Garbage Dump Expertise : Tracing the 'Common Man' Project in the works of Aditya Prakash

Abstract

This written work examines the relationship of "the common man" or the citizen, to the city though a historical account of the work of Aditya Prakash - an Indian modernist, who was part of the Capital Project Team -lead by Le Corbusier who designed the city of Chandigarh. The work of Aditya Prakash shows a commitment towards building for the citizen of India and in doing so reveals, responds to and embodies the paradoxes that constitute life in an Indian city. It traces the ways in which Aditya responds to the question of "the common man" through the course of his career as a strict modernist, a quest that culminates in the sustainable urbanism concepts he championed in the late 70s. In mapping this trajectory, the thesis seeks to reflect on the idiom of responsible architectural practice, the notion of architectural expertise and how best to design for a contested city. Immediately after Independence in 1947, Nehruvian India was in an aggressive `build' mode, the same as it is today in the age of neo-liberalism. It is in this context that a reading of the works of Aditya Prakash is significant as it asks questions about the relationships and the future of the urban poor and the city in the face of rapid unmanaged change.