If cities have to be made more livable, sustainable, inclusive, effective, efficient , productive, consumers of least resources, generators of zero waste and promoters of environment and ecologies; then architects , planners and policy makers have to redefine their strategies of planning cities and designing buildings, failing which cities will become more of a liability rather than a valuable asset.

1. MANAGING PREVAILING DUALITIES & CONTRADICTIONS IN
URBAN AREAS
***Jit Kumar Gupta; jit.kumar1944@gmail.com
Cities, as spaces for human living and working, are known for number of
dualities and contradictions, positivity and negativities .
 Cities have been valued for the reason that they have large
number of positivities in terms of ; being areas of future growth and
concentration of large population; determinants of future of
communities, states and nations; promoters of industrialization ;
promoters of majority of employment, generators of wealth;
working as engines of economic growth; making provision of state
of art infrastructures; promoters of innovations and technologies;
producing and providing large variants of goods and services;
providers of higher quality of life; creating supportive environment
for mixing of different cultures; promoting globalization,
liberalization of economies; operating as centers of trade and
commerce and consumers of minimum land resource.
Despite these positivities, cities are also known for its negativities in
terms of promoting poverty, pollution, poor quality of life, exclusion,
lack of capacity and willingness to service majority of its population,
depriving large population from having basic amenities of life ;
serving the elites and rich while making life of majority of its poor
population miserable; promoting disparities between haves and
have nots ;widening gap between rich and poor and promoting
poverty and exclusion; making majority of population vulnerabe;
responsible for consuming large natural/manmade resources;
generating large amount of waste, consuming majority of energy
and water; responsible for majority of ills facing planet earth in
terms of climate change, global warming, rising temperature,
increasing carbon footprints, increasing pollution; besides
damaging/destroying environment, ecology, flora and fauna.
Positivity and negativities of cities can be enumerated in terms of;

2.  If Cities are known to create space for new opportunities for
employment, growth and development, they also remain responsible
for creating and promoting adverse social, economic, and
environmental challenges.
 If cities are known to be powerhouses of economic growth, they
also remain responsible for large proportions of global carbon
emissions ,climate change, disaster risks and irrational resource use
 If Cities create wealth, they are known to promote poverty , inequality,
social exclusion, violence and fragility.
 If cities house state of art buildings , they also house large number
of buildings, without having basic services; constructed with
waste/poor quality materials- in terms of slums and shanty towns.
 Cities are known to create spaces where prosperity and poverty rub
shoulders.
 Cities also represent classical examples where planned and
unplanned development rub shoulders.
 Despite being centre of power and authority, cities remain areas prone
to high degree of crime and cruelty.
 Despite having all resources at its command, cities make majority of
its population vulnerable – old, children, physically challenged,
destitute
 Cities remain most hostile and in-hospitable spaces for majority of
population
 Despite requiring large manpower for manning services; cities don’t
believe in welcoming migrants
 Cities remains least tolerant and most hostile
 Despite making large contribtion to economy and employment, cities
have no space for housing /working the poor.
 Despite having state of art technologies and services, cities still remain
highly susceptible to natural and man-made disasters.
 Despite having large resources cities, don’t believe in equity/equitable
distribution leading promoting /widening gap between rich and poor.
 Urbanization and global warming remain positively related, making
urban centres warmer/vulnerable than surrounding areas ,led by
urban heat island , transportation, hard surfaces etc.
 Urbanization and environment remain negatively related with
Increasing urbanization contributing to greater loss of biodiversity,
increased material consumption, and rapid climate change

3.  Urbanization/size of city and number of slums remain positively
related.
 Uurbanization and natural/manmade disasters remain
positively/closely connected.- adversely impacting cities by repeated
cycles of natural calamities and violence.
If cities have to be made more livable, sustainable, inclusive, effective,
efficient , productive, consumers of least resources, generators of zero
waste and promoters of environment and ecologies; then architects ,
planners and policy makers have to redefine their strategies of planning
cities and designing buildings, failing which cities will become more of a
liability rather than a valuable asset