Negotiating Cultures

Description

Focusing on one of the largest megacities in the world—Delhi—this volume is a rare peek into the ineluctable process of hybridization between Indian and ‘other’ cultures within its local architecture and urban planning. The book explores a segment of the history of Delhi from 1912 through 1962, when the contemporary megacity was born, making a comparison between pre- and post-Independence, which is relatively neglected in academia. The author traces architectural and urban elements of the city of Delhi to understand how foreign developmental models were indigenized, the resistance encountered in the process, and finally their adaptation to local architectural contexts.
Highlighting the complexities of ‘multiple Delhis’ with different or simultaneous cultural influences as well as with the various ways those influences have been interpreted or contextualized, the author offers a fresh insight into what is happening in Delhi’s globalized built environment nowadays. The book aims to unearth the social relations emerging from the constant flux in style of architecture and its related elements in an urbanized area.

About the author
Pilar Maria Guerrieri is associate professor of history and theory of architecture and planning at GD Goenka University, India, where she teaches under a global tie-up with Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

Table of contents

List of Figures
Foreword by Paolo Ceccarelli
Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Renegotiating Delhi: Insights on Elements of Architecture and Planning
2. Two Conceptions of the City: Pre- and Post-Independence
3. Urban Areas and Colonies: Signs of Indigenization
4. Residential Typologies and Their Transformation: Havelis, Bungalows, and Single-Family Houses
5. Community Spaces and Public Buildings
6. Insights into the Cities of India, Cultural Exchanges, and Identities

Appendix
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Author