Urban Transformation

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Humayun’s Tomb Complex

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c Sundar Nursery

Nizamuddin Basti and Dargah

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Subject Urban Transformation

Non-Profit People Public – Private Partnership

Submitted to – Ms. Leena Thombre Assistant Professor (School of Planning & Development)

Submitted BY – Paras Mongia Roll No. – 200MPLUP021

Location

Preserving the Inherited Heritage ….

Introduction to study area

STRATEGY OF THE Implementation 2015

Key Stakeholders Involved

2010

Project Brief

2008

Timeline of the Project

Site Context

CULTURAL

COMMUNAL

ECOLOGICAL

Values/ Potentials of the area

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BUILT HERITAGE

Hazrat Nizamuddin basti is one of Delhi’s oldest settlements. It germinated in the 14th century around the dargah of the great Sufi saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. There is very little doubt that, it was due to the presence of the saint’s khankah (a building place for spiritual retreat) and his dargah (a shrine built over the grave) that the area around developed as a major necropolis where both rulers and commoners chose to be buried.

Population - 20,000 approximately Population Density - 70,000 people per sq. km.

The urban village of Nizamuddin Basti, is a compact, self-contained district. It has numerous historic landmark structures dating to the Mughal and pre-Mughal periods. Shrines, mausoleums and baoli (step well) in Nizamuddin are located within relatively short distances of one another and are well integrated with a vibrant community centered around the dargah of the 14th century Sufi Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya

Satellite Imagery of Nizamuddin Basti

Impact on Basti

According to development consultants at the Aga Khan Foundation, major development around the dargah, the kind visible in the basti today—did not appear on maps of Delhi until the early 1940s, and even then only as small ‘pucca’ houses. The Nizamuddin Basti is almost like an island in itself.

Satellite imagery of basti settlement

Map showing the various Mohallas within the settlement.

• • • • • The major roads surrounding the settlement

The mass and void relationship of the settlement

SITE CONTEXT

Major roads – On three sides of basti.

Boundaries – Western (Nallah); Northern (Lodhi Road); Eastern (Main entry from Mathura Road).

Settlement typology – Densely packed with open spaces on northern and western side.

Major open spaces – Urs mahal and chausath khambha located near the eastern edge.

Urban fabric – Historic monuments surrounded by dense streets, residential buildings adjacent to each other & some monuments encroached by shops and residents.

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A map showing the land-usage patterns in the Basti

Land Use Pattern

The kind of usage patterns that emerge when one studies the settlement are mixed in nature.

Mixed use buildings (commercial and residential) form an important part of the settlements.

The streets double up as market places during certain times of the year. The streets also become a platform for performances and celebration of festivals.

Street vending is an integral part of the intricate Indian social fabric, but it sometimes creates congestion problems in this urban settlement.

The pavements and road edges become places where such activity is carried out. The increasing density is affecting the quality of the urban environment of the settlements.

Building Social Capital Education

Tangible

Intangible

Health Sanitation Vocational Training Housing & Urban Improvement Enabling Environment & Cultural Identity

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Signifincance of Basti

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• Important historic and modern institutions of the basti

Existing Tangible Cultural Heritage (TCH)

In Nizamuddin Basti glimpses of these historic built forms can be seen scattered.

In the settlement there are very few residential buildings that are of historic importance.

The majority of the built fabric is lost or replaced. The brick and concrete building blocks seem to have superseded the old building form and architectural style.

The footprint of certain houses has remained the same while in certain cases even the footprint of the residential block is lost.

Certain monuments are under dispute. The ASI does not claim them to be a part of its mandate while others have been encroached upon and partially demolished.

These are listed below: • M.C.D School - The Municipal School in the Nizamuddin Basti is an important institution. The improvements of classrooms and creation of separate toilet blocks has had a great affect on the student enrollment numbers.

• Pir Inayyat Khans Hope Project - Founded by the Sufi teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan in 1980 the Hope project is an NGO that strives to enable the poor and vulnerable living in Basti to realize their hidden potential and to help themselves.

• Ghalib Academy - The Academy is an educational and cultural institution. It was founded in 1969 by Hakeem Abdul Hameed. It was established in the memory of the 19th century Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib. The Academy is situated in the vicinity of the Nizamuddin dargah. It consist of a museum in memory of the poet, a research

library, an art gallery, an auditorium and a computerized calligraphy training center in collaboration with the National Council Above is the list of historically important monuments and the period of construction

for Promotion of Urdu Language. The Academy is visited by thousand of Indian as well foreign scholars, writers, poets and academicians.

• Tablighi Jamaat Center - The white mosque called Masjid Banglewali, towers over the surrounding buildings in the neighborhood and overlooks the Urs Mahal, is the international headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat, roughly translated as the group for the propagation of Islam in its truest spirit. To be located in such a neighborhood of a Sufi dargah is ironic for the Tablighi Jamaat

because the Jamaatis do not believe in Sufism and refuse to accept the divinity accorded to the Sufi saints. Most of families claim their ancestral antecedents in the basti, anyone who has migrated from outside into the basti enters into a dialogue of history generated by the dargah. Even those who oppose Sufism contextualize themselves in the basti via the personality of the Saint. Sufism thus appears to be the predominant driving force in the basti.

Existing Tangible Cultural Heritage (TCH)

• Festivals - Some of the major festivals in the basti include the

birth anniversary of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Muhram, Eid and the three Urs (death anniversary celebrations). The way of life of the people in the basti is not very different from other city dwellers. However, the sense of belonging to the place and the physical proximity to the dargah ensures the survival of the intangible cultural heritage. The rauza (shrine) of the Sufi saint is extremely important. The pilgrims come to visit the shrine from different parts of the world. The cultural exchange between visitors and locals, that has been going on for centuries now, has left a mark on the basti and its physical fabric.

• Food culture - A lot of people work in the in-formal sector which caters to the visitors, pilgrims and tourists who come to visit the dargah. People not only who own a restaurant but also other people make their livelihood selling food to the visitors. The food in the basti draws its flavors and cooking techniques from

the turks, afghans and the mughals. Food like biriyani, kebab, breads in clay fried oven etc all are integral part of this basti.

• Religious merchandise - The basti has a very vivid market. It showcases a wide range of merchandiseOut o. The market thrives

with people selling lowers, religious items like namaz topi, chaddars, sweets etc. f the many offerings two of them hold great value they are attar and calligraphy. These people inscribe Quaranic inscriptions not only on paper but on fabric and canvas. The basti calligraphers continue this tradition by practicing this art. Perfume is also a very important commodity that is sold in the basti. There are attar shops and sellers who sell perfume. ‘Attarwali gali’ is

the identity of the street where a lot of shops sell different types of attars.

• Ritual practices - The Nizamuddin Dargah is the anchor of rituals and social practices related to Sufi culture. Statistics show that the

dargah has twice number of domestic visitors than Humayun’s tomb which is right across the road. This is certain Mapping the Intangible Culture of the settlement

Existing Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)

ways indicates the importance of the dargah.

Conservation & Restoration

Other Interventions

Socio-Economic Initiatives

Protected Monuments Within Basti

Description of Monuments (Architectural Elements, Materials and Features)

Monuments Inventory

Description of Monuments (Architectural Elements, Materials and Features)

Monuments Inventory

Thank You SUMMARY

• Context: The Nizamuddin Basti project has won two UNESCO heritage awards.

• It is an Urban Renewal project started in 2007 that focusses on holistic urban revitalisation of the historic Nizamuddin Basti community in Delhi.

• The Nizamuddin Area comprises the World Heritage Site of: • Humayun’s Tomb • The centuries-old settlement of Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti and Sunder Nursery • 16th Century Batashewala Tomb-Garden Complex • Tomb of 16th Century courtier poet Khan I Khanan ‘Rahim’and • The Mughal-period caravanserai of Azimganj Serai.

• The project successfully unified these segregated zones of the conservation area into an urban historic district of considerable cultural significance.

• The project has been awarded for placing heritage at the heart of the sustainable development agenda and through an innovative People-Public-Private Partnership model for overcoming major socio-economic challenges to improve health, education and well-being, particularly for women and youth.

THE LIVING HERITAGE OF NIZAMUDDIN BASTI (VIRSA AE NIZAMUDDIN)

• BanerjeePrashant_GSAPPHP_2015_Thesis.pdf file:///F:/4th%20Sem/THESIS%20TOPIC%20RAW%20DATA/BanerjeePrashant_GSAPPHP_2015_Thesis.pdf

• Approved Heritage Bye Laws of Nizamuddin Basti group of monuments.pdf https://www.nma.gov.in/documents/20126/52948/Approved%20Heritage%20Bye%20Laws%20of%20nizamuddin%20bati%20group%20of%20monuments.pdf • Development_in_the_Context_of_Urban_Cons.pdf file:///F:/4th%20Sem/THESIS%20TOPIC%20RAW%20DATA/Development_in_the_Context_of_Urban_Cons.pdf • Reviving History, Rebuilding Lives_AKTC_Report https://www.grihaindia.org/grihasummit/presentations/9th-tgs/RATISH-NANDA.pdf

• 2013_03_-_aktc_-_india_-_humayuns_tomb_-_reviving_history_rebuilding_lives.pdf https://d1zah1nkiby91r.cloudfront.net/s3fspublic/media/publications/2013_03_-_aktc_-_india_-_humayuns_tomb_-_reviving_history_rebuilding_lives.pdf • Urban Heritage In Indian Cities_NIUA_Report https://www.niua.org/pearl/sites/default/files/books/GP-IN4_HERITAGE.pdf • Seminar Proceedings Conservation and Local Development _17.03.2021.pdf https://crdf.org.in/resources/admin_uploads/resources/Seminar%20Proceedings_Conservation%20and%20Local%20Development%20_17.03.2021.pdf

• Challenges To Community Participation In Heritage Tourism Development: Case Studies Of Shahjahanabad And Nizamuddin Basti In New

Delhi, India_Research Paper https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343890237_CHALLENGES_TO_COMMUNITY_PARTICIPATION_IN_HERITAGE_TOURISM_DEVELOPME NT_CASE_STUDIES_OF_SHAHJAHANABAD_AND_NIZAMUDDIN_BASTI_IN_NEW_DELHI_INDIA • Annual Reports on Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative (2008 to 2020) https://www.nizamuddinrenewal.org/urban-planning/ • https://www.slideshare.net/DeepthaJayakar/nizamuddin • https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/started-in-2007-nizamuddin-basti-conservation-project-gets-two-unesco-awards-7653366/ • https://www.nizamuddinrenewal.org/urban-planning/ • https://www.gktoday.in/topic/nizamuddin-basti-project-gets-two-unesco-heritage-awards/ • https://www.archnet.org/sites/8234 • https://edukemy.com/current-affairs/gazette/2021-12-09/nizamuddin-basti-project

Bibliography & Referenced Sources