A Plea for Narrow Roads

PROF. Geddes' lectures on town-planning in India cities have a surprising effect on the existing school of Indian townplanners. In Calcutta he spoke recently on the problem of roads and said that , while all provision for traffic should be made, there is no good in merely widening roads. Shop streets, he said, should be narrow and the indiscriminate widening of bazaars was wasteful and destructive. It might be that property might become less valuable after than before improvement began. He said there must be quiet and retired roads and as narrow as was conveniently possible, thus giving more room for houses and gardens with correspondingly lower rents, since road making and its upkeep formed a big item of expenditure. He further said that in town-planning all the interests should be consulted and duly provided for, so as to secure the comforts of all and serve the special ideals of all. Calcutta was a Governmental city, a business city, an Indian city, a suburban city, a dock city, a railway city and a factory city. All these have combined to make modern Calcutta.