It is also one with intangible implications. As Professor Neelkanth Chhaya of the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology in Ahmedabad points out, historical monuments and natural features such as seas and mountains are useful in healing the city dweller’s anomie by connecting him or her to something larger and beyond the individual or the community. Limiting that connection whether it is through a monetary or an aesthetic intervention therefore has implications for a society’s well being.

As our cities grow, the need for spaces for relaxation is bound to grow as well. Public spaces of leisure being a scarce commodity, it is necessary to generate discussion to prevent their becoming zones of exclusion rather than inclusion.

Shah is a Mumbai-based writer