Underpasses, flyovers and parking plazas are often presented as the epitome of development. But such expensive interventions usually fail to improve neighbourhoods because their very conceptualisation is flawed and does not take on board the real issues of people they are meant to be for. What can planning learn from the failures of the past?
Illustration by Samiah Bilal
Midas, the king of Phrygia, was renowned for his wealth. According to the Greeks, his fabulous riches were the result of the kindness he showed to Silenus, the old goat-like tutor of Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation and ecstasy. So pleased was Dionysus with Midas’s behaviour that he granted the king one wish. Midas asked for everything he touched to be turned to gold. At first Midas was overjoyed with the gift, but once he realised that even his food and drink were transformed upon touching his lips, he was horrified. Out of pity, Dionysus told him how to wash away his golden touch, which he did in the river Pactolus, thereafter famous for the gold dust to be found on its bed.