Hyderabad Arts Festival Panel Discussion on The Changing Cities at Taj Krishna

A Panel Discussion of "The Changing Cities" held

Replacing old iconic structures with newer ones in a quest to brand and market cities wont work. Instead it was suggested to go for adaptive reuse, so that iconic monuments not only will last long but continue to serve people: observed panelists

The panelists included Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary ITE&C Dept; Andrew McAllister, British Dy High Commissioner; Michael Mullins, Consul General of the US Consulate General and Achim Fabig, Consul General at the German Consultate General, Chennai.

Hyderabad, May 06, 2016…..In quest for branding cities, some planners are replacing old icons with new ones. How far is it right was one of the many questions raised in a panel discussion on “The Changing Cities” held in city today.

The four panelists comprised of Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary ITE&C Dept; Andrew McAllister, British Dy High Commissioner; Michael Mullins, Consul General of the US Consulate General and Achim Fabig, Consul General at the German Consultate General, Chennai observed that that it may not be good idea to do so.

The cities of today have gone in for a sea change. But, how can we change a city without changing the essence of the city. How can a city's characteristics help in branding of that city?. How can we develop it without damaging it?, How do we retain and respect heritage? How do we adapt cleaner and greener technologies?, How important are culture and arts? How can the old and new co-exist?

These and a lot more questions were answered in a panel discussion with the panelists which then was followed by a Q & A Session. The panel discussion was graced by well over 250 citizens.

Achim Fabig urged to preserve heritage. Jayesh Ranjan suggested a process like adaptive reuse., which refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for. Adaptive reuse is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation as well as reduction of urban sprawl.

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Same seem to hold good as far as growth of the cities is concerned. In the name of growth, no body seem to be caring about the aesthetics of the city. So audience asked the panelists if they know of any committee or government body to protect basic aesthetics of the city. For which Jayesh Ranjan responded that there is a need for such committees. But, to happen that it will take long time as critical mass which needs to bring in that change is not there, he said.

Michael Mullins and along with other panelists felt that buildings alone will not make cities. It is the people, who will make a difference. Community engagement in the growth of the cities is very important. Let people be part of the changes of the city. It is those cities who engage communities in their growth will last long, they observed. People are the change and they must be made part of the change, they felt.

Achim Fabig, Consul General at the German Consultate General, Chennai while talking about conscious things cities must do to reduce carbon footprint, he suggest something which is done in most of the German cities who encourage people use public transportation. Public Transport tickets are made available to School, Colleges and Educational institutions at the least possible price to encourage them to use public transportation to help reduce carbon foot print.

The Hyderabad Arts festival which is in its fourth year has conceptualized this initiative to celebrate the spirit of Hyderabad since 2012.

Well over 50 programs have been conducted free of cost in the last four years. Nearly one lakh people have witnessed these programs absolutely free.

The festiva is the brain child of the trio(three friends, A.V. Ramakrishna from Hyderabad, C.S. Manoj from Kerala and Capt. Anand from Chennai, who made Hyderabad their home), whose love for city gave birth to the festival said, the date of the beginning of “Hyderabad Arts Festival’ is permanent now. The festival begins on the Second Saturday of April every year and goes on for three months, they informed.

Beginning on 9th April this year, with “Sounds of the Desert” —The Manganiar Magic of Music and dance, it will end with an evening of souful ghazals of the great maestro Pankaj Udhas on 25th June 2016, to be held at PEBL city.
HAF adds International flavour to the season by bringing in La Foret Ebouriffee from Farance, where French artists will perform dance and theater with multimedia on 4th June.

Another attraction this season is Grammy-winning ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram who will performance along with his own family of three generations on stage tomorrow at Cyber City Convention Center at Madhapur.

The festival aims at involving people than having them only as audience. So this year onwards, apart from the cultural events, HAF also has two interesting concepts to involve people. The first is a set of activities for kids. Throughout the HAF Season 4, every week there will be a activity for kids – dining etiquettes, kids yoga, aquascaping, origami, money management, etc., all conducted by respective subject experts. Like all HAF events, these activities will also be free for the kids. Little Sparks Global has come forward to conduct these activities for HAF.

HAF is a part of the Happening Hyderabad initiative of the Telangana government and has support from the Government of Telangana and many other organizations. More than 25 companies are associated with HAF this year to make this a successful season and take HAF to greater heights.

To enhance the social capital of the city we need more events, which state government has been taking up under its Happening Hyderabad initiative. Hyderabad Arts Festival is one such festival which will contribute for the social capital of the city which according to Minister K.T. Rama Rao who said on several occasions earlier that it is the need of the hour.