Understanding Living Heritage through Market Street and Filt Form: A Case Study of Vadodara City

Abstract

Be it movies, music or books, India has been shown as the land which has culture and history in its roots. This could be best highlighted by visiting any traditional markets. In a world where trade is happening through fingertips, these local markets more over known as bazaars are like an echo of an older era that still continues to exist. Good cities are welcoming social places. An important objective of planning cities is to provide public areas that promote social behaviour in our towns and neighbourhoods. The street's fundamental function as a place for public interaction is to serve as a gathering place. Every day, we face streets. They are essential to our daily lives. The majority of us go on them when walking or driving, and many of us engage in leisure activities there in addition to travelling to and from our places of residence, employment, and shopping. The inquiry is dedicated to find the significance of market places in current urban fabric. Public spaces have a variety of functions, encompassing circulation, public gatherings, scenic recreation, and in some situations, an extension of private activity. Urban places used specifically or unintentionally for these countless purposes are likely to have a wide range of characteristics. This thesis focuses on the streets, one of those locations that people have used ever since the city was founded. Although there were and still are plazas and squares in the city, they in no way serve as the hubs of public activity like they do in some parts of western countries. In order to highlight the aspects of town planning and urban design that give visitors a way to engage with a culture in its organic setting, the role of the market street in heritage cities is discussed upon. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the significance of bazaar as the informal context to experience the cultural fabric of a place in a heritage city. The article investigates the notion of witnessing a living heritage through its essence of its built form the past. Given that Vadodara is one of the most recognised heritage cities in India, it has been chosen as a case study.