Aug 30 2026 to Aug 30 2026 5:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Bengaluru’s rapid expansion means paving over decades of history, one flyover and glass tower at a time. Arun Pai brings his 2007 BIC talk on the city’s history and heritage into the present, asking what’s been lost, and what still remains, beneath the city’s relentless growth.

Pai has been walking Bengaluru’s streets since 2005 as Founder of BangaloreWALKS, telling the city’s story to everyone from first-time visitors to Prime Ministers, global CEOs, and G20 delegations, as Bengaluru has grown into one of the world’s fastest-growing cities. He brings these encounters into conversation with a provocation: that Bengaluru’s real strength lies not in preserving its built heritage, but in its ability to constantly reinvent itself. Expect stories from his years as the self-appointed “Footpath Mayor” of Bengaluru, and Brand Ambassador for Swachha Bengaluru too, as he makes the case for a city that looks forward as often as it looks back.

This talk is part of a series marking twenty years of BIC, in which speakers from the institution’s early years return to revisit topics they first addressed here. It is a chance to trace what has changed, what has endured, and how ideas evolve over time. BIC is proud to have been host to conversations that connect culture, ideas, and public life across two decades.

Venue: Seminar Halls
Speaker

Arun Pai
Founder, BangaloreWALKS
Arun Pai is a Bengaluru-based civic leader and urban innovation practitioner known as the city’s self-appointed “Footpath Mayor.” An engineer and management graduate, he holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from IIT Madras and completed his PGP at IIM Bangalore in 1993. In 2005, he founded BangaloreWALKS, which has since conducted over 1,500 heritage and city walks, and has worked to fix gaps in pedestrian infrastructure between traffic police and tourism officials. He is a recipient of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Award, has been featured by BBC, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian, and was recognized in the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat program (2026) and by IIM Bangalore’s Distinguished Alumni Award (2026).