ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research has been nothing less than a process of multiple days of self-doubts, requisitioning the thought process, and a constant drive to search answers to the questions that I started with. The success of this research required constant guidance and support which I am fortunate to have received from many people throughout the research.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my immense gratitude to my thesis guide, my mentor Ar. Mridula Pillai Gudekar. With no initial academic interaction or any idea of my capabilities, she stood by me right from validating the questions that I had at the beginning of this research to helping and encouraging me find the answers to them. I cannot thank you enough for tolerating my panic attacks and late evening phone calls. This wouldn’t have been possible without your expertise and constant motivation.

I would also like to thank all the other faculties of L.S.Raheja S.O.A Mumbai who guided me at different stages of my research and the college in specific for giving us students this opportunity and such well-versed faculties to learn from.

I would like to extend my gratitude to my family, my parents and my grandparents who have stood by me like four strong pillars while all they got from me was an insomniac, cranky child and my brother for always checking on me no matter how busy he was.

This research would not have been possible without my best audiences- Vibhu- for just being there around for so long, you are nowhere less than a family to me, Shruti- for being utterly honest with me, from our random talks of endless analysis to us wanting to do everything together, this process would have been the same without you being a part of it, and Shreya- this friendship has seen its own share of drama and hurdles but what we have now is extremely precious to me, so thank you for being an absolute toddler to one of the most intellectual people I have ever met. Thank you all of you for listening to all my monologues regarding my research no matter how vague or irrelevant or never ending it got. I cannot thank you people enough for it.

Lastly, I would like to thank all my peers for their valuable suggestions and ideas that indeed helped me in the completion of my research.

Lens-1 (to walk)

As we walk down the street, today we find ourselves surrounded by shopfronts labeled DMarts, OneStop grocery stores, vegetable and fruit marts, and whatnot. But ever wondered, what happened to the sabziwala bhaiya who used to stand right outside that shop before it turned into a mart?

Footpaths get cleared to make way for parking areas. Where did the trees, that once shadowed that path go?

Lens-2 (to live)

Sunday begins with us accompanying our father to the nearby fish market. Ever visited these fishermen’s narrow streets bounded by colorful houses? The koliwadas. Do they still exist? Or are these clusters with no setbacks seem to be lost beneath the sky touching, set far apart buildings?

Just behind your building complex, on the edge of the road, you see these low-height roofs, men waiting for work and wages, and children playing inside pipes. Ever imagined how it is to be living in these margins?

Lens-3 (to belong)

Just outside your village, you spot the villagers working to build some huge exhibition center from the mud, soil, and artisans available in your village. Ever wondered who will use it?

No more cow dung walls and plinths. Houses around you are now of concrete. Buildings getting build on the boundaries. What about the ones who don’t want to and don’t want the, change?

Different spaces. Different scenarios. Different lenses.

I say I belong to Mumbai, but before March 2022, I was unaware of the 36 Koliwadas that Mumbai has its natives from. For one of my articles in my internship, I understood the community structure of Charkop Koliwada, their living patterns, problems, occupations, and culture, and ended with stories of Kandivali that I never heard. Overshadowed by the development around, these natives have their neighborhood only in memories. They denied converting their colorful houses into sky-touching buildings which is why this cluster with no setbacks, trying to save their roots seems to be lost beneath the set far-apart buildings around. The developments around did not cater to the community’s needs.

These observations continued when I visited the Juhu Gaothan near my office. The majority of natives there had lost their jobs as the hotel industry developed in the city. The hotel industry with growth demanded better staff and people who worked there, which resulted in getting these people replaced. While some families could cope with the change, many could not, leaving them with no option but to become vendors and hawkers in the church street market. One might find families of three selling vegetables, an older woman selling breakfast and tiffin food, to earn living.

This made me think that in a country where diversity is valued, origins are preserved, and a contextual approach was practiced, is currently fading away. Yes, we are changing, but is it at the cost of losing our humanity?

“Certainly, architecture is concerned with much more than just its physical attributes. It is a many-layered thing. Beneath and beyond the strata of function and structure, materials and texture, lie the deepest and most compulsive layers of all.”

— Charles Correa

Chapter 01

The core of this research starts with understanding the very beginning of mankind and all the emotions evolved with it. Parallely, this chapter aims to establish that Architecture is considered to be one of the most impactful tools to converge people’s minds towards a revolution unsaid. It narrates its own story as it is believed to be made for a cause, a solution to a need. The field emerged as a very sensitive practice and has somewhere lost its authenticity in the due process. This chapter sets a pretext for a transitional shift of lens to relook at Mumbai from a observationally developed empathetic lens.

1.1

Decoding Empathy

In order to develop an understanding of empathy, inferring from the already existing becomes crucial. This would cover critically analysing various theories, approaches, and opinions that emerged out of diverse contexts and subjects. Having a cohesive knowledge of various understandings of empathy as a phenomenon before establishing a perception would be a mandatory step.

“A process of humanising objects, of reading or feeling ourselves into them,” is how Edward B. Titchener defined empathy in 1909.

He carved empathy from the word Einfiihlung, which means “humans’ spontaneous projection of real and psychic feeling into the people and things they perceive”, as stated by Robert Vischer in 1873.

Empathic design strives to comprehend what is significant to people and why, and use that understanding to inform design decisions, the creation of products, services, and systems, as well as the creation of new, alternative, and meaningful futures.

Psychologists assert that empathy, defined as recognizing and sharing others’ emotional states, is complex and concerns a difficult interpersonal and intrapersonal experience (Preston, 2007).

When working with people, including extreme users and other stakeholders, interpersonal experiences are verbal, nonverbal, and physical acts or expressions that require designers to exhibit empathy and sensitivity.

The empathic formation compass provides designers with a vocabulary that helps them understand what kind of key dimensions and elements influence empathic formation in codesign and how that informs designers’ role and design decisions.

The empathic formation compass also aspires to go beyond merely relying on methodologies to facilitate reflection and evaluate co-design initiatives. By controlling and including their own emotions and experiences (from the first-person perspective), designers can make empathic design a deliberate activity and lessen empathetic bias. The impact of designers’ subjective, objective, and reflective responsibilities on the people and context they create for and with needs to be more fully understood (in).

I believe empathy to be an approach, a lens. It may not always be feeling pity or remorse regarding something or someone, but would rather mean to step into their shoes and build a more holistic perspective. It would be a conscious approach to help de-layer our complex society having its varied layers placed in juxtaposition to each other. It means to be more cautious with what you do, what you change, add or subtract. Empathy involves bringing back the humanly approach to the commercially growing world today.

ARCHITECTURE AS A SOLUTION TO A NEED.

Source: Author 1.1

In terms of duration and complexity, the history of architecture is comparable to that of humanity. The Neolithic period, roughly 10 000 BC, or simply the time when humans stopped living in caves and began deciding how they wanted their homes to feel and look, might be considered the precise beginning of architecture. Hence, the need then was shelter.

One of life’s most basic needs is shelter, which implies that having a place to live becomes essential. But architecture involves realising that a house is not a standalone item but rather a component of a community that must adapt to the different demands that its surroundings place on it. Architecture offers much more than just a means of bringing aesthetic sensibility to an utilitarian component. It is a method of how we make it possible for people to connect, engage with one another, and live in a way that simplifies and enriches their lives.

As an ecosystem, we face numerous socioeconomic dangers and hazards in the 21st century. Although individualistic thinking should be the starting point for solutions, substantial change and progress require much larger-scale actions. Architecture as a phenomena can come up with creative, expansive solutions that inevitably contribute to raising living standards. The types and varieties of homes we construct are insufficient to preserve equilibrium in a population that is expanding. As a result, the architecture gives us the chance to implement concepts like co-living areas, collaborative communities that give the environment room to breathe, and the capacity to use resources efficiently.

A building’s architecture can respond to numerous aspects of its surroundings, including its history, understanding of its cultural sensibility and evolution, topography, its position, accessibility, transportation, weather & climate, and many others. Understanding this finally leads to a structure with personality and the durability to last for decades to come. Since it is the foundational component of any civilisation, architecture is essential to development and evolution.

Architecture has a way of successfully addressing the requirement to make people feel a part of the community, which is a key component of civilization. The Indus valley civilization, one of India’s most well-known civilizations, became renowned for its architectural innovations and for creating a community that was a very significant part of evolution.

In the discipline of architecture, considerations of the past, present, and future are all equally important. It is a field in which we comprehend the history of the environment and offer a feature that manifests everything now available to create something that aids in the maintenance of a sustainable environment in the future.

Building construction is not the focus of architecture; rather, it is building design. It makes the most of cutting-edge components inside a structure to help it manage resources and use energy as efficiently as possible.

Architecture is aware of the fact that people are a component of the ecosystem. generates an ecology as a result that is balanced for all life.

One of the most prominent reflections of culture is architecture. Buildings have always provided us with insight into the traditions and way of life of those who lived in certain places.

Take Egypt’s pyramids and Sphinx as examples. These systems help us to understand how prehistoric societies perceived the land, their kings, and their religion. The Sphinx protected graves and temples, demonstrating the importance of honouring the memory and safety of former rulers.

The gothic style is a primary sign of the Middle Ages, according to historians. Throughout Europe, a bleak time of instability is marked by pointed arches and complex brickwork. Architects developed flying buttresses for greater stability and construction. As well as providing greater light in cathedrals, these architectural features supported soaring roofs.

One of the oldest occupations in human history is architecture. It emerged from the human need for shelter to shield himself from the elements and outside dangers. It initially developed as a result of means, such as the available building materials and skills, and requirements, such as those for shelter, security, and places of worship. Building evolved into a craft as human cultures advanced, and eventually the codified form of that art, which is now practised by trained professionals, is known as “architecture.”

The transformation of these peoples— the Aryans, the Turks, and the Arabs—from nomads to settlements was aided by the advent of agriculture made possible by a more stable environment. The so-called “new stone age” people of the Neolithic era were the first to cultivate their own food and establish settlements.

Because people were better fed and hence healthier thanks to agriculture, their odds of surviving were considerably improved. Cities as well as towns and villages grew in these populated areas. According to academics, Jericho was the first Neolithic settlement in modern-day Israel where the environment permitted inhabitants to produce wheat and barley.

The advent of cities started to transform human life once more into a more complicated social environment. Cities had a reputation for being the hubs of human progress and culture, as is still true today. People started to participate in the arts, and specialised work became commonplace. A more stratified civilization where specialisation determined one’s position in the social hierarchy was brought about by these new skills.

As individuals moved into communities, especially the bigger ones defined as cities, complex social structures started to emerge. Cities became the centre of political and economic power from this earliest of times. As a result, social classes and a patriarchal culture also emerged.

An interest in comprehending how environmental systems functioned, how they might be managed, and how they could be forecast arose from a fresh understanding of the natural world and how it could determine one’s chances of life or death. Military organisations also developed in Indo-European cultures. For groups like the Aryans of modern-day northern India, the domestication of horses was essential for their military organisation.

The idea of belonging to a location and a group of people who needed protection from strangers who endangered their well-being would only be strengthened by the presence of the military.

After settling, the Aryans, Turks, and Arabs’ worldviews in terms of the significance of their lives, their beliefs, and their value systems started to alter.

The growth of Aryan, Turkish, and Arab settlements made it possible for human civilization to advance concurrently not just in that huge region but also in locations like Mesoamerica and China, which benefited from the lush regions there. It is possible to crossreference cultures to show that the basis of human habitation and development has much to do with climatic change and the circumstances required for farming.

People were encouraged to settle down and claim a location as their own as a result of the practise of farming and a newfound awareness and understanding of land ownership.

With a more robust diet, these early people eventually became physically stronger as a result of the introduction of animals, and the world’s population exploded.

People’s minds began to be occupied by cultural pursuits, artistic endeavours, and educational pursuits as they no longer had to worry about where their next meal would come from. These activities eventually gave rise to the diverse cultures, religions, and traditions we have today, some of which were developed as a result of these early settlements.

Man is such a large, multifaceted, diverse, and varied being that any definition offered is insufficient to capture its complexity.

But for man to coexist as a species, he subconsciously hunts for a mutual sense of belonging. When a man perceives himself as a constituent of a larger existence, he begins to think of himself within a larger context. He seeks a space to breathe and develop. A space in this case becomes a notion that is shaped and sculpted by the human context.

Because man views that location as an extension of himself, it serves as an anchor for him, luring him there again and time again.

Any living species looks for comfort to be able to live in a particular space. In order to positively correlate, a man adjusts and adds tangible attributes to that space. That said, what seems to be comfortable for one person may not be for another. For some, it can be a sense of security, for others, a place that liberates them, and for yet others, it may serve as a sacred core. Either way, the space becomes a part of them—a part they feel familiar with.

The concept of feeling familiar, feeling a sense of space thus becomes a cohesion of the physical alterations made to it while respecting the already existing and the attachment that it evokes in its users.

Place attachment is defined as the development of affective bond or link between people or individuals and specific places.

(Hidalgo

M. C. & and Hernandez, B, 2001)

Furthermore, functional connection between people and spaces within a place they are associated with, essentially referred to as place dependence could also become a way to delayer place attachment. In this case, when a place within a space can reflect a user’s functional demands and suffice his cognitive and behavioural needs effectively in comparison to a known alternative, it becomes well-identified and significant in their perceptions, building their attachment towards it. This attachment strengthens over the period when the man as mentioned before acquaints with the already existing or adds tangible components to the space which includes biographical context, the socio-cultural activities infused and the architecture that exists and develops over time, making it his place.

These attributes essentially create a desire in the user to occupy that space as it essentially evokes an integral feeling within them. In this process, the space and its user shapes an organic identity of each other which stands interdependent since they both are in constant association.

In the case of an urban precinct, the identity of a place is embodied in the peculiarities of its physical forms and interactions that influence how users perceive its location. Those integrate the characteristics of being distinctive, different, unique, dominant, easily recognisable, memorable and identifiable by the people.

(Lynch, 1960) ancient ones. Based on the scope of power connected with the nature of the authority that goes with these various roles, each person in that chain has a certain power-over or capacity to give commands. Authority is a type of power that typically comes with a title or position and also implies some level of agreement on the part of the person who has been given the authority, based on a sense of legitimacy anchored in a particular justification for a particular course of action. This claim is grounded upon empirical sociology.

While doing this, as a person explores and experiments within that particular spatial boundaries, they tend to develop a ‘place’ within that space which is distinctive in nature from the places around.

Here, the identity of a community is in constant juxtaposition with its members and the context, the modifications in which might result in the loss of relevance over the time.

That said, to a productive extent, change and additions are worth the risk over suppressive continuity for a community. This also tests and advances the adaptivity of the community’s place.

Familiarity and place attachment are correlated with respect to familiarity being a major outcome of the process of growing an attachment towards a place. Subsequently, familiarity as an emotion could be understood in depth with respect to two different stagesassociation and purpose. While association refers to when a person is repeatedly exposed to a space, purpose means when he is bound to visit that space for a certain function it caters to. Both of these act as driving forces that lead to the development of a deep, contextual familiarity between the user and the spatial environment.

Familiarity, grown through this process hence establishes a particular place within a space, a core that constantly draws its users towards it.

Space over time isn’t the same. As man ages, so does his space.

With a sense of familiarity comes a feeling of fear of losing the place they feel attached to. This makes one claim his rights regarding that place. A man, with a fear of having to let go of the familiarity, tries establishing an ownership inorder to secure the place for him and his peers.

Once an authority is in place, it absorbs and replaces the original origins for its establishment while yet remaining dependent on them. When force is utilised, authority has failed; it is not permitted to use external means of coercion. On the other hand, persuasion, which is based on equality and involves arguments, is incompatible with authority since it assumes equality.

Having faith in a source outside of politics gives one’s actions the appearance of legitimacy, which is what authority is.

Authority as a liberal theory is based on the primacy of freedom. When a sense of authority is established in a human’s mind, his sense of being, he becomes more human about that space. His feeling of satisfaction about the place indulges him into a sense of control over it as an entity which pushes him to use it and occupy it freely.

From a sociological point of view, authority could be looked at as a legitimate power of a person or a body over the others. Conceptually, authority becomes an emotion that helps one feel secure of the feeling of losing his or her association with a commodity due to the hindrance of any foreign claims. But in this due process, the place within a space which was initially his identity, man starts looking at it as a mere property which needs to be won for it to be called his own. As a result, man loses his affection towards it while establishing his command on it.

Authority can be personal, such as the control a parent has over a kid. However, power typically refers to a particular position or office that is a part of a complicated chain of command in complex societies, including landscape, ecosystems and creating a sense of disintegration, a feeling of absence.

The idea of considering ourselves as a smaller aspect within a space transforms into the man becoming a bigger picture while the space now becoming a part of his story. Where he was first considerate about the space’s naturally existing features and attributes, man now treats it as per his perception and what he considers that space to exist as. The originality of the space faces a fear of getting compromised or even lost as man now becomes a foreign hindrance for it.

With the rapid pace at which the cities and urban contexts at large are growing, globalisation, standardisation of production generalising the urban environments and capitalising the development approach has weakened the sense of familiarity today.

Memory of a space is the harmony between absence and presence in places that formerly carried significance and where an energetic resonance may still be felt.

Memory is a form of navigation in mental space that evolved from, and relies on, a certain association of a man regarding a space and the attributes it houses.

Initially religious structures invoked memories and the spirit were first rooms where memory and the spirit were held, eloquently and permanently in architecture. Secular spaces currently serve this important purpose as religion has been reassessed and most designs have been marginalised.

The feeling of familiarity is now evoked from the memory that has stayed in the minds of the ones displaced by an external force having a greater social and capital position in power.

The identity of that space is now understood through its people’s narratives and the space now becomes a part of the past history.

Considering a space as a certain piece of land, a body with a larger capital, resources and viability tries to seize it without being considerate about its native living culture to be a part of the larger race of global economy and further for his own benefit.

This shift of lens from a conscious to a selfish perspective has led to the loss of authenticity towards urban attributes like history, local

The familiarity evoked towards a place serves as a purpose for a man to settle and dwell there. He, with his inherent trait of living as a gregorian being, eventually starts growing into a group of people who associate a similar familiarity towards that place. How this particular clan of people occupy that place becomes distinctive and idiosyncratic to that particular set. That said, as the place is a part of the larger urban space, its influence spreads over the entire city’s radius. These groups of people eventually develop a pattern of living which gets passed on to their further generations as a practice making them a community of a certain type.

“ Community is, first, a place, and second, a configuration as a way of life, both as how people do things and what they want, to say, their institutions and goals”.

(Kaufman in Bell & Newby, 1973, pg. 30)

The distinctive spread of a community differentiates it from the others, making it authentic and rooted. Hence,to interpret the growth and development of a community, identifying and delayering its system of occupying and utilising a place stands crucial for the outcome to empower the community.

Steelyard

Varying two masses placed on a scale with the fulcrum more towards the heavier, and emphasised mass but the other mass still playing a significant role.

Circle

Similar to the steelyard about the emphasised mass being the core, here circle is where lies the heart of the composition. It may or may not be a focal point.

Balanced scale

As the name suggests, maintaining equality and a constant rhythm between masses is the key for this compositional success.

2 3 4

S/ Compound curve

The process here is organic, changes with an hindrance and continues to flow while being considerate towards the interferences.

Three spot

Two masses may not work as in harmony and won’t create unity as three would. The three masses as minimum, depend on each other and make complete sense only when understood together.

Group mass

Aiming to achieve unity and harmony, the approach is to collaborate varied masses into one group.

Pattern

Totally dependent on a feeling of unity and integration, here organic approach is valued over reliance. There is a major consideration to ingenuity and a subconscious urge for harmony.

Diagonal line

A main path is set and no sorts of interference or overlap is avoided while parallel attributes exist in alliance with the main mass.

Compositional Archetypes

Pyramid

The structure with a triangular composition aims to achieve stability, consistency and permanence.

Cross

The Point of Interest stands at the intersection of the two lines while the rest orient themselves around these two main axes.

Suspended steelyard

The two kinds of masses in this case, are dependent on a perpendicular process.

Tunnel

Similar to a circle, there is a focal point but there is another dimension involved. The convergence is directed towards the other side of the tunnel.

Silhouette

Bringing together varied masses to establish a datum that gives a larger picture. It shifts the focus from individual masses to the holistic context.

EII/ rectangle

Two equal masses processing in perpendicular directions with a common origin, similar to the ‘L’ shape configuration.

Radiating line

The one that brings in Point of Focus, which lies at the near centre or at the converging end of varied directions emerging from it. The directions need not necessarily be direct, unbroken or regular, highlighting the eventual growth.

How this particular clan of people occupy that place becomes distinctive and idiosyncratic to that particular set. That said, as the place is a part of the larger urban space, its influence spreads over the entire city’s radius. These groups of people eventually develop a pattern of living which gets passed on to their further generations as a practice making them a community of a certain type.

Miao, China

Culturally rich, Mio is a ethenic group of people best known for their embroidery. This skill of the community dates back to the time when the community lacked a linguistic tool to record their history. If narratives are to be believed, the skill was a way of recording history of this group adopted by a young female Miao warrior who embroidered on clothing as a way of preserving the community’s history as it escaped against the enemy invasions. From landmarks as colourful threads to landscape filled sewed all around, covering her entire dress as the journey ended.

Till date, as a mark of honouring this heritage, a Miao bride’s dress is embroidered similarly.

With a culture so rich and emphasised, what gets overshadowed is their way of valuing nature they reside beneath. As a religion, they believe that every element of nature holds a spirit that needs to be valued and respected.

Flourished several dynasties ago, the Miao had their own way of cherishing the place and the context they lived in by not disturbing its natural being.

Steelyard:

The larger core of the community lies in its occupation of embroidery which also forms a major aspect of their culture and heritage. That said, there also exists another side to the community’s being. Miao, an industrious community, emphasises on the women practising relatively more independence and liberation. The women on a relatively larger scale as compared to the men are the flag bearers of the cultural heritage as the girls from the age of fifteen are taught to practise their way of embroidery.

A community that flourished in an era when women were restricted to the four internal walls of the house and were not considered anything more than a gender serving the superior one, it is relieving to see how sensitive and conscious the people have been towards their people. Which is why, the community has not one but two anchors that hold it together in harmony till date.

Though the embroidery might stand as the face of the community, the roots are definitely its socially literate way of living.

Nukak-Maku, Columbia

Guarded by the Guaviare and Inirida rivers on either side, on the fringes of the Amazon Basin live a dying nomadic community called the Nukak-Maku. The nature, the context, the geography and the resources available in abundance was the reason for the community to settle. The occupations grew to be hunting, fishing, gathering and shifting horticulture, all conscious of the nature around.

The community dwells as aminists since their occupation and spiritual customs and beliefs revolve around nature in the forest of Amazon. They even hunt specific species which according to them do not belong to the origins same as that of the human species. As a territory, they have been safe guarding their togetherness as it is the prime way of association that they feel. The Nukak tribes have oriented themselves without disturbing the habitat around and carefully have infused themselves into the eco-system thereby causing very little change to the already existing.

As a larger clan, they have divided themselves into ten to twelve territories performing various tasks like harvesting, gathering with respect to the seasonal weather conditions. The community was able to safe-guard itself from any kinds of invasions till the 1981s and were also stated as uncontacted people.

In 1981, with the hindrance of the New Tribes Mission and other invasive contacts, the population started diminishing when struck by diseases like malaria, measles and pulmonary ones. Today foreign powers and authorities which include the Columbian army have invaded their lands. In the near history, in 2006, a group of these tribes displaced themselves in order to save their culture. The community is so determined to save their rudiments, one of their leaders and speakers preferred commiting suicide over comprimisng on his community living and identity. These tribes as a community don’t mind joining the whites but not on the cost of losing their indigeneous roots.

Pattern:

As a settlement, the growth is very organic, authentic and responsive. The community has not disturbed the ecosystem but has tried to get added to the pyramid of survival. There is a constant driving force of staying gated, staying united for the community’s sanity which is very evidently identifiable. The responses of the people towards a seasonal shift have been very spontaneous. The community has kept their unity over being invaded but at the same time has shown interest in getting converted provided their culture is preserved. This reflects the community’s impulse and spontaneity of going on to the harmonious path.

Pokfulam, Hong Kong

The creek and forest hill on the boundaries of this land drew the attention of the original residents of this island on Hong Kong island. These natives developed farming as their main occupation as the geographical conditions stood favourable. The village started with 20 odd households with a common occupation in the beginning of the 17th century.

The village faced an influx of refugees who came here to be saved from the harsh turmoil of mainland China in the late 17th century during the Kangxi period. Later, post the end of WW2, the village faced a second set of influx from China again. The village which was made of a few 20 odd households sprawled into 100 households. The green fields got converted into residencies.

Paralelly, the village faced a shift of occupation post the development of the Dairy Farm Group in the precinct around to provide milk to Hong Kong. What continues to still exist is the community’s still practised and celebrated tradition- the Fire Dragon Dance.

The festival celebrated in the mid-autumn unites the whole community to come together to celebrate the village’s culture. The festival has an influence of the Chinese traditions infused as the generations proceeded post the influxes.

and oriented themselves and their occupation. The community opened their arms to the ones who came here seeking homage.

Three Spot:

The community thrives on its three driving forces- geography, occupation and tradition. The geography of the place was once a major source of income for the residents here, and even though there is a shift of profession, the community still feels resonated with the geographical context there. The community has been flexible towards a shift of occupation in the need of survival or better economic wellbeing but the unity within them still remains.

The community choice’s its occupation on a village level and passes it to the generation, which was initially farming and now as a part of the dairy group. The tradition, the festival is what integrates them together.

It reflects the community’s culture, its Chinese inspiration marks its cultural growth and furthermore highlights the community’s inclusivity. The culmination and co-existence of these three attributes of the community is what keeps it intact till date, as far as its way of living is concerned.

The community grew in accordance with the nature and geographical conditions around

The native occupation would have not flourished without the context’s geography which would have then never lead to a culture that makes this group of people a gated community in the developing urban context of Hong Kong.

Pokfulam is now an urban village that has survived from Hong Kong’s past. But in today’s urban conditions of the region, it has made it tough for this village to survive with more and more urban redevelopment plans trying to privatise and supposedly revham this community’s system. There is a lack of awareness and sensitivity towards traditional diversity in Hong Kong which is reflected in their policies where the Stringent squatter control policies are restricting the dwellings of the village to be maintained by not allowing them to use the latest materials, instead forcing them to use the materials that were used when the village survey was recorded, somewhere back in the 1980s. By putting a bar on this community by not letting them grow with technology, the village is finding it difficult to survive in its organic configuration which has put their future and authenticity at stake.