City Study Circle

The Study Circle met again on the 20th of April. 15 people joined around the Peace Table in C.I.C. The discussions were lively and harmonious. The numerous qualities of the city that had been collected from previous sessions were presented under the headlines:

• overall plan,

• character of areas,

• transport,

• information,

• the city at night,

• ambience,

• the city and change.

Ambience

The meeting choose to reflect on Ambience (the vast number of influences that create an atmosphere) for this session. This brought the nature of plasticity into focus. Here are just a few of the points that were touched:

• Many cities have unique ambiences, different from each other. What characterises them?

• The city we aspire for will be characterised by mobility and plasticity.

• In different areas it would have different ambiences.

• Buildings should be flexible and easily adopt to changing uses.

• Change is as one grows in consciousness, one's needs change.., materially, aesthetically, spiritually..

• The city of Auroville as a process of evolution.

• Is there a contradiction between dynamic qualities of the city and the aspect of stability?

• It is interesting to see how buildings of hundreds of years old elsewhere are being used in a totally modern context. What is the quality that makes those buildings so flexible/plastic/long-lasting?

• While designing buildings, many possible successive uses are to be taken into account.

• What exactly makes the city dynamic and flexible? What does plasticity mean for a city besides plasticity in architecture?

felix@auroville.org.in 
for the Study Circle team