Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future

(This is a review of the book Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future by Harini Nagendra. In our book review section, we focus on significant works that are crucial for comprehending urban nature.)

Harini Nagendra begins the monograph with the story of a lake in the peri-urban fringe of Bengaluru. The beautiful lake is restored and maintained by the continuous efforts of local citizen groups. Over fifty species of birds, many insects, frogs, and snakes could be found nesting and breeding in the water, reeds, and trees. The lake serves as a social node connecting wildlife photographers, a bunch of informed naturalist and budding enthusiasts. The biodiversity-rich lake could almost make you forget that you are in a burgeoning metropolis, or its rapid growth poses a challenge to the lake. At the same time, as one walks around the lake, the hurdles to managing and protecting the lake become evident. The dumping of sewage, debris and plastic threatens the lake. The urbanisation-induced land-use change, in the form of large buildings coming up upstream, also poses a major challenge for cleaning and recharging the lake in the coming years.

Nagendra argues that urbanisation has changed the perceived importance of nature in the city. Urban dwellers, the media, and city administration prioritise regulatory and recreational ecosystem services over productive uses of ecosystems. The ownership and management of ecosystems have shifted from a common-property regime that sustains communities to private resources, such as private parks in gated societies. This is most pronounced in the case of city lakes. Located in the Deccan Plateau, a water-deprived region, the city of Bengaluru had been dependent on constructed water reservoirs for irrigation and domestic uses. More than 100 lakes in and around the city were built by Kempe Gowda, the founder of the 16th-century city, and his successors. Many inscriptions suggest that the construction of lakes was at times the starting point for the emergence of settlements. 

These lakes were created and maintained by local communities, often by the forced labour of Dalit and other underprivileged caste groups. The disturbing narratives of human sacrifices of pregnant women, young children, and unmarried girls during the construction of lakes challenge the story of community trust and collaborative management of lakes or commons in general in pre-modern times. Except for a few large lakes, most were non-perennial and served multiple purposes depending on the seasons. During the dry season, the lake bed was used for grazing and for the cultivation of seasonal vegetables and grains. The lake was de-silted during the post-monsoon period, and the silt was used to fertilise agricultural fields. Lakes played a prominent role in the cultural life. Most of them were associated with a female deity. A dip in them was part of the daily routine and worship for some communities. They also played a key role in shaping the biodiversity and ecology of the landscape. A survey in the 1990s found that the lakes attracted over 140 bird species, 16 amphibian species, 41 fish species, 128 forms of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Meanwhile, with the introduction of grand hydraulic schemes such as the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme in 1969, which began supplying water from the Cauvery over a distance of 100 km. The lakes were no longer considered important for the city. Within a few decades of urbanisation, particularly in the post-independence period, the culture of valuing lakes as life-giving sacred entities gave way to treating them as septic tanks and dumping grounds. The city, once known as a ‘kalyana nagara’, had gradually come to be known as a ‘garbage city’.

She argues that this change is not without resistance, and there is a pushback against the decline of nature in the city. Bengaluru is known for strong civic action groups that have been at the forefront of conservation in the city. Environmental activist groups such as Hasiru Usiru (loosely translated as Greenery is Life), Environmental Support Group, and Citizens Voluntary Initiative for the City of Bangalore have led numerous civic protests to protect trees and lakes. Hasiru Usiru and ESG, in collaboration with local resident groups, organised several protests across the city in response to the cutting of trees for the construction of the metro on Nanda Road in 2008-9 and the widening of Sankey Road in 2010. Members of Sanmathi held mock funeral ceremonies to mourn the cutting of trees. Such civic groups have filed public interest litigations for the protection of lakes and wetlands. A PIL by ESG halted plans to privatise lakes, and another led to the formation of a court-appointed expert committee that developed holistic guidelines for lake protection. Local resident groups have also worked with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and Bangalore Development Authority, resulting in the formation of lake trusts to protect, restore and painstakingly manage local lakes. Civic action has played an important role in conserving nature in the city. However, such movements largely consist of middle-class and wealthy residents, and the outcome of this mobilisation disproportionately affects vulnerable, marginalised groups. Studies have documented the trend of upper-class environmentalism focused on conservation and protection, which threatens the urban poor (Doshi, 2018).

Nagendra also documents changes in home gardens, street trees, parks, and sacred nature in the city. The monograph provides an elaborate account of the crisis of urban environmental change in the Anthropocene, yet even amidst this crisis, she argues, ‘a better, different tomorrow is within reach.’ She notes that despite challenges, nature in Bengaluru has taken an enduring local form. The monograph, while analysing the transformation of nature, does not account for the roles of the state and the private sector, which may explain Nagendra’s optimism in a city that almost ran out of water for days some years ago[1]. This contrast can also be seen in studies accounting for structural forces, which present a more critical picture of nature in the city (Kamath & Tiwari, 2022; Gururani, 2021). Nevertheless, this is a one-of-a-kind study on nature in the city in the global south. It is methodologically rigorous, highly accessible and exhorts the reader to think about urban nature in interesting ways.

References:

Gururani, S. (2021). Making land out of water: Ecologies of urbanism, property & loss. In A. Rademacher & K. Sivaramakrishnan (Eds.), Death and Life of Nature in Asian Cities (pp. 138–158). Hong Kong University Press.

Kamath, L. & A. Tiwari (2022). Ambivalent governance and slow violence in Mumbai's Mithi River. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

Doshi, S. (2018). Greening displacements, displacing green: Environmental subjectivity, slum clearance, and the embodied political ecologies of dispossession in Mumbai. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

About the author: