URBAN DESIGN STUDY OF PUBLIC SPACES OF TEMPLE SITES IN ODISHA

Abstract

Religious sites in Odisha are famous for their unique Kalinga style temples and heritage sites, which attract millions of pilgrims every year. In Odisha, most religious sites have developed over thousands of years and are among the province and India’s most valued heritage sites (MHUA & NIUA, n.d.). Owing to their social, cultural, religious, and architectural significances, most of these religious sites are considered as grade I heritage sites and type-A tourist sites in Odisha and India (CPWD, 2013). Since inceptions, these temples have acted as the nucleus of their respective settlements. Further, temples’ rituals and customs have affected the spatial settings of temple towns. The main temples are surrounded by water bodies, open spaces for religious and recreational activities, mathas, ashrams, and servicemen colonies. In recent years, with an increase in tourists’ inflow, these temple sites have undergone through several changes, such as alteration in land use, densification of population and commercial activities in heritage and religious sites. A recent report by the Odisha Tourism Department has highlighted a decrease in pilgrimage tourism in Odisha, from 18% in 2004 to 12.8% in 2010 (Government of Odisha, 2015). Nevertheless, despite the rich socio-religious and heritage significance of Odisha’s sacred sites, few studies have attempted to understand the evolution of temple sites, their urban architecture, and the spatial experiences of pedestrians empirically, at religious sites in Odisha. Therefore, this research aims to bridge these gaps by studying the evolution of temple sites in Odisha and measuring the spatial experiences and aesthetic preferences of pedestrians in temple sites. For this study, two important religious sites, such as Shri Kshetra in Puri and Ekamra Kshetra in Bhubaneswar have selected as case studies. These two religious sites are in the eastern part in Odisha and attract nearly 60% of the state’s tourist inflow. A literature review was done on several relevant topics, such as the history of the Kalinga kingdom and Kalinga architecture; urban design theories; heritage site preservation theories; environment and person behaviour, and study of similar cases. Information on the evolution of these two sites, their architectural transformation in the 20th century and current conditions are collected from the literature review, site mapping, users’ behavioural analysis, and historians’ interview. An empirical assessment of the spatial experiences and the aesthetic preferences of users at the two mentioned sites are done, in which 500 respondents from each site were asked to rate different factors of the built environment by using a five-point Likert scale. The data were examined through structural equation modelling, K means cluster and correlation analysis. 16 experts from different associated agencies of both sites were interviewed through a semi-structured interview to understand their perspectives on the existing conditions at the two temple sites. The data from the experts were analysed with content analysis method. The results of this study have revealed that both temple sites were developing in a similar pattern until the 14th century. Later, with the increase in popularity of the Vaishnavism in India, Puri became a famous tourist destination whereas rulers of Odisha had neglected Ekamra Kshetra. The spatial experiences analysis result discourses that, in the present context, only one-third of the pedestrians in both sites have positive spatial experiences. Further, factors related to accessibility, safety, and comfort have the least positive impact on pedestrians. Also, most of the respondents prefer the replication approach with traditional architectural elements in the two sites. The content analysis has revealed that lack of funding for heritage preservation, lack of heritage precinct guidelines, lack of implementation of existing norms and causal attitude of users are the major challenges for preservation and improvement of the selected temple sites. Based on the outcomes of this research, several design recommendations are proposed to improve the existing conditions in the selected sites. Contribution of this research is manifold, i.e., first, spatial mapping of evolution of temple sites in Odisha; second, assessment of spatial experience and aesthetics preferences of pedestrians and documentation of architectural styles and elements in the temple sites are done in this research. This empirical research is one of the few attempts which evaluate the spatial experiences and aesthetic preferences of pedestrians in any heritage and religious site in Odisha. Development authorities, urban planners and designers can use outcomes of this research to formulate strategies to improve the spatial experience of travellers in religious sites of Odisha with similar parameters and site context.