The Ugly Indians making their cities a little more beautiful | vii. right to the city
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The Ugly Indian is an anonymous group formed in 2010 in the Indian city of Bangalore. Describing itself as a "faceless, leaderless" volunteer organization, they are made up of self-driven and motivated people who feel strongly about the state of visible filth in our cities. I first came to know about their work in 2013 through their facebook page that started getting widespread attention in 2014.
Volunteers are mostly professionals in the 25–40 age group, and they routinely organize what they call "spot-fixing" events in which they choose small street segments each week to clean: pavements piled up with plastic, defaced walls, footpaths rendered unusable by potholes. All tools, materials and instructions are provided on the spot. All spot-fixes are self-funded and volunteers are requested to make a contribution towards material costs.
The Ugly Indian's slogan translates to "Stop Talking, Start Working" and their five-point guidelines are:
TUI recognises the spot-fix as a success only if:
The Ugly Indian is an anonymous group formed in 2010 in the Indian city of Bangalore. Describing itself as a "faceless, leaderless" volunteer organization, they are made up of self-driven and motivated people who feel strongly about the state of visible filth in our cities. I first came to know about their work in 2013 through their facebook page that started getting widespread attention in 2014.
Volunteers are mostly professionals in the 25–40 age group, and they routinely organize what they call "spot-fixing" events in which they choose small street segments each week to clean: pavements piled up with plastic, defaced walls, footpaths rendered unusable by potholes. All tools, materials and instructions are provided on the spot. All spot-fixes are self-funded and volunteers are requested to make a contribution towards material costs.
The Ugly Indian's slogan translates to "Stop Talking, Start Working" and their five-point guidelines are:
- No lectures, no moralising, no activism, no self-righteous anger.
- No confrontation, no arguments, no debates, no pamphlets, no advocacy.
- Don’t step on anyone’s toes, don’t take sides in any ideological debates.
- Support existing systems and improve their effectiveness for the greater good.
- Basically, get real. Treat everyone with sincerity, respect and dignity first,and the greater good will be an outcome.
TUI recognises the spot-fix as a success only if:
- It lasts for at least 90 days.
- It requires no ongoing supervision.
- It is low-cost (ideally free) and easy to implement and replicate
- It changes the behaviour and attitudes of all concerned
- It creates minimal disruption in the daily actions of everyone concerned (nobody should lose a job, lose a source of income, or get seriously inconvenienced)
The movement has inspired and empowered similar volunteer groups in many other Indian cities.
Here are some examples of their work:
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