VIRTUAL Barcelona
Abstract
The colourful descriptions of bazaars from times and places yonder, the lucrative details of the exquisite items sold to the nobility and the myriad dreams of the commoners, have since; made ‘Bazaars’/ markets bustling spaces that not only support commerce, but also serve as a space for social gathering and interaction. The research paper aims at probing the history of bazaars in Bharat/India and having a closer look at some which have survived the test of time. It also intends to theoretically evaluate their values in the current scenario. The scope of this research is to identify some historic and specialized markets in India and accumulate knowledge about their history and analyse their socio-economic and cultural significance and influence. Provided that the number of markets in the geographic boundary of India is large, the dependence on secondary case studies will be of key importance and also a limitation. A qualitative research method in the form of surveys involving all stakeholders in marketplaces, collection of data from newspapers, articles, previous research papers and books would be used to derive the results. The findings from this research would help in determining the importance of historic markets and throw light upon the factors that help sustaining a market over a prolonged period of time. This would also help in understanding how these bazaars could be taken into the future, while preserving their historicity and significance.
Somani Goswami is an Architect with specialization(masters) in Conservation. Somani is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Woxsen University and has priorly worked with different firms in the capacity of Conservation architrect and Project lead.
Sonia Gupta is an Architect and has been in academics, practice and voluntary work for 33 years, having made research presentations both India and abroad. Since 2022, Sonia has been working as Professor in School of Architecture and Planning at Woxsen University.