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From Grievance to Vision
Mobilising Civic Activism in the Indian City
Speakers
We have forgotten how to be citizens of our cities.
Walk through any Indian metropolis and witness a peculiar contradiction: millions inhabit these spaces, yet relate to them only as consumers demanding services. Grievances fragment predictably: the affluent lobby for metro lines while informal settlements fight for sanitation. Each sees the city as a provider that has failed them specifically.
This transactional relationship reveals something deeper. Unlike villages steeped in cultural memory or monuments heavy with civilizational pride, the contemporary Indian city exists in our imagination as politically neutral backdrop; a space for commerce and commute, stripped of meaning beyond utility. Without empowered local governance in our collective memory, we cannot envision what urban citizenship might demand.
This talk outlines a strategy for civic activism that reimagines the city as living system, shaping who we become through daily encounters. It argues we must ask radical questions. Not merely what services we need, but what kind of city allows dignity, creativity, joy. What connections between citizens create genuine community? What relationship between citizen and state honors our full humanity?
The struggle for better governance is simultaneously a struggle to define what kind of people we wish to be—together.
Speakers
Prem Chandavarkar
Prem Chandavarkar is the Managing Partner of CnT Architects, a legacy practice with a history dating back to being Bengaluru’s first architectural firm.
He is a former Executive Director of Srishti Manipal Institute of Art Design & Technology, is an academic advisor and guest faculty at Indian and international colleges of architecture, and has served on the board of The Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum, USA.
He likes to introduce himself as an architect who is easily distracted by other subjects and writes lectures, and blogs on architecture, urbanism, philosophy, education, environment, art, spirituality, and cultural studies.
Meera K
Meera K is the co-founder of Citizen Matters, the award-winning civic media platform. She is passionate about cities, community media, urban issues, local governance, and civic tech.She also helped initiate Open City, an urban data platform. She is an Ashoka Fellow, recognised for her work building open knowledge platforms that allow citizens to collaborate and improve their cities. She is active in community improvement initiatives and volunteers with projects related to transport, lake rejuvenation, organic kitchen gardening and solid waste management. Meera is also the Managing Trustee of Oorvani Foundation.
