INTRODUCTION
India and its own cities is often associated with poverty and disorder in the eye of both foreigners and nationals alike. The roads and roadways are littered, wall surfaces are indiscriminately frightened by blood red paan, old and unmaintained infrastructure is available vandalized as though its sole purpose was to do something as a medium of defiance on the government's inefficiency; and any dark area of interest becomes a location for defecation. This happening, of public popularity toward urban uncleanliness is experienced in almost all metropolitan areas of India.
India is a country which has a deep rooted record and has many old cities. Which have been documented with awe in the sight of the writer, discussing of their beauty and intricacy. One of the oldest civilizations on earth, built their haven over the banks of the Indus. Their cities showed a awareness toward cleanliness; and the great baths and the sew-age system are a testament to that. Yet today, Indian metropolitan areas are looked after as filthy, unhygienic and unorganized. No Indian culture preaches of such treatment towards their environment yet the condition still remains in front of our eyes.
However, I assume that the solution to the urban trend may lie in the manner we design our built environment. It really is extensively accepted that the environment we are put in, plays a major role in affecting how we behave in it. This brings me towards my research question:
How can architecture have an impact on the behaviour of the general public to be able to curb the menace of littering and vandalism, hence maintain cleaner and better cities?
LITERATURE SURVEY
My research will target at finding a long term, objective answers towards three key topics
- Vandalism as a cause of sociable defiance.
- Littering as a reason behind social neglect.
- Sense of place as an instrument to earn respect of the individuals.
Vandalism
Almost all major Indian towns date back at least to the colonial period plus they see their good share of cultural unrest in the form of hits, riots or revolts and some have even seen conflict between empires. Unrest has always been around between different classes or casts over the history of our locations and in the present context it mainly is available between different spiritual communities plus much more between the general public and its government. Vandalism is one of the by-products of the unrest.
My research has found that vandalism is highly associated with defiance. This defiance can be rooted toward any cause, establishment or a federal government body. This anti-social activity has been allowed by poorly designed built environments which lack surveillance be it manned or computerized. It has also led toward upsurge in criminal offenses rate in many high-rise and has eventually reduced the desirability of the cover project.
In Oscar Newman's book 'Defensible Space', his research is directed towards how offense can be reduced in the housing assignments of New York by designing urban spaces that will affect the behaviour of men and women and affectively prevent offense from occurring in the first place. The author identifies Defensible Space as 'Defensible space is a model for domestic surroundings which inhibits crime by creating the physical expression of a social cloth that defends itself. ' (Newman, Oscar 1972)
His work revolves around how simple gestures in the look period can have a vast effect on the inter relationships of multiple users in an metropolitan environment. His work revolves around making spaces which are surveyed by the city, or an organization rather than an individual since when people begin to safeguard themselves as individuals rather than as a community, the challenge against criminal offense is lost. (Newman, Oscar 1972)
Further his publication talks about the need for a niche site to make a defined territory which may be surveyed by the users of this territory. There is a lot usefulness in this approach as the actual legal perceives such an area as handled by its inhabitants, departing him an intruder, easily acknowledged and dealt with. (Newman, Oscar 1972) Advantage conditions are also a essential consideration as the outside space becomes more defensible if they're clearly demarcated for the use by one home or a little number of homes, and if they're observable by residents, neighbours and passers-by. (Cisneros, Henry, 1996)
When interiors are designed, the writer has found that 'attitude towards interior finishes and furniture creates an institutional atmosphere, not unlike that achieved in our worst hospitals and prisons. Even though the materials are in fact stronger plus more resilient to wear, tenants seem to go out of their way to check their resistance capacities. Rather than being provided with an environment where they can take pride and might desire to maintain, they are given with the one which begs their ability in tearing it down( in comment of Pruitt Igoe) (Newman, Oscar 1972)
Taking inferences from these techniques I aim to see whether similar key points of design can help prevent vandalism in India's urban spaces, hence develop further inferences towards how social differences can affect this blast of though and exactly how it can be used to my benefit if possible. Further, I'd like to ascertain whether this approach can also be applied towards elimination of littering in public spaces as well.
Another method of reducing vandalism requires a nonphysical approach a particular area involves community involvement by means of fund bringing up in Jefferson Institution Area, Daly City, California where vandalism have been a problem (average daily attendance 6, 100), for many years. Several classes were consistent focuses on for graffiti and cracked home windows. Maintenance crews devoted Mon mornings to sweeping cup and repainting surfaces. It was time consuming, costly, and most discouraging. (Brietler, B, 1988) A CONCEPT emerged in 1985
from the newly appointed superintendent, Joseph DiGeronimo. His plan was to provide a motivation program to the students. Each institution could have $500 put into a reserve account for eventual use by students-that is, unless the money was first consumed by the expenses of vandalism. The money would go directly to the scholar body to use as it wished, so long as the expenditures were legal and in good style. (Brietler, B, 1988)
The program was successful enough that this could reduce happenings from 114 in 1985-86 to 51 incidents in 1986-87. (Brietler, B, 1988)
Even though my research is focused in finding a prevention rather than a cure, secondary methods will only help reinforce the ex -. Since, in the Indian framework, where money is the main motivation to get work done successfully, schemes of a similar nature be integrated to be able to help maintenance of our metropolitan spaces.
Littering
I was initially filled with the idea that vandalism and littering are done by the same interpersonal strata and for similar reasons. But on further studying I realized they are two particular behaviours and are motivated by different factors. Vandalism had been associated in virtually all my readings as an function of defiance of the people of the lower school or people who imagine have been neglected by a governing body. It would be wrong to expect that it's having less consciousness or literacy this is the real cause of littering. The most frequent vision of littering is that of plastics hand bags, disposable pots, plates and spoons Items which are attributed with the consumerist classes i. e. the center class and high class.
The Indian division of sciences and technology claims:
Most of today's plastics and artificial polymers are produced from petrochemicals. As standard plastics are consistent in the environment, improperly disposed clear plastic materials are a substantial way to obtain environmental pollution, potentially harming life. Therefore Littering is not merely an eyeball sore but also a health hazard and, it ought to be a matter of concern that people keep our cities clean so that we can benefit over time.
Another fashion of littering is very unique to India owing to a formula that is unique to Indian culture. Virtually all public places can be distinctly associated with the splashes of paan cud, commonly seen at every place of your staircase or the end of an passageway. Paan is manufactured using a single beetle leaf with a filling which is usually constituted of areca nut, lime and cured cigarette. This form of paan is not meant to be swallowed and so spitting is inevitable. The areca nut is what is in charge of creating the blood vessels red coloration which is the key identifier of paan cud. Paan is cheaply open to both poor farmer and the rich merchant, and can be an Indian man's cross time, gnawing constantly to while away the long and monotonous day.
The primary reason behind this gross neglectfulness towards correct removal of rubbish, is because of the lack of far-sightedness of the common man. Having less a united soul in the town, where
every man is out there to fend for himself whether it is status, getting or justice which has led to a fragmentation in the metropolitan society. This is exactly what has eluded the brains of people, that, even trivial functions such as littering can truly add up to bigger implications. Liberalization has granted the benefit of private possession of land, but this has allowed visitors to believe the corollary, that, what's not managed by them is not under their jurisdiction completely forgetting the democratically It belongs to him but at the same time, also to his fellow countrymen. This blatant thinking of in and out, mine rather than mine has deluded the nature of any common in metropolitan contemporary society which manifests itself by means of negligence.
Vassos Argyrou argues that depending on one's position in space people could find things to be in place (have positive value) or out of place (have negative value) or, they might be invisible to the observer. . . Therefore, so on beauty, litter is the eye of the beholder. (Argyrou, Vassos, 1997) Depending on these characteristics culture way either be proactive or they may be negligent towards littering.
Peoples understanding toward cleanliness is mainly described by their way of life. The fact that many people treat littering as eyesores is presupported by 'the ability to detach oneself from the globe and constitute it as an subject of contemplation and representation. ' (Argyrou, Vassos, 1997). . This part of society's ability is rendered possible by the section between mental labour and physical labour. That is possible in those who are economically well off and also have the blissful luxury to contemplate the planet and its problems. The need not partake cumbersome labour (like brick laying and farming) in order to battle the elements of nature, rather, they might prefer to do the same through "sport" (by heading rock climbing or hiking). They tend to contemplate the earth as an cosmetic reality. Trying to take care of character as a body whose truths assessed and aliments cured.
By contrast, for many people the world is far from a conveniences and conveniences, and the possibility to contemplate the globe is distant. These folks are compelled to work on days and nights which, most people would take the day off. To them, the planet is a struggle field and life an everyday struggle. Out of this confrontation - comparable to physical combat the planet emerges as a formidable adversary and the Do it yourself emerges as a bodily and psychologically strong individual who, far from being deterred by the task, welcomes and even provokes it. (Argyrou, Vassos, 1997)These are too obstinate to stop on the problems that face them and, given these situations, their aggressive strategy towards life, to them preventing littering is a much too gratuitous an function to be really considered.
However, it might be premature to believe that the cause of this uncleanliness is due to lower working category and that the center and higher classes are without this attitude towards our places. This only shows that different conditions of existence predispose people to view the world and themselves, in several ways.
The author later goes on to state that the middle class claim is that folks litter because they are ignorant. Rather, it is that individuals are ignorant because they litter. The distinction is significant since it implies that litter is a home- evident real truth accessible to everyone. If the middle class can perceive it as a problem, villagers and urban working classes can see it too.
But, as middle income rhetoric has it, they choose to disregard it which is why is them ignorant
This take action of negligence towards the town is well illustrated by Sudipta Kaviraj, in his paper' Filth and the Public Sphere: Principles and Procedures about Space In Calcutta (1997), speaking of the notions, of what's general public in the sight of Indians, in the town of Calcutta. He talks of how Hindu culture is accountable for the concept for 'apan/par' in which people only take a look at their house as their world, which requires attention and must be maintained clean. Whereas the encompassing is of no importance to the dweller.
The inside of a Brahmin house was often maintained impressively clean, including utensils and other household goods. Interiors of homes were swept and scrubbed with punctilious regularity. Indeed, there is an interesting connection between these responsibilities and the spiritual markings on the changing times of day. The household's inner space had to be cleaned out at the hours of conjunction between light and darkness, at dawn and dusk, which coincided with time for worship (puja). The form of this puja, especially at nightfall, was to light the auspicious light fixture, which experienced an understated piety about it and was performed by women, who shared a strong connection with the symbolism of the inside. It would be considered odd, and faintly sacrilegious, to take the auspicious lamp fixture into an area that had not been cleaned in prep for this most normal form of thanksgiving. Thus, the cleaning tasks were considered quasi-religious responsibilities for family members (mainly women). The garbage collected from this obsessive house-cleaning would be dumped on the mound right in front of the home. This owed never to a material-geographic but a conceptual variation. When the garbage is dumped, it is not placed at a spot where it cannot casually have an impact on the realm of family members and its own hygienic well-being. It really is thrown on the conceptual boundary. The street was the exterior, the space that one did not have responsibility, or which not one's own was, and it therefore lacked any connection with obligation, since it did not symbolise any significant theory, did not share any values. It had been only a conceptually insignificant negative of the inside, which was valued and spent with affectionate decoration. Thus, the outside-the avenues, squares, bathing Ghats, and other facilities employed by large numbers-were packed, but they did not constitute a new kind of appreciated space, a civic space with norms and guidelines of use of its own, not the same as the domestic ideals of bourgeois privateness. (Kaviraj, S 1997)
Kaviraj also mentions that ensemble is not really the only factor but the differences in perceptions between the several classes also is responsible for the littering. The center class who had been with the capacity of affording an education attach much sentimental values to their public parks, but the lower category cannot understand the value of the second option as much of the middle class's sentiments experienced aroused from traditional contexts which the lower classes could not relate to credited to lack of an education. What this shows is the fact that there have been two different rules for using social space, one mapping of inside/external and another of public/ private. (Kaviraj, S 1997)
This study has helped me understanding the gravity of the situation. That there is a cultural hyperlink towards the way we maintain our general public sphere and that there sits a variations of conceptual methodology towards the word 'consumer' by the several economical strata of contemporary society.
Another concept I would like to concentrate on is the broken home window theory, which says that a crime is much more likely to occur if the physical environment has already been abused. This happening is necessary to understand as it works as the spark to the fire if not tended to.
The corollary of the idea can also be tested to see if extremely clean conditions can even be used to create a interpersonal unacceptance toward uncleanliness of your public spots.
CONCLUSION
Littering is a communal and medical condition. It might be safe in small amounts, but when it is upscaled to the urban level, it becomes a menace and a reason behind matter. Today the Indian government has attempted to curb littering by means of promotional announcements on television. And people are well aware that it is against the law to litter. Under this circumstances, littering is not merely an work, but also a assertion whose concept echoes through all people who see it. Citizens who see their roads and roads littered will be filled up with the notion that their federal is incompetent and incapable. This eventually will lead people to be lax, not merely towards littering laws but also towards other restrictions, quoting the latter failure for example. Due to its visual mother nature, littering spreads such as a disease in the spots of the resident imagination and then into the spaces of the city.
This will eventually breed neglect among the people and eliminate community culture. This further results in more extreme cases where our metropolitan spaces will be vandalized to vent out anger.
Therefore it is of at most importance that people take immediate action and strongly reinforce these activities with precautionary measures in order to keep a actually and mentally modern culture.
From my literature survey it offers come to my knowledge that littering and vandalism have been looked at from a very objective point of view and research is aimed more towards these phenomena as reactive steps rather than a permanent preventative measures. Therefore I'd like to target my future initiatives into finding ways that we can prevent littering and vandalism before it can even happen.
References:
Newman, Oscar 1972, Criminal offenses Elimination through Urban Design Defensible Space, the Macmillan Company, New York.
Colquhoun, Ian, Design out of crime Creating Safe and Sustainable Communities, Architectural Press
Canter, David 1977, Psychology of Place, The Architectural Press Ltd. London
G. P. D, 2004, Economics and Political Weekly, Vol. 39, No. 9.
The English Medical Journal Vol. 2 No. 4255 1942, Towards The Clean City, BMJ
Kaviraj, Sudipta 1997, Duke University or college Press, Filth and the public Sphere: Concepts and techniques about Space in Calcutta, Consumer Culture.
Keizer, Kees, 2008 American connection for the growth of science, Vol. 322, No. 5908 Technology, New Series.
Brietler, Bruce 1988, Taylor & Francis, Ltd. , Vandalism: The carrot instead of the Stick, Vol. 61, No. 8
Argyrou, Vassos 1997, Wiley on behalf North american Anthropological Connection, "Keep Cyprus Clean" : Littering, Air pollution, and Otherness, Vol. 12, No. 2
Hazards of vinyl, 2009, viewed 20 July 2014 TIFAC, <http://www. tifac. org. in/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=739&itemid=205
