Launch of "Smart Skill Vizag" Action Plan

Launch of the action plan for the "Smart Skill Vizag" workforce training program as part of Aecom's Visakhapatnam Smart City Integrated Framework Plan to provide tailored functional and technical skills training pathways for all socio-economic communities by connecting users with local training providers with an emphasis on key market sectors and smart systems. The Smart Skill Vizag program aligns with the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) and with the Skill India program.

"Planning for Conservation: Looking at Agra" book in print

Planning for Conservation: Looking at Agra Edited by: Rahul Mehrotra, Vineet Diwadkar, José Mayoral Moratilla.

With contributions from and participation by: Jana Cephas, Gísli Marteinn Baldursson, Erica Blonde, Jamie Blosser, Noor A Boushehri, Scott Campbell, Zhuo Cheng, Shahira Fahmy, Daniel Feldman, Maria Letizia Garzoli, Marcus Goodwin, Xinjun Gu, Hayrettin Gunc, Peichen Hao, David Henning, LaShawn Hoffman, Elad Horn, Andrew Howard, Seunghoon Hyun, Maria Jakkola, Navajeet Khatri, Gunho Kim, Jacob Koch, Yunjie Li, Shiyao Liu, Alex Medina, Mark Mulligan, Akihiro Moriya, Andrew Nahmias, Marc Norman, Nishiel Patel, Roma Patel, Thaddeus Pawlowski, Ning Pei, Jane Philbrick, Zhuangzhuang Song, Aliza Sovani, Clayton Strange-Lee, Adelene Tan, Gabe Tomasulo, Rob Wellburn, Mengchen Xia, Ruoyun Xu, Caroline Yamate, Han Yang, Sally Young, Ying Zhang, Bin Zhu, Kolu Zigbi.

Photographs by: Dinesh Mehta supported by Dipti Mehta. Design by: Jennifer Saura and Martin Pavlinic.

This book was made possible by generous contributions by the World Monuments Fund, Thaw Charitable Trust, Pierre and Maria Gaetana Matisse Foundation, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University, Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Harvard University South Asia Institute, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Spatial Ethnography Lab and Terreform collaborate on Koli Tanks & Berms project

This project upgrades and adapts small-scale infrastructure of tanks and berms, developed by residents of coastal slums in intertidal zones to address water contamination issues, slow storm surges and provide controlled capture and release of tidal and sea level rise flooding. Spatial Ethnography Lab www.se-l.net

Tanks & Berms: Estuary as Resilience EngineSpatial Ethnography Lab and Terreform

This project adapts a home-grown system of tanks and berms developed by coastal slum residents to address water contamination and flooding. Learn more at OpenIDEO.

Diwadkar-TanksBerms01

Diwadkar-TanksBerms01

"Kumbh Mela" book and exhibition launch in Delhi

Kumbh Mela - Mapping the Ephemeral Megacity

On Monday, August 17, the Harvard South Asia Institute launched the Kumbh Mela: Mapping the Ephemeral Megacity Book and Exhibition in Delhi, India.

Link to Press Release from the Harvard South Asia Institute.

Related Press: Maha Kumbh much better organized than Fifa World Cup, says Harvard book, Subhash Mishra for Times of India. The inspiring Kumbh lesson, Rahul Jacob for the Business Standard. Harvard book chronicles Maha Kumbh success saga, Subhash Mishra for the Economic Times. In book, Harvard chronicles success of Maha Kumbh, Amita Verma for the Asian Age. Harvard pats Kumbh, Sumi Sukanya for The Telegraph. Harvard, MIT touch to Kumbh planning, Swatee Kher for the Times of India.

Urbanités and Society & Space review Urban Theory Lab's "Operational Landscapes"

Urban Theory LAb In recent issues of the journals Urbanités and Society & Space, Louise Dorignon of the Université Lumière Lyon II has published a detailed review of the Urban Theory Lab's exhibition on "Operational Landscapes" at the Melbourne School of Design from Spring 2015.

Link to article (FR) at Urbanités. Link to article (EN) at Society & Space. . Link to Press Release from the Urban Theory Lab.

"Dabbawalas of Mumbai" at MAXXI Foundation, Rome

Film by Vineet Diwadkar "Food dal Cucchiaio al Mondo" exhibition Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo Rome Italy, 2015. The dabbawalas famously collect homemade lunch from kitchens across Mumbai, and then sort, transport, sort, and deliver them to working men and women throughout the city. They do this without a site register, but with an innovative notation system which marks the source and delivery train stations and buildings. This film follows the dabbawalas through a single day in January 2015. The film by Vineet Diwadkar was exhibited as part of ‘Dabbawalas of Mumbai’ exhibit with RMA Research and Rajesh Vora at the MAXXI Foundation in Rome for the “Food dal cucchaio del mondo” exhibition on the architectural issues surrounding food, curated by Pippo Ciorra with Giulia Ferracci, Alessio Rosati and Alessandra Spagnoli. From the MAXXI Foundation: “Over 50 works by different artists and architects, in a presentation that ranges from the dimension of the human body to that of the planet, from the kitchen to the home, from the city to the region and the world, tackle the global political, social, urban and economic effects that the production, distribution, consumption and disposal of food have on communities and territories.” http://www.diwadkar.net/project/dabbawalas/

Video exhibited as part of 'Dabbawalas of Mumbai' with RMA Research and Rajesh Vora for this exhibition on the architectural issues surrounding food. Presented by the MAXXI Foundation in Rome, curated by Pippo Ciorra with Giulia Ferracci, Alessio Rosati and Alessandra Spagnoli.

From the MAXXI Foundation: “Over 50 works by different artists and architects, in a presentation that ranges from the dimension of the human body to that of the planet, from the kitchen to the home, from the city to the region and the world, tackle the global political, social, urban and economic effects that the production, distribution, consumption and disposal of food have on communities and territories.”

MAXXI

MAXXI

Food dal Cucchiaio al Mondo exhibition site. Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Rome, Italy 29 May – 8 November 2015

"Kumbh Mela: Mapping the Ephemeral Megacity" book and exhibition launch

HarvardSAI-KumbhMela

HarvardSAI-KumbhMela

The Kumbh Mela: Mapping the Ephemeral Megacity book and exhibition consolidate research findings and serve as an example of interdisciplinary research conducted between the Harvard University South Asia Institute, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Harvard Global Health Institute, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, and Harvard Business School. The Kumbh Mela is the largest religious celebration on earth and the biggest public gathering in the world. The resulting settlement is a virtual mega city. The Kumbh Mela deploys its own roads, pontoon bridges as well as tents serving as residences and venues for spiritual meetings, and social infrastructure such as hospitals, sanitation outlets and vaccination clinics-all replicating the functions of an actual city. The pop-up settlement seamlessly serves up to seven million people, who gather for 55 days, and an additional flux of 0 to 30 million people, who come for cycles on the six main bathing dates. In 2013, a team from Harvard University, representing faculty from multiple disciplines, researched the large-scale event from its preparation to the actual celebration itself. This was the first systematic study on the Mela as a City: a planned entity, and covers issues of social inclusion, diversity, and even democracy that emerge under the framework of a neutralizing grid of roads that is the organizing armature of the city. This subdivision of the city forms clusters of freedom and facilitates space for individual and group expression. The volume presents the comprehensive research findings and includes city maps, aerial images, analytical drawings and photographs of this spectacular Ephemeral Mega City for the Kumbh Mela. http://www.diwadkar.net/project/kumbhmela/