Rethinking Conservation of India’s Unprotected Urban Heritage— Learnings from Practice

The diverse unprotected urban heritage in the historic cities and towns of India are decaying fast. Heritage buildings now stand abandoned, neglected and abused. Innumerable risk factors, both at the macro level of the historic urban settlements as well as at the micro level, have been responsible for the deterioration of heritage buildings and posing a serious threat to the existence of these invaluable urban heritage. In the midst of these challenging circumstances, the big question that arises is what can be done to save the priceless unprotected urban heritage from being lost forever?

This article highlights the plethora of problems affecting urban heritage, with a detailed study of the built heritage of the Shekhawati region in Rajasthan, which draws attention towards the reasons why with each passing day it is becoming more and more difficult to conserve unprotected urban heritage and safeguard it from being lost. It discusses the role of local communities, especially owners and craftsmen, in conserving the heritage buildings and structures. It also explores the relevance of a preventive strategy in mitigating negative factors and minimising deterioration of the unprotected urban heritage, while sharing practical experiences and learnings from 21 years of practice in the field of built heritage conservation. back to thousands of years. With the world moving towards an increasingly urbanised and technology- driven society, the big question that arises is why do we need to protect historic cities and towns? Old urban cores and neighbourhoods in cities are perceived as obstacles and impediments to the demands of modern- day living. With challenges of providing modern infrastructure, hygiene and accommodating the ever- growing vehicular traffic through narrow winding streets, old buildings and structures are considered as a burden especially with their deteriorating physical fabric and functional obsolescence. The other important question is do we have a collective vision and appropriate strategy backed by an actionable plan to be able to safeguard our historic cities? And lastly, do we really have the resources— both financial and skilled manpower, to safeguard and conserve the widespread urban heritage in our cities and towns? These are some of the most pertinent questions that need to be addressed upfront, before we can embark on the protection of urban heritage in cities and towns.

In an attempt to find answers to the above questions, we need to begin by travelling back in time for a brief overview of the civilisational history, which reveals how human settlements have grown over the millennia in the Indian subcontinent. Humans settled in India in multiple waves of early migrations. The Indian subcontinent witnessed the growth of urban settlements around 4,500 years ago during the Indus Valley Civilisation and the more recently excavated archaeological sites in the Indo Gangetic plains, which now jointly constitute the Indus- Sarasvati Civilisation or the Sindhu