Who We Are ?
The Nasik Project

ABOUT US


The Nasik Project is a platform for exchanging ideas that promote public scholarship on Nasik. A collective that is envisaged as a working group and action group of individuals from multi-disciplinary backgrounds who’ve come together to deliberate upon Nasik’s identity shaped through its history and appropriate future trajectory that the city-region needs to take. The Collective aims to propose an alternative vision for the city-region that takes an integral approach to development. A future that creates appropriate synergy and balance of ecology & economy; of rural & urban; of nature and culture while respecting and learning from the spirit of the place, its history and past.

The Collective strives to be a repository through knowledge collection, knowledge dissemination and knowledge creation on various aspects of Nasik city-region. It is a project where Nasik is in the foreground, where new ideas are debated, discussed, and experimented through seminars, symposiums, exhibitions, research & documentation, proposals, planning and policy, etc. to help reach a more integral approach through consensus with all stakeholders of the city-region.

The Nasik Project operates under four inter-dependent areas viz. History, Ecology, Economy and Habitat.

  • History- Nasik has a history dating to ancient times and often overlapping with multiple mythological tales. Though its position in history is evident through its ancient caves, temples, ghats, and wadas, alternate histories of the city are rarely discussed, such as colonial and post-colonial architectural histories. Reading and writing alternate histories offers fresh insights to understand our city.
  • Ecology- Nasik being a relatively small city has not yet lost its connection with nature and its hinterlands. In fact, the very charm and character of the place is predominantly defined by its ecological setting and environment. Amidst the Sahyadri range, Nasik is a crucial settlement in the Godavari watershed. There is an urgent need to discuss and deliberate appropriate approaches that strike a delicate balance between environment and development.
  • Economy- Studying the trends of development of metro-cities, a linear economic model seems to have defined their trajectory where a city shifts from agro-based industries to service based economy. Can a circular economic model of development be envisaged for Nasik where each sector of the economy feeds into the other? Especially when Nasik is known for being the kitchen of Maharashtra such discussions are crucial for the city-region going forward.
  • Habitat- Nasik’s habitat has a relatively healthy relationship between the urban and rural, between natural and built. Going forward, understanding ways to create and maintain this symbiotic relationship would decide the quality of living in our city-region.

To achieve a holistic and comprehensive development of Nashik city-region, above 4 heads and their interrelations must be understood & analyzed to achieve a sustainable future development of the city-region.

FOUNDERS AND COLLABORATORS


    Yakin Kinger

Yakin Kinger is pursuing his Ph.D. in the History of Architecture and Urban Development (HAUD) program at Cornell University. His research examines power-place relations in colonial India to decolonize architectural history writing by critically unpacking questions of land occupation, violence, and cultural domination. He reads transformations of landscapes to understand the complexity of their agents and processes. His research has been supported by the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) and the Graham Foundation, among others. His works have been published on platforms including the Avery Review and the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA). He holds a master’s degree in architectural history and theory from CEPT University and has taught at various institutes in India. He has also been actively expanding public-facing scholarship highlighting unheard and unknown histories by curating exhibitions and symposia, among other formats.


    Swapnil Joshi

Swapnil S Joshi is an architect & planner based in Nasik city. His practice 'The Cave Laboratory,' focuses on three interdependent aspects viz. research, architecture & planning. Over the past several years, he has been researching various aspects and issues of Nasik city-region viz. history, habitat, ecology, economy, urban & regional development, etc.  He has given presentations and talks on Nasik at various platforms including the Center for Environmental Planning & Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad, Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, NMIMS, Mumbai, Marathwada Mitramandal College of Architecture (MMCA), Pune, and Stories, Ecology, Environment & Design (SEED) Forum, Nashik. He currently teaches at Mumbai Education Trust's School of architecture & Interior Design (METSoA & ID), Nashik, and has served as an additional co-convener of the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Nashik chapter in the past.