WORKSHOP SESSIONS
In order to organize a more participation based event, other than the speaker sessions, the conference over the two days has been structured to involve interactive workshop sessions moderated by national and international members of landscape and related design profession.The idea is to critically examine, discuss and deliberate each thematic through the two-day event, culminating in a presentation of the findings of each group. The aim of the three independent thematic workshops is to help examine the convergence of diverse and often conflicting dynamics of water and demands of society.
In an effort to address the issue of Water and Society, the workshops are oriiented around the theme of the conference has been classified into three sub themes. The three broad sub themes identified to inform design and planning oriented around the resource of water to address development paradigm, are as listed:
Water as Natural Resource
What is the role of Ecosystem services in planning? How does one collaborate the provisioning of urban services as a tool for contemporary urbanism? How can the notion of resilience be built into the current urban fabrics? What emerging policies should be built into the planning framework to better define the inter-relationships of natural systems and settlements? How valid is the idea of river linking being much discussed in the country today? Can these new strategies help in better defining landscape urbanism in the Indian context?
Water as a Socio-Cultural attribute
How does one value learnings from traditional water management systems? What are the ways in which these systems can be adapted for contemporary society? Does this reinforce or detract from current definitions of green infrastructure? What then is the difference between classical and contemporary green infrastructure? What role does social constructs play in defining the land – water interface? Are there new approaches to equate social demands and ecological necessities?
Water and Design
What innovations arise from the interplay between ecology and design (architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, etc.)? What are the aesthetics of technically formed landscapes? What spatial concepts use the products of the ecologists in urban and landscape restructuring? How proceeds the collaboration between design and ecology? What role does ecology play in design processes? Can these approaches be rated beyond superficialities?
The workshop mode is something that the ISOLA Bangalore Chapter is attempting to incorporate for the first time as part of the conference event. This has come about after a lot of discussions with fresh graduates and young professionals, who form the bulk of the profession today. A consistent response from this group was to have an opportunity to express their thoughts and ideas, which was difficult in the conventional format of events. The delegates have been asked to indicate their preference for their theme and based on this, the workshop groups have been formed, with about 30 participants each. A totla number of 9 (nine) workshops shall be conducted - three nos under each theme which shall be lead by a moderator.
WORKSHOP MODERATORS
Dr. Dilip da Cunha
Adjunct Professor, School of Design (PennDesign), University of Pennsylvania, USA
Dilip da Cunha is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Design (PennDesign) at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. He is also visiting faculty at Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology in Bangalore and Graduate School of Design, Harvard University in Cambridge. He is author with Anuradha Mathur of Mississippi Floods: Designing a Shifting Landscape (Yale University Press, 2001); Deccan Traverses: The Making of Bangalore's Terrain (Rupa, 2006); Soak: Mumbai in an Estuary (National Gallery of Modern Art / Rupa, 2009); and Design in the Terrain of Water (Applied Research & Design Publishing, 2014). He is currently in the process of completing a book titled The Invention of Rivers: Alexander’s Eye and Ganga’s Descent. Dilip holds a B. Arch from Bangalore University, Masters from the School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
Krishnachandran Balakrishnan
PhD candidate in Environmental Planning at University of California, Berkeley
Krishna is a PhD candidate in Environmental Planning at University of California, Berkeley. His doctoral research focuses on urban water management. He completed his undergraduate degree in Architecture from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from UC Berkeley.Since 2005, Krishna has been a director in the New Delhi based design studio S.P.A. Design Pvt. Ltd. Since 2010 he has also been collaborating with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements on various research and practice projects.
Anthony Acciavatti
Principal, Somatic Collaborative, New York, USA
Anthony Acciavatti is an architect, cartographer, and historian. He teaches at Columbia University in the City of New York and is a principal of the design firm Somatic Collaborative. He has spent the last decade hiking, driving, and boating across India’s Ganges River Basin in order to map it and to understand the growing conflicts over water for drinking, agriculture, and industry. The results of this field and archival work are published in his recent book, Ganges Water Machine: Designing New India’s Ancient River (2015) Along with the book, Ganges Water Machine is an internationally traveling exhibition.
Alejandro Echeverri
Director of URBAM, the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies at EAFIT University, Medellin, Colombia.
Alejandro believes in the ethical responsibility of designers towards our cities in contributing to a better society. He is cofounder and director of URBAM, the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies at EAFIT University, Medellin, Colombia. As the city's director of Urban Projects, he led the conceptualization and implementation of Social Urbanism strategy for the city's most impoverished areas. As a result of these efforts and the belief in the power of design, Medellin is now considered a blueprint for the future of other cities in the developing world. He is also active in design through his studio, Alejandro Echeverri + Valencia Arquitectos, focusing on projects with low environmental impact. His work has earned him the Colombian National Architectural Award, SCA in 1996, the Pan-American Biennale in Urban Design Award 2008, the Curry Stone Design Prize in 2009, the 10th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design from Harvard in 2013, among others.
Dr. Shishir R Raval
PhD in Landscape Architecture and MS in Natural Resources Management from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA ; MLA (Master of Landscape Architecture) from School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, India,
Since 1982, Dr. Shishir R. Råval has been active in the profession and academia in India and the USA. He has experience of working on projects of various scales in wilderness, rural, and urban settings.His writings have been published in books, academic journals, proceedings, and magazines. His quest for a research-based, critical, creative, participatory, and reflective practice in Landscape Architecture - Ecological Planning is informed and inspired by Ecological Sciences, Environmental Psychology, Ethics, traditional and scientific knowledge systems, and serendipity. Since 1998, Dr. Råval has been involved with the Vishwåmitri River as initiator and founding member-volunteer of “Vision Vishwåmtri”, “Vaho Vishwåmitri” (“flow Vishwåmitri”), and VRAT —all peoples’ movements designed to regenerate River Vishwåmitr.
Shubhada Kamalapurkar
Professor and Academic Head, Former Head of Department of Landscape Architecture, BNCA, Pune
Shubhada Kamalapurkar is Founder and Former Head of Department of Landscape Architecture of B N College of Architecture , Pune (2006-2015). One of the Founder Member of BNCA and having taught for 22 years, she is Professor and Academic Head of BNCA having strength of 750+ students .She is recipient of CNN-IBN Lokmat Sakhi Gaurav Puraskar , 2011 and Best Teacher Award for the subject of Landscape design by Maharashtra Association of Schools of Architecture ,2014; an appreciation for her innovations and scaling new dimensions through teaching and conduct of M.Arch (Landscape Architecture).She is pursuing Ph.D in Architecture at SPPU, Pune in overlapping areas of Heritage conservation, Landscape Planning, Sociology and Tourism.
Dr.Fabio Masi
Technical Director, R&D Manager, IRIDRA Srl, Florence, Italy
Fabio is Technical Director, R&D Manager of the Italian engineering company IRIDRA Srl, since 1998 and Vice-President of Global Wetland Technology (companies association) since 2012. His background is a PhD in Environmental Sciences and a MSc in Environmental Chemistry. He is currently the Chair of the IWA SG on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control. He is the project co-author for over 350 Designs of Constructed Wetlands worldwide. He has been consulting for Sustainable Water Management projects in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. He is currently involved in EC funded projects in the FP7, ENPI-CBCMED, Interreg and Life+ programs.
Tency Baetens
Co-founder of the Auroville Centre for Scientific Research (CSR), Pondicherry, India
Tency Baetens came to India from Belgium and has been residing and working in Auroville for the past 38 years. Since 1995 he is part of CSR team which is developing and implementing natural waste water treatment systems. CSR Dewats has designed and implemented over 150 natural waste water treatment systems in India and abroad. He is involved in several projects related to appropriate building technologies, renewable energy, water and sanitation. Conducts workshops and training courses for professionals and voluntary organizations to promote integral choices for a sustainable future. Co-founder of the Auroville Centre for Scientific Research (CSR) in 1984 and the Auroville Building Centre (AVBC) in 1989.
Savita Punde
Design Cell
Mrs. Punde is a landscape architect and has studied architecture at the Academy of Architecture, Mumbai and landscape design at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. She is the co-founder of the design practice, Design Cell based in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bengaluru. At the Design Cell, she is the principal designer for landscape design and site planning projects. She has been practicing landscape architecture for more than 25 years and has a strong commitment to environmental research. She was awarded a Gold Medal in Landscape Architecture from SPA, New Delhi in 1984. She is also one of the founder trustees of the Society for Environment and Architecture, which this year has started the School of Environment and Architecture, Mumbai.