Daniel DSouza
Tekton
Tekton: Volume 12, Issue 1, June 2025
pp. 102 – 111
Daniel DSouza is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Planning and works as a visiting faculty at CEPT University. Daniel’s research focuses on place making practices in public spaces and the impact of urban vitality on the production of place.
daniel.dsouza.phd23@cept.ac.in
ABSTRACT
This essay argues that studying urban vitality in public spaces is an important prerequisite for good urban design in Indian cities. This essay draws on Maas’s definition of urban vitality and examines how these elements manifest in India’s urban context. Urban vitality requires attention in India’s rapidly urbanising context where space is actively repurposed through informal means. The implications are that prioritising urban vitality studies in both professional practice and urban design education would enable urban designers to develop context-specific strategies that respond to the characteristics of Indian urban space and, in turn, help create more inclusive and vibrant urban environments.
KEY WORDS
Urban Vitality, Place Making
