Y.S. RANA, CHANDIGARH-Once Aristotle , a great political thinker said that man is a social animal. However, he certainly might not have imagined that it would turn drastically different with the start of mega cities and now the word ‘social’ is missing. Cities have though provided us comforts yet also alienated us socially. Making of city is an attempt to unmaking of humanity. It comes to fore in a symposium titled “The Making of city and the unmaking of Humanity” held at Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10-C here on Saturday. The event was organized by the First Friday Forum (Regd) for the architects, by the architects and of the architects.
Besides renowned architects of Chandigarh, students of department of Architect, Maharaja Agarsen University, Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) have participated in large number. Ar Renu Khann was the chief guest of the event.
Dr S.S Bhatti, founder, First Friday Forum and former principal of the College of Architect, Chandigarh, delivered the theme-oration. He pointed out that politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and citizens were together responsible for turning the city into a shanty town. “A city supposed to civilize the inhabitants has rapidly become a den of crimes as nobody bothered about the rapid decay of modern urbanism,” he said. Every change has been brought out only by technology but as usual credit went to politicians or bureaucrats, he said.
While speaking on the occasion, Ar Renu Khanna said that Le Corbusier planned Chandigarh for our physical needs but it was high time we should Indianize our cities and cater to mental, psychological and sociological needs. She has also pointed out that planners have failed in providing some compulsive socially interactive spaces in each sector where people of all walks of life could sit together and share their joys and sorrows together and find solutions to the problems. While talking to Daily Post she admitted that making of cities has resulted in unmaking of humanity. Even one did not know what has happened in his neighbourhood because in city life we have lost humane touch, she added.
She also called upon the planners of the future to keep this idea in mind while designing urban planning. On the other, Ar Jit Gupta, Sahara Prime City Limited, Chandigarh said that city governance should be more transparent and community responsive. Prof Aradhana Jindal, Principal, MM School of Architecture, Sadopur (Ambala) said that a non-oppressive environment could be realized only when human consciousness was awakened to bring about balance in economic, social, built and natural assets.
On the occasion, six professionals were honoured with First Friday Forum awards for Creative Excellence for their outstanding contributions in their respective fields. Neerja Babbar, Director, Architect Department, Maharaja Agarsen University, Baddi has been awarded for her contribution to architectural education. Zahid Abrol, Ravinder Singh, Yashinder Bahga, Deep Bhatia and Prof A.K Agarwal were also honoured.
Abhilasha Gupta and Divya Sirohiwall were given cash prize and commendation certificate for their entries for essays on “How to keep Chandigarh clean under PM Narendra Modi’ Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.”