A new dreamweaving initiative

On 18th February, the new core team, all of whom are young architects who had participated in the previous dreamweaving experiment, introduced themselves to the community. They also invited those participating in the various initiatives which had come up since last August to provide updates.

The Dreamcatchers, who meet weekly in a non-confrontational space to ‘catch’ new planning visions, shared two of their ‘pearls’. One was how to design a zero-waste city where noting could be considered as waste. The other was the perception that if the Aurovilians themselves are the ultimate product of Auroville, the built environment of Auroville is a byproduct of our collective processes. This means that the cohesiveness of our urban forms and spaces will naturally evolve as we do.

A number of people have been participating in the self-education programme to learn more about planning issues, like values of urban form, density levels and connectivity. The approach is both individual and collective “where,” as one of them put it, “we share with each other what we have discovered: it’s a kind of Dreamweaving in learning about a topic”.

The third programme for a client body which could represent the community when it came to larger planning decisions has not evolved yet. The core group explained this will an emerging aspect that would come as a result of the other programmes.

The main presentation of the evening concerned the launch of a new dreamweaving process. The goal is to create a temporary construction on a one-to-one scale in the area of the new Solar Kitchen parking. Here different activities could take place to help people envisage the urban fabric of the future. “Once we have a structure like this, there will be a ripple effect because it will create a space around it for envisioning and bringing more ideas to the Crown”, explained one of the core team. “We want to create a temporary form that will inform the permanent, as we think it’s important to bring into a physical space the different ideas we have regarding the city. The emphasis is on building because we feel that to create a collective energy of creation it’s very important to have a physical manifestation.”

The project will involve three stages – designing, building and activating. The designing process will include presentations, and participation from randomly selected residents dreamcatchers and future activity holders, as well as designers. There will also be community pop-up boards on site where the larger community can give their inputs. After a few weeks, the architects/planners will come up with the first designs. These will be presented at co-creation café’s where all the participants will sit together and exchange ideas about the design. The designers will take these back, integrate them, and after a few weeks bring back new designs. This will happen for up to three times. Then there will be a presentation to the larger community which will provide, it is hoped, support for the building phase to begin.

 “We hope to initiate the process in the birthday week. The co-creating café’s will happen every three to four weeks, then we hope to start building in June and be finishing around the end of August or in September,” explained one of the core team. She also explained that there are many possible ways in which people can participate in the project, including organising and facilitating discussions, accounting and fundraising, as well as assisting in the construction, “for we hope that the construction can be done mainly without paid labour, making it a community effort”.

The activation stage is when people will begin activities in the temporary construction.

In the following open question and answer session, someone raised the concern which was on everybody’s minds. “How can you be sure that the Foundation office will allow this to happen? Will you work with the Foundation TDC?”

“We recognise the present situation,” replied one of the core team, “that’s why we have taken Into account the radials and the Line of Force. We have been reaching out to their TDC because we don’t want to start something and then have it bulldozed over. Our intention is to maintain a central space, beyond polarities, so that together we can create something.”

“How will you avoid the roadblocks that the previous dreamweaving process encountered?” was another question.

A member of the core team clarified that this project is different from the previous one. Last time the brief was to develop a set of ideas which could be given to an external body to develop the Detailed Development Plan. This time the intention is to build community energy for the construction of the city, and this will require much wider participation. “Therefore, this time the roadblock we have to overcome,” she continued, “is to get enough support from the community to get this project off the ground.”

Given the enthusiastic support of those who attended this meeting, and the number of people who signed up to assist the project in some way, a promising beginning has been made.

In conclusion, one of the attendees recalled what it had been like to build the Matrimandir together. “There is a feeling that if we could start working on something together again, like this, it would create a beautiful energy that would unite us all. Thank you.”