Auroville

Auroville is an experimental township in the Viluppuram district of southern India, lying mostly in the state of Tamil Nadu with some parts in the Union Territory of Puducherry. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, known as the Mother, and designed by the architect Roger Anger, and its inauguration on 28 February 1968 drew delegates from 124 nations. The name joins the French words for dawn and town and also honours Sri Aurobindo. The chosen site was about 20 square kilometres of desertified plateau roughly 10 kilometres north of Pondicherry and 5 kilometres from the coast, planned around four zones called residential, industrial, cultural and educational, and international. After Alfassa died in 1973 disputes with the Sri Aurobindo Society led residents to appeal to the government of India, and a later act vested the township assets in the Auroville Foundation, governed by a board, a residents assembly and an international advisory council. In January 2018 it had 2,814 residents from 54 countries, about half of them from India.