Auroville Smart City of Another Kind

“I want to insist on the fact that this will be an experiment, it is for making experiments – experiments, researches, studies.”

The Mother on Auroville

Fifty years after the foundation of Auroville, it may be legitimate to ask whether the vision contained in these words has translated into reality, write the book’s editors. This is the aim of this book, to look at the various experiments conducted in Auroville without trying to hide their shortcomings. And the editors reflect if Auroville is a Smart City – not as conceived by the Government of India, but ‘a smart city of another kind’. As Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri writes in his foreword to this book, “It encapsulates the essence of not only what Auroville is, but more importantly, what Auroville is about – the existential reality of human life – co-existence of all humans and life forms in homeostasis.”

Auroville is a different type of a smart city – most importantly in the integral development of the individual, but also in specialized fields such as environment, energy, the varied manifestations of the community’s ideals, and reaching out to those living around Auroville. On each of these topics different authors have written essays. The editors Christine Devin, Claude Arpi and Alain Bernard have in addition enriched the book with many interviews.

One of the things which sets this book apart is that all photos have been printed in black and white. Recommended reading.

Auroville, Smart city of another kind, 220 pages. Published by Auroville Press.Price in India Rs 640. Available from Auroville bookshops and at Auroville.com