23-25 May, 2025
SCHEDULE
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DAY 1 - 23 May 2025
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9:00 am
Introduction to the workshop.
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9:30 am – 11:30 am
Input lecture 1: Roots of Urban Scholarship and Urban History frame
work.
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11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Discussion with participants
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1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch break
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2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Input lecture 2: Nature and Cities
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3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Discussion on selected cities by participants – working session
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DAY 2 - 24 May 2025​
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9:00 am – 9:30 am
Reflection
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9:30 am – 11:30 am
Input lecture 3: Reworking Water System a Historical Perspective
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11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Working session of participants.
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1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch Break
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2:00 pm – 5:00pm
Participants presentation on their cities.
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DAY 3 - 25 May 2025​
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9:00 am – 9:30 am
Reflection
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9:30 am – 11:30 am
Input Lecture 4: Manufacturing Nature and question of aesthetics.
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11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Working session
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1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch Break
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2:00 pm – 4:00pm
Final review of participants works.
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Online Workshop
Snigdha Srivastava is a conservation architect and a graduate of SPA Delhi. She is currently an associate at Pratyush Shankar and Associates, Vadodara and is part of the CityLabs team. She is interested in urban heritage, specifically from the point of view of architecture and the city. She has carried out extensive research on the city of Vadodara on works on Robert Chisholm and the larger idea of institute and formation of public places. She is also interested in imaginative fiction and is a ferocious reader.
Vaibhavi Dave is an architect from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. She has been co-curating and coordinating Citylabs activities for many years. She is interested in Place-temporality and flexibility. In her latest writing, she explores the idea of a temporary city through the case of Durga Puja in Kolkata. She is also interested in research and the ideas of representation in architecture. Her research thesis looked into the question of recurring cases of utopian proposals in architecture and urban design at the time of socio-political unrest and their significance in history.
Team CityLabs India
Dhruv Raja is an architect and research assistant at Pratyush Shankar and Associates, Vadodara. He is part of the Citylabs team and has also been an active participant in previous workshops. His interest lies in urban history and theory concerning Indian cities. His works delve into the ideas of mercantile traditions, religion and politics concerning their roles in city-building. He is one of the authors for CityLabs' upcoming publication 'Historicizing the Present', where he explores the making of Panjim as a colonial capital city.
Prof. Pratyush Shankar, Dean of SEDA Navrachna University, Vadodara, India, is a practising architect and academic. Previously an Adjunct Professor and Acting Dean at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, he is also a Visiting Professor at TU Darmstadt, Germany, and was a Senior Humboldt Fellow at the University of Bonn, 2015-17. He has written the book Himalayan Cities and his forthcoming publication is titled “History of Urban Form” for Oxford University Press. He has been closely associated with the students and young professionals for over 2 decades. For more information log on to www.pratyushshankar.com
CONDUCTED BY
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The participants will be guided by Prof. Pratyush Shankar and supported by the Citylabs team.
Re-Working Nature in Urban Cities
Nature and Cities
WHY​​
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Indian Cities are experiencing rapid growth and the country is going through a major phase of urbanization. The cities across the country are transforming at an unprecedented pace. In the present times of climate emergency, the growth and sustenance of cities is an area of concern. The natural conditions in and around the urban areas are being modified by the cities at an extraordinary rate. However, this transformation is unfortunately not informed by any model or theoretical constructs. There is an absence of both a sense of history or the right vocabulary to deconstruct the present-day actions. This workshop in small ways wises to address this gap.
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RESOURCES
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Himalayan Cities: Settlement patterns, public places and architecture
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The book is a result of documentation and research on the city and architecture of the Himalayas. It explores the idea of settlements in the Himalayas and their relationship with their landscape. The underlying theme of the book is the relationship between natural systems and human ingenuity as projected through its built traditions. The book is illustrated by hand drawings by the author and his students covering examples of different parts of Himalayas such as Ladakh, Himachal, Gharwhal, Kumaon, Kathmandu, Dhulikhel, Mustang, Manang and Bhutan.
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Excerpts
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"...the landscape is not a physical innate category but a strong cultural construct of societies. The perception and modification of either man-made or seemingly natural is an interlinked phenomenon. The representation of a landscape in historic and contemporary discourses is as important as the physicality of the landscape itself..."
Title: Himalayan Cities: Settlement Patterns, Public Places and Architecture.
Author: Pratyush Shankar; Foreword by Julia A B Hegewald
Publisher: Niyogi Books
Language: English
ISBN: 978-93-83098-16-3
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History of Urban Form of India : From Beginning Till 1900's
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India, like many other developing countries today, is undergoing massive urbanization. The imagination of the future form of Indian cities in terms of urban planning and design is most urgent. A study of the key historical moments in the country from the point of view of urban development, thus, becomes all the more important. This book presents a comprehensive account of the historical spatial development of Indian cities since time immemorial. With case studies from the time cities originated in the Indian subcontinent (3000 B.C in Indus valley) and hand-drawn illustrations of these cities till the ones in recent times, the book discusses the last two hundred years of urban development in India with emphasis on the overall structure of the city, its nature of public places, institutions, and housing.
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Excerpts
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"...Indian Princely states, around the turn of the century, experimented with modern ideas that were in tune with the local context. These distinctive visions of modernity aimed at social reforms, improvement in education and a new way to imagine civic spaces and institutions, transformed the society. Such initiatives of indigenous modernity not only created new cities but also helped create a counter colonial narrative..."
Title: History of Urban Form of India : From Beginning Till 1900's
Author: Pratyush Shankar; Foreword by Professor Rajan Khanna
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Language: English
ISBN: 9780199468096
ABOUT
This workshop will allow participants to further develop their understanding on the historical evolution of cities in the context of the modification and reorganization of the original natural state; be it water, land and vegetation.
The workshop will include key conceptual framework, case studies, and exercises that will equip the participants with necessary concepts and skills to understand the fundamentals of urban history and urban ecologies.
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The workshop will be organized under the following themes
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Historical Evolution of Indian Cities
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Water and Urban Form
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Re-creating Nature in Cities
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In this theme, we will look at the historicity of the practice of bringing back nature or rather manufacturing pictorial landscape within the city.
The idea of “sense of loss of nature” is a recurring post-industrial practice.
The participants will be equipped with key frameworks along with exposure to case studies that will help them understand this topic.​
The reworking of water systems is fundamental to the making of cities, but presently we lack any vocabulary to either describe or further conceptualize the modification of water systems, within or outside the city environment.
In this theme the participants will be exposed to various approaches that will correlate the questions of ecology of water with larger questions of space, culture, and practices.​
Indian urban history is a less understood area of research. Through input lectures and case studies the participants will be introduced to key theoretical concepts and frameworks that will help them analyze historical evolution of Indian Cities.​
FOR WHOM
The workshop is ideal for academics engaged in research and teaching, scholars, practicing professionals, and students from the field of Architecture, Urban designing, Urban planning, and Environmental sciences
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WHEN
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The workshop is scheduled to be conducted online between 23-25 May 2025.
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The fee for the workshop is:
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Early Registrations - INR 6500 / USD 80
1st April '25 - 15th April '25
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Regular Registrations - INR 7500 / USD 90
16th April '25 - 30th April '25 ​
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