(Image source from: Finding a Brahmastan})

Brahmastan is a principle of Vedic architecture and community planning that designates the center point of a geographical area. Vedic architecture is based on Vastu Shastra. Brahmasthan has to be free from any obstructions and is often to be well lit from above, by skylights for instance.

Now that the explosion of expansion rather than the growth of the cities has given little regard to planning, natural laws and foresight. The loss of open spaces and greenery is detrimental to our physical and mental health. The smart cities will never truly be smart unless this environmental imperative is incorporated into their plans.

Children brought up in green spaces (at home, school and commuting) were found to have better attention, memory and overall development, according to a recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

A Japanese longitudinal study in 2002 in the megapolis of Tokyo found that living in a greenery-filled neighbourhood that allowed easy walking was correlated with lower mortality risks.

“The relation was generally present at all degrees of urbanity,” said a 2006 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. “The overall relation is somewhat stronger for lower socioeconomic groups. Elderly, youth, and secondary educated people in large cities seem to benefit more from presence of green areas in their living environment than other groups in large cities,” it said.

Samar Halarnkar editor of IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, public-interest journalism, non-profit organization, who also writes the column Our Daily Bread in Mint Lounge has raised the most important question in his article, “The search for Brahmasthan” published in livemint.com, regarding the importance of environmental equilibrium for not only human beings but also for all the living beings..

By Premji