Witness the everyday life that unfolds in the streets and public spaces of Ahmedabad through the lens of its citizens, know the markets and local hotspots to explore, hear the stories of people's experiences walking and gathering in different neighbourhoods and engage with the story called Everyday Ahmedabad.
Witness the everyday life that unfolds in the streets and public spaces of Ahmedabad through the lens of its citizens, know the markets and local hotspots to explore, hear the stories of people's experiences walking and gathering in different neighbourhoods and engage with the story called Everyday Ahmedabad.
Everyday stories
EVERYDAY STORIES is a section for one-min videos from YOUR street, YOUR neighbourhood! In his book 'Ways of Seeing' John Berger says "The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sunset. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight." In the context of the Indian street corner, we SEE "chaos", we KNOW that some of it are "culture" - the chai stall, the roadside shrine, the tree worship, the collective newspaper reading, the banana leaf seller during Sankranti. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.
Everyday Stories are a set of films depicting simple observations about public space-related activities. These are activities that many of us have observed or sometimes engaged in ourselves and yet paid little attention to them. If each of us contributes a one-min film taken with one's phone camera, perhaps, we can work towards a collective sense-making.
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A Walk Around the Corner
A Walk Around the Corner is a set of films depicting simple observations about everyday activities that many of us have observed or engaged in ourselves and yet paid little attention to.
Chai pe Charcha
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab These are observations from a chai vendor’s stall. While people come here for chai, they also engage in other activities, thus creating a lively space on the street.
Street Stories
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab The film looks at how different people gather at a street corner at different times of the day. In sharing the same space in different ways, street stories are created.
Shade of a Tree
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab This film looks at social and economic activities on the street that happen under the shade of a tree and sometimes because of it.
Stop and Go
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab A simple activity that all of us have done subconsciously. The film looks at the ‘stop & go’ behaviour seen on the Indian street. It is so much a part of our ‘everyday’ that we tend not to think about it. How did these 'threshold spaces' come about in our public realm and why do we need them?
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Small, Public Space
A Small, Public Space is a set of films about open spaces along our streets which we may use or pass by everyday and the activities happening in and around these spaces.
Kadma, Jamshedpur
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab This study shows how a small activity can transform the nature of the space and change how it is perceived by users. Earlier, the space was not really cared for. It was seen as being neither very safe nor appealing. However, introducing a simple activity seems to have transformed the entire space in a way no one had imagined! When we look around, we may come across such small, open spaces which are not being currently used for anything or that are considered unsafe for some reason. This example makes one realise that if one space could be transformed like this, what about other such small spaces?
Adarshnagar, Jamshedpur
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab The importance of having a small, public space within a dense residential neighbourhood is very evident in this example. These spaces act as gathering points for the residents of the neighbourhood. Whilst the food vending activity seems to anchor the space, it seems flexible enough to accommodate other activities. With rapid urbanisation taking place, how do we create and sustain human activity nodes that can have multiple functionality?
Link Road, Jamshedpur
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab This street is an example of how a public space can be created anywhere. This is a space that is used at all times, it is safe and well-shaded by trees and all of this in the middle of the street! There are many such spaces around us where small or large stretches of land remain unused or are used for activities such as parking. What can we do to make these spaces more accessible and usable for the public?
Sonari, Jamshedpur
Contributor : Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra Intern, Everyday City Lab Nostalgia and personal linkages to a space play a great role in how people use it. This example shows us how such connections between MANY people and ONE space could create an identity for a neighbourhood, community space. Such connections are not really considered when developments are planned nowadays. Spaces which have had stories around them are being lost in translation. How can the identity and collective memory linked to such informal public spaces be brought into new, planned neighbourhoods?
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Citizen Contributions
This section houses contributions by citizens talking about the different activities and situations they have observed in our streets and public spaces.
Municipal Market, Ahmedabad
Contributor : Prabhanjan Prabhu and Parth Patel A city needs open spaces where people can meet, relax, spend time and enjoy. People feel comfortable in public spaces when they are surrounded by a lot of people. Such places provide them with a sense of comfort along with anonymity that allows them to express themselves freely. Municipal Market in Ahmedabad is one such place. The video captures various stakeholders and their activities in MM.
Street Edges
Contributor : Revati The street edges have non-uniform pavements which make a pedestrian's experience of using the sidewalks a nightmare. These do not welcome senior citizens or specially abled citizens to use the sidewalks. Over and above, the location of utilities and automobile parking, do not favour a good experience for pedestrians.
Emerging Public Spaces
Contributor : Vaishnavi As construction activities occur in the suburban neighbourhoods, chai vendors and food stalls start emerging around these sites. The first ones to emerge are the chai vendors who serve chai/cigarettes/food on a small scale. Other vendors gradually start setting up beside the chai vendor which creates a public space around the vendors which not only caters to the workers but also the neighbourhood.
Informality and Territoriality: Parimal Garden, Ahmedabad
Contributors: Aryan Iyer and Eklavya Koralkar The edge of a public park in Ahmedabad gets active as vendors start setting up their stalls at 4 am in the morning as the activities reach to its peak at 10 am. There are chai vendors, snack/street food vendors who set up their stalls for a definite time frame during morning and the evenings. People who visit this space are majorly students, corporate employees on night shifts & the park visitors.
Residential Street, Ahmedabad
Contributor: Lopamudra Baruah This little residential street in Ahmedabad is peaceful, green and sometimes busy. The street is approximately 15 m wide with 1 m footpaths where you do more weeding than walk. There are trees on the vehicular lane! But that somehow informally demarcates a safe territory for my evening paanipuri wala to set up his cart. The unused footpaths make a great storage space for him and other vendors.
Shiv Mandir, Haryana
Contributor: Kirti Tanwar Here’s a glimpse of the temple in the city. People from around the city come and visit here frequently. Right now, renovation of temple is going on to make it more wonderful and a nice place to visit in our city. Temple being a public place is suited for everybody whether it’s a five-year-old or a seventy-five-year-old.
Shiv Park, Janta Colony, Rohtak
Contributor: Kirti Tanwar It’s a small park, with many plants and trees. Here are also swings for children and gym equipment for adults. People of all age groups came here to take a walk or just for some gossips. Old people tend to play cards and children play. Park is in locality i.e., surrounded by houses.
Street alongside the Radhakrishna temple, Sanjaynagar Main Road, Bengaluru
Contributor: Rakshandha The neighbourhood of Sanjaynagar seems to have a new pitstop for its residents as they stroll across the bustling main road in the evening. The road beside the Radhakrishna temple which branches out from Sanjaynagar main road gets crowded with vendors and buyers when the temple bells ring for the evening prayers. A petty shop has opened adjacent to the temple wall which provides all the prayer material (pansaari shop) and a hand cart with flowers placed beside it which are both owned by a single lady catering to all the purchases needed for the temple visit. In a way this lady occupies one whole side of the road. On the other side of the road is an old Nandini milk parlour supplying all the dairy needs to the residents of all ages who flock to her. Beside which is the entrance to a small park where the play area is filled with children every evening. The walking track inside is of a length that the elderly people enjoy for an evening walk and talk session. The park has trees whose crown covers the entire seating arrangement under it which is usually seen occupied with young couples on lucky days when the guard is not monitoring. Beside the park is where all the vegetable and fruit vendors emerge as saviour for the devotees and the lazy residents who do not wish to walk a longer distance to get their daily supplies. Alongside these vendors a display of stone and cast-iron kitchen utensils is seen which is made by local craftsmen and is most durable. End of the setup is caped by the most recent development in the form of a donation wall. Not so surprising, since all the age groups have a reason to visit this mini setup, the location is perfect for the donation booth where any one can drop what is extra for them and any one can pick up what is needed. The entire set up came into existence when the flower seller Infront of the temple was asked to move the cart from the spot that she and her family had occupied for about 20 years (as claimed by the seller). A resident had raised a complaint in the local police station that the main road was getting overcrowded and the presence of these vendors on the roadside was leading to unnecessary traffic jams during peak hours. It was her shift from one adjacent side of the wall to the other, and the rest followed. The main road in front of the temple is now a platform for the Poojary to perform pooja on all the new vehicles that come into the neighbourhood. While the conflict between the residents continues with regards to the growing traffic, the vendors and the buyers live in harmony by satisfying each other’s needs in the difficult times of covid irrespective of the changing weather and laws. This is the warm and welcoming mini market pitstop where along with essential supplies, prayers and gossips are exchanged.
Transformation of Eat Street, Sanjaynagar Main Road, Bengaluru
Contributor: Rakshandha The roads branching from Sanjaynagar main road are connected by a secondary road running parallel to it which during the day is a banking block where one only finds bank and ATMs. By dawn, food trucks and carts line up on either side of the road transforming it into a lively and fuming food street. There are a variety of cuisines catering to every taste bud and all age groups flock here to relish while on their evening walk, family outing, fun evening with friends or a date night. The xerox and newspaper shop in the corner which also helps process government documents is a perfect reason for the office goers to stop by and grab a bite while getting these petty works done. The place also has a water dispensary and a public washroom which along with the ATMs, free parking and proximity from main road makes the street a convenient choice for casual evenings.
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What Can I Contribute
Why do people so enjoy ‘street as public space’? Share YOUR stories & thoughts with us!
Your observations at the local chai vendor or pani-puri vendor around the corner. Tell us the story of your morning walk and what you experience everyday. Or, the story of how the shade of a tree became that anchor for social interactions in your neighbourhood. Where have you paused for some quick shopping or to meet friends? If you have an interesting story to tell, do capture a quick video/photo [in the landscape format] and share it with others here!
Share stories of your neighbourhood with a description capturing the everyday activities (like social, cultural religious, economic etc), the different user groups (children, teenagers, elderly, women, men, vendors, passerby’s etc), any interesting occasional activities (like a festival, celebration etc) that happen in this public space, landmarks in the neighbourhood, memories associated with the space (individual and collective memories), any historically significant incident or story of development of the place, transformation of space throughout the day or around the year.
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