CULTURAL REGENERATION THROUGH URBAN INNOVATION: Possibilities after PORLWI by light

There are many ways which we could have started this piece, but simply put: PORLWI by light has been an immense success. We witnessed the (re)birth of a city that has been sleeping for far too long, but what have we learnt, and more importantly, how can we use those lessons to go further?
Port Louis, a city of contrast
Port Louis stands as a fabric delving in controversy; a capital city that does not  affirm its political dimension, does not take advantage of its history and colonial past, does not tap into its potential of unique cultural heritage but still have the uncanny potential to activate the most surprising spaces and bring hundreds of thousands of people in just over a few days.
Planning needs to look into the various components driving life in Port Louis and our design decisions need to be weighed heavily.  M1 sections the city into half, disconnecting it from the sea with serious aftermaths; alienating the harbour and Aapravasi Ghat from the rest of the city and hosting industrial areas on prime land. We need to work to bridge that connection and our work already started addressing those issues.  We need to work to paint a capital city that holds massive wealth and no misery, nature not overcoming by asphalt, human scale developments, and societal equity, bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.
Tactical Urbanism and Urban Acupuncture as emerging concepts
Tactical urbanism along as Jaime Lernner’s principles of Urban Acupuncture, stands as emerging fields with potential to drive urban art interventions, enabling consciousness and serving as a tool of mediation. They are powerful tools that can enable development of more social forms of urban cohesion. With strategically placed cohesive projects, it consists of taking sociological, architectural and anthropological tools to manage the production and distribution of culture through buildings, paintings, streets or corners of the city.
PORLWI by light is the perfect example with plenty of initiated campaigns and initiatives designed to revive local communities. We now see that currently, there is a smart generation of professionals reshaping the city and its hidden corners through tactical architecture, involving art, music, play and culture.
Celebrating the city, not politics
One major facet of PORLWI by light is that of its disconnect with local politics, we saw an event that showcases local talent above anything else; spurging creativity on different levels and providing an avenue for exchange and collaboration that benefits not only the crowd but managing structures and systems in the process. It shows alternative ways to celebrate a city and structures in place in doing so.
Re-affirming that people comes over cars
Traffic congestions are costing us a staggering 2 billion rupees annually. The Energy Observation Reports, on the other hand, reveals that half of our national energy consumption is linked to the transportation industry. We are however, paying for this flawed urban planning model not only with our pockets but also with our well-being. Currently, there are about 476,000 vehicles registered in the country and of those,  we average 1 accident for every 10 vehicles. Promoting more vehicles on our streets in this already dire situation is certainly no solution to the problem.
Furthermore, this automobile dependence alter our urban geometrics in such a way that vehicles are accommodated as a priority over pedestrians. These are certainly the wrong pre-requisites for a healthy lifestyle, but also generates a subtle discrimination towards those who cannot drive; the young, the elderly and those whose income preclude the use of a car. A sustainable city must be designed for pedestrians first.
Dated and archaic analogy of planning as a purely mechanical process needs to be deconstructed and zoning and urban codes have to be completely revised since new developmental models would be rendered prematurely ineffective by adhering to philosophies that place cars over people.  Designing for active and common spaces is what drives cultural exchange in a city and such an approach towards urbanism in an engaged and ethical manner is necessary as it will define us, as humans, just as it will define the long-term prospects of our nation.
Architectural identity and sense of belonging
History is being erased… memories soiled. We tend to forget that our cultural identity is a matter of being as well as becoming, and thus it belongs to our future as much as our past. Ultimately, our structures are the visual narrators of our history and will stand long after we are gone. The global economy has unfortunately influenced our developmental trends that help as an instrument of undoing the magnificent expressions of our ancient cultures and values.
By becoming a willing victim of globalization, we not only exhibit its scars but also teeter on the brink of a free fall, embracing the deconstruction of the unique identity of places that marvel and enrapture through their distinctiveness. By embracing foreign cultures, we too often deny our own roots.  
Infusing life and activating spaces
Preserving buildings with historical significance will be key in achieving a cultural city, but our efforts should not stop there. We need to activate those spaces.
Multiple advantages are bound to arise from such a trend. Socially speaking, there will be increasing equitable access to services and resources by the local residents as well as a positive impact on their health and well-being as social well-being is invariably strongly entwined with physical well-being. Ecological benefits are also to be considered. The urbanization process often creates controversy in terms of energy efficiency since it relies on a huge consumption of resources, and providing walkable networks will help in largely reducing our dependency on vehicular transportation. We also need to factor in the governance issues relating to the judicial and ethical aspect of patterns involved in urban development.
Hence, it is crucial to find a proper balance between those aspects in order to celebrate our diversity and promote a good standard of living while protecting and preserving our cultural and architectural identity. Strong emphasis should be placed on proper planning in activating heritage buildings and places with historic significance, leaving us with a potential to inherit a place that glorifies design embodying cultural identity.
A coherent regenerative vision
Place d’armes usually hosts our end of year party and fireworks; we propose an extension of this activity to Pope Hennessy Street and Champs de Mars with diverse activities. This provides the added opportunity to accentuate the capital dimension of the city with L’hôtel de ville put in focus, and the activation of Champs de Mars, the oldest hippodrome in the Indian Ocean.
The former La foire Plaine Verte usually runs on 970m on Magon Street, and relocating it on the 1034m of Pope Hennessy road represents similar characteristics. Moreover, this proposal only moves the site 800m away, representing 9 minutes walking distance. In an area less dense, but more accessible to public transport being close to the two major bus terminals in Port Louis. This also allows a larger area for entertainment in Champs de Mars, encouraging larger possibilities, like circuses, theme parks and the like. We have the potential to plan for even larger events while having simultaneous ones in other places with historic significance like The Citadelle, Les Salines, the Line Barracks (after the relocation to Highlands Heritage City), Grenier, Aapravasi ghat, etc…
We need to tap into technological elements at our disposal. We currently have 1.3 phone subscription per inhabitant in Mauritius, we need to make the most out of this connectivity to shape events that have for potential to regenerate our cultural and urban fabric. The magnitude, entertainment factor, and economic potential would be unprecedented.
Conclusion
There is a need for new ways to view our city, ways that encourage the construction of flexible configurations, and  aim to create a harmony between history and structure, between our past and our present.  We need to provide a cohesive culturally vibrant fabric that is responsive to human needs and sensibilities. We must emphasize the importance of proper planning more than ever, since the continuation of our present haphazard construction trends will deprive our descendants of a heritage rich in cultural identity and design.
Architects, urbanists, designers, artists, programmers and other creative heads should collectively shoulder the responsibility of designing the landscapes of Port Louis. Cross-platforms collaborative work is what creates avenues for change, it ultimately  drives innovation. We must recognize a society is fundamentally related to its emergent locality and so should be celebrated in its spirit and symbolism. We must take inspiration from a community’s identity to shape our work, and in so doing, bring back glory to our cities and their people.
Our mission is very simple: to reclaim public space, support our local community in reasserting their right to the city, and spur creativity on the street.