Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems in Town Planning

About the Center

The Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems in Town Planning was established in December 2022 at SPA Bhopal with a grant from the Ministry of Education (MoE), AICTE IKS Division, New Delhi. The Centre aims to unravel and disseminate the Indian knowledge systems associated with town planning in the context of its economy, politics, and governance.

Indian knowledge of town planning considered the geography, political relativity, and governance of the place. The respect for nature, cosmological considerations, shared resources, the spatial planning reflecting cohesive community living and cultural practices were all integral in the conception of Indian cities. Town Planning in India is still influenced by western thinking based on capitalism. CIKSTP shall focus on making IKS of Town planning relevant in contemporary times which may lead to bridging the gap between ancient and new knowledge system.

Our interdisciplinary team of professors and scholars is dedicated to reviving and celebrating the knowledge within ancient Indian texts and historical records. Through research in conjunction with the allied fields of iconography, epigraphy, archaeology, and history, we intend to create a holistic interpretation of the knowledge systems that existed in ancient India.

The current town practices have emerged with the evident colonization of the country and capitalism in the west. Our practices have followed the same path. Post-Independence emphasis should have been towards the faded knowledge. Nevertheless, it is the need of the hour in search of our unique identity. Hence a review of what is practiced today is essential to bring out the importance of the ancient planning principles and their applicability in contemporary times and the future.

Objectives

Decoding IKS of town-planning

Knowledge about town planning in its context of socio-economic, political and governance is embedded in shloka and needs to be translated into regular text. The textneeds to be organized into chronology and analyzed for its evolutionary trend and innovation.

Graphical Representation of the IKS-TP

The knowledge-base created needs to be disseminated for public awareness using graphical representations for the ease of interpretation. Once the base is prepared, it will be translated in various Indian languages.

Study the relevance of IKS-TP to current town planning practices

IKS associated with town-planning along with its context have faded and need to be rediscovered and contextualized. The research has the potential to initiate a timely discourse on town-planning practice for context-specific interventions instead of generalized bylaws across the country. It will be great initiative to catalyze change in planning approach for local needs and context.

Curriculum incorporation in school, undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Strengthening of courses-curriculum in school, college, and professional courses is the need of the hour. With multi-dimensional NEP, education shall incorporate this knowledge in curriculums. Develop a MOOC course for digital dissemination of knowledge

Foster doctoral research

C-IKS-TP will be established at SPA Bhopal to support, guide and monitor interdisciplinary researchers of various domains of Planning, architecture and governance. C-IKS-TP will support to develop a doctoral and masters research repository on IKS to influence and inspire evidence-based research practice of global standard.

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