I'm an urbanist– a person who studies cities, its built fabric and how people interact with it. I first heard the word when I was studying in France. Urbaniste is common enough a word in France for most people to make vague guesses about what you do. The situation is not the same in India which is where I'm from. I read extensively about other urbanists like Patrick Geddes, Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl and Charles Correa who are advocates of bottom-up planning practices and walkable cities with lively public spaces. I come from India which is facing rapid urbanisation driven by politicians, real estate developers and industrialists whose vision for a ‘developed city’ is different from that of urbanists. This makes being an urbanist in India difficult but also very interesting.

Streets can be joyful and public spaces, Gehl Institute. Illustration by Fernando Neyra. (source: https://nextcity.org/features/view/embracing-the-paradox-of-planning-for-informality)

First, the word evokes puzzled looks and polite questions from strangers and just downright laughter from closer friends who claim incredulously that 'urbanisting' is not a real thing. But it is! When I moved back to India from France, I joined urbz, an urban action research collective which places itself at the crossroads of research and practice. At urbz, I found my place as an urbanist in India. Its focus on ‘user generated cities’ appealed to my inner urbanist and moreover, it was based in Mumbai amidst what is often considered the largest slum in Asia – Dharavi.

It was here that I truly became an urbanist. I lived on the border of Dharavi in a redeveloped chawl - a type of housing which was originally built to accommodate immigrant mill workers. My landlord, an 80 year old Dharavi resident, was an important part in diffusing communal tension in the neighbourhood during the riots of 1993. Over chai, whiskey, walks and shared wall (he was also my neighbour), he opened my eyes I met amazing people, had ideas about slums busted, travelled the world and most importantly, fell in love with cities. I really did love my time at urbz. The founders gave me the space to explore my interests and develop new ones. They've definitely played a part in shaping my views on cities and how to urbanist.

Dharavi, Mumbai showing a neighbourhood which has incrementally grown over the years.

I studied urban planning in France where I fell in love with the french language, the people, learnt to look at cities in new ways and drank a lot of wine. France just happened to me; it was a series of fortunate events that took me there. Before that, I studied architecture where I fell in love with drawings, visualisation, buildings, material, light and shadow, Escher, travel and much more. Architecture happened to me because I had to choose something to study at university. I knew I didn't want to do medicine, engineering or law - the three common professions that the Indian society considers 'a good job'. I chose architecture because it was still considered 'professional' and I liked to draw. I have some days when I think I was absolutely meant to have studied the things I did because they're such a big part of who I am and other days when I simply want to turn back time and just choose a different path.

I have a mixed bag of interests and that's what I plan on posting about here on Steemit. It will mostly be writing, drawings and designs about cities, places and other urban and sometimes rural things. No, I won't become a ruralist. That's actually not a thing. But it still falls within my interests. You will also see my artwork, mostly pen and ink sketches of some of my free-time projects and observations of the places in my daily life.

And maybe some posts from my instagram - https://www.instagram.com/manouche.s/

Why Manouche?

Manouche(s) is traditional French vocabulary for wanderers and nomads who are of Indian origin in (Western) Europe. Gypsies, more commonly. I learnt the word when I was being a bit of a nomad in Europe, from couch to couch, never knowing where I would go next. It also reminded me of Vianne and Anouk from Chocolat.

Also, instagram handles were all taken and the word is close to my name: Manou.

Hello.

Incase you were wondering what I looked like.

P.S. Big shoutout to @soulturtle who had some really nice things to say about the platform and because of whom I'm here.