My Neighbourhood My Home-मेरा पड़ोस मेरा घर- The issue

My Neighbourhood My Home- मेरा पड़ोस मेरा घर, a project started by One Little Revolution aims at looking at one’s neighbourhood as a community space where one can be free, happy, healthy, safe and have opportunities to learn, explore, enjoy and grow into the person one chooses to be.

This project was born out of an a need to understand what one’s neighbourhood, a home to thousands of us, is doing to us and vice versa on an everyday basis.

The understanding of a space comes from many things, like the
structure-what does this space look like and how does it make me feel, do i feel enabled enough to explore this space or does it limit my being because it is unknown, dirty, uncomfortable and may be harmful;

resources also play an important role in the same-what are the resources that are available to me in a given space, what do they enable or disable me to do, can I use them to their optimum capacity, are they selectively available for a group of people and not all, how easy or difficult it is to access these resources, are they always available or for a limited time;

costs- emotional, physical, mental, psychological. If the resources available in a space come at a cost for a given population, whether they cost them their health, their time, money, sanity or the quality of social exchanges then that space is taking away more than it is giving to the people.

MyNeighbourhoodMyhome-Nirman Vihar Crossroad

Let’s look at some of the ailing points in the neighbourhood (stretching from Nirman Vihar to Jheel, East Delhi)in conversation, that act as a hindrance to experiencing a good life:

1. Roads are mostly broken, have pits, have construction going on, unevenly made.
2. Footpaths are almost invisible or encroached by street vendors, private vehicles, shops and houses that illegally stretch on to the road . There are smelly areas in the footpath due to becoming unofficial men’s pee stations.
3. Street lights are not present or present but dysfunctional at times.
4. Crossroads are unsafe as traffic lights don’t work, no traffic police and no CCTV cameras.
5. Safety is a concern as people riding in two wheeler vehicles don’t wear helmets, no adherence to speed limits, public vehicles don’t have designated stops allowing them to halt anywhere leading to random breaks and hits and misses by other vehicles, public vehicles like e-rickshaws, gramin sewas and cycle rickshaws not adhering to passenger capacity limits leading to passenger discomfort and accidents due to vehicle imbalance.
6. Private vehicles parked on both sides of the main roads, leads to narrower roads and heavy traffic. Costs people time, energy, fuel, money and health. More time on road means less time at where one wants to be.

Nirman Vihar Crossroad

7. Waste Segregation is yet not a reality.

No Waste Segregation

8. Use of polythene remains an evident problem.

Polythene Bags are a reality

9. People with disabilities, physical sickness, people with anxiety issues, young children and senior citizens have a harder time to navigating these areas.

10. Lack of safe, clean and available community spaces don’t allow people to come together as easily. Missing libraries, sports centers, community halls and other free spaces are costing people their mental, emotional and physical health.

11. Reduced greenery, rising pollution and less space for animals and birds to live.

These are just some of the problems that can come to the fore as one enters and experiences this neighbourhood. In the consequent blogs we will be talking about the approach and why it is being taken.