Subcontinental Panorama

摘要

The Indian panorama is also intimately tied to the broader phenomenon of the subcontinent. As Qurratulain Hyder invokes in her 1957 novel The River of Fire, there is a fluid and porous nature to the reality of the subcontinent despite the forging of nationhoods and manning of borders. This is shared as much in the circulation of Bollywood Pop as in the production of architecture. Despite the sameness of a glib consumerism marked by luxury malls and raunchy residences, towards which many architects are understandably rushing, architecture in the subcontinent faces some formidable issues: How best to reconfigure the city, humanistically and ecologically, in the climate of rushed development? How to transform urban types for rising levels of middle-class requirements? How to mobilise the resources of the new economy to raise millions out of poverty? And, how to rephrase questions of identity and locality without being parochial or dogmatic?