Selective Amnesia There was a point to this. But I forgot.

The LIC Building and Madras

I’d like to find out which dumbtard came up with the suggestion that no building in Madras should be taller than the LIC office on Mount Road. That person has singlehandedly condemned the city’s architecture and infrastructure. The decision meant that property developers couldn’t build up, and demand premium rents, therefore real estate within the city centre stayed fairly affordable. Affordable to the middle-class and the rich. The kind of people who could afford to buy cars. Because property within the city was/is cheap, the rich stayed here and not in the suburbs. All these cars on Mount Road, Nungambakkam High Road, Arcot Road and the constipation on Chetpet’s Guruswamy Bridge are due the LIC building.

Real estate prices within the city were affordable till recently (and are still cheap enough to deter the big builder who wants to build tall/big/great and extract a premium), allowing small shops to make money and survive in the central business districts, working out of makeshit stalls/rickety buildings. Cheap land meant that gentrification didn’t happen. Which’s why architecture in the city is a godforsaken mix of ugly facades, crumbling/unfinished structures and tasteless embellishments.

So, if property prices are low, why don’t the poor people live there? Well, they do. But it is not enough that property prices alone remain cheap. The cost of building ought to be cheap too. Material, labour, and upkeep. These aren’t cheap. So, slums.

(Ravikiran made a similar point on the Indian Economy blog much better and way before this one.)

There’s more. Including the lack of pedestrian zones, inefficient art/culture scene and lousy alcohol situation, blame for all of which can be laid at the dude who thought LIC should be the tallest building in the city. Some other time, perhaps.