Creating Attractive Urban Design

How can India and the Netherlands collaborate in the sector?

Recently in Mumbai, the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands organized their annual festival titled – ‘Holland meets Mumbai’. For the Consulate, the festival had one very clear objective – it was conceptualized to create a platform that sustains dialogue between India and the Netherlands from a government, business and people-to-people perspective, across sectors. One of the main events within this was on the Creative Industries, a workshop titled: ‘Creating Attractive Outdoor Spaces’. Prior to the workshop, the designers visited the prestigious design school Indian School of Design & Innovation (ISDI), for a lively discussion on Indian urban design to increase their understanding of design in India. During the workshop, renowned Dutch designers interacted with a panel of prominent Indian designers to examine differences and similarities between both countries in the approach to ‘public space design’, with a focus on applicability to the Indian context. The overall theme for the day was set to reflect on possibilities of Indo-Dutch cooperation in the field of urban design.

In most urban areas with high population density, the main challenge has often been centred around the question – ‘how to efficiently use public spaces?’. This has become even more relevant, since in the current times, activities related to televisions, smartphones and video games have taken a centre stage in the lives of the modern generation. Given that, professionals involved in the design of outdoor environments have a complicated task of designing an attractive and financially viable outdoor open space that can mobilize public attention. The workshop was specifically tailored to address this very need further, to arrive at ‘shared solutions to common topics’ in India and the Netherlands.