Design Approach

Our process culminated into discussing lightening demos, wherein we looked at how a city was already laden with resources it is the people and their collective creativity and wisdom which could turn it into smart, this was illustrated through the example of how during the Californian fires Tesla encourages its users to enter their cars and make use of the anti-smoke equipment. From this, we went ahead to look at metaphors around the city and its people in language, from which we further developed metaphors around the city, and what would a city be if it were smart. Through this, we understood a city by giving it a character which was beyond smart like a mother, elder brother, young child and see then how would it treat its citizens. From here we generated systems map which further defined how social capital, was connected to human capital, was connected to values, to trust is a constituent of it, of which the inception lies in instilling familiarity.

Social Capital, the term which has garnered importance and relevance by being recognised as a basic building block of community resilience, is nuanced and varied in India. When looking at social capital and its various facets (bonding, bridging and linking) in the context of India, which is constituted by large diversity, the web is rich and intricate. However, certain practices, are democratic, which connect all, practices which could become overarching symbols, beliefs and artefacts. These democratic practices could help set an overarching goal, a symbol of familiarity, forging new bonds in a rather assorted society. This strengthening of social bonds could help turn people into the ‘smart people’. The people who would come together and withstand the problems of the natural calamities of an unforeseen post-anthropocentric world.