Pratima Singh and Utpal Sharma
Abstract
Tangible heritage has its marked presence in hundreds of urban areas in India. Most heritage structures are non-engineered and do not conform to recommendatory IS code based design and NBC guidelines. An important aspect of the Heritage in majority of these urban areas is about the use of the heritage buildings in which people reside/work/visit. Such heritage buildings are frequented by not only people who live there, but also by those who work and live in other parts of the city including those who visit the buildings for various purposes ranging from conducting business to tourism, purchasing, visiting relatives and acquaintances, visiting religious places, participating in festivals, processions and rallies as well in celebrations, for gastronomic purpose or simply passing-by as part of usual through-o-fare across the cityââ¬â¢s roads. It is imperative to look at the uses to which such buildings are put to due to the fact that many of them are listed as in the case of Ahmedabad walled city. Ahmedabad walled city having micro neighbourhoods (Pols) comprising of traditional wooden framed buildings that were built over a hundred years ago achieved the remarkable feat with its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2017. To determine the building use in Pols, one of the 57 precinct Pols covering 150 buildings was surveyed in the walled city. The study revealed that almost a quarter of the total surveyed buildings have use that can lead to the buildings in the case study Pol becoming vulnerable.