Quo vadis, Delhi? Urban heritage and gender: towards a sustainable urban future

Historic architectural heritage is important to sustainable urban planning policy, particularly in cities that have heritage sites and/or themselves have ancient archaeological value. Delhi is one of the oldest living cities in the world. However, the vision of its planning policy is limited to valuing heritage for itself and for its economic value instead of also exploring the ways in the city’s heritage might contribute to the social organisation and utilisation of the urban public space. Particularly, like most national policy documents on heritage, it ignores the heritage/gender nexus, which has implications for the identity and status of women in Delhi, community development and ecological preservation. But twenty women practioners and scholars of development in Delhi referred to heritage as a challenge as well as opportunity for gender and urban sustainability when asked for their perspectives on the most important sustainability issues in the city. I argue that Delhi’s urban planning strategies must acknowledge the gender/heritage nexus to enable holistic and gender-inclusive urban development for the present and future generations of its citizens, which is an important thrust of the sustainability agenda.

Approaches to urban heritage, development and sustainability

More than half of the world’s population now live in urban areas, and cities provide the setting for contemporary challenges such as population growth, mass tourism and unequal access to socio-economic opportunities. Urban Heritage, Development and Sustainability examines the impact of these issues on urban heritage, considering innovative approaches to managing developmental pressures and focusing on how taking an ethical, inclusive and holistic approach to urban planning and heritage conservation may create a stronger basis for the sustainable growth of cities in the future.This volume is a timely analysis of current theories and practises in urban heritage, with particular reference to the conflict between, and potential reconciliation of, conservation and development goals.

Urban heritage, development and sustainability : international frameworks, national and local governance

This volume is a timely analysis of current theories and practises in urban heritage, with particular reference to the conflict between, and potential reconciliation of, conservation and development goals.

Urban heritage, development and sustainability: international frameworks, national and local governance

More than half of the world’s population now live in urban areas, and cities provide the setting for contemporary challenges such as population growth, mass tourism and unequal access to socio-economic opportunities. Urban Heritage, Development and Sustainability examines the impact of these issues on urban heritage, considering innovative approaches to managing developmental pressures and focusing on how taking an ethical, inclusive and holistic approach to urban planning and heritage conservation may create a stronger basis for the sustainable growth of cities in the future.This volume is a timely analysis of current theories and practises in urban heritage, with particular reference to the conflict between, and potential reconciliation of, conservation and development goals. A global range of case studies detail a number of distinct practical approaches to heritage on international, national and local scales. Chapters reveal the disjunctions between international frameworks and national implementation and assess how internationally agreed concepts can be misused to justify unsustainable practices or to further economic globalisation and political nationalism. The exclusion of many local communities from development policies, and the subsequent erosion of their cultural heritage, is also discussed, with the collection emphasising the importance of ‘grass roots’ heritage and exploring more inclusive and culturally responsive conservation strategies. Contributions from an international group of authors, including practitioners as well as leading academics, deliver a broad and balanced coverage of this topic. Addressing the interests of both urban planners and heritage specialists, Urban Heritage, Development and Sustainability is an important addition to the field that will encourage further discourse.

Urban maze : A typological investigation in porous morphology and dynamic pedestrian networks

Mixed use typologies and pedestrian networks are two strategies commonly applied in design of the contemporary city. These approaches, aimed towards the creation of a more sustainalble urban environment, have their roots in the traditional, pre-industrial towns; they characterize urban form, articulating the tension between privaate and public realms through a series of typological variations as well as stimulating commercial activity in the city centre. Arcades, loggias and verandas are just some of the elements which can mediate this tension. Historically they have defined physical and social spaces with particular character; in the contemporary city these features are applied to deform the urban form and create a porous, dynamic morphology. This paper, comparing case studies from Italy, Japan and Australia, investigates how the design of the transition zone can define hybrid pedestrian networks, where a clear distinction between the public and private realms is no longer applicable. Pedestrians use the city in a dynamic way, combining trajectories on the public street with ones on the fringe or inside of the private built environment. In some cases, cities offer different pedestrian network possibilities at different times, as the commercial precints are subject to variations in accessibility across various timeframes. These walkable systems have an impact on the urban form and identity of places, redefining typologies and requiring an in depth analysis through plan, section and elevation diagrams.

Understanding Everyday Homes of Urban Communities: The Case of Local Streets (Hawari) of Old Cairo

This paper aims at investigating architectural and urban heritage from the socio-cultural point of view, which stands on the human asset of traditional sites such as the hawari of old Cairo. It analyzes the social practice of everyday life in one of the oldest Cairene hawari, Haret al-Darb al-Asfar. The focus is on architectural and spatial organization of outdoor and indoor spaces that coordinate the spatial practices of local community. A daily monitoring of people’s activities and interviews was conducted in an investigation of how local people perceive their built environment between the house’s interior and the outdoor shared space. It emerges that people construct their own field of private spheres according to complex patterns of daily activities that are not in line with the classical segregation between private and public in Islamic cities. This paper reports that the harah is basically a construct of social spheres that are organized spatially by the flexible development of individual buildings over time and in response to changes in individuals’ needs and capabilities. In order to achieve sustainability in old urban quarters, the paper concludes, the focus should be directed towards the local organization of activities and a comprehensive upgrading of deteriorating buildings to match the changing needs of current population.

Using the historic urban landscape to reimagine Ballarat : the local context

The adoption by UNESCO of the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011) aimed to re-position issues of development and urban heritage conservation, and outlined a way forward based on community-centred processes and the recognition of the dynamic character of urban settlements. Achieving these goals will depend on the development of new methods and processes, and implementation to specific urban contexts. This paper highlights the importance of local government as a location where this international dialogue can be operationalized and further advanced. Reflecting on the theoretical and practical dimensions of adopting a landscape approach to urban planning and conservation by the City of Ballarat (Australia) has allowed some significant potential shifts in heritage practice to be anticipated.

Animals and urban informality in sacred spaces: bull-calf trafficking in Simhachalam Temple, Vishakapatnam

Religion and Urbanism contributes to an expanded understanding of 'sustainable cities' in South Asia by demonstrating the multiple, and often conflicting ways in which religion enables or challenges socially equitable and ecologically sustainable urbanisation in the region. In particular, this collection focuses on two aspects that must inform the sustainable cities discourse in South Asia: the intersections of religion and urban heritage, and religion and various aspects of informality.

This book makes a much-needed contribution to the nexus between religion and urban planning for researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers in Sustainable Development, Development Studies, Urban Studies, Religious Studies, Asian Studies, Heritage Studies and Urban and Religious Geography.

Religion and urban policy for South Asia: where next?

Religion and Urbanism contributes to an expanded understanding of 'sustainable cities' in South Asia by demonstrating the multiple, and often conflicting ways in which religion enables or challenges socially equitable and ecologically sustainable urbanisation in the region. In particular, this collection focuses on two aspects that must inform the sustainable cities discourse in South Asia: the intersections of religion and urban heritage, and religion and various aspects of informality.

This book makes a much-needed contribution to the nexus between religion and urban planning for researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers in Sustainable Development, Development Studies, Urban Studies, Religious Studies, Asian Studies, Heritage Studies and Urban and Religious Geography.

Heritagescaping and the aesthetics of refuge: challenges to urban sustainability

The year 2012 marked the fortieth anniversary of UNESCO’s Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, or World Heritage
Convention. Regarded by many as a hugely successful project, World Heritage has
provided a framework for safeguarding a wide array of historic built environments.
The choice of “sustainable development and the role of communities” as the theme of
the fortieth anniversary was, however, recognition of the significant problems and
challenges this arena of cultural and spatial governance has created for those living in
and around listed sites. Cities have proved particularly challenging, and resistant to
prescriptive modeling at the level of international policy. Evictions, punitive
legislation, rising living costs, and loss of community are the now familiar by‐products of worldheritage that continue to go undocumented and ignored.
Against this backdrop, this chapter traces recent developments and trends surrounding urban heritage conservation, highlighting recent turns towards community‐driven approaches and discourses of sustainability. It then raises the issue of gentrification, with a particular focus on where such problems take on critical importance: small‐scale urban environments. Focusing on Galle in Sri Lanka, the final part of the chapter explores the emergence of a form of “heritagescaping” oriented by an aesthetics of solitude, tran-quility, and quiet comfort. In offering a contribution towards debates around urban sustainability and the role of heritage therein, it is argued that such processes present significant obstacles to the development of more community‐based, culturally sustainable forms of heritage conservation.