--
“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.”
― Jane Jacobs
How can you measure progress if you don't know
what it costs and who has paid for it? How can the "market" put a
price on things such as - homes, electricity, running water - when it doesn't
take into account the REAL price we have paid for their production?”
― Arundhati Roy
A city is just like a big home where everybody
has some space of his or her own, even the trees & yet they all live
together like a big family caring for each other, that’s how I will define a
city… Me
Well, first & foremost thanks to Nisarga
Sewak (An NGO) for making me write something so close to my heart that I avoid
writing about it or even share my views about it! As it's said you should not
allow your emotions to rule your decisions especially when they run diagonally
opposite to each other! Well, you can even call me a hypocrite but then entire
country (read as politics) is being ruled by hypocrisy & society deserves
the rulers the way society is & with due respect entire society is
hypocrite when it comes to an individual, especially when the subjects are like
environment, conservation, civic sense or obeying basic traffic rules, we all
behave as per convenience is a fact! If you are wondering where this is going
or I am justifying my hypocrisy then I am not as things are the way they are
i.e. my business is building buildings (builder) & I strongly feel we are
ruining our surroundings by our buildings! Now you understand the hypocrite
aspect but that doesn’t stop me building buildings & doesn’t stop me
thinking about what I think about them, yet what I do is I try to strike a
balance between both. Because we need buildings & we need to protect the
environment too & both things won't ever happen together is a fact
(disclaimer no.1)! Here is where the aspect or say attitude, how we will build
our buildings come in the picture & this is the reason I am thankful to Mrs
Vinaya Ghate of Nature… who requested me that can I write about high rise
buildings in Pune (read as vertical growth) & their impact on the city (I
presume that’s what she wanted)!
Well, I am not a town planner but executioner
of planning by academics i.e. a civil engineer but I am lucky to have exposure
of some great architects such a Mr B V Doshi who has understood meaning of
architecture & I am a wild lifer, not just photographer, so I have
understood (a little bit) about other species than humans & nature, which
are actual sufferer of our so-called growth! Coming to the subject, when I
started my career as site engg, then I was thrilled to be part of the team
which built the first five (yes 5) storeyed buildings as till then the height
limit in Pune was four storeys! And then I also was part of the team which
built the first set of eleven storey buildings, which was a new high then &
today I am building a twenty-five storeyed building also, as well I have been
part of some such in Mumbai too! Joke is, the first change in height limit for
four storeys to five, took nearly thirty years while the other change of rules
took nearly fifteen years (if I am remembering correctly) but today you are
allowed to build even fifty storeyed buildings also & suddenly ten or
eleven floors looks like a low-rise building! And fact is, as per fire norms
even a building above just seven storeys i.e. twenty-four meters is also
considered as high-rise & needed provisions accordingly; one more joke of
our urban planning!
Coming back to the impact of high rise or tall
buildings on the city but before that I will ask another question, do we really
need them in the first place & my answer is both, Yes & No! And this is not a political
answer as tall buildings are definitely important for the infrastructure aspect
of the city & are the only solution when space is an issue (read as land)
but that is the case of cities like Mumbai or Hongkong or Singapore where land
is limited. In Pune we have enough land & somewhere our land use policy has
failed miserably (which is the case of the entire State) & the outcome is
we don’t have a linear or defined sky line nor we have a proper infrastructure
of basic necessities of life such as water, electricity & drainage! Add to
that traffic & biodiversity & that’s the reason for our today’s high
air pollution levels to water shortage to everything & height of building
is not reason for that but our inability to define where to use what height
& how, is the main reason behind all the problems! As I said at the start, we
need homes & homes need allied services including schools to banks to
hospitals & many such & all these buildings are interconnected with
each other by network of commuting which means roads & now Metro too! At the
same time all these buildings need water, drainage lines, power lines as well
data cables so those things also need space & yes vehicles! So, gist is,
everything related to the buildings need space & taller the building then
more are the occupants & more space for services & its occupants is
simple maths!
Now, look at the central part of Pune, which
we can consider old limits of PMC when the approximate area was hardly 180 sq
kms, which got developed mostly during late 70’s, till 90’s. Then the PMC
boundary got extended by merging of 11 villages & the development started
spreading in these suburbs (Baodhan, Katraj, Baner) & in recent 34 more
villages got merged in PMC making its total area touching to 500 sq kms &
is largest Municipal Corporation in State! The problem is DP (development plan)
of these extended areas is in lingo (plz google) & joke is we have FSI/ TDR
rules in place but not land use! This is the reason, land available for
development is less, naturally people have to use the available land for
development to the fullest potential means, high-rise buildings! The impact is direct, the
roads in central Pune or say developed Pune has been planned according to the
buildings’ density at that time & so is applicable for all the basic
infrastructure & today where there are 10 apartments we are allowed to build
30 to 40 apartments while the land of this building & entire services are
the same! This is the sole reason for traffic (as well drainage & rainwater
drains too) congestion in the central part or say developed part of the city
which is the outcome of tall buildings policies. And then, we have to cut down big trees which
were very much there in all the central city, to accommodate the new tall
buildings as well our cars & services & that has reduced the green
cover of the city & its direct impact is, increased air pollution as we
don’t have trees to absorb our pollution!
If this reduced tree cover is the cause of
worrying for the humans about air quality then it's the biggest enemy for
biodiversity in the city as tell me when you have last seen a butterfly dancing
along the roadside plant’s flowers as there is no place for plants along the
roads so no flowers so no butterflies! And this is applicable to many other
species for e.g. common sparrow, all such birds have moved out of the city
because of loss of habitat & food which again is the outcome of our tall
buildings taking every space of every species! Now, you will say there is tree
policy & every new building is needed to plant more trees (1 big tree per
800 sft), ok then show me such big trees planted in last ten years &
biodiversity they have protected, answer is nil! Because if you cut down
today a big tree, say Neem or Jamun then it will break life cycle of hundreds
of species from ants to squirrels & where they will go till the new planted
trees grow up, the answer is they won’t go anywhere, they will die as they don’t
have Metro or private cars or PMPML to carry them to other destination! Here,
many will say what’s this joke, shall we stop building buildings for some
butterflies or squirrels, answer is No, we don’t have to stop building tall
buildings but we have to make the rules where the tall buildings won’t make
other species disburse from their homes as well wont choke the roads or the
services because of them! And it's not just air or roads or butterflies which
are getting troubled by our policies regarding the tall buildings but the
groundwater also has not escaped due to them! As tall buildings need parking
& due to fire norms height becomes an issue too, we need to dig deep in the
ground for accommodating our car park which kills the ground water storage
capacity of earth! This again damages the vegetation (trees) on the surface as
the roots need to go deeper in search of water & those trees which roots
can’t do that they die or fall down! Last but least, cost of construction of
high-rise buildings; as on one side govt keeps on blaming builders for high
prices of homes & push for affordable buildings & on the other side
neither makes the land available at cheap price, as well makes the policies
which indirectly are compelling builders to build high rise buildings increasing
construction cost, making the finish product i.e. homes, costlier!
And this needs a little bit logical planning
& its strict execution in the framed time span, here our system (read as
govt as well society) takes years in making development plans & then in one
night they (DP) get cancelled & if at all they get through the
implementation takes decades but the growth doesn’t stop because a city is like
a baby, which once taken birth is bound to grow! It's up to us how we let this
growth happen, this is where the aspect of handling tall buildings comes in the
picture! Allow the tall buildings only on the lands where we can build them in
such a way that there won’t be impact on the services as well surrounding
environment & where they are really needed! I repeat I am not the final
authority to comment on the subject as vast as tall buildings or urban planning
but I just put forward the scene which is right in-front of our eyes. The city is growing due to
many factors & most people will say, if all above negative points are there
then how the city is still growing; well, the other side of this argument is,
if a child is gaining weight, then that also is one sign of growth but only aan expert doctor can teel whether the child is healthy or obese, adios
with this note!
-
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/
Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog
links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2025/12/pune-real-estate-in-2026.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Think Green, Think Life
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