Classic Indian texts and Vaastupurusha Mandala are not often discussed in the western discourse on urbanism, even while much of these predate the commonly taught European writings. This book sheds light on some of those forgotten concepts, thus making the lesser discussed classic Indian town organization ideas accessible to architecture, landscape, and urban planning students worldwide. The resonance of these concepts in present times are reviewed through case studies of select Hindu temple towns in India. Furthermore, the author underscores the formal abstraction of the classic Indian Mandala and transplants the discourse from sociology to socio-ecologically adept trans-disciplinary design thinking. The creative interpretations offer a premise to start revising classic models for current practice to influence the urbanism and ecology of a place in accordance with the changing climate.

Classic Indian texts and Vaastupurusha Mandala are not often discussed in the western discourse on urbanism, even while much of these predate the commonly taught European writings. This book sheds light on some of those forgotten concepts, thus making the lesser discussed classic Indian town organization ideas accessible to architecture, landscape, and urban planning students worldwide. The resonance of these concepts in present times are reviewed through case studies of select Hindu temple towns in India. Furthermore, the author underscores the formal abstraction of the classic Indian Mandala and transplants the discourse from sociology to socio-ecologically adept trans-disciplinary design thinking. The creative interpretations offer a premise to start revising classic models for current practice to influence the urbanism and ecology of a place in accordance with the changing climate.

Guest-edited by Marcus White and Jane Burry Cities are facing several coinciding global crises. There is the dominant existential narrative of the impact of and adaptation to climate change, itself powered by cities. In a time of unprecedented urbanisation and growth, resilient architecture and urbanism is needed in response. New modes of transport, renewed anxiety about robots taking jobs, AI, and the humbling recent experience of a global pandemic are all challenging norms and expectations. All of these are forces of social division, all are changing life experience, evoking strong-arm politics, and giving a sense of teetering between radically different possible futures. This is a story about reclaiming the urban design narrative and being alert to the potential impacts of socio-technical decision-making and design in cities. It is a story for its time. The issue explores the dichotomy of idealised visions for the design of urban settlements and the potentially shocking realities that may emerge from the same impulses and intentions. It examines the slippery territory between utopias and some of the ensuing dystopias that may unfold. Contributors: Tridib Banerjee, Daniele Belleri and Carlo Ratti, Steve Glackin, Justyna Karakiewicz, Nano Langenheim and Kongjian Yu, Mehrnoush Latifi, Andong Lu, Dan Nyandega, Jordi Oliveras, Kas Oosterhuis, Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, Ian Woodcock, and Tianyi Yang. Featured architects: Carlo Ratti Associati, ecoLogicStudio, Harrison and White, and Turenscape.

In Landscapes in India, Amita Sinha shows that landscapes can be read like languages, as arrangements of symbols that reveal cultural values. South Asian landscapes'rich with formalized symbols, from the Cosmic Tree in Buddhist landscapes to cities patterned on mandalas'offer a training ground for reading landscapes everywhere. In a readable narrative heavily illustrated with spectacular color photographs, Sinha introduces readers to sacred and secular landscapes, identifying archetypal forms that have evolved over millennia. According to Sinha, landscape symbols express all that a culture holds dear and externalize deeply felt emotions'of security, kinship, and relationship with the divine. Architects, landscape architects, and planners will rely on this beautiful book's idation of archetypal forms and how they co-evolve with nature and culture. Landscapes in India also offers fresh perspectives for travelers and readers interested in geography, anthropology, and religion.