Tents: Cities on the Move

Talk by Rahul Mehrotra, founder principal of RMA Architects; Professor of Urban Design and Planning, and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and &Urbanization, Graduate School of Design,  Harvard University; and Naman P. Ahuja, curator and Professor, School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University

A recent volume Marg provides fascinating documentation of the kumbh mela, the largest human habitational space erected every twelve years, alongside grand qanats and shamianas of the Mughals, Deccani sultans and Rajputs. The speakers will focus on how India’s rich history of tents can be positioned within a global context. In fact the characteristics of tents – their lightness, agility, adjustability, reversibility, and ephemerality – can inspire designers, academics, planners and policy makers in crafting an urban future which is more adaptable to negotiate the immense flux we face on the planet

(Collaboration: MARG)