Bulldozers, violence and politics crack an Indian dream of utopia

A blueprint based on sacred geometry' was designed to build Auroville, a perfect city of unity. But 50 years on the Galaxy Plan has created anger and division

Nestled deep in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, cocooned from the world by a young forest, lies a community that wants to change the world. Ask the residents, of Auroville, who come from more than 60 countries, what they are doing there and the answer will be much the same as it has been for more than five decades: The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity."

Auroville was founded in 1968, with a vision to build an international city to upend rigid class and caste systems and be free of the pollution, traffic, chaos, rubbish, social isolation and suburban sprawl that have poisoned modern urban environments.