Reviewing the “Galaxy” concept 50 years after its conception

The “Galaxy” concept was conceived in 1967, in France, on a white sheet of paper and without any consideration for the region’s culture, climatic, environmental and economic conditions, by Roger and his office team. It was conceived according to his understanding of the planning brief. The following five assumptions were made in this brief:

1) This city of 50,000 inhabitants will be built within 20 years or less. As the city was to be built within 20 years, many major decisions needed to be taken at an early stage and a Master Plan for 50,000 inhabitants needed to be produced. Designing it as a city sculpture seemed to be a beautiful idea as the chief sculptor (Roger, then 44 years old) was expected to be able to oversee its construction till its completion.

2) Money won’t be a problem. Dare to dream! Designing huge “lines of force” (up to 16 storeys high) seemed possible as securing the huge funds required for their construction wasn’t seen as a problem.

3) Securing at the very least all the lands in the future city area (2.5km dia.) won’t be a problem. Auroville’s planners therefore thought they were justified to plan without taking into consideration any of the lands then owned by the Government (peromboke), temples and private parties. They believed they could design entirely new road and drainage networks and could plan any kind of other developments anywhere (even on existing canyons) without taking the existing land ownership pattern into account.

4) The entire city area can be considered as being empty of any development (by villagers, Aurovilians and other parties) and of any landscape or vegetation worthy of being taken into account. Auroville’s planners felt thus free to plan this new town without taking into consideration any of its existing features.

5) The plans will not be contested as they will be produced under Mother’s guidance and will be approved by her – and she will remain in her body (at least long enough for Auroville’s development to be well underway). Auroville’s planners therefore felt free to plan the kind of development (such as a city-sculpture) which is usually only possible in places where the planning authority is uncontested.

The status of the assumptions today

I think that it is understandable that Roger believed in these assumptions in 1967. However, 50 years later, have these five assumptions become reality?

1) A city of 50,000 within 20 years: Today, less than 5% of Auroville’s planned population is presently living within the city area (not taking into account the villagers who live in that part of Kottakarai/Bharatipuram which has been encroaching into the city area since 1967). Our annual population growth rate has never exceeded 5%.

2) Money is not a constraint. In fact, it has always been a constraint. In particular, funding Roger’s massive “lines of force” (even phase by phase) is likely to remain a huge challenge and, even if one would manage to raise enough funds for a few phases, there would be no guarantee of being able to repeat this feat. Would an Auroville with only a few “lines of force” be beautiful and make sense? Should this risk be taken?

3) We will own all the land. Early brochures spoke of 17,000 acres “for the main township” (an area which we now call ‘the City area’). 50 years later, Auroville owns only 3,000 acres in all, with 17% of the land in the City area and more than 50% of the land in the Greenbelt area still to be bought. Considering the very high costs of land at present, the prospects of being able to purchase additional acres by the thousands don’t seem to be realistic. We will manage to buy some more land in the city area but we have not found an answer to speculators buying lands and building structures within the City and Greenbelt areas which are detrimental to Auroville’s ideals.

4) The city is empty. Today the city area is full of developments (buildings) which are not in accordance with Auroville’s Master Plan and have been built by private landowners. The initial town planners also ignored the presence of ‘peramboke’ (government owned) lands and roads. Over the years many beautiful trees and entire forests have been planted; cutting them to make place for some new development will be very strongly opposed by many Aurovilians.

5) Auroville’s planning authority is uncontested. Is Auroville’s planning authority beyond contestation? On 10.3.1972, Mother told Rijuta: “I can see, I have truly the occasion to see that if I left, I have nobody here, it would be our destruction. Then if the work must be done, if Auroville must be built, not only do I have to remain in my body but the body must become strong.” In 1972, Mother signed a notice which was all that was needed to get the residents of “Silence” to relocate elsewhere so that Bharat Nivas’ construction could start. Would similar notices issued by today’s planners be abided by? Does our Planning Group command the kind of natural authority to implement this kind of Master Plan?

Within Auroville, we have seen that no group has absolute ‘authority’; decisions are being reached after a lot of discussion. Outside Auroville, the Planning Group has zero authority. A working group has been studying the pros and cons of having the Auroville area become part of a New Town Development Authority to be set up by the Tamil Nadu government. Such an Authority would determine the land use plan of all lands in the Auroville city and greenbelt areas, hopefully in accordance with the Auroville Master Plan, and would refuse building permissions for any development by non-Auroville land owners and Aurovilians not in accordance with this land use. But it is far from certain if the establishment of such an Authority is in Auroville’s interest.

Does the Galaxy still matter?

Considering all these factors, would building the Galaxy as originally conceived still serve Auroville’s purpose? I believe not. Our community and its planners need to acknowledge the present reality and adapt their plans according to the existing situation. They shouldn’t plan more than 20 years ahead (all over the world, planners never plan more than 20-25 years in advance, simply because “life” tends to modify even the very best plans) and speak no more of 50,000 inhabitants (although we should do our best to increase our population quickly and harmoniously).

I am well aware that some of us need some plan/framework as, without it, they feel lost. So, they won’t let go of the Galaxy until some other plan, even more visually appealing than the Galaxy, is presented to them. Yet, on 10th July 1957, Mother invited us to join a Great Adventure but warned us that a road would need to be created step by step in the unexplored. Mother repeatedly told Udar “Don’t plan”. He liked the idea, but commented that it is not so easy...

But we don’t need any “preconceived mental plan” (neither a 50-years old one, nor a brand new one) because too many questions about Auroville’s future are left unanswered. Life has shown that answers come only when the questions are really there – and not when we speculate about them well in advance. As Mother explained to Satprem in 1964, “Since 1926 when Sri Aurobindo retired and gave me full charge of [the Ashram] (at that time there were only two rented houses and a handful of disciples) all has grown up and developed like the growth of a forest, and each service was created not by any artificial planning but by a living and dynamic need. This is the secret of constant growth and endless progress.”

Auroville needs what Ruud Lohman called “a third way” between full organic development and some detailed master plan (new or old). It is a question of always keeping in mind a particular set of values.

Finally, does the fact that Mother signed Roger’s “Galaxy” plan mean that it is sure to manifest?

Some of us are absolutely convinced of it, but when one studies Auroville’s history and some of Mother’s other projects before it, one can only realise that this is not guaranteed at all. She made two previous attempts to build an ideal township and both failed. Regarding the second attempt, she explained to Satprem that it had failed to take off because “things change. It’s not that the project stops, but it’s forced to take other paths”.

Moreover, the fact that Mother wrote “Blessings” on the Galaxy plan does not necessarily guarantee that it will be manifested. She explained, “My blessings are very dangerous. They cannot be for this one or for that one or against this person or against that thing. It is for... or, well, I will put it in a mystic way: It is for the Will of the Lord to be done, with full force and power. So it is not necessary that there should always be a success. There might be a failure also, if such is the Will of the Lord. And the Will is for progress, I mean the inner progress. So whatever will happen will be for the best.”