Urban development

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

A note from the RA L’Avenir and RA Working Committee, pointed out that there are feasible alternatives that would allow roads to be constructed without impacting our community’s assets.

A group of resource persons, helped by research assistants and web developers have developed an on-line repository of documents pertaining to Auroville’s Urban Planning and Development.

In November 2019, Auroville Today introduced UTSAV (meaning ‘Celebration’), a combined commercial and residential project which aimed to bring new energy on a major Radial of the Industrial Zone.

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 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?

Human activity, especially over the last 300 years, has caused a measurable increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, disrupting the climatic conditions of the Holocene epoch that has shaped every aspect of human civilisation.

Ranging in activity from restaurants to consulting, fashion, construction and more, Auroville has over 250 commercial units. Many of them have developed a reputation for excellence that extends beyond the community, often becoming a first introduction to Auroville for those far away.

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”).

On 5th December, Auroville Consulting launched the Solar Village Search Engine to help fund its Solar Village Initiative, which aims to power 100 villages in Tamil Nadu with solar by the year 2030.

On May 7th, the Land Protection Group presented in a public meeting its findings on the best way to protect the land needed for the Auroville township from unsolicited development.