ABSTRACT
The city is a scene, representing life’s various facets in all its glory, comprising its physical and subtle elements. This paper draws attention to the similarities and differences in the scenes of historic monuments and cities. It is a comparison between the qualities and characteristics of an architectural masterpiece—Kandariya Mahadev Temple, Khajuraho—and a city as a scene. Such a comparison shall help to understand the essential qualities of interactive cities as compared to communicative architecture.
It is concluded that, just as a painting or any other piece of art, demands a response, so do these higher-order arts i.e. architecture, which generate higher-order complex responses. These responses then become part of the scene and interact to make the scenes more intricate, providing us with a complex manifestation of our behaviour and thoughts.
