BHUBANESWAR 2.0

If it happens, the 'New City' could be a template for our urban sprawls

- By Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

IN TALK OF INDIA'S MODERN URBAN PLANNING, most of the fawning is reserved for Corbusier's city. But Chandigarh was still only an idea without a body when modern Bhubaneswar came up. In 1948, Odisha's capital had already shifted to German architect Otto Königsberger's wide-avenued city, dotted with gardens and parks. But nearly eight decades of haphazard growth have wrought the usual havoc. And so, there is to be a Bhubaneswar 2.0, or 'The New City', on the outskirts of the old one, a project that may become a model for the rest of India. If one goes by the official version, that is, ignoring the discordant voices.