Sadhana Manthapuri

Greg Clark 

What a pleasure to welcome Sadhana to our listeners episodes of The DNA of Cities podcast. So Sadhana, welcome. What have you enjoyed or found meaningful in the podcast series, the DNA of cities?

Sadhana Manthapuri 

To me the best part was the first couple of episodes where different experts, scholars, and researchers were asked what DNA of cities mean to them. Being a PhD research scholar, having my own idea of what DNA city is, I think those two episodes which further streamlined the next narratives, like what questions can be considered, was really interesting for me. How people were thinking about DNA of cities, and what different narratives can come up when it is DNA of the city. So yeah, I think to me, the best part was that.

Greg Clark 

Wonderful, and what does the DNA of cities mean to you? This is something you're studying and writing about now. So where have you got in your understanding of this? What does it mean to you?

Sadhana Manthapuri 

To me, it truly means that it is the genetic code, or the unique essence that cities have, that drives their evolution and sustenance for the future. When it comes to urban identities, I think cities should start focusing on what is unique in them rather than like racing for jobs, attracting things that they are actually not. So, to me, I think it's really important to focus on uniqueness as a branding strategy. It can also help in a better livability of the place. So it is two shots in one go. It can promote the city at the same time, keep good livable conditions, or impress the people of the place.

Greg Clark 

I'm really glad to hear that Sadhana because, of course, that is one part of the idea that if you focus on what makes each city unique, you can also help each city then to play to its distinctive strengths and if each city plays to its own strengths, it can be the best version of itself, and therefore it can be the most livable city that it can become. So I'm really glad that you like that idea. Now, Sadhana, tell us if you don't mind about one city that you feel close to where you think it has an interesting DNA. Tell us about one city.

Sadhana Manthapuri 

So right now I'm in Varanasi. So Varanasi, India, it has three different names. It's called Banaras. It's called Kashi. It's called Varanasi. So Varanasi according to the Hindu literature, it's said to be alive from past 10,000 years. But government of India recognise that the city is at least 3,000 years old. So it's that historic city. It has been the hub of spiritual knowledge, basically spiritual knowledge and religious hub from these many years and the city was booming until there was a Mughal invasion. The Mughal invasion destroyed the beautiful architecture and main temples and knowledge scriptures. But then, it was again revived after 1920 by the local kings. We Hindus believe that if we are able to visit Kashi [Temple] once in our lifetime, or if we are able to mix the ashes of our dead in the Ganga [Ganges] River that is along where the Kashi is located. So like, if we have the pleasure of visiting Kashi or mixing the ashes of our dead in the Ganga River, it is believed that there is no reincarnation and we are cleansed of all our sins. So I think it is this belief that kept the city growing, growing like people all across India visit Kashi for this reason, for this religious belief or the spiritual belief that we have been carrying. From that point of view, if you ask what the DNA is, I think it's the divinity thing or is the religious thing that is the DNA of Kashi, and that is a thing that has been keeping the city alive for all these years.

Greg Clark

So Varanasi, Kashi, Banaras, it sounds like this is a city that we should really have in one of the future episodes of the podcast. What I want to ask you apart from the fact that this is a very interesting city because of its religious tradition and then it's affiliations and all cities that are founded for religious reasons as we discovered in Series 1 with Glasgow, which was established as a religious community, all of those cities seem to me to be very interesting. Tell us which cities and you can include Varanasi, of course, but tell us which cities you'd like us to cover in a future series of the podcast, and why.

Sadhana Manthapuri 

I actually want you people to cover Delhi, for its own reason being multiple capitals, like it has been a Mughal capital, it has been a British capital, now it's the administrative capital, it has three different roles. At the same time, it's slowly trying to attract IT investments and IT hubs to the place; it has great universities, so it's also a Knowledge Hub. So I think it's a combination of administrative habits, a combination of Knowledge Hub, it's a combination of, yeah, it has historic significance to the place. So I think Delhi would be a great choice in the next episodes and next series.

Greg Clark 

Sadhana, I'm going to make you two promises. One, we will either include Delhi or Varanasi in the next series, but whichever one we don't include in the next series will include in the one after that, which would be very good to do. So to tell us a little bit more about how you are going to investigate the DNA of cities for your PhD. What are you going to look at? And how will you write your thesis on this topic?

Sadhana Manthapuri 

Yeah, my interests are in understanding the regulations, the regulatory frameworks and the institution frameworks that are there in the city. Because personally, I feel that these institutional arrangements and regulatory frameworks can either shape the city or break the city, a good regulation, and a good institution setup can drive the growth. So personally, I feel that this framework could be a major component of the DNA sense of the city, the institutional frameworks and the regulatory frameworks. So yeah, this is the focus that I'm interested in looking at when we talk about urban identities or like when we talk about the DNA of the city. In my PhD thesis, I'm looking at the regulatory frameworks and the institutional setup which makes the city unique.

Greg Clark 

I think this is a fascinating topic Sadhana because in the way that we think, as you know, about the endowed, the acquired and the inherited traits, the regulatory system and the institutional framework of cities seems to be very, very important in determining the character of development, what is possible, what is not possible, what is managed and what is not managed. In particular, the relationship between regulations, institutions and geography becomes a really interesting topic. For example, many cities have institutions that cover a part of the geography, but not the whole geography, or they have regulations that incentivise activities in some locations, or decentralised activities in others and this has an effect on the character of the city over time. So I think you're onto a very interesting inquiry there and I can't wait to read your PhD.