IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York
Abstract
Historic cores of many old Indian cities were established as places for trade, religion, administration, and education. After European colonization, many of these functions were retained, alongside expanding new transportation networks, infrastructure, and housing. In 1947 during decolonization, the Europeans left most of these city-cores. As India gained independence, the Partition followed, forming West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), which caused mass resettlement of refugees. The city of Calcutta (now Kolkata), being capital of the British Raj during 1690-1911, contained palatial mansions, large industries and markets and thus witnessed huge influx of refugees searching for livelihoods― this led to over-pressurization of the landscape’s resources/infrastructure, deteriorating its place-character and overall livability. Later globalization and technological advancements rendered many industries, businesses, and modes of transportation obsolete, resulting in further deterioration of many historic neighborhoods. The dawn of the twenty-first century saw new lifestyles and values emerge. Yet, remnants within the urban fabric of the historic core of Kolkata, with its businesses, architecture, and traditional customs, remained. The research reported here captures the transformation of place-character and associated meanings in the Pathuriaghata neighborhood in the historic core of Kolkata, as seen through the eyes of the residents. Photo-elicitation and projective mapping methods were used to interview 156 long-time inhabitants about their perceptions of consistency and change in this unique cultural landscape and associated landscape features. The results suggest possibilities for adaptation of the neighborhood to achieve more sustainable outcomes while conserving historical features in the landscape that define the neighborhood’s distinctive character.
Prerana Chatterjee graduated (B.Arch) in architecture from Jadavpur University and did post-graduation (MUD) in urban design from SPA New Delhi. She has worked on architecture, urban design and conservation projects across historic cities in India, particularly Delhi and Kolkata. She has had many research publications on urban/architectural conservation management in historic region of Chitpur in Kolkata. She is currently doing PhD research on continuity of place-character in cultural landscapes with case study of Pathuriaghata historic neighborhood along Hooghly riverfront in Chitpur Kolkata.
Ray Green (PhD) is a professor at the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne. He teaches design studios and research methods and leads multidisciplinary travelling design studios. He also supervises doctoral students researching various aspects of perceptions of landscape change. His research has focused on exploring environment-behaviour dimensions of land development and conservation, climate change and the health benefits associated with human contact with nature. He is the author of Coastal Towns in Transition: Local Perceptions of Landscape Change (2010) and co-authored Planning Housing and Infrastructure for Smart Villages (2019); Towards Low Carbon Cities in China: Urban Form and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (2015); The Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs (2005) and Design for Change (1985). He has received several large research grants, including a recently completed four-year, 1.9-million-dollar project funded by the Indian State Government of Assam to develop a “smart village” model for application to rural development in India and other developing countries. Before focusing on research, Ray spent over a decade in professional landscape architectural and planning practice and is credited with numerous landscape design, planning and conservation projects in the United States, Mexico, Asia, and Australia. In 2012 he was made a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in recognition of his accomplishments in the profession.
11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Friday 16th June, 2023