Recovering Shahjahanabad Ecology & Urban Fabric

This research project focuses on grounded environmental research and participatory planning and interventions for the historic walled city of Shahjahanabad, Delhi, India. Designated as a 'Special Area' in the 2021 Delhi Master Plan (MPD 2021), the study area is at the core of Delhi’s current urban agglomeration, and subjected to intense contemporary pressures of urbanization and deterioration. This proposed action-oriented research collaboration explores the continuities of ongoing participatory processes in Shahjahanabad over its urban history, which have resulted in creating a unique historic urbanization model that supported and encouraged informal and flexible insertions in the urban fabric, within an overall formal structuring framework of public open spaces or "urban commons".