Neighbourhoods are the user interfaces to the city, wrote Stephen Johnson in his landmark book ‘Emergence, The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software’. The idea and perception of neighbourhoods have changed drastically over the last couple of decades and are set to change again due to the current crisis. It was a porous, seamless and nourishing experience for a child growing up in the 70s in India. Today it seems like a contained experience. It makes us ponder these questions: What makes a neighbourhood? Who lives there? Who provides the support services? How have the last two years changed things, and how do we interact with the cities? What kind of cities will this give rise to in the future? The class explored the journey of Srishti Manipal Institute from our existing campuses at Yelahanka New Town to our brand-new MAHE-BLR campus. In that process, we mapped the route’s current social and cultural geography using maps, various research tools and analogue photography – which became the installation. The installation also included a series of portraits of the construction workers of the new campus that was photographed on-site. We hope the work also serves as an archive of the growth of this neighbourhood over the next several decades. Twenty-eight students worked with me to interpret what neighbourhoods mean. They did some amazing work, a lot of analogue photography and learnt to process film. Their work is up as a show in our new, under-construction campus. The project is titled From the first 25 to the next, the transition of Srishti to the future. The show is called ‘Elli, Yelli?’ – Where is Yelli (Yelahanka)! Perhaps this will be published as a book soon!
