Modernising Historic Urban-scapes: The challenge of subtly inserting the avant-garde to our cities while preserving its collective cultural identity

Often, the past is considered contrary to the present and future but don’t you think they may be complimentary? Conserving the old or historic is often seen as one holding on to something long gone and is considered to be anti-development. However, the factual truth is that heritage conservation is the only balanced way to move ahead if we intend to spread our branches wide while still keeping our roots deep. Conserving existing heritage is actually a tool to manage change!

The cultural identity of any place is rooted in the immediate setting and it is unique because of its response to this exclusive context! It consists of stratified layers of centuries of human adaptation, interaction and response to the local climate, topography, geology, hydrology, biodiversity and available natural resources which reflected in nature of the settlement pattern, building typologies, development of structural details, building materials, occupation and livelihoods and evolution of arts, music and overall human lifestyle, which is the definition of Culture.

Over a period of time, as human’s requirements evolved, old lifestyles also changed. With extensive industrial revolution came an enormous transformation in the building industry with new technologies, materials and innovations. At once, the entire world began a journey towards the future in the ship of ‘modernity’. Though modern architecture was a revolution in itself, it came with some drawbacks. Today our cities are these soul-less facades of concrete and glass that are putting us into bland boxes, away from even a taste of community life. Many times you may look at a modern building and wonder that it can be placed anywhere in the world and it wouldn’t matter. You may look at a picture of a towering skyline and it can be a glimpse of any big city in the world. What went wrong? Maybe it was the detachment from the cultural identity of a particular place.

So the question arises, how we can design spaces and buildings that reflect our fresh needs and aspirations and are unique but not alien to the culture it attends to. Many historic areas in urban cities are assigned guidelines for new developments in the vicinity of heritage structures. How do we decide the degree of compliance of a new structure? Are we to mimic the historic typologies? Or to replicate some heritage elements? Wouldn’t that be a mockery of the valued heritage? Or is it alright for those developments to be startlingly different and stand out? Wouldn’t that create an area of architectural developments that is poles apart from the historic fabric? How do we seek inspiration but not copy?        

Urban designers, planners, architects and heritage professionals constantly face this challenge of inserting a modern element or function to the culturally-rich urban fabric without undermining the unique values that result in the cultural identity. We look for a harmony between the old and the new and this balance can only come out of an understanding the local heritage and respecting the cultural history. When the essence of the cultural identity of any place is understood, new designs can capture and take them ahead, while incorporating our aspirations of the future. Our cities may be more symphonic if the ‘new’ respected the local climate, topography, cultural dimensions..one that reflects community life and in fact reminds people of the pros of the historic ways of life. New developments can reflect and incorporate, in principle, the values we want to inculcate in our lives, like sustainability, thus preserving our common cultural identities which makes us and our towns, unique!