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Chandigarh and Dharamshala: Design and Civic Memory

Chandigarh and Dharamshala: Design and Civic Memory

Overview

This program contrasts two distinct civic landscapes. In Chandigarh, students examine modernist planning as an architectural expression of citizenship, governance, and post independence aspiration. Sector layouts, institutional buildings, and civic axes are interpreted as spatial arguments about democracy and order.

The transition to Dharamshala introduces questions of displacement, cultural resilience, and institutional continuity within a Himalayan setting. Students analyze how memory, exile, and identity are preserved and negotiated in lived community contexts.

Together, these sites create a comparative inquiry into how design intention meets lived experience and how space carries both political vision and cultural memory.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will:

  • Interpret urban planning and architectural design as philosophical statements about citizenship and governance.
  • Examine how displacement reshapes institutional continuity and community memory.
  • Ask: Can a planned city create civic identity, or does identity emerge despite design?
  • Analyze how exile communities sustain narrative, ritual, and institutional life across generations.
  • Compare formal design systems with lived cultural adaptation.
  • Produce a comparative civic and memory portfolio integrating spatial analysis and narrative documentation.
  • Explore tensions between modernist vision and lived complexity.
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IDEAL DISCIPLINES

Architecture

Urban Studies

History

Political Theory

Cultural Studies

Anthropology

Migration Studies

Key Locations

Chandigarh
Public Institutions
Dharamshala
Community and Cultural Institutions

Itinerary Table

Day Location Academic Focus & Activities Learning Emphasis
1
 Chandigarh Arrival; modernist civic framing Establish analytical lens
2–4
 Chandigarh Sector reading seminar; institutional analysis; design workshop Interpreting built form as ideology
5
 Travel Transition dialogue on displacement and identity Preparing comparative framework
6–8
 Dharamshala Cultural memory mapping; community dialogue; institutional visits Linking narrative and place
9–10
 Dharamshala Oral history workshop; landscape interpretation Connecting identity and environment
11
 Chandigarh Evidence organization lab Structuring comparative insight
12
 Chandigarh Comparative synthesis; writing and portfolio lab Producing cohesive output
13
 Chandigarh Departure Closure