The Festival of Places a unique initiative by CATTS celebrates People, Places and Memories.The fascinating connection between People, Places and Memories is what forms the strong foundation for the Festival of Places and its overarching theme. The Festival aims to highlight the rich cultural legacy of places that exist in Indian cities, towns and villages.

It explores the invaluable cultural fabric and memories associated with places and provides an opportunity to people for sharing their personal narratives. The Festival is also about understanding the idea of ‘Space as a Place’; about exploring ‘Places’ that form an integral part of cities and towns; about experiencing ‘Places as vital and meaningful connected spaces’ through which urban life throbs; and rediscovering the lost art of creating vibrant Places that nurture culture and creativity.

The Festival conceptualized by CATTS, a not-for-profit organization working in the area of heritage conservation and management, has been envisaged as a convergence of people from all walks of life and disciplines who seek a deeper understanding of our culture through the places we live in as well as share an eagerness to rejuvenate them. The Festival encourages participation of people of all ages, youth and experience for developing an in-depth understanding of places and spaces we live in.

The festival seeks people to play an active role both in the creation of new places and the preservation and sustenance of existing ones. The festival helps people explore and experience ‘Public spaces as vital and meaningful connected spaces’ through which urban life throbs. The Festival inspires people to enjoy and creatively engage with places in cities for meaningful action. It motivates people to reimagine, reclaim and revitalize places around them. The festival encourages people to think about sustenance and resilience, about accessibility and mobility, about culture and creativity, about the future of their cities and neighbourhoods. In this sense the Festival goes beyond just being an event to becoming a community movement for reviving and re-imagining places at the heart of healthy and vibrant communities.

We at CATTS feel very strongly about the dismal state of public places in Indian cities and firmly believe change in the way we think, talk and use public spaces can only begin at the grassroots by creatively engaging with people and empowering them to make a difference to the places and spaces around. We see the festival as a great opportunity to jointly develop the agenda of Place-led development in cities. We look forward to your support on the very important agenda of reimagining public places and creative public engagement with places.The Festival is be an excellent platform to engage people at large with these very pertinent themes.