Frank van Steenbergen and Tojiddin Rasulov
Early morning, midday, late at night: working on the streets and roads, keeping them clean and green. Creating an environment of care and beauty. This is good practice in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, where most roads are lined with trees and well-trimmed border strips. The trees and border strips are watered regularly. Decorative plants are added and replaced when needed. Footpaths are separate from the main roads by green tree-lined berms. It creates pedestrian safety in a pleasant garden town environment.
This beauty is not limited to the capital city. It is in the countryside of Tajikistan as well, where roadsides are carefully maintained, grass is cut and waste removed. It is done by maintenance workers but also much by communal work, so-called ‘hashr’. On a good day one sees maintenance work being doing everywhere.
This work goes beyond keeping roadside vegetation in good shape. Psychologists have established that when we are in a green environment, we are more relaxed and more attentive. Our stress hormones go down. This weds roadside vegetation to safe traffic behaviour, with drivers more at ease at the steering wheel. This is provided of course that on high-speed roads the trees are placed out of harm way, behind a ditch or at a minimum distance. In general, green well-maintained green roadsides add to well-being: pollution is intercepted; heat is reduced; outdoor activity encouraged; and our psychological need to connect with nature (read “the Biophilia Hypothesis”) is met.
This is why attention for detail matters. Moreover, when doing, so virtuous jobs are created. This would not be the case in the counterfactual situation of neglect and carelessness, which unfortunately characterizes public space in so many other places. Maintaining roadsides, cleaning, decorating, providing care and help, etcetera etcetera – so many things to make live good, safe and pleasant. All such activities can translate into virtuous jobs. The income earned by those that are doing such jobs, moreover, is money spent on other pursuits, thus driving the economy and making it go around, being diverse, nourished and healthy.
