ENHANCING THE IMAGEABILITY-HERITAGE CORE OF MYSORE

Abstract

Historic towns and cities throughout the world are in an urge to conserve the heritage and preserve the image and identity of the city. These are the only linkage between the past and the present, hence these connections has to be well preserved but we cannot stop the population explosion or the developments happening in the city core or compete with today's growth and technological advancements which is the reason for dismantling the integrity of the historic core. The newer developments make the urban form unsustainable and may lead into an unsafe environment for community living. The virtue of the architectural style and the built spaces is also liquidated due to the contemporary developments, which does not integrate the historic or cultural elements in the day to day life. At the same time we cannot restrain the development in the urban form, it will deteriorate the historic quarter. Therefore sustainable developments have to be initiated in which preservation and progress goes in hand in hand. These approaches will revive the environment and restore the image and identity of the historic core. Mysore one of the prime heritage cities in the country combines historical facts and anecdotes with a harmonious combination of both natural and built heritage. In spite of the causalities of the modern day approach to urban planning and civic architecture owing to lack of building space, the city continues to restrain its special characteristics as a native princely city. The historic city due to its contemporary developments is in the verge of losing its imageability and its classical instance to study and analyse the issues. This project is an attempt to address the issues of urban form of a heritage city and its imageability. By assessing the CBD of Mysore which is its heritage core based on the principles of imageability listed by Lynch, the study tries to interpret the issues and the complexities in the Indian scenario. It attempts to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional settlement over the contemporary aspirations of today's dwellers. The main aim of this study is to identify the key issues which affects the imageability and formulates strategies and guidelines to enhance the imageability of the urban form of the historic city focussed towards sustainability.