The Historic City of Ajmer-Pushkar: mapping layers of history, use and meaning for sustainable planning and conservation

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The project will create a network devoted to developing more inclusive, informed and sustainable planning decisions for public spaces in historic Indian cities, by carrying out a pilot study in the walled city of Ajmer and nearby Pushkar in Rajasthan. These are thriving centres of pilgrimage for different faiths, attracting thousands of devotees at festival times. A rapid growth in tourist numbers has exacerbated the stress on infrastructure. The research will focus on the role of the beliefs and associations, ritual processes, and behavioural patterns of devotees and visiting pilgrims, in order to establish these as crucial factors in the design and conservation of public spaces with religious significance. The primary objective is to create prototypes of digital tools to contain images and information about the city, its history and heritage and, most importantly, to allow reflection, exchange and dialogue among different groups. The tools to be developed will be based on an interactive map of the historic areas as whole, and 3-d interactive scans of key public spaces. Once the basic work on these has been done, an interdisciplinary workshop with participants from India and the UK will be held in Ajmer. This workshop will be the starting point for the continuing network. Relevant public bodies and community representatives will take part. Varied expertise and perspectives will help to refine the tools, and the methods for gathering further data on differing perceptions of the city and on the activities within its spaces. The interactive models will be put online to be supplemented and critiqued. Findings from the study will be fed to the relevant authorities, and it is expected that the tools and approach will be applicable in historic cities throughout India, and worldwide.