10 Plus 1 Gurus Who Changed My Life

One of the most fascinating talks at WADe Asia 2017 was by Ar. Christopher Charles Benninger, Founder, CCBA, Pune, a world renowned, multiple award winning American Indian Architect and planner. SURFACES REPORTER is fascinated to present this talk. Deliberately, we have put most of his words as it is so that readers can grasp the essence without generation loss. 

- AR. Christopher Charles

BARBARA WARD

Barbara Ward was the Editor of Economist at one time, a very eminent woman economist who even wrote speeches for the Pope and Kennedy. She organised the Habitat One Conference in Vancouver as well as UNCHS Habitat in Nairobi. Another Conference she organised with Maurice Strong was the Stockholm Environmental Conference, the first UN Environmental Conference. Barbara argued that all of these organisations should get out of Geneva, New York and Rome and they should be in Emerging countries. “She was an amazing person,” says Christopher, adding “I met Barbara Ward for lunch, when I was a student at Harvard in 1966, at the end of the lunch she asked ‘Why don’t you come for the Delos Symposium in Greece’ which had people like Margaret Mead, Buckminster Fuller, Arnold Toynbee. When I said, I would love to but I can’t afford, she said ‘Don’t bother, I will pay your air fare’. Wonderful! Isn’t it? So these are the kind of people who change your life. Up until the time I met Barbara Ward, I was a small town boy, lucky to be studying at Harvard and I met this woman who was incredible that she said ‘I’ll take you to Greece.’”

Christopher was highly influenced by Barbara Ward when he designed the Mahindra United World College in India, a global college with global thinking with students from usually over 60 countries. “She was globalist and she gifted me a window into Internationalism as a positive thing,” he added. When he started the institute Centre for Development Studies in Pune, Barbara Ward became its first President.

JAQULINE TYRWHITT