The Deccan Chronicle 19.10.2010
City needs hub-and-spoke traffic structureOct. 18: If Bengaluru is to have a sustainable future, the way the city’s infrastructure is designed has to change and mobility has to be enhanced. According to the urban development researcher Rama Subramanian, the network city concept might well become the future of Bengaluru. She made these observations on the first day of a three-day conference on “infrastructure, sustainable transportation and urban planning” that was organised by the Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning at the Indian Institute of Science.
The network city concept includes the development of high transit corridors that are connected by a sound network of transport systems in small pockets across the city. This will help solve the conflict between traffic management and infrastructure.
“It is an idea that the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority is exploring. Urbanisation is integral to development and not necessarily a side effect of economic success. Global population explosion is one of the major contributors to the growth of mega cities. As the population grows, the city expands and more areas are developed. This results in the creation of new roads connecting the various developed areas of the city and the ring roads are an example of this kind of expansion,” said Ms Subramanian.
She further added, “However, this particular expansion or rather the infrastructural design that led to the expansion resulted in a decline in the quality of life, it neglected the development of the city’s neighbourhoods and it created a conflict between new development and sustainable infrastructure.”
