Auroville’s co-existence within a rapidly growing urban-rural continuum emphasizes on an urgent need to reflect upon the development patterns within the larger bio-region. Auroville’s pro-active role in the development in the region appears as the need of the hour to not only secure land use but to also induce sustainable growth patterns within the bio region. TDC initiated a platform for an interactive brainstorming session for Aurovilians actively involved in the region with our guest advisor Prof. K.T Ravindran from Delhi. Read more

Extract of an interactive session within Steps Ahead, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Studies-India and the World (Bharat Nivas) held yesterday at Unity Pavilion in International Zone. Interesting session where the discussion revolved around the present state of the International Zone and the possible courses of action. Most participants  were active members either of pavilion groups of core group of International Zone. They expressed dissatisfaction with the speed of the development. Read more

A second Information GM for the RA decision making process regarding Auroville as a UNESCO World Heritage Site today at 4pm at Unity Pavilion in International Zone. In today's news we're also featuring longer note from RAS members on who and how can organize a General Meeting. Hungarian Night at Unity Pavilion on Friday from 5.30pm onward. On Thursday 14th at 5pm at Conference Room in Town Hall will be the Presentation of a new Housing Project In the Sector 2 of Residential Zone in Auroville. Tango Holi Festival starts today. Read more

Infrastructure cable, Crown Road, Master Plan and Development Priorities issues was the topics of the meeting with the town planners of l'Avenir d'Auroville. The meeting was called by residents of Centre Field and Aurodam inviting other Aurovilians to come forward and share their feelings and experiences. The two hours of meeting touched many aspects of the planning work and the ground realities. At the end of the discussion was agreed to proceed by visiting the physicals places in order to have a better understanding regarding the coming steps Read more

As a part of Sustainable Habitats - architecture programs for professionals, organized by Auroville Green Practices Workshop with Auroville Consulting this morning three speakers addressed aspect of renewable sources of energy. Toine was presenting Sustainable Urban Energy Solutions, Joerg was talking on solar PV installations and from Satprem's office Amanda was going deeper into embodied energy in the buildings Read more

This morning within Sustainable Habitats Workshops under the umbrella of Auroville Green Practices, and organized by Auroville Consulting, Toine has started with brief introduction of Auroville. Small number of participants, mainly architects will deepen their knowledge on sustainability in the next few days, while the lectures and workshops will be going on on different locations, until Friday. This morning Suhasini was talking on principles of design and evaluation processes of architecture in Auroville and other cities. Read more

Maybe the discussion's number it's wrong, but the point it's that Auroville is piling up much more meetings and presentation than facts and actions. It seems that the further we go in the development harder it gets to take decisions and act consequently. This may sound slightly negative but was the feeling expressed of some of the participants at the meeting. The frustration reflects the little progress Auroville has achieved recently. Maybe it's time to act? Please download the pdf of the presentations 1 & 2. Happy birthday Mother. Read more

One more energetic morning session focused on dissolving polarities with Elvira and Luigi - this time without B, who is mending his back. Be well, B! With them in the studio are three coordinators of the freshly selected Town Development Council L'Avenir D'Auroville: Abha P (communication and consultation coordinator), Nicole (socio-economic planning coordinator) and Sauro (overall coordination). The conversation zoomed in on the challenge of mobility - a topic central to the overarching theme of how to best manifest the city the earth needs. Read more

Recently published video Crownways in which they have tried to catch up the idea of dreamcatcher from 2007 on crown road, when money was donated to build it. As David explains this video is there to see the richness of ideas if one goes to collaborative process; the video is there for archive purposes. The idea to start developing the area from Solar Kitchen towards Central Guest house was never set to be a finish product, it was mere an alternative in supposed collaborative processes when it comes to the town planning. Read more

A very interesting presentation and a further discussion about the different challenges to achieve a smart housing culture. The pursuit of a balance between sustainability , budget, local materials, personal needs in local housing and other different variables that are included in the great challenge of innovation in the way we build and design our cities and buildings. Anumapa, with many years of experience on architecture and sustainability , offers a great presentation that opens an interest discussion. Join it! Read more

In today's news we feature Agnes talking about preparations for Lively Up Your Earth (LUYE)- eco music festival which will happen on next Saturday 2nd of February at Solitude farm. Bharat Nivas Group invites the community to gather at 8.30am at Bharat Nivas, Pavilion of Indian Culture in International Zone where they will share flag-hoisting, National Anthem and sharing of Prasad in order to celebrate the Republic Day of india. On that day also Aikiyam School will share cultural program with an open exhibition. Live music on 27th at CRIPA. Read more

Auroville Integral Sustainability Institute shares the experience of hosting 2 different groups of visiting planning students from Queens University, Canada & CEPT, Ahmedabad - ‘It was very enriching for all’, says Lalit, Programme coordinator. Auroville being an inspiring & interdisciplinary learning field provided very conducive environment to experience a different way of life which gave them a very real life glimpse of integral life & sense of purpose. Read more

Helen, a volunteer from UK, participates at L'Avenir d'Auroville, and is an expert in decision processes, talks on the guidelines. On Monday 28th of January at Unity Pavilion in International Zone between 4 to 7pm she with Elvira, member of RAS will facilitate the workshop for the community to develop building guidelines. Those should be simple, clear, more transparent yet basic, clearly expressing of what the community wants in the building application processes. That would be the first review of the application process after 25 years.

 

In the new energy of 2013, Elvira, Luigi and B are back on the air attempting to ground Auroville values together with Mona and Peter A, both architects and former Dreamcatchers. Picking up the threads from the series of former conversations, the focus is on the links and missing links, small steps and quantum leaps to manifest the city the earth needs. Mona, with her experience as a former L’Avenir d’Auroville member, shares the intricacies of planning in the Auroville parameters. Read more

A talk was held about 'How spaces in Auroville can be developed to reflect its spirit' by 10 second year students of urban and regional planning, from Queen's University. This project is being led by Dr. Ajay Aggarwal, who chose Auroville as the project site because the city is progressive in its views on sustainable development and intentional community building. The talk was held to discuss about this topic, before the students can give their final presentations... Read more

Hillary and Nicholas, two of ten visiting Urban Planning graduate students from Queen's University, Toronto, Canada talk on their project: "International Studio". Within a short two weeks they will try to gather as much input as they can, in order to create a proposal for public space implementation guidelines for the Crown Road. Today they will share with the community a workshop at 3:30pm at Afsaneh's Guesthouse; they hope for as much interaction as possible. On Thursday 19th at 5 pm they will present their proposal.

Featured is an interview with Canadians Nick and Hillary, working for their Master's degree in Urban Planning; they've chosen to focus on the Crown area and will present a proposal to the community. The idea is to create spaces for social interaction at the hub of the crown. AurovilleRadio, 8 yeas old is fund-raising in order to continue, to maintain this service. Go to www.aurovilleradio/support for complete information on just how to contribute. Read more

In today's news we feature interview with Aryamani and Aloka on 12.12.12 events at Unity Pavilion from the last two days. With this exploration of 12 qualities they will conclude tonight at 7.30pm with Divine music for Pachamama songs from around the world with Anna and Tiago. The Soul Flower - Eastern Slavic songs tomorrow at 7.30pm at Pitanga. On Saturday opening of "Geometry of the Heart" by Jurgen P. Palymraart at Savitri Bhavan. On Sunday at 7pm at Adishakti Laboratory for Theater Research presents actors ensemble "Hidden in Plain Sight" Read more

On Saturday at Arka was the second meeting on affordable housing topic with a bit more than handful of participants. Two short presentations on possibilities in the range of affordable housing were shown by Gilles Boulanger and Krishan. In depth were discussed possible reasons for the pumped up prices of costs per square meter of either individual houses or flats. Out of all was given a practical option to start with the "pool" to collect finances for housing in order to foster the housing available for all, more align with Auroville spirit. Read more

After months of discussing, and trying to make sense of what the community really value, and where do we want to go on collective level-which should be our priorities, yesterdays meeting brought lots of positivism. Despite rain shower the number of present residents was high, participants eager to start with the work. After short introduction by RAS members Jesse and Elvira, groups were around the tables with chosen topics - affordable housing, entry, participatory planning, economy, and violence in Auroville&disobedience of decisions. Read more

Tamil Aurovilian Karthik shares about his life; his background, his education, his work and, his hopes and plans for the future. Residents' Assembly Service presents the next Collective Priorities and Values Action Meeting featuring Affordable Housing, Entry, Participatory Planning, Economy, Violence in Auroville and Disobedience of Decisions: a chance to participate, to become involved, to be part of the changes and the growth of this City the Earth Needs. Read more

Philipp talks about not only the coming Christmas Fair to be held at the Youth Centre, but about the Youth Centre itself, having just recently returned from Brazil. The current condition of the place, the repairs that need to be done and getting people to participate in preparation for the Fair is what 's on his mind at this time. He points out that the Fair is but one day; it's the preparation and participation that counts, that makes for fun. Read more

As it is tradition for the first term holidays, the children of Transition School and TLC spent two weeks rehearsing a play performed last Saturday at the Visitor's Centre: High Heels on the Old Town Tonight. People of the Old Town are producing bricks during the day, but their real life starts at night when the "High Heels" opens its doors. Passing visitors find a friction between owners of the club, imposing strict rules for admission, and carefree dancers, wishing to participate. Dr. Basketball requests from all to search for the solution. Read more

After a long selection process by the Selection Committee, names of the new L'Avenir d'Auroville Town Development Council were announced to the community. At the General Meeting at Unity Pavilion in the International Zone residents had the chance to meet most of the new members. The introduction was set up to allow each of the residents to interact with the team, by asking questions to set precedence on certain issues. It was clear that residents request most of all clear communication and interaction from the new team. Read more

In today's news we feature interview with Sebastian from indian International Centre in New Delhi where the Auroville Festival is still going on with art exhibition and projections of films. In remembrance of late G. Dattatri, they invite all to a quiet homage to him on 24 September 2012 at 5.00 p.m. under the Banyan tree at Matrimandir. Today at 5pm at Unity Pavilion in International Zone we are invited to meet a New l'Avenir d'Auroville/Town Development Council Team 2012-2018. Tomorrow, also at UP Peace Meditation at 3pm. Mime show on 22nd Read more

Values and Priorities meeting no.6 facilitated by Residents Assembly Service was set up for topic of planning, for all participants to discuss on near future since Auroville will celebrate its golden jubilee. How we want to proceed, and if there are any frictions in the community how to overcome them. Aim of this meeting was also to actively communicate with suggestions for the new L'AVenir d'Auroville/TDC 2012 2018 team. All agreed that we do not share, not communicate enough. Many in the community feel that we have gone astray from the path Read more

Tomorrow at Unity Pavilion in International Zone at 4.30pm we are all invited by RAS to participate at the Collective Values& Priorities meeting no.6. with the topic on Planning. And on Thursday also at UP at 5pm a General Meeting whit the introduction of new team of L'Avenir d'Auroville/Town Development Council 2012 2015 team. SRI GANESH CHATURTHY this year occurs on Wednesday 19th and it will be celebrated in the afternoon from 3pm to 5.30pm At the Ganesh temple of Auroville"Real, lasting prosperity is born from truth and harmony." Read more

Listen in to B and Luigi's sixth discussion regarding the progress and plans of Auroville. Hosted by Marlenka, this week's program features discussion of Auroville's potential as a green city and what the values are of such a place. The popular discussion of concrete vs. greenery is touched upon, as is how we, as Aurovililans, can meet and plan and actually manifest those plans. Planned to further enliven these dialogues is to invite various residents who now reside in the city centre, to get their viewpoints. Read more

Visitor Centre last night was packed again with anticipating audience which participated all the way through ... even the drizzle of the rain in the beginning nor the fire on the electrical extension did not chase no one away. More, all added to the excitement of the show which was set similar way as the first one, but of course with new players on the competing teams. Both teams clearly expressed flexibility, sense of humor, lots of knowledge on many topics, and of course huge amount of creativity. Read more

All the residents of Auroville are invited to two gatherings with the members of the Governing Board and the International Advisory Council to thank them for their continuous support to Auroville during the last two terms: Interaction with the GB/IAC on Saturday, 8 September, at 7.30 pm at La Terrace on the roof of the Solar Kitchen and silent gathering at the Matrimandir Banyan Tree on at 10am. On Saturday at 5.30 at Savitri Bhavan Ladislav Brozman on violin, Ahsaman at 7pm at Pitanga on classical guitar, Quiz Show at 8pm at Visitor Centre Read more