URBAN DESIGN -II

BOOK REVIEW

SUBMITTED BY –

LIKITH , NIKITHA,
N I S H A , V I D YA , Y O G E S H

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A
 BOOKS:
ABOUT : 1. CITIES AND CANOPIES : TREES IN
INDIAN CITIES : SELECTED
WRITINGS OF IAN L. MCHARG 1998

2. REFORESTING LANDSCAPES:
• The book Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the past, present and future, LINKING PATTERN WITH PROCESS:
written by Harini Nagendra, a Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji
University, Bengaluru.
3. ECOLOGIES OF HOPE AND
TRANSFORMATION : Post
• Her research focuses on questions of social-ecological sustainability in Development Alternatives from
Indian forests and cities, with two main areas of interest – understanding the India
drivers of forest change in South Asia; and the impact of urbanization on
ecological sustainability in India.

•She is interested in seeing how people can be positive and negative agents HARINI NAGENDRA
of change, bringing about ecosystem degradation in some contexts, and INDIAN ECOLOGIST AND
providing protection and restoration in others. ENVIRONMENTALIST
[ 1972 – PRESENT ]
• Her ongoing program of research on biodiversity, green spaces and lakes in BORN : SALEM, TAMILNADU
Bangalore includes close engagement with local communities and colleges,
and popular writing and outreach for local audiences.
Harini Nagendra is an Indian
• She received a 2013 Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar Award for Collective ecologist who uses satellite
Governance of the Commons for her diversity of work, innovation and use of remote sensing coupled with
different methodological approaches, and active participation as a field studies of biodiversity,
practitioner on the commons. archival research, institutional
analysis, and community
interviews to examine the
factors shaping the social-
ecological sustainability
of forests and cities in the south
Asian context Her areas of
ARTICLES: interest include Urban
sustainability, Ecology and
• Sampangi Lake: forgotten histories development, Land change,
of fluid landscapes Biodiversity and conservation.
• Biodiversity and the City –
Challenges for Bangalore
N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 02
 CONTEXT OF THE BOOK
N AT U R E I N T H E
CITY – HARINI
NAGENDRA

I n r a p i d l y u r b a n i z i n g I n d i a , c i ti e s a r e p l a c e s o f c o n fl i c t b e t w e e n p e o p l e a n d n a t u r e . W h a t
i s t h e f u t u r e f o r c o n s e r v a ti o n i n I n d i a n c i ti e s ? N a t u r e i n t h e C i t y e x a m i n e s t h e p a s t ,
present, and future of nature in Bengaluru.

• O n e o f I n d i a ’ s l a r g e s t a n d f a s t e s t g r o w i n g c i ti e s , B e n g a l u r u w a s o n c e k n o w n a s t h e
G a r d e n C i t y o f I n d i a . T h e c i t y ’s e c o l o g y a n d e n v i r o n m e n t h a v e b e e n d e g r a d e d a n d
d e s t r o y e d i n r e c e n t y e a r s . Ye t n a t u r e s ti l l e x h i b i t s a r e m a r k a b l e t e n a c i t y.

• M o v i n g f r o m e a r l y s e tt l e m e n t s i n t h e 6 t h c e n t u r y C E t o t h e 2 1 s t c e n t u r y c i t y, i t
c o n c l u d e s b y o u t l i n i n g a v i s i o n o f a b e tt e r f u t u r e .

• The book draws on extensive research, integrated with stories of people, places, and
e x a m p l e s o f p o s i ti v e c h a n g e

• T h e b o o k f u r t h e r s u g g e s t s a n o r g a n i c a p p r o a c h f o r u r b a n c o n s e r v a ti o n i n t h e I n d i a n
c o n t e x t t h a t b u i l d s o n t h e c a p a c i ti e s o f p e o p l e a n d c o m m u n i ti e s , d r a w i n g o n t h e c l o s e
i n t e g r a ti o n o f t h e s o c i o - c u l t u r a l a n d e c o l o g i c a l i n u r b a n I n d i a .

•Nature in the city is shaped by human preferences and prejudices, as the book
demonstrates.

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 03
 CONTENT OF THE BOOK

 – Bengaluru  Nature on the Road

 – From Village to City  Parks

 – Resilient City  The Metropolitan region

 – Nature in Personal Spaces  Sacred Nature

 – Nature and Poverty  Envisioning an Inclusive Future for Urban

Nature in Bengaluru

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 04
 – Bengaluru
Bengaluru is India’s fourth-largest city, with a population of over 10 million cramped into an area
covering 709.5 square kilometres. The rapid growth of Bengaluru creates conflicts between people and
nature, tensions that are not unique to Bengaluru. The rapid progress of urbanization in India has had
major impacts on urban nature and sustainability. Yet we know very little about the patterns and impacts
of change, while urbanization is becoming increasingly impactful across India. Regulatory and
recreational ecosystem services take precedence over productive uses of ecosystems in urban planning
and policy. Associated with this, the ownership and management of ecosystems have moved from a
common pool resource to private or public resources. In this process, marginalized communities
dependent on ecosystems for livelihoods and subsistence have been the worst affected. Better protection,
inclusive management, and public access to urban nature will be essential for urban sustainability in the
new millennium.

 – From Village to City

Bengaluru has a relatively recent urban history, being established as a medieval town only in 1537 CE. Yet
early settlements in Bengaluru were influenced by its topography. Agricultural settlements were irrigated
by lakes in the undulated terrain to the north and east, while pastoral communities were in the dense
scrub to the south and west. Bengaluru was founded in contested land of rugged terrain. To support the
growing town, Kempe Gowda (also known as Hiriya Kempe Gowda) and his successors created a number
of large lakes. The marshy landscape around Bengaluru served as a natural deterrent to invading troops,
assisting later rulers such as Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. Constant battles over the city devastated the
fertile farmland, orchards, and lakes of Bengaluru by the end of the 18th century, when Bengaluru was
occupied by the British. Yet the fertility of the landscape around Bengaluru protected the region and
ensured its agrarian resilience.

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 05
  – Resilient City
From the 18th century onwards, the restraints of ecology on the growth of Bengaluru weakened. By
1809, the British moved the capital of Mysore to Bengaluru. Maps of the city in 1791 depict an open
landscape, largely devoid of trees. In a few decades, the city was densely planted with trees. Bengaluru
was also shaped by older, organic conceptions of nature as a sacred and utilitarian, integral component
of daily lives and livelihoods. Natural resources—pastures, forests, and fields—provided a critical buffer
in times of recurrent famines. The expansion and development of Bengaluru placed severe demands on
its natural resources, particularly visible in its strained water supply and its demands on the hinterland.
As the form and function of nature in Bengaluru changed over millennia, the players and actors that
shape nature in the city also transformed in various ways.

– Nature in Personal Spaces

Bengaluru has a long history as a city of home gardens, described even in the 17th century. Hybridizing
elements from British and Indian cultures, most home gardens contain a mix of multi-use local species
intermingled with ornamental imports. The plant diversity of Bengaluru’s home gardens has declined
substantially in recent years, alongside a decline in wildlife and insect levels. Multi-floor apartments, a
recent trend, have reduced space for home gardens, and a stronger preference for ornamental plants,
with pesticide-intensive manicured landscaping that impacts the suitability of the garden as a habitat for
insects, birds, and other urban fauna. Yet home gardening is making a comeback of sorts, though in a
small way, in the form of urban agriculture. Home gardens still constitute an essential component of
Bengaluru, which need to be better integrated into urban planning at the city level.

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 06
  – Nature and Poverty
Slums constitute a fast growing proportion of Bengaluru’s housing that needs greater attention.
Vegetation in slums functions as both a common pool resource and a private resource. Most trees in
slums were native. The most preferred species were the drumstick and peepal. Newer slums had higher
tree density, and a greater proportion of native trees, as well as higher plant diversity and more native
plants compared to old slums. In contrast to trees, which represented a community resource, most
plants were located in private domestic spaces. Most slum residents wanted more vegetation in their
neighbourhood. Nature plays a role much ignored but of great importance in situations of urban
poverty. Vegetation in slums provides tangible components of physical sustenance, and plays an equally
important, intangible aesthetic, cultural, and sacred role in daily life. The aspect of nature as nurture in
slums has been largely ignored in planning.

 Nature on the Road

Avenue trees constitute an essential component of nature in Bengaluru. In recent decades, tens of
thousands of street trees have been felled, impacting the air quality and microclimate of the city.
Substantial protests and legal action by civic and resident groups and resident associations have helped
to limit felling, but not control it. Street tree clearing has impacted the livelihoods of street vendors, and
destroyed habitats for urban fauna. The species selected for planting have altered towards species
selection focused on visual beauty, impacting the many residents who historically depended on street
trees for fruit, herbal medicine, flowers, and fuel wood. Street trees constitute one of the most public
forms of nature in the city, accessible to, used, and appreciated by all. The city needs to redefine role for
street trees, drawing on knowledge of Bengaluru’s cultural history to enhance its multifunctional
aspects of use.

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 07
 Parks
Publicly accessible forms of urban nature, the parks of Bengaluru act as a refuge for biodiversity, while
simultaneously providing social spaces for people to exercise, relax, and socialize. Over time, the ancient
Indian garden, in which aspects of the humble horticultural tota (garden), the
sacred devarakadu (sacred garden), and the aesthetic pleasure garden, was infused with elements of the
Islamic garden and British horticultural estate landscaping. The multifunctionality of the native park as a
space for consumption, worship, and recreation gave way to a pure focus on the aesthetic, with water-
intensive exotic species and landscaped lawns that required intensive inputs of pesticides and fertilizers.
Public access to parks is now increasingly restricted, a move challenged by many civic groups. Yet parks
in Bengaluru represent one of the few remaining publicly accessible forms of nature in the city, and are
used widely by the residents of the city across diverse socio-economic classes.

Sacred Nature
Sacred spaces in Bengaluru form resilient locations for the conservation of urban nature, where nature
not only survives but thrives. Massive heritage trees from keystone species such as the peepal and fig
provide important biodiversity support in religious institutions and cemeteries from varied faiths in
Bengaluru. Other sacred traditions, such as the practice of placing milk and sugar next to anthills, or
providing rice and ghee (clarified butter) for crows at the time of morning worship, foster the connection
between people and nature in the city. Festivals of nature in Bengaluru demonstrate the stubborn
tenacity of nature in urban India. However, the definitions of sacredness and sacred traditions associated
with nature are being constantly reinterpreted as the city continues to grow, attracting a diversity of
residents from varied cultures.

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 08
 Blue Nature
Lakes constitute highly challenging contexts for the conservation of nature in the city. Over the
centuries, the social function of lakes has changed from essential water reservoirs and locations of rich
biodiversity to empty places valued for their ability to hold vast quantities of sewage, or as potential
real estate gold mines. As we have seen, efforts at lake conservation need joint efforts by government
agencies, civic bodies, and resident groups of all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Only this
can help to forge a new approach for the conservation of lakes in Bengaluru, one that is pluralistic,
inclusive, and generated from the ground up. Such collaborative efforts should, however, not be
restricted only to lakes, and are indeed required to protect all aspects of nature in the city.

 Envisioning an Inclusive Future for Urban

Nature in Bengaluru

From pre-urban settlements in the landscape to the city of the 21st century, urban nature in Bengaluru
is a palimpsest containing layers of overlapping history. The city cannot escape the constraints placed
by nature. From the multifunctional social and ecological use of nature, Bengaluru has moved to a
largely aesthetic use of nature for recreation. A related trend is the increased gating and exclusion of
access to nature. From a public or a common space, access to places of nature such as lakes, parks, and
streets is being increasingly restricted, increasing the vulnerability of marginalized groups who depend
on urban commons. Thus do we observe a wholesale re-naturing of urban nature. The city of Bengaluru
needs to forge new multi-level approaches of governance to build inclusive commons. The future of
urban nature is the face of urban nurture, and ultimately of human survival in the cities of the new
millennium.

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 09
  Inference
 The central areas of Bangalore had 1960 open wells in 1885; today, there are fewer than 50. Bangalore also lost many of its
lakes, which were considered to be filthy breeding grounds for malaria, and converted to bus stands, malls, housing, and other
built spaces.

 The city’s central Sampangi lake, which supplied water to many parts of Bangalore in the 19th century, was transformed into a
sports stadium by the 20th century, leaving behind only a tiny pond for ceremonial religious purposes. As long as lakes and
wells supplied water, essential for the activities of daily life, they were worshipped as sacred and protected as life-giving.

 Bangalore still needs water just as badly for its resilience. The city has grown so large that piped water from distant rivers can
no longer supply all its needs.

 Inevitably, with more private vehicles on the road, and fewer trees, the city became hotter, and the air severely polluted.
Citizens soon realized this connection. So did academics. Our research for instance demonstrated that trees cool the air by 3 to
5ºC, and reduce the temperature of the road surface by as much as 23ºC, as well as significantly reducing air pollution.

 Core questions tackled in the book:

1. How has the importance of nature changed overtime in people’s practices and in their imaginations?
2. How has this alter in the framework of urban nature influenced the prospects for human well being and
sustainability in our increasingly urban future?
3. How is the increasing tendency of people to move to urban areas going to effect our future.
4. Is there place in the city for nature?

N AT U R E I N T H E C I T Y – H A R I N I N A G E N D R A 10