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Harvard studies Allahabad during the Kumbh Mela

Submitted by Karthik on 12 February, 2013 - 13:45

Harvard has sent a team of ~fifty researchers to study the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. The focus of the study is on how the government accommodates the [large number] million pilgrims who flock to the city, from the perspective of infrastructure, health, and other services.

To accommodate the millions of pilgrims who journey to Allahabad to bathe in the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna, the Indian government creates a temporary [city] in the flood plain of the river. This city is laid out on a grid, constructed and deconstructed within a matter of weeks; within the grid, multiple aspects of contemporary urbanism come to fruition, including spatial zoning, an electricity grid, food and water distribution, physical infrastructure construction, mass vaccinations, public gathering spaces, and nighttime social events.

The team also documents their efforts via a blog.

(via Medianama)