The first instances of taking a deeper look into the city came to me when I came to the city of Bangalore in December 2006, the city I had visited erstwhile in the year 1998 about the same time of the year. For anyone who visits the city leaving 2 years shy of a decade in between, especially on two sides of a threshold of the revolutionary software industry, it would come upon you as a culture shock. It happened to me. The calm garden city of the retiring defence community had turned into a rave of what is now a buzzing business centre. It is an amazing phenomenon to see how the city has flexes, reshapes and accomodates pressures of a growing economy and population. A city's change waves appear in the form of stacks of commercial houses in close clusters arranged along less shadier roads and huge densities of traffic coupled with towering residential complexes to accomodate the huge infiltrations of rural and sub urban population that move in everyday.
Buildings clearly represent a changing timeline, the city's vibes and its history. The question I first posed to myself is where is the Indian city heading while seeing through such rapid urban agglomeration and does it require its people to act and behave in it in a certain way to see better urban spaces? more...
-What is the near future of cities look like?
-What does urban design mean to India? Is it about making plazas or platforms?
-How much of this knowledge is required by the common man?
- Where and how are urbanism, economy and sustainability connected?
-Tangible solutions for the now and then. What should architetcs and urban designers set out to do?
These are just a few random picks from a huge box of questions. I am going to set out to answer these questions from my away of understanding urban scenes in India.
