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CITIES THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, October 12, 2015

Updated: October 12, 2015 05:53 IST

Open spaces a need in cityscape: architect

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Careful thought has gone into keeping certain spaces open for public use over the course of
evolution of human settlements around the world.
These places were relevant then, are relevant today, and will be needed in times to come.
There is need to use this knowledge of place making for newer development, architect Madhav
Joshi has said.
He was talking to The Hindu ahead of a talk as part of the World Habitat Day celebrations in the
city recently. Public spaces for all is the theme set by the United Nations for the celebrations this
year.
Mr. Joshi said there was need to improve the understanding of open spaces and see what could
be learnt from them.
Keeping a place open is a fundamental decision. Whatever is built around it comes after that
decision has been made. But while the built gets transformed over centuries, open spaces
remain the way they are, as they are an essential part of the urban fabric, Mr. Joshi said.
The concept of the unbuilt had been used effectively in designing buildings of public interest
such as schools or research institutes.
It was also true for smaller projects such as houses, he said.

On the practicality of the unbuilt in the Indian context, he said open spaces were present here
historically, too. In urban areas, owing to high density growth, the need for open spaces had
become a functional requirement. Our needs are different and we need a different mix of open
spaces compared to that in the developed world, Mr. Joshi said.
In the country, open spaces, be it a street space, playground, waterfront, or promenade, had a
temporal aspect to them.
A street could also be used for a parade or a festival at certain times of the day or a year. These
spaces transformed themselves through functional activities, lending them a certain vibrancy, he
said.
Punes example
To address this lack of open spaces, various experiments could be adopted, Mr. Joshi said.
Each city could craft out certain zones that potentially could be turned into weekend open spaces,
essentially street spaces. This was being successfully implemented in Pune.
There, no-traffic pedestrian precincts were announced across certain areas in rotation. It is all
about creating experiences, he said.