Auroville is a unique town. It will receive people who, from different parts of the world, will come with the determination to live together in an atmosphere of harmony and mutual understanding. Traditional social and human relations will have no place there. Competition and struggle will give place to emulation, collaboration and brotherhood.

This shows how inadequate are the standard techniques and the vocabulary of Town planning. But this inadequacy should not exempt us from carrying out a research on the leading principles of organisation and working of the urban space. The philosophical and humanitarian purpose, as well as the will to fit the architecture to the framework of life is confronted with demographic, economic, technical and financial exigencies of all such endeavours.

Car-free cities will probably become the norm this century due to energy constraints. It seems appropriate, therefore, that Auroville should be willing to take a lead in this. But how can we design Auroville as a city which could function without cars and motorbikes?