India, Sept. 29 -- A civil engineer is trained to calculate how much a structure can carry. But engineering also asks a less celebrated question: how much should remain unbuilt? A river needs a floodplain. A bridge needs expansion joints. A road needs setbacks. A city needs open ground. What appears empty on an engineering drawing may be the space that prevents failure.

This principle has implications beyond engineering. It should influence how governments make decisions about land, infrastructure and urban growth. Yet public policy often rewards visible construction while treating unoccupied space as an opportunity lost. The pressure to build is understandable. But when every space is consumed, efficiency can quietly turn into vulnerabi...