A dive into the ooru’s aesthetics

Jisha Menon's book explores how the design of our cities ends up shaping our aspirations and thoughts.

Brutal Beauty

Jisha Menon teaches ‘Theater and Performance’ at Stanford University in California, but has always been a Bengalurean at heart. Having grown up in Bengaluru, she carries the spirit of the city in her heart. Her most recent book delves into matters that matter to urban India. She explores the notion of globalisation, spatial transformation and aesthetics. Excerpts from an interview

Your book, Brutal Beauty: Aesthetics and Aspiration in Urban India, delves into urban India’s transformation and the changing landscape of cities after market reforms in the 1990s. How did the idea for the book originate?

The idea for the book originated from a play I directed in Bengaluru in 2008 called City of Gardens. It was an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and explored urban transformations in the wake of liberalisation, and how these changes have impacted social relationships. I realized that the story about a city is never a straightforward and singular one. I was excited to explore these multiple and layered stories and that became the impetus for the book. Brutal Beauty tells the story of the transformation of an idyllic ‘garden city’ into a bustling global metropolis.

The book explores the aesthetics of neoliberalism and the impact of globalisation, especially on Bengaluru. Why is the city the focal point of the book?

I grew up in Bengaluru in the eighties during the ‘garden city’ era. My most treasured memories are of riding my bicycle on neighbourhood streets, lined by gorgeous jacaranda, Gulmohar, and banyan trees. Bengaluru was seen as both a ‘pensioner’s paradise’ and a hub for science and technology. Liberalisation projected Bengaluru as India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ and it is now a 24/7 city with transnational traffic. These radical transformations make the city an exemplary paradigm to consider continuities and
ruptures in cities post-liberalisation.

The phrase brutal beauty suggests that liberalisation and the resulting transformation of urban India have come at a certain cost. Has the transformation happened at the cost of inclusivity?

Yes, as a result of the drive to beautify the city, many places and practices have been razed to the ground. Road-widening projects have decimated tree cover in the city, adversely impacted street vendors and marginalised the poor. Incoming migrants are often seen as responsible for the changing character of the city, which has impacted inclusivity, and frustration with infrastructural challenges is often directed toward migrants. However, the influx of new migrants has also contributed to the city’s irrepressible energy and creativity and Bengaluru’s cosmopolitanism derives from this dynamic mix of new and old migrants.

How does change in urban spaces impact gender roles? Can urban design be utilised as a tool for women’s empowerment?

The transnational traffic of images, commodities, and media has definitely impacted gender roles. In mainstream media, we see a shift in representations of women from an image of an upper-caste, upper-class, idealised and unthreatening femininity within the planned city to the new ‘liberalised’ Indian woman, who is seen as more demanding and unrestrained, with greater independence and purchasing power, and as a result, more threatening and emasculating, or loose and immoral. This has provoked violence towards women who must be ‘properly disciplined and policed’. Paying attention to gender while thinking about urban design initiatives like mobility, infrastructure, and hygiene can all go a long way in ensuring gender parity.

How can policy initiatives help in developing urban spaces that promote inclusivity?

Gender, class and caste inequality are reinforced through cultural practices, social meanings, and urban design. Artists like Jasmeen Patheja of Blank Noise in Bengaluru have suggested street lighting, a simple but effective urban design measure that can go a long way in curbing sexual violence in the city. Her performance project, Talk to Me, is another example of simple but effective creative strategies to dispel stereotypes around gender and class hierarchies. The artist and founder curator of Rangoli Metro Art Centre in Bengaluru, Surekha, and other groups like Maraa and Jaaga have worked to transform public spaces into sites of creativity and advocacy, and in the process, have reimagined inclusion and public safety in the city.