There's nothing more reliable than a local's perspective when it comes to redesigning urban cities. Focusing on India's cityscapes, the Street Smart International Design Competition invited all design professionals to propose ready-to-build designs that reimagine Indian city streets based on the feedback and everyday experience of each city's urban dwellers. — bustler.net

The Curry Stone Foundation has announced the winners of the 2013 Curry Stone Design Prize. Now in its sixth year, the annual prize celebrates humanitarian design and honors the influential work of socially engaged practitioners. — bustler.net

Many people are still stuck in cyclone shelters because they have nowhere to sleep or get food and water, said T. Radha, the relief commissioner for Andhra Pradesh. He said plastic sheets are being distributed to the homeless, along with food and water. He said fishermen, who are unable to venture out to sea, are being given 10 kilograms of rice to help feed their families. — blogs.wsj.com

Look outside the world-class offices and luxury homes, and little works – not the sanitation, the power supply, or even the public transport. Every company is like a self-contained island. They have backups for everything – water, electricity and food — BBC Future

A five-storey apartment block collapsed on Friday in the Indian financial centre of Mumbai, killing at least four people and trapping scores in the latest accident to underscore shoddy building standards in Asia's third-largest economy. — reuters.com

Gateway Towers 1 is designed to please even the most exacting and fussy Corinthians. That's why every home here is fully automated, giving you the most advanced technology of the century and making your life smooth and easy. Even the amenities have been handpicked with special attention, right from the designer fixtures to the Swarovski lobbies to the private theatre within the towers. — gatewaytowerspune.com

A 10-story building in India made headlines this week after it was reported to have been successfully constructed in only two days.

According to NDTV, the construction of the building, located in an industrial area in the city of Mohali, began on Thursday afternoon at 4.30 p.m. local time. It was reportedly completed on Saturday, also at 4.30 p.m. — huffingtonpost.com

Problems...will continue to plague Mumbai as long as the government continues to pretend to put all its faith into a thoroughly planned city-wide manifesto that is ultimately tossed aside... In rethinking the grandiose nature of the Development Plan, perhaps the government can engage in smaller scale implementations and allow new regulations and ideas to...move beyond its paper urbanity. — The Global Urbanist

London/Mumbai-based firm Serie Architects has shared with us their latest project, Aarvli Resort, which just broke ground in India. Completion of the proposed eco-resort is scheduled for late 2013. — bustler.net

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) today announced that it had accepted an award from the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration’s Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) to promote the export of American architectural services to India and Sri Lanka. — aia.org

... a cache of biological samples appeared through the criminal networks of Mumbai, in the vain hope that it might provide new marketable narcotic opportunities. The collective drive and expertise of the refugees managed to turn theses genetically-engineered fungal samples into a new type of infrastructure - providing heat, light and building material for the refugees. Dharavi rapidly evolved it's own micro-economy based around the mushrooms. — tobiasrevell.com

Sumit Jain has fond memories of his childhood in a small town where everybody knew everybody. But as a young man, he moved to a big city for work and began living in an apartment building. Jain said he soon missed feeling connected to a community.

That sense of loss led him to create Commonfloor.com, a “neighborhood portal” for Indians whose lifestyles have changed with their nation’s economic transformation but who still crave neighborhood life. — washingtonpost.com

Veteran photographer Madan Mahatta took shots of some of the prominent buildings that defined the landscape of Delhi from the 1950s to the 1980s, as the city was embracing Modernist architecture. An exhibition of his work is on at the Photoink gallery in New Delhi till June 21, 2012. — india.blogs.nytimes.com

Recent claims that the Taj Mahal is in danger of collapsing sparked panic among historians and archeologists worldwide. Following the reports, a twin bench of Supreme Court justices D.K. Jain and A.R. Dave issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Ministry of Environment, ordering probes. The results of the probes are slated to be examined by the Supreme Court on Nov. 15. — blogs.wsj.com