Full Description
Positioned at the intersection of indigenous knowledge systems and spatial practice, this volume explores how ritualised, place-based epistemologies can reframe design and planning responses to global ecological crises. Departing from reductive Cartesian abstractions, it interrogates the systemic erasure of sacred space and advances a generative turn toward relational ontologies and decolonial spatial imaginaries. Landscapes are approached not as static heritage artefacts, but as living, agentive systems that co-produce meaning, identity, and ethical responsibility. Drawing on global case studies and innovative methodological approaches, including VOICE, Spiritual Tectonics, and Afro-Cosmological Design, the contributions explore the temporal thickening of sacred sites, where ancestral continuities intersect with emergent technologies. By integrating traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary metrics of resilience and sustainability, the book outlines actionable pathways for spatial practitioners. It speaks to researchers and professionals across architecture, urban planning, religious studies, cultural geography, and the environmental humanities.
Contents
Part I: Experiential Frameworks.- Chapter 1. Afrocosmology and Sacred Design: Towards a Decolonial Spatial Imagination (Johannes Bhanye).- Chapter 2. The field and the knower: understanding sacred landscapes through the Bhagavad Gītā (Umberto Baresi).- Chapter 3. Reconciling Geometries and Geographies of the Self (Karim W. F. Youssef).- Chapter 4. The 'Relational Turn' in Sacred Space: A Phenomenological Mapping Framework (Vikas Chand Sharma, and Sandeep Dua).- Chapter 5. Spiritual Tectonics: Integrating Yogic Principles and Sacred Architecture for Meditative Stillness (Ines Consuela Essen).- Chapter 6. Samādhis as Cultural Landscapes: Remembering Saints in Contemporary Bhakti (Leena Taneja).- Part II: Indigenous Frameworks.- Chapter 7. Deriving the Indigenous Proportioning System of Ek-Ratna Temples of Bishnupur (Peu Banerjee).- Chapter 8. Recursive sacred space and multiple emotional resonance: development model of Thai Chinese temples based on symbolic representation (Huiying Wang and Warunee Wang).- Chapter 9. Reimagining Traditional Water Systems in Sacred Landscapes: A Planning Framework for Govardhan, India (Aman Sharma, Anurag Varma, and Shiva Ji).- Chapter 10. Reviving the Sacred Through Self-Rule: Gandhi's Gram Swaraj and Festival Space Planning (Nimai Sarkar).- Chapter 11. Rethinking Conservation Frameworks of Living Religious Heritage Sites (Samidha Pusalkar).- Chapter 12. Village Voice: Reimagining Development through Sacred Ecologies in Goa (Ginella George and George Jerry Jacob).- Chapter 13. Tir Aikym: Creating an environmental stewardship framework for a living eco-spiritual centre (Anoup Kerrai, Girija Shettar, Hiral Patel, and Mohan Siyani).
