02dfSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <59ead66c0711230623m3cc3af13x290a57fa97becab8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <59ead66c0712040325s59b9cee7h5e788be83e643a91@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: anila emmanuel Date: Nov 23, 2007 7:53 PM Subject: Fwd: global warming is a scam *Global Warming is a Scam* *By John Coleman (jcoleman at kusi.com ) * * It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming... it is a SCAM. Some misquided scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data back in the late 1990's to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental-extremism type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus. Environmental extremist, notable politicians among them then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridicules manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment. I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you "believe in." It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a nonevent, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won't believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it. I suspect you might like to say to me, "John, look the research that supports the case for global warming was done by research scientists; people with Ph.D's in Meteorology. They are employed by major universities and important research institutions. Their work has been reviewed by other scientists with Ph.D's. They have to know a lot more about it than you do. Come on, John, get with it. The experts say our pollution has created an strong and increasing greenhouse effect and a rapid, out of control global warming is underway that will sky rocket temperatures, destroy agriculture, melt the ice caps, flood the coastlines and end life as we know it. How can you dissent from this crisis? You must be a bit nutty. Allow me, please, to explain how I think this all came about. Our universities have become somewhat isolated from the rest of us. There is a culture and attitudes and values and pressures on campus that are very different. I know this group well. My father was a Ph.D-University types. I was raised in the university culture. Any person who spends a decade at a university obtaining a Ph.D in Meteorology and become a research scientist, more likely than not, becomes a part of that single minded culture. They all look askance at the rest of us, certain of their superiority. They respect government and disrespect business, particularly big business. They are environmentalists above all else. And, there is something else. These scientists know that if they do research and the results are in no way alarming, their research will gather dust on the shelf and their research careers will languish. But if they do research that sounds alarms, they will become well known and respected and receive scholarly awards and, very importantly, more research dollars will come flooding their way. * *Remember the United Nations had formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the late 1980's with the mission of accessing and countering manmade climate change. The UN had established this global bureaucracy on climate change. It had become the "world series" or "olympics" for Climatologists and Meteorologists and scientists in related fields. You had to strive to be accepted, invited to present and review papers and travel to international meetings of the committee. Otherwise you were a nobody in your field. * *So when these researchers did climate change studies in the late 90's they were eager to produce findings that would be important and be widely noticed and trigger more research funding. It was easy for them to manipulate the data to come up with the results they wanted to make headlines and at the same time drive their environmental agendas. Then their like-minded Ph.Dcolleagues reviewed their work and hastened to endorse it without question. ** There were a few who didn't fit the mold. They did ask questions and raised objections. They did research with contradictory results. The environmental elitists berated them and brushed their studies aside. I have learned since the Ice Age is coming scare in the 1970's to always be a skeptic about research. In the case of global warming, I didn't accept media accounts. Instead I read dozens of the scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct when I assure you there is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. It is all a scam, the result of bad science. I am not alone in this assessment. There are hundreds of other meteorologists, many of them Ph.D's, who are as certain as I am that this global warming frenzy is based on bad science and is not valid. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming. In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped. The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway. I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.* from the desk of *anil laul *c.e.o & principal architect *anangpur** building centre *(the ABC of holistic human settlement design) faridabad, haryana - 121003 (india) *telefax*: +91-129-2512364 *mobile*: +91-98100-59691 *email*: anillaul at vsnl.com, anillaul at rediffmail.com *URL*: http://www.anangpur.com Yahoo ID: laulanil Skype ID: anil.laul -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/05ae4f5e/attachment-0003.html From nandinichami at yahoo.com Tue Dec 4 16:56:03 2007 From: nandinichami at yahoo.com (nandini c) Date: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:26:03 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Parliament Update 12th Session: Q&A Message-ID: <841285.92247.qm@web44810.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> Hi, Plz find attached the second issue of the Parliament bulletin (a compilation of questions and answers raised in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) pertaining to the Twelveth Session of the Parliament of India ( 15 November - 7 December 2007) . This compilation is undertaken by the Environment Support Group and regular updates will be sent out, as and when the Parliament website gets updated. For further queries or comments regarding this compilation, mail nandini at esgindia. org or dkalita at esgindia. org. Nandini Environment Support Group --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-156 Size: 2911 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/6ea10247/attachment-0003.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: POI_Q_A_BulletinXII.2_041207.rtf Type: text/richtext Size: 400888 bytes Desc: Renamed from 'POI_Q&A_BulletinXII.2_041207.rtf' to 'POI_Q_A_BulletinXII.2_041207.rtf' Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071204/6ea10247/attachment-0003.rtx From elkamath at yahoo.com Sat Dec 8 09:33:56 2007 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:03:56 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] FW: Prepaid Water Meters Violate Rights Message-ID: <671292.135.qm@web53609.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Cross posted from DEBATE: The introduction of prepaid water meters in Phiri, Soweto was unlawful and violated the residents' constitutional right to equality, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Monday. Court 6F was filled with members of the Inner City Resource Centre and the Coalition Against Water Privatisation - all in support of Phiri residents as they mounted a legal challenge in a three-year battle for access to water. Outside, protesters - who had marched to the court - sang songs and chanted. Advocate Wim Trengove, representing five Phiri residents, told the court that the manner in which the prepaid meters were introduced was unlawful and "violated the principles of legality". Residents were forced to choose between backyard taps and prepaid meters - failing to choose between the two would mean having their water cut. This is what prompted many residents to choose prepaid water metres, charged Trengove. There was no provision in the City's bylaws relevant to cutting residents' water supplies that accommodated this threat. "There is no provision that says that water can be cut if people don't choose one or other option... [this] was not sourced in law and therefore violated the principles of legality," he told the court. "...People were bullied into accepting prepaid meters." The installation of these meters also violated residents' constitutionally enshrined right to the access of sufficient water. Trengove argued that the city provided a standard option for Johannesburg residents where people used as much water as they pleased and were billed at the end of the month. "Rich people are given the luxury of using water first and paying later," he said. This system was never offered to the residents of Phiri. Trengove added that there was discrimination in the way the city treated the rich, mostly white residents of Johannesburg and the poor, mostly black residents. "Discrimination between the rich mostly white residents on the one hand and the poor mostly black residents on the other is sheer discrimination on grounds of poverty and race... there is absolutely no justification for that," he said. He said the City could not argue that they introduced the prepaid meters due to bad debt in Phiri, as they did not provide any evidence of this and questioned why the City did not give residents in white areas the same options when they defaulted on their payments. "... clearly it is a case of indirect discrimination based on race," Trengove said. The application would last three days, until December 5, with the City responding to the resident's application on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the national water affairs and forestry department, another respondent in the matter, would have its view heard in court. Meanwhile, one of the applicants, Sophia Malekutu, an elderly resident who has lived at 361 B in Phiri since 1954, said it had become difficult to live in the area because of the water problems. She said she went without water for nine months recently. "It was stolen and not replaced for nine months... my neighbour said I could take water, I musn't ask, I can take but I was shy because they were buying water for me... you don't know how heavy I lived for that nine months," Malekutu said. Trengove said he hoped for an outcome in which his clients were given more water resources, enough for a "decent human existence". The application was for the City to provide 50 litres of free basic water per person per day. - Sapa Quickwire Published on the Web by IOL on 2007-12-03 16:21:55 ________________________________ © Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains. < http://secure-za.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?rnd=1186474318258&ci=za-independent&cg=0&cc=0&sr=1024x768&cd=32&lg=en-za&je=y&ck=y&tz=2&ct=lan&hp=n&si=http%3A//www.int.iol.co.za/general/news/newsprint.php%3Fart_id%3Dnw20071203162155157C370022%26sf%3D&rp= > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071208/a96bed57/attachment.html From leofsaldanha at gmail.com Sat Dec 8 10:26:55 2007 From: leofsaldanha at gmail.com (leo saldanha) Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:56:55 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore Message-ID: <9057132d0712072056o1bf3ce11ld62a39fab6e84579@mail.gmail.com> Dear All, Two days ago the Chief Engineer (Road Widening) of the Blore Mahanagara Palike (and yes it is the Bruhat body) called constituents of Hasiru Usiru for a meeting on the request of the BBMP Tree Officer. The agenda was to review the proposed (but actually ongoing) road widening schemes in Blore. Currently there are 10 roads proposed for widening and re-engineering, and there are at least 30 more that will be worked on similarly. Put together, these roads form the core streets of Blore. Almost all are well canopied and their streetscapes are what anyone familiar with Bangalore would characterise as the quintessential aspects of the city. With these proposals to widen roads the face of Bangalore will literally be transformed. From a cursory review of their plans it was clear that there is not much attention paid to details such as pedestrian zones, regulated traffic, care for the elderly and the infirm, the cause of children, and the importance of travel safety. The focus is almost entirely based on de-congesting Bangalore's messy traffic, and ensuring the core zones of Electronics city and the new Airport are accessible. In the meeting the Chief Engineer did confirm that the one way streets have failed, and thereby the move is now to allow for bidirectional traffic flows. The concentration is on reenginnering traffic intersections to allow for this and hopefully limit congestion points. Dr. Subbarayan Prasanna, Urban and Regional Planner and formerly Dean at IIM-B, Muralidhar Rao, Vinay Baindur and I participated in the proceedings. Our collective endeavour was to rationalise their proposals and ensure that such widening schemes were sensitive to all road users needs and also to the quiet sentinels of Blore's heritage - its charming trees. We are not confident that the effort of BBMP will take care of all these concerns. However, because of our insistence, and prodding from Tree Officer Shekar and his deputy Suresh, the Engineering Division somewhat reluctantly agreed to part with the designs. They were delivered to me in autocad files late yesterday. I have since then uploaded them to the files section of hasiruusiru at yahoogroups.com. Those who are not members of this list, if you are interested in accessing these files, must join this list. Alternatively you could come to ESG and collect the files on a pendrive (or CD). They are too large to email (zipped version is 16.5 MB). I have been unsuccessful in uploading the files to yousendit.com. In case someone wants to take the initiative, the files can be migrated to an online port which is open to all. These files will have to be opened in autocad. In case you do not have the software you could download the free version of edrawings and view these files. We have a very big task cut out for us. These drawings are an impression of what Bangalore will look like in just a few months. And the effort of felling trees is likely to start very soon. Believe me, the nos are in the hundreds. Seen from another perspective, say from space, you could delete most of the canopied streets in core Bangalore and that is what the city would look like in only a few weeks. The Tree Officer is witholding permission to fell these trees even as some are already being 'translocated' - an action that is illegal per the Tree Act - on some streets. We have to do everything possible to ensure there is a rational process to minimise the damage of this exercise. It is important that we come together to collectively address our concerns, and I suggest we do this by meeting. Since the projection of the drawings will give us a good idea of what is the likely result of this exercise, I suggest we meet at ESG on Tuesday evening between 5.30 -6.30 p.m. We will have a projector and also, hopefully, the printouts. We have to come together despite such short notice and urgently collate our concerns and re-present them to BBMP so we do not have to ruminate later on what could have been possible. Meantime, please do download the drawings and start the process of formulating our responses. Best wishes Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group 105, East End B Main Road, Jayanagar 9th Block East, Bangalore 560069. INDIA Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071208/e2d7f80b/attachment-0002.html From zainabbawa at yahoo.com Sun Dec 9 22:03:11 2007 From: zainabbawa at yahoo.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:33:11 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Empowering India - Gujarat Electoral Candidates Information Message-ID: <732062.92249.qm@web36105.mail.mud.yahoo.com> www.EmpoweringIndia.org If you are voter in Gujarat, this site will provide you information, which was not easily accessible before, about your candidate in your constituency. We are digitising every the affidavits filed by every candidate in every constituency in Gujarat. You could access information about the candidates assets, liabilities, education status, and instances of criminal charges against them, if any. And this information is available at the click of a button. Information is power. Our objective is to share as much information as possible with the voters in Gujarat, and contribute to building active citizenship. Be informed. Cast your Vote. Strengthen the largest democracy in the world. Celebrate the democratic miracle. Please share this information to all you know in Gujarat. We greatly welcome your comments and criticism. And we will try to learn and improve our system. This is an initiative of Liberty Institute in New Delhi. We hope to expand this process of active citizenship to other states of India. We also have past election information on www.IndianDemocracy.net Zainab Bawa Mumbai www.xanga.com/citybytes ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ From cugambetta at yahoo.com Mon Dec 10 06:16:57 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:46:57 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore Message-ID: <874546.12240.qm@web56815.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Leo: I looked at some of the files... what you are speaking about is indeed a significant road widening. I am just curious, besides Hasiru Usiru, has anyone else taken note of this? Do you have any sense, besides the visual and environmental impact on these roads, what the economic effect will be? It seems like many of the activities flanking these roads are institutional... which could I imagine make it difficult to mobilize any concern for the impact of the projects. Unsurprisingly, it seems the city is giving into the way of the automobile. (I can only imagine the chaos when the road construction and Metro construction are underway... if they think the center of the city is choked with traffic now!) It boggles the mind to see them doing this, considering that American cities large and small, many of whom instituted the same car driven focus in earlier decades, are now realizing that the street is much more than a means to get from here to there, and are investing significant amounts of money in remedies to these sorts of projects in order to restore community and economic vitality to the life of the street. Curt ----- Original Message ---- From: leo saldanha To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Cc: NURM list Sent: Friday, December 7, 2007 10:56:49 PM Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore Dear All, Two days ago the Chief Engineer (Road Widening) of the Blore Mahanagara Palike (and yes it is the Bruhat body) called constituents of Hasiru Usiru for a meeting on the request of the BBMP Tree Officer. The agenda was to review the proposed (but actually ongoing) road widening schemes in Blore. Currently there are 10 roads proposed for widening and re-engineering, and there are at least 30 more that will be worked on similarly. Put together, these roads form the core streets of Blore. Almost all are well canopied and their streetscapes are what anyone familiar with Bangalore would characterise as the quintessential aspects of the city. With these proposals to widen roads the face of Bangalore will literally be transformed. From a cursory review of their plans it was clear that there is not much attention paid to details such as pedestrian zones, regulated traffic, care for the elderly and the infirm, the cause of children, and the importance of travel safety. The focus is almost entirely based on de-congesting Bangalore's messy traffic, and ensuring the core zones of Electronics city and the new Airport are accessible. In the meeting the Chief Engineer did confirm that the one way streets have failed, and thereby the move is now to allow for bidirectional traffic flows. The concentration is on reenginnering traffic intersections to allow for this and hopefully limit congestion points. Dr. Subbarayan Prasanna, Urban and Regional Planner and formerly Dean at IIM-B, Muralidhar Rao, Vinay Baindur and I participated in the proceedings. Our collective endeavour was to rationalise their proposals and ensure that such widening schemes were sensitive to all road users needs and also to the quiet sentinels of Blore's heritage - its charming trees. We are not confident that the effort of BBMP will take care of all these concerns. However, because of our insistence, and prodding from Tree Officer Shekar and his deputy Suresh, the Engineering Division somewhat reluctantly agreed to part with the designs. They were delivered to me in autocad files late yesterday. I have since then uploaded them to the files section of hasiruusiru at yahoogroups.com . Those who are not members of this list, if you are interested in accessing these files, must join this list. Alternatively you could come to ESG and collect the files on a pendrive (or CD). They are too large to email (zipped version is 16.5 MB). I have been unsuccessful in uploading the files to yousendit.com. In case someone wants to take the initiative, the files can be migrated to an online port which is open to all. These files will have to be opened in autocad. In case you do not have the software you could download the free version of edrawings and view these files. We have a very big task cut out for us. These drawings are an impression of what Bangalore will look like in just a few months. And the effort of felling trees is likely to start very soon. Believe me, the nos are in the hundreds. Seen from another perspective, say from space, you could delete most of the canopied streets in core Bangalore and that is what the city would look like in only a few weeks. The Tree Officer is witholding permission to fell these trees even as some are already being 'translocated' - an action that is illegal per the Tree Act - on some streets. We have to do everything possible to ensure there is a rational process to minimise the damage of this exercise. It is important that we come together to collectively address our concerns, and I suggest we do this by meeting. Since the projection of the drawings will give us a good idea of what is the likely result of this exercise, I suggest we meet at ESG on Tuesday evening between 5.30 -6.30 p.m. We will have a projector and also, hopefully, the printouts. We have to come together despite such short notice and urgently collate our concerns and re-present them to BBMP so we do not have to ruminate later on what could have been possible. Meantime, please do download the drawings and start the process of formulating our responses. Best wishes Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group 105, East End B Main Road, Jayanagar 9th Block East, Bangalore 560069. INDIA Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Urbanstudygroup mailing list Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071210/09561d33/attachment.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Mon Dec 10 06:37:20 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 01:07:20 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] resources on Market spaces/ re: Crawford Market redevelopment Message-ID: <338690.62380.qm@web56812.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Hi all, I had posted earlier about the proposed Crawford Market redevelopment issue. I asked around on other lists (H-Asia and H-Urban) and received the following, very helpful, responses. I know there are people on the list working on food retail and wholesale spaces. I am sure some of the references will be of use to us in India. I am also trying to put together some pdf's of articles on historic market rejuvenation in contexts beyond South Asia, so if you let me know, I can send them to you or post them on Yousendit. Curt From H-Urban 11/30/07 var YAHOO = {'Shortcuts' : {}}; YAHOO.Shortcuts.hasSensitiveText = false; YAHOO.Shortcuts.sensitivityType = []; YAHOO.Shortcuts.doUlt = false; YAHOO.Shortcuts.location = "us"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_id = 0; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_type = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_title = "Re: Crawford Market - proposed redevelopment in Mumbai"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_publish_date = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_author = "kraml at NETSPACE.NET.AU"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_url = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_tags = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.annotationSet = { "lw_1197248336_0": { "text": "mtenhoor at princeton.edu", "extended": 0, "startchar": 101, "endchar": 122, "start": 101, "end": 122, "extendedFrom": "", "predictedCategory": "", "predictionProbability": "0", "weight": 1, "type": ["shortcuts:/us/instance/identifier/hyperlink/mailto"], "category": ["IDENTIFIER"], "context": "From M TenHoor mtenhoor at princeton.edu I am currently writing a", "metaData": { "linkHref": 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"extended": 0, "startchar": 2596, "endchar": 2616, "start": 2596, "end": 2616, "extendedFrom": "", "predictedCategory": "", "predictionProbability": "0", "weight": 1, "type": ["shortcuts:/us/instance/identifier/hyperlink/mailto"], "category": ["IDENTIFIER"], "context": "logs posting guidelines Posting Address h-urban at h-net.msu.edu mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu Click", "metaData": { "linkHref": "mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu", "linkProtocol": "mailto", "linkYmailto": "mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu" } }, "lw_1197248336_12": { "text": "h-urban at h-net.msu.edu", "extended": 0, "startchar": 2709, "endchar": 2729, "start": 2709, "end": 2729, "extendedFrom": "", "predictedCategory": "", "predictionProbability": "0", "weight": 1, "type": ["shortcuts:/us/instance/identifier/hyperlink/mailto"], "category": ["IDENTIFIER"], "context": "posting guidelines Posting Address h-urban at h-net.msu.edu mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu Click", "metaData": { "linkHref": "mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu", "linkProtocol": "mailto", "linkYmailto": "mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu" } } }; From: M. TenHoor I am currently writing a dissertation on the transfer of Les Halles wholesale food market in Paris to the suburb of Rungis; my work examines the various dimensions of the market's "modernization". There is a lot of historical research on European markets, I would be happy to share my bibliography if your contact wants to get in touch with me. If Europe is of interest, I might self-promotionally point you to a special issue of the journal French Politics Culture and Society that discusses the history of Les Halles as well as the vicissitudes of participatory planning of its redevelopment (both the food market and the shopping mall that replaced it): For a US-based reference, Helen Tangries' book _Public Markets and Civic Culture in Nineteenth-Century America_ (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003) is excellent, and contains detailed discussions of political debates around market modernization. I believe she is currently working on a project on 20th century markets in the US. For more policy-related scholarship, the work of Jean-Jacques Cadilhon is very helpful, as he has done considerable work in Southeast Asia and France. In the US, the group Project for Public Spaces has a Public Markets program with a great deal of research on making markets work and how to plan them. http://www.pps.org/markets/ Another project which might be interesting to examine is one by artist-architect Azra Aksamija http://www.mit.edu/~azra/Arizona.htm who studies the organization of the Arizona Market in Bosnia. I would be happy to hear from your contacts about how their efforts go - and from other scholars working on this issue. M. TenHoor School of Architecture Princeton University H-Urban: http://www.h-net.org/~urban/ (including logs & posting guidelines) Posting Address: h-urban at h-net.msu.edu / mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu (Click) var YAHOO = {'Shortcuts' : {}}; YAHOO.Shortcuts.hasSensitiveText = true; YAHOO.Shortcuts.sensitivityType = ["sensitive_news_terms"]; YAHOO.Shortcuts.doUlt = false; YAHOO.Shortcuts.location = "us"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_id = 0; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_type = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_title = "H-ASIA: India\x5c\x27s development (response re: Crawford Market)"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_publish_date = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_author = "conlon at U.WASHINGTON.EDU"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_url = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_tags = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.annotationSet = { "lw_1197248336_0": { "text": "padmanab at gmail.com", "extended": 0, "startchar": 261, "endchar": 278, "start": 261, "end": 278, "extendedFrom": "", "predictedCategory": "", "predictionProbability": "0", 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"(82.794762, 21.7866)", "geoName": "India", "geoPlaceType": "Country", "type": "shortcuts:/us/instance/place/in/country" } }, "lw_1197248336_10": { "text": "H-ASIA at h-net.msu.edu", "extended": 0, "startchar": 2240, "endchar": 2259, "start": 2240, "end": 2259, "extendedFrom": "", "predictedCategory": "", "predictionProbability": "0", "weight": 1, "type": ["shortcuts:/us/instance/identifier/hyperlink/mailto"], "category": ["IDENTIFIER"], "context": "simply send your message to H-ASIA at h-net.msu.edu For holidays or short absences", "metaData": { "linkHref": "mailto:H-ASIA at h-net.msu.edu", "linkProtocol": "mailto", "linkYmailto": "mailto:H-ASIA at h-net.msu.edu" } }, "lw_1197248336_11": { "text": "listserv at h-net.msu.edu", "extended": 0, "startchar": 2497, "endchar": 2518, "start": 2497, "end": 2518, "extendedFrom": "", "predictedCategory": "", "predictionProbability": "0", "weight": 1, "type": ["shortcuts:/us/instance/identifier/hyperlink/mailto"], "category": ["IDENTIFIER"], "context": "short absences send post to listserv at h-net.msu.edu with message SET H-ASIA NOMAIL", "metaData": { "linkHref": "mailto:listserv at h-net.msu.edu", "linkProtocol": "mailto", "linkYmailto": "mailto:listserv at h-net.msu.edu" } }, "lw_1197248336_12": { "text": "http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/", "extended": 0, "startchar": 2853, "endchar": 2879, "start": 2853, "end": 2879, "extendedFrom": "", "predictedCategory": "", "predictionProbability": "0", "weight": 1, "type": ["shortcuts:/us/instance/identifier/hyperlink/http"], "category": ["IDENTIFIER"], "context": "", "metaData": { "linkHref": "http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/", "linkProtocol": "http", "linkTarget": "_blank" } } }; H-ASIA November 24, 2007 India's developments-a reprise of the West? ************************************************************************ From: Sudarsan Padmanabhan With reference to Curt Gambetta's post on the proposed Crawford Market "re-development" in Mumbai: I have only read about robber baron capitalism during the 19th century and early 20th century United States. India is fast catching up. Nandigram and scores of other places in India attest to that experience. Today, I read in The Hindu that Madurai High Court has ruled against agitating farmers whose lands have been ear-marked for "developmental" activity such as constructing malls or some industrial or software park. Dharavi slum in Bombay is also being considered as potential avenue for development. Coimbatore, Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Trichy and Madurai are some places that have been gobbled up by robber barons (politicians, their kith and kin, landsharks, MNCs, real estate moghuls.) Today, a colleague of mine in economics was expressing his frustration that one day India will have only buildings and no agricultural land at all, as a result, food would have to be imported. Already, the city of Madras/Chennai which had scores of lakes two decades ago has only buildings. Most of the trees have been chopped off too. As a result, pollution, water scarcity, traffic congestion, accidents, crime, drainage and sewage are some pressing problems. Public places like parks, playgrounds and other facilites have been encroached upon by both the public and the private sector. People blissfully watch Indian soap operas. Sudarsan Padmanabhan Assistant Professor, Dept of Humanities and Social Sciences IIT Madras ****************************************************************** To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: For holidays or short absences send post to: with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/ var YAHOO = {'Shortcuts' : {}}; YAHOO.Shortcuts.hasSensitiveText = true; YAHOO.Shortcuts.sensitivityType = ["sensitive_news_terms"]; YAHOO.Shortcuts.doUlt = false; YAHOO.Shortcuts.location = "us"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_id = 0; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_type = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_title = "H-ASIA: Mumbai\x5c\x27s Crawford Market redevelopment"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_publish_date = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_author = "conlon at U.WASHINGTON.EDU"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_url = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_tags = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.annotationSet = { "lw_1197248406_0": { "text": "cugambetta at 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"http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/", "linkProtocol": "http", "linkTarget": "_blank" } } }; H-ASIA November 23, 2007] Mumbai's Crawford Market redevelopment plans, issues of heritage and modernity? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed. note: I had heard about this plan to "develop" that is, destroy, the historic Crawford Market--a classic roofed, open air market that was built in the boom years of Bombay's 19th century development, and named for Arthur Travis Crawford, one of the more colorful and controversial figures of the city's history. The example that comes to my mind of a similar type of event was the plan in the mid-1960s to tear down Seattle's now iconic Pike Place Market and build a parking structure. I am not very up to speed on local bibliographies, but as the market is now celebrating its centenary, I recall that the _Seattle Times_ ran a whole series on the market's history and of the campaign to save it. Some titles that might be of interest include: Yokoyama, John, and Joseph A. Michelli. 2004. When fish fly lessons for creating a vital and energized workplace from the world famous Pike Place Fish Market. New York: Hyperion. Pastier, John. 1996. "Uncommon Market - Saved from grandiose renewal schemes, Pike Place Market endured to become Seattle's leading tourist attraction. Now tourism threatens to erode its authentic character". Historic Preservation : Quarterly of the National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings. 48 (1): 50. Shorett, Alice, Murray Morgan, and Alice Shorett. 2007. Soul of the city the Pike Place Public Market. Seattle: Market Foundation. Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority, and Pike Place Urban Renewal Project. 1975. Program for rehabilitation of the core market. Seattle: The Authority. Central Association of Seattle (Seattle, Wash.). 1964. Pike Plaza redevelopment; a preliminary feasibility study. [Seattle]: Central Association of Seattle [and] Seattle Urban Renewal Enterprise. Shorett, Alice, and Murray Morgan. 1982. The Pike Place Market people, politics, and produce. Seattle, Wash: Pacific Search Press. Steinbrueck, Victor. 1968. Market sketchbook. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Rex-Johnson, Braiden, and Paul Souders. 1999. Inside the Pike Place Market exploring America's most beloved farmers' market. Seattle, WA: Sasquatch Books. Bundy, Mary Priscilla. 1977. Historic preservation: a case study of the Pike Place Market. Thesis (M. Urban Plan.)--University of Washington. Morley, Judy Mattivi. 2006. Historic preservation & the imagined West Albuquerque, Denver, & Seattle. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. Lee, Sohyun Park. 2001. From redevelopment to preservation downtown planning in post-war Seattle. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. Park Lee, Sohyun. 2002. "Conflicting elites and changing values: designing two historic districts in downtown Seattle, 1958-73". Journal of Planning Literature. 16 (3): 397-477. Victor Steinbruek was a Professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Washington and pioneered the campaign to save the market. Whether or not American examples are of much relevance to the Mumbai case, I must leave to others. One Asian example that comes to mind is the preservation of the old structures along the river in Singapore--though admittedly altering them from their original uses. FFC ****************************************************************** To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: For holidays or short absences send post to: with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs From leofsaldanha at gmail.com Mon Dec 10 10:59:35 2007 From: leofsaldanha at gmail.com (leo saldanha) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:29:35 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore In-Reply-To: <874546.12240.qm@web56815.mail.re3.yahoo.com> References: <874546.12240.qm@web56815.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <9057132d0712092129i1ff16eb7l4f3d662d85e0ef1@mail.gmail.com> Curt, Everything you say is absolutely critical to the way things are in Bangalore. Unfortunately there has been little or no response from architecture departments, planning schools, sociology departments or related academic institutions in Blore on this issue. By and large, civil society organisations, residents associations, social action groups, etc. consider these issues as non-priority issues - some even agree road widening is required probably unaware of the implications. In that sense it is unfortunately true that the "Hasiru Usiru" network is probably the only active forum voicing serious concerns on this issue. Efforts by this forum secured us access to the highest decision making body last week - the interdepartmental Blore Urban Traffic Planning Cmt.. (or something like that). Every senior bureaucrat of every liked department (Chief Sec., Dev Commissioner, Home Secretary, Finanace Secretary, Police Chief, Traffic Commissioner, BDA, BMRDA, BBMP, BMTC chiefs and all the utilities, etc.) were represented in this meeting. One would expect such a high powered committee to carefully scrutinise issues and develop a conversation that would progressively engage in working our ways out of the current mess. But we all had to come out utterly disappointed when we heard them share their visions, their approaches and their methods for resolving the traffic crisis. For besides useless rhetoric, and the advancement of one's departmental position (ironic loyalty considering that bureaucrats generally aren't rooted too long in any one dept.), they had nothing of substance to present to the wide public about how they were intending to alleviate the circumstance. Often one hears bureacrats complain of political interference, but now there is none.... so their solutions could have been reasonable, unfettered and wholistic. It was none of this and this is proof that most of our urban solutions aren't cooked up by political interests but by bureaucratic visions (or whatever that is). I am deeply troubled by this situation and really feel that if there is no collective action now, Bangalore will be transformed, yes, but clearly against all progressive understandings of urbanisms. Leo On 10/12/2007, Curt Gambetta wrote: > > Leo: > > I looked at some of the files... what you are speaking about is indeed a > significant road widening. I am just curious, besides Hasiru Usiru, has > anyone else taken note of this? Do you have any sense, besides the visual > and environmental impact on these roads, what the economic effect will be? > It seems like many of the activities flanking these roads are > institutional... which could I imagine make it difficult to mobilize any > concern for the impact of the projects. > > Unsurprisingly, it seems the city is giving into the way of the > automobile. (I can only imagine the chaos when the road construction and > Metro construction are underway... if they think the center of the city is > choked with traffi c now!) It boggles the mind to see them doing this, > considering that American cities large and small, many of whom instituted > the same car driven focus in earlier decades, are now realizing that the > street is much more than a means to get from here to there, and are > investing significant amounts of money in remedies to these sorts of > projects in order to restore community and economic vitality to the life of > the street. > > Curt > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: leo saldanha > To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > Cc: NURM list > Sent: Friday, December 7, 2007 10:56:49 PM > Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore > > > Dear All, > > Two days ago the Chief Engineer (Road Widening) of the Blore Mahanagara > Palike (and yes it is the Bruhat body) called constituents of Hasiru > Usiru for a meeting on the request of the BBMP Tree Officer. > > The agenda was to review the proposed (but actually ongoing) road > widening schemes in Blore. Currently there are 10 roads proposed for > widening and re-engineering, and there are at least 30 more that will be > > worked on similarly. > > Put together, these roads form the core streets of Blore. Almost all > are well canopied and their streetscapes are what anyone familiar with > Bangalore would characterise as the quintessential aspects of the city. > > > With these proposals to widen roads the face of Bangalore will literally > be transformed. From a cursory review of their plans it was clear that > there is not much attention paid to details such as pedestrian zones, > > regulated > traffic, care for the elderly and the infirm, the cause of > children, and the importance of travel safety. The focus is almost > entirely based on de-congesting Bangalore's messy traffic, and ensuring > > the core zones of Electronics city and the new Airport are accessible. > > In the meeting the Chief Engineer did confirm that the one way streets > have failed, and thereby the move is now to allow for bidirectional > > traffic flows. The concentration is on reenginnering traffic > intersections to allow for this and hopefully limit congestion points. > > Dr. Subbarayan Prasanna, Urban and Regional Planner and formerly Dean at > > IIM-B, Muralidhar Rao, Vinay Baindur and I participated in the > proceedings. Our collective endeavour was to rationalise their > proposals and ensure that such widening schemes were sensitive to all > road users needs and also to the quiet sentinels of Blore's heritage - > > its > charming trees. We are not confident that the effort of BBMP will > take care of all these concerns. > > However, because of our insistence, and prodding from Tree Officer > Shekar and his deputy Suresh, the Engineering Division somewhat > > reluctantly agreed to part with the designs. They were delivered to me > in autocad files late yesterday. I have since then uploaded them to the > files section of hasiruusiru at yahoogroups.com > . Those who are not members > of this list, if you are interested in accessing these files, must join > this list. Alternatively you could come to ESG and collect the files on > a pendrive (or CD). They are too large to email (zipped version is > 16.5 > MB). I have been unsuccessful in uploading the files to yousendit.com. > In case someone wants to take the initiative, the files can be migrated > to an online port which is open to all. > > > These files will have to be opened in autocad. In case you do not have > the software you could download the free version of edrawings and view > these files. > > We have a very big task cut out for us. These drawings are an > > impression of what Bangalore will look like in just a few months. And > the effort of felling trees is likely to start very soon. Believe me, > the nos are in the hundreds. Seen from another perspective, say from > > space, you could delete most of the canopied streets in core Bangalore > and that is what the city would look like in only a few weeks. > > The Tree Officer is witholding permission to fell these trees even as > > some are already being 'translocated' - an action that is illegal per > the Tree Act - on some > streets. We have to do everything possible to > ensure there is a rational process to minimise the damage of this > > exercise. It is important that we come together to collectively address > our concerns, and I suggest we do this by meeting. > > Since the projection of the drawings will give us a good idea of what is > the likely result of this exercise, I suggest we meet at ESG on Tuesday > > evening between 5.30 -6.30 p.m. We will have a projector and also, > hopefully, the printouts. > > We have to come together despite such short notice and urgently collate > our concerns and re-present them to BBMP so we do not have to ruminate > > later on what could have been possible. > > Meantime, please do download the drawings and start the process of > formulating our responses. > > Best wishes > > Leo Saldanha > Environment Support Group > > > > Leo Saldanha > Environment Support Group > 105, East End B Main Road, > Jayanagar 9th Block East, > Bangalore 560069. INDIA > Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 > Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org > Web: www.esgindia.org > > > > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > > > ------------------------------ > Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it > now. > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > -- Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group 105, East End B Main Road, Jayanagar 9th Block East, Bangalore 560069. INDIA Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071210/a5d86d8b/attachment-0002.html From harishpoovaiah at gmail.com Mon Dec 10 11:16:34 2007 From: harishpoovaiah at gmail.com (harish poovaiah) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:46:34 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore In-Reply-To: <9057132d0712092129i1ff16eb7l4f3d662d85e0ef1@mail.gmail.com> References: <874546.12240.qm@web56815.mail.re3.yahoo.com> <9057132d0712092129i1ff16eb7l4f3d662d85e0ef1@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Happened to bump into a similar docs in BBMP (enclosed). Can HasiruUsiru ask through RTI if these are shared/views taken into account with/from citizen under 4(1)C and 4(1)D of RTI act. Rgds Harish On Dec 10, 2007 10:59 AM, leo saldanha wrote: > Curt, > > Everything you say is absolutely critical to the way things are in > Bangalore. Unfortunately there has been little or no response from > architecture departments, planning schools, sociology departments or related > academic institutions in Blore on this issue. By and large, civil society > organisations, residents associations, social action groups, etc. consider > these issues as non-priority issues - some even agree road widening is > required probably unaware of the implications. In that sense it is > unfortunately true that the "Hasiru Usiru" network is probably the only > active forum voicing serious concerns on this issue. > > Efforts by this forum secured us access to the highest decision making > body last week - the interdepartmental Blore Urban Traffic Planning Cmt.. > (or something like that). Every senior bureaucrat of every liked department > (Chief Sec., Dev Commissioner, Home Secretary, Finanace Secretary, Police > Chief, Traffic Commissioner, BDA, BMRDA, BBMP, BMTC chiefs and all the > utilities, etc.) were represented in this meeting. One would expect such a > high powered committee to carefully scrutinise issues and develop a > conversation that would progressively engage in working our ways out of the > current mess. But we all had to come out utterly disappointed when we heard > them share their visions, their approaches and their methods for resolving > the traffic crisis. For besides useless rhetoric, and the advancement of > one's departmental position (ironic loyalty considering that bureaucrats > generally aren't rooted too long in any one dept.), they had nothing of > substance to present to the wide public about how they were intending to > alleviate the circumstance. Often one hears bureacrats complain of > political interference, but now there is none.... so their solutions could > have been reasonable, unfettered and wholistic. It was none of this and > this is proof that most of our urban solutions aren't cooked up by political > interests but by bureaucratic visions (or whatever that is). > > I am deeply troubled by this situation and really feel that if there is no > collective action now, Bangalore will be transformed, yes, but clearly > against all progressive understandings of urbanisms. > > Leo > > On 10/12/2007, Curt Gambetta wrote: > > > Leo: > > > > I looked at some of the files... what you are speaking about is indeed a > > significant road widening. I am just curious, besides Hasiru Usiru, has > > anyone else taken note of this? Do you have any sense, besides the visual > > and environmental impact on these roads, what the economic effect will be? > > It seems like many of the activities flanking these roads are > > institutional... which could I imagine make it difficult to mobilize any > > concern for the impact of the projects. > > > > Unsurprisingly, it seems the city is giving into the way of the > > automobile. (I can only imagine the chaos when the road construction and > > Metro construction are underway... if they think the center of the city is > > choked with traffi c now!) It boggles the mind to see them doing this, > > considering that American cities large and small, many of whom instituted > > the same car driven focus in earlier decades, are now realizing that the > > street is much more than a means to get from here to there, and are > > investing significant amounts of money in remedies to these sorts of > > projects in order to restore community and economic vitality to the life of > > the street. > > > > Curt > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > > From: leo saldanha < leofsaldanha at gmail.com> > > To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > > Cc: NURM list < jnnurm at yahoogroups.com> > > Sent: Friday, December 7, 2007 10:56:49 PM > > Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore > > > > > > Dear All, > > > > Two days ago the Chief Engineer (Road Widening) of the Blore Mahanagara > > Palike (and yes it is the Bruhat body) called constituents of Hasiru > > Usiru for a meeting on the request of the BBMP Tree Officer. > > > > The agenda was to review the proposed (but actually ongoing) road > > widening schemes in Blore. Currently there are 10 roads proposed for > > widening and re-engineering, and there are at least 30 more that will be > > > > worked on similarly. > > > > Put together, these roads form the core streets of Blore. Almost all > > are well canopied and their streetscapes are what anyone familiar with > > Bangalore would characterise as the quintessential aspects of the city. > > > > > > With these proposals to widen roads the face of Bangalore will literally > > be transformed. From a cursory review of their plans it was clear that > > there is not much attention paid to details such as pedestrian zones, > > > > regulated > > traffic, care for the elderly and the infirm, the cause of > > children, and the importance of travel safety. The focus is almost > > entirely based on de-congesting Bangalore's messy traffic, and ensuring > > > > the core zones of Electronics city and the new Airport are accessible. > > > > In the meeting the Chief Engineer did confirm that the one way streets > > have failed, and thereby the move is now to allow for bidirectional > > > > traffic flows. The concentration is on reenginnering traffic > > intersections to allow for this and hopefully limit congestion points. > > > > Dr. Subbarayan Prasanna, Urban and Regional Planner and formerly Dean at > > > > IIM-B, Muralidhar Rao, Vinay Baindur and I participated in the > > proceedings. Our collective endeavour was to rationalise their > > proposals and ensure that such widening schemes were sensitive to all > > road users needs and also to the quiet sentinels of Blore's heritage - > > > > its > > charming trees. We are not confident that the effort of BBMP will > > take care of all these concerns. > > > > However, because of our insistence, and prodding from Tree Officer > > Shekar and his deputy Suresh, the Engineering Division somewhat > > > > reluctantly agreed to part with the designs. They were delivered to me > > in autocad files late yesterday. I have since then uploaded them to the > > files section of > > hasiruusiru at yahoogroups.com > > . Those who are not members > > of this list, if you are interested in accessing these files, must join > > this list. Alternatively you could come to ESG and collect the files on > > > > a pendrive (or CD). They are too large to email (zipped version is > > 16.5 > > MB). I have been unsuccessful in uploading the files to > > yousendit.com. > > In case someone wants to take the initiative, the files can be migrated > > to an online port which is open to all. > > > > > > These files will have to be opened in autocad. In case you do not have > > the software you could download the free version of edrawings and view > > these files. > > > > We have a very big task cut out for us. These drawings are an > > > > impression of what Bangalore will look like in just a few months. And > > the effort of felling trees is likely to start very soon. Believe me, > > the nos are in the hundreds. Seen from another perspective, say from > > > > space, you could delete most of the canopied streets in core Bangalore > > and that is what the city would look like in only a few weeks. > > > > The Tree Officer is witholding permission to fell these trees even as > > > > some are already being 'translocated' - an action that is illegal per > > the Tree Act - on some > > streets. We have to do everything possible to > > ensure there is a rational process to minimise the damage of this > > > > exercise. It is important that we come together to collectively address > > our concerns, and I suggest we do this by meeting. > > > > Since the projection of the drawings will give us a good idea of what is > > the likely result of this exercise, I suggest we meet at ESG on Tuesday > > > > evening between 5.30 -6.30 p.m. We will have a projector and also, > > hopefully, the printouts. > > > > We have to come together despite such short notice and urgently collate > > our concerns and re-present them to BBMP so we do not have to ruminate > > > > later on what could have been possible. > > > > Meantime, please do download the drawings and start the process of > > formulating our responses. > > > > Best wishes > > > > Leo Saldanha > > Environment Support Group > > > > > > > > Leo Saldanha > > Environment Support Group > > 105, East End B Main Road, > > Jayanagar 9th Block East, > > Bangalore 560069. INDIA > > Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 > > Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org > > Web: www.esgindia.org > > > > > > > > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try > > it now. > > _______________________________________________ > > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > > > > > > -- > Leo Saldanha > Environment Support Group > 105, East End B Main Road, > Jayanagar 9th Block East, > Bangalore 560069. INDIA > Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 > Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org > Web: www.esgindia.org > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: 85 roads.doc Type: application/msword Size: 213504 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071210/97729c26/attachment-0005.doc From sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in Mon Dec 10 16:07:33 2007 From: sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in (Sutapa Ghosh) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:37:33 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Urban Study Posting : Land Acquistions and SEZs Message-ID: <1456.10.108.140.11.1197283040.squirrel@pali.hss.iitb.ac.in> Dear all, This posting on SEZs and Land Acquistion is part of my research for the student stipenship project titled 'Modernist Planning and SEZs'. The government of India introduced the concept of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) through a bill in 2000 through a revision in the Export-Import Policy of 1997-2002. Hence, SEZs are being created through the conversion of Export Processing Zones. The SEZ Act came into effect on Feb. 10, 2006 with the Chinese model being mimicked in India. (Vikas Adhyan Kendra, 2006). The intention is to give a big push to export-oriented activity with the help of corporates by promoting the establishment of large, self-contained areas supported by world-class infrastructure. SEZs are delineated duty-free enclaves treated as foreign territory for the purpose of industrial, service and trade operations, with the exemption from customs duties, and a liberal regime with regard to labour laws and foreign investment. (Vedula, 2006). SEZs would include both processing and non-processing activities with 50% reserved for each. The recent amendment to the SEZ Rule as of 5th April 2007 have revoked the earlier ban on the size of the SEZ area of more than 5000 ha. This limit to the size of SEZ has now been raised to 10,000 ha as it has been contested in the court by the developers as being frivolous. (TOI, 9th April, 2007) The state governments have also been informed by the centre not to intervene in the process of land acquisition and that the Board of Approval will not grant any proposal were the state government is involved in the process. (Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the 12th Session of the Parliament of India, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December 2007) The issue in SEZs that seem to concern us all is the land question. Unlike in the previous phase of industrialization during 1956-65, this time the question that looms large is the issue of acute shortage of land, which unfolds the whole debate on shortage of land for agriculture and food production. Since inception of the SEZ Act, 2005 and the SEZ Rules, 2006, formal approval has been granted for setting up of 405 SEZs, which involves about 52,922 ha. of land. Out of which 21,616 ha. of land was already in possession with State Industrial Development Corporations/different State Governments. (Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the 12th Session of the Parliament of India, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December 2007). The economic logic of transfer of lands from agriculture to industries can be justified through the Ricardian framework. The logic behind the shift from agriculture to industries is that the marginal productivity of labour in agriculture slowly nears 0, inspite of technological progress and capital investment. Since marginal productivity of labour is 0, even if labour is withdrawn from agriculture, productivity will not get affected and hence there will not be any food shortage. So, by this logic it makes sense to divert agricultural land for industries. However it must be noted in this context that in India, the most important problem of food shortage is the lack of irrigation. Though micro-irrigation has remained largely successful in India, the public expenditure in irrigation has remained very low. Secondly, the other most contentious issue in SEZs linked to this today is the usurpation of land for building enclaves. In this regard it may be important to look at the recently drafted national policy of resettlement and rehabilitation and the Govt. of Maharashtra’s R & R policy, which talks of compensation to the displaced on account of land acquisitions. The new national policy on resettlement and rehabilitation, 2007 clearly states that wherever possible projects should be non-displacing and wastelands, degraded lands and un-irrigated lands should be acquired for projects instead of agricultural lands. It also states that land once acquired if left vacant for more than four years will be given back to the original owners and the owners will be compensated by getting a share of the unearned income. (Dutta, 2007) It may also be interesting to note that in case of development projects, the goathans or village settlement lands are left untouched wherever possible to minimize displacements on account of land acquisitions for development projects. In SEZs also, the government has noted that the first priority should be for acquisition of waste and barren land and if necessary single crop agricultural land. If perforce a portion of double cropped agricultural land has to be acquired to meet the minimum area requirements, especially for multi-product SEZs, the same should not exceed 10% of the total land required for the SEZ. (Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the 12th Session of the Parliament of India, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December 2007) The Government of Maharashtra’s R&R Policy indicates that the legal compensation of the land acquisition act should be done by way of allotment of 12.5% of the developed land to the titleholders. (Notification of Urban Development Department, Mumbai, Sept.3, 1996) However there are certain other problems with regard to the issues of compensation. Wadhwa, notes that the vital issue in land acquisition today is the presumptive titles to land and not conclusive titles and hence the question of compensation gets increasingly complex and difficult. As land revenue is the major source of income of the state, it was necessary for the state to prepare and maintain land records. Further it was assumed that the persons liable to pay land revenue were the proprietors of land. The present record-of-rights in land in India are fiscal in nature and presumptive in character. The person shown in the record is responsible for paying land revenue for a particular piece of land as he is presumed to be the proprietor of land. The title to land is only incidental and springs from the presumption that he who pays the land revenue is the owner of the land. But the entries in the records are most of the time not conclusive. In India the property legislations and legislations relating to the registration of documents doesnot require the registering authority to check the validity of the document as the objective is not to provide the state guarantee to title of land. The law provides for the registration of the document only and not for the registration of the title. Therefore a deed does not in itself prove title, it is merely a record of an isolated transaction. It shows that a particular transaction took place but it does not prove that the parties to the transaction were legally entitled to carry out the transaction and therefore does not prove the validity of the transaction. It is left exclusively to the person to adjudge for himself the validity and soundness of the title to that property of the person. In most cases the land records have not been updated with the names of the legal successors and the records still continue to have the name of the deceased. Lots of transfers take place without proper registration with the consequence that records hardly reflect the present day reality regarding the ownership of land. Millions of cases of transfers and measurements are left pending in the country. Many time the filed-measurement books remain missing and torn. Hence, political direction and reforms in records of land rights will help in enhancing the marketability of land, and reduce the costs of litigations and give a boost to both agricultural production and industrial development. (Wadhwa, 2002). Hence giving compensation to titleholders where land acquisition has taken place for development projects becomes increasingly complex. The question of compensation for landless labourers also need serious rethinking as they are non-titleholders but derive their livelihood from the land. However, a comparison of compensations received by farmers and the benefits that accrue to the industrialists with government intervention vis-a-vis non-intervention reveals that incase of non-intervention the developers stand to gain from the deals directly with the farmer. The illustration below will highlight this. CIDCO (the City and Industrial Development Corporation has already acquired the land for the setting up the Navi Mumbai SEZ at Kalomboli, Ulwe and Dronagiri areas through a joint venture of Reliance Industries, Hiranandani Developers and CIDCO which will give the land on a sixty (60) year lease to the private parties with an agreed private- public profit sharing component of 75:25 respectively. The land was acquired in the 70s by CIDCO by giving a compensation of Rs. 15,000 per acre to the farmers. Compare this to the recently quoted price of 10 lakhs per acre being given as compensation to farmers to set up the Mahamumbai SEZ in Raigad district by private players. (The Tribune, Chandigarh, 21st February, 2007). This can be further compared to the government quoted figures of selling the land to private players at 25 lakhs per acre or 63.74 lakhs per hectare for a lease of 60 years. This goes to prove why the industry will benefit from land deals directly with the farmers instead of the government intervening. Not only would the buyers of lands be able to capitalise from the land deals with farmers as profits would come by way of unearned increaments (which refer to the increase in price of the land even when land is left vacant and no processing activities are taking place, due to the improved infrastructure in the areas outside the SEZs.), the farmers also get a better deal. With regard to the diversion of land from agricultural use for the development of SEZs, it is being contested whether there is any economic justification in doing so, as it is common knowledge that there are thousands of hectares of land already declared as industrial areas under Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in Maharashtra, which are under-utilised or occupied by sick industry. If any additional land or space was needed with such urgency, the logical course of action would have been to identify all existing unused areas under MIDC’s control and make plans for full and effective utilization of the same. In my next posting I would continue to debate this issue and reflect back on the process of industrialization which has taken place in India since independence, so that we can link up this entire process of SEZ development and globalization with the spatial and planning history of the land. References: 1. Vikas Adhyan Kendra: ‘Development Zones or Special Exploitation Zones? The Myths of Special Economic Zones (SEZs)’ in Facts against Myths (Information Bulletin), June-July 2006. 2. Wadhwa, D.C. : Guranteeing title to Land , Special Articles, EPW, Nov, 23, 2002 3. Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the 12th Session of the Parliament of India, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December 2007 4. Vedula, A : Blueprint and Reality: Navi Mumbai, the City of the 21st Century, Habitat International 31 (2007) 12-23, Elsevier, 2007 5. Marjit Sugata: ‘Industrialising India: The Land Question’, IIT Bombay Colloqium, October 4th, 2007 6. Dutta A. P: Headline : Resettlement & rehabilitation. New policy, old story, Down to Earth, Vol.16. No.12, Nov. 08, Centre for Science and Environment, 2007 7. Notification of Urban Development Department, Mumbai, Sept.3, 1996 -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: 5thposting.txt Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071210/04500deb/attachment-0002.txt From leofsaldanha at gmail.com Mon Dec 10 17:51:45 2007 From: leofsaldanha at gmail.com (leo saldanha) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:21:45 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Urban Study Posting : Land Acquistions and SEZs In-Reply-To: <1456.10.108.140.11.1197283040.squirrel@pali.hss.iitb.ac.in> References: <1456.10.108.140.11.1197283040.squirrel@pali.hss.iitb.ac.in> Message-ID: <9057132d0712100421u1fcbe14ekd259623d23e3902e@mail.gmail.com> HI Sutapa Just noticed from your references to this note that you have probably referred to our Parliament Q & A bulletins. This is developed by my colleague Nandini and updated on our site by Harminder. These are not official bulletins of the Parliament of India, and are collated for research and campaign purposes by our team. All the bulletins are accessible online at http://www.esgindia.org/campaigns/Parliamentary%20Updates/Parliament%20QA.html We will try and sustain a standard classification of the bulletins for download (it is not so now), and also provide a suggested citation so there is no confusion on whether the collation is statutory or not. regards Leo On 10/12/2007, Sutapa Ghosh wrote: > > Dear all, > > This posting on SEZs and Land Acquistion is part of my research for the > student stipenship project titled 'Modernist Planning and SEZs'. > The government of India introduced the concept of Special Economic Zones > (SEZs) through a bill in 2000 through a revision in the Export-Import > Policy of 1997-2002. Hence, SEZs are being created through the conversion > of Export Processing Zones. The SEZ Act came into effect on Feb. 10, 2006 > with the Chinese model being mimicked in India. (Vikas Adhyan Kendra, > 2006). The intention is to give a big push to export-oriented activity > with the help of corporates by promoting the establishment of large, > self-contained areas supported by world-class infrastructure. SEZs are > delineated duty-free enclaves treated as foreign territory for the purpose > of industrial, service and trade operations, with the exemption from > customs duties, and a liberal regime with regard to labour laws and > foreign investment. (Vedula, 2006). SEZs would include both processing and > non-processing activities with 50% reserved for each. The recent amendment > to the SEZ Rule as of 5th April 2007 have revoked the earlier ban on the > size of the SEZ area of more than 5000 ha. This limit to the size of SEZ > has now been raised to 10,000 ha as it has been contested in the court by > the developers as being frivolous. (TOI, 9th April, 2007) The state > governments have also been informed by the centre not to intervene in the > process of land acquisition and that the Board of Approval will not grant > any proposal were the state government is involved in the process. > (Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the 12th Session of the Parliament of India, Lok > Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December > 2007) > The issue in SEZs that seem to concern us all is the land question. Unlike > in the previous phase of industrialization during 1956-65, this time the > question that looms large is the issue of acute shortage of land, which > unfolds the whole debate on shortage of land for agriculture and food > production. Since inception of the SEZ Act, 2005 and the SEZ Rules, 2006, > formal approval has been granted for setting up of 405 SEZs, which > involves about 52,922 ha. of land. Out of which 21,616 ha. of land was > already in possession with State Industrial Development > Corporations/different State Governments. (Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the > 12th Session of the Parliament of India, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, > Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December 2007). The economic logic > of transfer of lands from agriculture to industries can be justified > through the Ricardian framework. The logic behind the shift from > agriculture to industries is that the marginal productivity of labour in > agriculture slowly nears 0, inspite of technological progress and capital > investment. Since marginal productivity of labour is 0, even if labour is > withdrawn from agriculture, productivity will not get affected and hence > there will not be any food shortage. So, by this logic it makes sense to > divert agricultural land for industries. However it must be noted in this > context that in India, the most important problem of food shortage is the > lack of irrigation. Though micro-irrigation has remained largely > successful in India, the public expenditure in irrigation has remained > very low. > Secondly, the other most contentious issue in SEZs linked to this today is > the usurpation of land for building enclaves. In this regard it may be > important to look at the recently drafted national policy of resettlement > and rehabilitation and the Govt. of Maharashtra's R & R policy, which > talks of compensation to the displaced on account of land acquisitions. > The new national policy on resettlement and rehabilitation, 2007 clearly > states that wherever possible projects should be non-displacing and > wastelands, degraded lands and un-irrigated lands should be acquired for > projects instead of agricultural lands. It also states that land once > acquired if left vacant for more than four years will be given back to the > original owners and the owners will be compensated by getting a share of > the unearned income. (Dutta, 2007) It may also be interesting to note that > in case of development projects, the goathans or village settlement lands > are left untouched wherever possible to minimize displacements on account > of land acquisitions for development projects. In SEZs also, the > government has noted that the first priority should be for acquisition of > waste and barren land and if necessary single crop agricultural land. If > perforce a portion of double cropped agricultural land has to be acquired > to meet the minimum area requirements, especially for multi-product SEZs, > the same should not exceed 10% of the total land required for the SEZ. > (Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the 12th Session of the Parliament of India, Lok > Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December > 2007) > The Government of Maharashtra's R&R Policy indicates that the legal > compensation of the land acquisition act should be done by way of > allotment of 12.5% of the developed land to the titleholders. > (Notification of Urban Development Department, Mumbai, Sept.3, 1996) > However there are certain other problems with regard to the issues of > compensation. Wadhwa, notes that the vital issue in land acquisition today > is the presumptive titles to land and not conclusive titles and hence the > question of compensation gets increasingly complex and difficult. As land > revenue is the major source of income of the state, it was necessary for > the state to prepare and maintain land records. Further it was assumed > that the persons liable to pay land revenue were the proprietors of land. > The present record-of-rights in land in India are fiscal in nature and > presumptive in character. The person shown in the record is responsible > for paying land revenue for a particular piece of land as he is presumed > to be the proprietor of land. The title to land is only incidental and > springs from the presumption that he who pays the land revenue is the > owner of the land. But the entries in the records are most of the time not > conclusive. In India the property legislations and legislations relating > to the registration of documents doesnot require the registering authority > to check the validity of the document as the objective is not to provide > the state guarantee to title of land. The law provides for the > registration of the document only and not for the registration of the > title. Therefore a deed does not in itself prove title, it is merely a > record of an isolated transaction. It shows that a particular transaction > took place but it does not prove that the parties to the transaction were > legally entitled to carry out the transaction and therefore does not prove > the validity of the transaction. It is left exclusively to the person to > adjudge for himself the validity and soundness of the title to that > property of the person. In most cases the land records have not been > updated with the names of the legal successors and the records still > continue to have the name of the deceased. Lots of transfers take place > without proper registration with the consequence that records hardly > reflect the present day reality regarding the ownership of land. Millions > of cases of transfers and measurements are left pending in the country. > Many time the filed-measurement books remain missing and torn. Hence, > political direction and reforms in records of land rights will help in > enhancing the marketability of land, and reduce the costs of litigations > and give a boost to both agricultural production and industrial > development. (Wadhwa, 2002). Hence giving compensation to titleholders > where land acquisition has taken place for development projects becomes > increasingly complex. The question of compensation for landless labourers > also need serious rethinking as they are non-titleholders but derive their > livelihood from the land. > However, a comparison of compensations received by farmers and the > benefits that accrue to the industrialists with government intervention > vis-a-vis non-intervention reveals that incase of non-intervention the > developers stand to gain from the deals directly with the farmer. The > illustration below will highlight this. CIDCO (the City and Industrial > Development Corporation has already acquired the land for the setting up > the Navi Mumbai SEZ at Kalomboli, Ulwe and Dronagiri areas through a joint > venture of Reliance Industries, Hiranandani Developers and CIDCO which > will give the land on a sixty (60) year lease to the private parties with > an agreed private- public profit sharing component of 75:25 respectively. > The land was acquired in the 70s by CIDCO by giving a compensation of Rs. > 15,000 per acre to the farmers. Compare this to the recently quoted price > of 10 lakhs per acre being given as compensation to farmers to set up the > Mahamumbai SEZ in Raigad district by private players. (The Tribune, > Chandigarh, 21st February, 2007). This can be further compared to the > government quoted figures of selling the land to private players at 25 > lakhs per acre or 63.74 lakhs per hectare for a lease of 60 years. This > goes to prove why the industry will benefit from land deals directly with > the farmers instead of the government intervening. Not only would the > buyers of lands be able to capitalise from the land deals with farmers as > profits would come by way of unearned increaments (which refer to the > increase in price of the land even when land is left vacant and no > processing activities are taking place, due to the improved infrastructure > in the areas outside the SEZs.), the farmers also get a better deal. > With regard to the diversion of land from agricultural use for the > development of SEZs, it is being contested whether there is any economic > justification in doing so, as it is common knowledge that there are > thousands of hectares of land already declared as industrial areas under > Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in Maharashtra, > which are under-utilised or occupied by sick industry. If any additional > land or space was needed with such urgency, the logical course of action > would have been to identify all existing unused areas under MIDC's control > and make plans for full and effective utilization of the same. > In my next posting I would continue to debate this issue and reflect back > on the process of industrialization which has taken place in India since > independence, so that we can link up this entire process of SEZ > development and globalization with the spatial and planning history of the > land. > References: > 1. Vikas Adhyan Kendra: 'Development Zones or Special Exploitation > Zones? > The Myths of Special Economic Zones (SEZs)' in Facts against Myths > (Information Bulletin), June-July 2006. > 2. Wadhwa, D.C. : Guranteeing title to Land , Special Articles, EPW, > Nov, > 23, 2002 > 3. Bulletin XII-2 Q & A in the 12th Session of the Parliament of > India, > Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Session Period: 15 November 2007 - 07 December > 2007 > 4. Vedula, A : Blueprint and Reality: Navi Mumbai, the City of the > 21st > Century, Habitat International 31 (2007) 12-23, Elsevier, 2007 > 5. Marjit Sugata: 'Industrialising India: The Land Question', IIT > Bombay > Colloqium, October 4th, 2007 > 6. Dutta A. P: Headline : Resettlement & rehabilitation. New policy, > old > story, Down to Earth, Vol.16. No.12, Nov. 08, Centre for Science and > Environment, 2007 > 7. Notification of Urban Development Department, Mumbai, Sept.3, 1996 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > > -- Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group 105, East End B Main Road, Jayanagar 9th Block East, Bangalore 560069. INDIA Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071210/a9c9e608/attachment-0002.html From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon Dec 10 18:45:26 2007 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:15:26 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Landless Kolis pitch for open space Message-ID: <86b8a7050712100514i688970a0id09c92984b6adb7a@mail.gmail.com> *Landless Kolis pitch for open space* *Sandeep Ashar** * *Monday, December 10, 2007 09:26 IST* *http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1138343* *Fishermen seek central government aid to adopt a playground* Having seen large tracts of open lands reserved for their recreation and welfare pave way for highrises, fisher folk at Moragaon in Juhu village have decided to make one of the last remaining patches of open land in their region their own. The 2500-strong fishing community has sought financial help from the Centre to adopt a 27,702 square metre playground, Nakshatra Udyan, in the area. The Juhu Moragaon Macchimaar Vividh Karyakari Sanstha Limited —- a representative body of the local fishing community —- wants to develop and maintain the open space through the Community Participation Fund (CPF), set up by the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The fund allows community based organisations to formulate and undertake a project catering to specific needs of a community using central financial help. Dashrath Mangela, the chairman of the body said, "Our children play cricket and football on the beach, where conditions are not ideal to hone their skills." Mangela added he was confident of acquiring the 51 per cent consent and 10 per cent funding needed from the community under the project. "Over the years, politicians and authorities have taken advantage of our innocence to reclaim patches meant for our recreation and convert them into elite sports clubs and residential towers. We won't let this playground go." The body has made a representation to the municipal ward office. a_sandeep at dnaindia.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-2 Size: 2445 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071210/a1d7ae72/attachment-0002.bin From debsinha at gmail.com Mon Dec 10 23:39:44 2007 From: debsinha at gmail.com (Deb Ranjan Sinha (Gmail)) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:09:44 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] VERY IMPORTANT: Road widening schemes in Bangalore References: <874546.12240.qm@web56815.mail.re3.yahoo.com><9057132d0712092129i1ff16eb7l4f3d662d85e0ef1@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <01f501c83b57$ebb35090$0200000a@PAGOL> thought the folks would be interested in the recent Outlook magazine cover story on the contestations happening in Bangalore vis-a-vis the IT industry. http://outlookindia.com/ best, deb. From sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in Tue Dec 11 19:23:27 2007 From: sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in (Sutapa Ghosh) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:53:27 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Planning History and Specialised Zones Message-ID: <4387.10.108.140.11.1197381193.squirrel@pali.hss.iitb.ac.in> As a continuation of my earlier posting, I will herein try to link up the globalization process and development of SEZs with the spatial and planning history of India. In this posting I will reflect on the history and background of the industrial policies which the government has pursued with in order to understand the spatial planning policy of the state. Industrialisation during the 60s followed the balanced growth strategy along the socialist lines, as opposed to the unbalanced growth model of the earlier colonial period where cities developed to serve colonial interests. First they served as mercantile towns and then expanded as manufacturing centres with a constant inflow of migrants from rural areas. Post-independence, efforts were made to ameliorate the disparities between large cities and backward villages. The state decided on one hand to contain the growth of existing cities and on the other hand focus on balanced regional development and growth of integrated development of small and medium towns. Industrial decentralization were the major tools of economic reconstruction. During this period the notable features of the planning principles were a)all lands belonged to the state or in other words there was a socialization of land as a resource b. Urban planning was initiated which would guide the balanced growth strategy. c. Industrial decentralization was to take place in line with the development paradigm. d. and the growth of primate cities was curbed through controls. After independence, the Soviet principles of economic reconstruction and Howard’s principles of physical decentralization were together considered to be the new idiom in urban planning and development. Nehruvian principles of socialism promoted industrial decentralization on a large scale to bring about economic growth. (Vedula, 2006). Post independence the backward area development was brought about through economic decentralization where various financial incentives and subsidies were devised to induce economic growth in selected backward areas. The districts selected as backward was to lie outside the 50 mile radius of larger cities and industrial projects, and was to have a per capita income of less than 25% of the state average and lower densities of population. In the Third Five Year Plan (61-66) the concept of ‘region’ was adopted in planning for large industries. Regional planning was to extend beyond the immediate environs to a larger area and the new industry would serve as a major focal point around which development was envisaged. This policy was to stimulate the growth of backward areas. (Gnaneshwar, 1995) Industries were to be established away from large and congested cities. Small and medium sized towns in the urban context were expected to arrest growth of large metro cities as they were viewed as centres of concentration of resources, technologies and power. The decentralization of industries took place with the establishment of new towns. In the 60s decade in Maharashtra, the Board of Industrial Development was set up which later became the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). In its first year of establishment MIDC established a few industrial enclaves which were to be spread out in interior areas. Since the backward areas concept could not correct the spatial disparities the focus again shifted back to the cities. Earlier it was thought that economic decentralization could stimulate growth in backward area and help in urban decentralization. But this did not happen. The main reasons behind this failure was because the growth potential of existing cities and towns were overlooked and there was a shift in focus on the development of new growth centres irrespective of the growth potential. The new growth centres in backward areas received a considerable degree of investments as compared to the existing towns which suffered from neglect, infrastructural investment and social facilities. This implied that proper assessment of growth potential in the regional context was not done in identifying the backward areas. Further these backward areas were not linked up with the various existing centres. What had happened as a fall out of this was increasing centralization instead of decentralization. This was manifested in rapid growth of metropolitan cities with stagnating growth of small towns. (Gnaneshwar, 1995) The National Urbanization Policy Resolution was drafted in 1975 which indicated that it was now becoming important to control the further growth of metropolitan cities by dispersal of economic activities, legislative measures and establishment of new counter-magnets in the region. In line with the centre’s policy we see that in Mumbai there was also a move to focus on the dispersal of economic activity and hence a Committee was appointed to provide a remedy to the congestion and the pollution problems of Mumbai city. The Committee said that industries should be banned in Mumbai and a new business complex should be built in the suburbs at Bandra-Kurla. (Vedula, 2006) The development policy suggested regulation of rapid growth and decongestion of central city areas in metropolitan cities. The Class I (1 lakh to 1 million population) cities were to be developed industrially with adequate infrastructure so that they would act as counter magnets to metropolitan cities (over 1 million population). The medium-sized towns needed to be developed into growth centres with agro-based industries and small scale industries, while small towns would grow as rural service centres and serve the needs of the surrounding rural areas. (Gnaneshwar, 1995) A new concept ‘Generators of Economic Momentum (GEMs)’ was launched to stimulate growth in identified existing and potential urban centres which could be developed to attract migrants as they were located in closely interrelated regions. Cities were then classified into national priority and state priority cities. National and global economic forces have thus led to the concentration of urbanization in the advantageously placed metropolitan cities like Madras and Bombay. (Gnaneshwar, 1995) Now let us turn to Maharashtra. During the mid sixties regional planning principles were formulated for Mumbai and Pune. The Regional development authority was formed and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region was delineated. The Committee also recommended that a mainland across the Thane Creek should be opened for multi-nucleated development. The base of metropolitan planning was laid with this and the first regional plan of 1970 proposed a new city across the creek which would spin off the office jobs from South Mumbai. (Vedula, A, 2006) With the opening up of the economy the industrial sector has been deregularised. In the post-liberalisation years after 1990s there has been a decline of manufacturing and shift of urban economy to finance and services. The metropolitan cities are fast developing into important centres of finance and services and TNC headquarters and becoming pro-active at the cost of industrial decline in many areas in metropolitan cities. The poor are being pushed out from old industrial core to the outskirts and ghettoized in peripheral slums, leading to massive intra-city migration in Mumbai. (Guha-Banerjee, S. 2006) The liberalization policies benefitted the urban areas of the country, with the urban areas becoming attractive for the setting up of new economy industries like IT, ITES, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, garments, hotels and recreation services, films, media and speciality hospitals. This has fuelled the demand for office space, technology parks and subsequent expansion of the city. As a spin-off from the liberalization policy post 1995, the Industrial Policy of Maharashtra state has seen a considerable evolution. There has been a number of incentives in the IT sector first. The Industrial Policy of 1999 clearly stated its link in international economic interests. The share of employment in manufacturing reduced from 42 % in 1980 to 23.5 % in 1994, whereas trade, finance and services industries have increased their share of employment from 52.1% to 64.3% during the same period. Parallel to this is the shift in the employment base of the economy in the older parts of the Island City from 71.8% in the 1971 to 55.7% in 1990, due to the flight of manufacturing activities to the hinterlands- the new centres being Nasik, Arungabad, Nagpur and Poona. (Whitehead and More, 2007) The Industrial Policy put a complete ban on setting of polluting and hazardous industries in Mumbai and its suburbs but did not restrict its location in Navi Mumbai. Navi Mumbai thus became the home to most of the polluting and hazardous industries which are allowed to operate in the industrial enclaves. The priority has shifted towards decongestion of Mumbai and restoring high quality of life in the city. In this context it may be of interest to point out that the Navi Mumbai, which experienced a slow growth since its inception is likely to develop as the city of the 21st Century with its new location of Special Economic Zones. (Vedula, 2006) Thus to summarise, from an unbalanced growth strategy adopted since the colonial times, India tried to correct the situation by adopting the balanced growth model following Nehruvian socialist principles after independence. However it was soon learnt that this strategy will not help as infrastructure development could not keep pace with industrial activity and urban decentralization did not take place and hence the focus shifted back to the metropolitan cities but this time to 'clean' and 'green' metro cities through the Industrial Relocation Policy which advocated dispersal of polluting and hazardous industries outside the metro-centres into peripheries and alternate nodes of growth- like Pune, Nasik and Auragabad. Manufacturing sectors were to pull out of metropolitan cities into Class I cities. As cities shifted their base from production to services, the IT, BPOs and other service sector industries started finding a place in the core areas of cities with economic restructuring shaping urban space and urban life in the metropolis. With SEZs being created in the country there seems to be a flood of approvals in NCR and its neighbouring regions and the largest SEZs which are in the process of getting formal approvals are located close to Mumbai. As governments lose control over space there seems to be great disparities within and between states with regard to the permissions and approvals of SEZs. While the states of J&K, the whole of eastern and N.E. states have received no permissions, the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Harayana with the NCR and neighbouring Areas have received the maximum number of approvals. SEZs are increasingly being created in satellite towns close to metropolitan cities in order to harness the advantages of accessibility, human resources and existing infrastructural facilities. Huge amounts of funds are being pumped into the metro-cities which are slated to become world class cities with world class infrastructure. Specialized areas (SEZs) are getting created inside metro-cities or in satellite towns like Navi Mumbai and Gurgaon near Delhi and the development is hinged on the potential connectivity of these centres with metro cities. References: Banerjee-Guha, S. : Shifting Cities: Urban Restructuring in Mumbai, EPW, 37(2), 2002. Gnaneshwar, V: Urban Policies in India- Paradoxes and Predicaments, Habitat International, Vol. 19. No. 3, Elsevier, 1995 Vedula, A : Blueprint and Reality: Navi Mumbai, the city of the 21st Century, Habitat International, , Elsevier, 2006. Sutapa Ghosh Ph.D. Research Scholar, IIT Bombay Mumbai 400072 From leofsaldanha at gmail.com Wed Dec 12 07:28:06 2007 From: leofsaldanha at gmail.com (leo saldanha) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:58:06 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: Road Widening Designs of BBMP In-Reply-To: <20071212014448.6117E3210042@wa-smtp-02.yousendit.com> References: <20071212014448.6117E3210042@wa-smtp-02.yousendit.com> Message-ID: <9057132d0712111757s5eb8ac60odf6fceac8cc07d00@mail.gmail.com> Hi The BBMP road widening designs can be downloaded as one single compressed file (17 MB) from the link below. Leo Hello from Leo, You have a file or files called RW.zip(1 file(s)) from leofsaldanha at gmail.com waiting for download. You can click on the following link to retrieve your File. The link will expire in 14 Days and will be available for 500 number of downloads. Link: http://download.yousendit.com/50A0F85D3DB0F7B5 Message from leofsaldanha at gmail.com: This zipped file (17MB) contains all the road widening designs that we have secured from BBMP.Leo Do not reply to this automatically-generated email. If you have any questions, please email us at paidsupport at yousendit.com. Is this email going to your junk/bulk folder? Add delivery at yousendit.com to ensure you receive future emails in your Inbox. If you no longer wish to receive file delivery notifications from YouSendIt, you can opt out. File too big for email? Try YouSendIt at http://www.yousendit.com *YouSendIt* (c) 2007 * Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | DMCA Policy | Company | Solutions | Advertise * 1919 S.Bascom Ave., 3rd Floor Campbell, CA 95008 -- Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group 105, East End B Main Road, Jayanagar 9th Block East, Bangalore 560069. INDIA Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071212/8d4b3913/attachment-0002.html From bhavya.dore at gmail.com Thu Dec 13 20:19:52 2007 From: bhavya.dore at gmail.com (Bhavya Dore) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:49:52 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting IV: The Neo - Appu Ghar Message-ID: Posting IV Perhaps it's appropriate that as we approach the end of this six-month long relationship with Appu Ghar, our new posting shifts gazes towards the city's ostensibly new, latter-day Appu Ghar. Rising from the gloaming debris of its now ancient and dilapidated ancestor, Adventure Island is a shiny and solid repudiation of the mortal impulse rapidly come to claim Appu Ghar. Almost as expensive to enter, but with fewer rides open to the public as of now, the park is in no uncertain terms an *update*. The staff is dressed homogenously and trained well; nowhere the casual busman's holiday of Appu Ghar but everywhere the clean and cool efficiency we've become familiar with from the neighborhood McDonald's. In design the park is an artificial lagoon, its 'perimeter of amusement' contained by water—an island getaway, if you will. A freshly-paved yellow brick road (literally) leads us into the kitschy non-place of Adventure Island, in which Candyland colours predominate and metal surfaces exude a masculine sense of control. The only approach to Adventure Island, the amusement park *proper*, is through an extended and unavoidable semi-enclosed mall or arcade (by comparison, Appu Ghar had a lonely Reebok store). One is bombarded by invitations to consumption—material and sensory—even before entering the park. And once one enters, one remains consumed by the park, where retreat from its bowels is once and for all; the perimeter of amusement is strict with its amuesees. Once inside—now citizens of this island—we roam its massive outlay (we walk, everyone has to walk, there's a faux sense of leveling in the park's pedestrianization of us all), witness to several uninaugurated rides and rookie tech problems. There is no roller-coaster yet. Another ride took a few hours to get back on track. And who is the patron of this shiny new park in shiny new India? At 500 rupees for the currently functional 12 rides it is the upwardly mobile that patronise this new amusement destination, leaving the lower middle class its forgotten haunt Appu Ghar. One mother aptly and ironically reached out to a familiar signifier to describe this amusement park experience, "This is like a new Appu Ghar". And these are as yet early days for Adventure Island. One staffer at a food store commented that in three years the entire park would be up and running, presumably by which time its amusement ancestor would have finally lurched to its demise. Even so, Adventure Island represents a kind of quantum leap for amusement. Ambient screams serve as advertisements for rides dotting the landscape. There is a vigorous nexus between pleasure and possibility in this installation series. In particular, *Flip Out*, a gigantic crane-like structure which picks you up and lets you plummet to certain death, only to pick you up again and spin you around, testifies to the kind of thrill that made Coney Island famous a hundred years ago. A successful amusement park ride combines the virtuoso display of technological prowess with a nary hint of the fallibility of that prowess: *therein lies the thrill*. Bhavya Dore & Kartik Nair -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-88625 Size: 5744 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071213/9d811f9e/attachment-0002.bin From akhilkatyal at rediffmail.com Thu Dec 13 23:24:20 2007 From: akhilkatyal at rediffmail.com (akhil katyal) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:54:20 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting IV: The Neo - Appu Ghar Message-ID: <20071213175205.10971.qmail@f5mail-237-216.rediffmail.com>   Dear Bhavya and Kartik, Just read your paper and your final posting. Great work. I think the way you two write is particularly appropriate to talk about amusement in the city. What turns! Sometimes it almost teases. Brilliant work. Cheers, Akhil -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071213/1221f335/attachment-0002.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Fri Dec 14 04:59:47 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:29:47 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: CFP: Global Suburbs Message-ID: <779435.96000.qm@web56803.mail.re3.yahoo.com> ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Mark Peel To: H-URBAN at H-NET.MSU.EDU Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 3:37:34 PM Subject: CFP: Global Suburbs From: Vandana Baweja CALL FOR PROPOSALS: GLOBAL SUBURBS CONFERENCE March 7- 8, 2008: Ann Arbor, Michigan The faculty and students at the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan are organizing an interdisciplinary graduate student conference on international metropolitan expansion, titled "Global Suburbs." This conference will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 7-8, 2008. It will bring together students and research scholars from various disciplines, both within and outside of the University of Michigan, to offer recent research and emerging perspectives on suburbanization the world over. Suburbanization is no longer solely the province of developed Western countries. Peripheral metropolitan expansion is now a global phenomenon and must be considered in new ways, be they within a metropolitan framework, independently of central cities, or with reference to rural surroundings. This conference seeks to examine global suburban development broadly to understand not only the past and present character of suburbia, but also with the hopes of understanding and guiding future development. Panel Theme Structure Five broad themes are identified to guide presentations and panel discussions toward various aspects of suburban scholarly research. Proposals do not need to be submitted specifically on the suggested themes. Theme 1: Suburban Politics and History of Suburbs (Public policy, real estate industry, public/private sector relationship, migration) Theme 2: Sustainable Development and Environmentalism (Suburban infrastructure, growth management/farmland preservation, transportation, environment and health, ecological impact of global climate change) Theme 3: Suburban Life (Social justice, social aspirations, quality of life, housing, poverty vs. prosperity, relationship between suburban living and social formations such as race, gender and class) Theme 4: Suburban Form (Morphology and typology, rural + urban interface, design aspects) Theme 5: Rethinking Suburbs (Future of suburbs, re-densification of urban centers, center and the periphery relationship, urbanizing suburbs) Research may focus on any region of the world and presenters are encouraged to submit work using traditional and/or innovative research methods including archival research, spatial analysis, surveys and oral histories or interpretive methods. Moreover, presenters are encouraged to consider bodies of evidence from case- specific cities and suburbs to their representations in film, photography, literature and word media. We invite abstracts from scholars in Architecture, Urban Planning, Art History, Comparative Literature, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Geography, Public Health, Public Policy and related disciplines. Paper presentations will be limited to 20 minutes. We encourage the use of visual aids in all presentations. Please submit a 500-word Abstract along with 5000-characters Biographical Statement/s by January 3, 2008 to: . For more information: . Biographical Statement/s should be followed by the Abstract - formatted in the following order: Title of Paper, Name of the Presenter/s, Academic/other Affiliation, 500-word Abstract, Keywords. H-Urban: http://www.h-net.org/~urban/ (including logs & posting guidelines) Posting Address: h-urban at h-net.msu.edu / mailto:h-urban at h-net.msu.edu (Click) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs From yashdeeps at hotmail.com Fri Dec 14 05:35:26 2007 From: yashdeeps at hotmail.com (yash srivastava) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:05:26 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting IV: The Neo - Appu Ghar In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Bhaya and Kartik, With reference to your last paragraph, I wonder if you have read Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York. In this book Koolhaas hypothesises that Manhattan's urban forms are inspired by the artifice of Coney Island. Worth a read if you haven't already read it. Your work looks very interesting so far. Regards, Yash Yashdeep Srivastava 2/51, Brunswick Road Brunswick East VIC 3057 Australia T: +61 3 9381 0600 M: +61 433 549 546 > Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:19:42 +0530> From: bhavya.dore at gmail.com> To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net> Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting IV: The Neo - Appu Ghar> > Posting IV> > > > Perhaps it's appropriate that as we approach the end of this six-month long> relationship with Appu Ghar, our new posting shifts gazes towards the city's> ostensibly new, latter-day Appu Ghar. Rising from the gloaming debris of its> now ancient and dilapidated ancestor, Adventure Island is a shiny and solid> repudiation of the mortal impulse rapidly come to claim Appu Ghar.> > Almost as expensive to enter, but with fewer rides open to the public as of> now, the park is in no uncertain terms an *update*. The staff is dressed> homogenously and trained well; nowhere the casual busman's holiday of Appu> Ghar but everywhere the clean and cool efficiency we've become familiar with> from the neighborhood McDonald's. In design the park is an artificial> lagoon, its 'perimeter of amusement' contained by water—an island getaway,> if you will. A freshly-paved yellow brick road (literally) leads us into the> kitschy non-place of Adventure Island, in which Candyland colours> predominate and metal surfaces exude a masculine sense of control.> > The only approach to Adventure Island, the amusement park *proper*, is> through an extended and unavoidable semi-enclosed mall or arcade (by> comparison, Appu Ghar had a lonely Reebok store). One is bombarded by> invitations to consumption—material and sensory—even before entering the> park. And once one enters, one remains consumed by the park, where retreat> from its bowels is once and for all; the perimeter of amusement is strict> with its amuesees.> > Once inside—now citizens of this island—we roam its massive outlay (we walk,> everyone has to walk, there's a faux sense of leveling in the park's> pedestrianization of us all), witness to several uninaugurated rides and> rookie tech problems. There is no roller-coaster yet. Another ride took a> few hours to get back on track.> > And who is the patron of this shiny new park in shiny new India? At 500> rupees for the currently functional 12 rides it is the upwardly mobile that> patronise this new amusement destination, leaving the lower middle class its> forgotten haunt Appu Ghar. One mother aptly and ironically reached out to a> familiar signifier to describe this amusement park experience, "This is like> a new Appu Ghar". And these are as yet early days for Adventure Island. One> staffer at a food store commented that in three years the entire park would> be up and running, presumably by which time its amusement ancestor would> have finally lurched to its demise.> Even so, Adventure Island represents a kind of quantum leap for amusement.> Ambient screams serve as advertisements for rides dotting the landscape.> There is a vigorous nexus between pleasure and possibility in this> installation series. In particular, *Flip Out*, a gigantic crane-like> structure which picks you up and lets you plummet to certain death, only to> pick you up again and spin you around, testifies to the kind of thrill that> made Coney Island famous a hundred years ago. A successful amusement park> ride combines the virtuoso display of technological prowess with a nary hint> of the fallibility of that prowess: *therein lies the thrill*.> > Bhavya Dore & Kartik Nair _________________________________________________________________ It's simple! Sell your car for just $30 at CarPoint.com.au http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fsecure%2Dau%2Eimrworldwide%2Ecom%2Fcgi%2Dbin%2Fa%2Fci%5F450304%2Fet%5F2%2Fcg%5F801459%2Fpi%5F1004813%2Fai%5F859641&_t=762955845&_r=tig_OCT07&_m=EXT -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071214/70574581/attachment-0002.html From critplan at ucla.edu Mon Dec 17 02:08:20 2007 From: critplan at ucla.edu (Critical Planning Journal) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:38:20 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] REMINDER: EDWARD W. SOJA PRIZE, CRITICAL PLANNING CFP DEADLINE DEC. 31 Message-ID: <3a698e340712161238j435b94f3ra4b41411a0a5839@mail.gmail.com> REMINDER: DEADLINE DEC. 31 EDWARD W. SOJA PRIZE CRITICAL PLANNING CFP - VOLUME 15, SUMMER 2008 The Edward W. Soja Prize for Critical Thinking in Urban and Regional Research Critical Planning, the UCLA Journal of Urban Planning, proudly announces the Edward W. Soja Prize for Critical Thinking in Urban and Regional Research. For the inaugural year, a cash prize of $1,000 will be given to the best article published in volume 15 of summer 2008. The prize is named after Edward W. Soja. It celebrates the lifetime achievements of this critical thinker whose work continues to open insightful new research directions for the theoretical and practical understanding of contemporary cities and regions. The awarded article will exemplify the seminal contribution that such visions make to scholarly research. For the prize we will consider all articles selected through the Critical Planning double-blind peer review — the journal's managing editor will chair a juried selection process. We welcome submissions related to urban and regional planning and all cognate disciplines from persons residing in any country. Preference will be given to authors speaking to critical issues outside the research agendas of traditional funding agencies and institutional donors. All other standards for publication in the Critical Planning journal apply. For additional details, please refer to the call for submissions to vol. 15 below. Please note: the deadline for submissions has been extended to December 31, 2007. CALL FOR PAPERS: Volume 15, Summer 2008 Critical Planning UCLA Journal of Urban Planning In honor of our 15th anniversary, this year's volume of Critical Planning is devoted to identifying and highlighting the most current critical approaches to urban theory, research and practice. We seek submissions that 1) address the challenges confronting the present and future of cities and regions in the U.S. and around the world and, 2) display an original and critical perspective on recent theoretical developments, policies and practices. We invite submissions from all disciplines as well as the use of various methodologies. We encourage cross-disciplinary, multi-scalar and mixed-method approaches. Critical Planning is a double-blind peer-reviewed publication. Feature articles are generally between 5,000 and 7,000 words, while shorter articles are between 1,000 and 3,000. All submissions should be written according to the standards of the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition. Footnotes should be placed at the end of the document. Please double-space all parts of the manuscript and leave one-inch margins on all sides. Tables and images should be separated from the text. Images should be provided in .tif format, not exceeding a width of five inches and a resolution of 600 dpi (a width of 3000 pixels). Include a cover sheet with the article's title; the author's name, phone number, email address; and a two-sentence biographical statement. Please do not put identifying information (name or affiliation) anywhere but the cover sheet. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis. Feel free to contact us by email to discuss your ideas. Manuscripts should be submitted by 5pm on December 31, 2007 as .doc attachments via email to: critplan at ucla.edu and two hardcopies (postmarked by Dec. 31) should be mailed to: Critical Planning C/O Ava Bromberg, Managing Editor UCLA Department of Urban Planning School of Public Affairs 3250 Public Policy Building Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656 Email: critplan at ucla.edu Website: http://www.spa.ucla.edu/critplan/ For pdf version of call please see our website. From leofsaldanha at gmail.com Tue Dec 18 12:53:12 2007 From: leofsaldanha at gmail.com (leo saldanha) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:23:12 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] PUBLIC CONSULTATION: ROAD WIDENING SCHEMES OF BENGALURU: IMPACTS AND ALTERNATIVES Message-ID: <9057132d0712172322t7a517c9g8087526db53d0402@mail.gmail.com> *HASIRU USIRU* & *Environment Support Group (R)* 105, East End B Main Road, Jayanagar 9th Block East, Bengaluru 560069 Tel: 91-80-22441977/26531339 Voice/Fax: 91-80-26534364 *Email: *esg at ...or * *esgindia at ... * * *Web: *www.esgindia.org *CIVIC* #6, Kasturi Apts, 2nd floor, No.35/23, Langford Road Cross, Shanthinagar, Bengaluru 560025 Tel: 2211 0584 / 41144126 / 2271 1001 / 98803 97401 *E-mail: *civicblore at ... *Web: *www.civicspace.in *Alternative Law Forum* No 4 Ground Floor 3rd Cross, Vasanthnagar Bengaluru 560052 Tel: +91- 80 – 22356845 Fax: (Fax)+91- 80 – 22370028 Email: alforum at ... Web: www.altlawforum.org *Cordially invite you * *to attend the* * PUBLIC CONSULTATION* * * *on* * * *ROAD WIDENING SCHEMES OF BENGALURU: IMPACTS AND ALTERNATIVES* *Date**: **20th December 2007**, Thursday Venue: Senate Hall, **Central** **College**, Bengaluru* * * *Programme*** * Display of Road Widening Scheme Drawings: **4:00 PM – 5:00 PM*** *Discussion on the Scheme: **5:00 PM – 7:00 PM*** * * * * The Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and Members of the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority are expected to actively participate in these proceedings. *Background note*: Known and recognised as the Garden City, a positive distinction of the rare kind, Bengaluru's landscape is defined seasonally by the blooms in its tree lined corridors. Unfortunately, the fast changing dynamics within the city along with a burgeoning population and unplanned 'development' has led to the often illogical and ruthless removal of these trees. *Hasiru Usiru *(HU), a network of concerned citizens, has over the years endeavored to work towards finding creative means in which to conserve this identity of the city. The group has evolved from a loose informal group to one which is now recognised and appreciated for its interest in different aspects of the city's environment and social justice concerns. The Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka decided on a PIL filed by Environment Support Group in 2005 (WP No. 14104/2005 (GM-PIL) against such indiscriminate tree felling, that all decisions relating to protection of trees or according permission to fell them would be per the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act. The judgement also vitally recognised the positive involvement and deep concerns of the public in such processes and highlighted that the *Hasiru Usiru* network should be involved by the government in all its decisions on projects where trees were to be felled.** *The current issue*: It had come to light in the last few months that the BBMP has been planning to undertake a major Road Widening scheme to accommodate the growing traffic and to deal with the congestion in the city's core areas. This would lead to the felling of thousands of trees within the city along with the removal of existing road infrastructure -not to mention affecting a wide number of open spaces and private properties. In addition there are a range of concerns relating to rights of pedestrians, cyclists, the elderly and the physically challenged, children, pavement vendors, etc. To summarise, the scheme would result in a drastic and irreversible change in the landscape and environment of the city. Concerned about the logic of this decision, network members approached the Chief Secretary, Mr. Mahishi, on 19th October 2007 with the request of a more public and open process of decision making. The outcome was a larger discussion with the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transportation Authority (BMLTA) on the 30th of November 2007 regarding the management of the city's growing traffic congestion issues. Sadly, while the discussion ranged over a wide variety of topics with the mention of various internationally recognised and lauded methods of managing traffic in urban conglomerates such as charging cess on personal vehicles, increasing public transportation facilities, etc., no concrete decisions resulted from this meeting. Recognising the need for urgent action, it was felt that a Public Consultation regarding the scheme would not only benefit the public through a larger dissemination of information, but would also lead to a process which identifies the vitality of the citizens and their participation in their own city's management. *Organisers*: * * *Environment Support Group* is a registered non-profit public interest research, training, campaign and advocacy initiative working on a variety of social and environmental justice issues. *Citizens Voluntary Initiative for the City*- CIVICs primary mandate is to generate and disseminate empowering information to the citizens of Bengaluru and to activate and mobilize participation of the local people in the planning, administration and management of the affairs of the Local Authorities. *Alternative Law Forum* (ALF) recognises itself as a space that integrates alternative lawyering with critical research, alternative dispute resolution, pedagogic interventions and more generally maintaining sustained legal interventions in various social issues. -- Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group 105, East End B Main Road, Jayanagar 9th Block East, Bangalore 560069. INDIA Telefax: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364 Email: leo at esgindia.org or esg at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071218/a4c26a37/attachment-0002.html From estrangedstrings at gmail.com Tue Dec 18 15:00:51 2007 From: estrangedstrings at gmail.com (priyanka gupta) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:30:51 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Graffiti and Kolkatascape ; a study of conflicting rights, and citizenship[ final paper] Message-ID: <23c04dc60712180130k30409b64r1cad698eac4cf15e@mail.gmail.com> Much has changed since my last post, lines have been drawn…opinions have changed…pages have turned… my research project started with certain blatant presumptions, analysis of which now seems pertinent to construe the vicious collocation of rights that I had sought to explore previously. *That scribbles on walls is a complete infringement of personal rights. Splashing colors on private walls is wrong. It tantamounts to sheer vandalism*. It's a blow not only to our better aesthetic judgment but also to us as individuals and our space, fiercely protected as intensely private and personal. The knell had its first echoes years back when my mother cowering with fear gave in to the *Para* goons signing a paper stating she has no objections to have her freshly painted walls smeared with colors to help save our party lords few seats. As I stood appalled and visibly perturbed, I knew we were as helpless as our neighbors, to dare to appeal against this rampant abuse of political power. However the paper had a clause that the party concerned would be as diligent about restoring the walls to its previous state as they had been in accosting us. And this went on year after year with our protest muffled in the clamor of loud speakers and rallies. Our walls changed colors with years and sometimes if they were lucky enough they would be smeared with an ugly patch of lime, as a half forgotten symbol of truce for the next elections. Our inability to rouse ourselves to contingent actions against the concerned parties was as inexcusable as these elaborate rituals of the *Maha* elections. So complete neutrality in my approach in the research was a little hard to achieve. But after a series of interviews I was half bought into the idea that graffiti is an essential part of the political culture in Bengal and what is popularly conceived as an extension of *Bengaliness*. If the larger than life gigantic cut outs down south , the ubiquitous flags on the roofs on almost every house up north, adds to the intensely complicated and wildly exciting disparate hues of Indian politics then our humble walls cast in different colors did as well. *In conversations…* *'If somebody falls on the road in Delhi or Bombay nobody will pick him up but here dozens of men will rush to help. Our culture is a culture of sympathy.'* * * The snippets of most of the interviews taken over the last couple of months, revealed new aspects of *Bengalines *to me and fantastic insights of my city Kolkata which was crucial in understanding the idea of graffiti in its present cultural context. Although my entire deduction for now rests on the perception of a chosen few yet they seem to encapsulate the way in which the city largely exists in our imagination. Kolkata… *'the city of protest, the city of politics…' the city of sympathy' * which would therefore bear graffiti in her arms with perfect élan, adding a stark shade to her brilliant hues. But it is also interesting to note that these ideas are always constructed in opposition to something. For example the city of protest typically stands in opposition to the lack of it. The oft-repeated self -congratulatory burden – the Gokhlaen dictum that we Bengalis have been carrying around for centuries is hammered hard through decades. The Bengali Renaissance often deemed synonymous to the Indian Renaissance where a new breed of intelligentsia, a new clan of the 'Bhodrolok' was created, a class of intermediaries between those vested with political power and liberties and those who weren't. Doomed to be pinioned in the interminate grayness of frustrated aspirations and thwarted egotism, this class is created out of an ambiguous state of in-betweeness, created out of clerks and bureaucrats, doctors and lawyers trading degrees for social worth and prestige. This slowly disappearing *Bhodrlok* class stepping out of the giant corridors of Presidency and Hindu college lingers in the faint traces of careful observation of certain rituals, certain ethos, fractured yet alive, desperately maintained for the sole preservation of the nostalgia that is *Bengaliness*. *Bengaliness* as it exists in our imagination is constructed out of certain stereotypes of *Macher Jhol* and *Mishti Doi* of *Rabindro Sangeet* and Satyajit Ray...Bengalis *'the intellectuals, the devoutly political'* now stand at the crossroads of half forgotten fantasies and nostalgia of Bengaliness. Graffiti in Kolkata doesn't merely act as a potent and immediate form of political expression and propaganda but also as a mark of an essential difference. Difference constructed out of a faithful performance of a fantasy conjured for the creation and perpetuation of a self-image distinct from the rest. The acceptability and legitimacy of graffiti can thus also be seen as one of the arbiters of that difference conjured. One can also sense the roaring footsteps of the mighty state in this fantasy of difference. It is interesting to find the extent to which these ideas have now been normalized and echoed with fear and forced consent, as can be seen among people countless like me and my neighbors. A sharp divide naturally arises out of those who genuinely try and participate actively in the public / political domain using their walls as an emblem of their political participation and allegiances and those for whom coercion IS a reality. *Walls bulletins of the masses?* There is a change in the city, in its skies, in its breath as it is shoved now through the riven lines where life acquires a new dimension, as we all now have become children of globalization. Calcutta has become Kolkata. From the conglomeration of three villages sold to the East India Company to a city fraught with the indeterminacy of an image carefully thrust upon it for the glazed eyes of investments, creating a protean upheaval of its roots and pillars to ensure the smooth flowing capita to catch up with the new world order. The *Bhodrolok* now becomes a new brand of people with jobs, which can be threatened by a minor upheaval somewhere in the US, in a world where one can almost smell the stench of the next country in one's guts. A proximity ensured, accepted and understood as indispensable for a world order based on the creed of mutual cooperation for better trade prospects. Historical moves between countries are now initiated; agreements are breached between states to resolve political tensions in any part of the world, which can threaten the precariously poised world on the perceived commonality of interests, resting on the citadel of globalization. The middle class, a class defined by its consumption capacity, the main beneficiaries of the neo liberal reforms in the world of market economy, based on fear and competition where class structures and limits are getting increasingly fluid, engenders a fragile sense of selfhood shattered further by this perceived threat of the mighty state through graffiti right into its very thresholds- its walls. *Walls* slipping out into the narrow space between individuals is set on the principle of acquisition and proprietorship, the infringement of which threatens the sanctity of the personal rights of the individual. Walls stand on the basic premise of exclusion and segregation, as a mark of difference from the others. They are used chiefly for containment, for distinction and for privation to sustain the impression of a mutually exclusive space within. The insidious operations of power can be seen in the way in which the legitimacy of the political rights of the parties exercised through wall writing remain unquestioned and unchallenged and deemed natural. If the political rights of the individual and various political parties seem to assume such a natural credence then why does a substantial half [if such segregation can be achieved] seem to view graffiti going against the very idea of the city, perceived in today's context. This new breed of middle class almost stands as distinct from the post independence ,pre liberalization, Nehruvian precept of self effacing, self abnegating class, associated chiefly with the idea of community, family solidarity with a deep seated sense of communal and moral obligation. And thus the acceptance of graffiti in today's context seems quite problematic. In the later half of my project I would like to focus increasingly on this issue. The role of the media here is also important in the way in which this class and its interests are granted legitimacy. *The city grinding through time* The idea of the city, the way in which we perceive ourselves as individuals in both public and private domain have transformed radically over the years. Yes the city had changed and so have the people and incidentally so has the party which has been ruling us over the past three decades, despite the anti incumbency factor. The change is reflected everywhere in its spatial structure, its dingy lanes, its broad flyovers, its closed shutters of local supermarkets, from the glittering mirrorscapes of malls to the designer gods. From the bustling *para* to the closed windows and high walls, from a *pujo* with larger than life idols and the deafening roar of drums and conch shells to today's god's smaller than the brand lords flapping its wings at every *Mandap* standing tall and proud. A city of a state no longer '*the graveyard for industries',* but graveyards for farmers instead. But then there is a change and it's everywhere. Hope and promise for a renewal stirs in the rusty cogs of our machines. The state has witnessed an unprecedented growth in reailty. The growth in terms of per capita income till 2005 has been 5.72% as opposed to the national average of 5.2%. The annual report says the FDI in the fiscal 2005-06 was worth 119 million. The state has seen a massive growth in the educational system. The census report of 2000 estimates West Bengal's literacy rate to be 6.9% as opposed to the national average of 6.5%. '*We are now at the transitional stage …agriculture alone cannot create new job opportunities and move the economy further. So it is imperative to move from agriculture to industry'.* Buddhadeb Bhattacharya the man with a vision...a vision of booming industries, thriving retail and real estate with the loud jangle of foreign investment, vision of classical hubs and the foresight of Singur and Nandigram. The city has borne these visions in her arms and has felt the changes in her belly. To me it is a city of acute inbetweenenss, almost a no city, confused and puzzled with its responsibilities and changing definitions. Rapid industrialization and market growth has spurred a new kind of urban growth ubiquitous and consistent. From New Town, a project spread over 300 acres repeating the immense success of other planned cities like Salt Lake, Nager Bazaar. Areas to curb the unwanted encroachment of the fetid filth and squalor of the larger Calcutta, certain zones for certain people with cleaner streets, better drainage away from the clamor of slums, hawkers and trams. The morphology of the city is slowly evolving from a city which had once embraced massive infiltration of refugees post independence as well as migrant laborers, an all inclusive city now trying to segregate itself into zones for a select few. This sudden hastiness with Kolkata as a clean city with its multiplexes and malls exist at the exclusion of others. The notion of Kolkata as a global city now slowly emerges, as it becomes the emblem of the new global economy with an alarming increase in the income divide. A planning structure adopted to benefit the thriving middle class. Concerted efforts have been made to clean up the city off its hawkers, squatters by creating segregated, exclusive units in an attempt to reclaim space for those deemed it's legitimate and rightful constituents. The rapid urbanization, the curious interpenetration of economy and government policies in smaller spatial units can be seen woven deeply in the narrative of graffiti. The city and its spaces thus constitute a highly fraught arena for the articulation of these perceptions. The city thus acts as a commodity to promote the growing demands of the state in the new globalized economy. *Walls for the masses:* The word graffiti comes from the Italian word *graffito*, which means to scribble/scrawl. It offered an easily accessible, interactional space necessary for a peaceful coexistence in the society. For archeologists and epigraphologists they offer a useful insight into the social customs, attitudinal patterns and territoriality of the constituents of the community. The crucial delineation of space afforded by graffiti offers a separate domain for the assertion of active citizenship. >From ancient city walls of Pompei to sub ways of New York ,graffiti has come a long way. Right from the time where its origins can be traced, graffiti has always been an indispensable part of social expression. From the advertisements of prostitutes to sexually explicit lines scrawled on public walls in ancient city Rome graffiti always seems to articulate the subliminal inexpressible desires and truths of humanity and for the expression of the aberrant. Later it attained a more subversive dimension in opposition to the mainstream socio political culture in America of the 60's to the modern day freedom tunnel till it acquired legitimacy as a separate art form. In most of the countries in the west graffiti is and has been a cognizable offense and is deemed equivalent to vandalism and punished accordingly it is purported to go against sanctity of property rights. Graffiti in Kolkata was ushered typically as a left phenomenon, essentially as part of a political subculture.. Slowly it made its slow trepid incursion into all the spatial domains, varied yet ubiquitous. The 60 s witnessed a massive proliferation of wall writing in Kolkata and gained popularity as a legitimate tool of political expression during the *Naxalite* era in opposition to the ruling Congress. The left hadn't gained ground then and was a party with few resources and petty funds. Wall writing therefore seemed to be a potent tool to gain visibility more immediate and localized. Armed with catchy slogans, with easels made of branches chiseled from palm trees and tar they trooped down the streets with Mao…ringing in the air. And then the famous anti defacement law by Siddhartha Shankar Ray during the time of emergency in a desperate attempt to muffle the dissenting voices of the *Naxalites *and the leftists. The act was introduced as an ordinance on February 16,1976 and then ratified by an act in April of that year and was introduced in the assembly by the State Home Minister Motahar Hussein. But the Anti Defacement Law[ the West Bengal Prevention of Defacement of Property Act,1976] though chiefly originating in West Bengal had never gained grounds at large till the Election Commissioner exhumed it in its full severity in the 2006 elections. Graffiti has always been a collaborative attempt of the party workers. The presence of the party is explicitly projected with a certain image circulated among the masses through slogans and colors, a crucial and colorful way of making their presence felt. Like most of the other political practices graffiti also has a number of rituals surrounding it, one of them being *occupation of walls*. This elaborate preamble to the election process starts with the party cadres seizing walls popularly known as *deyal *d*okho *l. Here each party assumes absolute monopoly over certain walls for a certain number of years thereby demarcating their domain and establishing the spatial distribution of graffiti, a process adopted to establish a disciplined and structural uniformity, though does containing certain implicit connotations of political hegemony. In 2006 Bengal saw a colorless state election. After the strict directive by the election commissioners, unfazed and undeterred, the ruling party CPIM as well as the then parties in opposition came out with innovative techniques to lure the electorate through the use of electronic media, leaflets, rickshaw danglers, saris with party motifs all over it, banners posters and an intensive door to door campaign. A budget of 6 lakhs is normally allotted to each party. The total budget after the ban, therefore, saw a rise with the ban on wall writing leading to various ingenuous reallocation of money for other means of propaganda. The poll managers resorted to techniques as diverse as e-campaigns, to electric lighting with party motifs and the name of the candidate amply displayed. The IT minister Manab Mukherjee launched a web site on the proliferating IT boom in the state triggered by the inspiring vision of the state government – a rampant publicity of the Left front on the web. Films on the virtues of each political party were made and screened at every local corner. The traditional age old songs of course were still proactive, including street theatre and stalls with party books and leaflets, memorandums on sale. These squares were interesting arenas to flex one's political prowess in terms of visibility and strength. More the number of people attending it more the reassurance of the number of votes from each constituency. The Trinamool Congress Party, one of the major opposition parties in West Bengal at that time, came up with the novel idea of distributing vests to early morning joggers and rickshaw pullers a fitting combat to left front's distribution of shirts and saris containing party motifs and symbols at the local office only to bring it out at rallies and processions. The Election Commission came under scathing attacks from the ruling party after the 2006 elections. In its critique of the Election Commission, the CPIM claimed that the act was invoked unjustly and that though the act was restricted to Kolkata and Howrah, the State Government was forced to implement it across the state by the EC. The EC however claimed that the it did not direct the ban but merely advised it, assuming its advisory function, resting the viability and the implementation of the act solely on the discretion of the government. The EC also suggested that the issue of the ban was merely based on the issue of moral code of conduct, which was imperative to follow to avoid any untoward activities during wall capturing. *In time:* Kalu Sheel the local councilor of our locality, old, reliable and better still with an astounding memory of years of careful observance of party edicts trudging a long way from the glorious idealisms of *Alimuddin Street*to a tiny room of the local office of a whirling fans and torn chairs. I thought my last set of interviews would find a fitting end in him. I was interested in stories in tales and fantasies that Marxism conjured in my land…and I was in for a big surprise. From that cluttered room of defiant atheists, the only Bengalis in the neighborhood who liked to spend those five days of *Pujo* in the party stalls selling books on *Marx, Lenin* and * Che* to a man flipping a flashy cell phone in a swank plush party office of wooden cabinets and air conditioner. Yes he still wears the *Dhuti *and yes the walls still carry those dusty photographs of Lenin Marx, Ho Chi Minh, Niranjan Sengupta and Pran Krishna Bandopdhay but much has changed… Graffiti has always been a collaborative attempt of the party workers. Each Municipal Ward has a host of local party offices, a common center for party cadres specific to the area, those with similar political affiliations, as well as part time party workers. Months before the elections, the party workers troop out into the streets armed with colors, tars and lime. After the preliminary stages of lime washing the walls begins the elaborate ritual of writing on walls. After speaking to representatives of two major parties I couldn't fail to notice that each adopts a peculiar methodology of it's own. Both assiduously deny hiring of professional artists but never ceased to pitch the blame on the other. But professional artists do exist who are faithfully called months before the elections and hired on a contract basis irrespective of the individual's own political affiliations. Skills are bought to buy votes. The entire arsenal of propaganda techniques, raid our senses with an infallible virtuosity of both the visual and the auditory. The pervasive presence of banners and posters from every wires and telephone posts of the locality to a much more engaging and immediate medium of graffiti to the adoption of more expensive means like the television ,one cant escape from the insuperable and irrepressible power of the party. But the cost effective means of easy dissemination like graffiti is understandably the most widely used motif for political propaganda. For example for a ward of twenty houses if it takes 500 rupees for ten banners and leaflets, the cost of writing on a walls cannot be more than 5 rupees. The party workers with their ingenuous use of colors and words brush up the walls with the smooth lime soaked sweep of words dotted with paint or tar. Although the crucial ritual of *deyal dokhol* happens every year with fresh houses springing up every year little efforts are made for any kind of restitution. The entire period of occupation of the walls range from 5 to any period of time. Speaking to the local councilor Kalu Sheel brought forth this startling revelation that despite the owners, the walls can be captured or occupied for an indefinite number of years irrespective of it's constituents. It's crucial to realize the interdependency between politics and communications created on the interface of the private and the political. The walls are not merely part of the entire political mechanism but also act as pervasive tools to rouse political and religious sentiments. A well-rounded understanding of graffitis can only be achieved if one understands the linguistic configuration of the words. The careful arrangement of syllables, the use of rhythm, the smooth play of rhetoric, the ample display of commonplaces and of course the beautiful syncrosity of the lines…all are put together to create a plethora of tableauxs with a linguistic charge peculiar to itself. The rhetoric of graffiti needs to be persuasive enough to stir the masses. Therefore, must be easily understandable, quickly absorbed and catchy enough to be remembered and transmitted to others. It works through the narrow sluices of the mind, through memory only to be passed onto others. But how does one achieve this easy dissemination of political ideas and agendas to the masses as disparate and unique in their political affiliations as well as cultural proclivity. Here comes the need for a crucial understanding of the behavior pattern the attitudinal traits of those who can easily respond to them. In a country like India and a state like West Bengal it is imperative for us to reiterate the fact that the entire premise of wall writing rests simply on the assumption of a literate mass who can respond to a common object, a common agenda and a common interest by construing the words on the walls. Therefore one can make a basic assumption that wall writing caters to only the literate and the half literate sections of the masses. An auto ride on one lazy Sunday afternoon on one of the bylanes to Connaught Place in Delhi caught my attention…*DALITON KA MASIHA-* name of the candidate- the motif of the party, caught my attention, apart from the liberal use of flags and banners ubiquitously on display. In the graffiti, while on one hand one can see a carefully constructed implicit social heirarchisation, assumed, inflicted and displayed while at the same time the rhetoric of the graffiti immediately constructed an image, an icon of a savior, an insurrector, a leader to look upto and to follow, a certain sense of indisputable god like state generated to be revered and almost blindly absorbed for one's own social and political salvation. Graffiti even in Kolkata exists in an extreme linguistic credence of hyperbole. The careful construction of such icons or figures through mere language is something of great interest. Like a theatre of colors it affects, it rouses; it stirs our emotions, and our intellect even. It NEEDS to be noticed…therein lies the effectiveness, the potency of this medium…it rests simply on the affective principles of our mind based on its noticeability and visibility, and the unique taxonomical and linguistic devices are used to ensure it. It often operates on the calm resonance of collective memory that either gets associated with a certain time in history, a certain movement on the past that one can recall and disseminate quite naturally to others. The use of the peculiar phrase mentioned above for example may be seen to be based on the primacy of one community with the exclusion of and opposition to others…therefore it is only but natural that the words would not only remind a *Dalit* of a history of oppression but also offer a way to escape from his state of being. A culture of vote and allegiance that graffiti thus manufactures is effectively implicated in its very language. It becomes just another motif of one's social and cultural identity. It poises itself carefully on the discordant and frightfully disparate cacophony of divergent interests and identities. Yet as a medium, by obtruding into the sphere of public visibility it gains an equally comfortable access to those it seeks to exclude as well as their subjects .No one is or can be exempted from the power of the scrawls. Everyone is linked by the common ocular presence of the graffitis impinging upon one's perspective. Graffiti thus acts both as an affirmation of existing political loyalties or allegiances and at the same time as a potent subversive tool of dissent, by demanding attention from even those opposing it. They stand at the crucial nodal interface between the masses and the figures or the centres of power. There are also other breeds of graffiti that needs to be analyzed briefly apart from its political counterpart. *Commercial Graffiti*: one of the major issues that Anurbha Ghosh the councilor who fought the edict of the election commission at the Kolkata High Court on grounds that the execution of the law is strictly unconstitutional and goes against the directive of the Supreme court by which the voter has the right to have full knowledge about it's candidates. The case is still pending in the High Court although the law has been repealed by the assembly on 20th December 2006. the legitimacy of wall writing at the court was fought for in opposition to the permissibility granted to independent commercial houses to use walls for endorsement as opposed to the complete disavowal of political endorsement. Speaking to him at his posh salt lake residence Anurabha Ghosh also a senior Congress leader, opposed this blatant discrimination. He argues that if ads of Lux underwear can be all over the city so can the emblem of my party. Its important to remember that the anti defacement law was in existence for as long as 1976 during the congress regime of Siddhartha Shankar Ray. But it was never taken seriously by any of the parties. It was one of the many political weapons used for the then CPI and its cadres resorting to the only available resources for self-promotion and of wall writing. It continued to be buried in the law books of the state till it was exhumed in all its proportions and ferocity clamping down on everyone alike. One of the major clauses of Anurabha ghosh the litigator who fought the case in the high court opposing election commission dictate was the permission granted to the corporate houses to use wall writing for self endorsement. The idea was extended to even the usage of banners, which Anurbha Ghosh in his interview strongly condemned as what he calls' littering of the city's skyscape'. One needs to pay close attention to the way in which walls are used for promotion of any kind for its easy accessibility. space is bought conjured for that essential use. The contractors and the corporate houses however have to seek an elaborate permission from the municipal corporation, which of course the political parties are exempted from. The variable and eclectic use of the walls can best be seen in the way in which many government and non government organizations use the space to even promote social causes like pulse polio notifications. The famous Bula di campaign on AIDS was conspicuous not only on the major intersections of the city on hoardings but also on many micospaces of the city existing in the tiny pockets of the city. Thus graffiti not only has its commercial purposes and values but also is protean in its capacity to mutate to serve its variant purposes. Thus when the election commissioner clamped down strongly on the use of graffiti it meant a loss not only of a potent political tool but also the other faint, muffled voices that found expression in these walls When I started the project it always seemed that this sudden burst of political self righteousness imposed on the parties by the all benevolent election commission could be a direct consequence of the slowly emerging notion of Kolkata as it exists today where the idea of graffiti contradicts the very essence of the self perpetuating idea of a global city in tune with time and change. Lets now understand why graffiti and the idea of kolkata as a safe and clean haven constructed for its legitimate citizens is incompatible to the graffiti as it exists. For that I took interviews of people ranging form my old neighbors to the people from what I think are representative areas of the city. *Defacement, a problem?* Let's understand why graffiti is seen as a deviant tool of expression even in a city like Kolkata where it contains a certain amount of political legitimacy. >From the pre historic caves of Lascaux in southern France to the walls of the city of Pompei in central Italy to the Greek city to the smears of the Chicane in Los Angeles and gansgstas of Chicago to those in the famous Freedom Tunnel graffiti has always offered a unique insight into the pervasive social patterns and also the suppressed angst of those oppressed to be brutally clamped down upon by the authorities. Ancient graffiti from the advertisement of prostitutes in Rome to political caricatures graffiti appears to provide a deviant, unconventional yet a highly popular means of representation and individual expression marked again by its crucial constituent, it's language. The typically localized language of the commoners stark with its sexual content and liberal use of satire, these graffitis are indeed an appropriate precedent of those found now. This diversion of themes is necessary to point out the attitudinal difference towards graffiti in different countries as it exists now and to trace it to the way it is perceived in Bengal. The wariness with which many people in Kolkata view graffiti can be traced to the general perception of graffiti as found in other countries and it can all be traced to the basic dynamics of economy. For example most of the municipal authorities of major American cities like New York and Chicago spend millions of dollars every year to remove the precious scrawls on the city walls as sheer acts of vandalism, as a concerted act of violence against the structured and disciplined mechanism of the city that desperately needs to be preserved and protected to perpetuate an image of a clean civilized nation. Clean walls thus become the emblem of success and development with graffiti usually associated with filth, squalor and poverty and its concomitant associations with increasing crime rate, vandalism and lawlessness. In 1989 New York City spent a whooping 55 million dollars solely for graffiti clean up while Los Angeles spent 50 million dollars. Both cities desperate to sanitise the public space from the dissenting cacophony of the explosive culture of the youth. Graffiti can thus also be seen as a happy and more liberating way of reclaiming space for its citizens as diverse in their social and cultural makeup as in their economic aspirations. In these countries graffiti act as a potent tool for subversive political activities. The very instinct of scratching something in the walls to vent one's private expressions can be best explored if one looks at the everyday encounters with them. for example if one notices carefully the scrawls from the public toilets to the inside walls and pillars of flyovers to a dingy dark lane of a slum adjacent to a high rise images of deliberate profoundly explicit sometimes in its sexual content and often in its political assaults they raid our sense almost everyday. To give an example from a personal observation. I have often been bemused by the toilets of my school, typically a girl's school with rigid strictures of discipline and punishment often directing itself on our socio-sexual behavior. The need to be clean girls with healthy habits and a good social conduct would often find an appalling contradiction in the walls of the rests rooms and sick rooms with elaborate scribbles sometimes proclaiming their love for a man or a woman or even a teacher. Abuses hurled, decency mauled the walls looked like a dangerous and extremely liberating zone for the expression of the trammeled forces of the mind rigidly suppressed. The same can be observed in most of the places mentioned. The key thus lies in the very anonymity of the act. One cant get away with spray paint and aerosols as long as one gets an opportunity to spit out one's venom one's desires hidden and often repressed, on a public forum. A public space colored with private desires. A space that can be appropriated or reclaimed territorially and psychologically. In America the act assumed such incredible proportions that a law was instituted in cities like New York where the possession of spray paints was deemed illegal if possessed by people below the age of 18.in UK graffiti has been banned under the 'Anti Social Behavior Act 'of 2003 with the charter proclaiming that graffiti indeed is not an art by 123 British members of the Parliament. In fact anti graffiti conferences have been held in places like Berlin as in 2005 to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards graffiti and make the laws more stringent. The vicious paranoia shown by these authorities can be traced to the desperate attempts made by the city to ensure the absolute containment of the so called irrational forces who dare to exist chiefly through their defiant unsocial ways and therefore need to be suppressed and smothered. An image of a healthy and clean city devoid of the fetid filth rising in its belly is necessary for the grand image of a city of a nation ambitious, resourceful and confident cleverly manicured for its preservation. A careful brushing away of ugly thoughts, provoking, teasing and barging into our senses, our vision, behind the clean sweep of the spotless walls. In Kolkata the contradiction lies in the blatant legitimacy offered to both political as well commercial graffitis as long as it is restricted to the accepted norms of political expression and commercial endorsements. But this happy existence of graffiti rests on a profound contradiction between the right to individual property and one's political rights. 'Every property belongs to the state, but you are saying it is my property, but NO… the law states that every property belongs to the state, the state is the ultimate guardian.' In' Utopia' where there were no walls, no conflict, no fear, where prisoners were made to wear gold and where men and women could observe each other naked with clinical precision to avoid marital woes, the impossibility of state ownership could exist and happily so. State rights over everything. Not a time for literary ruminations but this violent outburst at the end of a long and tiring interview of the RSP [Revolutionary Socialist Party] leader, also the PWD minister of West Bengal Khiti Goswami in his plush office at Writers Building brought exactly that to mind. The thick security cordon, and the screeching paranoia of the police so utterly palpable around the building reinforced these fantastic ejaculations of the mighty state. Do individual rights matter then? Can any law be stipulated that could deprive one his crucial right to property? How does one, then preserve the sanctity of individual rights with property naturally conceived as an extension of one's social worth and individual merit. But equally pressing and problematic are the ideas of ownership and the question of legitimacy. The issues of property and individual rights cannot be understood merely in terms of simple and direct opposition to state rights and power. They are deeply implicated by implicit economic and social differences among the individuals with the legitimization and normalization of the rights of one over the other, through various exclusionary laws and practices. Historically, right to property has often been conceived as intrinsically bound with the idea of the state, instituted for the protection and preservation of the former. This Lockean paradigm further distinguished and modified by Smith from a natural right to an 'acquired right ' of the individual had been assumed, chiefly as a means to ensure the unmitigated progress of the society and for the nation to realize its full economic potential. The idea of property slowly evolved through a system of communal ownership to fierce conflicts between primitive tribes and clans till the institution of kingdoms with the king as the ultimate custodian of the state and its people with complete control over the land and its resources, till the rights of the individual were recognized and acknowledged for the existence of a just and equitable society. The sovereignty and power vested in the individual thus naturally lead to the diffusion of power from a few to a large number of people. In many countries thus, property rights have been given constitutional validity as in America with its fifth and fourteenth amendment as well as by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN, France and now China also adopting a law ensuring protection of private property with effect from October 2007 where the state guarantees 'the right to use' however, by keeping the land tenure system intact in an effort to strike a balance between state and private interests. Even this partial acceptance of individual rights to property is in keeping with the country's free market mechanisms and economic reforms, going against the very creed of socialism. The rule of economy thus reigns supreme with polices adopted, which on one hand secures the rights of the individual from interventionist state policies while at the same time is beset by the reality of enclosure, rampant privatizations and mergers. With the state often acting as a mute intermediary than a regulating body, the interests of one section of the society with means to determine the value and even the usage of land is often given precedence over those without the means to do so guided by the simple rule of demand and its concomitant system of value. In India after a series of controversies Right to Property was amended out of fundamental rights, in keeping with the Nehruvuian socialist model where the idea of public good gained precedence over private interests. The act inspired by the American Bill of Rights originally guaranteed the right under article 19[f] and article 31 and a series of other provisions under articles 14,19[5], 32,39[b][c], 226 and 265 of the constitution protecting the rights of acquisition and disposition of property without interfering with the rights of the others. The fundamental Right to Property reconciling the differences between private right and state authority however was not an absolute right The law was severely contested on grounds of public and social good and the need to effectively legislate land reforms by the state. In the cases of Bella Banerjee [vs. WB], Namasivaya Muralidar [vs. Madras] and Subodh Gopal [vs. WB] the Supreme Court further defined the clauses [1] and [2] of Article 31, dealing with the issues of deprivation of private property thereby defining the idea of ' dispossession' stating the state cannot make a law depriving one of his property with the added clause of' just compensation 'with every forcible acquisition by the state with the addition of further clauses of [A] and [B]. The 4th amendment Act, 1955 by the legislature, however dealt a crushing blow to these rights with the inclusion of the clause [2 A] and the subsequent amendment of clause [2] vesting absolute power to the state to deprive an individual his property by law with adequate compensation, without the provision of a legal recourse in the court contesting the amount of compensation provided by the state. The state thus became the final arbiter, determining appropriate compensations, hardly leaving any secure respite from forcible acquisition or confiscation by the state. This unrestricted power of the state was however curbed by a supreme court judgment on grounds of public interest and equitable justice granting the sanctity of the fundamental right granted by the constitution to own, acquire and dispose property. Finally the conflict between the judiciary trying to preserve the sanctity of the constitution and the state trying to amend to serve its purpose was resolved with the 44th amendment act of 1978 by which right to property was amended out of the fundamental rights and the articles 19[f] and 31[2] were replaced by article 300A which can be abridged bay any ordinary law and therefore will not be violative of the constitution. The new law as it stands reads thus – no person shall be deprived of property save by authority of law- without the earlier regulatory provisions of public purpose and just compensation as adequate safeguards. To fully understand the conflict between private interests and what is purported and promoted as community or state interests The Land Acquisition Act 1894 with a series of amendments in 1984 dealing with the take over of land, by the state on grounds of public purpose, with provisions of due compensations, would be a necessary diversion raising important questions like- What is the notion of public and How and who defines the idea of public good? Then can we see the state sponsored violence at Kalinganagar, Nandigram and Singur in the effort to project development and growth as synonymous to rampant and indiscriminate industrialization evidently favoring the interests of the private corporations, as public good? Are the compensations provided by the government to those dispossessed adequate? And how can one stipulate the correct value of land to provide just compensations, as the market value of the land is often controlled and determined by those who rule the market with vested interests. The reconstitution and restitution of the Right to Property as a fundamental right with necessary safeguards protecting the interests of the minority communities and those marginalized within those communities like the women does offer a partial solution to the constant infringement of rights of the individuals by the state. However it is crucial to understand that property or ownership is largely dependent on the ability to secure that ownership, which more often than not is based on systematic exploitation of many by a privileged few. Thus the notion of property and the need to achieve a truly egalitarian state of nature protecting the interests of all, securing rights and freedom of all kinds is hard to achieve. Graffiti in Kolkata exists in the imaginary in more ways than one: For the opposition party leader from the TMC, Partha Chatterjee, the ban on graffiti by Election Commission was an insidious attempt of the government to kill the opposition. A clever ploy by the state election secretary Amar Kiran Deb under the subtle directives of the state government to muffle the dissenting political voices. The ruling party blames the Congress for instituting the draconian law and the Congress accuses the left for not changing it inspite of decades of being in power. A shifting blame game and a confused rattle of accusations and counter accusations is where the narrative of graffiti lies... For the Mayor of Kolkata, Sri Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the city has other concerns and preservation of their walls is certainly not one of them. In fact for him graffitis has woven itself inextricably into the psychological texture of the city and it must embrace it as one of its many indispensable characteristics. But what seems incompatible now is the way in which graffiti is projected and understood at present. It's a confusing era for Bengal compounded by even more confusing and slightly warped, rapidly evolving ideologies of the left. The trend of progress seems to find itself in the spiraling flow of urbanization and the mayor is certainly catching up with it to keep up with time. On one hand you have indiscrimate allocation of land to usher the new breed of malls and skyscrapers lighting up the neon skyscape and at the same time down below you have the license to splash colors on the walls to keep with the city's political and cultural tradition. On one hand concerted efforts are made to sanitize the public space and a delicate brushing away of its squatters and encroachers to provide space for its rightful constituents. But at the same time banning graffiti would be to deny the smaller parties with insufficient funds and smaller network a powerful tool guaranteeing visibility and legitimacy. The public political rights and needs of the individual will be muffled. But it's the music of time that exists and the loud panoply of colors for us …. -- Priyanka Gupta -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-2654 Size: 58919 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071218/f9f21206/attachment-0002.bin From cugambetta at yahoo.com Wed Dec 19 03:41:24 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:11:24 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: [HasiruUsiru] Pune growing into city of slums Message-ID: <554882.51655.qm@web56805.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Is their any precedent for 'temporary accommodation' for 'migrant populations? Sounds troublesome at the very least... I know building contractors sometimes provide labor with some kind of housing (some are more generous and humane than others...), but a proposal like that, again wedded to the Masterplan, seems totally out of synch with how people establish themselves, and hence why slums exist at all (and why they are so vital to the city). Curt ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Vinay Baindur To: JNNURM WATCH ; greater-bangalore at yahoogroups.com; Hasiru Usiru Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 5:17:53 AM Subject: [HasiruUsiru] Pune growing into city of slums if it is over 50 % in Mumbai and 40 % slum popln in PMC then can the thousands of crores on roads sea links and BRT etc be justified How can six-laning of roads be contemplated if the way for pedestrians and cyclists is not created even in the six laning etc Pune growing into city of slums 18 Dec 2007, 0431 hrs IST, Radheshyam Jadhav, TNN PUNE: Forty per cent of Pune's population, an estimated 14 lakh people, live in slums. According to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) estimates, some 88,000 people migrated to the city in 2006, of which 45,000 settled in the slums. Every year, the number of people migrating to the city will continue to multiply. The city might be an IT hub and a centre of learning, but it is fast gaining another epithet, that of a city of slums. The Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), the technical arm of the ministry of urban development, government of India, ranks Pune third in the cities with the largest number of slums in India. Mumbai stands first with 55 per cent of its total population in slums, followed by Meerut with a slum population of 44 per cent. Of the 244 sq km which come under the PMC limits, about 15 sq km, ie six per cent of the total land, is encroached upon by slums. This despite the state and central government spending crores on slum rehabilitation. More money will flow for slum rehabilitation under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA). Just last week the municipal standing committee approved tenders worth Rs 200 crore for the same purpose. Pune's slum population has grown by 176 per cent since 1991 thanks to constant migration. "One can't stop migration but there could definitely be a master plan in place to manage the floating population," says Pratima Joshi of Shelter Associates. She said that once a master plan is in place, housing stock could be created and facilities like dormitories provided. "If we manage the migratory population by catering to their temporary accommodation needs, many problems would be solved," said Joshi. __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Members | Calendar MARKETPLACE Earn your degree in as few as 2 years - Advance your career with an AS, BS, MS degree - College-Finder.net. Fed Cuts Rates Again - Think you pay you much for your mortgage? No SSN Required - Estimate New Payment. Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 13 New Members 1 New Files Visit Your Group Y! Messenger Quick file sharing Send up to 1GB of files in an IM. Yahoo! Groups Going Green Share your passion for the planet. Athletic Edge A Yahoo! Group to connect w/ others about fitness goals. . __,_._,___ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071218/89b106e8/attachment-0002.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Dec 20 04:54:34 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:24:34 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] =?utf-8?q?Fw=3A_Fwd=3A_New_to_SAGE_=E2=80=93_URBAN_S?= =?utf-8?q?TUDIES_=E2=80=93_Freeonline_access_until_14th_March_2008?= Message-ID: <195904.87077.qm@web56814.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: "cupadhya at vsnl.com" To: Curt Gambetta Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 4:54:26 AM Subject: Fwd: New to SAGE – URBAN STUDIES – Freeonline access until 14th March 2008 Hi Curt, pl post this on the urban studies list, carol -----Inline Message Follows----- Forward this email to a colleague Problems viewing this email? Go to our online version. 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Regular contributions are drawn from the fields of economics, planning, political science, statistics, geography, sociology, population studies and public administration. The Journal also publishes the occasional ‘state of the art’ article, consisting of an analytical review of the major strands of contemporary thinking in a given topic area, supported by an extended bibliography of the topic. All articles are peer-reviewed. Urban Studies is published in association with Urban Studies Journal Limited. Sign up to free Urban Studies journal alerts: In order to keep up-to-date with all the latest Urban Studies issues, sign up to content alerts, tables of contents, and abstracts which are all available free of charge – click here Full-text access to the journal is available to faculty members, students and other authorized users at institutions with a combined and electronic or electronic subscription. 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If you have received this email incorrectly, or if you do not want to receive further information about SAGE electronically, please accept our apologies. If this is the case simply click here to unsubscribe and we will ensure that you do not receive any further emails from us. Customer ID:359530 SAGE - The natural home for authors, editors and societies Forward this email to a colleague Problems viewing this email? Go to our online version. Urban Studies – An International Journal of Research in Urban and Regional Studies FREE ACCESS FROM NOW UNTIL March 14th – CLICK HERE Dear Colleague, We are delighted to announce that from Jan 2008, SAGE will publish Urban Studies starting with Volume 45 Issue 1, to celebrate, we are offering free access to the entire online journal (including all Volumes from 1 to 45) until March 14th 2008. To take advantage of this great offer please click here. What is Urban Studies: Urban Studies was first published in 1964 to provide an international forum of social and economic contributions to the fields of urban and regional planning. Since then, the journal has expanded to encompass the increasing range of disciplines and approaches that have been brought to bear on urban and regional problems. Contents include original articles, notes and comments, and a comprehensive book review section. Regular contributions are drawn from the fields of economics, planning, political science, statistics, geography, sociology, population studies and public administration. The Journal also publishes the occasional ‘state of the art’ article, consisting of an analytical review of the major strands of contemporary thinking in a given topic area, supported by an extended bibliography of the topic. All articles are peer-reviewed. Urban Studies is published in association with Urban Studies Journal Limited. Sign up to free Urban Studies journal alerts: In order to keep up-to-date with all the latest Urban Studies issues, sign up to content alerts, tables of contents, and abstracts which are all available free of charge – click here Full-text access to the journal is available to faculty members, students and other authorized users at institutions with a combined and electronic or electronic subscription. Subscribe to Urban Studies: If you would be interested in subscribing to Urban Studies, contact SAGE Customer Services: E: subscriptions at sagepub.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 7324 8701 Or Click here to subscribe to the print and/or online journal. Alternatively you can Click here to download a Library Subscription Recommendation Form. Submit a paper to Urban Studies: If you would be interested in submitting a paper to Urban Studies, please visit our manuscript submission pages. We hope you enjoy the free access period to this new SAGE journal. Please feel free to forward this email to a colleague or anyone else who may be interested in reading Urban Studies. Kind regards, Dave Phillips SAGE Publications Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 8500 www.sagepub.co.uk This email has been sent to you by SAGE Publications, 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London, EC1Y 1SP, England. Registered in England. Registration No. 1017514. SAGE Publications does not rent or sell our mailing list to other companies. If you have received this email incorrectly, or if you do not want to receive further information about SAGE electronically, please accept our apologies. If this is the case simply click here to unsubscribe and we will ensure that you do not receive any further emails from us. Customer ID:359530 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping DEFANGED.1185> ----- Forwarded Message ---- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071219/63eb0b78/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: SAGE News Subject: New to SAGE =?UNKNOWN?B?lg==?= URBAN STUDIES =?UNKNOWN?B?lg==?= Freeonline access until 14th March 2008 Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:22:02 +0000 Size: 12939 Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071219/63eb0b78/attachment-0002.mht From prasy_bgm at yahoo.com Sat Dec 22 22:32:47 2007 From: prasy_bgm at yahoo.com (uRban nOmaD) Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:02:47 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Urgent :Destruction of environment to support a temporary Infrastructure - at Andaman & Nicobar Message-ID: <862925.40786.qm@web53412.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Dear Reader, Please find the attached pdf.document showcasing a silly , but a quite degrading act happening in the Wanadoor beach in the Andaman Nicobar islands.The devastation caused is due to the construction of a helipad ( to facilitate the arrival of our honorable President) in the protected area of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine sanctuary. The photos attached in the document, speaks for the destruction and degradation supervised by authorities. The authenticity of the photographs and the issue itself is open to be checked and verified, by whomsoever takes Environmental degradation seriously,.. but time is running out,... the function is to be held on 26th December 2007, which happens to be just 4 days from now.!!! We would sincerely appreciate , if the media manages to bring this issue, the attention it deserves. regards, Prasad ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071222/717aedf2/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: wanadoor,andaman1.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 2403332 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071222/717aedf2/attachment-0002.pdf From bharati at chintan-india.org Mon Dec 24 14:20:34 2007 From: bharati at chintan-india.org (Bharati ) Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:50:34 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] making the urban poor poorer Message-ID: <20071224085028.1E1F02B288B1@mail.sarai.net> Dear All, A few of you may know about Chintan's work-we've been advocating for inclusive waste management policies in India. By inclusive, we mean planning for the participation of the informal recycling sector-wastepickers, kabaris etc. It's not a small number-some data suggests that it comprises 1% of the population of a city in the developing world. Our central argument has been that if they were well formulated, such policies could effectively address both environemental sustainability and poverty alleviation in an increasingly Urban India. Our report, "Wasting Our Local Resources" fleshes out this argument with fascinating new global case studies. In a nutshell, it argues that not only is economically and environmentally desirable, but it's been done with success elsewhere. One reason why this report is particularly relevant is that we're seeing the opposite take place all over India. From Delhi to Haridwar to Ajmer, waste is being taken out of the hands of small entrepreurs and being handed over through a series of ludicrous contracts (which demand nothing of knowledge or expereince of the issue) to large companies who can control and invest substantial capital. We believe that even Reliance has jumped into the bandwagon! Me and my colleagues from other organzations and me have been tracking this trend and are concerned about the impunity with which the public interest has been overidden by the favours to a few private players. You can find the report on our home page, (our site is www.chintan-india.org ). If you'd like to be on our mailing list, let me know. If you'd like to be engaged with the issue more actively, I'd be happy to put you in the loop of what we do. It's urgent that we find a way to act decisively, because after all, it's your waste that's been used to enhance environmental injustice. Best, Bharati -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071224/47c30225/attachment-0002.html From sumalathabs at gmail.com Mon Dec 31 18:39:08 2007 From: sumalathabs at gmail.com (Suma) Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:09:08 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Happy New Year 2008 Message-ID: <798e17240712310509h8a77c5of8723afbab5a6dd4@mail.gmail.com> Hi all..................... Wish You a Very Happy New Year with full of Hopes -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-85801 Size: 190 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20071231/5f3b5a76/attachment-0002.bin From tapasrayx at gmail.com Mon Dec 31 19:12:49 2007 From: tapasrayx at gmail.com (Tapas Ray) Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:42:49 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Happy New Year 2008 In-Reply-To: <798e17240712310509h8a77c5of8723afbab5a6dd4@mail.gmail.com> References: <798e17240712310509h8a77c5of8723afbab5a6dd4@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4778F1CC.9030306@gmail.com> A very happy New Year to you, too, and everyone else. Suma wrote: > Hi all..................... > > Wish You a Very Happy New Year with full of Hopes > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup >