RT Conference Proceedings
SR 00
A1 Madan, Nidhi
T1 Repurposing Unbuilt Heritage for the Community: Guidelines for Creating Equitable Public Spaces to Engage Diverse Populations in India
YR 2018
FD 13-14th December 2017
K1 urban developement
K1 public spaces
K1 historic towns
K1 threats
K1 sutainable development
K1 urbanism
K1 community participation
K1 values
K1 cultural significance
K1 urban growth
K1 India
AB With growth of Indian towns and cities set to escalate through economic stimulus,  educational and employment opportunities and aspirations, migration and development are rapidly  changing small towns. As a result, historic precincts, fortified cities and pilgrimage towns are rapidly  losing their historic character and sense of place. Particularly in cultural centres of historic towns, such  as Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal or Lucknow, conservation for authenticity is a much lower priority than  critical socio-economic development pressures.  However, in this day and age, creating safe, accessible, approachable and equitable precincts can  build on existing cultural precincts, create engagement with the local community and find new  stakeholders and modern relevance.  In repurposing these living city-cores, this paper examines strategies to create vibrant, equitable and  relevant public spaces for the city. Culturally significant urban centres, with their dynamism and multifaceted  evolution must cater to contemporary uses and also create improved understanding of its peopleparticularly  in Indian culture, wherein diverse populations of gender groups, religious and caste  distinctions, persons with disabilities, and differing economic classes have not traditionally mixed. The  opportunity to craft shared public spaces as community spaces in urbanized and ghettoised cities using  historic precincts as city centres will be investigated, to provide places for non-religious congregation, for  engagement between citizens, for commerce and transit, for collective celebration and grief and for  staging of disaster relief, if required.  This paper investigates a divergent approach wherein the needs of diverse user groups are the primary  concern, yet the heritage value defines the framework within which this approach can succeed. It  addresses heritage precincts as places for its people and their contextual needs, within a set of guidelines  that preserve tangible and intangible spatial, architectural and cultural values. To succeed it must not  impinge on the economic, social and modern aspirations of burgeoning populations.
T2 ICOMOS 19th General Assembly and Scientific Symposium "Heritage and Democracy"
ED New Delhi, India
AV Published
LK http://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/1929/