The authors attempt to establish relationship between critical philosophies and contemporary architecture & urbanism, through examining the social, cultural, geographical and historical manifestation of architecture. This website and blog attempts to reach out to architecture, urban patrons, share views and seeks to expand into a larger area of critical writing on architectural trends in India. The blogs navigate the paradigmatic arguments through various disciplinary discourses related to architecture and urbanism, emphasizing the issues and trends in the Indian context specifically to establish terrain knowledge based on experimentations
Manoj Parmar holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in (Urban Design). Prior to starting his practice in 1991 he worked briefly in USA. He has been practicing (MPA Designs) & teaching in KRVIA Mumbai since 1992. His academic interests include theoretical writings on Architecture and Urbanism. He has worked on numerous private and public housing/ institutional commissions across the country. He has been actively involved in re-development of Housing projects across the city of Mumbai. His key projects are also executed in Dubai, Malaysia and Singapore. He has been part of Urban Design Team Development guidelines for Slum redevelopment in the Northern Suburb of Mumbai. He has presented his work at young architect’s forum at UDRI & CEPT University.
He has contributed chapter writing (co-author) on “Unraveling Redevelopment” in book “Trends & Issues in Housing in Asia” published by Routledge, UK. He has also presented papers on “Synchromesh Urbanism” and “Planning for Informality as a co-author in international conferences “Entrepreneur Urbanism” in Hong Kong in 2017 and “EBQL” in Egypt in 2018.
He has co-authored and published a book (Routledge, UK) titled “Smart City in India, Laboratory, Trajectory or Paradigm” in 2019 & Resilience and Southern Urbanism, Towards New Paradigm in 2022. The authors were invited to discuss the book at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, University of Twente, Netherlands, Queens University, Belfast, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas, Elpasso.
Dr. Binti Singh is an urban sociologist and holds a Ph.D. (in urban studies) and an M.Phil. (in Planning and Development) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay), Mumbai, India. She has contributed to several peer reviewed academic and research journals and edited books. Some of the recent ones include (2019) Social Media, Cultural Activism and Place-making in Contemporary Lucknow. Society and Culture in South Asia, Sage Publications 5(1), 1–18. (https://bit.ly/2A6eIyk andhttps://bit.ly/2UcFLAj);
(2019) Book Chapter: Citizens, Spatial Practices and Resurrection of the Idea of Place in Contemporary Lucknow in Sarah Pinto, Bernadette Walker-Gibbs, Shelley Hannigan, Emma Charlton (Eds) Unsettling Space and Place, Springer, Singapore;
(2017) Book Chapter: Unravelling Redevelopment in the Megacity Context of India: The case of Mumbai (co-author Manoj Parmar) in Edited book: Coming Of An Age: Trends And Issues In Housing In Asia, Routledge, UK.
She has coedited a special issue on Urban Affairs in the current edition (July 2019) of the Indian Anthropologist with Prof D Parthasarathy, of IIT Bombay.
(2018) The Saga of our Inner Cities in Business World Smart Cities https://bit.ly/2uqATfE
(2018) Peri Urban Reality in India in Business World Smart Cities
Her articles have also featured in Domus India-
(2020) Urban Form and Smart Urbanism
https://www.magzter.com/article/Architecture/Domus-India/Urban-Form-and-Smart-Urbanism
(2018) Ethnography, Place and Place Making
(2018) City Renewal, Urban Restructuring and Housing
and in KNN India and smart city portals like EletsEGov.
and in KNN India and smart city portals like EletsEGov.
(2018) City Renewal, Urban Restructuring and Housing
https://bit.ly/2Ta06F6,and in KNN India and smart city portals like EletsEGov.
Her articles have also featured in Domus India-
(2020) Urban Form and Smart Urbanism
https://www.magzter.com/article/Architecture/Domus-India/Urban-Form-and-Smart-Urbanism
(2018) Ethnography, Place and Place Making
(2018) City Renewal, Urban Restructuring and Housing
and in KNN India and smart city portals like EletsEGov.
Her articles have also featured in Domus India-
(2020) Urban Form and Smart Urbanism
https://www.magzter.com/article/Architecture/Domus-India/Urban-Form-and-Smart-Urbanism
(2018) Ethnography, Place and Place Making
(2018) City Renewal, Urban Restructuring and Housing
and in KNN India and smart city portals like EletsEGov.
She has been invited to be part of the core team of the Oxford Urbanists, a global think tank, as Associate ditorhttps://www.oxfordurbanists.com/core-team. Her contribution can be found in the link
She has disseminated her research in numerous national and international conferences. Her recent international conference contributions include: (2018) Integrating Design and Planning in Informal Settlements Working Towards Resilience in Gazdar Bandh Slum in Mumbai (co-author Manoj Parmar), Springer, IEREK Conference on Environmental Efficiency for Human Well Being, Cairo, Egypt, 14 December (https://bit.ly/2IrCxlE)
(2017) Synchromesh Urbanism- street economies in Mumbai (co-author Manoj Parmar), at the 10th International Forum on Urbanism- The Entrepreneurial City, School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 14th December. She is guest columnist with the Business World Smart Cities magazine. Her prominent guest columns are:
(May 2020) What Happened to our Great Cities? in Business World Smart Cities http://bwsmartcities.businessworld.in/article/What-Happened-to-Our-Great-Cities-/18-05-2020-192455/
(May 2019) Climate Change Risks and Cities: The Need for Climate Action Plans in Business World Smart Cities
(February 2019) Post Industrial City, Immaterial Labour And Cultural Industries
http://bwsmartcities.businessworld.in/article/Post-Industrial – City -Immaterial – Labour – And – Cultural-Industries/10-02-2019-167016/
(January 2019) Rethinking Urban Mobility With Alternative Experiments http://bwsmartcities.businessworld.in/article/Rethinking-Urban-Mobility-With-Alternative-Experiments/07-01-2019-165882/
She speaks at multiple forums including government, non-government, and corporates. Of late she has been very active in Smart City Forums and Summits and brings in a social science perspective to the current narrative on smart cities in India.Her current research engages with questions on Inclusion, sustainability, urban trends and urban theory. She has lived in diverse cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Yokohama (Japan) and Lucknow and has written a lot about them.
She has authored three books Culture, Place, Branding and Activism which is an ethnographic study on Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh
She is currently faculty at KRVIA, Mumbai and engaged in diverse international research programs like Building Resilient Urban Communities/BREUCOM supported by the European Union and academic collaborations with international universities.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/9383419687/ref=rdr_ext_tmb; The Divided City Ideological and Policy Contestations in Contemporary Urban India (co-authored with Dr MahendraSethi) https://www.amazon.com/Divided-City-Ideological-Contestations-Contemporary/dp/9813226978both published in 2018.Her third book Smart City in India: Laboratory, Paradigm or Trajectory? (co-authored with Manoj Parmar) Routledge UK https://www.routledge.com/Smart-City-in-India-Urban-Laboratory-Paradigm-or-Trajectory-1st-Edition/Singh-Parmar/p/book/9780367374044 was published in November 2019 and was widely discussed including at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK; ITC University of Twente Netherlands and the Alliance Francaise and the Kala Ghoda festival in Mumbai.All books are available at Amazon.com and other portals.
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