The Dreamweaving concludes

Recently, the Dreamweaving the Crown exercise finished. Approximately 70 people – Dreamweaving architects, their peers, multidisciplinary experts, focus groups and randomly selected members of the Residents Assembly – took part at various stages of the exercise, which began with a Crown walk at the end of December and concluded with an exhibition and presentation to the larger community in early April process [see AV Today no.391 for full details of the programme]. The final report, which includes the outputs and feedback from various participating groups (experts, focus group, and randomly selected citizens), as well as links to all of the pool of ideas, research and presentations, will be made available to the whole community. As mentioned in the brief, the report – representing the diverse voices of Auroville will also be sent to Vastu Shilpa Consultants to support, inform, and inspire their detailed development work on the city.

Eleven Dreamweaving teams participated. Although their backgrounds and orientations differed, and they focused on different aspects of the Crown, certain commonalities began to emerge during the process. One common theme was integration and synthesis – particularly of the Galaxy vision with the ground and bioclimatic realities. Another common theme was the need for diversity, for the Crown to provide a variety of different experiences as it passes through different zones and environments. Finally, there was a shared emphasis upon the need for the Crown to be human-centred: for pedestrians and cyclists to be prioritized, for the provision of plazas and safe, communal spaces, and for shading/ weather protection at all times of the year. 

After the Dreamweavers had made their final presentations, feedback was collected from the various participating groups. The ideas/designs that were most noted included sensitivity to and integration of context and ground realities (bioregion, canyons); defining the Galaxy by the blue/green network; safe and inclusive spaces/paths for children/ elderly/ everyone; slow, quiet, conscious transport with priority for pedestrians; the need for public transport systems (shuttles, electric buses etc); shade throughout day/year; and the Crown changing in width according to surroundings to minimise impact, reduce traffic, reduce monotony etc.

Regarding the process, what was most appreciated was the respectful collaboration between the dream-weaving architects and participants (“The fact of people coming together, learning to abdicate their own personal viewpoint, learning to collaborate, it’s wonderful”), as well as the collaborative support offered by the experts, the organizing team and the wider community to this exercise. Many were also appreciative that this process was a harmonious, community-based response to a crisis situation.

The second most valuable aspect of the process identified across each group was how it fostered the integration of views – amongst architects, multidisciplinary experts and other members of the community. One participant noted that there was a “diversity of ideas and yet an underlying unity”.

What was also appreciated was the educational element, the high-quality input from the multidisciplinary experts, which represents a treasure trove of information for town planning that can be utilized for years to come, and the provision of a platform and safe space where the various points of view could work harmoniously together in widening their understanding. 

Yet another plus was the transparency of the exercise (all the major presentations were livestreamed and recorded; the final report will include a complete resource guide available to everyone), which led one participant to remark it was “nice to see a design process that is not behind closed doors but arouses the whole community to be invested”. “This process has been a great example for organising things in a proper way and getting the community involved”, wrote another.

The majority of respondents identified the time constraint as the most challenging aspect of this process. Many of the Dreamweaving architects felt they were not given enough time to make their presentations and to integrate the inputs they received. One of them commented, “This is not a work of eight or nine weeks. Many of these ideas need more space and time to germinate”.

The complexity of the task, which involved ‘weaving’ multiple inputs and many different layers together, was also mentioned as a challenge, while the ongoing tension in the community and the uncertainty about how or if the outputs would be manifested were also noted by some as concerns.

The final report notes that the key ‘takeaways’ from the process, according to participants’ feedback, were that “involvement and collaboration enriches the process and the outputs developed within it, that the Auroville community has an exemplary capacity to respond collectively to a challenge, and that the educational aspect of the process (including being exposed to a diversity of perspectives) is highly appreciated. In addition, respondents spoke of the potential for this process to be a model for addressing further planning needs and other community topics in Auroville as a key take-away from their experience”.

A further important take-away, noted by a focus group member, is “There is a delight in transcending ‘ownership’, that seems to be the deeper direction called forth by the Dreamweaving exercise. It holds a profound truth of Auroville.”

In the presentation to the larger community, the three holders of the process, David, Omar and Mona, also gave their final ‘candid’ statements about the exercise. They listed among the achievements the correction of an inaccurate narrative which implies that Aurovilians could not collaborate with each other or with external experts (“This unprecedentedly large-scale collaboration demonstrated not only that it is possible, but also that it can lead to richer and more inclusive results”); an amazing sense of fraternity among the participants, born out of a very concentrated and dedicated effort during which they learned to work very efficiently; success in bringing many different perspectives and interests to the table; and creating a practical model for collaborative planning work incorporating elements drawn from Dreamweaving and a previous Citizens’ Assembly.

They noted that fear is a factor that has prevented us in the past from reaching out for help to external experts, and even collaborating with different perspectives, because there is a concern that the original vision will be lost. “However, if we don’t reach out for help we may lose the very thing we are afraid of losing.” Finally, they hoped that the positive Dreamweaving experience (for almost everybody who participated in or observed the process rated it very highly) would inspire the community to “shift from a conflict-based approach to one in which multiple perspectives are integrated”. For, ultimately, at a time when the community is deeply split over the way in which the development of the Crown is happening, “we have to learn to forgive each other, to be compassionate towards each other, if we are to find a collaborative way forward, not only in planning but also in other fields of Auroville”.