Reuse of Industrial Heritage sites: Study of Approaches of the Case of Ahmedabad

Abstract

The city of Ahmedabad has always been known for its traits of trade and commerce and esteemed business acumen. The city was always established independently and has seen prosperity on its way when more and more people started investing in textile industry. It was once known as ‘Manchester of the East’. However, it is astonishing to see that today the same part of the city which gave its name in the history is facing a major shift of its role in stimulating development, now through the west banks of the city. In order to bring back this lost integration of the historically rich eastern part of the city, abandoned and defunct ruins become the core for revival. With its direct thread to the glorious past of the city, theseabandoned ruins serve a crucial role in redevelopment. The base of the study is dependent on the assumption that there is a relationship between heritage & identity, historic architecture and today’s transformation of the cities. This paper outlines the typology of urban spatial structure that is relevant for this city fabric. These typologies of urban structure were first studied from the principles derived by Council of European Studies, 2018. It is necessary to study the spatial quality and adaptable condition of the industrial ruins. In order to study this better, the thesis looks upon redundant mills of Ahmedabad as a case, to identify what factors/values of design to be taken under consideration for such projects, reuse of industries. A mixed-research methodology; qualitative and quantitative was used to carry out case analysis. These values is used to direct towards what appropriate approaches can be applied in case of Ahmedabad. The outline of approach is based on Heike Overmann and Harald A Meig study of ‘Industrial Heritage sites in transformation, clash of discourse. Inferences from Ahmedabad case-studies concluded that, Industrial heritage site as Urban landmark & Cultural landscape, as Testimony of past and as Built infrastructure & Spatial resource, are the approaches best suitable for the textile mills. These approaches are based on what objective is applicable for the reuse of heritage sites. The research concludes that, the abandoned industrial sites in Ahmedabad are in capacity to be preserved and alternatively reused for approapriate reuse that can focuses on city, regional as well as local socio-economic and cultural needs. These sites have a scope to develop into various functional use like recreational area, working centres, commercial activities, housing development, museums and cultural centers. Here, the important learning is that a reuse project for a heritage site must look upon the bases of conservation of its historic value and than other various issues, so that they are relevant today. The idea of perceiving reuse for heritage industrial site into more than one objective makes it important to investigate the most important role a heritage site can play irrespective to the action of preservation, that is made constant. It helps us to really define; to what extend the site can be preserved and alternatively used to create its new identity. At the end of the research, the thesis is able to provide a framework and guidelines for finding appropriate reuse solutions for industrial heritage site.