ArchitectureLive!

The last practicing Archiect to make it to Lok Sabha was Piloo Mody in 1971 and whose activism saw the passage of Architects Act 1972 that governs the profession of Archiecture in India. Urban Planners & Architects have largely retreated from activism, public representation and from shaping the progressive agenda of urban planning in India and reduced themselves to design control and private spaces. Today there are roughly 300 cities in India that have elected mayors and not one is a trained urban planner or an Archiect. This intellectual void is a big factor for India’s mediocre urbanism. Political parties in India also don’t court urban planners and that prevents them to see Indian cities from the lens of environment, human rights and equality. Here is Nithya (@nithyavraman ), an urban planner by profession who championed for public toilets in Chennai and ends up as the mayor of Los Angles. I wrote a piece few months ago for @archlivein titled - In Search of India's Abercrombies and I am tempted to replug it here with a new title - In Search of India's Nithyas to extend my heartiest to her architecture.live/in-search-… @advanirajesh

That India’s urbanism is mediocre at best is uncontested (~35% urban homes have sewage coverage, Top 8 of 10 polluted cities are in India, 40% people live in slums...). This happened over decades. Where were India’s town planners and where was town planning when all this was happening ? Only ~2500 architects are on state’s rolls while 16000 are needed and at the same time 70+ Archiecture colleges in India closed down last year citing low interest from students. How did we end up in such a bind ? The education of Archiecture is in a state of terminal decline in India and much of the blame rests on the titans of Archiecture industry. They have self-checked-out from the crucial function of town planning and confined to delivering services for a fee to design private spaces. Time is now to revive the legacy of Abercombie and of Piloo Modi if India has to have any fighting chance to restore its collapsing Urbanism. The two are related, I argue in this piece @archlivein @advanirajesh architecture.live/in-search-…