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Nathan Iyer : « The Moka Smartcity will put emphasis on people”

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Being the urban designers of the Moka Smartcity, what has been the philosophy behind its conception?

 We in fact did the urban design for the Moka Smartcity. Now, it’s quite interesting because Moka city was a project we started around 10 years ago, well before the smart city. And the idea with Moka City was, basically, to address some of the problems encountered by other cities in Mauritius.

At that time, there were only two formally planned towns, that is Port-Louis, which was designed by Mahé de Labourdonnais, and Mahébourg. We found, at that time, that there were a lot of dysfunctional issues because people living in Vacoas, Curepipe and surrounding areas had to drive all the way to Port-Louis to work, which generates quite discomfort and unsustainability. As a result, an attempt to create a new urban place with economic, social residential opportunities all in the same place. By doing that, you create a polycentric city structure, which creates more opportunities for everyone.

And so, the idea with Moka city was to create this new urban place that provided opportunities to be distributed more equitably. And following that, the Smart city initiative came up and this was absolutely fitting within that vision of the city we initially designed. That’s how we also talked about Moka as a sustainable city.

The whole focus of the Smart city was to create a formally designed place and putting emphasis on people. In Mauritius, some towns like Ebène have been built around cars. We wanted to shift that approach and design Moka City around the needs of people as opposed to cars. The developer of the project was committed to make things in a different way. As you can see now, the backbone of the Moka smartcity is a promenade.

That’s a space that is going to be owed by the people. The public realm is what gives a sense of life to cities. If you visit cities like Paris, Berlin or Cape Town, the experience of these places is very much public. You can walk from one place to another, meet people and get a sense of the community.

Unlike PDS Schemes, where people live in gated communities, Moka Smartcity will be a true city: open to the public. That is because we want people to bring their energy to the city. The buildings will be designed on human scale, and the ground floor will be active spaces where people will be able to meet and greet. When you look at Moka city as a whole, it feels like an integrated place where people live, work, recreate, go to church and attend to cultural events. I’m feel quite fortunate to having been given the opportunity to work on such a great project.

One of the landmarks of Moka Smartcity will be the Telfair. How will it impact the dynamism the city centre?

If I had to describe Telfair, I would say it’s the heart of the city. It’s the place that has the highest sort of intensity and dynamism. A key aspect of Telfair, I would say, is the main promenade of the city. It is a dedicated pedestrian space, like the Ramblas in Barcelona. Around it, we have offices and restaurants. So, it’s a beautifully integrated design of buildings, architecture, activities.

I think that Telfair will set a new model for urbanism. Unlike in Ebène, the Moka Smartcity’s focus will not be on the buildings nor on the roads. The buildings will form part of the backdrop to urban life. So, if you were to say what makes Telfair different, I would say it’s a focus on designing a people centered vibrant place with public space as its focus. The promenade is definitely a key element.

Soft mobility is going to be at the heart of the Moka smartcity and the Telfair experience. What form will this soft mobility take?

For us, it is about creating safe spaces for people to walk in comfort, in terms of shades, safe crossings, comfortable areas and everything being within close reach. All these aspects make people less dependent on cars. Instead, people will use bikes, walk and use other means of transport. The aim here is to promote the sharing of experience and creativity. Whilst the Covid pandemic has shown that it is technically possible to work in isolation, the fact is that innovation is a creative process.

The world is facing a complex set of problems, which demands that people come together, be it in the office or elsewhere to work on innovative solutions. And I think that Telfair offers this ability for social and economic. Culturally, I’ve been very pleased with the way that the team have been working on cultural events in Moka. This constitutes softer elements to the smart city, which I must say, is a true commitment to integrated development.

The particularity of Mauritius is that most of the smart cities are done by families who are tied to the land and have a historical connection to the land. There is a legacy component. I think that’s made a fundamental difference in how the smart city has been conceptualised. It’s been a privilege for me to be involved in the Moka smartcity.

Moka has made a gigantic step towards a more quality development, focused on not just land subdivision and the building of individual buildings that scream louder than the next. It’s about an understanding of a more mature form of development that is very much focused on quality urban places, far beyond bricks and mortar. It’s about social and cultural development, heritage and legacy concepts that you can’t put a monetary value on, but has an unbelievable impact on the future.

Urbanism in Mauritius has long suffered from a glaring lack of planning. Do you think Moka Smartcity will help to settle this gap once and for all?

I have definitely seen a shift from what was considered development in the past, where you would just do a subdivision of land, sell it off with some guidelines and walk away. Mauritius is starting to move towards a greater emphasis on vision, long term impact and a more coordinated planning, with infrastructure design, landscape design, public space design, as well as architectural guidelines. We are certainly moving in the right direction.

That being said, I think that the Mauritian government really needs to invest in existing towns and villages. And that means providing improved infrastructures, community facilities like safer streets, parks and social programmes. It’s not just bricks and mortar, it’s about the social impact and cultural programmes. We are certainly going in the right direction but more need to be done for existing towns and villages around the island.

 

Guillaume Gouges

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