Ravi Sundaram
Narayani Gupta
Amita Baviskar
AGK Menon
Awadhendra Sharan
Gautam Bhan

The inaugural event of the Delhi Urban Platform is an open discussion
on the city of Delhi, and possible future conversations.

The Delhi Platform is a networked constellation of events and
discussions on various themes that affect the city of Delhi. The
Platform is a collaborative process involving diverse institutions and
individuals, who have a stake in the futures of the city. The Platform
was begun as a response to the lack of a critical public discussion on
Delhi's urbanity and urban life.

Tracing its history back almost a millennia, standing on the ruins of
older and new empires, Delhi’s urban heritage is unmatched in the
subcontinent. Yet Delhi’s 20th century has been one where the city has
increasingly lost its urban imagination. This is a process that some
trace back to the defeat of 1857, the slow marginalization of the Old
city and ultimately, the trauma of Partition in 1947. Delhi often
appeares as a curious paradox - a historic city, but without a
consciousness of itself, without an identity.

In the last decade, however, Delhi's residents have become acutely
aware of the crises of the city's urbanism. Urban debates are now the
flesh of Delhi’s life, the headlines to our morning coffee. We have
witnessed public quarrels over infrastructure, pollution, speeding
buses, displacement of the poor, heritage, sealing, the list goes
on... An urban discourse has emerged, as witnessed in rapid interest
in reporting on the city in papers and media, and scores of online
platforms on Delhi. This public debate is raw, confused, provocative,
often half-baked - but it is here to stay. The coming Commonwealth
Games has put a spotlight on all the city’s problems, critical
engagement with our present is more urgent than ever.

Delhi deserves better. It is important to create new sites of
critical, independent urban discourse – that can provide open
platforms on all themes affecting the city. The Delhi Platform is thus
intended as an open forum that travels to different parts of the city
in the coming months, leading up to the Commonwealth Games and beyond
the event. The platform is a collaboration between different
institutions and individuals interested in Delhi’s urbanism. The
platforms will involve people from all walks of life: scholars,
practitioners, activists, writers, artists, ordinary citizens in a
critical conversation about Delhi's urban futures.

The Platform website is under construction, and will be live by the
end of this week. Visit: www.delhiurbanplatform.org