A critique of high rise buidlings

As part of a two-day meeting held in Auroville on the topic of affordable housing by the Gubbi Alliance for Sustainable Habitat, an association of habitat professionals and researchers which seeks to mainstream sustainability as a core concern in design, policy and habitat management, Professor Ashok Lall, former Dean of the TVB School of Habitat Studies, New Delhi, presented “A critique of the current belief and accelerating trend toward high-rise high-density as the panacea” on August 22nd at the Multimedia Centre. The talk covered the genesis and the ‘social health’ of high rise living, the limits of density, the economics of high rise development, and environmental concerns. It was followed by a question and answer session with a panel comprising Sanjay Prakash, Tamnay Tathagath and Dean D’Cruz – all well known in India for their work on sustainable habitats.