Title:

Utopia as Action and Aspiration: The Case of Indian Urbanism

Abstract:
The category of the Utopian, then, besides its usual and justly depreciatory meaning, possesses this other
meaning which, far from being necessarily abstract and turned away from the world, is on the contrary
centrally preoccupied with the world: that of going beyond the natural march of events. Ernst Bloch,
The Principle of Hope
With a population of 1.2 billion, rapid urbanization and a burgeoning middle class, the nature of whose
aspirations are being defined and is shaping the built environment, Indian Urbanism is at a critical
juncture. This paper argues that the central issue in present-day Indian urbanism is the task of redefining
images of the good life in the city the creation of which has been according to this author, one of the
primary tasks of utopia. It outlines the shifting role of utopia in the practice and production of urbanism.
Tracing the history of planning and urban design professions in India, the paper argues that except for a
brief period after independence this role of forging utopia and molding aspirations was never taken
seriously and is one which is now almost completely forfeited to the real estate industry. Using specific
case studies of high profile projects, print articles about urban issues and real estate advertisements, as
well as hoardings in the city scape of Delhi and Gurgaon, the paper tries to elucidate the above point,
showing that though unconscious, a utopian urbanism is at play shaping middle class aspirations, that
are increasingly and very tangibly shaping the urban landscape.
This paper makes the case that a productive reengagement with people and the market is possible
through utopia with the help of contrasting intellectual projects/ideologies like Landscape Urbanism and
New Urbanism. This paper contends however that the way forward for Indian Urban theory and
urbanism might be to move forward from reactionary critiques to a projective urbanism through the
tool of the utopian vision. This focus must be therefore to combat the poverty of imagination through
on productive even contentious theoretical discourse and by extension urbanism generated through
alternate visions of what the real.

Night-time Gurgaon (Primary Source)

Gurgaon Ridge (Primary Source)

Real Estate Advertisement for Gurgaon (Primary Source)

Biography:
Thomas Oommen is an Architect, Urbanist and Assistant Professor of Architecture at Sushant School of
Art and Architecture, Gurgaon, National Capital Region, Delhi. He is a consultant for various urban
design projects for Sushant Centre for Research and Consultancy and Collaborative Urbanism Pvt. Ltd.
Professional affiliations include Council of Architecture India and Associate membership of the American
Institute of Architects. He graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from National Institute of
Technology Calicut (NIT-C) in 2006 and received dual Masters degrees in Architectural Design and Urban
Planning with a focus in Sustainable Urbanism from Texas A&M University, USA in 2011. Thomas worked
as urban designer at Marthas Vineyard Commission, Massachusetts, USA to develop a small area plan
for the town of Tisbury. Core interests are architectural theory, urban theory and contemporary Indian
architecture and urbanism. He teaches urban design studio and architectural theory in the 5 year
undergraduate program at Sushant.