Bhubaneswar must have more facilities for women

In 1948, Bhubaneswar became the modern capital of Odisha; the first planned capital city of independent India. The plan was drafted with a principle that every woman in the city must be able to reach to public health centre or market located at a handshaking distance. So the first plan for Bhubaneswar was based on neighbourhood city concept with lots of open space for free living of women and children. 

This could have been strengthened with involvement of public transport as women use public transport while going to work, taking and bringing kids to and from schools and hospitals, etc. But somehow over years in a rush to address urbanisation challenges, Bhubaneswar lost its neighbourhood-based urban planning and moved awry.

The world modern city planners advocate for building cities that can be more responsible towards women. When there is a hot debate on women safety and Smart City, all cities should be women friendly. Interestingly many cities in the world have either grown women centric or are being designed in recent time so as to showcase it as women friendly. Actually building women centric city is not an expensive option; rather it is a bit of innovative and simpler as a women friendly city is less prone to crimes and more inclusive.

like many cities, Bhubaneswar has grown with production and consumption where facilities have been created more for the male workers rather than the females. The one- sided growth of cities led towards more exclusions, lack of opportunities and kinds of infrastructure and services which impact women’s life. Thus, poor connectivity through public transport or wrongly designed zebra crossing or poor access to public toilets in the city have an impact on women and girls in the city. It is only over the past few years that there has been an increased focus on women’s safety in public spaces and cities.

It’s time urban planners needed to understand the needs of women in their planning process so as to build the city with infrastructure that is accessible to all. City audits have consistently pointed out that well-designed, well-illuminated and inclusive public spaces are more likely to be used by all including children, youths, elders, women etc irrespective of rich or poor while a badly designed public space with poor lighting has always been a source of crimes and poses a risk to the life of women and children.

There is an urgent need to prepare designs beyond traditional master plans. The challenge is how effectively the women representatives are able to push through agendas that are ignored. The Government has spent lots of money in building public infrastructure to bring the city into order. A recent study on Pink Auto and Women Special Bus has shown that the projects are not much successful.

Urban planning must enable vibrant economic, social and political engagement for the largest number of people, keeping in mind the requirements of all in society. Vienna is a bright example of transforming itself towards more sensitive to women and other vulnerable sections. Stockholm, Bogota, New York etc too are changing on priorities. Bhubaneswar has, therefore, to transform itself into a women centric city and develop infrastructure for ensuring more ease to the living of women.

Most of these cities have added more neighbourhood parks with high perches for girls and different sports courts. They have widened sidewalks and built huge ramps near major intersection to make movement easier for people with strollers, wheelchairs or walkers.

They have added lighting to streets to make women feel safer at night. The city planners have given adequate attention to the needs of girls and women. Bhubaneswar needs to follow suit. 

(Dr Rout is an urban planner and founder of local Governance Network)