Conserving the Past, Ameliorating the Future—Situating Conservation of Architectural Heritage in the Urban Context—A Case of India

Abstract

AbstractA constantly morphing environment has resulted in the new encapsulating the old, thus forming layers of cultural heritage. It has to be noted that architectural heritage and its conservation cannot be assessed and executed in isolation. It is important to take into consideration the context. The recent thrust on urban conservation has paved way for management of heritage through various contextual lenses by multidisciplinary approaches. This research discusses the importance of urban conservation and the position and importance of architectural conservation in this comprehensive process. Using existing models of cultural heritage management, a detailed analysis of the urban heritage conservation process in the Indian context has been undertaken and demonstration of the conceived framework through different scales of sites articulating the prominent conditions prevalent in India is illustrated in this paper.KeywordsUrban conservationUrban heritageDevelopmentManagementLocal communitiesParticipatory approachRegenerationEnvironmentAssessmentSignificance