6.4 Overall conclusion and way forward

6.4 Overall conclusion and way forward

The good performance of pol houses in 2001 was an experience learning of the seismic resistance characteristics. The study identifies those critical structural parameters responsible for the good performance, therefore the health of theses parameters should not be compromised during the conservation process. The comparative analysis highlighted the strengthening measures which reduces the vulnerability. The introduced methodology of vulnerability assessment for the pol houses is a way forward towards a new direction in research that can eventually determine the “preparedness” of Ahmedabad, a world heritage city, which is the driving research question of the study. The survey analysis addressed the on-ground issues and the earthquake memory in the residents of the old city. It also pointed towards the contradiction between the high value association and complete reconstruction. As the onsite visit was a limitation with the study due to the covid19 pandemic, the future researches must conduct intensive surveys to correlate the conservation methodology and concerns that the residents have, only then structured policy level decisions can be established. The topic of earthquake resilience of pol houses has been studied through qualitative, quantitative, comparative, approach, and survey-based analysis in brief. The study has the potential for onsite survey of structures, damage assessment, vulnerability mapping at settlement level, development of conservation guidelines, disaster mitigation strategies, policy level changes, structural modelling for pol houses and community awareness. The research also establishes the significance of the multidisciplinary approach for structural conservation, by bridging the gap between the numerical calculations and architectural drawings. It put forwards the importance of structural understanding for a conservation architect. So, “will the pol houses survive” is completely in our approach of understanding the vulnerability!