Students present ideas for improving water urbanism in Varanasi

Students from America's Columbia University and India's IIT Kharagpur have presented unique ideas for improving urban life and reinventing water urbanism in Varanasi, according to an Indian official here.

Seven teams, comprising post-professional urban design students at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the graduate students and scholars from IIT Kharagpur recently made final presentations on the project 'Rethinking Water Urbanism in Varanasi' as part of their curriculum at the Indian Consulate here.

"The future of Varanasi lies somewhere in these presentations. Varanasi is the window into India, the fountainhead of our civilization. These designs are planted on the ground, small changes that can make big differences," India's Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty told PTI.

He said the challenge would be how to implement these ideas on the ground but stressed that the designs and proposals made by the students to improve water urbanism in Varanasi are "incredible."
Kate Orff, a Columbia faculty member, said through these projects, "we are trying to change the pathway of urbanization and put forward new and very grounded visions for alternative futures and new ways of thinking about urban space."
Julia Watson, a professor, said while Varanasi is a holy city, "there are a complexity of problems. How do we imagine a new future for the city that will deal with other issues such a climate change."
Watson stressed that students from foreign universities have experience of issues that come with rapid urbanization and working with Indian students "we bring the possibility of leapfrogging all of these crises and give Indian cities a chance to deal with the issues ahead of the game."