Disappearing New York…captured in paint

Found these paintings of New York by Max Ferguson and fell in love with the one of his father at a cafe. It is the seventh painting and you can see it here. Ferguson draws about parts of the city that are slowly disappearing and I don’t know how to deal with the fact that his father is part of this exhibition. It must be so heart wrenching to think of your parent like that.

 

Security in Noida Special Economic Zone

I was reading this article about the Noida Special Economic Zone (NSEZ) and the article goes over all the facilities that are available in the NSEZ. The one that struck me the most was ‘security’. Apparently everyone needs permission to enter the SEZ,  even  the Income Tax department. This also holds true when they want to conduct raids on companies. This is problematic at multiple levels. At a very basic level, it means that the entire raid will be redundant because as soon as the company figures out they are going to be raided, they will make the necessary arrangements to hide all that they need to, but at a larger level, the power that is being bestowed upon the private sector is tremendous. In a democratic country, why is the government and the judiciary being given lesser powers than private companies?

Source: Mahotra, Sarika, “Seizing the economic advantage” The Financial Express. 3 October 2010

 

Better wheels for friendly cities

This article talks about the importance of NMT (Non motorised Transport) in urban spaces

 

Protecting Urban Biodiveristy

This article by Harini Nagendra in the 2010 edition of the Hindu’s Survey of the Environmental draws attention to the importance of studying urban biodiversity in India

 

What’s an Indian City?

Bibek Debroy takes us through the chaos that is urban planning in India in this article.

Published in the Indian Express on the 26th of August 2010

 

Urban Ministry questions Delhi govt’s move to set up SEZ

The new item reports on the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) attempting to set up an SEZ without the appropriate permissions.

In keeping with various overlapping ideas, disregard for urban planning authorities, creation of economic zones at the expense of other plans and SEZs.

Published in the Indian Express on the 5th of August 2009

 

Going Global

This article talks about the increasing trend of NRIs returning to India and then finding it difficult to adjust to urban life with the poor infrastructure available to them in India.

As long as we focus on more things other than roads and housing, like footpaths, easy crossing for pedestrians, urban green cover, drainage etc. I am all for bettering infrastructure in cities.

This was a comment in the Times of India, dated 27th August 2010

 

Tree Tenant – Hundartwasser

This is a drawing by Hundertwasser denoting his idea of an ideal balance of living for all forms of life in urban spaces. I love the concept, though I am not sure  about its feasibility. I love most of Hundartwasser’s creations. His idea is that space is for living and must be representative of the people who live there. It must have a life of its own. Thus linearity is an artificial concept that is imposed on human life through modern architecture. He talked about undulating floors and kitsch design. While I agree with this on principle, I think we should make sure that while homes and architecture should be interesting and fun, they should also be sensitive to the needs of people with different abilities. An undulating floor might be inconvenient for a visually impaired individual for instance, but I am sure that these things can be worked around once we think about them.

 

India And Srilanka to Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation in Tourism Sector; to Exchange Information and Expertise on Urban Poverty Alleviation Programmes

India And Srilanka to Strengthening Cooperation through Tourism and Urban Poverty Alleviation A press release stating that the two countries will share information on the same. What I find interesting is that the minister for Tourism and Urban Poverty Alleviation is the same man.

 

Mumbai’s Lost Green Spaces

Mumbai’s Lost Green Spaces On the dereservation of public land to private parties because of payment delays by the municipality and the possibility of this being a conscious decision to free public utility land for the private sector.

On NDTV.com by P.J. Wagh on the 26th of August 2010