Reclaim and Turn Inclusive, Bengaluru and its Blue-Green Commons
ESG organised a public workshop on:
“Reclaim and Turn Inclusive Bengaluru and its Blue-Green Commons” on Saturday, 4th February, 2023 at SCM House, 2nd Cross Road, CSI Compound, Mission Road, Sampangi Rama Nagar, Bengaluru, 01:30 pm to 07:00 pm.
(Video recording of this event can be accessed here)
(Download the workshop report here)
The aim of this workshop was to bring people together to reclaim their due place in governing the city and shaping its futures. We felt it would help by facilitating meaningful conversations to assess the state of and access to our commons – blue green commons – our parks, streets, greenery, lakes, open spaces, playgrounds. And then ask if we all – rich, working classes, middle classes, minorities and the poor – are sufficiently supported to live a healthy, secure, happy and contented life in Namma Bengaluru?
Schedule
| 01:30 – 1:45 PM | Registration |
| 01:45 – 02:00 PM | Welcome |
| 02:00 – 02:30 PM | Introduction & overview of efforts to reclaim and conserve Blue-Green Commons in Bengaluru |
| 02:30 – 03:00 PM | Accessibility and functionality of Blue-Green Commons (Importance of open and healthy spaces for wellbeing, the declining ratio of per capita availability of open space in the city, Lalbagh as a model for greening Bengaluru, re-discovering Bengaluru’s open and green spaces, safety of walking/cycling, & role of the bus in returning sanity across the Metropolis) |
| 03:00 – 03:30 PM | Disparities in urban development and disruption in Bengaluru’s potential to be an inclusive metropolis. (How the urban poor communities deal with disparate ways of development, functioning of the Metropolitan Planning Committee, value of conserving living heritage spaces, & looking back at “our Metropolis”) |
| 03:30 – 04:00 PM | Quality and quantum of Blue-Green Commons needed for a healthy, inclusive and biodiversity rich Bengaluru. (Change in the metropolis form brown to green to brown again, retaining the charm of the city, Heritage Beku initiatives, & Neginhal’s vision of Greening Bengaluru) |
| 04:00 – 04:15 PM | Tea/Coffee Break |
| 04:15 – 04:45 PM | Battles (lost and won) to reclaim Bengaluru’s Blue-Green Commons (Conservation of lakes and kaluves, protecting Cubbon Park from ‘Smart City’, fencing of urban forests, reclaiming Mavallipura’s commons, keeping living heritage safe from designated custodians, protests to reclaim democracy, & success of PIL to stop mass felling of trees) |
| 04:45 – 05:15 PM | Planning from the ground up (Inclusive efforts to conserve Bengaluru’s Heritage Streets-the Gandhi Bazaar experience, ecological future of lakes, accessibility of open spaces, inclusivity of open spaces to the LGBTQ community, reclaiming the right to plan and govern Bengaluru, & role of citizen science and reporting) |
| 05:15 – 06:15 PM | Ways forward to reclaim Bengaluru’s Blue-Green Commons and its democratic polity (a moderated discussion) |
| 06:15 – 06:45 PM | Summary and conclusion |
| 06:45 – 07:00 PM | Vote of thanks |
Need to participate. Being a bystander no longer an option.