EMERGING THROUGH A WAY OF LIFE by Vasanth MAYILVAHANAN
6
Figure 1: Streets can be joyful and public spaces, Gehl Institute. Source: Fernando Neyra
When we navigate through any of the current paradigm shifts like the Green New Deal or the New Urban Agenda, one clear thing is the interest in orienting ourselves towards a people-centric design. Yes, you heard it right! Does that mean, we have been dealing with design so far as something that isn’t people-centric? Maybe we did put people in front, but at some point, we decided to lose the importance given to the environment in which these people exist. So, while we talk about the paradigm shift the world is going through, in most cases, we fail to address that it is not just the environment or a set of buildings that has to change but also the way of life. The way of life is a reflection of the environment and vice versa. While we live in the homogeneous bubble (or the way of life) created by us, addressing change in the form of policies or agendas, it might change the environment this bubble is present in, but not the bubble itself. If we could trace a little into our history, be it from any part of the world, culture could always be attributed as a pluralistic system of mutual
trust (Harari, 2015). There is a need to understand culture because it can be defined as a set of practices or a way of life that people of a certain region are accustomed to. It is a form of overlap between the way of living and the systems that embodied them. The critical aspect is not just about the interconnections between the systems, but also its overlap with the way of life. This forms an integral part when dealing with large-scale issues like climate change. To understand living pattern is to acknowledge that living pattern doesn’t function in isolation but is deeply influenced by the environment. And cultural knowledge stems from traditional ecological awareness and a set of multigenerational practices that are rooted in its environment (Watson & Davis, 2019). Moreover, living patterns are dynamic, and it is necessary to understand that nothing is constant. These are also the primary factors that are necessary to create a holistic and circular society. And a holistic society is not about a start or an end but a continuous, functional, and dynamic process. So defining
