Regional planning / bioregional planning

“I’m very concerned about Auroville’s planning future”

An interview with Prashant Hedao, By Carel

Former Governing Board member Dr B.V. Doshi discusses the Auroville Master Plan with Prashant in 2010, while Tejaswini and Meera look on

Prashant Hedao was the Regional Planning Coordinator of L’Avenir d’Auroville, Auroville’s Town Planning Department, from 2007-2010. In those years he worked closely together with then Governing Board member Dr BV Doshi on the Auroville Master Plan.

Auroville’s impact upon Kuilapalayam village

An interview with, By Alan

School of Regional Planning, Queen’s University, Canada graduate students with their professor, Dr Ajay Agarwal (centre)

In early December, six graduate students and their professor from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s University, Canada, visited Auroville to explore the social impact of Auroville on the nearby village of Kuilaypalayam.

“Auroville has given me opportunities to discover myself”

A profile of Induja, By Alan

Induja, a young Auroville architect, talks about how she came to Auroville, the work which inspires her and her hopes for the future.

Managing Tourism in Auroville

Feature, By Alan

The community has no policy regarding how to handle tourism. Recently, visiting students studied the situation and made some recommendations.

Planning for the wider bioregion: Auroville- Pondicherry-Villupuram-Cuddalore

An interview with Probir, Lalit and Aravinda, By Alan

An important meeting in terms of planning for the larger bioregion took place on 11th September in Pondicherry. Hosted by Citizen’s Action Network, PondyCAN and the Puducherry Planning Authority, with participation of civil society from all the sub-regions, the consultation meeting was also addressed by Lt.

Extracts for Report of Sustainable Regional Planning Framework for Puducherry, Villupuram, Auroville & Cuddalore (PondyCan, Feb. 2012)

Feature

Proposed National Highway threatens Auroville

Feature, By Carel

Map showing the new highway through the Auroville Greenbelt (in blue dots) as originally routed and the four bypasses proposed by Auroville: along National Highway 66, and then reaching the East Coast Road along an existing road (in pink)

Survey markings in the Greenbelt installed by a consultant working for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) revealed that plans were afoot to build a four-lane National Highway through the Auroville Green Belt for a length of 3.5 kilometers, crossing the Forecomers, Pitchandikulam and Aurogreen areas.

The necessity of co-development with the local villages

An interview with Cristo, By Alan

Cristo has worked for many years on developing collaborations with the local villages. Why does he do it? What are the challenges and the satisfactions?