Remembering Charles Correa: From Affordable Housing to Affordable Cities

In 2009, I found myself in the fortunate position of working as a young architect in Charles Correa’s office and assisting him on what would be his last book. Closing the circle on a lifetime spent writing and theorizing on architectural and urban issues, A Place in the Shade: The New Landscape & Other Essays is a collection of about thirty short texts that gives one an insight into Correa’s incisive and analytical mind on a wide range of topics: from architecture and art to planning and politics. Sometimes reflective, and almost always provocative, the essays illustrate Correa’s confident command of these diverse topics and his ability to connect them to the agency of the architect – a role that he was convinced comprised not just of designing buildings but one that also needed to engage with urban issues through public writing, teaching and advocacy. [...]