Page 17 - Seniorstoday March 2023
P. 17
Essay
When cities were
nature’s haven
We tend to think that nature and cities are polar opposites. Yet this is not true. As
the research by Harini Nagendra on Bangalore (or Bengaluru) shows, for centuries,
the population of this region grew because of nature, not despite it
We tend to think that nature and cities
are polar opposites. Yet this is not “wells above”, and the “trees below”. This
true. As my research on Bangalore or three-dimensional view of the landscape,
Bengaluru – India’s IT hub – shows, for consisting of two major resources, water
centuries, the population of this region (lake) and food (agriculture), nourished
grew because of nature, not despite it. by nature below (in the form of wells)
In my book Nature in the City: and above (in the form of trees) is a
Bengaluru in the Past, Present and remarkably holistic conception of nature.
Future, I take a deep dive into the Unfortunately, in today’s urbanised
ecological history of an Indian city, going India, we have lost all trace of this three-
way back in the past to the 6th century dimensional vision.
CE.
Inscriptions on stone and copper plates Declining sources of water
show that the starting point for a new The central areas of Bangalore had 1960
village was often the creation of a tank, open wells in 1885; today, there are fewer
or lake, to collect rain water – essential than 50. Bangalore also lost many of
and life-giving in this unfavourable low- its lakes, which were considered to be
rainfall environment. These inscriptions filthy breeding grounds for malaria, and
provide fascinating insights into the close converted to bus stands, malls, housing,
relationship that these early residents and other built spaces.
had with nature. They describe the The city’s central Sampangi lake, which
landscape as consisting of the lakes, the supplied water to many parts of Bangalore
surrounding irrigated and dry land, the in the 19th century, was transformed into
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #45 | MARCH 2023 17
