[sustran] Re: Second Master Plan for Chennai. - request for comments

[Jonathan E. D. Richmond]

I think I startled people because I spelled out the problem in very plain 
language.

I know that people in the business tend to be politically correct about 
calling a spade a spade, but you won't find politeness amongst people who 
live in places such as Chennai and have to endure the chaos that goes with 
corruption and laziness. I have had more than enough conversations to 
make it quite clear that people are fed up -- and that this city is in no 
position to plan for itself until it has cleaned up its political and 
administrative act.

I was asked for examples of cities I liked, and I talked about the state 
of Kerala. HYere is another example, close to Chennai: Pondicherry. 
Perhaps that is not a fair comparison, because Pondicherry is an 
independent territory -- not a part of Tamil Nadu. It therefore has 
autonomy to do as it chooses -- but perhaps that is just the point.

Pondicherry was formally under the French, and it has kept many 
French-style administrative practices. The city is the only place I have 
seen so far in India that is actively involved in landscaping -- and the 
results are astonishing. Pondicherry is a beautiful place. You turn a 
corner and face the police station, and are greeted by a wave of flowers. 
Everywhere you go, buildings are in harmony -- the type of horrific 
commercial development that has made so many other Indian cities soulless 
has been avoided here. Instead, there are flowers tumbling off walls, and 
the whole place feels sunny -- like a transplanted part of the 
Mediterranean.

In an environment like this, active planning goes on every day -- and I 
was told that one of the most senior officials sets the tone by going 
around everywhere by bike...

But how can planning possibly happen in a place like Chennai, which cannot 
even keep its public toilets clean? Where you can buy whatever you want 
with a bribe? Where might is right and knowledge counts for little or 
nothing in the face of political power? Where citizens have no concept of 
social obligations, and the beach on a Sunday afternoon is a trash heap of 
thrown food wrappers?

So, this is why I am saying that planning is a waste of time in a place 
like this. It is very easy to write plans -- and I have seen all sorts of 
nice-looking plans for a variety of cities in developing countries 
prepared by well-meaning Western academics, which come to nothing.

To plan, you first need to have a functional government. You need to get 
rid of corruption, you need to have a literate citizenry. Kerala is inb a 
position to plan. So is Pondicherry. But Tamil Nadu has a very long way to 
progress until it can have the maturity to think about its own destiny.

Sorry if that sounds politically incorrect: but that's the way it is, and 
ask around the educated citizenry around here, and you won't hear 
flattering opinions on the ability of their government to perform.

                                           --Jonathan






On Mon, 16 Apr 2007, Sujit Patwardhan wrote:

> I agree with Setty and was surprised to see Jonathan's language...was
> looking for evidence of it all being said in a lighter vein but failed to
> see any. As an NGO working for sustainable Transportation (and indeed
> sustainable development) I feel pessimism is the best way to encourage
> "business as usual" attitude, and pessimism is what comes across from
> Jonathan's message which surprised me as my exchanges with him on Email some
> time back were very enlightening for me.
> --
> Sujit Patwardhan
> Parisar/ PTTF
> Pune, India
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 4/16/07, Pendakur < pendakur at interchange.ubc.ca> wrote:
>> 
>> 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/ <http://the-tech.mit.edu/%7Erichmond/>
>> --------------------------------------------------------
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>> --------------------------------------------------------
>> IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via
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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').
>> 
>
>
>
> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Sujit Patwardhan
> sujit at vsnl.com
> sujitjp at gmail.com
>
> "Yamuna",
> ICS Colony,
> Ganeshkhind Road,
> Pune 411 007
> India
> Tel: 25537955
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Hon. Secretary:
> Parisar
> www.parisar.org
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Founder Member:
> PTTF
> (Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)
> www.pttf.net
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Sujit Patwardhan
> sujit at vsnl.com
> sujitjp at gmail.com
>
> "Yamuna",
> ICS Colony,
> Ganeshkhind Road,
> Pune 411 007
> India
> Tel: 25537955
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Hon. Secretary:
> Parisar
> www.parisar.org
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Founder Member:
> PTTF
> (Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)
> www.pttf.net
> ------------------------------------------------------
>


-----
Jonathan Richmond

1 (617) 395-4360

e-mail: richmond at alum.mit.edu
http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/