The Department of Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (DLHS) of MAHE Bengaluru organized a seminar series on “Thinking the City”. The series aimed at challenging the common notion of a city and gaining a deeper understanding of the concept of a city in terms of its association with villages, mental health, climatic changes, and much more.

Each day a new speaker graced MAHE Bengaluru with their presence and imparted knowledge to the students. The lectures were based on the years of experience of the respective speaker and the research they conducted to deliver the talk on their area of expertise.

Sushmita Pati took the lead on 06 February 2023, to explain to the students how “Our Cities are made of Villages”. This facilitated the young minds to question the compartmentalization of both notions and learn to recognize the characteristics of both the city and the village in present-day lifestyles.

Dr. Shireen Mirza, on 07 February 2023, aided the students in “Seeing cities through waste”. She threw light on the intersection of caste, waste technologies, and the sanitary infrastructure of cities. This was taken a step forward with the co-construction of the intersection in ways waste infrastructure is conceived.

Vijeta Kumar established “I in the city” on 08 February 2023. She rightly pointed out the similarities between a city and a classroom in terms of an unsuccessful achievement of equality. Her assertion on the importance of small acts, making both experiences more accessible was remarkable and eye-opening.

Dr. Arvind B A and Harshitha CV conveyed “the relevance of mental health” on 09 February 2023 very effectively. The talk unveiled the data, pointing out a high number of people suffering from mental health issues and a relatively huge treatment gap too. The engagement provided a larger perspective on various dimensions of urban-mental-health that NIMHANS is involved with.

Prathijna Poonacha pushed the audience to ponder “What does Climate Change have to do with Cities?” on 10 February 2023. She pointed out the potential that cities hold in contributing to the climate change as well as the measures that are needed for the hour to bring a positive transformational change for the better.

The last day of the series, 11 February 2023, was marked by an outbound activity where all the students of DLHS were taken on a field trip to Nandi Hills. Leo Saldanha, associated with Environment Support Group, facilitated the students to look at the journey of Bangalore as a city and the change it has undergone. The non-existence of the Arkavathi river made people realize the former while effectively conveying the rise of population and the shortage of fresh water supply. The outbound activity was concluded with a visit to the Bhoganandishwara Temple at the base of Nandi Hills.

The objective of the outbound activity was to facilitate the students to actualize the learnings of the lecture series. This enabled them an opportunity to have a first-hand experience to comprehend the depth of the learnings and a chance at taking a personalized takeaway to work for the betterment of themselves and the city.