Correa was speaking at the Forum for Exchange and Excellence in Design (FEED) at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) on 6th August in Pune, India.
‘‘Cities like Mumbai should be governed along the lines of London and New York, which have an elected mayor living in the city. Accordingly, the mayor can then focus on the development and betterment of the city totally and will be responsible to people and not to his political bosses,’’ Correa said.
‘‘The public are living in a dehumanising condition. At times, the government officials behave in a docile manner as was reflected in the aftermath of the recent Mumbai blasts, when citizens rushed in to carry the injured and dead to hospital.’’ he added.
The lack of planners and the role of architects as experts, rather than executioners in policy and decision making also undermines the proper maintaining and development of a city, he mentioned. Adding further that skyscrapers were not a solution to end the problem of housing in cities like Mumbai and Pune, architect Correa endorsed the traditional way of building houses as they were affordable and provided better living conditions.
In many of his published articles he has explained how low rise typical developments in countries like India, Pakistan or Bangladesh can achieve a certain density in urban development. By his word high density area doesn\'t mean containing highrises. Rather highrises often reduce the job opertunity of unskilled floating urban population.
