Importance Of Urban Planning And Design

I believe that urban spaces have an impact on how people position themselves in a context, how they behave and how they think. By choosing to study urban planning and design, it is not just the design skills that I want to learn, I want to learn how design impacts people and how good designs can contribute to generating a more harmonious society.

The year of 2007 was the first time in human history when the urban population of the world was larger than the rural population. By 2050, the largest increase in the urban population of the world will be in India, projected at around 400,000,000 people (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014): World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision.) These

The US has a long tradition of planning its cities, analysing their successes/failures and scholars who are on the frontier of the development in this field, making it an ideal place for education. Being in the currents and crosscurrents of various ideas, theories, experiments, histories and thoughts will give me a panoramic understanding of urban design and planning. Studying in a university in US will also be an opportunity to interact with professors and students from diverse backgrounds and learning from their experiences. Moreover, Living in a completely different context than mine, being a part of the daily life of a city and observing how built environment is impacting that life will be a learning experience

I am also inclined towards programs that specifically address urban issues of developing world along with issues of American cities. For my Master's thesis, I would like to select a topic that concerns the Indian cities directly. Working on a subject that is innate to me and to having the guidance of professors from a different context will definitely generate a work that is meaningful to both the contexts. I am considering to investigate issues like gender dynamics in public spaces. However, this idea would get sharper during my studies.

I do not see this graduate program as an end in itself. After coming back to India, I will still be connected to the people and to the intellectual discourse in the US. After my graduate studies, it will become even more important than now, to continue teaching and share my knowledge in all possible ways. The task of making the Indian cities and its challenges are monumental. It can only be a collaborative effort. I also think it will be crucial for me to not just keep building but to make strategies, research and experiments to generate more and more knowledge that will help me (and others) build