NG: We are hoping that this session is not a complaining session about the city but a rather pro- jective discussion that enables us with ideas as architects and urban planners. What we have on the table is some reading material that is collected for this discussion and if any one wants a copy please let Vivek or me know and we will send you one. We are here to talk about privatisation of the city and what this means to the role of the architect and the urban planner and this means in the city. The criticism against privatisation in the city is the loss of identity of the people in the city because as you privatise the city people do not feel ownership for the city, there is fragmentation and a growing amount of social inequality. This is seen not only in India but rather it is an urban phenomena created by the economic crises and the growth of the number of corporate enter- prises and the power that they wield. In a lot of contexts it can be described as an undemocratic or re-monarchisation of the city but by corporate entities. With that background we have two pri- mary areas of discussion, the privatisation of public programme in the city and the privatisation of public space in the city. To start with, we are going to talk about the mall. As architects and urban planners we have all been part of the design of a mall either directly or indirectly. We are going to compare the idea of the BDA complex versus the mall. The BDA complex is a state typology for community retail and community space, situated in the 1980s across neighbourhoods in Banga- lore. Today we see the complex as a redundant space, but it had value for what it aimed to do. It was meant for community generated small scale enterprises, unique to the neighbourhood, open to public, it acted as a community space. We are going to talk about it against the mall which is highly securitised, introverted space which simulates the idea of the public but is not public for many reasons. We start with Vivek.

VS: First I would like to thank everyone for taking time out of their busy schedules. This book is a very dear project to

Me: more than what you see on the walls in the office. It is a huge learning for me, collaborating with all of you with all your own experiences and ideas. For us as a practice, it is a new energy to chart out, new direc- tions, new techniques, new skill sets. Thank you very much.

Naina: to get back to your question about the mall, as you are aware, we have worked on a mall and there were disappointments because there were a lot of parameters dictated though it start- ed out ambitiously and with radical ideas of new ways of using the mall in terms of programme, branding, structure and form. As we all know, they get diluted to a large extent once the client steps in with a budget. We faced the same constraints of budget and tried and tested typologies to be repeated again. There is a very strong research branch in each of these companies that dictate the win-win situation and the risky situation. They always look at the safest way to plan the floor plates of the mall. That was our experience we had.

NG: Can we talk a little more about the change in programme that you suggested and the re- search to understand the