Abstract:
In moving towards a sustainable future, there is a pressing need to utilize land
more efficiently and to its optimum potential and this must first and foremost be
realized in the urban public realm. The city requires us to see the publicly-owned
assets as a single network – civic commons – so as to expand their individual and
collective capacities in doing public good.
With the constant threat of demolition for urban renewal, historic inner cities have
often been preserved in isolation without integrating them into the broader context
of their urban surroundings. These parts of cities very often lack presence of
everyday life. The future agenda for urban heritage management relies on an allinclusive approach that embraces transition and change.
This thesis provides a new ‘lease of life’ to the Sadar Manzil precinct of Old Bhopal
by developing onto the cultural life of the city. It is the synthesis and design of an
urban insert in the fraying heritage fabric of the city.
