Rejuvenating Srinagar's naidyar canal: integrating ecological restoration and cultural heritage for resilient interface

Abstract

Srinagar’s Naidyar Canal, a historic waterway linking Dal and Nigeen Lakes, has long played a crucial role in shaping the city’s socio-cultural and ecological landscape. Once an active corridor for water-based transport, trade, and daily rituals, the canal fostered a vibrant urban life supported by dense mixed-use edges, religious and public institutions, and thriving craft-based economies. Over time, however, the canal has suffered from neglect, encroachments, pollution, and urban sprawl—leading to the loss of ecological integrity, diminishing cultural identity, and the displacement of local communities, including traditional craft practitioners who were once closely tied to its ecosystem and economy. This thesis aims to rejuvenate the Naidyar Canal by integrating ecological restoration and cultural heritage conservation within an urban design framework to create a resilient and community-oriented urban interface. It adopts an interdisciplinary methodology combining site analysis, stakeholder consultations, participatory design, and comparative case study research. Case studies from Venice and Suzhou provide key insights into canal-based urbanism, adaptive reuse, and the integration of heritage with contemporary urban life. These inform strategies for reviving water-based mobility, reinforcing canal-oriented built heritage, and re-establishing links between traditional crafts and place-based economies. The design approach envisions the Naidyar Canal precinct as a living cultural corridor. Key interventions include restoring the Naidyar (Akbar) Bridge as a symbolic and functional node, reintroducing pedestrian-friendly linkages through continuous waterfront promenades and bridges and activating ghats and public spaces through cultural programming. Adaptive reuse of historic structures will accommodate craft studios, community centers, and markets—enabling the revival of traditional practices like papier-mâché, wood carving, and weaving. Ecological strategies such as floating gardens, constructed wetlands, and native vegetation along the banks aim to improve water quality and biodiversity, reinforcing the canal’s environmental role. The thesis emphasizes community participation as central to the canal’s revival— engaging artisans, residents, and local institutions in shaping interventions that are culturally embedded and ecologically sound. By reclaiming the canal as a space of movement, memory, and making, the project seeks to foster inclusive urban regeneration that honors Srinagar’s layered histories while catalyzing future resilience. Ultimately, the Naidyar Canal is reimagined not only as a restored waterway, but as a cultural spine where ecology, heritage, and livelihoods intersect in meaningful and enduring ways.