Mass migration and globalisation have created new cultural geographies in world cities. This paper examines new cityscapes created by Indian people both in India and in Great Britain. It builds up on the premise that the built environment of any place is a result of its community's sense of identity. People create places to reflect their aspirations and associations. Identity creation is a common feature of human expression. It is a living and constantly evolving process. Though common characteristics and ideas are clear markers of a shared identity, essentially identity is determined by differences from others. The common tendency is either to get away from the identity of one group or to imitate the identity of another.

Post freedom India has experienced mass migration of communities between internal regions as well as to abroad. These migrating communities carry with themselves their associations of home, familiarity and comfort. Migration from villages to cities, from old cities to suburbia is as significant as migration from one state to another state or to another country. Increasingly, contemporary Indian cities are moving away from anything that is vaguely traditional in the blind dash towards their own interpretation of the western world. But the opposite phenomena is observed when new generation of Indians move to the US or the UK. It is noticed that Indian settlers transfer their own particular conceptualisations of space, built forms and functional requirements to the new context, modifying the local urban forms to their own designs.

This essay identifies the differences in the two apparently opposite scenario- one of a contemporary urban city in India, devoid of any local context; and the other of a contemporary ‘multicultural’ city in Britain where cultural expression of ethnic Indian community are found to be in denial of local character. The only thing these opposite situations have in common is the urge of a group of people to seek their own identity. Though contradictory in their approaches, both scenarios produce a spatial expression that well reflects their aspirations and roots. Studying these differences leads us to an understanding of the root of the process that may help us to find a solution for the ‘appropriateness’ of cultural expression.