The 2024-2025 Awardees for the Johnston-Hastings Endowment Publication and Travel awards have been selected. The Johnston-Hastings Endowments are in honor of Emeritus Professor Norman J. Johnston and his wife, L. Jane Hastings, established and endowed travel support and publications support funds to provide money for activities of faculty and students in the College. Publications endowment support is for work that has been accepted for publication rather than the writing thereof. Such support is needed for publication; especially where a University…
Person: Manish Chalana
2024 CBE Inspire Fund Awardees Announced
The CBE Inspire Fund Awardees for the 2024 cycle have been selected! Their project names and team members are outlined below. Title: Mycelium Grow Lab for Student-led Research Team: Gundula Proksch (Associate Professor, Architecture), Tyler Sprague (Associate Professor, Architecture) Title: Exhibition of the works of OUR: Office of (Un)certainty Research Team: Vikram Prakash (Professor, Architecture) Title: Emergence, Resilience, and Future(s) of Urban Informality in Seattle Team: Julie Johnson (Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture), Manish Chalana (Associate Professor, Urban Design and Planning)…
Associate Professor Manish Chalana Embarking on Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship March 2024
Historic preservation (or “heritage conservation” in India) is the practice of identifying, managing, and interpreting the historical record in the built environment. For many people, the resulting presence of these tangible reminders in their day-to-day world plays a major role in shaping their perceptions of who has contributed what to their nation’s development. The magnitude and challenges of these tasks have increased dramatically in contemporary times, as the field has begun to grapple with the complexity of history. This is…
CBE Research Restart Funding: Progress and Updates
The College of Built Environments awarded Research Restart funding to multiple project teams in 2022. Below are descriptions of their progress and project status to-date. July 2022 Cohort: Arthur Acolin received funding for their project entitled “Accessory Dwelling Units as Potential Source of Affordable Housing Across Generations.” A no-cost extension was approved in May 2023 due to delays in implementing the survey for the project. In July 2023, design of the survey instrument and postcards was completed, and next steps…
College of Built Environments’ Research Restart Fund Awards Four Grants in Second Cycle
The College of Built Environments launched a funding opportunity for those whose research has been affected by the ongoing pandemic. The Research Restart Fund, with awards up to $5,000, has awarded 4 grants in the second of its two cycles. A grant was awarded to Manish Chalana, faculty member with Urban Design and Planning to help support his efforts to carry out archival research and fieldwork in India for his new book exploring the history and memory of non-dominant groups…
Of Mills and Malls: The Future of Urban Industrial Heritage in Neoliberal Mumbai
Chalana, Manish. (2012). Of Mills and Malls: The Future of Urban Industrial Heritage in Neoliberal Mumbai. Future Anterior: Journal Of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, And Criticism, 9(1), 1 – 15.
Abstract
The mandate of historic preservation is to maintain vestiges of diverse cultural heritage, a task that is becoming increasingly difficult in rapidly globalizing India. Much of the country's urban heritage outside of the “monument-and-site” framework is threatened by massive restructuring of cities facilitated by neoliberal urban policies. Mumbai has a rich cultural heritage, associated with diverse sociocultural and economic groups. Much of this is threatened by development practices pursued by various forces with a particular vision of Mumbai as an emerging “global city.” In this work Chalana examines Girangaon, an early industrial district of Mumbai, currently being transformed by forces of domestic and global capital. He argues that Girangaon's urban industrial heritage is a significant piece of the city's development history, which future visions of a global metropolis should embrace. While the expansion of Mumbai's economy has benefited some avenues of preservation practice in Mumbai, in Girangaon its consequences have also been negative, as a working-class neighborhood is restructured into a hypermodern district for the elite. The current forms of preservation practice in the city have been insufficient in addressing the complexity around managing heritage in low-income neighborhoods. Girangaon, and Mumbai overall, reveal the many ways that economic, cultural, and political globalization can impact historic preservation practice.]
Integrating Preservation And Hazard Mitigation For Unreinforced Masonry Buildings In Seattle
Chalana, Manish; Wiser, Jeana C. (2013). Integrating Preservation and Hazard Mitigation for Unreinforced Masonry Buildings in Seattle. APT Bulletin: The Journal Of Preservation Technology, 44(2 – 3), 43 – 51.
Slumdogs vs. Millionaires: Balancing Urban Informality and Global Modernity in Mumbai, India
Chalana, Manish. (2010). Slumdogs vs. Millionaires: Balancing Urban Informality and Global Modernity in Mumbai, India. Journal Of Architectural Education, 63(2), 25 – 37.
Abstract
Mumbai and other Indian cities are rapidly transforming to address the needs of global commerce and the expanding middle class. Mumbai's vernacular environments, home to most working-class residents, are consequently being redeveloped using supermodern global aesthetics. The urbanism emerging from the current wave of modernism is an unprecedented radical departure from existing patterns of place. Proponents claim the new developments serve low-income residents' interests, when actually they ignore fundamental socio-cultural and economic realities. This paper considers two case studies, Dharavi and Girangaon, highlighting a subset of Mumbai's vernacular environments to argue for their significance and to explore alternative redevelopment approaches.
Beyond Le Corbusier and the Modernist City: Reframing Chandigarh’s ‘World Heritage’ Legacy
Chalana, Manish; Sprague, Tyler S. (2013). Beyond Le Corbusier and the Modernist City: Reframing Chandigarh’s ‘World Heritage’ Legacy. Planning Perspectives, 28(2), 199 – 222.
Abstract
The heritage of Chandigarh, India is a complex subject. While widely acknowledged by academic and professional communities worldwide as a significant work of modernist architecture and urban design, Chandigarh's specific temporal, geographical and cultural contexts complicate efforts to get the city inscribed on United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's World Heritage List. This article outlines the persistent attempts by both local and international organizations to achieve this inscription, efforts that have not yet been successful. Relying on historical scholarship and fieldwork, the authors reassess the value of Chandigarh's heritage both in terms of historical significance and contemporary planning. By addressing the complexity and scope of the design and planning process, embracing the inhabitation and appropriation of the city, and fostering an appreciation of modern architecture, Chandigarh can develop a more localized understanding of heritage yet one that can be appreciated worldwide.
Keywords
World Heritage Sites; Historic Sites; Modern Architecture; Urban Planning; Architecture; Modern Movement (architecture); Preservation Of Historic Sites; Twentieth Century; Chandigarh (india); India; Chandigarh; Le Corbusier; Modern Heritage; Preservation Planning; Unesco; World Heritage List; Le Corbusier, 1887-1965
Chandigarh: City and Periphery.
Chalana, Manish. (2015). Chandigarh: City and Periphery. Journal Of Planning History, 14(1), 62 – 84.
Abstract
This article traces the history of the greenbelt of Chandigarh, India's first modernist city, designed by Le Corbusier. The zone's protection was mandated by the Periphery Control Act of 1952, although the act's contents are often misinterpreted and do not fully reflect the project team's complex vision. This work clarifies the intentions behind the Periphery's creation, and establishes its integration with the master plan. I demonstrate how ongoing transformations violate the spirit of the Periphery's original purpose, but rarely the letter of the law. I highlight ongoing conflicts whose resolution will fundamentally shape the future of the Periphery and the master plan of Chandigarh.
Keywords
Greenbelts; Urban Planning; Urban Cores; Landscape Protection; Architecture; Government Policy; Twentieth Century; History Of India, 1947-; Chandigarh (india); India; Chandigarh; Greenbelt; Le Corbusier; Modernism; Periphery; Le Corbusier, 1887-1965