Christmassy Public Spaces
A public space is a social space that is generally open and accessible to people. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks and beaches are typically considered public space....Read More
Suffocating Childhood in Cities
Deadly pollution levels and their impact on public health, especially the impacts on children, have become dinner table conversation these days. Most parents in Delhi, for a fleeting moment while nursing their children with persistent ...Read More
Flâneur in Shahjahanabad
Every time the thought – ‘it’s been a while since I visited old Delhi’ occurs, I just get up and go there. The flavour, the colour, the hustle and bustle of old Delhi is crazy but infectious, believe me. I don’t lose my temper here while paving my way through the ...Read More
A Spiritual Encounter on a heritage walk through Paharganj, Delhi
Sometimes, it takes mixed expressions to recount an experience that is complex and difficult to explain. Something similar happened to me while writing this article. It is about an experience I recently had during one of the heritage walks I conducted in...Read More
Agra – a glimpse into its lesser known history and heritage
We all have heard of Agra and know about the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world, a World Heritage Site, an architectural marvel. Is that all that the city of Agra has or is famous for, or should...Read More
Confounded: The Story of an Urban Planner in an Age of Excitement for all things Urban and Indian
Now, begin as I might try at the end of a sermonizing or descriptive analyses, perhaps even a quaint equation of things Indian and Urban, I have come to a distinct realization, that the only truth I know about cities, or citizenry, or the machinations of urban space...Read More
An ode to times past… and people present…A piece of my Delhi…
Recently, all newspapers covered the sad news of the demise of SH Raza, a wonderful, wonderful artist. Most of the articles were accompanied by his famous...Read More
MYLAPORE TRAILS
A weeklong celebration was dedicated to cherish the founding day of Madras and its 377th birthday. Madras has witnessed a lot since being Madrasapatnam to becoming Madras to the transformation to the present metropolitan Chennai. The city is changing, and with it are vanishing some marvelous foot prints of the past. ...Read More
A City and its Dynamics – Khirkee, New Delhi
The city of Delhi is a cluster of many historic capital cities scattered across its expanse. It has many ancient medieval monuments, historical settlements, archaeological sites and remains. Most of these historical places still exist, full of old buildings, artefacts and other features of heritage and cultural value. ...Read More
The Silver Screen and the future of Cities – How would people get from A to B?
I look outside my window and see an elderly lady and a child enjoying a colorful story book, laughing and playing on their way to school in a small floating self driven pod. Quality time on the road! The rest of the view is...Read More
The Numburban Human
I am a numburban human being - living in an urban place and so benumbed by numbers that I shudder to teach my daughter nursery rhymes because some of them go - 'one two buckle my shoe....'! Are you a numburban human too? Read on to figure ...Read More
Are We Smart Enough for Smart Cities?
Smart city is the most trending term in India these days. The concept originated at the time when the entire world was facing one of the worst economic crises. In 2008, IBM began work on a ‘smarter cities’ concept as part of its Smarter Planet...Read More
THE “GASTRONOMICAL” CITY – FOOD FOR THOUGHT
As soon as I open my Instagram account, and type Delhi, the search results give my eyes and taste buds a wake up call, be it any hour of the day. Sometimes, not eating out is compensated by surfing on zomato and checking out food hotspots in the city that are yet to be tried. Ask a movie star, any college student.....Read More
MODI AND THE URBAN AGENDA
Everybody is waiting for 16 May 2014 as it would finally put to rest the discussion and debates that have been raging for the past one year of whether Mr. Narendra Modi is our next Prime Minister. Every PM has a unique development agenda in general and also for urban areas/cities in particular. Cities have come to the forefront after economic liberalization of 1991.....Read More
THE METRO GIVES NEW ADDRESSES TO DELHI
There are two kinds of people in cities – those who like to ask for directions when lost, and those who hate asking for directions even if they are getting late for their own wedding.
For all the people who ask for directions, there must be people who give directions. These are of 4 kinds:
– Those who give extremely detailed directions – they tell you exactly how many shops you’ll pass or how many trees or dogs you’ll see on your right on the way to your destination. Meanwhile, you’ll be blocking traffic behind you, wondering whether this direction-teller can hear all those horns honking or is stone deaf….you’ll have your hand on the handle to roll up your window quickly or you’ll be revving your accelerator while pressing on the brakes at the same time ….....Read More
OAT AT A MOST UNUSUAL PLACE- INSIDE SHAHJAHANABAD
Open air theatres (OATs) are part of our education campuses, parks/gardens, art/cultural centres and now even IT Parks. Similar space/form has also started appearing as symbolic element in the enclosed manicured landscape spaces set on top of 2 level parking basements in the newer apartments and high-rise gated societies in NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and many other cities.
It was very unusual to encounter an OAT; a designed one, inside a RaIn-Basera(Night Shelter), set within the residential quarter along Shankar Gali, behind the now demolished old wall of Shahjahanabad (now Old Delhi).
Wow! was my first expression; an expression of an architect to see a deliberate design of an open space by another architect/designer/CPWD or PWD Engineer.....Read More
THE URBAN BHELPURI
Like Bhelpuri, the city has a number of ingredients, and like the city, this blog has a number of contributors. Now, experiencing the city is very much like having Bhelpuri – every person tastes the city in her/his own particular style – some elements are tangy for some but bland for others; sweet for some but bitter for others. But on the whole it makes a great snack!!
The contributors to this blog have two things in common – (i) they are volunteering for the ‘Centre for Contemporary Urbanism’ in some capacity and, (ii) each one of them feels strongly about the urban environment and would like to help make it better......Read More
