Christopher Charles Benninger: Difference between revisions

▲His mother's sister, Roxane Eberlein, was in a relationship with [[Adlai Stevenson II]], a connection that allowed Benninger to attend United Nations Security Council Meetings as an observer. Stevenson's circle of associates brought Benninger close to people such as [[Robert Jackson (UN administrator)|Sir Robert Jackson]], chairman of the [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration|United Nations Relief Organization]]. Jackson gifted Benninger a lifetime subscription of the development journal ''[[Ekistics]]'', introducing him to a science of human settlement centered around [[Constantinos Apostolos Doxiadis]]'s theories. [[Barbara Ward]] became Benninger's lifelong mentor, inviting him to the 1967 [[Delos Symposium]] in Greece.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Christopher Benninger: Cyrus Jhabvala Memorial Lecture 2018|url=https://thinkmatter.in/2019/03/28/christopher-benninger-cyrus-jhabvala-memorial-lecture-2018/|website= THINKMATTER|date=28 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shoshkes |first=Ellen |date=April 2006 |title=Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: a founding mother of modern urban design |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02665430600555339 |journal=[[Planning Perspectives]] |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=179–197 |doi=10.1080/02665430600555339 |issn=0266-5433}}</ref>

▲Benninger graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the [[University of Florida]] in 1966. While at the University of Florida, he was a student founder of the Freedom Party. Under Martin Luther King's leadership, he and his sister, Judith Benninger Brown, actively supported the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE), entered segregated cinema halls and restaurants with their African-American friends, forcing the owners to allow access of African-Americans into their establishments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Debeljak |first=Aleš |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ao2DSDX5R3QC&oi=fnd&pg=PA255&dq=Christopher+Benninger+judith+brown&ots=pEDRv23Dgc&sig=PrrzSisEorLfcKT5xY09UaYEfFY |title=Reluctant Modernity: The Institution of Art and Its Historical Forms |date=1998 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8476-8583-7}}</ref>

▲Benninger completed his [[Master of Architecture]] from [[Harvard University|Harvard's]] [[Harvard Graduate School of Design|Graduate School of Design]] in 1967. He studied under [[Josep Lluis Sert]], [[Jerzy Soltan]] and [[Mirko Basaldella]]. Benninger studied development economics under [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], past ambassador to India and author of ''[[The New Industrial State]]''. After this, he first visited India as a [[Fulbright fellow]] in 1968. He continued his post-graduate studies at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], under Horacio Caminos, working on the book ''Urban Dwelling Environments''. He received a master's degree in [[Urban planning|city planning]] from MIT in 1971.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falvo |first=Rosa Maria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5BMrgEACAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Christopher Benninger: Architecture for Modern India |last2=Akkisetti |first2=Ramprasad |date=2015 |publisher=Skira editore S.p.A |isbn=978-88-572-2687-3 |language=en}}</ref> After this, he returned to India in 1971 as a [[Ford Foundation]] consultant to the [[Ahmedabad Education Society]] to help set up the [[CEPT University|School of Planning]] in 1972.<ref>{{Citation |last=Nichol |first=Jon |title=Germany, 1919–45 |date=1990 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10323-2_9 |work=Work Out Modern World History GCSE |pages=170–183 |access-date=2023-11-28 |place=London |publisher=[[Macmillan Education]] UK |isbn=978-0-333-46875-3 |last2=Lang |first2=Sean}}</ref>

▲Benninger is married to Aneeta Gokhale Benninger, an environmentalist, and has one son.<ref>{{Cite web|title=People|url=https://cdsaindia.org/people/|website= CDSA}}</ref>