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82 H ornbill In the absence of a hygienic Such alarming death rates — and environment and safe water supply, an equally high injury rate — should chronic water-borne diseases such persuade policymakers to revisit their as cholera and other communicable urban planning strategies and correct diseases continue to stalk the poor in the distortions. But many cities such the biggest cities. as Chennai have actually done the It must be sobering to the affluent reverse   — reduced footpaths and areas for pedestrian use to facilitate layers of the population that nearly 14 million Indian households (forming unrestricted use of motorised vehicles. 26 per cent of the total) in the urban The practice in progressive world areas do not have a latrine within the cities has been different. Curitiba in house, as per the Census of India 2001; Brazil, which has attracted global some 14 per cent have only rudimentary attention for innovative urban plans ‘pit’ facilities. The number of householusing low-cost technologies, has done without a drainage connection stands everything that Indian policymakers at 11.8 million (representing 22.1 per would dread to do. Starting in the cent of households). Migration to cities1970s, this provincial centre with the continues and infrastructure to treat highest per capita ownership of cars sewage is grossly inadequate to meet thein Brazil (other than the capital) at demand even where it exists. the time, banned automobiles from It is unlikely that the quality of theany crowded areas in favour of pedestrians, built an internationally urban environment can be dramatically improved therefore, if such fundamental acknowledged bus system that reduced questions remain unresolved. household commuting expenditure to below the national average, and Urban transport receives scant created new housing areas that were attention from policymakers. Policy provided transport links in a planned distortions have led to rising automobile dependency, higher safety risks for roadmanner. Some of the prestigious land users, and land use plans that are baseddevelopment in the city, including a new not on the needs of people, but primarilypera House, came up in abandoned sites such as quarries. designed to facilitate use of private motorised vehicles. The bus-way system cut riding time It comes as no surprise therefore by a third, Scientific American noted in a review in the mid-1990s, by providing that pedestrians and bicycle riders, for advance ticketing, specially-designed who form 30 to 70 per cent of peak hour traffic in most urban centres, alsoboarding areas with wider doors for make up a large proportion of fatalitiesentry/exit and dedicated lanes for faster in road accidents. A paper prepared transit. In another low-cost initiative, Curitiba by the Transport Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) of the managed floods with a dedication that Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai can says pedestrian fatalities in Mumbai only marvel at. The city created large and Delhi were nearly 78 per cent and artificial lakes in suitable places that 53 per cent of the total, according to filled up in the monsoon, avoiding recent data, compared to 13 per cent flooding of residential areas. In the and 12 per cent in Germany and the summer, these lakes turned into parks United States. to provide recreational spaces. Reprint 2026-27