Galaxy model

In the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of India, the learned judge, regarding the need for Auroville’s development vis-à-vis environmental protection, stated that “…while the right to a clean environment is a guaranteed fundamental right under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, the right to development through industrialization equally claims priority under fundamental rights particularly under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

A year ago, architect David Nightingale talked about how Spiral Dynamics could provide one way of understanding the present situation in Auroville.

Walter was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on 7 December 1950. His childhood and youth were difficult but he felt there was always a protecting hand over him.

“In this as in all great human aspirations and endeavours, an a priori declaration of impossibility is a sign of ignorance and weakness. For by the doing the difficulty will be solved.”

There are important questions to be asked regarding the population of Auroville. Firstly, who decided that the intended population of the township would be 50,000, and is this figure immutable, fixed, or can it be adjusted?

I would like to suggest that one of the main problems we are facing at present is that we ‘know’ too much. Or, rather, we think we know.

In February, the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture hosted a double exhibition: Bhavyo’s paintings of the icy peaks of the Himalayan Tosh valley were displayed in its main room, while a number of urban design studies of his twin sister Bhavya were hung around the courtyard.

Over the past three years, the government of India, Auroville’s host country, which had been a rather discreet and benevolent partner in previous decades, has decided to precipitate the course of events and intervene vigorously in the Town’s construction.

One thing is evident at present: there is a complete breakdown in communication between those who favour the present developments and those who, for various reasons and to varying degrees, oppose it.

Jacqueline Lacoste, Roger Anger’s long term companion and collaborator, came to Auroville in 1970. In a sunlit moment at the Centre d’Art exhibition Roger Anger, l’artiste, she shares insights into Roger's identity, where the lines separating artist and architect dissolve, and reflects on the transformative influence of his spiritual encounter with The Mother.

In the October 2023 issue of Auroville Today [#411] we highlighted the 901-page framework study ‘Governance in Auroville’ of Professor Raag Yadava and his associate Nidhi Harihar.

In the General Meeting of 1st April, the Dreamweaving Core Team (David, Mona and Omar) committed themselves to making further proposals to the community.

François Gautier came to India in 1969 at the age of 19, with the first Auroville caravan. Deeply impressed by Sri Aurobindo's writings, he chose to reside in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram for about seven years, after which he joined Auroville, where he has been living since.

As part of a survey of the Galaxy Master Plan, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Government of India, has been marking and numbering trees.

The RA TDC is moving forward with setting up a participatory planning process which is open for all to contribute to; the only rule of the game is for each to bring their goodwill, expertise and diversity into a shared approach and be ready to meet respectfully on middle ground.

This interview with Anupama Kundoo is the third article in the series ‘city perspectives’. Anupama Kundoo graduated from Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai in 1989 and received her doctoral degree from TU Berlin in 2008.

The planet desperately needs a collective second-tier solution, and Auroville could provide this. It’s a fascinating time. We are facing a very serious, even existential, threat at the moment, and the outcome is uncertain.

The following is the first in what may become a series of articles featuring Aurovilians who hold the city deeply in their hearts, even though they may disagree about the details of its manifestation

The Dreamweaving process recently ended with an exhibition of the concepts and a public presentation to the community. Afterwards, six of the architects involved came together to reflect upon the experience, along with Mona who helped hold the Dreamweaving process.

Narratives are very powerful in both positive and negative ways. They can make us resolute, like “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”, or they can be destructive when misapplied, like the Biblical narrative that tells us God gave mankind ‘dominion’ over the Earth.

The ‘Dreamweaving the Crown’ is part of a process which attempts to bring down to the ground the Galaxy and the Master Plan in the form of a Detailed Development Plan (DDP).

While the vast majority of Aurovilians see a need for the Crown, differences exist concerning how it should be manifested. Here, in a summarized form, we present some of the major expressed differences in perspective, some of which have not been adequately fact-checked.

The clearing of the Crown, Auroville’s main urban path, once again met with resistance after 25 years of discussion and waiting, on December 4.

Cristo was the Coordinator of the Auroville Universal Township Integrated Master Plan 1999, the first Auroville Master Plan, which was approved by the community.

Prashant Hedao is a landscape architect and environmental planner with a Masters in Landscape Architecture and a Ph.D in Geography. He is also a consultant with the WHO's GIS Centre for Health.

When things get hot, it’s easy to get caught up in the frame of the moment and lose of sense of the larger picture.

By all accounts, the new Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, Dr. Jayanti Ravi, has shown remarkable zeal and persistence in trying to resolve long pending issues.

One of the disagreements concerns The Mother’s approval of the Master Plan. Some people, including the Secretary, believe that Mother’s vision for Auroville is laid down in the Master Plan – one person even stated that she had approved it.

What could be the next steps? For some it is obvious. “We’ve had so many studies,” said one Aurovilian. “Mother signed the Galaxy, we had two years of discussion which ended with the Master Plan.

Bliss forest is a city park that is densely planted to be a forest. Aurovilians from South Korea may be familiar with a similar concept in the city of Seoul.

If we stand by the Charter of Auroville then we must consider this: in January 1968, a city plan, commissioned by the Mother, was approved. Two weeks later She wrote the Charter.

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.

Architect David Nightingale has been developing a plan for Auroville’s Cultural Zone, which has led him to more broadly consider Auroville’s urban planning and mobility issues.

The steady increase in private car ownership in Auroville, as well as the hike in outside cars and autos circulating daily within the community, gives rise to the question: Is Auroville falling well behind ‘best practice’ examples of transport that are thriving in other parts of the world?

On 1st January, 2020, Auro e-Books () published Auroville: Sun-Word Rising – A Trust for the Earth. This seminal work on Auroville’s early history was first published in 1979.

Over the years, Auroville has received much support from outside.

The communities of architects/ planners/ city-builders and greenbelters must come together in Auroville to manifest the city of the future (emphasis on “come together”).

Recent disagreements in the community about the status and form of the Galaxy plan made me wonder about our belief systems in general. What do we believe in, and why?

For six days in early January there was a collaborative planning workshop or charrette involving over 60 Aurovilians and visiting experts. The stated aim of Auroville - A Way Forward was to “bring the purpose of Auroville into our life, built environment and organization’.

Some of the organizers and participants reflect upon the recent workshop. Friederike, a member of AVI Germany, was instrumental in bringing the visiting experts while Auroville International helped fund the event.

In the November issue of Auroville Today, a group of Aurovilian architects and town planners discussed the Galaxy plan and concluded that it still had much to offer.

As a prelude to next year’s Golden Jubilee, a series of events took place in the nation’s capital in November to create awareness of what Auroville is, has achieved and aims to become.

This is really two books in one. The first book is an introduction to Auroville, the vision, the history and its inhabitants. The second book is a passionate advocacy of the need to build the city as soon as possible according to the original Galaxy plan.

Auroville’s Galaxy Plan is marked by so-called ‘Lines of Force’, long building structures. The Line of Goodwill is a project to build the longest Line of Force of the Galaxy Plan, which extends from the outer ring road near the Visitors Centre parking to the edge of the planned Matrimandir Lake.

There are two possibilities. The first is a step-by-step procedure based on the need of the day. This more or less corresponds to how we tackle the problem at present, problems are solved as they come up.

Records of Auroville’s history during Mother’s lifetime are found in periodicals (Mother India, the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, the Information Letter of the Sri Aurobindo Society and the Gazette Aurovilienne), in books published by disciples (Satprem, Shyam Sunder, Huta, Savitra), in archives (Sri Aurobindo Society, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville), in personal archives as well as in published and unpublished interviews of disciples (Roger Anger and others).

Sauro has been part of L’Avenir d’Auroville, Auroville’s town planning group, since it was set up in 2007. Here he answers questions on a wide range of planning topics.

Roger Toll left Auroville in 1979 after eight years of living at Matrimandir and Certitude. Today he is a magazine editor and writer living in the United States.