[sustran] Re: Second Master Plan for Chennai - Dr Richmond

[Martin Cassini]

I read Jonathan's Richmond's posting not a diatribe, but as a truthful
account from a compassionate eye-witness.

Martin Cassini

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pendakur" <pendakur at interchange.ubc.ca>
To: "'Global 'South' Sustainable Transport'"
<sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>; "'Eric Britton'"
<eric.britton at ecoplan.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 11:14 PM
Subject: [sustran] Second Master Plan for Chennai. - request for comments


> I wish Dr. Richmond would list his favorite cities and tell us the
> attributes which make them great.  Also, before we characterize any city,
> with serious problems, as a "disgusting dump", I would suggest that Dr.
> Richmond look up the meaning of his attributes and then evaluate, from a
> planning perspective, what he would suggest to improve Chennai.
>
> His diatribe below is neither positive nor should it belong in a sober
> discussion among professionals.  SUSTRAN network is meant for professional
> discussion, promoting learning and exchange of ideas and knowledge.
>
>
> Cheers.
>
> Setty
> Dr. V. Setty Pendakur
> Professor Emeritus, University of BC
> Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences;
> Director, ITDP (NY) & Secretary, ABE90-TRB
>
> President, Pacific Policy and Planning Associates
> 702- 1099 Marinaside Cresecent, Vancouver, BC
> Canada V6Z 2Z3
> 604-263-3576; Fax: 604-263-6493
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sustran-discuss-bounces+pendakur=interchange.ubc.ca at list.jca.apc.org
>
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+pendakur=interchange.ubc.ca at list.jca.apc.org
> ] On Behalf Of Jonathan E. D. Richmond
> Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 10:44 AM
> To: Eric Britton; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
> Subject: [sustran] Re: Second Master Plan for Chennai. - request for
> comments
>
>
> I am in Chennai right now. I would be amazed if anything close to planning
> were ever to be possible here.
>
> The city is a disgusting dump -- in fact, the whole place appears to be
> one big public urinal as far as I can see! The city cannot even plan
> public toilets: the few that exist are so sickening that people piss on
> the outsides of them as well as in the street everywhere.
>
> Almost everything in this city is a mass of unplanned ugliness. I don't
> know if there is a city bus system, as no information is available (as is
> usual in Indian cities, nothing is done for the consumer). There is a
> small rail system, served by filthy trains whose doors stay open at all
> times. I got off one such train last night to be landed in a deserted
> station with no information and filled with people sleeping rough in
> the middle of piles of garbage: the smell was so bad that I could hardly
> walk to the main road to have the opportunity of being ripped off by one
> of the many rickshaw wallahs who refuse to use their meters.
>
> So, how does one plan in this environment?
>
> My answer is that there is no point in planning at all, because the plans
> will not come to reality until institutions have changed. The existing
> house must be put in order before anything new can be realized -- and that
> is a very hard job amidst the mismanagement, corruption, and dirt that
> constitutes Chennai today.
>
>                                 --Jonathan
>
> -----
> Jonathan Richmond
>
> 1 (617) 395-4360
>
> e-mail: richmond at alum.mit.edu
> http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/
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> IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via
YAHOOGROUPS.
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> Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to
join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The
yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the
real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you
can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement.
>
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
(the 'Global South').
>