PRINCIPAL'S ADDRESS
Greetings from Aditya College of Architecture, Mumbai, India!
ACA has been organizing the International Design Competition annually for a decade now since its inception in the year 2013. It provides for an international platform to showcase the works of young designers and to establish connections amongst the global architectural student’s community as well as academia.
Hence it gives me great pleasure to announce the theme of “Nodes, Networks & Negotiations: Improvised Infrastructure of Urban Mobility” for the 12th edition of ACA’s International Design Competition IDC 2025 and 6th edition of ACA’s International Research Conference - IDRC 2025
Urban land is a finite resource that is incredibly important to manage it well particularly for its daily functioning. Architecture has always been involved with infrastructure, frequently serving an aesthetic function but more importantly acting as a hub for human activity Today much needed infrastructure particularly associated with mobility is shaping the urban horizon of most cities and rightly so. Most world class cities are known for their efficient infrastructure that have become the identity of the urban landscape. It was not long before that our city Mumbai itself reestablished its visual identity with the Bandra worli sea link bridge and today the city boasts of its efficient coastal connectivity. Most world class cities are being reshaped with such identity-based infrastructure projects and it is most apt that such projects are being taken up in design studios in higher classes or post graduate urban studios.
It is well known that all kinds of studies are conducted by researchers and urban analyst as feasibility studies to justify such projects. Post occupancy studies are equally important to understand the success and shortfall of such projects. The association of planning and laying infrastructure from an environmental, scientific, aesthetic, or creative standpoint currently depends on our capacity to manage it. Similarly, issues associated with urban infra-related disasters are becoming increasingly frequent due to negligence, lack of quality control and extreme occurrences including climatic change, and political instability. The aim of this research conference is to address the critical issue of mobility and urban land as a finite resource as well as raise awareness on the recent concepts of urban resilience.
I look forward to your wholehearted participation and engaged learning!
Warm Regards
Prof. Ar. Jamshid Bhiwandiwalla
I/C Principal,
M.A. (Ancient Indian Culture) M. Arch. (General Architecture)
BRIEF
The globalized cities that we inhabit are woven together by intricate and extensive networks of urban mobility. These networks are intended not only to make cities more accessible to their inhabitants, but also to facilitate financial growth by plugging into the global economy. They comprise of massive physical structures that are amongst some of the largest forms of urban infrastructure within and in between cities. They influence the urban morphology significantly by transforming the geography of the city and its peripheries, shaping communities through connections, but also through separations.
As the primary mechanisms for moving large numbers of people, goods and services across vast distances, these urban infrastructures of public transport become some of the most dominant, if not the defining, components of the system. Their diverse forms connect disparate regions, just as their looming presence contributes a visual identity to those places, representing physical, social mobility and human aspiration. And yet, the prevailing contentions over access to the land on which they are built, perpetuate the disparities between the neighborhoods they were built to connect.
It is within this constant flux and dynamic milieu of infrastructure, integration and identity that negotiations for access to mobility play out every day. The result are informal yet innovative improvisations that people develop to fill the voids that get created around these infrastructures or are left behind in their wake.
Sub-Themes:
- Policy and Governance
- Urban mobility and social justice
- Informality and urban commons
- Sustainability and environment
- Gender equity and safety
- Public participation and public spaces
- Safety and Risk Management
- Art, Design and Education
- Streets and squares
- Emerging technology and digital transformations
- Resilience
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Borivali (West), Mumbai 400 092
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