Year-End 2021: Now & Then

Dear FuturArc Readers, “Thoughts are the architects of our circumstances.” I read this some time ago from a spiritual text. Thoughts do have a way of flowing out into our words and deeds. As such, they have a powerful impact on how we see the world and how we construct our realities. Thoughts move us forwards or back, impressing upon us visions or memories. This year-end issue is a medium through which we look at past concepts in their current manifestations and future possibilities based on present status quo, now. Thoughts can become reality: Auroville was envisaged to be a place for all humanity, built on a foundation of an inclusive social consciousness and oneness, founded by a spiritual teacher. But has it fulfilled its own utopic vision? Bhawna Jaimini set off to find out, intrigued by one of the loftiest ideals for a township in her country of birth and upbringing, which has been on her mind as a story she wanted to tell—and finally did. Thoughts realised can become memorialised: Charles Correa was described by some as being ahead of his time—whose vision of architecture was expressed in work dominated by passive strategies, localised in climate...