January, 2009 | Urban Architecture India

What is the common thread between buildings at the Parsi and Hindu colony in Dadar, single screen theatres in the island city and a handful of palatial bungalows in south Mumbai? Besides the fact that these are fading fast from the city’s skyline, it is the last remaining vestiges of Mumbai’s art deco heritage.

In their recently published book Bombay Deco, historian Sharada Dwivedi and architect Rahul Mehrotra have made a plea to preserve the vanishing tribe of this modern style of architecture in Mumbai. The authors have traced the proliferation and decline of art deco in Mumbai — from its arrival in the city in the 30’s to its various interpretations and manifestations in the cityscape.

Centre for infrastructure and sustainable transport and urban planning has been set up at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here.

Established with a corpus of Rs.300 million/Rs. 30 crore/$6 mn, it is the first such government-academia facility in the country that will address urban planning and critical infrastructure issues arising out of rapid growth of greater Bangalore and other cities in the state.

“The centre is modelled on the lines of institutes such as the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) in New Delhi and the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad to improve urban infrastructure and ensure sustainable transportation with modern concepts and technology,” IISc director P Balaram said at its inauguration.
The four state-run transport corporations and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) have contributed to the corpus fund.

“The state government will approach the Union urban development ministry for a matching grant of Rs 300 million (Rs 30 crore) from the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) fund to the centre for specific projects that will improve the service of public utilities,” Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said inaugurating the centre.
With the institute’s academic inputs, scientific research and consultancy, the centre will provide expertise to state departments and state-run undertakings on integrating urban planning and transport policies.