WRITING ARCHITECTURE TROPHY | 2022-23

Writing Architecture Trophy

“Urban Open Spaces as a Generative Force in India: Culture, Architecture

and Design”
By: Miki and Madhavi Desai

The 21st century will be an urban century with much of this urbanisation taking place in Asian
cities, especially in India and China. India is presently witnessing one of the largest urban
transformations of the century. By 2050, the urban population of the country is projected to cross
800 million. With this growth, cities as physical built environments will become more critical during
the coming decades. Indian cities are complex, with historical layers and their multiple
manifestations. The acceleration of migration trends gave denser towns and cities, except when
new cities were designed. Consequently today, we have ‘the Old City, the New City and the
Latest City’ categories, besides towns of various sizes.

India is a vast country offering a tremendous variety in urban life, with different cities and towns
having their unique public places. The public open space is a free space, a social space that
should be available to all, despite religion, gender, age or class differences. Parks, playgrounds,
gardens, monuments, riverbanks, street fronts, traditional squares, cultural and recreational
facilities, and public transit, etc. are our public spaces. Popular examples are the Azad maidan
to the Marin Drive Sea Edge in Mumbai and the Lodhi Gardens in Delhi to Kasu Brahmanand
Reddy National Park in Hyderabad. In addition, there are basic infrastructural needs such as the
provision of good quality, efficient and clean public toilets that are extremely important to
address.

“What makes a great city are the public spaces within it. Cities in history are remembered for
their public spaces, the Greek Agora, the Roman Forum, the European squares and Indian
‘chowks’ (quadrangle open spaces). The experience of ‘public’ is the experience of a city. This
is as true for the visitors as for her inhabitants. In fact, public spaces have great value for the
inhabitants than the visitors, as these spaces contribute greatly to enhance the experience of
lived reality.” So, what are the challenges to creating interest-sustaining, human and inclusive
public spaces in India?
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 WRITING ARCHITECTURE TROPHY | 2022-23

In the post-colonial period, India adopted modern planning and architecture as the preferred
mode of urban development. A universalizing approach to all cities through centralized
planning, lack of an imaginative and humanizing vision as well as bureaucratic bye-laws, has
resulted in largely monotonous urban forms. Major Indian cities have a lower public open space
per capita ratio in comparison to international standards. There are little efforts or understanding
of linking the gap between architecture and physical planning. It is also foolhardy to force large
spaces into existing dense settlements.

By contrast, almost all over the country, we find a clear structure and logic of urban design in
not only medieval, fortified inner cities but in also consciously designed colonial settlements and
urban interventions. This urban landscape had human scale, pedestrian distances, familiarity of
the surroundings and shared social network that comes from collective living. This changed with
modern layouts and new housing types as the twentieth century progressed. In addition, there
are major concerns about the local governments prioritizing rapid development at the cost of
city’s public spaces, besides the increasing gated communities and privatized consumption
places for the upper classes of the society.

1Mahadevia, Darshini, “Public Spaces Make Cities”, DownToEarth, November 30, 2001
2 Mortzek-Sampat, Rita, (1992), Women & Habitat: Study of Housing Environment of Women in
Different
Housing Typologies, Paper at the Institute of Planning and Building in Developing Countries, Department
of Architecture, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany, p.79.

The questions we have to work with are:

o With heterogeneous populations, how can design respond to the cultural needs of the
community?
o What would be the democratic methods of public participation in design, with an
attempt to involve all stakeholders?
o What consideration can be given to make the public spaces gender sensitive and safe
for all?
o What are the key design elements to work with in public space projects in order to
improve the quality of life?

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
One of these forms: A research essay, a sarcastic write up, an imagined dream, a story form or
a creative write up with illustrations.
A two-stage submission process:

• Stage 1 Submission: Abstract of the Entries are to be submitted in the form of a single
pdf file (maximum size: 10MB and maximum 250 words. These will be evaluated and
shortlisted by jurors.
• Stage 2 Submission: Shortlisted entries would be given a fixed time period in which an
entire essay must be submitted. The essay shall be approximately 2000 words.

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WRITING ARCHITECTURE TROPHY | 2022-23
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GENERAL GUIDELINES

• A maximum of two students can work on each entry.

• The entry should be submitted in the format specified so that the identity of the team
members, the team or the institution they belong to is not revealed to the Judges.
• The essay must be the sole creation and original work of the team. No previously
published work will be accepted. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate
disqualification. All essays submitted will be closely checked for plagiarism.
• In case matter is sourced from anywhere due credit to the original writer should be given
in Harvard style referencing only.
• Submissions should be on NASA India website before the deadline.
• In any manner at any time, during or after the NASA WRITING ARCHITECTURE TROPHY
competition period the original author will have no claim on the same after the entry is
sent for the said competition.
• All entries will be the property of NASA INDIA, which will be free to utilize the same.
• The shortlisted Entries will be published in NASA India’s annual magazine with the author(s)
name.
• The Decision of the jury shall be final and binding.

SUBMISSION FORMAT

• The entry code should be used as per the entry code list provided. The entry code should
be placed in bottom left of all pages of the entry.
• The file name, for online submission, should be specified as the entry code for all files
followed by name of document.
(eg: WAT-65-000A_Authentication.pdf)
• All submissions automated and drafted in word processing software only.
• The entry should be accompanied by a letter from the HOD / Principal on the college
letterhead with the name(s) of the authors and the institution.
• Margins: 10mm on top, bottom, right and left.
• Font: Any simple and readable sans serif typeface. Font size 12, spacing between the
lines 1.5
• Template-
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OtnM4xUMyLMraWOWwCpqXfMoUBBIT0aH?us
p=sharing
• NASA logo, header and footer in the template should not be hindered in anyway.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE

WRITING ARCHITECTURE TROPHY | 2022-23
ENVISION
 WRITING ARCHITECTURE TROPHY | 2022-23

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT
• Authenticating letter from college HoD for each entry that the work submitted is genuine
and they have endorsed copyrights for the same and with the name of Participant(s)
and stating the participants shall abide by whatever may be the final results and also
agree that this entry is property of both the participant and NASA India.
• Declaration by the participant(s) stating the work submitted is genuine and they have
endorsed copyrights for the same and to adhere by all the rules and regulations, Jury
process and the results.
o The author(s) must also state in the declaration that the work is the original
Intellectual property of the respective author(s) and will be solely responsible and
liable in case the work has violated any copyrighted material, and if any matter is
sourced from anywhere, and credit has not been given.
o The number of words should be indicated in the declaration by the author(s).
• Authenticating letter from college HoD/Principal/Director (on College Letterhead with
Sign and Stamp of HoD/Principal/Director of the college), specifying the Account Details
(Account Name, Account Number, Bank Name, ISFC Code) in which the Prize Money is
to be awarded.

PRIZE MONEY
Prize money of 1 lakh Rupees is allotted to the trophy and it will be divided
according to the number of the Citations and Special Mentions

IMPORTANT DATES
• The release of brief – 15th October 2022
• Queries – 25th October 2022
• Registration deadline – 29th October 2022
• Stage 1 Submission deadline – 16th November 2022
• Stage 2 Submission deadline – Will be Announced along with Shortlisting.

Any Kind of Queries need to be submitted through website at

https://nasaindia.co/trophy/writingarchitecture

MODERATORS AND AUTHORS

Ar. Miki Desai and Ar. Madhavi Desai.

Any form of communication from the participants to the Moderator/Authors/Jurors will lead to
disqualification.

All the Best!

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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE

WRITING ARCHITECTURE TROPHY | 2022-23
ENVISION