There is a lot of scope for redevelopment in India though the country doesn’t have much space like the Western nations, said Eva Walter and Christina Gresser of Germany.

Eva, an architect, and Christina, an engineer are here to take part in the German India Round Table (Coimbatore chapter) conference.

“Coimbatore is no different from other cities in India in terms of planning. Being an industrial city there is a lot of scope for redevelopment here,” they said.

“Except for Mumbai, I haven’t seen much re-development projects happening in India,” Christina said and added that city planning was necessary in terms of accessibility and security. “Otherwise it is total chaos. We need to come up with solutions by staying within the existing structure and that is a great design challenge,” said Eva.
The duo, who have worked with several gated community projects in India, said the communities do not offer the necessary solutions to the real issues faced by urban India.

Expressing shock at the condition of the lakes in city, they said redevelopment along the lake area was possible only if everybody worked towards it.

Asked whether there would be ‘Indianisation’ in their architectural plans Christina said, ”History and heritage have to be preserved. But architecture is contemporary and there will be changes according to the current practices.”