Fostering goodwill towards the city

Auroville City Conversations is the online discussion forum of the exhibition The City The Earth Needs, which has been in the Unity Pavilion since February. The conversations (all on YouTube) and exhibition focus on the development of Auroville as a city, with the goal of reconnecting people to Auroville’s original aims and vision while discussing ways in which the Galaxy model and Master Plan can be nurtured and developed.

Exhibition curator and conversation programmer Anu hopes that the discussions will open up the exhibition topics for wider in-depth exploration. “At present the city plan has a very negative response in the community, it is very misunderstood and still faces violent reactions,” says Anu.” Knowledge is not available or confused, and the city does not have a natural space in our culture, education or life research. This makes us and Auroville the losers. The pandemic shows just how much more we ought to be doing to offer a live, integrated model to a world in crisis.”

Anu explains that the concept of an online discussion was sparked by an exhibition three years ago of the Galaxy drawings, which sparked interest from many people who wanted more information and understanding. She was then invited by Unity Pavilion to develop a more detailed exhibition, which she did with the support of the exhibition team that includes Anandi, Aryamani, Devasmita, Jacqueline and Uma. Research help came from Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, Auroville Archives and the Roger Anger Archives. 

Following the healthy interest in the initial conversations that took place at Unity Pavilion on February 28th (Auroville’s birthday!), the team was encouraged to make videos as a way to continue the discussion during lockdown. Four new videos now up are a mix of zoom conversations, slides, excerpts from past presentations, and video interviews. 

The first two videos feature zoom discussions with renowned Indian architect B.V. Doshi, who has been a member of the Auroville Governing Board and Chair of Auroville’s Town Development Council. In conversation with Auroville’s Toine van Megen and Sreevatsa Ramesh, Mr. Doshi emphasised the need to approach planning as not being just about buildings, but rather as a “celebration of life”. “That’s what I think Mother was talking about. How do you charge the souls to manifest their subtle existence, or the purpose of existence? How do you celebrate life, live life, generate life, and enrich life?” He expressed concerns that Auroville’s planners have “narrowed our attitudes, ideas and concerns” while attempting to translate Roger Anger’s Galaxy model. 

Mr. Doshi emphasised the need for a city plan to address the region: “It should address connectivity, integration, relationship and diverse scales and opportunities.”

In the second video, Mr Doshi, Toine and Sreevasta are joined by Auroville-based architect Omar Rabie and urban planner Andrea Cammarata, to consider the complex issue of how the Master Plan can be translated into a physical town. Omar suggested mixing systems and models, while Andrea emphasised the need to establish a planning relationship with the villages, and Mr. Doshi suggested the clustering of communities that can accept change and different living styles. 

The third video includes four Aurovilians who address different aspects of mobility, including mobility as envisioned in the Galaxy Plan. Architects Helmut and David address the need for good town planning to draw people away from motorised transport and towards more sustainable modes of mobility. Gillian – who has been part of the team that has developed Auroville’s green cycle path network over the last 40 years – points to the big increase in cycling during the lockdown (“a miracle”) as more people discovered that cycle paths offer faster and more shady alternatives to the dusty roads. Torkil, an entrepreneur in the Industrial Zone, suggests solutions to reduce the amount of heavy traffic passing the Matrimandir each day to service the Industrial Zone. 

The fourth video features architect Anupama Kundoo, who has designed buildings in Auroville and is now a ‘Friend of Auroville’, based abroad. Her current exhibition at the prestigious Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark show cases research which will benefit Auroville greatly, says Anu, through its “new understanding of land use and by integrating diversity, sustainability and social equity as part of a conscious urban design.”

Anu takes up Mr. Doshi’s suggestion that Roger’s Galaxy concept is “notional”, asserting that it is not possible to contain all the layers of a complex design concept in a 2.5sqm model. “For that, successive master plans are required to flesh out details progressively,” she says. “The first master plan, based on the Galaxy plan, was prepared in 1969 by Roger, in consultation with The Mother. Since then, there has been the master plan we refer to, which will also be updated in due course. But one does not supplant another. The concept and master plan work together by respecting a vision laid down, not by Roger, but by The Mother.

“There will always be different ways to express the same thing but we need a conducive space to foster these expressions and nurture them. Through them, hopefully, a goodwill towards the city will be found, which will show us the way forward. Right now, the way forward is all about incremental growth, projects and buildings, stakeholders etc, and that is where our stagnation lies. We need to shift all this to the growth of Auroville as an experiment for humanity, which the city plan represents. Auroville began with a difficult ground reality. We must work with this in order to create solutions, but it should not become a deterrent for the city. The ability and willingness to work with the vision, and not just the wishes of some, will go a long way for the world.”

Pointing out that environmental solutions and sustainable goals can be harmonised with the realisation of a city aimed at human unity, Anu hopes to explore more sub-topics in conversation with small groups of people from inside and outside Auroville, both online and at the Unity Pavilion.