There is a crying need to create more public spaces in Calcutta and it’s a pity that neither the government nor the private sector has been quite alive to that exigency, feels architect-visionary Charles Correa, in town for Saturday's ceremonial launch of City Centre.

“It’s an obvious requirement to foster greater dialogue between architects and planners if Calcutta were to have wonderful interactive zones, which it lacks and which make cities vibrant,” laments the architect, recipient of the International Union of Architects’ award for “improvement in the quality of human settlements”.

Describing City Centre as a refreshing example of public-private enterprise (“two parties with totally different agenda have overlapped and coalesced constructively”), Correa feels more such initiatives to produce public spaces of movement and interaction can trigger a “wholesale urban renewal” movement in Calcutta.

Inclusive planning, like “the late Jim Rouse did with Reston, Virginia” and imaginative use of the waterfront can spawn meaningful urban centres, he prescribes. “The idea of reclaiming the riverfront and evolving it in an integrated manner to promote dialogue with the city is absolutely crucial,” he believes.

Correa also sees value in the Baltimore model, where old, derelict houses were put up on sale for $1 each by the civic brass, with a rider that the buyer must take responsibility to renovate the structure. Replication can arrest decay and ensure renewal in Calcutta’s shabby quarters, he feels.

“It’s a huge risk that the developers have taken with a vast property like this, since Salt Lake doesn’t have a captive crowd flow like Chowringhee, and they need to be lauded for that courage.” But the architect hopes people of all ages and income segments will make the “special journey” to the development, which reflects all the metaphors of a city.

“At City Centre, we have created a mix of symmetry and asymmetry to encourage haphazard interaction. If you have only symmetry, it’s like rigor mortis, as is the case with the Victoria Memorial here. By contrast, Fatehpur Sikri is strikingly alive, as it achieves a wonderful balance between symmetry and asymmetry,” says Correa.

Unlike the rarefied and gated atmosphere more common to modern shopping malls, City Centre will stand out for its openness and inclusiveness, promises the celebrated architect on the eve of the unveiling of his first signature public project in town.

“It aspires to be porous and become a part of the city,”Correa declares.