the Market square

Towns in India had street performers who were very much a part of the market squares. Today, these street performers are not to be seen. Spatial configurations within market areas have changed. Vehicular movement has been a new and bull-dozing modern need. There is so much that cannot happen in the market square because cars and rickshaws must be allowed to move on. We have brought the car into our lives & do not realise fully how we have allowed it to erode our cultural environments.

The Mapusa market in Goa by youshitface

In India, our cities do not anymore have public squares. Markets are mostly crowded, dirty and chaotic streets. A Town or City would need to identify old pedestrian plazas or design new ones around existing markets where cultural programmes and street theatre or puppet shows happen frequently. These could also become areas for tourists to know more about the local people and their arts and crafts.