State Of Housing in the Medieval Indian City

Abstract

This paper inquires into the state of the neo-globalized ‘heritage’ Indian city, built on principles driven by beliefs, rituals and craftsmanship. It intends to highlight shifts and modulations in morphology with respect to the transformations pressured, by the surge in the acts of commercialization and heritage tourism, upon the traditional urban form. A broader understanding of the nature of transformation and the variants to be considered in mitigating the dilapidating state of housing in such historic cores, is crucial to such cities to preclude chances of desolation. Jodhpur, the capital of ancient Marwar, in Rajastha, and currently one of the largest fortified cities along the transect of cultural tourism in India, has been considered as a study site to understand its state of housing. There persists a threat to the historic core, driven by a constant movement of people beyond the fort walls to accommodate their justified aspirations and needs for expansion. Adaptations and transformations are methodologies resulting from the shift in the image, seen as mechanisms of growth, but intrinsic factors leading to gentrification and structural squalor. The discourses as discussed in the paper are empirical and based on first hand observations and conversations with stakeholders. Qualitative assessments have been made using subsequent GIS mapping techniques, to arrive at an understanding of the associative and value based attributes responsible for the structure of housing in the historic Indian city.