urbanART, Jaipur, India
THE ART OF MAKING PLACES
We explore how the places we inhabit can respond more thoughtfully to
climate, ecology, resources, culture and people.
WHAT IF WE BEGAN WITH
WHAT SUSTAINS US?
Water. Soil. Climate. Material. Ecology. Food. Culture. People.
They are not separate systems. Yet we often design as if they are.
urbanART explores what happens when we reconnect them and allow the systems that sustain a place to inform the way it is designed.
Want to know us better?
We write about the questions that keep us curious, the places that make us think, and the ideas we are still figuring out.
Read more of our thoughts, observations and explorations on Substack.
A PLACE IS MORE THAN WHAT WE SEE.
urbanART is based in Jaipur; one of India’s earliest planned cities, founded in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh II.
For us, Jaipur is more than the place we are based in. It is an ongoing source of enquiry, a city where architecture, climate, water, landscape, craft and everyday life come together in layers of history and contemporary change.
Yet much of what sustains a city remains invisible. The watershed beneath it. The seasonal and mostly invisible, watercourses. The soil beneath our feet. The resources that enter it. The knowledge embedded in its buildings and everyday practices. We are interested in making these relationships visible. Because before we change a place, we should learn how it works.
Our work often begins by looking closely at these layers: observing, researching, documenting and finding ways to communicate what a place can tell us.
JAIPUR: A VISUAL ODYSSEY
Volume One grew out of our curiosity, love and tribute towards Jaipur city.
A collaborative project by urbanART, Gaurav Patel and Aanchal Gupta, the book explores Jaipur through its architectural heritage, stories and details, bringing together historical research and visual storytelling.
Rather than approaching the city only through written history, the book invites the reader to look closely: at its monuments, architectural elements, details, spaces and the ideas behind them.
The first volume was launched during the Rajasthan Architecture Festival 2023, hosted by the IIA Rajasthan Chapter.
It is our first step towards a larger Visual Odyssey series — and we are working towards exploring more stories, places and layers of Jaipur in future volumes.
Interested in owning a copy of 'Jaipur: A Visual Odyssey'?
We are looking to build future volumes with writers, researchers, architects, visual artists, graphic designers and others who are curious about cities, placemaking and culture.
Interested in collaborating?
HOW WE WORK
ADVISE
Strategic thinking for projects, places and organisations navigating climate, ecology, resources and development.
RESEARCH
Research, analysis, documentation, visualisation, reports and publications.
DESIGN
Architecture, interiors, master planning and climate-responsive design rooted in context.
LEARN
Workshops, field studies, conversations, teaching and curated learning experiences.
What We Believe
01
CONTEXT ALWAYS COMES FIRST.
02
INVISIBLE WATER IS MORE POWERFUL THAN VISIBLE.
03
ALL NATURAL MATERIALS ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE.
04
GOOD DESIGN BEGINS WITH BETTER QUESTIONS.
05
IT IS MIND-BOGGLING HOW CONNECTED WE ALL ARE.
A butterfly flaps its wings somewhere, and somehow, somewhere else, things begin to change.
If you haven’t watched the documentary; 'Connected', we strongly recommend it.
SCALES OF WORK
DHUN
Rethinking the relationship between water, ecology and human settlement.
Over five years of working at Dhun shaped much of our founder's thinking around water, ecology, materiality, settlement planning and regenerative development. At a large integrated township near Jaipur, the work explored a different starting point for development: understanding the land and its water systems before determining what the land could hold.
Future / Manual
A ten-day interdisciplinary learning experience hosted at Dhun, developed as part of Dhun’s partnership with The King’s Foundation and Earthna center, Qatar Foundation.
Bringing together architects, planners, designers, ecologists, material practitioners and other curious minds, the programme explored how we might think differently about the places we inhabit. Across ten days, participants engaged with architecture, settlement patterns, water, ecology, materials, food, indigenous knowledge and regenerative practices through conversations, field explorations, hands-on sessions and learning from the living landscape at Dhun.
The programme was curated and orchestrated by Manisha Sharma, founder of urbanART, who shaped the curriculum, brought together the facilitators and participants, and designed the overall learning journey.
For urbanART, Future / Manual reflects an approach to learning that is experiential, interdisciplinary and rooted in place.
Interested in contributing to upcoming Future / Manual series, collaborating on a similar programme, or bringing together people and ideas around a particular question?
urbanART is led by Manisha Sharma, an architect and urban planner from Jaipur.
She grew up in Rajasthan, with roots in the painted havelis and landscapes of Shekhawati region, and a deep familiarity with a region where life has always been shaped by scarce water, intense heat, shade, courtyards, earth, craft and community.
She is on a journey of unlearning and relearning: looking back at what earlier generations understood instinctively, questioning what we have lost along the way, and exploring what those lessons might mean for the future.
Working from Jaipur and across disciplines, scales and geographies, she is drawn to the fundamentals that make a place truly liveable: good air, clean water, nourishing food, a living ecology and people with whom we can build meaningful lives.
