This blog elaborates on the transforming ‘urban consciousness’ and sociable spaces that we prefer to inhabit, under the influence of neo liberal culture. It critiques the very nature of ‘inclusive’ being drained out from the public realm & Sociability- a primary need, being commodified through privatized public spaces.
Shivadnyi Barate studied Urban Design at KRVIA, Mumbai and architecture from SCOA, Pune. She is an avid reader and shows keen interest in reading the urban through socio-cultural and anthropological lenses. Currently she is working as an architect and Urban Researcher in Pune. Apart from a designer and architect, she is also a sitarist with an ear for music.
Have you ever realized that we all once had a societal role to play which was based on socio-cultural needs and value-based organizational aspects slowly transforming into conspicuous tendencies of consumption. What are these conspicuous tendencies of consumption? How is that impacting the current development trends and urban form.
“Through exposure to others, we might learn how to weigh what is important and what is not. We need to see differences on streets or in other people neither as threats, nor as sentimental invitations, rather as necessary visions. They are necessary for us to learn to navigate life, with balance, both individually and collectively.” - (Sennett, 1990).
Public spaces and the public realm are a reflection of the city’s culture and social life. They act as living rooms of the city, creating a mosaic of the diverse socio-cultural backgrounds that the city has witnessed since times unknown. However, as cities have urbanized, and have been exposed to neo-liberal markets since the early 1990’s, global cultures have penetrated into the urban, influencing not just the spatial fabric but also the “urban consciousness” (Harvey, 1989). Cultures that had their origin people centric, in which each individual had a role to play have transformed into conspicuous tendencies of consumption. This transition is more derived through directing the aspirations of people to be structured in a certain class, and commodifying the need of sociability into consumption driven areas. The café culture, privatized public spaces like shopping malls, clubs, bistros and bars that revolve around consumption, have penetrated into our social lives and have become the only “spaces full of people within a city” (Sennett, 1990). It has led to a heavy compartmentalization of spaces that we position and expand our sociability into.
The public sphere and the city
A city can’t be understood in its true sense, without its public spaces. The memories, that we associate the cities with, are reflections of the conceived spaces that have been linked with these cities. The fluttering pigeons and loads of people meandering and posing in front of the Gate-way of India, the hush and gush in Chandani chowk of Delhi, or a khau galli in Indore, the night life along the promenade of marine drive in Mumbai, the vibrant Ghats of Varanasi, all contribute to create a peculiar image of the city in our minds. The public realm is embedded in our vernacular urban fabric – where we encounter the ‘other’, the people who are different than ourselves. This diversity enriches our everyday experience of life (Tathagata Chatterji, 2018). The public realm and a diverse public space, thus opens a platform for being exposed to the surroundings. It is this very exposure that imbibes within us a sense of social empathy and respect for the differences between each other. They act as stimulants of social empathy through co-mingling. In Sennett’s view, this exposure is highly necessary for an individual to be groomed for a balanced and centred life.
Transformations in public realm and global influences in Indian context: The changing urban consciousness into the everyday
Back in the late 90’s, the shift from a welfare socialist state, to a facilitator capitalist state, paved way for the entry of neo-liberal cultures to seep in Indian cities in a pace never witnessed before. The public sphere time and again reinvented itself, and expanded to not just physical space, but also a virtual space. Change is both motivating and stressful and often creates a nostalgia for the past. On top of the changes resulting from the consumer boom, the country (India) is now faced with the potential impact of a worldwide television and computer- based communications revolution and the increasing globalization of the world economy (Madhavi Desai, 1997).
The exposure to the perks and fantasies of the Western notion of public and social very fluidly garnered attention and were seen in awe. The sitcom ‘Friends’[1] being a success in the then Indian teenagers was an indicator of the aspirations of socializing being influenced and moulded to suit consumerist driven market. It set standards of how an ideal life of a person in his mid-20s & 30s should look like.
A few of the examples of this culture affecting the public sphere and the built environment were seen when the venue of birthday parties and socializing with friends changed from home, gardens, parks to McDs and Pizza Huts. The very aspiration of being with the changing time and in pace with the west was captured by these global imperatives. Rasna, Limca and Coke substituting a homemade lemonade were few of the examples of how these cultures penetrated into our everyday lives with subtle tinge of cultural imperialism. Local cultures (and it could be added languages) become vulnerable as they can’t match the alluring spectacle of western culture (Tomlinson, 2000). This, as Tomlinson critiques is not merely a global cultural exchange in a utopian sense, but a hegemony of one particular affluent culture over the other local culture, to overpower the world’s rich cultural diversity[2]. It would not be completely wrong for us to then derive that these very factors have set into motion the circle of conspicuous consumption into our everyday through targeting our aspirations.
Backed by the capitalist mentality, these influences have deeply dictated the circle of people that we choose to mingle in and also the spaces that we prefer to occupy for these interactions. The changed urban consciousness as precisely dissected by Harvey, has facilitated capitalism to survive in the twentieth century through the production of space and an increased urbanized space. The sense of class derived out of the experience of earning money runs up against the experience of limited but important individual freedom in the spending of that money (Harvey, 1989). It is this sense of class that is run by the transformed urban consciousness. It has provoked us to shift from the public spaces that were public by virtue of their common ownership and unrestricted access to all to spaces where we can comfortably situate ourselves within groups of ‘people like us’ within a gated enclosure.
And thus a katta around a tree across the street which was used by the a beggar, a passer-by, a college student, a baniya of the adjacent store or a group of senior citizens, during different times of the day to exchange a random chat or sometimes just a friendly glance, have found a substitute in Laughter clubs, CCD, a nearby restaurant, a gymkhana or a mall and places alike. As privatized public spaces have been able to overpower the sociable realm, it becomes pertinent that public spaces are re-enabled to stimulate the quality of public realm within them, by reclaiming the streets and other public spaces that form a part of the everyday.
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Further reads to similar topics:
Sennett, R. (1990). The conscience of the eye, the design and social life of cities.
Singh, B., & Sethi, M. (2018). The Divided City.
Tomlinson, J. (2000). 'Globalised culture: the triumph of the west?' from culture and global change (1999) second edition. In T. H. Malcom Miles, The City Cultures Reader (pp. 88-95).
Gehl, J. (2010). Cities for people.
Habermass, J. (1962). The structural Transformation of the public sphere.
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