Chandigarh, Jan. 25 -- Urban economist and city planner Alain Bertaud on Saturday offered a critical and reflective assessment of Chandigarh's urban evolution, as the Chandigarh Citizens Foundation (CCF) launched a year-long series of events to mark 75 years of the making of Chandigarh. The inaugural programme, held at the CRRID Conference Hall in Sector 19, brought together leading urban thinkers, architects, planners, academicians and citizens to examine the legacy of India's first planned modern city and its future trajectory. Delivering the keynote address, Bertaud, who worked in Chandigarh in 1963 under Pierre Jeanneret and Jeet Malhotra presented an outsider's perspective on the city's transformation from the early 1960s to the present day. Recalling Chandigarh as a small, walkable city with minimal vehicular traffic during his early years, Bertaud noted how its scale and spatial footprint have expanded over the decades. He underscored the importance of accessibility and transport coordination, cautioning against viewing only the central sectors as the city's core. Instead, he argued for treating Chandigarh as an integrated urban system, where mobility networks connect people to jobs, services and opportunities efficiently....