The city of Ahmedabad holds special significance as Gandhiji’s karmabhoomi during the formative years of his political and spiritual leadership. It was on the banks of the Sabarmati River, between the British jail and the crematorium grounds, that he settled the Sabarmati (Harijan) Ashram in 1917. Embracing Satyagraha, holding on to truth and nonviolent resistance, the Ashram served as the strategic center for the Indian freedom struggle. Gandhi lived there until 1930, when he departed for the Salt March, never to return.

This October, speaking in Ahmedabad on the occasion of the anniversary, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the plans for remaking the Sabarmati Ashram into a 32-acre“world-class memorial.”  With this transformation, many fear that the ideals of simplicity and austerity that once defined the Ashram will be forever lost, and the site of pilgrimage will turn into yet another tourist resort.

In a time of global unrest, with citizens across the world turning cities into fields of action toexercise dissent and assert their rights, this studio section proposes to learn from the Gandhianlegacy in the city of Ahmedabad to inspire more just and inclusive development practices.