About this project

Ever wondered what makes this city run? Is it the brokers on Wall Street? The subway system? The water shelters littering the Manhattan skyline? Is it the eternally hip artists cramming themselves into a closet that passes for an apartment? Could it be urban planners?

If you’ve ever puzzled over what makes a city livable, we feel you. We are a group of 10+ urban planning graduate students who are seeking your kind attention to the ever-pressing question of what makes a city run and what makes a city run well.

For the next 200 days we will be working tirelessly to formulate a plan for the small coastal village of Mahabalipuram, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India. Our goal is to devise a plan that facilitates the adaptive capacity of villagers and make the town resilient to the effects of climate change.

The culmination of our first 100 days of work will result in a trip to Mahabalipuram in January, 2010. Once there, we begin a two-week long site visit and survey of the area. We are interviewing locals, conducting land use surveys, checking out the major and minor infrastructure of the town and assessing the economic sustainability of local industries such as agriculture, fishing and artisan sculpture work.

And this is where we appeal to you! We need to raise funds for any of the many parts of this adventure – which to date is tallying up to $24,000! Whether we put the money toward the $3725 in bus fees, $4800 in accommodation fees or the $675 for Indian visas. Additionally, we believe in giving back to the community and plan to donate 3% off of the total funds we receive to a locally worthy cause.

But what do you get from all of this? Our plan is to shower you in rewards. As we document our two week India adventure we plan to take hundreds of photographs of places that are not normally found on postcards, we are shooting what will amount to many ten’s of hours of video, we are making maps, and even potentially buying small, locally made handicrafts (if they are available!). Sounds amazing? See the rewards sidebar for a more detailed schedule.

To close, we all want to thank you so much for supporting our concept to plan for a stronger, safer Mahabalipuram. We will update you all with additional posts and videos and would truly love to engage any curious souls in a more substantive conversation about our work. We hope to speak to you again soon, next time from Mahabalipuram!