"Across the world slums are labeled as unclean, disorderly places and seen as a problem for planning smart cities of the future. This animation tells the story of Krishnanagar, labelled as the largest slum in the Shimla district in India to suggest that we need to rethink smart cities from below. This is possible only through an appreciation of the slum as a historic and cultural heritage of the city, delinking it from claims of informality or illegality. This would provide mode inclusive and sustainable pathways for planning for the future city." - Learning from Small Cities
'Learning from Small Cities' project was an animation video on Shimla, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), Newton fund and ICSSR. It tells the story of Krishnanagar, labelled as the largest slum that can be found at the foothills of the Shimla district in India to suggest that we need to rethink smart cities.
'Learning from Small Cities' project was an animation video on Shimla, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), Newton fund and ICSSR. It tells the story of Krishnanagar, labelled as the largest slum that can be found at the foothills of the Shimla district in India to suggest that we need to rethink smart cities.
For this project I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Learning from Small Cities team, Sabari Venu, Jahnavi Amarnani, and Manish Joseph to art direct and illustrate for the animation. Showcased here are a few frames of storyboard sketches and illustrated animation frames.
Top - storyboard sketch of the 'Tetris' houses of Shimla along with a rendered illustrated animation frame of the same.
Bottom left - an illustration of how an 'ideal' smart city is visualised. Bottom right - a storyboard sketch of the city of Shimla.
The map is used to tell the historic and cultural heritage of the tiered city, in the animation. The aim of the animation is to delink the area from claims of informality or illegality to provide mode inclusive and sustainable pathways for planning for the future city.
