SMG DESIGN

Making Sense of aesthetics in an Indian city
Srinivas Murthy G.


About three years ago I decided to make Hyderabad my home. I have been living in Delhi all my life where I was born and educated, before I moved into this city. I have been designing projects in and around Hyderabad for the last twelve years and claim that I know this city at-least on architectural and real estate front and have been witness to the hyper speed growth of Hyderabad in recent years.

There has been a lot written about how the IT boom has helped Hyderabad grow into a mega city and how it has earned its space in the world business map in such a short span of time. Though I was part and parcel of this growth story in many ways, it is was a strange realisation that only after shifting here I started thinking about its existing as a living organism and not just as another destination for business purpose.

Two things that struck me most [rather absence of them] and probably affected me in many ways are the so called “cultural scene” that I was so used to in Delhi and secondly how the architectural sensibilities of people of this historic city changed due to the fast paced development. While the first one is more specific to this city given its strong historical and cultural background that Hyderabad once boasted of, the second one is about the built environment of Hyderabad, though nothing unusual as many other cities have gone though the same fate during the same timeline.

I will reserve the first one for another time and write about the second one first, as being an architect by profession, this moves me both on personal and professional spectrums.

During the last decade or two, many of Indian cities have witness stupendous growth due to the IT boom abroad and also due the new era of liberalised economy. Hyderabad is no exception on this account. In fact Hyderabad’s growth has been watched very keenly and closely by the two neighbouring big cities of Bangalore and Chennai. There is no denying in the fact that Hyderabad has definitely taken a share of their cake [rather too big a share.] and that has raised not only eyebrow but also concerns of many politico-planners of this region. Business houses and entrepreneurs from this state have spread far and wide in the country have bagged many prestigious projects and in turn made their home state literally quite rich. And I have no complaints about this. Surely many of us benefitted and continue to do so.

Hyderabad is in many ways is like Delhi, more so on a particular aspect of architectural front. It has an equally important architectural heritage and does not stay too behind in display of wealth and effluence. It has its own South Delhi charms that you can feel in the air when you are moving around in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills with large villas and bungalows dotting the landscape. This part of town I never felt out of place, same as in Delhi. Importance is given more to the size and grandeur than the aesthetics of architectural design. To borrow from Gautam Bhatia comments on architectural scene in Delhi, the “Punjabi Baroque” is replaced by a hugely Greek, Corinthian and Roman Renaissance and if this was not enough, completed it with riot of coloured facades and glass facades to add to fetish to show off.


This is so much different from how Bangalore and Pune responded when they went through the growing years. While Bangalore is known for its small and well made designer homes Pune has some of the earliest and finest examples of housing in apartment type buildings. Architectural professional gain respectability very soon and very prominently in these cities much to surprise of many even in Delhi and Mumbai.

What is surprising in most of our cities, is the complete absence of a sense of development, aesthetics and planning. The newer versions of our cities be it Cyberabad/HiTech City, or Gurgaon or Navi Mumbai are thousands of kilometres away from being called the new world class cities.

Let us first understand what it means to be a modern world class city. Any commoner would probably say having all those facilities which the existing set up could not efficiently provide for and further improving upon them would be considered as a fair expectation. Secondly completely from an expert point of view, designing and executing the new cities in a manner that would reflect a vision for planned and beautifully designed built environment, accommodating growth without having to compromise on the standards of infrastructure to be provided or on the commitment to provide an enjoyable and safe life for the citizens.

To me these appear to be very simple and implementable principles of planning and design. Architecture and design affects everyone; it affects our mental well being and quality of life in profound ways. It is the most public of all arts. It has the power to improve the lives and transform the places where we live, learn, work and play. It touches all of us every day. Recognizing this important role of architecture, planning and design will probably bring in a quantum change in the way we will demand and make our newer cities.

My heart pains to see that even in the so called newer parts of the City, which incidentally are not more than a decade old, we still lack the some basic facility. No pedestrian safety and foot paths, no decent greenery and plantation, the roads are same old overcrowded and congested ones the way they are in Abids, Kukatpally, Punjaguta, and Himayatnagar or even in Banjara hills and Jubillee Hills. Many of the areas do not even have properly laid out black top roads, no street lights, signages is something which one can only dream of, public utilities like bus shelter and drinking water for commuters, underpasses for pedestrians drainage channels and communication and electrical services ducts, and the list appears to never ending. And on architectural front, there is a complete sense of chaos and absurdness of design elements. There is no architecture at all. They are all covered with brightly coloured and well design hoardings that make the skyline of the city. “ ab mera number hai” and the “ an idea that can change your life” are glaringly telling you that nobody cares for the aesthetical composition of the street. It is Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mittals and Anil and Mukesh Ambanis of the world, who with their huge budgets for advertising are responsible for such ghastly act of taking pleasantness out of our cities. I for one will be very eagerly waiting to see a hoarding on top of one of their spacious villas designed by probably one of the best imported architects of the world.


These newer cousins of our cities might have more posh and stylised buildings and standing as individual architectural master pieces, but as whole area is far from being called a new city. It does not look like one.
There is no sense of zoning according to the land use. There is no urban design and broad guidelines that can help develop a planned skyline for the area. There are no planned urban green spaces and large open recreation spaces where the population would like get together to celebrate festivals or participate in public meetings? And absence of these things have only made people more insensitive to this simple basic requirements of city level infrastructure and has left a deep impact on their life styles. And that is why good design and planning is required. That is why a good city matters. To quote Pulitzer prize winner Blair Kamin “Every building is a new piece of the evolving city, a new layer of the ever changing urban collage. This collective work of art, forms an unflinching record of who we are and what we do. It connects us in time and space to those who went before us even as it represents our legacy – for better or for worse – to those who come after. And that is why architecture matters.”
Do we need huge amounts of money or technological knowhow to provide for some of the basic amenities that make many other cities world over, truly world class? Just one look at any of the cities in the US or Europe, for that matter nearer home, Putrajaya City on the outskirts of KL, Malaysia, we will understand that it is a matter of simple attitude. Even Chinese Cities are many shades better though they too developed during the same period as Indian cities went through the boom period.


Why are we like this? We accept and like everything that we saw or enjoyed while we visit other countries and find it difficult to adopt the same back home. When will our planning and urban development bodies understand the real meaning of development? When will we the common citizens of our citizens get some of the basic facilities?

On the second thoughts do we really need and ever demand it? I guess NO.

I have two reasons for it. One that we all are part of that huge constituency called the MIG, who believe in SCH [“Sub Chalta Hai”] and that the rich anyway get what they want at any cost, and for the real poor probably it is not even in their list of things they would love to dream of. Second reason being most of us are not even aware of what we should have and get not only in terms of list of amenities but even the required or desired standards for it.
I for one believe that everything has a demand and supply equation and to support this argument-the mobile movement, not in the context of the 1.76 Lakhs Crores fraud, but the way of has become of one of the most essential ingredients of our lives today. I wish I had even one tenth of that amount, we could have changed at least one city. As the demand for more features and facility increases, the suppliers will made those things available and at a very affordable price.

Isn’t this true in real estate sector? Look at the facilities that every developer is offering, when compared to the demands two decade ago. Today more aware and educated buyers are at the core of ever improving supply chain system. And that is where the solution lies. We need a more aware and demanding citizen base for improving our cities and its infrastructure. It is not enough to demand what is just good for one’s own, but we should start demanding something that will be good for others as well, that will be good for the neighbourhood and good for the city. We have to start demanding from our Municipal Corporations, our UDAs and our government. And for this we need people and organisations who can initiate awareness campaign and make people aware of their cities’ basic needs and lastly but importantly aesthetical needs.

We need initiatives that help people understand the need and importance, improve built environment through the collaboration of professionals, designers, leaders and local communities. This could be done through a series of a stimulating program of talks, events, debates, exhibitions, competitions and other projects. It should strive to promote and encourage the best in contemporary urban development and bring modern and traditional architecture and design closer to people.
And with such initiatives, that day may not be far, when we will start rejecting a city the way we do our films if they are not good.
Any takers? Please write back to join me in developing an idea to empower people with knowledge and ideas to make our cities a better place to live and enjoy and lastly make them “ truly world class’ or rather surpass even that and set a new world standard “ the Indian order”.
[Images used in this article to illustrate the authors point of view, have been taken from various sources, including authors own collection. Since many of the pictures are down loaded from the web, the author wishes to record his appreciation to original authors and gives credit for the photographs used]