Keywords: Streetscape, community, everyday urbanism, regeneration, historic city
Author: Sanjana Patil | KRVIA – Post Graduate Program | 2021
Since ancient times, streets have been centers of cultural exchange, social interactions and small commercial activities. Streets form the backbone of the city with its two major elements: movement and places. They retain their own sense of place and identity and provide meanings to the lives of people. They have buildings enveloped on both the sides and are different from roads as they have movement in them. Indian streets are vibrant and have some or the other activities in them. Appadurai (1987, p. 14) asserted that, “With the possible exception of the railroad, streets capture more about India than any other setting. On its streets, India eats, sleeps, works, moves, celebrates and worships.” Tangible (i.e., The physical environment) and intangible (i.e., The ambient environment) features add values to the street quality. Traditional streets situated in the urban core and where religious and old buildings are situated are visited by number of people on a daily basis.
One such strong connection with streets is seen through one lens i.e., communities. Some cities are blessed to have communities still residing in the core. Communities have relation and dependent activities on streets. They have a strong network with the streets. Livelihood dependency is also connected with this element.
The main aim is to understand the importance of streets as centers of social, commercial and physical interface of different activities on a daily basis. The theories of everyday urbanism, life between the buildings talk about streets as important places of communication. With rapid urbanization it is utmost important to create good urban spaces. Thus, the research will help in understanding the role of streets in the backdrop of communities and how it will help to regenerate those areas with the urban form of streets.
The thesis starts with an argument that how different communities have dependent activities on the streets. Thus, developing the urban form of streets is leading to the loss of dependent activities of the communities on the streets. The thesis aims to build a strong relation between the urban form of streets and communities.
The theory that was referred for this topic is the cultural quarters theory by John Montgomery. The term cultural theory can be used as a model for the urban regeneration of the deprived inner core areas of a city. It can also be defined as a set of the designated area of particular purpose in order to create a sense of identity. According to John Montgomery, it becomes necessary to have an understanding of the history of Cultural quarters in order to understand the planning practices and the development process. It can be seen as an area where new opportunities and culture can be explored. The parameters of the cultural model were used to analyze the sites.
Text & Image Credit: Sanjana Patil | Krvia – Post Graduate Program | Urban Design
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