Idea · Theory

Charles Correa on the Indian city

1960s–1990s · India · Charles Correa

What it is

The architect-planner Charles Correa, in works and essays such as The New Landscape, argued for a climate-responsive, low-rise, high-density urbanism rooted in Indian patterns of open-to-sky space and incremental growth. As chief architect of Navi Mumbai and chair of the National Commission on Urbanisation, he pressed for new towns, public transport and serviced sites that the poor could build out themselves. He insisted that housing and the city be designed for India's climate, economy and street life.

Why it matters

Correa gave Indian urbanism an influential indigenous theory linking climate, density and the self-built city.

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