Writing

FROM BILBAO BACK TO BHOPAL AND INTO THE FUTURE

Book Chapter

Published as "Place before Form, People before Profit: Reclaiming Venues of Art and Culture in the midst of Tourism-centered Reimaging of Cities" in "Re-imagining Spaces and Places: Interdisciplinary Essays on the Relationship between Identity, Space, and Place" I pp. 81-92 I Emerald Publishing I 2022

Traveling from Bilbao in Spain to Bhopal in India, this chapter expands on some of the events that led to an outburst of formally overstated and spatially sterile venues of art and culture in cities around the world, before starting or restarting conversations on reclaiming and reimagining such venues as open, inclusive, and pulsating public spaces embedded in the actual fabrics of cities – as important destinations for not only domestic and international tourists, but also local residents, including local artists and cultural workers.

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ARCHITECTS. WHERE DO WE LIVE?

Essay

Published as "South Asian Peninsula, Karachi" in "Falsework, Smalltalk: Political Education, Aesthetic Archives, and Recitations of a Future in Common" I pp. 324-326 I Some Beloved, Inc. I 2021

Should it really take a pandemic for us architects in South Asia to finally be able to see how unjust and inequitable our cities have become? While reassessment of our priorities, values, and ethics should have happened decades ago, we still have time to acknowledge our limitations, discover opportunities, and collaborate with public administrators, policy-makers, civil society organizations, and most importantly local communities to arrive at spatial solutions that foster social equity and environmental rehabilitation.

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ARCHITECTS AS URBANISTS _ KEEPING THE CITY FIRST

Journal Article

In "City: An Evolving Organism" I pp. 189-198 I THAAP Publications I 2018

Recognizing the many physical, social, and environmental benefits of public space, cities around the world are now looking to improve the quality of life for their citizens by providing adequate street space, parks, playgrounds, green areas, and other venues for recreation and sociability. In South Asian and Sub-Saharan African cities, however, such efforts are nowhere to be seen. Can architects in these two rapidly urbanizing regions come forward and contribute, with or without the support of city administrations?