'AQI 401'

Representative Image

Doctor's office is a phenomenon in itself. As you are waiting , you get to observe all the other patients; some are on their phone; some trying to deal with rowdy children; some visibly impatient - all are waiting for the nurse to call their name.  It is nothing short of a live reality show. It can be an hour and more at times before you get called because the doctor is always ' running late'! This is the excuse the reception will give you and it has not changed in about 18 odd years that I have been going there. You of course can not go late for your appointment!  So the other day I did what I do after about 15 minutes of watching the reality show; I start watching the  news on TV they keep in the waiting area.

The thing about Western media is that it is very commercial and will slyly put out stories that serve their paymasters. Now a days there is invariably a negative story or two about India. That day after they talked about ' a car bomb going off in a busy part of Delhi,  killing dozens' in the first part of the bulletin, they finished with Delhi's absolutely horrible air quality index  at 401 in the last part of the news! 

What the fish! Air quality index - Delhi's Achilles heel ! What are we going to do about it? This August I was there for about 3 weeks. It was still August - when smog and stubble burning is not that big a factor. When it rained from time to time and washed away the pollutants in the air.  Yet I had such a horrid time scratching the rashes all over my body and just trying to breathe.Hell! I grew up in the city and I used to travel in super crowded DTC buses hanging from the door handle; without breaking a sweat. But then things apparently were not so bad in those foregone days of my youth.

As it happened, nobody had any time  for me on this trip and I never had to leave the house to meet anyone. I stayed in my AC room most of the time and was likely saved a worse ordeal than I may have endured by regular exposure to the elements outside.  Talk about a blessing in disguise! 

Just for confirmation, all the scratching; rashes and heavy breathing resolved itself quickly - few hours after I returned from Delhi.

 

I know that huge influx of internal immigrants and its attendant challenges  have made matters worse. Traffic congestion induced idling and massive growth in  the vehicular traffic is a major contributor. So is the industry including coal burning thermal power generation plant at Badarpur. Delhi metro has helped quite a bit by taking many vehicles off the road, but  it has not really made much difference to the overall outcome. 

 

Let us address the elephant in the room - Stubble burning in the farms of Punjab and Haryana ! A number of solutions have been tried ; half halfheartedly I would say because farmers are giving serious push back. Of course there is a need for crop diversification and water management that will  manage the crop rotation better and reduce or even end the need to burn stubble.

As we have seen farm reform laws meant to address these concerns were resisted vehemently in the recent past. No government in their right mind will antagonize over 80% of the electorate and hope to survive.  Farmers burn stubble because they need to clear the fields quickly  and that allows them to sow another cash crop. Stubble really is of no  financial value to them. Some time ago I heard  of a chemical spray that hastens bio degradation process of stubble as a solution. No one knows what happened to it. It is anyway an additional operational cost that will be burdensome. Setting stubble on fire costs a match box to the entire village !

 

How about we show farmers a way to monetize stubble? Do you think they will be interested? It involves them to carefully roll the stubble into bales and sell them for extra cash without  having to burn it. That will benefit everyone and  make a huge difference in the air quality of all the downwind areas.

 

 

 

Strawbale houses are not a new idea. Straw mixed with mud has been in use for thousands of years. It is time to expand and refine the process. It will be quite effective in the rural areas where straw is generated as a residue after harvesting the crop. Its local use will generate revenue and  also save on material transportation and building costs too. 

Tightly packed strawbales can be used instead of bricks and mortar for making wall structures. Usually a light lime and mud plaster is applied on too. Tests have shown a very high degree of fire resistance in such structures, as well as exceptional thermal insulation. R values typically are between 36 - 48 depending on the moisture content of the bales. In comparison concrete masonry has an R value of 1.11. It is a no brainer - suited to both very hot or colder geographical locations. There are no design limitations or concerns about structural safety either. You stymie pollution right at the source by repurposing the straw material. No straw; nothing to burn! You may checkout strawbale.com

https://www.strawbale.com

I am convinced this is the silver bullet that will significantly diminish  pollution. It will of course require public awareness; government initiative; regulatory / techincal approvals;  co operation and training of skilled trades. Yeah; add socially aware architects to the list. Builders and building materials lobby will hate It but It is doable and if I win a lottery I promise to put most of it in this... Seriously I will put my money where my mouth is! 

That brings us to the cities. Encouraging Public transport is a great tool. Other cities have tried a number of things with varying degrees of success. Intensification is a process that increases  building activity in a specific zone, rather than spreading out construction activity further and further away as normally happens. This allows for optimal use of the municipal services; effective maintenance monitoring and  reduces transportation needs of the residents by concentrating all human activity in a defined area.

Fly ash brick uses waste material  from burnt coal and also avoids the significant pollution generated in the traditional brick making process. Container homes use old containers used for transportation and turn them into housing. They are successfully being used for regular housing as well as temporary needs. Some of these projects are stunning spaces. ICF ; 3 D printed homes; use of prefab building components - all need to be encouraged and invested in. They all are part of our response to this crisis.

Slum redevelopment is as much about human dignity and social justice, as it is about regeneration of cities and pollution control . People having to live in cement pipes is a shame but maybe not. Hong Kong has a proposal that actually uses a stacked 2.5 m pipe to house people.

 

OPOD tube concept is not such a bad idea. Apparently similar projects are already  in varying stages of development in other countries as well.

That brings me back to Delhi and how some of the private redevelopment is taking place. Euphemistically called builder flats; it is a hit or miss. More miss than hit sadly! In a way it is welcome that it is adding to the available housing stock but most of the flats are concentrating on squeezing as many bedrooms as possible. Circulation , proportion, curb appeal and landscaping does not figure in the scheme of things. Most are poorly planned concrete boxes. Hideously decorated with ugly ceiling elements; garish wall treatments and impractically small kitchen areas squeezed in; I won't recommend them. I have yet to see a single correct bathroom layout. Parking needs are invariably compromised for the residents themselves and  guest parking is unheard of.

I am not referring to the pricey upmarket localities of Gulmohar park; GK 2 and south Delhi farm houses. Things are better there because plot sizes tend to be generous with  low population density.  By any chance have you seen the price tags on those properties? You would think you are looking at something in London; New York or the Bay Area.

I am more concerned with smaller , narrower <100 sq. m row housing redevelopments in areas like Chattarpur; vasant kunj and Raj Nagar. Similar design language is echoed in several other areas including suburbs like Faridabad and Gaziabad. All these developments are being executed with a 'slum' mindset. Cram as many beds as you can in as little space as possible.  Maybe a strict elevation / plan regulations like Chandigarh is required in Delhi. Though I am not sure if anyone follows any rule in Chandigarh any more. Anyway all new development there is outside the city limits in areas like Mohali.

Sadly even planned neighbourhoods like Rohini and Dwarka have quickly gotten degraded with mushrooming slum pockets; missing drain covers; broken pedestrian paths; twisted road divider elements rendering it entirely useless. They are following exactly the pattern that was seen in Saket and Vasant kunj previously. I expect the new developments in kakardooma to mirror this  decay faster. Delhi society generally has  very poor civic sense; refuses accountability or responsibility  for their own environment.  Nobody cares! I have a good theory about it. Maybe I will take it up  some other time.

Good aesthetics; new building materials and construction techniques  with  responsive design is being practiced elsewhere in the world facing similar weather; noise ; air pollution and over crowding challenges as Delhi. Why can't we care? Why not?

H house, Vietnam

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