Category: Urban

Protests, Court Notice, Union Govt Involvement: Marking of Old Trees For Guwahati Flyover Sparks Uproar

An RTI response to a retired engineer also said there was no environmental assessment carried out for the flyover in Guwahati’s Dighalipukhuri.

Guwahati: All it took was 25 yellow ‘X’ signs ominously painted on the 200-year-old trees adorning the banks of the historic Dighalipukhuri tank in the heart of Guwahati to trigger denizens’ bottled-up angst against chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s plans for the city’s facelift at the expense of centuries-old trees.

Such collective civilian momentum, in the form of peaceful protests at Dighalipukhuri against the strongman chief minister starting last week, had not been witnessed since his ascension to the state’s helm in 2021.

Following the protests, as well as an RTI query filed by a local resident, a PIL filed by a journalist and two others, and a petition to the chief justice of the Gauhati high court by Assam’s leader of opposition, Sarma assured people of his commitment to the city’s heritage and the environment.

The trees around the Dighalipukhuri tank were marked in connection with Sarma’s ambitious plan for the construction of a new 5.44 km flyover – touted as the city’s 11th flyover and the longest in the state – which began in October 2023. The four-lane elevated corridor from Dighalipukhuri to Noonmati is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026 at an estimated cost of Rs 852.68 crore.

While Sarma has made multiple plans to build flyovers in Guwahati since he became chief minister, these were met with few protests. However, public angst reached its zenith on October 28 as local authorities marked the 25 old trees around the Dighalipukhuri tank for felling.

A tree with the yellow ‘X’ marks. Photo: Aaranyak/Facebook.

On October 29, the angst spilled onto the streets as residents of Dighalipukhuri took out a protest at the historic site in the hundreds. The protest then transformed into a wider outpour, a cornucopia of a civil resistance comprising individuals from different walks of life.

After October 29, young people from across the city as well as other parts of the state came together in opposition. A cluster of WhatsApp groups mobilised events such an open mic night, an art exhibition, the planting of tree saplings within the premises of the tank and the ribboning of trees.

Sangeeta Das, a grassroots activist, said, “This is a powerful expression of the people’s long-suppressed anger. The unchecked cutting of trees and unplanned construction projects, undertaken without public consultation, have ignited this outpouring of frustration. This movement has presented a direct challenge to the Sarma-led BJP government, with a strong, united front. It prompted Sarma to address the issue on X.”

Arshel Akhter, an active member of the Save Dighalipukhuri community, said, “As a symbol of hope and collective voice against government apathy towards the environment in the name of development, I believe this is a systemic issue and we must act to reduce the need for constant protests by people to be heard.”

Actor Arghadeep Barua of the critically acclaimed Assamese film Aamis said, “We are not against development. But we are human beings. This protest for Dighalipukhuri is about reclaiming our rights through art and peace and music.”

And on October 30, Sarma posted on X, “In constructing the flyovers from Dighalupukhuri [sic] to Noonmati, we are sincerely working to protect the old trees in the area. I urge all stakeholders to allow the Public Works Department a few days to explore an alternative proposal and assess its feasibility.”

Gauhati high court issues notice; RTI shows no environmental assessment done

After hearing the PIL filed by the two journalists in connection with the felling of the trees, the Gauhati high court issued notice to the state government on November 5, directing it to file an affidavit on its decision to cut trees older than a century. The court also noted that the PIL was of great importance.

Sarma’s plan also suffered a setback when the Union environment ministry on November 1 asked the Assam forest department to examine the claims and allegations about the wanton felling of the pre-colonial trees, and to take action as per legal provisions.

Tridib Borah, a retired chemical engineer from Dighalipukhuri, filed an RTI query about the flyover in August to the office of the executive engineer of Assam’s Public Works Roads Department.

The reply to his queries, provided on October 22, showed that there was no environmental assessment being carried out and no public hearing conducted. It said that 21 trees would be impacted, with some completely uprooted and some trimmed.

Speaking to The Wire, Borah said, “It clearly shows there is a complete lack of transparency. I am not sure there will be 21 trees that will be cut. I suspect there could be more trees to be chopped off. The only hope we can rely on now is on Sarma’s assurance.”

A protest against the possible felling of trees for the flyover. Photo: X/@AkhterArshel.

Assam leader of opposition Debabrata Saikia’s seven-page petition in the matter delves into the impact the exercise would have on the avian species that dwell in the plethora of trees adorning the tank and its neighbouring areas.

According to Jayaditya Purkayastha, a conservationist and founder of Help Earth, an NGO working for Guwahati’s fragile and endangered animal species, a variety of birds are found in the mighty canopy of the old trees.

He told The Wire that planting saplings to compensate for cutting the trees around the tank may not make up for the loss to the area’s greenery.

“My point is that cutting a tree and planting saplings are not equal. Nobody knows if a sapling will grow or withstand changes, whereas the standing tree has a proven track record and took ages to be what it is now. So we cannot compensate just by planting,” he said.

Sarma’s drive of transforming Guwahati through flyovers

Since 2021, Sarma has been relentless in devising plans for flyovers. Around 3,000 trees have been felled in Guwahati and its adjoining areas during the last three years for the construction of flyovers and a national highway, according to a recent Times of India report.

A proposed expansion plan, near Sluice Gate in west Guwahati along the Brahmaputra, led to locals protesting over the incessant cutting of trees on October 30. On August 27, it was reported that over 180 trees were to be axed for a flyover.

Local residents had also protested against the axing of many trees that had lined the stretch of the Shraddhanjali flyover, which was inaugurated in 2023.

In 2022, work commenced towards expanding the four-lane Guwahati bypass to a six-lane one. It was reported that over 2,600 trees were to be felled, but the National Highway Authority of India claimed that only 1,000 trees were uprooted and planted elsewhere.

Concerned denizens have also argued since 2021 that the incessant construction of new flyovers was rapidly depleting the city’s natural vistas, stifling traffic congestion and increasing PM 2.5 across Guwahati.

Dighalipukhuri among ‘chief monuments’ of ancient Guwahati

While the trees surrounding the Dighalipukhuri tank are over a century old, the waterbody itself is much older.

During the time of the Ahom dynasty, the tank was used by royals as an inland harbour that was then connected to the Brahmaputra river through a channel. One legend even says the tank’s history goes back to the time of the Mahabharata.

According to historian Kanak Lal Baruah’s 1933 book Early History of Kamarupa, the Dighalipukhuri tank “and the various shrines within the town” could be counted as among the “chief existing monuments of the old city of Pragjyotishpur.”

The Ambari locality within which the tank is located also has its fair share of history. Digging conducted here in the late 1960s to build the RBI’s offices revealed remains of sculptures, including those of Hindu gods, and later excavations unearthed fragments that could date back to the 2nd or 3rd centuries BCE, Manjil Hazarika, assistant professor of archaeology at Guwahati’s Cotton University, told The Wire.

Of the channel that once connected the Dighalipukhuri tank with the Brahmaputra, Hazarika wrote in a 2022 journal article that it “must have been used in the pre-Ahom period for different trade activities operated from the site of Ambari adjacent to Dighalipukhuri. The presence of a good amount of utilitarian pottery, stone bowls, grinding stones and beads at Ambari and surrounding pinpoints the area used for residential purposes as well [sic].”

This article was updated at 2:55 pm on November 10 to add a quote from Purkayastha and more information about the tank’s history.

Central Hall: What is Wakf, Why It’s in the News Now, and Why You Must Know About it

In this episode of the Central Hall, Kapil Sibal and three experts trace the beginnings of the practice and discuss why it is the goal of the current government to weaken this system.

What is the Wakf? When did it start? Why do people know so little about it? What does the Delhi Sultanate have to do with it?

In this episode of the Central Hall, Kapil Sibal traces the beginnings of the practice. Wakf is land donated to Allah which used to be used for social purposes. Why is it the goal of the current government to weaken this system?

S.Y. Quraishi was the chief election commissioner. He was the administrator of Wakfs in several states and Chandigarh.

Legal scholar Faizan Mustafa is the Vice-Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University and the former V-C of the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. He was the founding V-C of the National Law University Odisha.

Kamal Faruqi is a chartered accountant and the spokesperson of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Faruqi believes in modernisation and women’s empowerment.

Old Cities Like Kolkata Can Sustain Their Rich Tram Traditions – Istanbul Is an Example

Istanbul has understood the nostalgic and urban importance of trams. Around three million people use the tram service in the city everyday.

I am currently standing on Istanbul’s most famous İstiklal Caddesi (Istiklal Street). This iconic street in the historic Beyoğlu district connects Taksim Square with Galatasaray and Tünel Square. The street is busy 24 hours a day. 

There is a great crowd around me. There is a distinct sound amidst the chaos and suddenly, I envision myself wandering the streets of Kolkata. In my view, this sound is definitely the hallmark of Kolkata – the sound of the tram, which has run in Kolkata since 1873. Now, as has been reported widely, the tram is being discontinued by the Mamata Banerjee government.

My son Yusuf’s voice jolts me back. Right in front of my eyes is Istanbul’s famous Nostalgic Tram, which is a centre of attraction for everyone. While it sounds the same as a Kolkata tram, it is aesthetically more beautiful than the ones in Kolkata and goes slowly enough for tourists to take photos in front of it. Its importance can be felt from quite a distance in the crowd of this road. Vitally, this tram is different from other trams operating in Istanbul. 

The tram service in Istanbul started in 1869; then it was horse-drawn. It ran like this until 1966, when it was closed. But after 24 years, at the end of 1990, the Istiklal Street was closed for large vehicle traffic, and the nostalgic tram was started, so that the tram remains in the minds of all the people who come to this city.   

Albert Einstein is said to have thought up the theory of relativity while riding a Zurich tram. This opportunity should also be preserved for the writers of Kolkata – the tram has always provided an apt symbol for the city, evoking both poetry and protest. 

Will another writer be able to write a story like ‘Pijushbabu,’ by Pritish Nandy? The whole story revolves around his memories while travelling in a Kolkata tram, imagining himself to be in a jet-powered plane.

Also read: Kolkata’s Trams: Neglected and Starved, but Fighting Back

Will anyone now be able to compare Kolkata to New York city? Filmmaker Mira Nair had remarked in an interview in 2007, “I felt these two great cities of the world, New York and Calcutta, mirrored each other in specific ways… Both cities are stitched by rails; the tram tracks of Calcutta, the elevated trains of New York, the subways of both. When alerted by the clang and rattle of the Calcutta tram crossing the main thoroughfare of Chowringhee, I would look across and I could see directly through the tram’s windows on Rash Behari Avenue to the shops and shoppers of Gol Park on the other side. Just like my mornings on the subway platforms of New York City, with passengers across the platform going in opposite directions, then, as each train came in to disgorge and pick up, wiping the slate clean.” 

Istanbul understood the importance of trams. This is why a completely separate tram line was inaugurated in 1992, extending the tram system on the European side of Istanbul to include a modern tram line. This line, now called the T1 line, runs on the same alignment where the tram last ran in 1956. In 2003, the tram also returned to the Asian side of Istanbul as a heritage tramway on the old closed route. This line is now known as the T3 Tram Line (or Kadıköy-Moda Nostalgia Tramway). In 2007, another modern tram line on the European side, called T4, was opened, using high-floor light rail vehicles (LRVs). In 2021, the first catenary-free tram line in the city opened between Alibeyköy and Cibali on the European side using modern low-floor trams. The line is now being extended to Eminönü, where it will meet T1. On 30 August 2023, Istanbul inaugurated an important stop on one of its newest tram lines, Eminönü-Cibali Station, which is a vital component of the Alibeyköy-Eminönü Tram Line.

The Galata Tower ticket counter in Istanbul resembles a tram. Photo: Afroz Alam Sahil.

Istanbul is currently advancing several tram projects, including the significant “AnadoluTRAM.” This new tram line is designed to connect the districts of Üsküdar, Kadıköy, and Maltepe. According to a joint report from the Traffic and Transportation Commission and the Public Works and Reconstruction Committee, the project aims to remove wheeled vehicles from traffic along its 21.3-km route, focusing heavily on pedestrian-friendly road arrangements. Additionally, construction has begun on a 3.2-km section of tramway in central Istanbul, linking Feshane to Bayrampaşa Meydan on tram line T5. 

Earlier this year, the T6 Sirkeci-Kazlıçeşme tramway line was launched, spanning approximately 8.3 km. The Üsküdar-Harem Tram Line will also be launched soon.

The craze for trams can also be gauged from the fact that in Istanbul’s Bahçelievler district, Şirinevler Meydanı, where there are no tramway tracks, a ‘nostalgic tram’ was installed in 2023 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the republic of Turkey. The service was started to keep the memories of the tram alive in people’s hearts, because the government here believes that ‘trams are one of the best examples of maintaining tradition.’ And according to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s 2022 Annual Report, around three million people are using this tram service in Istanbul every day.

If only Kolkata could sustain this rich tradition, drawing on the lessons of cities like Istanbul, where trams are celebrated as integral parts of urban life. It could have also served an economic purpose through tourism. Istanbul’s tram system can serve as a lesson for the Bengal government and the Kolkata municipality on how to rehabilitate a defunct tram system using modern technology. This approach can not only improve the city’s traffic but also generate significant revenue, as seen in Istanbul and other cities. Reviving Kolkata’s trams could not only enrich the city’s cultural landscape but also serve as a reminder of its historical roots, connecting past and present in a meaningful way. 

Afroz Alam Sahil is a freelance journalist and author, currently living in Turkey. He can be contacted at @afrozsahil on X. 

The video in this story was scripted, shot and edited by the author. The voiceover is by Afshan Khan.

Does the Persecution of Indian Muslims Shape Their Attitude Towards Community Welfare?

A study in Delhi slums assesses how Hindus and Muslims respond to social pressure promoting their contribution to community sanitation initiatives. In contrast to theory, it shows that social accountability mechanisms are more effective among Muslims – reflecting coping strategies by minorities to navigate hostile sociopolitical environments.

Muslims are arguably the most persecuted group in contemporary India. Their loyalty to the nation has constantly been questioned since partition. While other marginalised groups have made notable gains after Independence, intergenerational mobility for Muslims has declined over time (Asher et al. 2024).

Further, the community has witnessed a surge in hate crime in recent years (Ramachandran 2020). One might argue that ‘big riots’ are a thing of the past, or incidents of lynching are relatively rare. But even in peaceful periods, everyday discrimination affects virtually all aspects of Muslim lives – from where they live, to whom they engage with, and how they carry out those interactions.

Should we expect the status of Muslims as a ‘persecuted minority’ to also shape their attitudes toward contributing to community welfare?

This question is especially relevant in urban settings where people live in close quarters and local state capacity is low. In such contexts, working together with neighbours from diverse backgrounds is often the only way to take care of local services like garbage collection or drain cleaning.

Context and research design

To shed light on this puzzle, we conducted a survey experiment in 16 bastis (or communities) in five slum settlements in Delhi, covering 3,843 individuals (Cammett, Chakrabarti and Romney 2024). About 13% of the city’s population is Muslim, roughly mirroring that of India. Fieldwork was carried out in 2018, a period that was relatively peaceful, before the widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the communal riots that shook Delhi in 2020. Yet, the absence of overt violence is not a guarantee against discrimination. Muslim segregation in Delhi is high – comparable to cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad – while Muslim representation in government agencies among the lowest. Delhi is hence a good case to explore the question.

We selected areas with varying levels of Hindu and Muslim diversity. Our intervention focused on drainage, a (near) pure public good that cannot be addressed by individual, uncoordinated solutions. Accumulation of garbage in one part of a neighbourhood causes drains to clog, and in turn affects the well-being of the entire community (Figure 1). Drainage is also one of the most deficient services in Delhi’s informal settlements, including in our site. While municipal workers did clean drains along the major roads, residents in most bastis were forced to maintain internal drains through their own efforts. Collective action in local communities, however, is complicated and shaped by a host of factors. To better understand the social and political life of our study site, we worked with a team of researchers from the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) who carried extensive qualitative fieldwork in our cases over a period of three months before the survey. Our case selection and research design were informed by their findings.

Figure 1. Condition of drainage in selected sites

Figure 1. Condition of drainage in selected sites

On the theoretical side, we draw on the rich body of work on ethnic diversity and development. Studies across different contexts overwhelmingly find that ethnic diversity impedes public goods provision – a negative relationship that has been described as the “most powerful hypothesis in political economy” (Alesina and Ferrara 1999, Banerjee et al. 2005). Efforts to identify the underlying mechanisms driving this relationship at the micro-level point to the role of social norms and networks in coordinating in-group collective action (Habyarimana et al. 2007, Miguel and Gugerty 2005). We examined three distinct social accountability mechanisms. The first, ‘black sheep effect’, is a psychological mechanism that highlights the underperformance of fellow group members. The second, ‘horizontal accountability’, primes the prospect of public shaming in front of one’s neighbours, such as through gossip. Finally, ‘vertical accountability’, entails shaming through pressure by local elites, like pradhans (or informal leaders in slum communities).

In our experimental manipulation, we presented respondents with a hypothetical neighbourhood initiative to hire a private firm to clean and maintain drains in the community. Importantly, this initiative required the support of two-thirds of the community. Participants were then exposed to a favourable testimonial from a nearby resident about the hypothetical drainage scheme and a description of social consequences there would be for those who do not contribute. We randomised aspects of the testimonial and accountability descriptions to test the three accountability mechanisms. Finally, the results were measured using an index of five outcomes of participants’ willingness to contribute to the initiative – benefit, interest, willingness to pay a fee, enter a contract, and influence neighbours to sign up, each measured on a 1–4 scale with higher levels indicating more positive responses.

Findings

We find that that Muslims showed greater willingness to contribute to the initiative in response to the treatment (intervention), whereas treated Hindus were no more willing to contribute than those in the control group (not subject to any intervention) (Figure 2). This is surprising given the dominant diversity-deficit hypothesis; we had expected homogeneous areas, that is, majority Hindu or Muslim neighbourhoods, to be the most willing to increase their contributions to the collective good in response to the accountability mechanisms.

Figure 2. Effect of combined treatments on favourability toward drainage programme, by religion

Note: CIs are confidence intervals. A 90/95% CI means that, if you were to repeat the experiment over and over with new samples, 90/95% of the time the calculated CI would contain the true effect.

The findings on ethnic diversity were also unexpected. We used data from GPS coordinates of respondents to produce a fine-grained and highly accurate measure of diversity, estimating the proportion of Hindus and Muslims within a 100-metre radius (equivalent of a few streets) for each respondent. Using this measure, neighbourhood diversity had no effect on the results. Further, the treatment effects for Muslims in majority-Hindu and majority-Muslim neighbourhoods were stronger, providing further evidence that there is no clear relationship between neighbourhood diversity and the effect of our interventions. Our results hold after accounting for a host of relevant factors, including the strength of social ties, gender, and socioeconomic status, and we do not find any evidence that religiosity or cultural distinctiveness of Muslims shaped the outcomes.

Explaining Muslim cooperation

What might account for pro-social attitudes among Muslims? The scholarship on ethnic violence, particularly by anthropologists, offers some insights. Several studies on Indian cities with histories of inter-communal tensions show that the responsibility of preserving “everyday peace” largely falls on the shoulders of Muslims, based on the implicit acceptance of unequal status between Hindus and Muslims. This status quo is maintained not only by the threat of violence by the majority, but also by self-policing by Muslims.

Such norms of ‘in-group policing’ extend to other realms, including collective action around public goods provision. In an ethnographic study of communal peace in Varanasi, for example, Williams (2015) observed that unlike Hindus, Muslims did not respond to poor public services through public protests because of fear of worsening discrimination and religious tension. Instead, Muslim elites established autonomous welfare institutions to improve the living conditions of Muslim residents. They even extended the services to poorer Hindus in the community to maintain peace. In Delhi too, we observed ‘peace committees’ to mobilise residents in the possible event of communal riots in some Muslim bastis. Local leaders who set up the committees also ran community organisations that provided public services like education, childcare, and healthcare to residents. Such community-led welfare was rare in Hindu areas.

We argue that the higher propensity of Muslims to respond to accountability mechanisms is a manifestation of ‘defensive cooperation’, or a set of protective coping strategies that makes minority group members more responsive to social pressure in a hostile sociopolitical environment. Consistent with national trends, Muslims in our sample exhibit lower levels of trust in State institutions like the police, political parties, and the Prime Minister. Hindus and Muslims, however, had comparable levels of political participation, social ties, and networks with government officials.

Interestingly, not all Muslims exhibit prosocial attitudes. We find that our results are primarily driven by upper-caste Muslims and Muslims who feel a greater sense of obligation to in-group members. Lower-caste Muslims exhibit no difference from lower-caste Hindu respondents. Upper-caste Hindus, in contrast, respond negatively to the intervention.

While our research design does not allow us to test potential mechanisms definitively, we suggest that prosocial behaviour by this subgroup may be motivated by a sense of responsibility to the community, either out of paternalism or because their interests are vested in the group. In the absence of a similar history of prejudice, the majority Hindus do not respond to the primes in a similar manner. More research is needed to understand how within-group heterogeneity mediates social relations and collective action, but our results potentially provide important insights on the role of caste in Muslim communities.

Implications

Our research introduces a new dimension of group-based inequality that may moderate the relationship between diversity and public goods provision: minority status. For members of persecuted minorities, social norms are not just determined by in-group dynamics but are also shaped by inter-group relations in the context of exclusion and threats of violence. Perceived violations of norms can be especially vexing for members of a persecuted minority when perpetrated by in-group members, inviting strong efforts to police in-group behaviour.

This set of coping strategies may be manifested in different ways. First, fear of targeted violence and repression may induce members of persecuted minorities to contribute more to the collective goods as a way to avoid inciting further negative attention. Second, the shared history of discrimination may compel minorities to band together, inducing greater contributions to local public goods, especially in contexts of high residential segregation where minorities are surrounded by members of their own community. Third, the experience of discrimination may induce persecuted minorities to seek greater acceptance by the dominant group by downplaying their ‘otherness’ and contributing more to the society in general. Relatedly, minorities may police in-group members as a way to demonstrate loyalty to the dominant group. Finally, as theorists of the “politics of respectability” among African Americans in the US argue (Jefferson 2023), members of persecuted minorities who identify more strongly with the in-group may be especially vested in countering negative stereotypes of their community, which in turn may incentivise them to adopt prosocial behaviours to enhance the in-group image. Future research should unpack and test each of these and other potential mechanisms underlying defensive cooperation.

Melani Cammett is Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government and Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Poulomi Chakrabarti is a visiting scholar at the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University.

David Romney is an assistant professor of political science at Brigham Young University.

This article appeared first on Ideas for India.

Sustainable Building Effort Reaches New Heights with Wooden Skyscrapers

Wood engineered for strength and safety offers architects an alternative to carbon-intensive steel and concrete.

At the University of Toronto, just across the street from the football stadium, workers are putting up a 14-story building with space for classrooms and faculty offices. What’s unusual is how they’re building it — by bolting together giant beams, columns and panels made of manufactured slabs of wood.

As each wood element is delivered by flatbed, a tall crane lifts it into place and holds it in position while workers attach it with metal connectors. In its half-finished state, the building resembles flat-pack furniture in the process of being assembled.

The tower uses a new technology called mass timber. In this kind of construction, massive, manufactured wood elements that can extend more than half the length of a football field replace steel beams and concrete. Though still relatively uncommon, it is growing in popularity and beginning to pop up in skylines around the world.

Mass timber can lend warmth and beauty to an interior. Pictured is a unit in the eight-story Carbon12 condominium in Portland, Oregon. Photo: KAISER + PATH

Today, the tallest mass timber building is the 25-story Ascent skyscraper in Milwaukee, completed in 2022. As of that year, there were 84 mass timber buildings eight stories or higher either built or under construction worldwide, with another 55 proposed. Seventy percent of the existing and future buildings were in Europe, about 20 percent in North America and the rest in Australia and Asia, according to a report from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. When you include smaller buildings, at least 1,700 mass timber buildings had been constructed in the United States alone as of 2023.

Mass timber is an appealing alternative to energy-intensive concrete and steel, which together account for almost 15 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Though experts are still debating mass timber’s role in fighting climate change, many are betting it’s better for the environment than current approaches to construction. It relies on wood, after all, a renewable resource.

Mass timber also offers a different aesthetic that can make a building feel special. “People get sick and tired of steel and concrete,” says Ted Kesik, a building scientist at the University of Toronto’s Mass Timber Institute, which promotes mass timber research and development. With its warm, soothing appearance and natural variations, timber can be more visually pleasing. “People actually enjoy looking at wood.”

Same wood, stronger structure

Using wood for big buildings isn’t new, of course. Industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries led to a demand for large factories and warehouses, which were often “brick and beam” construction — a frame of heavy wooden beams supporting exterior brick walls.

As buildings became ever taller, though, builders turned to concrete and steel for support. Wood construction became mostly limited to houses and other small buildings made from the standard-sized “dimensional” lumber you see stacked at Home Depot.

But about 30 years ago, builders in Germany and Austria began experimenting with techniques for making massive wood elements out of this readily available lumber. They used nails, dowels and glue to combine smaller pieces of wood into big, strong and solid masses that don’t require cutting down large old-growth trees.

Engineers including Julius Natterer, a German engineer based in Switzerland, pioneered new methods for building with the materials. And architects including Austria’s Hermann Kaufmann began gaining attention for mass timber projects, including the Ölzbündt apartments in Austria, completed in 1997, and Brock Commons, an 18-story student residence at the University of British Columbia, completed in 2017.

In principle, mass timber is like plywood but on a much larger scale: The smaller pieces are layered and glued together under pressure in large specialized presses. Today, beams up to 50 meters long, usually made of what’s called glue-laminated timber, or glulam, can replace steel elements. Panels up to 50 centimeters thick, typically cross-laminated timber, or CLT, replace concrete for walls and floors.

These wood composites can be surprisingly strong — stronger than steel by weight. But a mass timber element must be bulkier to achieve that same strength. As a building gets higher, the wooden supports must get thicker; at some point, they simply take up too much space. So for taller mass timber buildings, including the Ascent skyscraper, architects often turn to a combination of wood, steel and concrete.

Historically, one of the most obvious concerns with using mass timber for tall buildings was fire safety. Until recently, many building codes limited wood construction to low-rise buildings.

Though they don’t have to be completely fireproof, buildings need to resist collapse long enough to give firefighters a chance to bring the flames under control, and for occupants to get out. Materials used in conventional skyscrapers, for instance, are required to maintain their integrity in a fire for three hours or more.

To demonstrate mass timber’s fire resistance, engineers put the wood elements in gas-fired chambers and monitor their integrity. Other tests set fire to mock-ups of mass timber buildings and record the results.

These tests have gradually convinced regulators and customers that mass timber can resist burning long enough to be fire safe. That’s partly because a layer of char tends to form early on the outside of the timber, insulating the interior from much of the fire’s heat.

Mass timber got a major stamp of approval in 2021, when the International Code Council changed the International Building Code, which serves as a model for jurisdictions around the world, to allow mass timber construction up to 18 stories tall. With this change, more and more localities are expected to update their codes to routinely allow tall mass timber buildings, rather than requiring them to get special approvals.

There are other challenges, though. “Moisture is the real problem, not fire,” says Steffen Lehmann, an architect and scholar of urban sustainability at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

All buildings must control moisture, but it’s absolutely crucial for mass timber. Wet wood is vulnerable to deterioration from fungus and insects like termites. Builders are careful to prevent the wood from getting wet during transportation and construction, and they deploy a comprehensive moisture management plan, including designing heat and ventilation systems to keep moisture from accumulating. For extra protection from insects, wood can be treated with chemical pesticides or surrounded by mesh or other physical barriers where it meets the ground.

Another problem is acoustics, since wood transmits sound so well. Designers use sound insulation materials, leave space between walls and install raised floors, among other methods.

Potential upsides of mass timber

Combating global warming means reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector, which is responsible for 39 percent of emissions globally. Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, an environmental scientist at the Central European University in Vienna, says mass timber and other bio-based materials could be an important part of that effort.

In a 2020 paper in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, she and colleagues cite an estimate from the lumber industry that the 18-story Brock Commons, in British Columbia, avoided the equivalent of 2,432 metric tons of CO2 emissions compared with a similar building of concrete and steel. Of those savings, 679 tons came from the fact that less greenhouse gas emissions are generated in the manufacture of wood versus concrete and steel. Another 1,753 metric tons of CO2 equivalent were locked away in the building’s wood.

“If you use bio-based material, we have a double win,” Ürge-Vorsatz says.

Like Ikea furniture, mass timber buildings are assembled out of prefabricated pieces. The Origine condo in Quebec City went up an estimated 25 percent faster than a conventional building.
Photo: CECOBOIS

But a lot of the current enthusiasm over mass timber’s climate benefits is based on some big assumptions. The accounting often assumes, for instance, that any wood used in a mass timber building will be replaced by the growth of new trees, and that those new trees will take the same amount of CO2 out of the atmosphere across time. But if old-growth trees are replaced with new tree plantations, the new trees may never reach the same size as the original trees, some environmental groups argue. There are also concerns that increasing demand for wood could lead to more deforestation and less land for food production.

Studies also tend to assume that once the wood is in a building, the carbon is locked up for good. But not all the wood from a felled tree ends up in the finished product. Branches, roots and lumber mill waste may decompose or get burned. And when the building is torn down, if the wood ends up in a landfill, the carbon can find its way out in the form of methane and other emissions.

“A lot of architects are scratching their heads,” says Stephanie Carlisle, an architect and environmental researcher at the nonprofit Carbon Leadership Forum, wondering whether mass timber always has a net benefit. “Is that real?” She believes climate benefits do exist. But she says understanding the extent of those benefits will require more research.

In the meantime, mass timber is at the forefront of a whole different model of construction called integrated design. In traditional construction, an architect designs a building first and then multiple firms are hired to handle different parts of the construction, from laying the foundation, to building the frame, to installing the ventilation system and so on.

In integrated design, says Kesik, the design phase is much more detailed and involves the various firms from the beginning. The way different components will fit and work together is figured out in advance. Exact sizes and shapes of elements are predetermined, and holes can even be pre-drilled for attachment points. That means many of the components can be manufactured off-site, often with advanced computer-controlled machinery.

A lot of architects like this because it gives them more control over the building elements. And because so much of the work is done in advance, the buildings tend to go up faster on-site — up to 40 percent faster than other buildings, Lehmann says.

Mass timber buildings tend to be manufactured more like automobiles, Kesik says, with all the separate pieces shipped to a final location for assembly. “When the mass timber building shows up on-site, it’s really just like an oversized piece of Ikea furniture,” he says. “Everything sort of goes together.”

This article first appeared on Knowable Magazine. Read the original here.

 

Kolkata’s Trams: Neglected and Starved, but Fighting Back

The sorrow at their death is premature. Kolkata’s trams are alive and may yet be back and trundling.

It was 1897 and Samuel Clemens – better known by his pen name, Mark Twain – was in debt. On his way to London on a speaking tour that he hoped would bring in some money, he was accosted – as legend has it – by a reporter who asked for his comment on rumours that he had died. That is when he is supposed to have made his oft-quoted (and misquoted) remark, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

More than 125 years after that comment, it is Kolkata’s trams that are having to fend off similar exaggerations.

Over the past two weeks, in a demonstration of almost-orchestrated coordination, the bells have been tolling in social and even mainstream media announcing the demise of Kolkata’s trams. A transport system that has supposedly been suffering for lack of riders has suddenly found an abundance of “deriders” beating their breasts with sorrow as they consign the rattling legacy of the 19th century to its graveyard.

The sorrow is premature and the graveyard is hallucination. Kolkata’s trams are alive and may yet be back and trundling.

The arguments for and against trams have been grist for many an adda session for some time but it may help an understanding of the current status to see them listed briefly.

Also read: In Photos: The Tram, Kolkata’s Pride, Now History

The strongest argument favouring retention of trams is their environmental friendliness. Kolkata’s air quality (as with several Indian cities) puts it on the list of most polluted cities in the world. Even though trams are powered by electricity – in all likelihood coal, for the foreseeable future – the carbon footprint in the city per se is negligible, given that their emissions at the point of use are close to nil. In addition, trams have a safety record that is overwhelmingly superior to that of buses. The design of the tram cars – particularly the low footboard and the wide entrance – makes this mode very user friendly and popular with the elderly and parents escorting children to/from schools. 

Opponents of the tram system – particularly the traffic police – see trams as an impediment to speed. The average speed of trams interferes with their efforts at raising what they term as “traffic efficiency” – more vehicles covering a given distance in a defined time. This argument is countered by what is considered good practice internationally, viz., traffic should be managed so that it runs calmly and smoothly, not speedily.

Less frequently cited is the ridership objection – very few people seem to be riding the trams. This argument is stated almost apologetically, since it is widely known that routes have been truncated, recruitment of staff virtually eliminated and the government has not invested in the tram system at all in the last three years. Benign neglect would be inaccurate; calculated deprivation is a more appropriate descriptor. 

The fundamental issue that emerges is whether the goal of managing traffic should be to move vehicles or move people. A tram with a couple of cars would have the capacity to move 100 people compared with the one or two that an SUV – India’s fastest growing vehicle category – would be likely to carry. 

Also read: Protests, Requests and Suggestions: Citizens React as Bengal Govt Discontinues Kolkata’s Iconic Tram

Setting the arguments for and against as background, the following is the current status around the trams of Kolkata:

  • At the C40 World Mayors Summit held in Copenhagen in October 2019, Firhad Hakim, mayor of Kolkata, while accepting the award given to his city for the best “Green Mobility” project (the winner among 100 cities worldwide), proudly described the city’s plans for electric mobility as indicative of how Kolkata planned to improve its climate resilience. Kolkata’s trams, therefore, have policy and – presumably – financial commitment for a role in the city’s future transport plans.
  • The Calcutta high court is seized of the matter with two public interest cases having been filed. In response to a public interest litigation filed in May 2023 by the non-governmental organisation PUBLIC (People United for Better Living in Calcutta) the court stopped the attempt by the state to bitumenise tram tracks and forbade dismantling of tram tracks by the state.
  • Similarly, while hearing a second PIL that had been filed in the same court, it was noted by the bench presided over by the Chief Justice that “there is no definite policy decision taken by the government to scrap the entire tramways in the city of Kolkata.” Exhorting the government to assess the tram system with “independent minds” sensitive to the heritage and culture of the city, the court set up a committee that would look at ways to “restore, maintain and preserve” tram services in the city of Kolkata.

The current status, therefore, is that the Calcutta high court will decide the fate of Kolkata’s trams based on the report of the committee it has appointed. Although this committee may not have the expertise to assess the future public transport needs and strategies for Kolkata, the city has shown determination and tenacity – heart and hardheadedness as residents puts it – when it addresses the problems it must deal with. 

It is likely that trams will stay on track.

Five Die at Air Force’s Anniversary Show at Chennai’s Marina Beach

The Tamil Nadu government has ruled out crowd mismanagement as the cause for the deaths.

New Delhi: Five people died and many had to be hospitalised at what has been variously described as a stampede and the effect of heat at an airshow by the Indian Air Force at Chennai’s Marina Beach on October 6. The Tamil Nadu government has ruled out crowd mismanagement as the cause for the deaths.

News reports say that between 12 and 15 lakh people attended the celebrations to mark the IAF’s 92nd anniversary.

It was the first such event in Chennai in two decades, said Indian Express, and the size of the crowds surprised organisers and authorities.

Late on October 6, five deaths had been confirmed and 40 people were in hospitals, according to the report. “Over 150 people have received first aid in various parts of the city due to the dehydration and stress they faced,” a senior official told Express.

The Hindu reported that as people thronged the Marina Beach from early in the morning, buses, trains and the Metro were crowded. There was a gridlock all around the beach and people waited in the scorching sun.

When the event ended at 1 pm, after significant displays by the IAF, there was again a rush as people tried to leave.

The Tamil Nadu government in a press statement said that the deaths were not related to crowd mismanagement. “No one died in the crowd. No deaths are related to crowd or mismanagement,” it said.

The News Minute has reported that ruling party DMK’s spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai has said that the issue was being politicised and because it was an event conducted by the Union government, its role in organising the event should be questioned.

 

Will the Supreme Court Manage to Stop Assam’s Transformation Into an Eviction State?

Many feel that Himanta Biswa Sarma’s efforts to politicise eviction and bulldozer drives will not let up before the 2026 assembly polls.

Guwahati: The Supreme Court’s order on September 30 on Assam’s demolitions and its contempt of court notice against the Himanta Biswa Sarma government’s bulldozer drive have come as relief to some in the state. But many wonder if Sarma’s relentless pitting of indigenous residents against purported Bangladeshi immigrants will let up ahead of the 2026 Assam assembly polls.

On September 9, government officials and police from the Kamrup (metropolitan) district administration arrived at Kachutoli village in Sonapur about 20 kilometres from the city. Kachutoli is home to around 150 families, mostly Bengali Muslims. Most of them were evicted from their houses over the claim that they were encroaching upon 100 bighas of government land.

According to Sonapur Circle Officer Nitul Khatanair, as per a The Times of India report on September 10, under the Sonapur Revenue Circle there are 145 villages out of which 122 villages are under the tribal belt. Officials also cited that three villages namely Kachutoli Pathar, Chamta Pathar, and Burni have been encroached upon by people belonging to the non-protected classes.

Kachutoli Pathar comes within the South Kamrup (Guwahati) Tribal Belt, which was formed with a notification (Letter No. RD/74/46/172 dated February 27, 1950) by the then government, encompassing around 301,104 bighas of land and 236 villages under the Sonapur, Palashbari and Chandrapur Revenue Circles.

Tribal belt areas have a majority of local indigenous and other backward communities which were notified under the Chapter 10 of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act of 1886. This act was amended in 1947.

To protect the land interests of these communities from illegal encroachers by other groups was the intention of the Act.

In Sonapur, the Karbi tribe is predominant. Other tribal communities like Bodos and Sonowal-Kachari are also present along with Nepalis and tea-tribe communities.

After the September 9 visit by officials and police, the houses of locals dubbed ‘illegal settlers’ were marked with red tape, creating panic over a possible demolition. On September 12, violence broke out between villagers and the police, allegedly when the authorities damaged the villagers’ granary with a bulldozer.

Police are learned to have fired on the crowd. Two Muslim men, Haider Ali and 19-year-old Zubahir Ali, died. Thirty people – both villagers and district administration officials – were injured.

Mainstream news reports decried a ‘land jihad’ – an imaginary conspiracy by Muslim settlers from Bangladesh to occupy land.

This was amplified by Sarma himself who said that “the settlers’ slogans resembled those used in Bangladesh during the August political unrest there”.

Also read: The Communal Politics of Evictions in Assam

On September 13, Assam’s director general of police, G.P. Singh, visited the spot and told reporters that an investigation was underway.

September 16 was fixed as a deadline for the villagers at Kachutoli to vacate their homes. Most left and the village was almost emptied.

Post evictions, around 47 affected families approached the Supreme Court by filing a contempt petition seeking proceedings against officials involved in the eviction drive for “wilful violation of the Court’s interim order dated September 17, 2024.”

On September 17 the apex court had said, “Till next date there shall be no demolitions without seeking leave of this court. However, such order would not be applicable for unauthorised constructions on public streets, footpaths, abutting railway lines or public spaces.”

The petition also mentioned a previous order of September 20 passed by the Gauhati high court. Back then the Advocate General of Assam in an undertaking had said that “no action would be taken against the petitioners until their representations were disposed of”.

The petition noted:

“They were not given any opportunity to defend themselves, and the lack of notice has deprived them of their homes and livelihoods, in violation of their rights under Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution.

The petition, according to a Bar and Bench report published on September 30 cited that the demolition order violates the principles of natural justice and the right to a fair hearing.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan “while issuing notice returnable within three weeks, also ordered that the status quo shall be maintained in the meantime.”

The court directed that “no demolition shall take place across the country without the court’s prior permission.”

On October 1 The Hindu reported that the “Supreme Court will lay down guidelines for all citizens on the issue of demolition of properties and reserved its verdict on pleas which have alleged that properties, including of those accused of crime, were being demolished in several states.”

The petitioners claimed that “they were living on the land by virtue of power of attorney agreements executed by the original pattadars (landholders). While they do not claim ownership of the land, they contend that their occupation is legally valid and recognized by these agreements.”

A.R. Bhuyan, a Guwahati-based advocate who represented the Kachutoli Pathar victims, told The Wire, “The case was taken up on humanitarian grounds looking at the financial woes of the victims and their present. I want to say that in Sarma’s Assam there are rights for animals but not for humans. This is a deliberate and intentional move by the BJP against Muslims.”

Bhuyan highlighted that evicted people have no place to live in. “On September 29, a 27-year-old man was looking for shelter after eviction. He was wandering in the Morigaon district when he was killed by a stray rhinoceros. Such evictions must stop. These are acts of inhumanity.”

Many evictees have tried to live among the debris of their destroyed homes.

Ainuddin Ahmed, adviser of the All-Assam Muslim Students’ Union (AAMSU) told The Wire, “If evictions have to be carried out it should be based upon proper discussion and by following of laid down guidelines. Focus must be on women and children. But nothing of that sort has happened. Sarma should observe his Raj Dharma.”

On September 25, The Indian Express reported on “[a]nother eviction drive in Goalpara district, where 450 families, accounting for around 2,000 people, were evicted. According to officials, they were illegally occupying 55 hectares of the 118-hectare Bandarmatha Reserve Forest, and that the eviction exercise had been carried out in line with a Gauhati High Court order to clear all protected forest areas in Goalpara – a hotspot of man-elephant conflict – from encroachment.”

Akash Doley the chief organising secretary of the central committee of KMSS, a farmers’ organisation, and a resident of Sonapur told The Wire that he found that a few settlers at Kachutoli had land deeds and revenue papers dating back to 1923 and 1950.

“Since the BJP came to power in Assam in 2016 the Bengali-speaking Muslim community has been at the receiving end of communal politics. They are targets for evictions as evictions itself are a political tool,” said Doley.

Doley said that Sarma is keen to retain tribal votes. “Most of the tribal groups support Sarma thanks to delimitation. There is also a good chunk of Bengali-Hindu populace who are mostly Schedule Castes. Previously Sonapur was under the Dispur constituency but after delimitation it has become a SC seat instead of Schedule Tribe,” he added.

Almost two years ago, in September 2021, the Dhalpur eviction drive made news when footage emerged of a local cameraperson stomping on the body of 33-year-old Moinul Haque, who had been shot dead by police. Almost six hundred Muslim families lost their homes.

In this cartoon by Nituparna Rajbongshi, there is a play on the word ‘cameraman’ in Assamese. It is written as ‘ca-mora-man (mora means dead in Assamese).’

On May 21 of this year over 500 families were evicted for an agricultural project at Gorukhuti.

A Times of India report published on May 22 said, “A total of 1750 families out of a total of over 2300 families who were illegally occupying the land received one bigha of land each at Magurmari, Moirabari, Shyampur and Kalaigaon in the district.”

Debabrata Saikia, the leader of opposition at the state assembly told this reporter that the evictions are a political stunt to polarise votes ahead of the 2026 polls. “It is a show to tell the people of Assam that Sarma’s government is working and delivering. The Supreme Court’s order on September 30 is proof that it has taken cognisance of the issue. He has been doing this since 2016. The government had to compensate and rehabilitate the evictees according to the court’s direction.”

In May 2022, at Silsako in Guwahati, nearly 100 Assamese and other ethnic communities suddenly found themselves declared encroachers and were evicted to enforce the Water Bodies Act, 2008, which aims to make Guwahati “flood-free”.

Similar drives evicted 300 families in February 27, 2023, and some others in September 2023.

Also read: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s Numbers on Assam’s Muslim Population ‘Rise’ are Wrong, Driven by Political Expediency

The motive was to free over 150 bighas of land allegedly encroached upon. Since Silsako is a beel or a natural waterbody, it needed to be protected, the government said.

The Wire reached out to Gayatri Bori of Silsako Paror Ussed Pratiruddhi Raej, a collective of some Silsako evictees, whose house was demolished.

“During a meeting with Sarma on September 8 we demanded that we should be given the total land value or land for land. He tried to assure us and told us that he will look at it…But the state administration should have done background checks and proper guidelines should have been followed. The government has pushed us back by 50 years,” said Bori, who now lives in a rented house with her family.

On September 8 the Assam Tribune reported, “Sarma guaranteed the affected families of financial compensation in the tune of Rs 10 lakh for those with RCC constructions, Rs 5 lakh for Assam-type houses, and Rs 1 lakh for Kaccha houses.”

Akhil Ranjan Dutta, professor of political science at Gauhati University told The Wire that the government needs to follow the letter of the law in evictions. “One cannot be deprived of the rights protected by law even when one is evicted for alleged encroachment.”

Echoing this train of thought, Suprakash Talukdar, state secretary CPI(M)’s Assam state committee said, “Eviction has definitely been used as a political tool in Assam. The BJP here has selectively targeted Muslims, particularly those of Bengali origin, for ruthless eviction. Their aim is to polarise based on religion, centring on the issue of eviction.”

Other instances include the September 2016 drive at Bandardubi in Nagaon district carried out as a result of BJP leader Mrinal Saikia’s petition at Gauhati high court alleging that the village was situated in a buffer zone, and to stop the poaching of the one-horned rhinoceros as the area was close to the NH-37 near the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. Two persons died in a stampede caused by the eviction.

Around 300-plus houses were demolished, and around 1500 people were evicted from the villages of Deosursang, Palkhowa and with Bandardubi with the majority of the evictees being Bengali Muslims.

In November 2022, an eviction was carried out at Lumding reserve forest in Hojai and around 500 families lost their houses to clear 5,000 hectares of land.

On December 19, 2022, another eviction drive was seen at Batadrava also in Nagaon district, to clear 1,000 bighas of land in the presence of around 700 hundred police personal from Assam Police and CRPF. Three hundred people lost their homes.

“Settlements in floodplains and valleys surrounding the riverine plains often transcend fixities of location. Can a bulldozer become a symbol of ‘just’ order in such a milieu?” asked Gorky Chakraborty, associate professor, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata.

Remembering Charles Correa’s ‘Architecture for Argument’ Plans

On several occasions in his career as an architect, Correa would encounter resistance with ideas that pushed the envelope of public acceptance, whether in his additions to Rajghat, or providing for the homeless on the streets of Bombay.

The following is an excerpt from Charles Correa: Citizen Charles (Niyogi Books, 2024), the first biography to be written on the architect, urban planner and film-maker.

In 1973, Charles Correa prepared a proposal for an alternate residence for the Prime Minister of India. Located in Mehrauli, Delhi, this new second home, or retreat was intended to function as an Indian ‘Camp David’. This would be a contemplative space, where the Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi, at the time) could convene with Heads of State for more informal (and perhaps more significant) parleys, about the country and
the world.

Charles Correa: Citizen Charles, Mustansir Dalvi, Niyogi Books, 2024.

Here he chose to rework an un-built design for a farmhouse for the Sen Family in Kolkata, by arranging a range of ‘caves’ or cells around a square courtyard, recalling a Buddhist Vihara, or the cloisters of a Gothic Cathedral, but built with the simplest of Indian materials, mud and bamboo. This frugality was an indicator to visitors about the importance of simple living and high thinking, and also a demonstration of how an important government edifice can relate with village homes, and those of the poorest of the poor in the country.

‘The fall-out,’ Correa wrote, ‘from such a project would be manifold:

a. It would perhaps be a more realistic place to come to grips with India’s problems than the corridors of Imperial Delhi.

b. It would create the ideal “ambience” for a think-tank.

c. It would give the state visitors a unique and unforgettable experience of India.’

While the cells were private spaces or suites, it was important that the dignitaries should emerge into the enclosed square courtyard for their important confabulations. The courtyard, for Correa was at once a primal image/space, as much as a viable contemporary place for a variety of functions. Correa hoped this building would act as a role-model, or ‘a catalyst, in introducing into our society a much simpler way of life.’ In many ways, this design was reminiscent of the Gandhian principles which had informed his work at the Sanghrahalaya. The manner of building envisaged, with local construction materials and labour, also mirrors the honest labour of cottage industry, of which Gandhi was a lifelong advocate.

Sketch on page no. 34, Archaeology Museum, Bhopal (1985): copyright Charles Correa Associates, courtesy Charles Correa Foundation.

It is unclear whether this proposal was appreciated by those in power, but it remained on paper, a building as an idea. Was Correa expecting too much of the ruling establishment two decades after Independence? That they would still follow the path of the Father of the Nation? Was there a certain naïveté to his vision?

On several occasions in his career as an architect, Correa would encounter resistance with ideas that pushed the envelope of public acceptance, whether in his additions to Rajghat, or providing for the homeless on the streets of Bombay, or indeed his proposal for what should be built at the disputed site at Ayodhya, after the Babri Masjid was wantonly demolished in 1992.

Deeply secular, Correa was disturbed enough by the events in India in 1992-93, particularly the communal bloodletting in Bombay, to offer a proposal for peace through architecture – an alternative for the disputed site at Ayodhya, where once the Babri Masjid had stood.

He sought to unite fractured minds through an ‘un-building’, and chose a primordial form that sank a few levels into the earth, rather than rise up to monumentality and aggression. This design, too was about landscaping and climate as much as architecture. Through this, he conveyed an ‘architectonic symbolism,’ which showed how much all religions have in common.

Sketch on page no. 108, Planning for Bombay (1964): copyright Charles Correa Associates, courtesy Charles Correa Foundation
‘Bombay, originally was the finest of things: a city on the water. From this grew its character.’ – Charles M. Correa, Pravina Mehta & Shirish B. Patel, ‘A Master Plan for Bombay,’ The Times of India, March 29, 1964.

This space, with a plan that was formed by a cross overlaid on a square, sank like a stepped-well, like the kund at Modhera. But at the same time, its empty centre reminded the observer of a Mughal Charbagh, with the water-fountain at its centre. The ‘axis mundi’ rose intangibly from its centre recalling a Buddhist stupa, the oculus of the Roman Pantheon, and the Bramha-sthan of the Vedic vastu-purusha-mandala. By not building, the un-manifest was made manifest. This entirely outdoor project would bring people of all faiths together into the bright light of day, and soothe their brows with breeze cooled by a central water-body.

In the proposal for Ayodhya, like the design for the PM’s think-tank, we see Correa’s ‘architecture as argument’, not necessarily intended for building, but for provoking discussion, and perhaps changing our ways of seeing. In both projects, the courtyard begins as a climatic device and then starts to garner a deeper signification as an empty centre, devoid of form but full of possibilities.

Mustansir Dalvi teaches architecture in Mumbai. A PhD from IIT-Bombay, Dalvi is also a published poet and translator.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.