Day one of the ADM Summit 2021 kick-started with an engrossing keynote discussion by Romi Khosla, who is an independent consultant at Romi Khosla Design Studios, New Delhi. The industry stalwart threw light on how the hopeful future of the architecture and design industry awaits us and the necessary steps, if taken now, can make heaps of difference.
The session began with Khosla articulately voicing how we can either design the future or draw someone’s attention to it and that currently it is imperative to focus on the latter. He said, “As a designer, you are always dealing with the future since you are designing things that don’t already exist in the present.” Architects also need to find multi-disciplinary solutions to the challenges of our time in order to continue to live and thrive on this planet.
It is not a secret that technology has accelerated at an incredible pace and architecture isn’t an exception. However, Khosla rightly pointed out how the absence of good ideas is a matter of concern. He stated, “There are too many functional bad ideas around us. For instance, it is a bad idea to have lots of cars and no public transportation. This is only going to ruin our future. I dream of a world where good ideas are possible. If you have a good image of the future, which is clear and strong, you will immediately be able to set apart the good ideas from the bad. Good ideas can save us from an excessive crisis.”
The world order is an assembly of various macrosystems that are all connected to each other. Khosla reinstated that the biggest worry the country might face in the near future is becoming ungovernable. He is certain that governance is going to be challenged by lots of factors; some of the most important being climate change, sustainability and resilience. Hence, it is crucial to set up alternate urban landscapes. “Convert macrosystems into core micro-governing and core micro-economic systems,” Khosla asserted.
While talking about architecture and design in today’s times, one cannot ignore the significance of sustainability. Khosla said, “There should be an appeal for mesh urbanization, which will provide multiple ways of earning, multiple identities, self-sustenance reduced to micro-levels and mindful governance.” Sustainable urban development is the way forward for cities to mitigate climate change. The aim is to create cities and towns that improve the long-term health of the planet’s human and ecological systems.
Conscious steps by the owners of technology, preventing extensive environmental catastrophe, and trying to reduce the detrimental consequences of unbalanced wealth are the factors that need to be under the scanner in the coming future. As Khosla mentioned, “It is only in the company of dreamers, optimists, and geniuses that breaking the shackles of the ceiling is possible.”
