My first trip to the south-western region and coast of India!
You may be wondering why I am so far away from my familiar state of Rajasthan, and I can tell you I was thinking the same thing. This opportunity arose because part of the program includes breaking into small groups and going to different areas all over India for one week. This allows us to concentrate on a particular topic within sustainable development and social change, while gaining more practical experience for our independent study projects. My initial instinct was to go to a rural area and learn about sustainable agriculture... But during the decision process something told me I should go to the Pune trip, which is a beautiful city south of Mumbai. The theme of this trip was the urban crisis in India and urban development. Our contact in Pune was one of our guest lecturers, Professor Parwar, who also is a Professor of Architecture at Cummins College of Engineering for Women. He set the schedule for us each day, which usually consisted of some educational lecture in the morning, interactions with the students and faculty, and then an excursion to different development sites in Pune. It was a very busy schedule, but we certainly did learn a lot about urban planning.
This trip was one of my most challenging weeks thus far, but it was also really rewarding. As I reflect on the week since returning to Jaipur, I do not regret my decision to go to Pune. I think I needed the challenge of quickly adapting to a new city and region of India, while getting a much more intimate look at the urban side of sustainable development. I was surprised at how different this region of India is compared to the north. The city of Pune was much more progressive. Many people were not dressed in traditional indian outfits, which is one of the first observations we all made. Second, the food is much spicier! It was also apparent that more women and younger people were out on the streets later into the night, which is unheard of in Jaipur. I think there are many variables involved in the differences between Pune and Jaipur, but it was eye-opening to observe and compare.
There are so many things I could say about urban development, but I will keep it to a few main thoughts. As we visited different development strategies in and around the city, I was sad to see the large influence western developers are having on Indian cities like Pune. Some developers are building neighborhoods and advertising them as an answer to the urban crisis, when in reality they do not provide any relief to this problem. Lavasa is a development in the mountains about an hour from Pune that is suppose to relieve the housing crisis, when really they are just selling second homes and vacation houses for the elite class. It is disappointing to see that developers are coming here and making the same mistakes and problems that they do in the states. However, I have a lot of hope that, although mistakes will be made, India can learn from western development and will successfully address their urban crisis. We also saw some success stories in the city and the slums. Although I learned a lot about the wrong way to develop, I also have a better understanding of what a successful alternative urban development could look like.
Well, sorry for the rant! I will cut myself off now.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week in Pune...
You may be wondering why I am so far away from my familiar state of Rajasthan, and I can tell you I was thinking the same thing. This opportunity arose because part of the program includes breaking into small groups and going to different areas all over India for one week. This allows us to concentrate on a particular topic within sustainable development and social change, while gaining more practical experience for our independent study projects. My initial instinct was to go to a rural area and learn about sustainable agriculture... But during the decision process something told me I should go to the Pune trip, which is a beautiful city south of Mumbai. The theme of this trip was the urban crisis in India and urban development. Our contact in Pune was one of our guest lecturers, Professor Parwar, who also is a Professor of Architecture at Cummins College of Engineering for Women. He set the schedule for us each day, which usually consisted of some educational lecture in the morning, interactions with the students and faculty, and then an excursion to different development sites in Pune. It was a very busy schedule, but we certainly did learn a lot about urban planning.
This trip was one of my most challenging weeks thus far, but it was also really rewarding. As I reflect on the week since returning to Jaipur, I do not regret my decision to go to Pune. I think I needed the challenge of quickly adapting to a new city and region of India, while getting a much more intimate look at the urban side of sustainable development. I was surprised at how different this region of India is compared to the north. The city of Pune was much more progressive. Many people were not dressed in traditional indian outfits, which is one of the first observations we all made. Second, the food is much spicier! It was also apparent that more women and younger people were out on the streets later into the night, which is unheard of in Jaipur. I think there are many variables involved in the differences between Pune and Jaipur, but it was eye-opening to observe and compare.
There are so many things I could say about urban development, but I will keep it to a few main thoughts. As we visited different development strategies in and around the city, I was sad to see the large influence western developers are having on Indian cities like Pune. Some developers are building neighborhoods and advertising them as an answer to the urban crisis, when in reality they do not provide any relief to this problem. Lavasa is a development in the mountains about an hour from Pune that is suppose to relieve the housing crisis, when really they are just selling second homes and vacation houses for the elite class. It is disappointing to see that developers are coming here and making the same mistakes and problems that they do in the states. However, I have a lot of hope that, although mistakes will be made, India can learn from western development and will successfully address their urban crisis. We also saw some success stories in the city and the slums. Although I learned a lot about the wrong way to develop, I also have a better understanding of what a successful alternative urban development could look like.
Well, sorry for the rant! I will cut myself off now.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week in Pune...
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| During our first day in Pune we went on a Heritage Walk to understand the architecture and history of the city. |
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| Professor Parwar orienting us to Pune (great shot of our program directors Awadhesh ji and Trilochan ji on the left) |
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| Visit to a Shiva ji temple on a hill overlooking the city of Pune. |
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| My first dam sighting in India. On the way to Lavasa, a western style development in the mountains. |
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| Jen and I making the most of our cramped car rides! |
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| Beautiful chalk drawing outside one of the Colleges we visited in Pune. |
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| One of my favorite temples in a mature slum development in Pune. |
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| This man had great style. Couldn't resist snapping a shot of him. |
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| A curious little girl in the neighborhood |
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| Looking out onto the Arabian sea in Mumbai! |
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| A few young musicians I met next to the Mumbai train station |
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