Reinventing India

At Andrew Leonard's wonderful blog, How the World Works, I came across this piece about Vinod Khosla's plan for rural India. Leonard asks a set of critical questions about Khosla's proposal to build rural infrastructure hubs throughout the country. Written with Atanu Dey, Khosla's plan is to bring the wonders of modernization and urban living to the millions who need them, without bringing the millions to the cities.

Leonard calls the whole thing "new economy social engineering." I'm intrigued that its about things like water, roads, and electricity and not $100 laptops. But I also wonder where are the urban ecologists, the designers and architects in a discussion like this? (and the other obvious question, where are the rural Indians?)

Click here (scroll down to Jan 22, 2:30 pm, Urban Ecologies) for a great video cast of an interview with the architect Sir Norman Foster. Its all about the "green agenda." Important insights on sustainability - and something a rural infrastructure plan would need to consider also.

Tags: philanthropy, socialchange, green, design, knowledge