What are your observations about Indian cities?

I come from a school of thought that likes cities, and I find an Indian street fascinating. There are so many different users: bullock carts, food vendors, beggars, cyclists and cars. I can see how cars are a necessary part of city life but they must not dominate it. If you allow cars all the time, the city becomes dysfunctional very quickly. And my sense is that Indian streets have reached optimum car use. There is no room left for the car.

Every ordinary Indian can see that we need new solutions. But every traffic engineer is still trying to put in the flyovers that speed up traffic on one side even if everything grinds to a halt again on the other side.

A DISPUTE has erupted on the streets of New York. It is about the streets themselves. Bike lanes, to be precise.

A bike lane was installed in Brook-lyn area on residents’ request in 2010. But on March 7 this year a section of the residents filed a lawsuit in a city court against the city’s transport department and its commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, seeking removal of the lane installed along the street Prospect Park West. They say shortfalls in design of the two-way lane put pedestrians and bikers at constant risk of collision.

A recent study by the Central Pollution Control Board has exonerated vehicles of being the worst polluters in Delhi and Mumbai. Instead, it has pinned down liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as the biggest source of fine pollutants. Experts have contested the study, saying the findings are unsubstantiated and scientifically untenable. The study will set the basis for the post-2010 emissions standards for vehicles and fuels.