AHMEDABAD: THE CITY OF VISIONARIES AND VISIONARIES OF THE CITY

The historic city of Ahmedabad was inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2017 under the criteria (ii) and (v)1. The reason was that the city has an intrinsic myriad of tangible elements of heritage testified by its historic built form and monumental architecture which reflects the succession of eras within its intricately layered past. These are strongly associated with the city’s intangible memory comprising its identity, culture, traditions and the everyday life of its resident communities in a dynamic way. Recent decades have revealed the city’s vulnerability towards the pressures of rapid urbanisation. This is substantiated by the phenomena of depopulation and abandonment of inner-city spaces resulting from migratory flows, overcrowding, lack of resources and the need for economic growth and modernisation. The paper is an attempt to investigate patterns of urban change and evolution in the old city of Ahmedabad while highlighting critical challenges pertaining to conservation and heritage management emerging from a complex web of issues, directly or indirectly affecting different stakeholders of the city.