Download - Delhi Heritage City

STATE OF CONSERVATION ANDFACTORS AFFECTING THE PROPERTYThere was a hierarchy of streets beyond thetwo principal streets, linking different parts tothe fort, the squares, places of worship, majorthoroughfares and the city gates and theinternal streets within the purely residentialareas often ending in cul de sacs for safety andsecurity reasons. The street system is largelyintact and thus helps in increasing the legibilityHauz Qazi Chowkof the historic city. The hierarchy in the scale of the streets was also a reflection of themodes of transport permissible with a large part of the city being pedestrian in nature. Mostof the streets were not planned to take in the vehicular traffic. This is one of the biggestproblems in the city today and a traffic management plan needs to be prepared to managethe intensity and the many modes of transport. In recent times, with the Metro linking upthe city to the larger part of Delhi, the problem of accessing the city has substantially eased,leading to reduced traffic numbers. But with warehouses and activities such as packagingwhich have come up due to the close proximity of the railway station, this aspect needsspecial attention.oBazaars were an integral part of the city to facilitate trade. Besides the Chandni chowk, theprincipal bazaars in other parts of the city continue tothis day too. These include Lalkuan bazaar, Chawribazaar, Sita Ram bazaar, Katra Bariyan, Khari baoli.While the nature of trade has changed in someinstances in other instances the original trade, like inDariba kalan still exists. Markets radiated from the foursides of Jama masjid and while the nature of trade ininto the morphology of the historic city. The mainChaura bazaar to the west of Jama masjid continues toterminate at the crossing known as Qazi ka Haus. Garden at Town HallBazaar Lal Kuan culminates at Bazaar Khari baoli, whichwas a long straight bazaar between Fatehpuri masjidand Lahori darwaza of the city. From Qazi ka hauz crossing a road led to Ajmeri darwaza andanother to Turkman darwaza via bazaar Sita Ram. These are still the major spines of the city.The area to the east of Jama masjid has seen many changes in recent times. In 1975 manyadhoc shops were removed and a closed bazaar complex (Meena bazaar) came up.One major issue in all the streetscapes is the presence of overhead electrical wires whichmar the elevations and the experience of the historic facades of the structures lining thestreets. Signage is another aspect that causes visual clutter along the streets, especially thebazaars and tends to mask the heritage facades.oOpen Space Systems - Chowksand Gardens: The open spacesystem of the historic citycomprised of chowks andgardens. The major square wasthe Chandni chowk and the Jamamasjid. Next in hierarchy werespaces at the junction of streetssuch as Hauz Qazi. This hierarchyis still visible, even though thespatial form of Hauz Qazi hasRed Fort7/31/2012 Medieval and Colonial Capital cities of Delhi 4