Tale of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
Are
Architectural decision to shape/ impact human life always correct? In April
2008 the capital city of India launched a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. The
BRT had come at a cost of several hundred heritage trees of Delhi, which were
removed to widen the road and provide additional space for overall architecture
of BRT. This project was considered as a step towards Delhi’s sustainable
future. Model of BRT has been successful around the world including Rio, Mexico
etc. and also in some Indian cities. However it turned out to be a big failure
for Delhi. There were few reasons for this failure , the biggest being traffic
in Indian cities especially Delhi is very different from rest of the World
hence the same model without understanding the local needs was very difficult
to be successful. BRT just catered to one need of adding more public connection
to the existing metro rail network however in the process somehow it forgot the
biggest need of prioritizing pedestrian more than the cars. After almost more
than a year of traffic chaos the BRT corridor was removed. The biggest learning
I took from this was that every city has a different architectural need and
conditions and it is not necessary what works in one does work in the other.
The public opinion does matter and public does have the capability to make a
project successful or not successful by its involvement. The downfall of BRT was
much enhanced by the extreme public and media involvement.
You made a really great point about what works for one place is not a solution for all places. We have to see each city, each problem, and each project as its own situation. Yes, there are similar aspects and details but the entire project is never an identical situation.
ReplyDeleteI think your post is a great example of what can be the dangers of globalization. In this age, where the world has never seemed smaller, we tend to think that the same solution that was wildly successful in one city will have the same result in another. But we have to realize that the notion of "place" is extremely important in any urban intervention we might think to do.
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