ROLE OF URBAN VILLAGES IN A CITY

Dissertation Guide: Prof. Rashmi Tandon

Dissertation co-ordinator: Prof R.K. Safaya

Suhani Gupta
4th Year A
Roll No 6

CONTENTS OF THE DISSERTATION

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Urban villages of Delhi
Image building of a city
CHAPTER 2: URBAN VILLAGES
Urban Rural Integration
Transformation/ Modification From the city of villages to the
metropolitan city
Development of small towns
Historic urban villages social and physical characteristics
Lal Dora/ Pre Urban Villages
CHAPTER 3: HERITAGE/ URBAN RENEWAL
Importance of Monuments

Upliftment of heritage
Vicinity- Firoz Shah Tughlaqs Tomb & Madrassa
Prohibition for construction of structures by ASI
CHAPTER 4: CASE STUDY 1- HAUZ KHAS VILLAGE
History of Hauz khas village
Hauz khas Complex

Transformation from an idyllic village in the heart of Delhi.(1987)

(Decade study)
Before 1990:
Pre urban village
1990 2000:
Development and changes took place

2000 2010:
Early 2000s was dead, Name changed on request, Tourist market,
Landlord & Tenant Relationship, Peaceful space.
2010 2016
Sub culture, Real Estate Bubble, Commercialization, cultural

adjustments, Gentrification
Modern Concept of Hauz khas
CHAPTER 5:CASE STUDY OF MOHAMMADPUR VILLAGE
Study the missing character of the place as compared to Hauz
khas village
Positives and negatives of the place
Importance of the village
CHAPTER 6: CASE STUDY OF KHIRKI VILLLAGE

Study the missing character of the place as compared to Hauz

khas village
Positives and negatives of the place
Importance of the village
CHAPTER 7 : ROLE OF URBAN VILLAGES IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT OF
DELHI

Future of Urban Villages

Conclusion
Role of Urban Villages

AIM : Role Of Urban Villages In The City

OBJECTIVES
To study the factors in the development of an Urban Village.

To bring out the significance of monuments in the vicinity of an

Urban village.
Importance/Function of urban villages in the city
SUBJECT IMPORTANCE
Urban villages have the potential for contributing a great deal

towards not only housing stock but employment opportunities as

well. There is however, a need to promote the existing social
organizations and physical quality of those villages in a manner
that would provide rich diversity to the drab urban environment,
Hauz Khas village has the prospects of reaching an international
level. It drags international crowd too . So the environment served
should match the standards and work well with the surroundings in

a disciplined manner.
RESEARCH METHODOLGY
This research is based on the descriptive approaches the study
of urban villages of Delhi through books and web research.
Primary and Secondary case studies shall be conducted to
analyze the significance of urban villages.
Comparative study of case studies of Delhi

LIMITATIONS

Due to restricted time and resources, research is focused only on

Indian urban Villages.
Due to travel constraints, the case studies conducted are of New
Delhi.
There are about 300 Urban villages In the limits of Delhi, due to
time constraints. I have covered only 3-4 important urban villages
to bring out the role of these villages.

CHAPTER -1
ABSTRACT
Delhi, an eternal capital city and the capital of modern India,
inheres many contradictions. The existence of villages, known in

policy and planning circles as urban villages, within the sprawling

metropolis is just one of them. The so called urban villages
constitute a paradox for a variety of reasons.
The distinction between an urbanizing village and an urban village,
For, the process of urbanizing village, i.e. the process sociological
defined as adopting and adapting to urbanism, or an urban way of
life, would be visible both in an urbanizing village and an urban
village. Nevertheless, there would be qualitative as well as
quantitative difference in this process in the two different settings.
INTRODUCTION
In the Delhi Masterplan, urban villages were designated as primarily
residential areas to protect villagers rights to remain in their villages.
While license for some commercial activities was reserved for
convenience shops and offices to cover local needs, this provision
was not intended to extend to outside investment. However, since
these spaces received little attention from authorities and villagers

were forced to turn to rental income after the loss of their farming
land, large numbers of external commercial and manufacturing
activities entered into urban village localities.
The villages of old, now absorbed into cities, were on the fringes of
India urbanizing. They are lagging behind compared to other parts
of the cities in terms of basic services and urban infrastructure.

The urban development process should address specific issues and

concerns of these villages regardless of need and scope of
planning for the city as a whole. This would make the transition from
rural status fair and inclusive urban status to those before the
villagers.

With the advance of urbanization, the old villages are becoming suburbs of cities
or towns, becoming consequently irreversibly. These villages, which are now
neighborhoods in cities or towns, are located on the margins of an India that is
urbanizing. Therefore, they are lagging behind in terms of being equipped with
basic

urban

services

and

infrastructure

compared

to

other

urban

neighborhoods. In this sense, the processes of urban development should

address the issues and the specific concerns of these villages, regardless of the
needs and scope of city planning in general. To take such measures, the
transition from a rural to an urban situation would be more just and inclusive for
those who inhabit that once were villages.

CHAPTER-2
URBAN VILLAGES
From time to time, rural villages are notified under Section 507 of the
Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957, shifting the settlements into

the urban ambit and designating them as urban villages, also

sometimes referred to as urbanized villages in policy documents.
In case of urban villages, it looks to be a case of false mobility. For
the population has not moved from its rural environs to an urban
one, it is the city that has come to them. Having been engulfed by
urbanization, they have not changed their life styles overnight. In
fact, while most of them have apparently adopted an urban life
style, kinship, family ties, ambience 4 and daily chores reminiscent
of country are still present in many, if not most, cases.
TRANSFORMATION

FROM

THE

CITY

OF

VILLAGES

TO

THE

METROPOLITIAN CITY
Transformation is, of course, taking place, but, for one, it is slow and,
for another, its result is producing a curious mix. From this point of
view, urban villages would appear to be an appendage to the city
they are part of as well as an anomaly in socio-cultural terms.
An urbanizing village reflects the natural process of transformation
of a human settlement from one economic order to another and

one

way

of

life

to

another.

Thus,

socio-economic

and

morphological changes taking place in natural process bring about

attitudinal as well as socio-cultural changes gradually and naturally.
An urban village, on the other hand, represents a process in which
a rural settlement is caught in the process of rapid urbanization of a
metropolis.

The presence and participation of artists, musicians and creative

enterprises in urban areas as well as in the urban workforce have
significantly transformed the Village. The current transformation of
Delhis

urban

spaces

furthermore

intersects

with

intensified

middleclass consumption practices, with entertainment, nightlife,

food culture and other lifestyle pressures impacting on the complex

internal ecologies of urban villages.
VILLAGES IN A GROWING METROPOLIS
The growth of this administrative and commercial city was still slow
till independence and partition of the country. Provisions for
resettlement, both physical and economic, had to be made for the
millions of Delhis urbanization which engulfed not only agricultural
land but also several villages that came in its way. Many of these
villages have been newly absorbed into the urban fabric but some
are old and have been embedded in the city for generations.

During 1951-61, Delhi consumed 131 sq. kms. of land. The next
decade i.e. 1961-71, witnessed the city adding another 119 sq. km.
to its boundary.
In order to accommodate the swelling population, the urban limits
of Delhi had to increase. However, in this process not only
agricultural land had to be acquired, but also a large number of

villages had to be incorporated within its boundary. Before 1931,

only 25 villages had been identified within Delhis urban limits, but its
growth since then (also including the critical period of partition) has
engulfed 132 villages.

LAL DORA/ PRE URBAN VILLAGES

Lal Dora came into being during the British regime in 1908. It used to
be a red line drawn on the maps delineating the village population
from the nearby agricultural land for revenue records.
Lal Dora was extended in six villages of the city. Lal Dora was

exempt from the building by-laws, and strict construction norms and
regulations, as regulated under the Delhi Municipal Act.
Though the term Lal Dora applies to both Rural and Urban villages,
the thin dividing line has vanished over the period of time, and
prime areas of Delhi at present
SOCIO, ECONOMIC & PHYSICAL CHANGES
The process of urbanization undoubtedly brought physical and
socio-economic changes, particularly changes in the livelihood
pattern inherent in the loss of agricultural land in the Delhis
urbanizing villages.

The process of evolution has a big positive impact on the economic

and social development of both the old villagers as well as new
migrants. Amenities such as common toilets, public transport and
drainage can have an important impact on the quality of life of
residents as well as attract new economic opportunities.

CHAPTER-3
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Delhi exists as capital site of India, a historic power centre.
According to the urban sociologists and historians (Mumford, 1966)

all cities are living entities, which go through a life-cycle as the

birth, growth, consolidation, expansion, decline, and quite often
some kind of end, or state of decay, unless they are turnedaround and revived by combined human efforts.
Unfortunately modern planning in India has never considered the
city as a cultural artifact. Neither has it come to term with the rapid
rate of transformation and change that is occurring within our
historic areas. An understanding of transformation and change is
essential to conservation because it has to be integrated into the
planning and conservation process.
Due to fast urban sprawls and land use change, most of the cultural

heritage sites are almost endangered by such changes in Delhi. The

land environment is under stress due to the fast pace of
urbanization ,
Urban heritage has a significant role

in influencing social

organization, equity and environmental

sustainability in Indian

cities, and therefore, must play a central role in urban planning

approaches in India,