| landscape survey
CONTOURS OF CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE PRACTICE IN INDIA
A MANIFESTO FOR A PROFESSION IN FORMATION
Shilpa Bakshi Chandawarkar and Vyusti Agarwalla
LA85 |
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| A survey of around thirty young landscape practices across the country—by the Department of Landscape Architecture at the IES College of Architecture, Mumbai in 2025—reveals a rich and nuanced set of insights into their character, modes of working, and evolving points of reference. It highlights not only the diversity of approaches and scales at which these practices operate, but also their shared concerns—ranging from ecological responsiveness and cultural context to questions of sustainability, urbanization, and public engagement.
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Returning to the Question of Practice
In 2012, The Way We Work, the first nationwide survey of Indian landscape architects published by LA Journal India, captured a profession at a formative moment. It revealed a field still trying to articulate its presence, to define its methods, and to distinguish its unique contribution amidst architecture, planning, and urban design. It was a mirror held up to a discipline long relegated to the margins of the built environment, often overshadowed by allied professions and confined to the role of garden-maker.
More than a decade later, the landscape, both literally and figuratively, has shifted. The profession has grown, scattered and hybridized. A new generation of practices has emerged, shaped by the contingencies of India’s rapid urbanization, the urgency of climate change, the proliferation of digital tools and the circulation of global ideas. These young firms operate in an altered terrain: one where ecological resilience competes with market demand, where boutique studios negotiate pan-Indian commissions and where social media visibility jostles with reputation built through word-of-mouth.
It was within this altered terrain that our classroom became a laboratory of reflection. As part of the Master of Landscape Architecture program, we invited students to revisit the profession with fresh eyes: to examine how contemporary Indian practices are organized, what values they prioritize and how they imagine their futures. What began as a pedagogical question, how should young firms model themselves, and what lessons might they glean from pioneers, soon expanded into a collective inquiry. We were not merely studying practice, we were attempting to trace the evolving contours of a discipline that is at once consolidating and diversifying, rooted and restless, fragile and fecund.
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| CURRENT ISSUE LA85 |
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| tribute
THE VOICE OF INDIA’S LANDSCAPES
MADHAV DHANANJAYA GADGIL
Gurudas Nulkar
| editorial
LOOK AROUND, CHOOSE YOUR OWN GROUND
EMERGING LANDSCAPE PRACTICES
| emerging landscape practices: profiles
ANKUR JAJPURIA
STUDIO ASPIRE, JAIPUR
ARJUN SHARMA AND GAURAV SHETTY
GROUNDSTORY: LANDSCAPE + ARCHITECTURE, MUMBAI
BHAKTI THAKOOR
ENVIROSCAPE, MUMBAI
DEEPTHI C.B.
DHARITRI LANDSCAPE, BENGALURU
DHARA MITTAL AND NISHANT MITTAL
STUDIO 23N72E, AHMEDABAD
GAURI SATAM AND TEJESH PATIL
UNTAG ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORS, MUMBAI
HARISH VANGARA
IAMMIES LANDSCAPES, HYDERABAD
HEMALI SAMANT
HEMALI LANDSCAPE STUDIO, MUMBAI
HEMANSHU TANEJA AND ADITI TANEJA
STUDIO HA, JAIPUR
KAVITA KEDAWAT
EXPANSE STUDIO, JAIPUR
KRIPA K. BABY
THINKING HATS, CALICUT
NIDHI PARIKH AND NARENDRA MANGWANI
URBSCAPES, AHMEDABAD
NOOPUR SEJPAL AND ZUBIN PAREKH
SEJPAL AND PAREKH ASSOCIATES, MUMBAI
PARAS SAREEN
PARAS SAREEN & ASSOCIATES, JALANDHAR
PRACHI PANVALKAR
VOCAL HABITATS, BENGALURU
PREETANSHI SINGH AND SHANTESH KELVEKAR
READING GROUNDS, BENGALURU
SACHIN UBBARADA AND ADITI RAJ
STUDIO CONFLUENCE, BENGALURU
SANKALPA PATEL AND JAIMISH DHAMELIYA
SCULPTING GROUNDS LLP, AHMEDABAD
SMRUTI BALVALLI
NATURE NARRATIVES, BENGALURU
SUJOY DAS
INSCAPE DESIGN STUDIO, KOLKATA
VARNA SHASHIDHAR
VSLA, BENGALURU
| looking ahead
A PROMISING FUTURE
| landscape survey
CONTOURS OF CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE PRACTICE IN INDIA
A MANIFESTO FOR A PROFESSION IN FORMATION
Shilpa Bakshi Chandawarkar and Vyusti Agarwalla
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