Walls protect Slum Dwellers from having to see Donald Trump

In preparation of Donald Trump's visit to India, walls have been erected along roads in Ahmedabad on which Donald Trump and Nahendra Modi will travel. There are quite a few videos questioning the necessity of these walls. Is, as some people claim, hiding slums the purpose? Perhaps local government has a credible explanation. Or is it a matter of protecting slum dwellers from a glimpse of many a people's nightmare?

Anyway, walls do divide people.

Dumb instead of Smart Cities

 
Lo-Tek, Design by Radical Indigenism is the title of a fascinating book by Julia Watson, lecturer at Harvard and Columbia University.

Whereas 'smart cities' are a sort of a hype in todays conversations about city development Julia Watson shows us down-to-earth practices that are as least as promissing.




Read a review of this book in The Guardian.

Since Watson's research has a strong focus on traditional architecture as an alternative to mainstream high-tech urban development, I think it has important parallels with the themes of this blog. Hence this post.