Utopia

The Perfect Future Indian City

Introduction
Over the coming half century, India’s urban population is expected to increase from a little
over 300 million to about 800 million and account for more than half of its total population.
India will make a historic transition from a largely rural and agrarian society to one that is
predominantly urban. This will be more than just an economic transition. It will result in the
transformation of Indian society, culture, natural and built environments and politics.
This massive population shift will result in an explosion in the demand for livelihoods; for
more urban space, housing and services; for improved governance; and for a new politics –
on a scale that no democracy has ever confronted in history.
The future of India will hinge on these challenges being handled with wisdom and alacrity.
This could tilt the balance towards a more secure, sustainable and prosperous global future.
Urbanization is certainly the single most important thing that is happening in our country.
The task before us is not just to cope with India’s urbanization but to ensure that our cities
are livable, secure and sustainable and provide a vibrant economic and social environment
that nurtures innovation and diversity. This will both attract global players and provide
domestic enterprise a strong platform to compete globally.
Within the context of an emerging Asian world order, India demonstrates typical and unique
value systems. The pursuit of opulence, needing to be maintained by ever-increasing
resources, is replaced by the creation of abundance. Less does more. A small ecological
footprint rather than wasteful consumption creates collaboration with nature. The attitude
is symbiotic rather than antibiotic, aiming for fulfillment rather than blind achievement.
The challenge that is being thrown is: what will the Utopian Indian City be like? What will it
look like, and how will it work, on what resources will it run? How will it be beyond what
we call world-class today?

Program
Select an Indian urban area with a minimum population of 100,000 people. You can pick up
any given real urban area; it need not be a live redevelopment project. Clearly think and
state reasons for selection of the area and logic for the boundaries.
Plan this area in aspects that you figure will be the key to the ideal city over a period of 20
years, for 2030: the population and the work they do, the food and energy, the water and
waste, the open and built spaces, the moving of goods and people, equity and justice, the
cooling and the lighting, and anything else that you feel may be relevant to the situation.
Identify the top five goals to be met.
Vision the future of this area in 2030, once as if nothing were to change (Business as Usual),
and once as you vision it could be (Utopian). Remember, this competition will be judging
you on vision and comprehensiveness, so you can be idealistic, you need not work on the

   
 
details of actual planning, block by block. Instead, we would like to see how the future of
urban India is envisioned by young architects.
It would be appreciated if the vision seems practical in terms of its realization, so it would
be necessary not just to describe the end state but also the process of getting there in a
plausibly manageable framework of the economy.

Judging criteria
1. How sensible is the choice of the area?
2. How creative, or creatively developed, is the work?
3. Would the work be clear to a broad audience?
4. How does the work rank in terms of style?
5. How well presented is the work?
6. How well developed is the content of the vision?
7. How well chosen are the parameters and goals to be met?
8. How visionary are the projections and scenarios built up?
9. How realistic are the two scenarios?
10. Two criteria: How sustainable is the Utopian scenario?
11. How much research seems to have informed the plan?
12. How well argued is the work?
13. How realizable is the vision?
14. How well does the plan address risk and uncertainty?
15. How self-reflective is the work?
16. How nationally and socially significant is the vision?
17. Is the work centered in Indian reality?
18. What is the potential for developing this work into a strong research thesis?
19. Any other according to individual jurors, or a general score for the overall
proposal.
Each criterion will be given a score of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest
The minimum eligibility for criteria 10 (double criteria) shall be 7 marks.

Submission Requirements:
• Panel: One 8’ x 4’ panel will be provided
• Presentation: Maximum number of sheets not to exceed 15 A1
This can either be in single panel format or part panel format

   
 
 • Single panel
This mode of presentation requires the entire 8’ x 4’ panel to be covered which
would be considered equivalent to 6 A1 sheets. The remaining 9 A1 sheets may be
overlaid on the panel. The Shape and size of the overlays on the single panel shall be
left to the discretion of the participants subject to each A1 (or part of) being
counted at one overlay.
• Part Panel
This presentation is possible in two forms either covering 2/3rd of the panel or
1/3rd
ƒ A 2/3rd panel would be considered equivalent to 4 A1 sheets, along with
which a maximum of 11 A1 sheets in a calendar and / or overlay format is
allowed.
ƒ A 1/3 rd panel would be considered equivalent to 2 A1 sheets, along with
which a maximum of 13 A1 sheets in a calendar and / or overlay format is
allowed.
• Each overlay (does not require a logo) would be considered as one A1 sheet
irrespective of the size not exceeding A1. (The overlay must be cut from an A1
sheet).
• No part of the presentation shall spill out the 8’ x 4’ panel.
• All individual sheets and panels shall have NASA logo.
• Scale models are not allowed.
• Two identical copies of a Report (hard bound) not exceeding 20 A4 pages that give
an entire overview of the project should accompany the submission. The report
should feature the NASA logo appropriately on the cover page and on each page of
the report. Both copies should contain the college code and name of the project on
the cover. However, only one copy should have the name of the College featured.
• Jury members shall shortlist the colleges for A.V. presentation. Time given for the
short listed entries shall not exceed 10 minutes. No college shall reveal its identity in
any manner either in sheets, reports or the presentation.
• 2 copies of the CD containing the soft copy (editable and non editable) of the entire
report, sheets and the A.V. Presentation must be submitted. One of these is for the
N.I.D.C. archives and the other for the use of the college in A.V. Presentation. Both
CDs should contain the college code and only one should mention the name of the
college.