Is love for my city fading away?
Shekhar Badve
Founder Director Lokusdesign I Mentor I Innovation Advisor I Transformation Leader I Juror Cannes Design Lions I TEDx Speaker I Juror India Design Mark, Govt of India I CII’s National Committee on Design
I wonder why do we have a deep and strong love for the city we are born. What creates this bond this strong relationship with an intangible thing or collection of things; a city. Is it because I was born here or is it because this is where my home is or may be I know my city very well and all that it offers me, the old and the new, the rich history or the magnificent monuments. May be the hills or that beautiful river or may be those beautiful tree lined roads. The tangible and the intangible.
What is this connection and does it last forever. In recent times we have seen this connection, this bond, the love fading away. May be we don’t connect with the city anymore or may be the newer generations or the new comers don’t know the city well. A strong relationship seems to be missing. I wonder why does this happen. Why is there apathy; a feeling of not feeling.
What do we do to make its dwellers fall in love again, feel strongly for the city. How do we build connections, bring the city close to the new comers and youngsters. Can we build immersive experiences sprinkled across the city, virtual city appreciation platforms or museums on diverse topics which the city is known for. Modern experience centres and online tours for the busy. Identifying and marking important historic locations with location specific map pop ups or virtual monuments popping up on screens as we pass by them.
Many ideas to bridge, many ideas to feel proud and fall in love. William Shakespeare in his famous tragedy Coriolanus wrote “What is the city but the people?”. If we love, then we care and if we care only then our cities would be very different. They wouldn’t fall prey to the neglect and apathy, but would be cared for.
We would significantly reduce the load on civic infrastructure to maintain our cities. They would have significant bandwidth and energy left to plan and create. Jane Jacobs said “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody”. Let’s make our cities loveable, let's get people to participate in creating these connections, let’s proactively involve the new comers to know the city well. Let’s make our cities loveable again.
Listener | Storyteller | Experience Researcher
4 年I remember arriving at Pune the day after Maharashtra day, exactly a decade back. Coming straight from Kolkata, I was startled by the late sunset. The two months I spent there, exploring the city, its many forts, mandis, cafes, restaurants, rivers, bridges,the nearby weekend destinations; making new friends, living life- (and doing horrendously minimal amount of work): those were some memorable summer days. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to experience something beautiful via that internship: a connection with a city! I’ve tried to replicate it by dating every city I ever lived in :)
Lead Product Manager
4 年Your thoughts have the power to inspire many. The people who live and who have lived in a city make up for its soul and spirit. We all have very special moments in our minds of the city we grow up in, but as time passes and we grow the way we see our surroundings changes. And before we know it the tings we love about our city becomes find memories. Having said that, I do support your thoughts that sharing the story, life and, culture of the city through the eyes of its people could help us revive our memories for us to share with our children and loved ones who are yet to step into the place we call home. And there is nothing better than technology and modern infrastructure to support this nobel cause of bringing back a city to life.