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The City as Encounter : Panel discussion
Encounter Eclectic Launch Event – at Bangalore International Centre
January 2022
The discussion began with Arshia Sattar speaking about the 3 cities of the Ramayana - Kishkinda, Ayodhya and Lanka. She described visually the 3 cities and talked about how the code of behaviour differed in them. We spoke about how the architecture of our cities today might have changed, but if one saw it as a 'backdrop' to the everyday life of the city, there was much that was the same. Purnendu Kavoori spoke about how order and disorder seemed to coexist in our present-day cities. Shreelata Rao Seshadri shared that as much as people shape the city, the city shapes us. You can listen to this here
Informal Urbanism Symposium : Panel on Public Space
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, University of Melbourne
October 2020
This work was presented at a conference on ‘The Resilience of Vernacular Heritage in Asian Cities’ organised by the Asian Urbanism Cluster at the ARI, Singapore. The conference focused on the interplay between cultural practices and the production of urban space and place-making. Our research on peepul tree shrines (ashwath kattes) was part of the panel on ‘Faith and Vernacular heritage’ with co-panelists Vineeta Sinha from NUS; Jeffrey Hou & Chiao-Yen Yang from University of Washington, U.S. and Shubhi Sonal from MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore. Read the full paper here.
Ideas you like, Ideas that work
BUD Input Lecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
February 2020
The talk was about how the Everyday City Lab came into being after a 20 year practice where we had done architectural and urban design projects both in India and abroad. It was a gradual process that had started with teaching courses on ‘The Everyday City’ and sharing reflections and thoughts through blogs as well as academic writing in International journals on Urban Design. It was necessary to understand how the everyday life of the city could begin to be incorporated in the formal planning processes and influence both public policy and neighbourhood planning.
The Unwritten Rules of The Indian Street
MBRDI Daimler Benz, Bangalore
August 2018
In India, as in several emerging economies, there are informal ways that different stakeholder groups follow as they walk the footpath, drive on the roads or engage in socio-cultural activities in the streets. This talk looked at some of the unwritten rules of the Indian street to discuss how they might impact our cities in the future. The participants included members from some of the divisions of the Research and Development (R&D) centre of Daimler Benz.
The logic of design: its role in understanding the antecedents of urban informality
Faculty Seminar Series, Azim Premji University in Bangalore
March 2018
This research proposes a theoretical framework that can help understand the antecedents of urban informality in order to address the everyday nature of urbanization. Specifically, it looks at how spatial informality works in the context of a market precinct in Bangalore. It draws upon the work of Herbert Simon who proposes that the interconnectedness of logic, decision and action can be referred to as the Logic of Design. The paper is published in the Journal of Urban Design (2018) and can be accessed here.
The practice of tree worship and the production of urban space in the Indian neighbourhood
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore(NUS)
November 2014
This work was presented at a conference on ‘The Resilience of Vernacular Heritage in Asian Cities’ organised by the Asian Urbanism Cluster at the ARI, Singapore. The conference focused on the interplay between cultural practices and the production of urban space and place-making that creates living vernacular heritages of neighbourhoods and communities of the city. Our research on peepul tree shrines (ashwath kattes) was part of the panel on ‘Faith and Vernacular heritage’ with co-panelists Vineeta Sinha from NUS; Jeffrey Hou & Chiao-Yen Yang from University of Washington, US; Shubhi Sonal from MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore. Read the full paper here.
Territoriality in the Indian Bazaar
Urban Visualities Seminar, Dakshinachitra, Chennai
January 2011
This paper explored the territoriality within street bazaars, drawing upon Mattias Kärrholm’s paper ‘Territorial Complexity in Public Places’. It focused on the footpath or sidewalk which is often territorialized by vendors selling fruits, vegetables, flowers and household goods. It looked at how street vendors mark, defend and personalise their territories and the ways in which they visually and spatially influence urban spaces. It was part of the panel on ‘Sites & Sights of the City’ moderated by Shivaji Panikkar with co-panelists Roos Gerritsen, Vishal Rawley and David Blamey.
Mapping the Everyday Life
Bypass Lab, Indo-German Centre for Sustainability, IIT Chennai
June 2016
In this presentation, the negotiations that take place between different stakeholders in informal public spaces were discussed. The outcomes from a CEPT winter school on ‘The Everyday City’ held in 2015 were shared. These included mapping exercises that explored how religion influences the everyday space; looking at the symbiotic relationship between humans and cows in the city; understanding how a child behaves and moves within an informal market environment; the social and spatial impact of chai on the everyday practices in a market precinct and how gender influences places of rest within the everyday city.
The Ordinary City and the Extraordinary City
Seminar at University of Tokyo, Kashiwa campus
November 2019
At the Seminar on ‘Contact Point of Planning and Informal & Intangible Elements in Urban Space. The Co-panelists were Saori Kashihara, Project Researcher, and Faridah Siti, Natural Environmental Studies and Yehan Wu, Graduate Program of Sustainability Science-Global Leadership Initiative from the Univ.of Tokyo. This research on the Ordinary & Extraordinary city draws upon the work of scholars who suggest that urban informality may have an organizing logic. It focuses on understanding the everyday negotiations that result from the economic and social needs of people to transform the urban space.
Trees, Culture & Urban Design
Design Uru, M.G.Road, Bangalore
October 2019
A presentation as part of DesignUru, a 9-day festival of Arts, Architecture and Design in Bangalore organised by the Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID) as a way to initiate the public into the concept of design-driven decisions in everyday life. The evening began with the screening of films ‘Neighbourhood Diaries’ by Krupa Rajangam, the presentation on ‘Trees, Culture & Urban Design’ followed by a discussion with co-panelists Namith Varma Hegde, Ravindra Kumar and Krupa Rajangam.
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