This refers to Sanjeev Sanyal’s article “Cities’ cycles” (July 24). It was interesting to note the author’s concerns about promoting and preserving city centres in urban India. It may be worthwhile to promote a healthy blend of hard and soft infrastructure amenities within cities in order to make them live forever and not die out like Detroit. A city like Allahabad, for instance, in the pre-independence era enjoyed supremacy of higher education (Allahabad University was once known for being a centre of excellence) apart from strong spiritual soft infrastructure of pilgrimages and the Kumbh Mela. Yet over the years it seems to have lost its hegemony to more vibrant cities like Agra , Jaipur and Noida.
The author is spot on in mentioning that iconic city centres should not be allowed to wither away but should be reinvented to suit the changing aspirations of a young and growing India. State universities set up in British India are occupying prime space in the hearts of most Indian cities, yet several show signs of neglect, under-utilisation and poor finances and students are forced to travel to new private universities situated outside the municipal limits of a city. Even railway stations need to be reinvented by making them centres of business and leisure activities by commercial exploitation of the vast vertical space available on top of station buildings and platform covers. These are ingenious thoughts but the city planners are letting go of wonderful opportunities for growth and innovation by not focusing on such viable propositions.
Kalpana Dube Lucknow
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number
