AGAM SEI
Volume : 01 Issue : 12 Free Circulation 16 Pages TNBIL/2014/59272 October 8 - November 25, 2015
Urban Windows Image courtesy - Nivedhita Vasudevan ARCHNA
SUJAI
PREETHI
ADITHYA
SANJANA
NILOFER
KESHAV
SAHANA
AVINASH
AGAM SEI
October 8 - November 25
ABOUT THE ARTIST
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s highly visual beings, we tend to understand and express concepts better through images rather than a body of words that are intangible and limiting. I am a strong believer that the arts could teach people the importance of equality over indifference and understanding over ignorance, where societal codes have failed to do so. Design has always been my preferred mode of communicating emotions and thought structures, and is the main reason I am currently studying the architectural arts, a profession that is, at best, a balancing act of artist and engineer - form and function, beauty and classical underlying logic. My academic and professional training in architecture has arguably had a significant influence on my artwork, in the use of geometrical forms and the eclecticism of textures and colour palette. I like experimenting with different mediums, not restricting myself to a fixed method. This got me exploring both the analog and digital interfaces, working with polyscapes and paints alike. My artworks have no central theme, but are instead, a creative catharsis, a constant flow of thoughts and emotion translated into vivid imagery. I am inspired by many things, my interests lie predominantly in the surreal world of multiple exposures and the outlandish use of distressed films by lomography artists that result in an almost metaphysical quality to pictures taken on analog cameras, expressionist oil and varnish paintings, and Kafkaesque sculptures. These remind me of what I want most out of life - to hospitalise people with my artwork. Cause a Stendhal effect. If I could grow enough as an artist or a creative individual and cause the chemical synapses to light up your neuron network enough to incite a reaction that is more than just a dopamine release, I will then be the most satisfied person alive. This will be the inspiration for my constant growth as an artist, an architect and as a person.
Nivedhita Vasudevan @ ArtMelange *We’re looking for artists and graphic designers to feature on our paper. Please refer to the last page for our contact details.
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AGAM SEI
October 8 - November 25
< 5 years
< 10 years < 50 years < 100 years < 1000 years
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Information Communicate Technology: Smart City concept
Building use: Life style and Civic culture City infrastructure: Settlements , Connectivity Urban Fabric: Shape, Form and functions of the city Cycles of climate and nature: Natural topography, ancient wisdom of planning
The Smart City cycles
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Preethi Alma Francis
SHELVING THE "SHELF LIFE" A sneak peek into the life cycle of a smart city.
As a nation marches forward from its agrarian descent to an industrial and service based economy, the seeds of urbanization are sown. India’s fast-growing and relatively productive cities, with its hinterland pockets have so driven our nation’s GDP that it has brought us to the threshold of an urban boom. This brings us to the key issue of how to sustainably steer this momentum.
building structures, plot patterns and street patterns which vary in flexibility.
Finally the cycles of climate and nature, in conjunction with the topography of the land, govern many of our choices about city planning and are contextually empirical over time! The lay of the land in Madras, with its subsurface terrain catered to as many as 600 lakes, which formed the nucleus of the settlements established around it. These lakes formed a part of a larger catchment system along with the man-made Buckingham canal bisecting the two distributaries and eventually confiding into the sea. Due to the haphazard urbanization, many of these lakes have been compromised to satisfy the urban sprawl, leaving Chennai water stressed!
At this juncture, the urban agenda proposed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create 100 new smart cities, has stirred us to delve into what the catchword really pitches for! The pledge of ‘smart’ cities is rooted in the dynamics of big data mustered by an urban infrastructure strewn with sensors, thereby harnessing technology in various spheres of urban life, with one overriding motivation: ‘Efficiency’. This in essence is the natural extension of the infrastructural system that has evolved since the advent The IT component of a smart city which seems to be the overriding factor considered in of our civilization. Therefore, it is essential to sense how it will influence our society, the planning of a smart city is the smallest cycle that gets replaced or updated every 5 before we replace it with something ‘smarter’. years, but the larger bulk of the iceberg is often underrated.
The smart city’s pursuit of a top-down approach to city development and management In this direction, it is befitting to adopt a bottom-up approach in planning livable cities. defies the core ideals of citizen- centric urban planning! The emerging developments should be rooted in the context with respect to the natural systems to sustainably steer the way forward and not try to reconfigure our Every city functions in terms of lifecycles and the performance of the city is discerned cities to fit the new technology. based on the collective knowledge gained over time. In India, the challenges are varied and interwoven with fundamental issues of planning. Smart cities have been ideated Should our cities be an optimized living lab for new technologies at an urban scale or a exclusively based on Information technology, whose shelf life is but five years. Building melting pot of cultures and ideas? use changes around every ten years owing to the lifestyle and behavioral variances, therefore one must ensure their sustainable growth over a longer period without having In consonance with the ideology of lifecycles, it is more fitting to tag a smart city as an to relocate. ecosystem, where the tangible urbanism of social media and centralized control systems are juxtaposed with the intangible systems such as ancient beliefs, climate, terrain, Infrastructure has even longer cycles. Moving on to the larger picture, how will installing history, culture and social fabric- to harness holistic outputs. a digital server help create civic infrastructure needed to house the “neo middle class”? How will this improve quality of housing and its affordability in the city? One needs The key foundation of a Smart city ecosystem is the synergy between the technological infrastructure in place first to digitally manage it. We are aware that Chennai city, heeds systems, social systems and natural systems. The technological system attends to the to the gravity of the south, engulfing many peripheral agrarian villages in its quest to social system, while the natural system is affected by the outcome of the coupling of the further unfold its boundary. So then, how do we plan our urban infrastructure and roads social and technological systems. What makes the city smart is the richness of the in such a way that they sustain this spree?! connection across these entities! Urban fabric and civic culture can be analyzed by the form and pattern of the city which has evolved over a much longer course of time. The morphology of settlements could be understood in four categories of urban space components, which are land uses,
“The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity.” - Lewis Mumford
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AGAM SEI
October 8 - November 25
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erial photographs which capture such contrasts in our we must “Make for the City.”
About the Photographer:
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Discoveries made over the course of research for Madras Transit have reinforced the fact that Architects and urban planners must engage in
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Robert D. Stephens is a Principal at RMA Architects. His passions feature film with India's first You Tube star, Wilbur Sargunaraj,
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TNBIL/2014/59272 How did you achieve such high vantage points?
drag, as defined by the principles of fluid mechanics, I was able to Insight into our city:
The result is Madras Transit: Contemporary Aerial Photographs of Chennai. Biggest challenge for architects:
“In 1871 Madras had plenty of room for expansion within the limits of the municipal boundaries, and large areas of what was rural appearance. In the possession of these extensive and largely undeveloped tracts Madras has enjoyed a great advan-
his wife, Tina Nandi.
One of the biggest challenges for architects in India (or any
About Madras Transit:
Why Chennai?
culturally meaningful and appropriate way. To create built (especially Bombay) where the obstacles to lateral extension environments that are meaningful spaces not only for the immediate users, but which also have meaning for those in an adjacent context – even if they are not the direct or daily users themselves. a one-storied city, and if its immense distances created transport problems, they at least delivered the city from 'sky-scaling' tendencies and the huddled dreariness of the Bombay 'chawl'.” Learning from his photographs: C.W. Ranson, Studies in the Social Life of Madras, 1938 Take for example, Triplicane Assemblies, a photograph, which reveals two major complexes. First, the Parthasarathy Temple Comments on urban development in Chennai: and Tank – a place for spiritual assembly, is a series of above ground and underground dis-aggregated structures. The On 29 June 2015, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha inaugustructures not only fulfill their original purpose of spiritual rated (via video conference) the first service of the Chennai service, but the temple tank collects water, a process that has with “immense distances.” At a cost of Rs.40 for the 10 km transit surrounding micro-climate. In that sense, even those who do not between Alandur and Koyambedu, the Chennai Metro stands alone as the most expensive line in India. While the “sky-scaling” tendencies of Mumbai have not (yet) found equivalent expresexistence. sion in the built urban form of Chennai, they have a hopeful future in the economics of public transport. The “huddled dreariness of the Bombay chawl” may yet find it's place in South India monolithic dark grey structure that towers over its surroundings like a black sheep. As this building copes with a government financial status does not afford the luxury of Rs.4 per kilometer.
Unlike Mumbai, which swept me off my feet in a fit of youthful
impact the building has on its context.
ing the city’s diverse character from the geometric street grids of Anna Nagar, to the banks of the Adyar River and beyond. The photographs were on display at the Folly at Amethyst from August 22nd to August 30th. Accompanying each image is a record Folly also created what was called the "Reading Room"- a collecmid-1800’s. Archival quotes are selected from the books, and paired with individual photographs - as a means of gleaning
His advice to the planners in the city:
mature friendship with an introvert, which has developed over reveal that we must not simply “Make the City”, but we must “Make for the City.” And “Making for the City” means recognizing buildings as having influence beyond the immediate footprint,
First encounter with Chennai We first met (Madras and I) seven years ago, and have met every two months since as I travel in and out of the city on work. During the course of these visits, she would reveal something new about herself, one or two lines of urban poetry here and there. Over character, that of an inspiring woman, with a rich history and a complex future. One year ago I felt compelled to give visual form to this friendship, to share with others what I myself was learning.
important reality
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character from the geometric street grids of Anna Nagar, to the banks of the Adyar River and beyond.
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urban development. On his future endeavors:
Chennai, featuring 25 colour photographs from
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Discoveries made over the course of research for Madras Transit have reinforced the fact that Architects and urban planners must
ARTISANS'.In December 2015 and January 2016 I will open ARTISANS'. This series will include 24 photographs ranging from Virar to Bandra to Bhiwandi, and will also feature a Reading Room of its own. I am regularly working on an in-progress series called Delhi Birds and dream-storming a series on Ahmedabad.
SO2 ( µg / m³ )
Air Pollution levels in different places in Chennai
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NO2 ( µg / m³ ) RSPM ( µg / m³ )
100 80 60 40 20 0
Vadapalani
Triplicane
Mylapore
Mount Road
Madras Club
MRC Nagar
Georgetown
Race Course
Kathipara Junction
CHENNAI FROM ABOVE In conversation with Robert D. Stephens
Avinash Shanmugam
October 8 - November 25
AGAM SEI
Photo courtesy : Robert D. Stephens
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A MISTAKE CHENNAI CANNOT AFFORD TO REPEAT Sanjana Maria John & Nilofer Afza
Number of waterbodies in Chennai
From 650 to 300, the decrease of water bodies in the city should be a major concern
650
1990 300
2015
1130 hectares
Area occupied by 1990 19 major lakes
645 hectares
2015
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ot too long ago, Chennai was known for its diverse ecology and was home to as many as 300 lakes. The undulating topography with underlined rock formations offered enormous scope and opportunity in developing several human-made small water reservoirs in and around Chennai.
Unregulated increase in urbanisation has exerted tremendous pressure on Chennai's ecology. A city once known for being a safe haven for a wide variety of birds, reptiles and marine life forms now holds the distinction of being the country's air pollution capital. About two decades ago, a research project by the Centre for Environmental and Water Resource Engineering, IIT Madras estimated that about 650 water bodies existed in the Chennai region. More than half of them were located south of River Adyar. At present, as the second Master Plan for Chennai indicates, only a fraction of them exists. Most of the water bodies within the city have vanished and only a few remain in the immediate periphery. These once glorious water bodies now cease to exist even in small manifestations of the original. They are now survived only by the names they were once known by. 'Tank Bund Road' and 'New Tank Street' are the only traces of the existence of the Nungambakkam lake that in turn fed the Long tank of Mylapore. These lakes began to decline as the areas of Kodambakkam, Mahalingapuram started to develop, becoming small stagnant pools during the monsoons and eventually disappearing with time. The current map of Chennai shows no sign of the ‘’Long Tank’’ which was once a striking feature of the geography of Madras. It formed an important border for the city in the olden days and ran through prime areas like Nungambakkam, Chetpet, Teynampet and Saidapet. The long tank, which later came to be known as Mambalam Tank after its shrinking, was eventually filled in. The only trace of it found today is the Lake View Road in that area. With the development of West Mambalam, Pondy Bazaar and other parts of T.Nagar over the tank, all signs of the very existence of an important lake have disappeared. Subsequently, these areas face extreme issues of water logging during the monsoons. The Allikulam market popularly known as Moore market derives its name from the 11 lakes that once existed behind the Ripon Building. Moore Market today exists in the area of Periyamedu which happens to translate into ‘’Big mound’’. The lakes which were filled in order to allow the development looked like a huge heap of earth or rather ‘’periya medu’’ and hence was later identified by the people in that manner. This area today holds a meaning very different from anything relating to the lakes that once existed. Although the destruction of lakes started with the British, the trend has continued over the years and more and more lakes have disappeared from the layout of the city.
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Sketch courtesy : Harshad
As many as 474 wetlands have been identified in greater Chennai. According to a study by IIT-Madras and Dhan Foundation done in 2009, the linear stretch between Madhya Kailash and Mammallapuram has 109 water bodies in 44 villages. Despite the northern region of the station having thousands of water bodies and rainfall above the national average the possibility of drought and water shortage is always looming. The state government, instead of focusing on reviving lakes, has been insistent on building expensive, inefficient and environmentally disastrous desalination plants. The consequence of this rapid loss of water bodies is reduction in the extent of collective water harvesting, but also severely impacted flood management within the city. The principal cause of local flooding in many areas is the mismanagement of water bodies and impairment of linking canals. For instance, the Virugambakkam drain, which was 6.5 km long and drained into the Nungambakkam tank, is now present only for an of extent of 4.5 km. The remaining two km stretch of the drain is missing. Nungambakkam tank was filled and built. This along with the loss of Koyambedu drain has resulted in the periodic flooding of Koyambedu and Virugambakkam areas. This phenomenon is now repeating in the suburbs. The surplus channels connecting various water bodies in western suburbs such as Ambattur and Korattur have been encroached upon. The water body in Mogappair has almost disappeared. Lake beds often serve as make shift dumping yards and cesspool resulting in inundation of neighbouring localities. Experts in the field caution that loss of water bodies and channels not only induced flood but also increased saltwater intrusion. As a thumb rule every one metre of water-head in a water body can push sea water laterally by 40 meters. The water bodies thus function like a protective ring. If it weren't for the presence of Buckingham Canal, saltwater would have intruded further west and affected more residential areas. Restoration and proper maintenance of the tanks are critical to Chennai's future. Arun Krishnamurthy, in an article titled 'My City, My Home' published in The Hindu states "Our rivers only carry water that we have used and not water that we can use. Our lakes are future libraries, bus terminuses and road projects but not water-holding habitats".
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The real reason behind the city’s increasing water crisis
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Perumbakkam lake was once a 100 acre fully filled fresh water lake and home to a range of fishes and amphibians. Ecologically, this lake played an instrumental role in balancing the local environment by regulating the surplus flood waters during monsoon periods, keeping lake surrounding cool, recharging of ground water sources, nurturing wetland ecosystem and providing a feeding and breeding ground for many local and migratory birds. Today however, the lake is surrounded by a multitude of small industrial and production units that regularly dump municipal waste in and around the lake. Adding to the insensitivity, local garbage as well as raw sewage is also let into the lake. The current state of the lake has no semblance to the earlier self. Currently standing at one-twentieth of its original size it is full of garbage and sewage and now, threatens the very existence of flora and fauna and the health of people living nearby. Existing lakes continue to be taken over by land grabbers and developers for the sake of urban development. However the issues of soil stability in such areas raise serious questions about the kind of development and the safety of people in these areas. Slum dwellers also tend to take over the water sources by dumping solid waste which is not only a threat to their safety, but also contributes to the pollution of these waters in the city. Water scarcity has become a common complaint and comes off as quite an irony in a city that once had sprawling waters to boast of. The developers today try to attract prospective residents into apartments that face water bodies outside the city when once the prime areas and the heart of the city itself had multiple lakes. “When we introduce Chennai to a visitor, we proudly present the Kapaleeswarar Temple, Mount Road, our electric trains and more. We give them a glimpse of our concrete structures, a taste of our filter coffee and most definitely an experience of our culture. This package, we assume, is a complete representation of Chennai. However, we conveniently ignore a critical segment of our city. A city, we call home, whose natural history we do not know, which is the real Chennai." - Arun Krishnamurthy
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his event conducted in Spaces covered many questions about how the city really works and the essential aspects of ours that we’re missing out.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead The panel discussion on the ways of ‘The City and Streets’, held at 5.30 pm at Spaces on the15th of September, aptly reinforced Mead’s quote. The event was organized by CAF-Chennai Architecture Foundation which is an establishment run by responsible creative individuals that actively promotes architecture, urbanism and education in the city, through encouraging critical public engagement with the built environment. CAF addresses students, professionals, city managers and public alike and highlights the emphasis of design in enhancing the quality of cities and life in them. The panel comprised of Shreya Gadepalli, from the Institute for Transport Development Policy , Karen Coelho, an anthropologist from the Madras Institute for Development Sciences and Kavitha Selvaraj, from CRN Architects and was moderated by Shruthi Shankar, architect and urban designer. The panel rendered myriad perspectives to a shared vision of an ideal environment in the city.
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Shreya’s expressive presentation on the villainous role that the increased usage of cars play in the urban story by saying, “You can’t cure obesity with bigger pants” articulated well the flaws in perceiving the idea of transit, keeping in mind the counter-intuitive and political nature to transportation planning in the city. For real change to occur, there has to parallel shift in perspectives of social initiatives and individual mindsets.
One of the observations was about the lack of cohesiveness of proposals and built environment; obstacles in implementation or insensitive planning to context; ignoring the multitude of flavours in an Indian street while trying to emulate bourgeois strategies from the west?
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Kavitha, emphasized the notion of the city as a kaleidoscopic fabric, as a place of celebration, community, protest, art, play, sport and more. Often these layers are overlooked while envisioning the city as a base for trade, utility, transportation and society. Karen accentuated on the aspect of streets as spaces of sociality, community and value of face-to-face-ness. Needs for streets as an inclusive place for urban opportunity, safety and livelihood equitably for all in the city, and how there is “something hawk-ish about it all”. She bought to the forefront, the organic relationship that exists between the hawkers and walkers, kids playing on the streets, celebrating cultural activities as a community and more. Spoke of these as vital attributes adding richness to everyday life in the neighbourhood and thereby character to the unique identity of our streets. One of the observations was about the lack of cohesiveness of proposals and built environment; obstacles in implementation or insensitive planning to context; ignoring the multitude of flavours in an Indian street while trying to emulate bourgeois strategies from the west? To not clean the street away of its various uses in trying to achieve a modernized planned street but to create a new sociality of the urban, we need to learn to see in the chaos, a diversity of patterns and plan responsively. Of the issues raised, unofficial encroachment and private ownership of public space for various economic reasons and for parking held a space of high importance. Parking was termed ‘as an act of land grabbing’. Ideas of eliminating need for more parking by encouraging walking, use of public transportation, levying higher parking tariffs and introducing cycle sharing were discussed. As certainly, making more way for parking is not going to solve the issue of lack-lustre life on the streets. It will only lead to more traffic jams, not less. Only a convergent focus by all stakeholders to a people-centric planning methodology can pave the way to ‘reclaiming’ a rich urban experience. The way forward, essentially lies in strengthening and re-imaging public transportation; in sensitizing public awareness and communication; while encouraging a participatory culture of planning. For the benefit of the greater good, as citizens, there is a crucial need to ignite a necessary change in our behaviour and in setting priorities right while planning our cities.
Photo courtesy : Swatti Ravi
HOW THE CITY REALLY WORKS The recent CAF event gave many insights into what works and not in the city.
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Ayshwarya Ramakrishnan
October 8 - November 25
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JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTHQUAKE
Archna Menon
Sean Patrick McAuliffe explains his journey to the Epicenter of the recent Nepal Earthquake and his effort to help restore their loss.
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ean Patrick McAuliffe and Emiliano Hinojosa, two photographers and filmmakers, are on journey to help the people of Nepal recover from the earthquake. They are collaborating with India’s Musi-Care Cultural and Charitable Trust for this mission. Rohit Abraham, a member of the MCCT, was in Kathmandu with his friends Sriram and Adithya when the quake struck. Rohit and his friends, after heading back, decided to raise the funds for relief but lacked experience of working with the people. This is where Sean and Emiliano decided to help out. Sean has done something similar before. He has worked with “It Ain’t Nothing”, a non-profit organisation working to build 50 homes for those who lost their homes in the typhoon Haiyan/ Yolando that hit Philippines. The plan was to do something similar for people here in Nepal as well. Kathmandu wasn’t their intended target of help. It had already received considerable help from various NGOs. However, smaller villages, due to their inaccessibility, received only a fraction of the help Kathmandu did. So the two friends decided to travel to Takukot _2 bhaledhunga, one of the villages closest to the epicentre, in the Gorkha district. This remote village took an 8 hour bus ride and a 3 hour hike to get to. Things took a surprising turn once they got there. Nestled in the hills, far from the bustling city, lay a model society for self-sustenance. Everything that the villagers needed was provided in the village itself, be it food, clothes, shelter, everything. So much so, the villagers didn’t dependant on money, as the rest of us. Only entertainment, Sean tells us, came from the city. The little money that they did have was sent to them from relatives, either working in Kathmandu or hired by the army. But that amount however was of no concern to them because they were never dependant on it; until after the earthquake. Now that the earthquake had struck and razed many homes to
the ground, people had no other option but to depend on the government for help. The government had offered around 2500 NPR for reconstruction purposes, Sean tells us, but no one knew when they were to receive it. “If they require more than that, they will be forced to take a loan from the government at 6 percent APR. This is a horrible reality to be thrown into when your way of life has never required income or credit/debt or any relationship with a bank.” When Sean and Emiliano reached the village, people had already built temporary shelters using bamboo. Their houses, previously built by their great grandfathers, were horribly damaged. They had tried to rebuild houses since the earthquake, but it kept crumbling due to the aftershocks. The people, despite being in a disaster prone zone, had never experienced an earthquake so devastating. Thus
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Everything that the villagers needed was provided in the village itself, be it food, clothes or shelter. So much so, the villagers didn’t need additional financial support for anything. Until after the disaster.
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nothing their forefathers told them stood a chance against one of this magnitude. The houses also needed to be more substantial in nature than the ones Sean had earlier built in the Philippines. An average household has 4-10 members and depended entirely on what the village farms produced. Hence each house would also need an additional second floor for storage when rebuilt. The roads leading up to the village were severely damaged and the government hasn’t been able to relay them because of ongoing rains. This would make transporting the heavy material, required for
construction, difficult. The government, Sean tells us, has only visited the village once so far, in helicopters to stick red tapes on unstable structures. They haven’t come back since. Thus after a lot of talks with the villagers, they decided that the first step would be to hire excavators to repair roads and excavate sites for at least 4-6 homes. For easy planning, the villagers have agreed to build homes closer than they were previously used to. After the sites are excavated, the plan is to build suitable earthquake resistant foundations for each of them. Funds will be raised to source steel and brick after phase one. The villagers were confident that they will be able to manage the rest of the house. When asked if they’ll the need volunteers for help, Sean gives an interesting insight into relief work: “It is better to use the money to hire locals at standard rates in order to stimulate the local economy. Bringing in foreigners to do work that locals can do is more expensive due to the food, care and accommodation for the volunteers and is only taking away work from the locals.” This is very insightful considering all of us want to help, but not all of us know how or in what way to do it best. Prioritise locals, their need and their concerns over everything else. The key would be to help them in a way that would empower them to pick up where they left off and not leave them out of the process or make them completely dependent, even after the works done. Sean is an independent filmmaker from the United States, who paid for his education by joining the Marine Corps as a Reconnaissance Marine in Iraq. After his service he moved to Australia to finish his education and start a non-profit production company,”Time.Is.Happenin”. You can check out his work on their website www.timeishappenin.com. For more information on this project do follow our Facebook page AgamSei.
October 8 - November 25
AGAM SEI
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Photo courtesy : Sean Patrick McAuliďŹ&#x20AC;e
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FEEDING HEARTS AND STOMACH, ALL AT ONCE Avinash Shanmugam Sahaana Sekhar Shradha Chhabria
A brief look into tackling food waste in the city and the different initiatives spearheading the change.
< 5% Very low 5% - 14.9% - Moderately low 15% - 24.9% - Moderately high 25% - 34.9% - High 35% and over - Very high Insufficient data 250 200 150 100 50
1990 1992
2000 2002
2005 2007
2010 2012
2014 2016
year
Number of people undernourished in India (millions)
F
source: fao.org
ood security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Committee on World Food Security, 2009)
We live in a time where no person should go hungry even just for a day. Unfortunately millions do. However, the solution to this may not necessarily be in increasing the production and availability of food, but rather utilizing what is already available, such as food waste. Food waste is described as food that is perfectly suited for consumption, but is discarded by consumers. In Chennai, 4500 MTs of Garbage is collected each day. Of this, 8% is attributed to food waste. Alarming statistics go to show that hunger results in the death of more people than those caused due to AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
FEED Feed is an online platform that was started by Aksha Nanavati, a 23 year old who came up with the idea after she witnessed large amounts of food being thrown into the bin at a restaurant right before her eyes. Since then her goal was not just to do her part in eradicating hunger and reducing food wastage, but also to motivate people to do the same. Some of the restaurants that Feed has approached have agreed to contribute food that is cooked but not always consumed, whereas some “amazing people” as she describes, have come forward to help this initiative by cooking fresh packets of food once a week on a particular day. Any individual can access Feed’s network by logging onto Feed’s Facebook page. In order to get involved, all you need to do is call up the participating restaurant after dinner or lunch hours, at any day convenient for you, Collect the food in disposable boxes and distribute on the streets. In order to keep the rhythm going, Feed encourages participants to share their experiences with by posting a photograph on Facebook, Instagram or other social media with the hash tag #feedneedy. Feed intends on collaborating with similar initiatives across Chennai in the future with the hope of creating a larger and more effective impact.
THE ROBIN HOOD ARMY The Robin Hood army was started by two enterprising individuals- Neel Ghose and Anand Sinha in Delhi in August 2014. From Delhi, the initiative has spread to a number of locations such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Jaipur-nationally and to Lahore and Karachi-internationally. The aim of the initiative is to eliminate hunger and food waste globally, with a slogan that mirrors the same –“Serve the Hungry Citizen”. RHA asks not for donations but the time of individual volunteers. This is mostly utilized to search for restaurants that are willing to contribute their additional food, inducting volunteers and mapping out areas that vulnerable people are situated. RHA seeks to leverage various social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to reach out to an ever-increasing audience to fulfill its mission. During festivals such as Diwali 2014- the volunteers as well as believers of the RHA Model were encouraged to distribute not just food but also toys, clothes and other useful items to the less privileged. The Chennai Chapter began in March 2015 and gets together to distribute food a minimum of once a week. With the army growing exponentially, they continue to march forward and are destined to win the war against hunger! Interested Volunteers and Restaurants can sign up on the website - http://robinhoodarmy.com/ For queries and suggestions, email at - info@robinhoodarmy.com
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By making it easier for an individual to contribute to the social development of their city, charity becomes neither an obligation nor an inconvenience, but rather a joy while keeping the bigger picture in mind.
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rishna Kumar Suresh, a final year student from SRM University, had only 7 members, when they first started ‘THUVAKKAM’, a Non-Government Organization in Chennai. Now, year later, they have around 80 permanent members and 200 volunteers for various events they organise.
The underlying principle of the NGO is to “give back to the society”. They have completed around 25 events in the city, each focusing on different areas of interest. Some of their popular initiatives have been:
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Taking it a step forward, with a phone call, people interested could get a sapling delivered home
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‘CLEAN UP AFTER DARK’:- An initiative to clean the city at night. ‘Nil- Gavani- Sel’:- Spreading awareness about the need to drive safe. ‘Organ Donation’:- An event which resulted in 108 people promising to donate their organs, which also marked Thuvakkam’s first anniversary. Another important initiative is their attempt to create a greener city. On September 1st, the NGO started ‘PASUMAI THUVAKKAM’, where they personally distributed and planted tree saplings in every household. Trees planted inside a house are more likely to be treated and nurtured with care, whereas one planted on the roadside could be neglected. Within a month, Team ‘PASUMAI THUVAKKAM’ has managed to plant more than 100 saplings in various houses, schools and colleges. Taking it a step forward, with a phone call, people interested could get a sapling delivered home. They would then have to nominate another person who is willing to do the same, keeping the momentum going. Photo courtesy : Adithya Krishnakumar
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Thuvakkam, meaning “a beginning” in tamil, is an ngo trying to dawn many hats.
Adithya Krishnakumar
THE FOOD BANK Harnessing her passion for donating food and her penchant towards social media, Sneha Mohandoss decided to give her life to her initiative, Food Bank Chennai. All she needed was a creative idea that was actually effective mainly due to its simplicity. What would be the first step? Reaching out to people by simply creating a Facebook page. It was a platform for people from all walks of life to effectively donate food. After a person joins the page, they are added to a Whatsapp group based on which locality they were from. Currently, there are groups for Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, T.nagar, Royapettah, OMR, Egmore, Saidapet, West Mamabalam, Besant Nagar and Marina. The unique quality of Food Bank is that the food donated is home cooked just for the cause. The people in the group can either volunteer to help out in the distribution, or simply participate in providing home cooked meals. Depending on which group they are a part of, the members assemble on a particular day of the week, at a well-known spot in the area (for example, the Anna Nagar group meets at Tower Park at 7pm on Thursdays) and collect the food packets. The volunteers then go on to distribute these food packets to homeless people in or around those areas. This initiative has close to 4000 members on Facebook in just two months and is to become an official NGO in a few weeks. To join or find out more about Food Bank Chennai, you can log on to their Facebook page. The original goal with which these three initiatives were started was to make food donation a regular affair. A more primitive way was to do it on special occasions such as a birthday. As it often involved going to some place and spending a significant amount of time in the act, it was often felt as an obligation. By making it easier for an individual to contribute to the social development of their city, charity becomes neither an obligation nor an inconvenience, but rather a joy while keeping the bigger picture in mind.
Photo courtesy : Aksha Nanavati
AGAM SEI
October 8 - November 25
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AN INSIGHT INTO THE BAN WAGON T
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Yet another to join the piling numbers in the Indian “ Ban ” Wagon
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Sahaana Sekhar
Madras Transit is an urban portrait collection of Chennai, featuring 25 colour photographs from 10,000 ft above sea level, capturing the city’s diverse character from the geometric street grids of Anna Nagar, to the banks of the Adyar River and beyond.
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remember the day I was introduced to Dan Brown. Today, I might have read every single book he has ever published. But there was a time when I didnt know of his existance. I was on a family vacation in Italy, where I overheard a conversation between a couple of men on the tour with us. Every news channel in India were apparently talking about the ban on the movie The Da Vinci Code. The protest was about the book affecting christian sentiments. This might seem like just another day on our soil, given the number of protests that take place. All in the name of a cacophony of factions in our society. I didnt pay much attention to it until the next day. Imagine my surprise when I found a large poster saying “NOW PLAYING- THE DA VINCI CODE” in a theater in Vatican City! As a younger version of myself I found it funny that our media was having a problem airing a movie under the pretext that it was hurting a particular religious sector, when the holiest of Christian locations was screening it twice a day. The reason I bring this up is not to rekindle the debate on the book's view, but to highlight the fact that I came to know about the book , only because I had found this whole incident quite entertaining.
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Split up of land present in the area
he Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Sriperumbudur has changed the lives of thousands in a good way and bad. The SEZ at Sriperumbudur was set by the government in 1997. Their main objective was to promote industrial development through FDI and create job opportunities and exports, thus resulting in good economic growth and better livelihoods. The land required for this project was huge. To meet its demands, farmers and local villagers had to give up lot of their agricultural land, lakes, canals, catchment areas at low cost, despite the efforts of many to stop it. There was however hope for better employment and income, with the promise, from the government, that a minimum of at least one member from each family who lost their lands, will be employed. So it seemed at that time a pretty good bargain.
NOKIA was one such company to setup manufacturing units here. There was a promise of tax holidays and liberal economic policies and subsidies by the state government. The Finland based company was the leading manufacturer of mobile phones at that time with a market share of about 60%. When the plant started to operate in 2006, it employed about 8000 people in the 211 acres manufacturing plant. 70% were young women from the surrounding villages. The presence of NOKIA attracted giants like Foxconn, Flextronics, and other manufacturers to setup their plant in Sriperumbudur. At one point between the years 2008-2009, NOKIA was manufacturing 18 million phones per month accounting about 11% of the world’s requirement of mobile phones. Around 30000 people were employed on manufacturers and services that depended on NOKIA. In addition to the rise in manufacturing units, many services like transportation and other smaller business that depended on these bigger ones started. All this made it a thriving place at for seven years. Sun didn’t shine for long on the employees of NOKIA. The unit soon shut down in 2013 because of its dispute with the state government. Around 6000 employees lost their jobs (VRS were offered to the employees). But the collateral was that many, whose life depended on services like transportation (for the workers at the unit), canteen workers and other manufacturers, lost out on the big dream as well. The lives of young women, who believed that they had a future, now stood hopeless. These young women were not hired by other manufacturers, because they couldn’t provide for an equally good work environment like the one NOKIA had. Not only did this leave the thousands who gave up their lands for employment, unemployed; but it also had a huge impact on the environment.
Not too long ago an interesting incident made its way across the city. By across the city, I mean literally, because something that began in Besant Nagar, culminated and ended in Nungambakkam. (Yes, I am talking about the place that you would normally consider beyond city limits, but accept it soley because of KNK). A place called Spaces that belongs to the famous art editor and journalist Sadanand Menon in Besant Nagar was to screen a movie named “M������������ B���� H��”. It was part of a grander plan to screen this movie across 50 screens in the country, simultaneously, to protest against the film being censored. The organisation had posted about this on their facebook page to invite people who might be interested to join them. But this was also noticed by the Hindutva forces. This lead to a cascade of police officials calling Mr. Sadanand Menon and asking him to put a stop to it. Just before showtime, police officials also turned up at the venue due to pressure from the ambedkar periyar group. Now this is where things got interesting. This little stint which was made to stop the movie from reaching an audienece did the exact opposite of what it was intended to do. The entusiasts who had gathered there were shocked by the breach in freedom. The interference triggered a tirade as people took to the streets voicing their angst. Several people spoke about this lack of freedom. Some even offered to screen it in their own backyard or home. This gained momentum and when someone finally offered a screen in Goethe institute, there were a hundred heads watching the movie. What started off with just a dozen people who could fit in a backyard ended up with around 120 people in Goethe. The movie was about the riots in a place called Muzzafarnagar in UP and had caused the ADVP to try and stall its screening. But like every other issue that was handled in a brash way, it only added fuel to fire. Had it been screened according to the original plan, it might not have gained its current glory. At present in our country, “Ban” has become a buzz word. Starting from banning my midnight snack Maggi with a valid reason, to banning meat (Beef) with a superficial reason. Another movie that I got to watch before it was banned was India's Daughter. It was powerful and tugged at your heartstrings. Some may argue about how it potrayed our country, but it was realistic. They even went on to ban 50 shades of Grey. Truth be told that movie was not as obsene as some of our own regional movies. In particular how woman are portrayed in item songs. Porn was banned because it was sighted as the cause to rape. How is it that so many regional movies, with plot lines of a boy harrasing and stalking a girl into a so called 'love' become blockbusters? I find this funny, because time and again there seems to be ample proof about two things in our society. First, everyone of us get the most inspiration to do a task, when told not to do it. Its our basic nature to question a resistance. Second and perhaps the truest of them all, gossip and communication by word of mouth, will beat light, electricity and chennai traffic with ease.
Photo courtesy : Radhakrishnan & Vijay Raghavan
xxx porn
BBC documentary
beef
maggi noodles
private mail ids for governemt officials
Some of the bans over the years
The word “lesbian” in films
The film “50 shades of grey”
AGAM SEI
October 8 - November 25
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SEZs AND WHAT THEY COULD TEACH SMART CITIES
Land allotment water pollution levels
Looking back at one of the governments more ambitious projects that went horribly wrong, due to bad insight and haphazard panning. Vignesh Ravi
water level changes graphic credits : Vishali Sathiyamurthy
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water pollution levels
SEZs not only had liberal economic policies but also liberal environmental ones too, to attract investments.
ground water level
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The water channels that flowed into agricultural lands had vanished. Lakes and ponds had dried and ground water levels had gone down because of industrial usage of and low rainfall. The ground water level went down from 25’-30’ in 1980 to more than 300’ in 2015. The SEZ’s weren’t the only regions affected. The villages and farmlands surrounding it also faced similar repercussions. Now what happens to the Smart Cities Project- the governments dream endeavour? Will agricultural lands have to once again pay the price? Will it really provide better lifestyle for the people in and around the city as is promised? The Government should learn from the existing models of smart city projects (Amsterdam, Barcelona, etc.) and make sure that they include other important aspects of a city too, like its innate character and its culture. The SEZ was, on the other hand, simply a Chinese communist model directly applied to a Democratic India. Smart cities however; seem to promise more than just economic development. Its main objective is also to improve the quality of life of the people of the city and to prepare the city for the future. Unlike SEZ, the government has, this time, a bigger share in the project (50%-60% as compared to the 10% in SEZ).
Another important issue is that SEZs not only had liberal economic policies but also liberal environmental ones too, to attract investments. But India has made a commitment to the UN that by 2030, carbon emission would be reduced by half in the country. Thus environment should also play a pivotal role in addition to investments, where the development of cities is concerned. If our cities are to be really smart in attracting people from all over the world in the decades to come, then more effort should be put, to provide a better lifestyle for the people living in cities, right now. When citizens have access to better infrastructure, sustainable environment, better education, employment, good water, sanitation and security, it is then that a city truly becomes smart.
WHEN HISTORY COMES ALIVE Thousand year old texts find relevance in today’s time
Innisai Rajasabai talks about Ancient Indian Architecture practiced by the Shilpis of Ancient India, what fascninated her about it and why she thinks everyone should know about it. This topic was my dissertation ( about Ancient Indian Architecture ) during the fourth year of Architectural Studies at Anna University. Studying it left me amazed. But there is a shocking lack of awareness on the topic. Thus organising a talk about it seemed like the first step. It was help on the 19th of September 2015, in Spaces, Besent Nagar. What do you mean by Ancient Indian Architecture?
Innisai Rajasabbai
What most people don’t know is that records say that residential architecture for middle class was also very advanced in some periods. There are records of 10- 12 storey construction for middle class houseshold. These were known as ‘Sala’ houses. They were constructed with wood. What is the scope of Ancient Indian Architecture? Ancient Indian architecture is sustainable in so many ways. They even had texts for project management systems. Problems faced by the cities today demand more sustainable and smart solutions. Adaptation of these solutions could make them relevant to today’s context
This presentation was about Traditional Indian Architecture (based on records about architecture in Sanskrit texts), not Vernacular Architecture. Vernacular Architecture of a place consists of certain practices of construc- Plans for taking it forward? tion passed on from generations to generations. It doesn’t necessarily involve an architect. In some cases, elements of ‘traditional architecture’ I also received so much of help from so many people! From are seen in Vernacular Architecture. This is why the two are often confused. structuring the presentation, moral support, help in understanding Sanskrit texts, decorating the space, and much more. Thank you everyone who’ve helped me in my journey so far. What is the relevance of Ancient Indian Architecture? Sanskrit texts from various time periods contain detailed records of architecture, urban planning, building construction techniques and even joinery details. But sadly many of these Sanskrit texts are lost, damaged or neglected. What makes Ancient Indian Architecture interesting? Ancient Indian Architecture is known for its excellence in temple and palace architecture – the construction systems using stone, precision in calculation lighting to create special effects, special ventilation systems, detailing, etc.
Awareness is the first step in this journey. I think people need to understand what this is about before we decide how to take it forward. That’s what this presentation was about- taking that first step.
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Ancient Indian architecture is sustainable in so many ways. They even had texts for project management systems.
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October 8 - November 25
AGAM SEI
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NAALAYA INDIA- AN INTIATIVE TO BRING LEADERS AND THINKERS ON THE SAME “PAGE” Archna Menon
A unique cause that enlists all NGO’s and change makers in one platform for the citizens to access and support. say no to discrimination
say no to illiteracy
say no to deforestation
“ The four day event will bring change makers and people together in the same platform. This should help combine all efforts and work towards a making a difference in the society.
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aalaya India is a registered Non-Profit organisation that works towards bringing the youth of the nation together for one goal: Change. The inception and inspiration of this organisation started from our very own Kalam sir. Ar. Suresh Babu spent a lot of time discussing ideas with him and shortly after the death of his mentor, he launched Kalam's Kanavu, an iniative to share good news and encourage people towards bringing about change. He then decided to start a movement to bring the youth of the nation together to make a difference, something that Dr. Kalam believed in. This took shape of a non-profit organisation called a Naalaya India.
Naalaya India brings change makers together regularly and maintains an online directory of them. This directory has people from all walks of life. Citizens can make use of this directory to look up different initiatives depending on their field of interest, in the city of their choice. This directory will properly filter out different preferences that the user specifies and displays profiles of various other organizations or people doing great work in the city. ‘People of Change’15’is a conference hosted to launch Naalaya India. This event is conducted on the 12th to 15th of October in Egmore Museum Theatre. The four day event will bring change makers and people together in the same platform. This should help combine all efforts and work towards a making a difference in the society. The event would be recorded and published for future reference. Our motto is PASSION - INSPIRE – SPREAD. Passion- for those who are yet to find theirs; Inspiration- people who have already found theirs should inspire others and most importantly Spread the Word- This is to make the network bigger and see to that ideas turn into promising initiatives. Ar. Suresh Babu elaborates: "Socrates once said, ‘The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not in fighting the old but building on the new’. We are the new, the current, and also the future. We have the power to bring about change and to make the world a better place. And so, in this conference, we invite you to BE the CHANGE.” There are two ways you can join this organisation. The first is by voluteering in any of the registered NGO's. The other is by registering as a çhange maker. A profile of your idea, the work you've done will be then put up on the site for interested parties out there to see. Their latest peoject is to reconnect all the rivers in Chennai and bring back Chennai’s water systems.
AGAM SEI
October 8 - November 25
A
gam Sei is hosting an event "People of Change'15", happening in Egmore Museum Theater in Chennai from 12th to 15th of October. The event is an attempt to bring together eminent change makers from different fields and youth who want to bring about change in society, on the same platform, in an effort to combine their efforts for a better society.
The four day event is set to cover various insightful topics with talks by the following eminent personalities in various fields. Day one: Social welfare and Economy
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Food Bank, India : Hunger free nation It is a non-profit charitable fb page which makes a small initiative to distribute food for the underprivileged and to also to avoid wasting of food. Robin Hood Army, India : The Robin Hood Army is a volunteer based organization that works to get surplus food from restaurants across to the less fortunate people in cities across Pakistan and India. Barefoot College, India :
Day two: Journalism and Education
Day four: Environmental Awareness and Urban Design
The Social Work and Research Centre ("SWRC"), widely known as the Barefoot College is a voluntary organisation working in the fields of education, skill development, health, drinking water, women empowerment and electrification through solar power for the uplifting the rural people, which was founded by Bunker Roy in 1972.
Martina Spies, Austria:
Bhumi, India :
Martina Spies is an architect from Austria who believes that each one of us has the power to create change. She works closely with craftsmen in Dharavi to create beautiful handbags and other items that interest the international customers.
It is an organisation that tries to change the future of this nation through Education. Their aim includes to help build a more influential, equal and socially conscious society
Day three: Art and Architecture
Tribal Hearts, India :
Pravin Mishra, India: Pravin Mishra is an award winning filmmaker, painter and newspaper columnist based in the city of Ahmedabad. He is a graduate of NID who contested against PM Narendra Modi in the 2007 elections. He is a very active social activist. Sadanand Menon, India: Sadanand Menon is a nationally reputed arts editor, teacher of cultural journalism, photographer, stage lights designer and prolific speaker at seminars on politics, ecology and the arts. He is currently Adjunct Faculty, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, and at IIT, Madras. Jayakumar, India: Jayakumar started in 1986, a small group of nature enthusiasts to bring environmental awareness to the people. Their group’s main aim was to raise an environmentally conscious generation by conducting studies on natural history and by bringing environmental education to schools and colleges. Hand in Hands, India : Hand in Hand India is a Public Charity that works to alleviate poverty through enterprise creation and a unique integrated community development approach.
Tribal Hearts is a not for profit organisation dedicated towards the overall development of the tribal and other marginalized communities in India. Triple O Studios, India : A young architecture firm looking at the city and creating prominent art works to let people know how design can change lifestyles around us. ITDP, India : The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) is a not-for-profit organization based in New York City. It was established to promote environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation policies and projects around the world, with an emphasis on developing countries. Thanal, India : It was started in 1986 as a small group of nature enthusiasts to bring environmental awareness to the people. Our aim was to raise an environmentally conscious generation by conducting studies on natural history and bringing environmental education to schools and colleges. Urban Design Collective, India :
Samarpan, India : A charitable non-profit entity established in September 2006 in New Delhi. We work to provide global support and assistance of any kind where there is humanitarian, ecological,, environmental and animal welfare need.
Urban Design Collective (UDC) is a non-profit organization that works as a collaborative platform towards the creation of liveable & sustainable cities through community engagement. The event will be recorded and will be published for reference.
A conference to bring leaders together and make a difference.
PEOPLE OF CHANGE '15
Adithya Krishnakumar
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AGAM SEI Do what your heart says
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