Meetups & Discussions
Bengaluru’s rapid expansion means paving over decades of history, one flyover and glass tower at a time. Arun Pai brings his 2007 BIC talk on the city’s history and heritage into the present, asking what’s been lost, and what still remains, beneath the city’s relentless growth.
Pai has been walking Bengaluru’s streets since 2005 as Founder of BangaloreWALKS, telling the city’s story to everyone from first-time visitors to Prime Ministers, global CEOs, and G20 delegations, as Bengaluru has grown into one of the world’s fastest-growing cities. He brings these encounters into conversation with a provocation: that Bengaluru’s real strength lies not in preserving its built heritage, but in its ability to constantly reinvent itself. Expect stories from his years as the self-appointed “Footpath Mayor” of Bengaluru, and Brand Ambassador for Swachha Bengaluru too, as he makes the case for a city that looks forward as often as it looks back.
This talk is part of a series marking twenty years of BIC, in which speakers from the institution’s early years return to revisit topics they first addressed here. It is a chance to trace what has changed, what has endured, and how ideas evolve over time. BIC is proud to have been host to conversations that connect culture, ideas, and public life across two decades.