Comfortable Cities
Walking through Karachi’s old city inevitably one’s eyes
lift above the cacophony of the street to the quiet sadness of beautiful stone
balconies, roof top belvederes and elegant doorways clothed now in a cobweb of
wires trapping errant plastic bags, concealing crooked shop signs. The newly
renovated Khalikdina Hall with its handsome portico and gracious hall made for
the people of the city, where once local elders came to read the daily
newspapers, and whose hall echoes with the sounds of animated meetings and
gatherings give a glimpse into a Karachi where the quality of life of its
people mattered.
Cities were once made to be comfortable and graceful. Deep
balconies and interior courtyards for women, and informal chabootra platforms
projecting onto the street for men. Public buildings had wide steps to sit on
and shaded passageways. The 12th
C Andalusian judge, Ibn Abdun, is often quoted for saying ”Architecture is the
haven where man’s spirit, soul, and body find refuge and shelter.”
Realists are adamant that there is no room for nostalgia
when planning modern cities. Modern cities are planned to enable economic
growth as they were from the inception of city life as far back as Moenjodaro
or Harappa. However, what is different
now is perhaps that they are planned not by the residents of a city but by
government departments. A city is not just a productive factory but a
settlement made up of families, friends and communities.
Fez city in Morocco was founded in 808 AD. Each successive
dynasty expanded the city without destroying their predecessors’ achievement
and included scholars, legal experts, the craftsmen guilds and neighbourhood
representatives in the planning and execution.
Probably the most influential critic of modern city designs,
Jane Jacobs, believed “There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city;
people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans.”
Her famous phrase “eyes on the street” suggests the importance of observing how
people intuitively use their city before arriving at improvements.
Where urban planning is a science, it is also an art to
design spaces that resonate emotionally and aesthetically with people, and reflect
the identity of a community. Parks, treelined avenues, and leisure and sports
facilities are an integral part of modern, carefully zoned, city planning.
However, these require planned outings. In most neighbourhoods it is the
streets that become social spaces. Iftikhar Ali and his team conducted
insightful research on the importance of street life in Pakistan as public gathering
places, interacting with neighbours and vendors, used for Friday prayers,
weddings or playing cricket on Sundays.
Planners design streets and pavements as mobility corridors,
but are appropriated as community spaces by residents. Pavements become
spillovers for dhaba restaurants, street vendors, pan shop hangouts, and even
to sleep on during electricity breakdowns - what Jacobs sees as a haphazard
juxtaposition of everything that ensures the vibrancy of a city. With an ‘eyes on the streets” philosophy,
pavements could be designed to accommodate self-organizing neighbourhoods. Ali Budha Street in Karachi’s Marwari
district is lined with takht seating with reclining back rests on either side
where the elders sit to share their daily stories.
Ergonomics is the designing of spaces and products that fit
the people who use them. Great effort goes into the design of more comfortable
chairs, office spaces or tools. Engaging artists and product designers on city masterplan
teams to work with the community could also make more comfortable cities, and
bring back aesthetics and emotional connections to the city. Artists and
designers emphasize human-scale design, on how people experience spaces on a
day-to-day basis. Art Nouveau, the revolutionary art movement of the late 19th
century, reshaped cities and urban spaces bringing aesthetics to the street.
Megacities are always presented as unwieldy problems, a
future crisis in the making. But for the people living there, a city is not
just a place to make a living but a place to live in, a home, where people are
valued and develop a sense of belonging.
The Arabic term min ahl perfectly describes a city as belonging to the
people, and nisba, once a tribal identification has become a city
identification, where strangers, ghuraba, soon become ahlyan of the city.
Durriya Kazi
Karachi
December 31, 2024
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