my first five years twins on front geddes

MY FIRST FIVE YEARS TWINS ON FRONT GEDDES SERIES

His reports from his Indian sojourn lie in libraries in his native Scotland. Between 19, Geddes travelled across large parts of British India, studying and writing about what he saw. This essay argues that many of the social and environmental problems of a rapidly urbanising India were strikingly anticipated by Patrick Geddes, a Scottish town planner who worked in the subcontinent a century ago. speak directly to the concerns of the present, to the search for a more dignified and more humane life for the citizens of towns and cities in India. How can we provide safe, secure, and pleasant housing for the different social classes in the city? What forms of transport will city residents use to commute to and from their workplace? Where will the water and energy to sustain them come from? Can one reconcile growth and development with environmental sustainability and with aesthetics? In sum, how can we make the lives of city residents more habitable, in all senses of the word?

MY FIRST FIVE YEARS TWINS ON FRONT GEDDES SERIES

This massive increase in our urban population has placed enormous burdens on the social and environmental fabric, raising a series of important questions for citizens and planners alike. At independence, one in six Indians lived in towns or cities now the proportion is closer to one in three. The pace of urbanisation in India has increased dramatically in recent decades. of the social and environmental problems of a rapidly urbanising India were strikingly anticipated by Patrick Geddes who worked in the subcontinent a century ago. (Its capital, Hampi, spread itself out over miles along the Tungabhadra river, as tourists who now visit its ruins know.) Long before the British came and established the Presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, India had been an urban civilization. In medieval north India, the Mughals developed the cities of Delhi, Agra, and Lahore in medieval south India, a great empire called itself Vijayanagara, ‘the city of victory’. Banaras claims to be the oldest living city in the world. Our epics spoke of the fabled cities of Ayodhya and Indraprastha. However, India lives in her towns and cities too. Resisting the destructive impact of the urban-industrial economy on rural livelihoods and restoring those livelihoods on a sustainable basis have been, as it were, the twin foci of activists and thinkers.

From celebrated popular struggles like the Chipko Andolan and the Narmada Bachao Andolan to quieter, more low-key work in rehabilitating village tanks and pastures, the environmental movement in India has been substantially focused on the countryside.

“India lives in her villages,” said Mahatma Gandhi, and that maxim of his has been resolutely followed by Indian environmentalists.

My first five years twins on front geddes