DailyPost 343
URBAN STRATEGY
The plight of Bangalore & later Mumbai post torrential monsoons, slaps the issue of urban transformation on our face. There are wide gaps between the local agendas and actual local development. The urban world is both extremely divided and unmanageable. In the Great Opportunities City, it is always found that the talented and mobilized to create a common good are always pitted against powerful self interests.
Undeniably, many of the world’s problems arise from city’s poor design & mismanagement, the solution lies in transforming our cities into the center’s of world’s solutions. Urban strategy is the only solution. Urban strategy is a new practice. Urban strategy is required to advance city’s interest furthering our common interest in creating world class cities.
Cities are engines of self transformation beyond any established development pattern. City systems are fast changing & evolving. In the US, between 1982 and 2003 cities consumed over 62,000 square miles, area larger than Florida or Michigan, Greece or Nicaragua. Some cities transform so fast that political jurisdictions & notions of urban geography cannot keep pace. Mega Cities like Chengdu and Corridor Cities like Los Angeles – San Deigo – Tijuana corridor have their own trajectory.
In the last 10 to 25 year period, all over Southern Europe, run – down centuries old city districts have been re-parceled & renovated. They are now new streetscapes, infrastructure and with it social and economic purposes. This malleability provides the chance to re-craft an earlier wrong.
This is the capacity for progressive transformation, the city’s change have to steered toward a more robust common advantage. This is the product of an effective urban strategy. It is best demonstrated by a Strategic City, which is very rare but undeniable. Strategic city concept, its blueprint and its precise and ruthless implementation can transform the cities & the country.
URBAN STRATEGY IS THE KEY TO OUR POSITIVE URBAN FUTURE.
Sanjay Sahay