Intangible Cultural Economy, a Mould for Tangible Urban Built Fabric—The Case of Shahjahanabad, India

Abstract

Historic Silk Route cities have always been known for their trade culture and lifestyles which contribute to generating tangible urban fabric and built character. Residential quarters of such historical cities are often based on trade communities. Usually, they grew organically with time and led towards interdependency between their tangible urban fabric and intangible sociocultural pattern. Such living pockets are known by traditional different native names like “Mahalla”, “Katra”, “Bara”, “Pol” and “Ahata” in different parts of India. This chapter envisions future urbanism for traditional trade-based residential pockets in old cities of India through a revival of their cultural traits, especially the ones which have a direct connection with the Silk Route crossing through India which were important trade centres from the past to the present. These cities have proved to be interesting networks of such trade-based residential pockets which act as a laboratory for the evolution of cultural features based on communities having a direct relationship with trade and trade routes, focusing on India. The chapter illustrates that these traits, based on cultural economy, generating richness and diversity in old heritage trade-community-based neighbourhoods, are the main key to the cultural heritage in historic old cities which arose as a by-product of trade routes. The research has been restricted to current cultural, social and spatial characteristics, to study the “Puras of Shahjahanabad” and their intangible heritage in the City of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi). The historical transformation of Mahallas (neighbourhoods) in relation to a city plays an important role in understanding its significance on how an intangible heritage of a trade-based community plays an important role in giving birth to a tangible one in the form of urban built fabric. The research explores the idea of the cultural economy in the old city of Shahjahanabad in India through a study of the trade-based community neighbourhoods having historic morphological structures and communal intangible traits related to the Silk Route. It helps to understand the qualities of the physical character of such trade-community-based neighbourhoods in old cities, especially when they are in their transition period from historic trade towns to contemporary commercial zones of an expanded city.