Forthcoming Book
Presently working on a new book titles “History of Urban Form, India” by Oxford University Press, London.
The book is suppose to be first of its kind reference book on the historical urban form of Indian cities, categorised based on regions and political history. With over forty case study all drawn up as overall city layouts and with details, the book should be a useful source for students, researchers and academic in the field of Architecture, Urban Design, Urban History and Urban Studies
Published Book
“Himalayan Cities: Settlement Pattern, Public Places and Architecture” published by Niyogi Publishers, New Delhi. See the book here
This book is a result of my last 20 years of work in the Indian and Nepalese Himalayas. This book is illustrated with some 120 drawings which have been either drawn me or my students which I have supervised. This publication makes a case for settlement in the Himalayas and tries to decipher the code of their settlement pattern, public places and Architecture. In terms of its scope it includes Ladakh, Himachal, Gharwhal, Kumaon, Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan. This is for the first time that an analytical study on the spatial construct of the Himalayas has been attempted at this scale. It tries to not only describe the Himalayan cities through documentation but tries to derive useful lessons for urban designer and planners while they deal with contemporary problem of development in landscapes such as Himalayas
MONOGRAPH
“Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities” published by Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore. You can download the monograph here
The monograph on Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities, is an entry into debates around making of IT Cities and public planning policies that regulate and restructure the city spaces in India with the emergence of internet technologies. Placing the inquiry in the built form, it manoeuvres discourse from architecture, design, cultural studies and urban geography to look at the notions of cyber-publics, digital spaces, and planning policy in India. The findings show that the relationship between cities and cyberspaces need to be seen as located in a dynamic set of negotiations and not as a mere infrastructure question. It dismantles the presumptions that have informed public and city planning in the country by producing alternative futures of users’ interaction and mapping of the emerging city spaces.
BOOK CHAPTER
Chapter “Settlement Pattern; Moodabidri” in “The Jaina Heritage” by Editor Julia A B Hegewald by Heidelberg Series in South Asia and Comparative Studies. Publisher Samskriti, New Delhi
This chapter in the book edited by Dr. Julia Hegewald was important from the point of view of articulating the urban condition of historic settlements in the Karnataka region of India, which I have been researching. Moodabidri is an important Jain town and I had conducted field research with my students in the region leading to documentation drawings of the place. I carried out further analysis of the landscape conditions; settlement pattern and idea of public place and correlated it with the Jain philosophy and practice. In the process I ended up articulating the distinctiveness of this Jain town in terms of its spatial structure
Papers and Articles
Liker Monastery: The structuring Principles of the Complex
Is their Something like a Himalayan City?
Patan: Reading Urban Form in Cultural Landscape
Himalayan Cities as Repositories of Vernacular Tradition
A Short History of Global History of Urban Form
The Grey Zones of Modernity in Journal Spade. Volume 2, 2009
Pratyush Shankar 