Assessing the Identity of Chennai through the Lens of its Shoreline Development

Abstract

A city’s identity is shaped by a number of variables including but not limited to political, cultural, social, ecological and religious aspects at an urban level. The coastal city of Madras, an understudy to the rule of the Pallavas, through colonial rule became a metropolitan city of Chennai. The inquiry of the thesis is to determine the influence of political, social, commercial and urban growth of a city in shaping the development of a shoreline to create an identity for the people who associate with it. The thesis consists of examining identity through theory, observation and use. Identity in theory is studied through defining parameters for place attachment and urban identity, and analysing their rationale through secondary case studies of Mumbai and Kochi and relaying it to see the case in Chennai, at macro and micro scale. Identity in observation is studied by understanding the transformation of Chennai in the context of traditional,colonial and post independence phases through documentation and observations of the space in current context. Identity in use is studied through surveys of user’s perspective of the space, to understand how a city is visualised through the people and its reflection in identity from micro to macro scale. The thesis identifies the potential of a shoreline as identity of a city, through developments over the years.