Transforming Himalayan Landscapes: An Inquiry into the Indigenous Built Environment, Urbanisation and Ecological Change in the Kumaon Himalaya, India

You are cordially invited to attend the research seminar by Aarti Dhingra:

Date: 3 Oct 2025
Time: 09:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Venue: SDE3 Level 4, LT426

Transforming Himalayan Landscapes: An Inquiry into the Indigenous Built Environment, Urbanisation and Ecological Change in the Kumaon Himalaya, India

Abstract:
This research examines the indigenous built environment of Kumaon in the context of urbanisation and environmental change in the Himalaya. It draws out causal relationships between aspects of the built environment, nature, and culture to conceptualise the built environment as a dynamic social-ecological system.

To understand how this social-ecological system is transforming, six urbanising villages of Uttarakhand, which reflect a rural – urban continuum and offer a rich social-ecological diversity, were studied. A qualitative methodology engaging ethnography and interviews was conducted. Through systems thinking, components and their relationships were synthesised into an integrated social-ecological system visualisation which highlighted how the system is transforming. It is argued that the indigenous social-ecological system of a forest-based agrarian society worked as a sustainable, closed-loop unit. However, as global drivers press for change, the transforming system reveals open loops, dead ends, and vicious cycles. Indigenous practices are transforming into industrial while the system is marked by ecological degradation through invasive monocultured chir pine forests, endangered natural resources, and loss of traditional ecological knowledge and resource management systems.

The transforming systems also reveal the emergence of a global economy and power geometries which are gendered. It is important to restore balance by closing the loops, as learnt from indigenous practices. This serves as the first step towards planning for social-ecological equity and resilience in Himalayan communities.

Aarti Dhingra is an architect and urbanist who frames the built environment as a system of social and ecological processes. Her work is shaped by many years in the central Himalayas of India, where she managed construction projects on remote hilly terrain with rural communities where climate, resource management and worldviews are very different from cities.

This experience instilled a deep sensitivity to ecological processes and indigenous knowledge that continues to guide her practice. She is presently a sustainable design consultant at Transsolar, Stuttgart, where she also leads the Transsolar World Academy. Her work is rooted in climate-responsive design and aims to foster resilience in fragile landscapes.