Proceedings of the 57th ISOCARP World Planning Congress, 2021
The paper aims to understand components of historic water architecture of Delhi since 12th C. AD ... more The paper aims to understand components of historic water architecture of Delhi since 12th C. AD and its impact on urban growth of Delhi. The expected outcome of the study is to bring to fore the illegibility of a robust system which shows the city has been historically water-conscious as opposed to water-scarce as of today. The study positions the role of historic water architecture in the city in terms of its spatiality, associations with community and possible way forward to strengthen the 'local' with respect to response of the built environment. The capital city of India with expanding population puts pressure on water infrastructure. Delhi is rife with issues like scarcity, inequity, poor water quality and exploitation of ground water, making it one of the cities closer to running out of its ground water by 2020 (NITI Aayog, 2018). Delhi has been an imperial capital during a major part of its history. Historical studies have documented the various cities of Delhi. The historic water architecture of Delhi, wherein every historical layer added and enhanced the existing system. This system is currently not understood as a whole in the built environment. A cultural reading of this water-built network influences the way we understand, analyse and provide solutions for conflicts around water in built environment. The nadis (tributaries of Yamuna) of the historic city of Delhi were strong determinants of the urban growth through the ages. The knowledge and wisdom of finding, tapping, harvesting, conveyance as well as managing water defined the subsequent cities of historic Delhi since 12th century AD. As Wescoat (2019) elucidates, the change of perception of nadi to nallah (drain) from the British period onwards indicates a paradigmatic shift towards urban water, which eventually left out the historic water architecture from conscious urban planning of the city. As the post-Independence planning of Delhi dealt with the dichotomies of order and disorder (Wengoborski & Singh, 2013), the historic water architecture; which constituted meaningful urban spaces as nodes of the nature-built-culture nexus; were not recognized as a part formal urban water system. A case in point is of Hauz Shamsi in Mehrauli, which was the water reservoir of early city Dihli-i-Kuhna (Kumar, 2007) which tapped the one of the nadis flowing from the Aravalli ridge. Along its whole network, many typologies of water structures came up, defining the water architecture as well as positioning the cultural water network in the core of the city planning. The study uses archival research, mapping, layering and site studies to understand this complex part of Mehrauli comprising the Hauz Shamsi-Jharna 'cultural water network' (Shah, 2013). The emphasis is on turning the focus on water to understand the built environment instead of the other way round. The study endeavors to analyse lost linkages, impact of planning processes in post-Independence India and come up with way forward on integration and innovation of water architecture in Mehrauli.
Proceedings of the 57th ISOCARP World Planning Congress, 2021
The paper aims to understand components of historic water architecture of Delhi since 12th C. AD ... more The paper aims to understand components of historic water architecture of Delhi since 12th C. AD and its impact on urban growth of Delhi. The expected outcome of the study is to bring to fore the illegibility of a robust system which shows the city has been historically water-conscious as opposed to water-scarce as of today. The study positions the role of historic water architecture in the city in terms of its spatiality, associations with community and possible way forward to strengthen the 'local' with respect to response of the built environment. The capital city of India with expanding population puts pressure on water infrastructure. Delhi is rife with issues like scarcity, inequity, poor water quality and exploitation of ground water, making it one of the cities closer to running out of its ground water by 2020 (NITI Aayog, 2018). Delhi has been an imperial capital during a major part of its history. Historical studies have documented the various cities of Delhi. The historic water architecture of Delhi, wherein every historical layer added and enhanced the existing system. This system is currently not understood as a whole in the built environment. A cultural reading of this water-built network influences the way we understand, analyse and provide solutions for conflicts around water in built environment. The nadis (tributaries of Yamuna) of the historic city of Delhi were strong determinants of the urban growth through the ages. The knowledge and wisdom of finding, tapping, harvesting, conveyance as well as managing water defined the subsequent cities of historic Delhi since 12th century AD. As Wescoat (2019) elucidates, the change of perception of nadi to nallah (drain) from the British period onwards indicates a paradigmatic shift towards urban water, which eventually left out the historic water architecture from conscious urban planning of the city. As the post-Independence planning of Delhi dealt with the dichotomies of order and disorder (Wengoborski & Singh, 2013), the historic water architecture; which constituted meaningful urban spaces as nodes of the nature-built-culture nexus; were not recognized as a part formal urban water system. A case in point is of Hauz Shamsi in Mehrauli, which was the water reservoir of early city Dihli-i-Kuhna (Kumar, 2007) which tapped the one of the nadis flowing from the Aravalli ridge. Along its whole network, many typologies of water structures came up, defining the water architecture as well as positioning the cultural water network in the core of the city planning. The study uses archival research, mapping, layering and site studies to understand this complex part of Mehrauli comprising the Hauz Shamsi-Jharna 'cultural water network' (Shah, 2013). The emphasis is on turning the focus on water to understand the built environment instead of the other way round. The study endeavors to analyse lost linkages, impact of planning processes in post-Independence India and come up with way forward on integration and innovation of water architecture in Mehrauli.
Uploads
Papers by Suruchi Shah