Contact us
m: +91 7046482628
+91 7310797377
a: Pratyush Shankar and Associates
53, Blue Garden, Chhapad, Bill- Chhapad Road
Vadodara. INDIA
03 - 06 Sept, 2026
Onfield Writing Workshop
Snigdha Srivastava is a conservation architect and a graduate of SPA Delhi. She is currently an associate at Pratyush Shankar and Associates, Vadodara and is part of the CityLabs team. She is interested in urban heritage, specifically from the point of view of architecture and the city. She has carried out extensive research on the city of Vadodara on works on Robert Chisholm and the larger idea of institute and formation of public places. She is also interested in imaginative fiction and is a ferocious reader.
Vaibhavi Dave is an architect from CEPT University, India and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Real Estate Development. She is the founder partner of CityLabs and has been has been curating its activities for many years and has been part of previous writing workshops. Her previous writings focused on temporality, flexibility, and politics of space. Currently, her work explores the intersection of design, policy, and real estate - examining how these forces shape adaptive, equitable cities in the North American context
Team CityLabs India
Dhruv Raja is an urbanist and social researcher with expertise in urban development, community engagement, and spatial justice.
He holds an MSc in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics, where he was awarded the Cities Prize for Outstanding Contribution. His research explores how cities reflect and reinforce inequalities through race, religion, ecology, and spatial politics.
He currently serves as a Planning Officer at Bristol City Council, United Kingdom, assessing development proposals for the city of Bristol advocating for inclusive and sustainable city-making.
Prof. Pratyush Shankar, Dean of SEDA Navrachna University, Vadodara, India, is a practising architect and academic. Previously an Adjunct Professor and Acting Dean at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, he is also a Visiting Professor at TU Darmstadt, Germany, and was a Senior Humboldt Fellow at the University of Bonn, 2015-17. He has written the book Himalayan Cities and his forthcoming publication is titled “History of Urban Form” for Oxford University Press. He has been closely associated with the students and young professionals for over 2 decades. For more information log on to www.pratyushshankar.com
CONDUCTED BY
The participants will be guided by Prof. Pratyush Shankar and supported by the Citylabs team.
Public spaces - Water - Heritage
ABOUT
Nature and Cities: A case of Udaipur is an on-site workshop that will be held in various parts of the historic old city of Udaipur.
The workshop will allow the participants to decipher the relationship between complex and technologically advanced historical water systems with the growth and formation of the city.
How does the system of storing and conveyance of water lead to the creation of new ideas of public spaces?
How do particular cultural and governance practices result in a new kind of arrangement of natural resources?
These and many such questions will be answered in this intense four days on-field writing workshop while addressing the following sub-themes:
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Aravalli Region – Water and settlements
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Water, urban form and creation of public sphere
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Institutions, Control and landform
Writing Urban History
Writing Urban History
Nature and Cities : Udaipur
SCHEDULE
DAY 1 - 03 Sept 2026
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3:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Orientation and introduction to the workshop.
Input lecture 1 : Medieval Indian urban history
(at Choyal studio, Udaipur)
DAY 2 - 04 Sept 2026
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9:00 am – 12:30 pm
On-site orientation and documentation
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1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch Break
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2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Discussion on-site visits followed by
Input lecture 2 : Writing Urban Histories
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3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Participants to develop their proposals
DAY 4 - 06 Sept 2026
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9:00 am – 11:30 am
Participants final presentation
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11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Concluding session
End of workshop
DAY 3 - 05 Sept 2026
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8:30 am – 10:30 am
Site visit to specific spot of participant’s interest followed by discussion
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12:00 am – 1:00 pm
Input lecture 3 : Trajectories of scholarship – Urban studies
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1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch Break
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2:00 pm – 5:00pm
Participants to finalize their proposals followed by presentation
WHEN
The workshop is scheduled to be conducted on-field between 03 to 06 September 2026.
The fee for the workshop is:
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Early Registrations - INR 7500
15th July '26 - 10th Aug '26
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Regular Registrations - INR 8500
11th Aug '26 - 02th Sept '26
WHY
Indian cities are presently experiencing unprecedented transformation. The scale of this change has led to an abject neglect of the natural conditions and is leading to a massive environmental damage in and around the city.
Unfortunately, there is a lack of clear scientific studies and absence of a systematic discourse on new urban development and its relationship with nature. The society collectively lacks the vocabulary to critique or even discuss new forms of urban design or planning. This gap needs to be addressed by a more detailed and conceptual understanding of the issues of Nature and Cities.
This workshop is a small attempt to address this gap and create a conversation around this topic while equipping its participants with the necessary skills and concepts to attempt to address the issue of urban development and nature in other cities of India.
FORMAT OF WORKSHOP
This is an on-site writing workshop where in first few hours of the day will be spent on the field at various parts of the old city of Udaipur. This will be followed by an input lecture.
Post lunch session would be comprised of collaborative writing urban history project.
The workshop will be conducted by Prof. Pratyush Shankar along with the Citylabs India team.
The workshop's outcome will be a publicly shareable essay or an article.
History of Urban Form of India : From Beginning Till 1900's
India, like many other developing countries today, is undergoing massive urbanization. The imagination of the future form of Indian cities in terms of urban planning and design is most urgent. A study of the key historical moments in the country from the point of view of urban development, thus, becomes all the more important. This book presents a comprehensive account of the historical spatial development of Indian cities since time immemorial. With case studies from the time cities originated in the Indian subcontinent (3000 B.C in Indus valley) and hand-drawn illustrations of these cities till the ones in recent times, the book discusses the last two hundred years of urban development in India with emphasis on the overall structure of the city, its nature of public places, institutions, and housing.
Excerpts
"...Indian Princely states, around the turn of the century, experimented with modern ideas that were in tune with the local context. These distinctive visions of modernity aimed at social reforms, improvement in education and a new way to imagine civic spaces and institutions, transformed the society. Such initiatives of indigenous modernity not only created new cities but also helped create a counter colonial narrative..."
RESOURCES
Title: History of Urban Form of India : From Beginning Till 1900's
Author: Pratyush Shankar; Foreword by Professor Rajan Khanna
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Language: English
ISBN: 9780199468096
FOR WHOM
The workshop is ideal for academics engaged in research and teaching, scholars, practicing professionals, and students from Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Planning, and Environmental Sciences.
Whereas the workshop focuses on developing writing skills, younger students can also choose to express their views through drawings and visualizations.