Chandigarh : The Modernist City in a Neoliberal World

Chandigarh, forever associated with Le Corbusier and Modernism and described Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, as `unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of nation's faith in future', is now more than fifty years old. Here Vikram Prakash examines the iconic city's transformation in the face of globalization and its place in an India whose population is estimated to reach two billion by the end of the century. Based on several years of work conducted as part of the University of Washington's Chandigarh Urban Lab, the book offers a critique of contemporary Chandigarh in six registers, organized by scale: the expanding city; the old Master Plan; the Capitol Complex; Urban Order and Frame Control; Indian modernism; and the Theatres and Furniture. These six interconnected topics constitute the main chapters of the book, bookended by an introduction and a conclusion. Each chapter examines the performance and problems of the old master-planned city and its fate in the face of the new challenges of post-Nehruvian neo-liberal India.