The Utopian Palimpsest by Shanzeh Usman by Shanzeh Usman

The Utopian Palimpsest

IMAGINING COLLABORATIVE WORLD

First Supervisor I Prof. Ivan Kucina Second Supervisor I Prof. Dulmini Perera Name I Shanzeh Usman Matriculation Number I 4069066

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I declare that this work is my own work and all the sources of materials used for this project have been fully acknowledged. This work has not been previously submitted, in entirety or in part, to obtain academic qualifications in any other university.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thank you to Ivan Kucina for pushing me to explore new horizons, and Dulmini Perera for sharing her oceans of knowledge. To mama, for her unconditional love and prayers. To baba, for clutching my hand during my first stroll in the Walled City. To my Ustaad, Qasim Ahmed. To my people, Larissa, Shiza, Minahil, Jawwad, Sofia, and Aleezeh. To my support system, Jannat and Thomas. Thank you.

CONTENTS ABSTRACT 13 LAHORE; THE ANCIENT WHORE

I AM LAHORE, AND LAHORE IS ME

PRINCE LAVA – THE NAMESAKE OF LAHORE

ON THE BANKS OF RIVER RAVI

THE MAN WITH A MESSAGE

THE DIVIDING LINE

BORDERS AND ATROCITIES

PAKISTAN – A SOVEREIGN STATE

LAHORE – A SURVIVOR

THE FORTIFIED NUCLEUS

A CITY WITHIN A CITY

THE OLD CITY

THE HARMONIOUS TURBULENCE

THE INTANGIBLE

CHARACTERS OF THE STORY

RESIDENTS OF THE WALLED CITY

INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY

HAWKERS AND BUSKERS

INDIVIDUALS AFFILIATED WITH TOURISM

AUTHORITIES 54 THE FREE-THINKERS – THE VISIONARIES

INTERLACED ACTIVITIES IN THE WALLED CITY

WHAT IS HERITAGE?

THE SPICED RICE (PILAU)

TRANSCENDENCE 69 THE HERITAGE STANDARD: GRAND AND THE MONUMENTAL

MUMMIFIED DYSTOPIA

THE BEAUTIFULLY MUNDANE

COLONIZED HERITAGE

A ‘GLASS CASE’ FOR ‘TOURIST GAZE’

THE DECISIONMAKERS INSTITUTIONS

83 84

AND HERITAGE AN AUTHORI - TOPIA (AUTHORITATIVE UTOPIA)

COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM THE LIVING LIBRARIES: PAPER-PLANES AND POETRY

89 91

THE COMMUNITY-PARTICIPATION APPROACH

HOMESTAYS IN THE WALLED CITY

LAHORE’S FOOD CULTURE

ARTISANS – THE LIVING HERITAGE OF LAHORE

101

INTEGRATE AND CREATE

107

THE PHANTASMAGORIC SKY

109

MURKY SKY

111

GLITTERING KITES

113

THE FLOATING UTOPIA

115

A LIVING CITY

117

RESIDENTS: THE HEART OF THE WALLED CITY

117

HEARTY OLD MEN, GOSSIPING, SURVEYING...

118

BHAI-CHARA (BROTHERHOOD) 121 ROOF-TOP CULTURE

122

SECRET MEETINGS AFTER CURFEW

128

ROPES AND LADDERS

129

COURTYARDS: THE LIVING VOID

130

PROSPECT AND REFUGE

131

CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARDS

133

COURTYARDS – THE SOCIAL HUB OF THE DWELLINGS

135

PIGEONS AND PROJECTIONS

136

THREE-DIMENSIONALITY OF THE COURTYARD

137

COURTYARDS AND CIRCULATION

138

COURTYARD – A WELLNESS COMPOUND

143

COURTYARDS AND SUSTAINABILITY

147

JHAROKA – NOT JUST A BALCONY

148

‘ JHAROKA DARSHAN ’

149

JHAROKAS AND ROMANCE

151

A FEMINIST UTOPIA

153

THE SCARLET ENIGMAS OF LAHORE

156

THE DYSTOPIAN SUBCULTURE

161

THE UTOPIAN ENIGMAS

163

THE ENSEMBLE OF BAZAARS

165

SWEET AFFAIRS

167

ACTIVITIES PILED AND ENTWINED

169

A KALEIDOSCOPE FOR SOARING BIRDS

171

BRIDGING BAZAARS

173

MAGIC POTIONS, HORSES AND BICYCLE RIMS

175

COMMERCIALIZED DYSTOPIA

177

THE THREATS FROM THE CLOTH MARKET

181

MONEY TALKS

183

TAPERING OFF THE MONSTROSITIES

185

THE UTOPIAN BAZAAR CULTURE

187

CROWDED ROADS AND TRAFFIC JAMS DONKEY CARTS, CARS, BULLOCKS, AND TRUCKS...

188 189

IMAGINE AUTO-TOPIA

193

THE MOVING CITY

195

FLOATING AND TRANSPORTING

197

ROBOT DONKEYS AND MECHANICAL BULLS!

OPEN SPACES; CULTURAL ROOTS CHARACTER OF THE VOIDS

ATROCIOUS ENCROACHMENTS EXTENSIONS; NOT ENCROACHMENTS

199

201 202

205 207

THE FRUIT SHOP, ROLLING DICE, CARROM BOARD, AND CRICKET

209

NAAYI KI DUKAAN (THE BARBER SHOP)

211

SWEET TEA, SPICY BIRYANI, AND REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS.

213

IMAGINE COLLABORATION

215

REFERENCES 216

Shanzeh Usman

ABSTRACT The Utopian Palimpsest is a visual story of the 11th-century Walled City of Lahore – it is a tale transporting the audience through its rich past, deteriorating present, and an array of innovative possibilities for a utopian future. The Walled City has been destroyed, rebuilt, recreated, and revamped repeatedly to cater to its inhabitants. This project, too, aspires to add layers to this urban palimpsest. The story envisions a series of alternative worlds, reimagining the fabric of the Walled City. A city drenched in complex socio-economic, religious and political issues, often fails to explore fantastical and unorthodox trajectories, reserved for more ‘progressive’ parts of the world. The goal of the thesis is to re-envision the Walled City for co-living, co-sharing, co-existing, and collaboration amongst the diverse actors involved. It is a story that sensitively weaves the existing traditional lifestyle of the people in the Walled City amidst magical, often dystopian, and bizarre scenarios. The Utopian Palimpsest re-imagines the ‘living’ cultural heritage that is deeply embedded in a strong sense of community. It aspires to tap into the utopian vistas offered by a city steeped in romanticism.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.” Lloyd Alexander

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

LAHORE; THE ANCIENT WHORE “Lahore—the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings, the courtesan of Moghul emperors—bedecked and bejeweled, savaged by marauding hordes—healed by the caressing hands of successive lovers… like an attractive but aging concubine, ready to bestow surprising delights on those who cared to court her—proudly displaying royal gifts.” The precariously balanced description by Bapsi Sidhwa, in her novel, The Pakistani Bride, captures the intriguing essence of the indulgent city. Some might argue that the once alluring concubine hasn’t aged well – it has merely survived. However, the haunting nostalgia of the city lingers, as does the intoxicating scent of jasmine flowers merging with carnations, springing innumerably within the ‘City of Gardens’. The large banyan trees still provide shade to hearty old men engrossed in political banter, smoking hookahs under the scorching heat of Lahore’s undeniable companion – the sun. The blissful months of winter are a welcoming contrast to the thick, humid summer air. Lahore’s divine winter sky, studded heavily with vibrant kites, captured by poets and painters, is no longer azure. A pale, dusty, yellow hue, surrounded by a mysterious ring of pollution, is rapidly compromising magnificent architectural marvels that the city boasts. The heady, grey smoke spewing out of ragged rickshaws, dust from construction sites, and the charcoal ignited for barbeques is another memory I associate with Lahore. Maybe, that is the reason I subconsciously often smoke when missing home. Lahore turned me into a smoker. I blame the whore!

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

I AM LAHORE, AND LAHORE IS ME Nostalgia is a haunting ghost, painting vivid yet often unrealistically beautiful visuals of contrasting memories. Memories of resting under the rose-tinted bougainvillea shrubs, getting lost in tales woven intricately by my nani (grandmother). Memories of showering under the heavy monsoon rains and dancing in poorly choreographed performances at extravagant weddings. A memory that I have retained is picking up my friend, Minahil, on my way to college and sneakily taking a detour in the congested Shadman Market to buy a packet of cigarettes. My tattered blue car, infamously known as Shetty (named after an over-performing Bollywood actor), had seen better days before barely surviving the untamed traffic of Lahore - Shetty was a pitiful sight and complimented the market around it. Minahil scanned the crowd to ensure that no one recognizes us – it is not proper for young girls to be smoking and gossip spreads like wildfire in Lahore. “Toffees, Fanta, chai?” inquired Arshad, the young man with lingering eyes from the khoka (corner store). He smiled shyly upon learning that we wanted cigarettes. Arshad discreetly covered our purchase in brown paper, as shop owners do with sanitary pads and contraceptives, giving us a pleasantly surprising discount. Maybe, the memory is so clear in my mind because it was a daily occurrence, and Arshad became my friend. We shared polite pleasantries during the transactions and he strived to bring my regular smokes to the car before other shop-owners gathered inquiringly to eye the female smokers. Arshad’s khoka was a small encroachment, battling with the car parking space and other intrusions. The market was heavily congested and loud, with barely any space for Shetty to park, or Arshad’s stall to even exist. I often wondered if they could just hang these tiny khokas up, dangling from the thick air, like light bulbs just so there was enough room for some wind to breeze through!

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

Snippets of another memory that linger in my mind and heart are those of sauntering through the narrow streets of the Walled City of Lahore, blocking out the distracting honking of cars and sinking into the enchantment of the city - of what it once was, what it is today and what it can evolve into. My thoughts - an odd amalgamation of tales of war, love, empires and bazaars, life, religion, and continuity - of being submerged in the mystique of Lahore.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

PRINCE LAVA – THE NAMESAKE OF LAHORE

The very name of the city is grounded in legend and folklore. Oral history suggests that the city’s namesake, and founder, is Prince Lava - son of the Hindu god, Rama, and the hero of the epic, Ramayana. According to the Holy scripture, Lava’s mother, Sita, banished herself from the kingdom due to the gossip of the locals about her sanctity. I am not surprised that the very origin of the city indicates how gossiping is deeply-rooted in the culture of Lahore. A temple encased within the Lahore Fort still stands tall yet empty, in honor of Prince Lava.

The Utopian Palimpsest

ON THE BANKS OF RIVER RAVI Lost in its own silent rhythm, the Ravi sings its song. In its undulating flow I see the reflections in my heart— The willows, the world, in worship of God I stand at the edge of the flowing water I do not know how and where I stand— In the wine-colored dusk The Old Man shakily sprinkles crimson in the sky The day is returning to where it came from This is not dew; these are flowers, gifts from the sun Far off, a cluster of minarets stand in statuesque splendor Marking where Moghul chivalry sleeps This palace tells the story of time’s tyranny A saga of a time long spent What destination is this? A quiet song only the heart can hear? A gathering of trees speaks for me. In midstream, a boat hurtles by Riding the relentless currents, Darting beyond the eye’s curved boundary. Life flows on this river of eternity Man is not born this way; does not perish this way Undefeated, life slips beyond the horizon, But does not end there. The poetry is from ‘On the Banks of River Ravi’, by Muhammad Allama Iqbal – translated by Parizad N. Sidhwa.

Shanzeh Usman

Lahore originated along the ancient route from Kabul to Delhi, via Khyber Pass, on the western bank of the unpredictable River Ravi. Like many ancient cities, Lahore was once a Walled City, fortified during the Mughal empire. The city encompassed by a fortress boasts splendors of heritage and architecture. Lahore thrived and survived through the epoch, adapting to the raving demands of its captors and users. The overflow of people, industry, and the congestion dictated Lahore to gradually encroach upon its rural surroundings. Today, Lahore encompasses the Mall Road, boasting deteriorating examples of Indo-Gothic architecture, shaded by massive eucalyptus trees, flowing towards the Cantonment, DHA, and as far and wide as the Bahria Town. It now sprawls, rather gracelessly, over 1770 square kilometers of urban congestion, inhabited by 11 million people.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE MAN WITH A MESSAGE I often found myself amidst the commotion of Liberty Market – an apt representation of Pakistan. The Market is an absurd composition of traffic-laden roads, beggars, fakirs, buskers, upper-class women purchasing high-end clothes from designer outlets, the lewd men shamelessly ogling them, colorful fabrics displayed in open-air markets and opulent restaurants with pretentious French names. Amidst the cauldron of this peculiar diversity, I often encountered a treat for sore eyes. A determined, old man sat peacefully protesting in the chaotic Liberty Market roundabout. Ikram-ul-Haque had experienced the war of independence firsthand while honing a strong sense of love for his motherland. He visited the same location, often multiple times a week, merely holding a thought-provoking poster stating, “We want Jinnah’s Pakistan again.” (Jinnah – the founder of Pakistan). The simple words with a powerful message often forced me to reminisce over the tales of sufferings, longings, and colossal losses that eventually founded Pakistan. Haque recently passed away, and I still foolishly hope to see him, his poster, and his determined smile, every time I pass by the Liberty Market. Perhaps, there should have been a peepal tree shading him against the raging sun or a cathedral of lights constructed around him so that his message blazed as bright. The Liberty roundabout is often the site of peaceful protests, gatherings, and vigils. I wonder if urban installations would complement a powerful message, encourage people to rise, and accommodate their voice. Haque’s voice still echoes softly in my ears. The old man with a message is undeniably a lost jewel in the crown of Pakistan.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE DIVIDING LINE

You tore into our land a crooked line. That morning we learned: the dawn had been bitten by moths, flying in droves, in madness towards light. Unsure of the nature of light, they had consumed everything. This poem was originally commissioned by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU on the occasion of the closing of the exhibition â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Zarina: Dark Roadsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

BORDERS AND ATROCITIES I recall decorating my neighborhood with green pennants, dangling on strings, and hoisting the proud flag of Pakistan every Independence Day. The tradition was followed by visiting my grandmother for evening chai. We celebrated the birth of Pakistan in a gathering blessed with ignorant bliss, until one year when my grandmother shattered this innocence. “I was walking back from school, with books clutched in my hands. It was Friday, and I was looking forward to the weekend, dreading the math assignment that came with it. I was hoping that my father had returned from the mosque after the congregational prayer. However, when I reached my haveli, my world collapsed,” she recalled. “My father was hanging lifelessly from the ceiling of our patio - a Sikh man did it, my neighbors claimed, maybe he killed a Sikh too. I covered my sister’s eyes, gathering whatever I could in my satchel, and left my home, to go home.” In August 1947, a massive struggle of decades resulted in the collapse of the British colonial rule in India. Atrocities spanning for over two centuries were overcome by the emasculated population, leading to the independence of the Indo-Pak subcontinent – but the stains of colonization rooted in the divide and rule policy, culminated in the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs pitting against each other, splitting the once syncretic, motherland in half. Hence the traumatic experience both, politically and emotionally of one of the greatest mass migrations in recorded history commenced – over 15 million people were uprooted and 2 million slaughtered. Trains loaded with immigrants, poured in and out of the newly-founded state, often reaching their destination tainted scarlet - with nothing but bloodied corpses. My grandmother arrived to Pakistan in one of those horrendous trains amidst a landscape of violent victory. She had arrived to her new home – Pakistan.

The Utopian Palimpsest

PAKISTAN â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A SOVEREIGN STATE Pakistan is located in South Asia, surrounded by four immediate neighbors; it is bordered on the north-east by China, on the east by India, and the west by Iran and Afghanistan. The disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir lies on the northeast tip of the country. Pakistan is a federation of four provinces. These provinces are Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North-West Frontier Province) and Baluchistan. In addition, there are also federally and provincially administered areas such as the capital city of Islamabad (or the Islamabad Capital Territory) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as well as the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) (Sohail 2020). The significant rivers in Pakistan are the Indus and its four tributaries; the Ravi, Chenab, Sutlej, and Jhelum (Hasan 2002). My grandmother emigrated from Amritsar to the cultural capital of Punjab â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Lahore, a city in chaos, a city striving to survive.

Shanzeh Usman

LAHORE – A SURVIVOR

Lahore is amongst the few cities in South Asia boasting an uninterrupted, yet checkered ancient history. The city’s geographically strategic location hypnotically pulled the vested interests of Persian and Afghani kingdoms, which clashed with those of northern Indians. It has, thus, experienced an almost continuous flow of visitors, pilgrims, and inevitably invaders. Lahore, once the camping ground of the early Aryans was under the rule of the prince of Chauhan at the time of the first Muslim invasions. For centuries, the Hindu rulers of Lahore withstood the invasions, attacks, and plundering, while eventually being defeated by the forces of Mahmud of Ghazni obliterating the Hindu principality of Lahore. The city has witnessed a fascinating concoction of turbulence, tranquility, invasions, and catastrophic devastations. It has survived the Sultanates (1206-1524), the Mughal Empire (1524-1712), and Sikh Raj (1764-1849), followed by the British colonial period and a painful Partition in 1947. Therefore, its prosperity ebbed and flowed as a result of the sovereign changes. The city has been erased, revamped, recreated, and embellished multiple times, layers over layers – Lahore is undeniably a survivor.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE FORTIFIED NUCLEUS

When you conquer a gem as precious as Lahore, protecting it from eyeing invaders may induce sleepless nights. Maybe building a wall around the city helped the Mughal emperor Akbar embrace slumber peacefully. In 1584, Akbar made Lahore his headquarters and enclosed the city within 30 feet high brick walls. The wall was segmented with thirteen grand wood and iron gates, allowing entrance into the city. I can still distinctly recall the names of the gates – Delhi Gate, Yakki Gate, Sheranwala Gate, Kashmiri Gate, Masti Gate, Roshnai Gate, Lohari Gate, Bhatti Gate, Shah Alami Gate, Akbari Gate, Mochi Gate, Taxali Gate, and Mori Gate. I remember cramming the names of the gates for my history exam in school. I found myself easily distracted and day-dreaming about the tales concealed within the once stoic gates of the city during the zenith of the Mughal Rule – the visuals of Mughal emperors, mounted on their royal horses while entering through the grand gates, the alluring stroll of dancing girls of the once-thriving Hira Mandi, heady scent of spices sold in the surrounding bazaars, powers of healing potions invented by hakims and the grandeur of architectural marvels erected by the Mughals occupied my active imagination. There is no denying that the Mughals were romantics – lovers of art and architecture. No wonder Shah Jehan erected the Taj Mahal in loving memory of his wife, and Hiran Minar to honor his treasured antelope; rather than educational institutions. Immersed in my sea of thoughts, I took my sweet time memorizing the names of the gates!

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

During the Sikh reign, Ranjit Singh expanded his empire and added a moat around the city for defense. But the walls and the moat couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t withstand the British colonization. The measures taken to safeguard the city by its preceding rulers crumbled to the ground. The British eradicated the fortifying walls, filled the moat, and created a Circular Garden around the city. Carefully avoiding the congested Walled City, the colonizers embarked upon the development of its surrounding outskirts, studding it with a unique expression of Indo-Gothic architecture. In the early 1900s, the British rebuilt the thirteen gates varying from its original Mughal era form. These are the gates we see today. Some of them were burnt to the ground while others collapsed when battling the raging war against time. Six of the remaining gates still stand, amongst which Roshnai Gate is the lonely survivor of the Mughal era. If the mighty walls were erected once again, I wonder if they would protect the Walled City from its demons. Probably not, because the invaders lie deep within the fabric of the city, treacherously creeping into the remnants of its heritage. No tangible wall is tall or sturdy enough for protection. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s context, the wall is a metaphor for utopian ideas and alternative trajectories that allow the varying stakeholders of the Walled City to co-exist blissfully.

The tumbled walls still hold a city within a city â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this city is the heart of my delirious utopia.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

A CITY WITHIN A CITY

The Lahore Metropolitan area covers 2, 300 square kilometers, of which the Walled City of Lahore occupies a 2.5 square kilometer stretch of the dense structure. Within its thirteen gates, the city accommodates more than 22, 000 buildings and has offered shelter and employment for closely fifteen percent of the metropolitan population (Rab 1998). In the recent years, Lahore has begun to surge inexorably southwards. The Walled City of Lahore is situated in the north-western quarter of Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, which is the provincial and cultural capital of Punjab. The Walled City is locally referred to as the Androon Shehr or the Inner City, as it represents the nucleus from where the metropolitan city originated during the 11th century and expanded. A barricade no longer contains the Walled City, but an imaginary periphery still signifies a primordial sense of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE OLD CITY

The old city stands, basking in the ever-fading glory of distant times. Bustling, it still is with the antiquated spirit of a civilization that flourished within its walls The archaic structure peels off slowly, once thought invincible At odds with the bare luxury of advancement galore, stealing the space once all its own It clings to history it holds in its rattling bones The old city remains with somber grace, in parts, though lone and withdrawn Receding from the influx of metal and machine Yet holding its ground as the last reminiscence of an era that was. This poem was by Nosheen Irfan, written in 2016.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE HARMONIOUS TURBULENCE Live electrical wires boldly intertwining with colorful fairy lights, tattered kites, and hoardings creeping across the horizon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; casting shadows on the world that breathes beneath. Donkey-carts, motorcycles, trucks, cars, and pedestrians alike battle for their right to passage over the narrow alleyways of the Walled City, cursing and beeping, while commercial activity flurries. Shop owners and street vendors alike holler, advertising their goods, striving to attract customers. The aroma of freshly prepared food wafts into the air, as people sitting under the embrace of a tree devour it.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

Amidst this unique merger of harmonious turbulence stand marvels of architectural heritage, alluring tourists to sink into the grandeur of the past – one such site is the Lahore Fort. Before 1556, the Fort had been constructed, damaged, demolished, rebuilt, and restored various times. Today, it seemingly stands as a historic spectacle. However, its gardens, palaces, halls, and dungeons conceal colorfully the, often, obscure tales of love, war, serenity, and dishevels. Lahore Fort has witnessed the many states that once prevailed and the greed for the throne, which embellished the fortress. The fort has an oddly eerie yet appealing ‘abandoned’ character today. However, historically, the ostentatious entrance to the royal quarters of the emperors allowed several elephants carrying members of the royalty to enter. The small Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque), adorned in white marble, was initially built for the private use of the ladies of the royal household and was later converted into a Sikh temple and a state treasury during the period of the Sikh rule, under Ranjit Singh. The other architectural treasures include the Mughal-style gardens (Char Bagh) and the Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors). The Sheesh Mahal, decorated with intricately carved glass, was built for the empress and her court – it was also installed with screens to conceal them from prying eyes. The Naulakha Pavilion, another addition, is decorated with pietra-dura inlay, studded with semi-precious jewels laden in floral motifs.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE INTANGIBLE

Tourists pour into the acclaimed UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lahore Fort, steeping in its glory. I, a flaneur, in my own right, often visit this chaos, not to pay my tribute to the wonders that the Mughals left behind, but to bask in the intangible heritage that the city upholds. This intangible heritage is the ever-evolving unique culture of the Walled City, springing from within the diverse set of actors in our story.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

CHARACTERS OF THE STORY

The Utopian Palimpsest

RESIDENTS OF THE WALLED CITY

These actors include the residents of the Walled City. From the man whose greatgrandfather flew a handcrafted kite on the same rooftop as he had in his childhood, to the widowed woman who remembered moving into her quaint home in the Walled City after losing her beloved during the independence migration.

Shanzeh Usman

INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY

The Walled City is bustling with commercial activity. From Ali’s family-run shop selling wooden spoons, the artisan continuing his forefather’s legacy of carving and selling semi-precious ethnic jewelry to wholesale traders and multinational corporations.

The Utopian Palimpsest

HAWKERS AND BUSKERS

The street hawkers decorate the labyrinth-like lanes of the Walled City with their fruits, vegetables, and everyday items.

Shanzeh Usman

INDIVIDUALS AFFILIATED WITH TOURISM

These actors include the facilitators of the tourism industry. These predominantly cater to the affluent class of local tourists fascinated by the meticulously designed â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;heritage amusement parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; within the Walled City, as well as the international tourists curious to connect with the culture.

The Utopian Palimpsest

AUTHORITIES â&#x20AC;&#x201C; (MAINTAINING THE INTEGRITY OF THE WALLED CITY)

This group of actors includes the local authorities as well as international organizations like ICOMOS and UNESCO, which intend to promote the maintenance, preservation, and restoration of the Walled City. The local authorities are accountable for great responsibility, but are often distracted by commodifying heritage and minting coins.

Shanzeh Usman

THE FREE-THINKERS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; THE VISIONARIES

The Walled City has inspired lovers and poets, painters and dancers, writers, and visionaries, sitting under the shade of a tree, sipping hot tea, and immersing in their ocean of thoughts amidst the cauldron of sounds, flashing colors and movements.

The Utopian Palimpsest

INTERLACED ACTIVITIES IN THE WALLED CITY

Shanzeh Usman

The three primary over-lapping activities, conducted by the stakeholders in the Walled City, can be categorized into residential, commercial, and tourism-related.

The Utopian Palimpsest

RESIDENTIAL ACTIVITIES

Shanzeh Usman

COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES

The Utopian Palimpsest

ACTIVITIES IN PUBLIC SPACES

Shanzeh Usman

TOURISM-RELATED ACTIVITIES

TOURISM RELATED ACTIVITIES

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

These activities donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t function as independent entities but coexist within this congested drumming engine, intricately intertwined with each other. The actors conducting these activities, the building stock, and the urban fabric amalgamates to create the culture and heritage of the Walled City.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

WHAT IS HERITAGE?

The dispersion of Eurocentric ideologies, labeled as the authorized heritage discourse or AHD (Smith 2006), focuses on material and monumental forms of ‘old’ or aesthetically pleasing, often tangible, heritage. The ‘heritage’ promotes a consensus version of both the past and the present. Instead, an alternative conception of heritage is developed, which establishes and cultivates themes of memory, performance, identity, intangibility, dissonance, and place.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE SPICED RICE (PILAU)

A fond memory from my adolescence that I cherish is of cooking pilau (spiced rice) with my father. His grandmother passed on a treasured recipe that she carried with her while migrating from the terrains of Kabul. For generations, this recipe was improvised, cherished, and recreated, resulting in a hearty meal shared amongst the loved ones. In the context, the dish itself is not merely my heritage but the act of creating it, passing it down, and renewing associations to cement present and future communal and familial relationships. Even if the dish completely changes, or is not being created at the moment, its transcendental being too is heritage. If heritage is a mentality - a way of knowing and seeing, then all heritage becomes, in a sense, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;intangibleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Smith 2006).

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

TRANSCENDENCE

Understanding the basis of heritage helps comprehend how not just the bricks and mortar, marble, and ornaments of the ancient structures are heritage but also the lore that it encapsulates. The transcendent memories exist regardless of time, space, and the limits of the building that encloses these.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE HERITAGE STANDARD: GRAND AND THE MONUMENTAL Lahore Fort upholds its significance because of the royalty that resided there. The Badshahi Mosque (the Royal Mosque) is a wonder because the name itself pays tribute to the ruling elite. The grandeur buildings and their eligibility to be considered heritage remains certain. However, it is thought-provoking how often the grand and the monumental is epitomized as heritage. Heritage can un-problematically be identified as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;oldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, grand, monumental and aesthetically pleasing sites, buildings, places and artefacts. This privileges monumentality and grand scale, innate artefact or site significance tied to time depth, scientific or aesthetic expert judgement, social consensus and nation building (Smith 2006). In accordance with this criterion, a set of building stock affiliated with small factions of the once privileged elite heavily overshadows the heritage of subaltern groups. This creates a hollow perception of heritage, claiming a set of an extravagant built structure as the sole representative of the diverse peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; legacy. In doing so, selective monumental heritage is elevated on a pedestal, and disconnected from its roots; the people, traditions, emotions, and alternative legacies. This process compromises the evolving social, economic, psychological, and cultural values of everyday life - values that are the rightful essence of heritage.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

MUMMIFIED DYSTOPIA

The values embedded in the Walled City cannot be simplified and attached to a set of ‘mummified’ building stock. This kind of ‘mummification’ is often per the static ‘conserve as found’ ethos (Smith 2006). Within this narrative, the tangible elements present in historic sites are objectified and preserved, lacking association with their foundations and the evolving regional realities.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE BEAUTIFULLY MUNDANE It is irrefutable that, inevitably, the extraordinarily extravagant is commemorated, overshadowing the ordinary. The banal, intangible legacies of communities are what uphold their heritage. In the case of the Walled City of Lahore, it is not just the palaces of the royals or even the stacked houses of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;commonersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that reflect heritage. This statement does not dismiss the tangible but merely de-privileges it, to comprehend that fabric is not its sole manifestation. Heritage also lies in the everyday activities and the mundane normalcy where the sense of community builds in quintessence. It is the empty buckets that women sling down like Rapunzel hair from their jharokas (semi-enclosed balconies) to purchase groceries from street vendors. It is the trust they have in the hawker to provide them with fresh produce while lowering down their hard-earned money. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about bargaining compulsively regarding their everyday purchases just for the sake of conversing. Banter that evolves into sharing with the neighbors, what is intended to be prepared with these groceries. Here lies the heritage that creates the Walled City of Lahore; concealed within the mundane act of buying tomatoes and onions.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

COLONIZED HERITAGE Colonization is not limited to custody over land, its manpower, or the riches. It is deeply engaged in influencing the minds, ethics, and social strata, while naturally institutionalizing the meaning of heritage for a nation. The industrial character that came with the colonial control became the basis for actions that caused morphological, typological, and technological alterations that alienated the innercity with its ordinary, everyday character. The insensitive, often superficial, comprehension of the heritage of the Walled City of Lahore is evident in Lord Curzon’s speech, the Viceroy of India, to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1900. India is covered with visible records of vanished dynasties, of forgotten monarchs, of persecuted and sometimes dishonored creeds. These monuments are […] in British territory, and on soil belonging to (the) Government. Many of them are in out-of-the-way places, and are liable to the combined ravages of […] very often a local and ignorant population [...] All these circumstances explain the peculiar responsibility that rests upon Government in India […] They supply the data by which we may reconstruct the annals of the past, and recall to life the morality, the literature, the politics, the art of a perished age […] Indeed, a race like our own, who are themselves foreigners are in a sense better fitted to guard, with a dispassionate and imperial zeal, relics of different ages […] [A] curtain of dark and romantic mystery hangs over the earlier chapters, of which we are only slowly beginning to lift the corners [for] displaying that tolerant and enlightened respect to the treasures of all, which is one of the main lessons that the returning West has been able to teach to the East. (Curzon of Kedleston 1900) In claiming stringent stewardship over the relics of the past and rendering the ‘ignorant local population’ and ‘dishonored creeds’ irrelevant, the colonizers have displayed a non-holistic approach towards heritage. Thus, the adherence of heritage to the perceived identity of the dominant ruling elite and the western definitions of heritage, of tidy control, has long polluted the legacy of the Walled City. The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

The values of mummified heritage are steeped in the 19th-century Romanticism aesthetic, championed by Morris and Ruskin. In his work, The Seven Lamps of Architecture ([1849] 1899), Ruskin argued against the dominant practice of restoration, where historic buildings would be ‘restored’ to ‘original’ conditions by removing later additions or adaptations. For Ruskin, the fabric of a building was inherently valuable and needed to be protected for the artisanal and aesthetic values it contained. “We have no right whatever to touch them. They are not ours. They belong partly to those who built them, and partly to all generations of mankind who are to follow us” (Ruskin 1849). In pre-partitioned India, the local people were rendered simpletons, with no regard for their culture and an inability to deal with their built environment. In colonial perception, the Inner City was a chaotic accumulation of narrow and torturous streets, with tall houses that seemed a potential hotbed of disease and social instability, and especially, difficult to observe and fathom (Glover 2008). This simply did not match their Victorian sensibilities. Rudyard Kipling stood on the minaret of Wazir Khan Mosque, which was a popular European vantage point for observing the city without having to be in it. He describes his view of the inner city in City of Dreadful Nights, admiring how the inhabitants ‘can even breathe’: Seated with both elbows on the parapet of the tower, one can watch and wonder over that heat-tortured hive till the dawn. “How do they live down there? What do they think of ? When will they awake?” […] A small cloud passes over the face of the Moon, and the city and its inhabitants – clear drawn in black and white before – fade into masses of black and deeper black. (Glover 2008) Heritage steeped in mysticism, romantic ardor and a sense of community, had been simplified, institutionalized and grotesquely colonized.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

A ‘GLASS CASE’ FOR ‘TOURIST GAZE’ Imagine a view from the fifth floor of the Mughal-themed boutique hotel, painting a ravishing visual of ancient forts, palaces, and dwellings. The air-conditioner blasting against the hellish heat, plush Persian carpets, room-service catering the cuisine once devoured by Mughal royalty prepared in the imperial kitchen – feels like heaven. Oh, look the horse carriages painted so vibrantly, a man dressed in an extravagant emperor’s costume – utterly enchanting. What’s the congestion, precariously conceived behind the ancient mosque? Is that a family of eight inelegantly pack on a motorbike behind the curtain? The voyeuristic view of heritage often projects a simplified, censored, and sanitized version of reality. The disconnection with the holistic concept of heritage and viewing it as frozen music trivializes a breathing being into an artifact. The ‘glass case’ display mentality (Merriman 1991) associated with museum exhibitions is equally evident in certain interpretations of heritage sites and places. (Urry 1990) identifies the institutionalization of the ‘tourist gaze’ and the way this gaze constructs reality and normalizes a range of touristic experiences. The ‘heritage industry’ is responsible for commodifying selective remnants of the past, catering to upper-class leisure and touristic pursuits; undermining the users of a historic core.

The Utopian Palimpsest

The president of Lahore Conservation Society, Kamil Khan Mumtaz, reflects deep concern regarding the intensifying penetration into the tourism industry (Sohail 2020). “You don’t need these colorful rickshaws; hotel operators and God knows who else – to pull down these lovely heritage buildings so that they can build a lovely heritage hotel. They are going to make money out of this and we will have lost the last traces of our humanity.”

Shanzeh Usman

THE DECISIONMAKERS

The users of historic sites have been popularly classified as passive recipients of an environment that is conceived, executed, managed, and evaluated by the outside; the public or private sector, landowners, and developers with professional expertise (Paul Jenkins 2009). In the context of the Walled City of Lahore, the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;outsideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; refers predominantly to the decisionmakers, which play a significant role in navigating the lives of the users.

The Utopian Palimpsest

INSTITUTIONS AND HERITAGE Under the Walled City of Lahore Act 2012, the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) was created by the Punjab Government. It is the appointed autonomous body for the regulation and management of the functions of the entire Walled City of Lahore. The Act defines heritage not merely as individual buildings but an integral whole comprising its â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;architectural, archaeological, monumental, historic, artistic, aesthetic, cultural or social [legacy], elements [and] features of a building and building fabric, groups of buildings and structures, urban fabric, urban open spaces, public areas, public crossings or public passages, as well as the environment of the Walled City, including intangible heritageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (AKCSP 2018). The city undeniably offers a vast potential for tapping into the heritage tourism industry. The Director-General of the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), a retired army official, Kamran Lashari, shows keen interest in this aspect. The institution has been focusing primarily on preserving acclaimed heritage sites and takes great pride in UNESCO validated and award-winning projects. Furthermore, WCLA skims over the restoration of residential buildings, preservation of facades, and improving the infrastructure of the urban fabric. The idea of an entire city as heritage is new to Pakistan. In the cities of developing countries, it is simply not economically possible to retain an entire stock of urban heritage and the national or local budgets rarely stretch to urban conservation (Assi 2008). The motive of the local government to enlist the historic building stock on the protection list becomes a cause for quick and visible actions, like recreating or even inventing history.

Shanzeh Usman

In 2006, the Sustainable Walled City Project (SDWCLP) began, funded by the World Bank, with a particular intention of developing cultural tourism. This was followed with plans for restaurants, hotels, tourist transportation, and handicraft boutiques. The project involved the execution of a pilot project, which led to the creation of a heritage trail, ‘to showcase methods and the benefits of the conservation of cultural assets, and their productive use and reuse’ (Roquet, et al. 2017). The rehabilitation included façade and street improvements, conforming to Mughal-era forms, with the provision of new municipal infrastructure and services; designing a carefully-choreographed heterotopia within the Walled City. “The understanding of heritage and the attempt to protect or conserve it is deeply political. It appears to me that their understanding of the city reduces to a place where non-Walled City residents come to entertain themselves.” Ahmed Rafay Alam, an environment lawyer, and activist, comments on the prevailing inclinations of the authorities concerned.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

AN AUTHORI - TOPIA (AUTHORITATIVE UTOPIA) The barrier erected amidst the city conveniently partitions the sanitized pictureperfect grandeur of the past from the intangible heritage of the Walled City of Lahore. This intangible heritage is callously perceived as flawed and inadequate for the purpose of minting money. It is easier to commodify a ‘heritage theme park’, skillfully concealing the very real, imperfect, yet complex world behind a brick wall. The tourists must not see what lies behind the division – it doesn’t sell. The local residents of Old Lahore must not be involved in the decision-making of how their heritage is molded, objectified, or liquidated. Why share the economic benefits? Let’s construct higher walls of brick, mortar, and deceit until a faction of the city turns into a museum, and its people lose all rights to their home and legacy. The ‘Disneyfication’ of heritage sites, by creating controlled, developed, and deviously preserved zones for mass tourism, conflicts with the interest and lifestyle of the residents. The trend places their culture in a sterilized ‘bubble’ while varying agencies extrapolate the benefits of tourism.

The Utopian Palimpsest

In such a situation, a need for a personalized model of sustainable tourism arises for the Walled City of Lahore.

Shanzeh Usman

COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE LIVING LIBRARIES: PAPER-PLANES AND POETRY Guided tours exclusively for tourists, mounted on traditional carriages, streaming through heritage sites, are a unique experience. Of course, the tours, aided by well-rehearsed speeches by tour guides from a history book, are informative. It is fascinating to learn where the royals devoured their meals and how the Badshahi Mosque (The Royal Mosque) has stood tall for centuries. However, it is an entirely different experience sitting under the shade of a tree, immersing in the tales imparted by the living libraries of Lahore, over a cup of tea. An aged man shares the horrors of the bloody partition riots he experienced, and with it the tale of how he met his beloved wife of sixty years: “A striking beauty stood looking out her window, our eyes met, and my heart leaped. It was as simple as that. We didn’t have mobile phones, and I couldn’t count her in public, fearing ‘tainting’ her character. I began to compose poetry for her, folding papers clumsily into planes and floating them through her window. This very window...”, He points towards a four-story building. “Eventually, her heart warmed up towards me, and I arranged for my parents to visit her family, asking her hand in marriage. We spoke for the first time after our wedding ceremony.” No organized tour can condense a culture so distinct, or capture the essence of a story so simple.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

It is undeniable that the lives of the residents of the Walled City of Lahore intertwine with the heritage and culture of the city – even if they might not be aware of the memorized facts as fluently as the trained tour guides from the greater Lahore – they boast a great fountain of knowledge regarding cultural practices. There is a need for tour-guide training programs, exclusively conducted for the residents, and alternative excursions, guiding tourists through a closer to reality cultural experience. The heritage sites of Lahore offer a wealth of potential for tourism, which presents a source of employment in varying sectors of hospitality. Tourism can lead to infrastructural developments such as an improved network of roads, public transport, water, and electricity supply, which can benefit tourists as well as residents. However, it is essential to comprehend that the Walled City is not just a hub of monumental heritage but also houses an invaluable living culture, altering inevitably with time. Tourism ought to be rooted in the cultural practices and the lifestyle of the people. ‘Culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs’ (UNESCO 2001).

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

THE COMMUNITYPARTICIPATION APPROACH The unique heritage of the Walled City demands an unconventional system of sustainable tourism – a system in which bare minimal economic gains don’t trickle down (from the rich) upon the local inhabitants. This type of tourism development model builds upon environmental and ecological resources and is generally based on a grass-roots approach with the participation of local communities and stakeholders in the planning process (Boo 1990). The purpose of participation is power redistribution, enabling the society to fairly redistribute the incurred benefits and costs from it (Arnstein 1969). The community-participation approach is, often, advocated as an integral part of sustainable tourism development. The negative impacts of tourism reduce, it is believed, while the positive effects enhance, as participation increases the carrying capacity of a community (Haywood 1988, Jamal 1999, Murphy 1985). Researchers have also doubted the possibility of implementing community participation. Taylor (1995) criticizes ‘communitarianism’ as romanticism that is not rooted in reality. However, a city like Lahore, immersed in mysticism and nostalgia, demands a romantic approach.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

HOMESTAYS IN THE WALLED CITY Boutique hotels animating the Mughal-era lifestyle of the privileged elite allow tourists to only penetrate the heritage of Old Lahore on a very shallow surface. An alternative approach is the concept of homestays with the local inhabitants of the Walled City. (Lynch 2005) defines homestays as a specialist term referring to types of accommodation where tourists or guests pay to stay in private homes, where interaction takes place with a host or the family usually living upon the premises, and with whom public space is, to a degree, shared. Imagine lodging in the humble abode of a local, inhabiting a portion of a grand haveli (traditional mansion) for generations. The haveli encloses a courtyard with a shabby fountain that no longer functions and is shared by multiple families. The accommodation is simple, and the amenities modest. However, the world is real, full of stories of everyday life, and personalized knowledge only accumulated through living first-hand in the Walled City. Homestays not only provide an opportunity for the locals to showcase their prided hospitality, but also allow women primarily occupied in household commitments to generate income and experience cultural diversity.

The Utopian Palimpsest

Shanzeh Usman

LAHORE’S FOOD CULTURE

Lahoris unapologetically love food, and who could blame them? The city boasts a variety of delicious cuisine - an inheritance from the Indian and Persian influences, perfected through generations. Experiencing local cuisine is an integral aspect of tourism. This experience is not just about devouring a plate, but also immersing in the elaborate food culture of the city. Sitting under an embellished chandelier, enveloped by the intricately ornamented walls of a Mughal-themed restaurant, is a treat for the local and international tourists alike. High-end restaurants cater a menu fit for royalty, coupled with Mughal-themed costumes, adorned by the waiters. The environment takes you on a fantastical journey, recreating the glory of the past. The experience is what it stands for, precisely – ‘heritage theme parks’ recreating the splendor of the past. However, these pretentious restaurants don’t do justice to the ‘real’ food culture of Lahore – a culture that encircles around the experience of selecting livestock from a nearby shed and slow-cooking the meat in open air over lingering conversations. This experience is found in small-scale, family-run eateries, offering a relatively authentic meal and experience at nominal prices. Perhaps, these small eateries could offer communal cooking while sharing family recipes and stories they wish to impart.

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ARTISANS – THE LIVING HERITAGE OF LAHORE The Mughal emperors were great patrons of arts and crafts, evolving the heart of their empire, the Walled City, into an artisan cluster. The city’s dense tangle of alleyways thrived with weavers, ironsmiths, masons, miniaturists, jewelers, and cobblers. This constellation of artisans was disrupted time and again as a result of the political instability. People poured in and out of the Walled City - however, the craftsmen’s continuity was grounded in their skills. Some of them continue their legacy to this day. Amidst a cacophony of overpowering vehicular traffic of the Taxali Gate, a determined craftsman intricately carves a tabla (classical hand-drum) – an acquired skill he inherited through generations, which practiced instrument-making in the Indian subcontinent. Once upon a time, his forefathers crafted the melodious dholaks (two-headed hand-drum), to which the dancing girls of Hira Mandi swayed. The city still upholds the custom of hand-made instruments, varying from the traditional flutes, drums, and harmoniums to guitars and violins.

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The same locality houses workshops of the shoemakers. The cobblers continue their tradition, crafting a variety of traditional footwear â&#x20AC;&#x201C; khussas, khairis, and chappal, created with pure cow or sheep leather, ornamented with tilla (gold thread). The clanking and drilling of the blacksmiths of the Kasera Bazaar echo the creation of swords and armors for the ancient cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soldiers and rulers. Today, these metalworkers produce scissors for the tailors and cobblers of Lahore, harmoniously binding craft industries. The treasured jewelry-makers, battling with mass production, occupy small shops in the Suha Bazaar fashioning traditional trinkets in gold and silver. Meanwhile, in the jostling streets of Urdu Bazaar, a few artisans diligently practice the art of book-binding and book-making, indulging in old techniques from the golden age of the 12th-century Baghdad (Parvez 2017).

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The women of Old Lahore are often solely steeped in household activities and are in dire need of programs like the Naqsh School of Arts, established in 2003. This institution upholds the motto â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;preserve for posterityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and offers workshops for traditional drawing, painting, ceramics, and calligraphy. Institutions like these provide an opportunity for the women and men of less affluent localities to develop artistic skills and partake in the craft-tourism experience.

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INTEGRATE AND CREATE

Interactive forms of community-based tourism in the Walled City of Lahore are not merely about purchasing traditional crafts from artisans. The act of buying an ethnic token of memory, in the form of a well-crafted souvenir, is not a wholesome cultural experience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the essence of these crafts does not lie clearly in the resulting object. It rests in the cultural practice of creation itself. Experiencing cultural tourism is also not about watching artisans create masterpieces, displaying their process and lifestyle like an artifact in a museum. It is about participating in integration with the community and embarking on a creative journey in innovative craft-design workshops â&#x20AC;&#x201C; weaving connections with the people.

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THE PHANTASMAGORIC SKY

A vibrant sky studded with a mass of soaring kites isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just a mere phantasmagoria but an event steeped in the centuries-old tradition of kite-making and kite-flying in Lahore. The once-celebrated annual festival of Basant, which is steeped in Hindu mythology, marking the end of winter and the herald of blossoming spring, allowed this tradition to prevail. At the festival, families, and friends, would gather over narrow rooftops, expertly handling kite strings with calloused hands, hoping to emerge victorious from the battle of kites. The lethal casualties caused by dangerous metallic kite strings manufactured in recent years resulted in banning Basant. However, this does not undermine the ancient tradition, rooted in the street culture, of kite-flying and kite-making. It is not only a profession of crafting high-quality kites, with varying designs and sizes but a skill that most locals proudly swank. Young boys constructing kites, with light-weight paper and bamboo sticks for leisure, is undeniably their legacy.

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MURKY SKY

However, the azure blue sky dancing with vibrant kites turns murky as the sun sinks under the shadows of dusk. The street lights, once brightening the city, no longer enliven the gloom. The shortage of electricity and the excessive consumption of fossil fuels results in electrical power outages. Load-shedding renders the city dreary for hours at a stretch in the evening, daily. Oil lamps and melting candle wax pile up as people sit in their homes, helplessly anticipating the electricityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unpredictable return.

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GLITTERING KITES

Lahoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dearest friend and foe, the sunlight, filters through the thin, colorful paper of the kites, soaring high in the daytime sky, creating a ravishing painting of shades and shadows upon the world lying below. Imagine these kites soaking in the immortal energy from the sun, absorbing it in customized solar panels designed on the kites. As the daylight fades, and the streetlights fail to shine, the rooftops once again come to life with the innumerable kite enthusiasts, expertly manipulating their glittering kites to wander in the sky. The stars, which fail to shine over the polluted horizon, are replaced by kites - bedazzling the sky while radiating the many absorbed rays of sunlight.

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THE FLOATING UTOPIA

Heritage is not merely a thing of the past â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it hones a fluid nature, one that demands the sensitive developments to coincide with the alterations through time and space. The cultural values and meanings are knitted intricately with the cultural change within the regional realities. I wonder, does a kite need to be shaped like a perfect diamond? Maybe, it can be the shape of a box? Perhaps, that box can carry objects? Possibly, a love letter or a basket of fruit for the neighbors. Could these age-old kites evolve into the new delivery service, carrying objects, traditional pizzas, milk, and yogurt to their respective consumers? What if the kites could just transport people around, take the load off the heavily-laden urban fabric of the Walled City?

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A LIVING CITY

The Walled City of Lahore is a living city. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a breathing being that grows and develops, inhales and exhales, wrinkles and ages, alongside its inhabitants.

RESIDENTS: THE HEART OF THE WALLED CITY The residents of the Walled City grew up from playing hockey in their adolescence within the narrow alleyways to playing board games and smoking hookah on tharas (stoops on footpaths) of their neighborhoods. They found food, shelter, family, livelihood, romance, and an ethereal sense of community within these invisible walls of the Old Lahore. Historically, the Walled City constituted essentially a largely residential land-use and was organized into administrative zones called guzars (the principal thoroughfares that led in from the entrance gates). Each guzar was informally organized into mohallas (neighborhoods), galis (streets), and kuchas (dead ends). These created a hierarchical network of circulation spaces, creating security, social privacy, and quietude. These residential neighborhoods, forming a unique urban ensemble, have housed some of the locals for generations and promoted a strong bond of brotherhood, culture, and a sense of community (AKCSP 2018).

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HEARTY OLD MEN, GOSSIPING, SURVEYING... Valuable actors within this community are multitasking, hearty old men. For generations, having resided in the Walled City, they know of every nook and crook like the back of their hands. Often gathered together in small groups, they are found sitting on their charpoys, smoking hookahs, gulping tea, debating politics, settling disputes, and gossiping for hours each day. This activity has been an integral part of their lives for most of their mature adulthood. These men are comparable to security cameras for their neighborhoods - keeping tabs on who bought a new bike, the latest brawl between two cranky women, and forbidden romances â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they know it all!

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However, this leisure time is being compromised by the heavy traffic in the city, the emergent street vendors, and a deprived sense of privacy. I wonder - what will a space look like, personalized for these stakeholders to keep their communal activity afloat? Should there be a designated space in a particular corner of the neighborhood, partially shaded by trees while these men survey the neighborhood activities with their watchful eyes?

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Or, should they be elevated with a customized machine, so they can scan the city from a pedestal while life bustles beneath them?

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BHAI-CHARA (BROTHERHOOD) Haji Rafique is a native of Mochi Gate and the owner of the area’s well known traditional mithai (sweet) food chain. Senior inhabitants, like Haji Rafique, hold the Walled City’s unique culture and bhai-chara (brotherhood) in high esteem. Despite being a successful businessman and having a house in Lahore’s Jauhar Town locality, Haji Rafique chooses to spend much of his time at his ancestral home in Mochi Gate (Ezdi 2007). Residents like Haji Rafique, who could afford to move out of the congested Walled City to more peaceful and developed parts of Lahore, continue to return to the streets they grew up in – to sit along with their friends, chattering, and downing tea endlessly.

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ROOF-TOP CULTURE ROOF-HOPPERS Within the congested urban fabric of Old Lahore, rooftops play an integral role in the lives of the residents. Kite-flying has been an important leisure activity for the youth of the city. Intoxicated by the floating kites, and the urge to capture a falling one lost in a duel, young boys fluidly jump from rooftop to rooftop. The buildings are close together but the fall between them is steep. However, the adventureseeking youth casually hops around their neighborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rooftops to meet friends, catch a falling kite, or glance at their crushes.

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I wonder if connecting the rooftops between houses through bridges would convenience them?

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HANGING LAUNDRY, DRYING SPICES, AND HOLLERING CONVERSATIONS The activity on the rooftops is not limited to kite flying. A woman sits on the roof of her house, picking stones out of lentils, while her neighbor on the left is hanging wet laundry. Another woman is drying spices under the sun while one just came to the scene to be a part of the group. These women holler at each other, sharing pleasantries, stories, recipes, and tattles while carrying out their household activities.

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Would merging the scattered rooftops into one big surface allow them to form a stronger bond? Would they sit together on one charpoy while running errands?

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SLEEPING CONSTELLATIONS Sleeping under the stars is a romantic notion, which is not uncommon for the residents of the Walled City. When small rooms shared by multiple family members get too uncomfortable for warm summer nights, people often sleep on their rooftops. The charpoys, with sleeping residents dotting the roofs across the neighborhoods, form constellations of their own.

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LIVING ROOFTOPS Rooftops in the Walled City house a variety of diverse activities. Perhaps, sustainable roof design would provide the locals with a more welcoming environment to carry out their daily activities. Living rooftops would not only drop the temperatures within the building but also allow a comfortable slumber under the star-studded summer night sky. Furthermore, innovative design solutions like green roofs provide an oasis for the community, simultaneously balancing out the negative effects of climate change on the building stock (Harvey and Perry 2015).

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SECRET MEETINGS AFTER CURFEW While the rooftops are dotted with residents engulfed in slumber, the youth prepares for their nightly meetings â&#x20AC;&#x201C; snagging a smoke or delivering a love letter without getting caught. In the traditional family system of the Old Lahore, when it gets dark, lights are turned off, and doors are locked. However, this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop the young rebels of the city from escaping their homes. They often climb down drainage pipes and sling ropes to the ground, carefully concealing their nightly escapades from their family members.

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ROPES AND LADDERS

Slinging ropes and sliding down cold metal pipes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the communal activities of the nocturnal youth must be worth the trouble. Perhaps, a few wooden bars could transform these multifaceted drainage pipes into ladders. This might accommodate the post-curfew friendly gatherings and harmless rebellions.

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COURTYARDS: THE LIVING VOID An integral element in the dwellings of the Walled City is a courtyard. The courtyard-typology has existed in South Asia for thousands of years and can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilization (McIntosh 2008). The courtyards were a prominent feature in Islamic, as well as Indian architecture, before the dawn of Islam in the region. Traditionally used as a central space between houses or rooms owned by individual families, courtyards served as the focal point of a settlement, strengthening interior relationships. They served as a protective barrier against the climate, enemies, animals, and encouraged social interactions, becoming an important interface for all communal activities (Mishra 2016).

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PROSPECT AND REFUGE

A consistent indoor environment cuts us from the outside world and brings in no social, cultural, or aesthetic richness to a place (Hosey 2012). (Annemarie S. Dosen n.d.) has identified the concept of prospect and refuge as survival-advantageous characteristics creating rewarding spaces. The shelter is a necessity for humans to protect themselves from climate and other threats. Jay Appleton has referred to this characteristic as ‘refuge’ (Appleton 1996). Simultaneously the need for open spaces is identified as ‘prospect’. Both cannot be present in one space but they must be contiguous and fluid. The courtyard typology houses these characteristics. It offers a sense of refuge, within the indoor spaces, flowing into an open-to-sky void. The void forms the heart of the dwelling – it acts as the communal center of the house, promoting social interactions, enhancing a sense of security, and providing a therapeutic connection to nature.

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CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARDS Courtyards in South Asia hold a spiritual and religious significance. These multifaceted open-to-sky courtyards provide space for religious gatherings and activities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from the central placement of the holy Tulsi (Basil) plant in Hindu culture to the concept of private, segregated areas for women in Islam. This translates to an introverted design, providing women with outdoor spaces, without exposing them to the general public. Therefore, traditionally in the Walled City, dwellings boast two courtyards, following a gradient from formal spaces to informal spaces â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the outer one is for the males and the inner one for the women and children of the house. Baithak is a male domain and serves as a transition between the public and private space (Thapar 2004).

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COURTYARDS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; THE SOCIAL HUB OF THE DWELLINGS A few women scatter around the fountain, preoccupied with spinning, cleaning cotton, and embroidering. The others are engrossed in cooking a hearty meal for their families while keeping a watchful eye on their children playing tirelessly. The aroma of food merges with the scent of nature, filling the space. Outdoor furniture, like an elevated podium, creates a space for traditional floor sitting, while charpoys are for sleeping or resting. In winters, a portable fireplace is set up, bringing people together during the chilly evenings. The courtyards in the Inner City traditionally hold a diverse range of functions. These multipurpose open-tosky spaces not only provide a cool space to nap during the scorching summers but also serve as dining and gathering spaces. Large houses boasting courtyards were originally occupied by a single-family unit in the Walled City of Lahore. However, today, multiple families reside within one building, which provides an opportunity for social interaction and integration with neighbors, as private dwellings open into a shared central courtyard. The level of privacy increases with an increase in the floor levels, allowing the residents on the upper floors to look down from their windows. The rooms on the upper floors extend into shaded jharokas, creating a visual connection with the courtyards. The veranda surrounding the courtyards, and the shade of jharokas, provide the users with a sense of refuge. This space becomes suitable for private conversations while still outdoors. Courtyards in the context are voids, acting as an integral circulation nucleus, linking various spaces, and creating a sense of community within controlled environments.

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PIGEONS AND PROJECTIONS Traditionally, the people of the Walled City enjoyed a game in which they would set their pigeons free. Whoeverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pigeon returned to their respective cage before the rest was declared the winner. People are no longer inclined to play with birds for entertainment, they have their smart phones to keep them well-occupied. To provide a source of social gatherings within the courtyards, the installation of a large projector screen, running across three to four stories of the haveli enveloping the courtyard, would provide entertainment. This would allow people to enjoy a movie in a communal space. The intervention also utilizes the verticality of the courtyards, as people can sit comfortably in their jharokas or windows enjoying a movie, while others scatter around the open spaces and verandas.

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THREE-DIMENSIONALITY OF THE COURTYARD It is also interesting to explore the three-dimensionality of the courtyard. Instead of barring the residents on one side of the wall from the social experience, by covering it with a screen for projection, designing holographic installations viewed from each side, and all levels may engulf the people in shared activities. This intervention can also prove to be a useful source of infotainment.

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COURTYARDS AND CIRCULATION BASKETS AND ELEVATORS In the Walled City, baskets are often flung down and pulled up with ropes from the jharokas. This is to avoid the uncomfortable stairs, which traditionally have narrow widths and high risers, while transporting items from the multistoried buildings enclosing the courtyard. Since installing elevators within ancient buildings may compromise its structure and heritage value, courtyards provide an interesting void for innovation. The installation of semi-open elevators, conveniently transporting items and people alike, would accommodate people on the upper floors of the building and increase circulation in the courtyard.

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BRIDGING JHAROKAS Communication is not only limited to people from various floor levels to the courtyards, but also from one jharoka, window, or door, to another. Bridges, forming connections on different levels while passing through the courtyards, would increase the circulation and social interaction on a vertical as well as a horizontal level.

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PLAYFUL CIRCULATION Another way to create a connection between these apertures within varying stories while creating a sense of play and excitement is through designing chairlifts! The courtyards often boast swings for children. Perhaps, installing slides through windows would create a sense of thrill for them to glide down into the courtyard and play with friends rather than hunching monotonously over computer screens.

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CRAFTS AND PODS The women are occupied, often, with creating traditional crafts in the courtyard. Designing semi-open pods for them would possibly accommodate them to create art and handicrafts in unison

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COURTYARD â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A WELLNESS COMPOUND Courtyards in the Walled City allow an escape from the dense, urban setting to a natural environment. They are traditionally decorated with fountains and plants (Shahzad 2011). The therapeutic healing properties of nature create a sense of sublimity. The scent of the herbs, the visual soothing effect of greenery, and the music of rustling leaves create a world within a void. The water on the ground reflects its surroundings, dispersing the sunlight to form patterns. The seasonal changes affect the aesthetic appeal of the courtyard. In winters, the plants wither out leaving a more barren landscape. When spring arrives, fresh flowers and green leaves show up that are enjoyed all through summer until fall. During Autumn, the plants begin to change color and fallen leaves fill up the courtyard floor (Reynolds 2002). A simple perforated hole in a building block forms an island of relief amidst a bottlenecked environment. Waterbodies in a courtyard create a cooling effect through evaporation. They also provide a serene visual of rippling water and refreshing sounds. A fountain trickling from the fourth story of the building into the courtyard would allow the residents on varying levels and facades surrounding the courtyard, to experience its therapeutic properties.

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A large tree in the center of the courtyard creates a comfortable sitting space underneath. It also provides the users to experience the tree from different heights. Sitting in the jharokas, amidst the branches and leaves, is an uplifting experience altogether.

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Walking around a tree, too, is an enjoyable transition for children and adults alike. Paths, ladders, and ramps linking buildings through a tree in the courtyard create a merger of connection to nature and social integration.

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A tree could host a treehouse for children too! There is this incomparable charm of a quaint treehouse â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a refuge buried in the soothing embrace of greenery, a fortress of solitude, and a childhood dream!

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COURTYARDS AND SUSTAINABILITY Courtyards have been referred to as microclimate modifiers due to their ability to moderate high temperatures, channel breezes, and adjust the degree of humidity. However, while tapping into the inherent potential of the role of courtyards as temperature modifiers, under certain circumstances, contemporary design solutions may be implemented. Courtyards are often rendered abandoned if the wind is too harsh, a storm too heavy, or the rain too uncomfortable. People close their windows and find shelter in the seclusion of their rooms. To provide opportunities for shared spaces during rainy days can be pleasant for some. Transformable glass ceilings designed over the void could provide a controlled environment within the courtyard.

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JHAROKA – NOT JUST A BALCONY Another prominent architectural feature of the Walled City is the jharoka – it is a traditional, oriel window projecting from upper-stories of a building, used in medieval Indian architecture. It extends from the façade of the building in an upper-story overlooking a street, market, or any other open space (Zulfiqar 2018). The prominent elements of a jharoka include a cantilevered balcony with a canopy or pyramid on the top, jalis or lattices, fence, pillars and brackets.

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‘ JHAROKA DARSHAN ’

These platforms hold an almost ritualistic historic value. During the Mughal reign, emperors were known to practice ‘jharoka darshan’ – the daily act of appearing on the strategically designed jharoka to greet their patiently awaiting audience in the Diwan-e-Aam (courtyard of the ‘commoners’). It was once an essential custom, creating a bond between the rulers and his subjects. The sun filtered through the intricately carved jalis (lattice) of the heavily ornamented balconies. This play of light and shadows formed enticing geometrical patterns, adding to the allure of the Mughal emperor’s daily appearance on the jharoka. Shah Jehan, during his 30-year reign, never failed to address his audience from his elevated platform alongside his wife, Nur Jehan. The custom held such a prominent value that failure to emerge from the jharoka during his illness in 1657 lead to the rumors of his death (Koch 2010).

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JHAROKAS AND ROMANCE Today, these jharokas are remnants of this once grand statement of the ruling class. They, however, also conceal tales of innocent romance and give a glimpse of possibilities for the women of Old Lahore. Jharokas were designed with jalis, providing a sense of privacy for women. They could sit peacefully on their pedestal and experience the outside world without necessarily being exposed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the jalis would conveniently screen them. Even with this carefully designed segregation, romance bloomed in secrecy. In a conservative culture, ideas of romance are often delicate and a mere communication would commence, just within moments of eye contact between a young man on the street and a girl mounted atop a jharoka. They say that the eyes of the women of Old Lahore are extremely expressive and carry out conversations without words. These traditional balconies were the mediums facilitating the subtle communication. However, as time changes, culture evolves. The women of Old Lahore are not as heavily veiled, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to be concealed behind jalis. Maybe, it is time for these women to be empowered enough to design the amount of privacy they require within their space. Transformable jharokas, allowing women to fold their screens and convert balconies into windows provides them with a subtle choice of when, how and by whom they wish to be viewed.

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A FEMINIST UTOPIA

Jharokas for women to conceal behind while viewing the bazaar scrambling beneath. Courtyards, imprisoned by built structures for them to experience rain, trees, and the sun without being exposed to the outside world. It is thought-provoking how culture shapes architecture and architecture shapes culture. It is a vicious cycle! A cycle, which needs to be broken to cater to the altering demands and needs of the women of the Walled City. The concept of Purdah (gender segregation) holds cultural significance – architectural elements like jharokas and courtyards provide women of the Walled City a ‘controlled’ glimpse of the outside world. However, Amina no longer wishes to be veiled within the suffocating confines of the courtyard, like her mother treasured growing up. Although an open space, for Fatimah it is claustrophobic as a result of the cultural context. What if the central space spouted like a mountain, allowing Amina, Fatima, and many others like these young girls to see and be seen. A space elevated, in contrast to the sunken void!

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“A feminist analysis of architecture should not only be interested in ‘women’s place’ in society, but in gender relations, and the importance and variety of individual experience.” (Coates 2015) Amina and Fatima’s mothers and grandmothers, however, cherish the privacy, segregation, and comfort the architectural elements of courtyards and jharokas provide to them even today. Perhaps, this void should present a choice to the women of Walled City, instead of forcing them to be hidden in confinement or being forcefully exposed on a mounted pedestal.

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THE SCARLET ENIGMAS OF LAHORE Tibbi mein chal ke Jalwa-i-Parwar Digar dekh Are ye dekhne kí cheez hai ise bar bar dekh Come to Tibbi to watch the splendors of the Almighty. It’s the worthiest of sights, view it over and over again (Nevile 1993)

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When we talk about the women of Old Lahore, it is essential to consider those conveniently overlooked, lurking in the shadows of Hira Mandi. Hira Mandi (Diamond Market), often referred to as the Shahi Mohallah (Royal Neighborhood) because of its proximity to the Lahore Fort, is a haven for forbidden adventures for the men of Lahore. On the surface, it is a crowded bazaar, comprising a thick jostle of narrow streets and rickety structures, but this nocturnal part of the city enlivens during the night with enticing traditional dances, music, and the oldest trade known to mankind. The market is named after Hira Singh, son of a minister of Ranjit Singh’s court but the locals claim that it is euphemism for the exquisiteness of the girls in Pakistan’s most ancient red-light district. Girls in Hira Mandi grow up in a completely different environment from the ordinary Pakistani girls. In the mohalla (neighborhood), female beauty, and sexuality, is openly celebrated. It is not uncommon for a young girl to come from a line of concubines in this part of the city. “Her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother were all in the same profession: part of the generations of women who were born, raised, and trained to please men.” (Nevile 1993) Historically, Hira Mandi was the hub of the city’s tawaif (concubine) culture for the Lahore’s Mughal era elite during the 15th and 16th centuries. The neighborhood became a center for mujra – a sensual dance style. Mughals were known to philander and had hundreds of women in their harem to pleasure them. The Shahi Mohalla turned into the core of prostitution during the Sikh Reign and continued to be so in the British colonial period. Regardless of the ‘Christian missionaries’ condoning the practice and encouraging the government to take action, Hira Mandi flourished as a pleasure district while some special brothels were created there for British soldiers. Following the formation of Pakistan as a sovereign state, the martial law dictator, Zia, conducted an operation against music and dance houses, which were allegedly dens of prostitution. The operation only temporarily served to spread the practice throughout the city. However, Hira Mandi upholds its dark reputation as the redlight district of the city. The Utopian Palimpsest 157

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Once upon a time, the ‘Royal Neighborhood’ was not merely about selling flesh – the nawabs, kings, emperors, and the ruling elite would visit the courtesans to experience the allure and acquire etiquettes from them. Only if you were trained in social graces and were capable of wooing the artists, they would entertain you. Furthermore, courtesans were hired by wealthy families to teach their children culture and social behavior. Enticing troupes of women would sit in beautifully carved wooden jharokas, in kothas (traditional brothels), plying their trade as rose garlands were purchased from the flower shops on the ground floor by eager customers. The bazaar downstairs flourished like any other market in the Walled City. However, slowly the aesthetic pursuit became less arty and tartier. A worker claims with a heavy heart, “We don’t sing here anymore”. The once unique culture of art, dance, music, charm, and etiquette of the acclaimed Hira Mandi has reduced to selling cheap sex behind closed curtains.

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THE DYSTOPIAN SUBCULTURE Today, the bazaar is the hub of Lahori cuisine, restaurants, food stalls, and streets scattered with shops offering a wide range of khussas (traditional Mughal footwear), as well as musical instruments. One of the many acclaimed restaurants is Cuckoo’s Den. It was once a brothel – today, however, it is run by a renowned artist, who is the son of one of the prostitutes. Cuckoo’s Den caters to the tourists and gentry of the greater Lahore. However, as night embraces, and the ‘respectable citizen’ secure themselves in the premises of their homes, the streets are only again enlivened by young and old men alike, looking for sex. Pran Neville wrote of the joys of the pleasure-seekers paradise – patronized by the young and old, it “came to life at night with its reverberating sounds and glittering sights when fun-loving Lahoris would flock to it for entertainment” (Nevile 1993). In Pakistan, while the constitution declares prostitution as illegal, the trade of ‘sinners and diamonds in the dark’ occurs under the guise of dancing lessons or performances that customers purchase before entering. This subculture of the Walled City is marginalizing a subaltern group of women who are an integral part of the community. The people and authorities conveniently pretend it doesn’t exist. Closing eyes to the cruelty these diamonds experience doesn’t inhibit the frowned-upon trade of prostitution. It merely allows these helpless women to be abused by the pimps, clients, government, and society in general. They are labeled as lesser women and, subsequently, the lowest form of beings.

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THE UTOPIAN ENIGMAS

Hira Mandi is a cacophony of voices â&#x20AC;&#x201C; azan (call for prayer) from the mosque, the sound of tabla (traditional musical instrument) played by the ustad (teacher), the clinking ghungroos (ankle-bells) worn by the concubines, the sound of the children playing, and shopkeepers selling their goods in the bazaar. While men pour into the heart of the marble-domed Badshahi Mosque, five times a day, following the call for prayer forming straggly lines, the young boys play cricket on the streets, and some individuals sit under a tree, smoking hookah, engulfed in a political or religious debate. The women gossip, sitting on their ramshackle rooftops, under the scorching sun, drying spices, heroin addicts insert syringes in their bodies under the shelter of a low-lying tree â&#x20AC;&#x201C; enjoying their intoxication alongside the view of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lahore Fort. The prostitutes decorate the streets at night, under dimly-lit oil lamps, embellishing themselves for the tabooed subculture. The crumbling ghetto of three- and fourstory buildings is a unique example of contrasting inhabitant co-living in the once Royal district of Lahore. This is Hira Mandi. Perhaps, recognizing prostitution as one of the many trades in the Walled City could provide a sense of security and, possibly, a choice to the many marginalized women working in the dark. Sensitizing the trade of these women as just trade and not as their existence would humanize them. I imagine a utopia in which these dancing girls of Lahore were treated like humans. Their existence was as recognized and accommodated as the tourist, residents, and bazaar activity around them. They were acknowledged as stakeholders of the Walled City and did not have to belittle their trade of once art and performance to grotesque sex behind bamboo blinds. Maybe then, the dancing girls of Lahore would sing to the enthralling tunes of tabla again. The Utopian Palimpsest 163

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THE ENSEMBLE OF BAZAARS Hira Mandi is one of the many bazaars decorating the Walled City. Once upon a time, they were a harmonious tangle of markets pumping life into the streets. These bazaars are not just an engine of economic activity, but in essence, are the tangible and intangible culture of Lahore.

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SWEET AFFAIRS

Sajid strolled to the shop around the corner of the street upon his mother’s request. He had volunteered to get some yogurt from Afzal Mithai Wala (Afzal’s Confectioners), the small shop selling an odd but widely accepted combination of dairy products and traditional desserts. He was looking forward to the biryani his mother intended to prepare for dinner and was grateful to temporarily escape the house and catch a glance of his newly developed crush, Saira, the daughter of the shop owner. Some would argue that it’s not safe for twelve-year-old boys to be roaming about amidst a crowded bazaar, unsupervised. However, in the Walled City of Lahore, you’re never unsupervised. Munir, Sajid’s neighbor, had his watchful eyes on Sajid as he sat on a charpoy in front of his house, while the women studding the rooftops were fully aware that this adolescent boy was looking for an excuse to bump into his crush again. When Sajid reached his destination, he greeted Afzal, the shop-owner, exchanged pleasantries, and got offered to sample the freshly prepared sweets as per norm. Of course, Sajid wasn’t carrying any money on him, why would he need to, when the bazaar culture worked on credit. Not on the credit card system, rooted in mark-ups and interest, but a culture imbedded in trust and brotherhood. Just as Sajid was heading out of the shop, Saira rushed down the stairs to shyly flirt with him! Saira’s cousin’s friend’s sister’s mother had mentioned that Sajid was heading to the sweet shop, and information has an unbelievably rapid system of spreading within seconds in the Walled City.

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ACTIVITIES PILED AND ENTWINED Like many other families, Afzalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family lives on the upper-story of the building housing his confectionary store on the ground level. It is quite common for the bazaars to have mixed-use buildings with retail on the street level while the upperfloors are for a variety of other purposes. The uses for the upper-floors are typically for balakhanas (private offices), baithaks (sitting spaces), residential premises, small amounts of storage related to the shops below, religious buildings such as mosques and madrassas as well as public bath-houses and craft ateliers (AKCSP 2018).

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A KALEIDOSCOPE FOR SOARING BIRDS The bazaars of the Walled City are not merely a source of livelihood but are interwoven with the everyday life, culture, and an utter sense of community. Women conveniently place their orders for chapattis (flatbreads) from their rooftops or windows. The shop-owners convene on an extension of their shop, with their friends, fellow shop-owners, and neighbors, playing board games while overlooking the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children playing cricket. On one corner of the bazaar, street-charmers engross the entranced young and old alike through their tamasha (performances) while the talented artisans are preoccupied in their workshops creating crafts. The birds that glide over one of the traditional bazaars of the Walled City witness a mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic web of tangled ferry lights, pennants, billboards, and vibrant kites. Underneath this mesh, women adorning floral patterns in primary colors, the golden hues from the jewelerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s store, playful trinkets and the deep colors of herbs and spices, collide.

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BRIDGING BAZAARS

The bazaars of the Walled City grow almost spontaneously. There are no rigid zones of activities, with designated districts for the residential, commercial, and social action. Instead, the city is a jumble of fluidly connected spaces through an organic system of primary, secondary, and tertiary bazaars. The main bazaars have a primarily commercial character, while the residential neighborhoods merely house small-scale shops for the residents to purchase house-hold essentials from. Secondary bazaars perform the role of bridges between the busier main bazaars and the quiet residential neighborhoods. These bazaars once had a strong residential component, with the shops at a street level, almost without exception, being expanded into multistoried houses, the domestic land-use beginning at the rear-end of the ground-floor, and continuing to the upper-floors (AKCSP 2018).

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MAGIC POTIONS, HORSES AND BICYCLE RIMS Once upon a time, in Bazaar-e-Hakiman, situated in the western periphery of the Walled City, the indigenous clinicians and their medical outlets were located. The bazaar housed renowned hakims (traditional medicine practitioners), crafting magical potions with herbs, providing cures for diseases, and boasting aphrodisiac powers for the pleasure-seekers of Hira Mandi. Traditional markets such as Akbari Mandi and Chowk Jhanda that have not affected the residential urban fabric of Walled City negatively are a few of the extant examples. Both of these locations were traditional grain markets and are characterized by busy, yet culturally prominent business activities, which stock and retail grains, spices, and dry fruits. These locations are significant cultural assets of the Walled City, as they have been historically continuous. To the east of the Lahore Fort exists what was once referred to as the Maidan-e-Nakhaas (space for the commoners). It is said to have been the site where horses were sold to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nobility and rulers. The area is now called the Rim Market, specializing in vehicle rims. This commercialized Rim Market has completely engulfed a building of great religious and heritage significance, the early 17th-century Begum Shahi Mosque, and with it the traditional character of the bazaars that once complimented Lahore.

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COMMERCIALIZED DYSTOPIA As a kaleidoscope boldly tosses and turns to present a newly formed visual, the bazaar culture of the Walled City has, inelegantly, transformed into gigantic monstrosities, choking the very character of the Walled City. This new urban form initially resembled the traditional, tightly woven bazaars and seemed to fit in nicely with the ambiance of the city. In time, however, the spatial needs of the market changed as it transformed itself from predominantly retail, into a wholesale market – with the consequent necessity for large amounts of warehousing space. These bazaars exemplify the piecemeal replacement of older building stock that has been going on for at least three decades with single-use building forms. The result has been an unfortunate erasure of not only the historic urban footprint in certain areas but also the loss of the intangible heritage - the traditional neighborhoods and lifestyle of the residents. In 1988, warehousing was identified as ‘the most intrusive’ commercial feature. Warehouses, varying in size from single-room storage (usually the ground floor in residential buildings or the basement and top floors in commercial buildings) to multi-storied buildings are to be found along with the Circular Garden, the Circular Road, along the main thoroughfares in the Walled City, as well as deep within its residential areas (AKCSP 2018). Dating back to 1917, the British planner, Patrick Geddes, inscribes the activation of ad-hoc commercial development on the Circular Road – “the indiscriminate and plan-less erection of shops and other buildings — can only be described as an extreme and grievous case of the business process” (Ezdi 2007).

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The Shah Alami Bazaar is a replacement for Machhi Hatta Bazaar, which burnt down during the 1947 partition riots â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the land upon which would have existed thousands of historic homes and numerous neighborhoods. Shah Alami sprawled itself further east and has over the years developed into a hub of wholesale trading. With now its heavily congested double carriageway, Shah Alami serves as the central vehicular access street into the heart of the Walled City. Outlets for electrical appliances, marble shops, shoe markets, and other bulky objects of domestic use such as steel trunks, stainless steel utensils, crockery appliances, and the like dominate the shops fronting onto the main bazaar. The northern part of Shah Alami provides services and retail stores, including medical services in Wachowali Bazaar (Doctorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Bazaar) and outlets of mass-produced jewelry. Where Shah Alami changes into Dabbi Bazaar, a range of crockery, kitchenware, threads, and needle shops, as well as beauty Salons are concentrated. From here, the jewelry street of the Soha Bazaar, covered by an elaborate shelter, strikes out south-westwards. On the east, there are streets occupied by the Kasehra Bazaar (a market for metalwork) and the Baan Bazaar specializing in cots, charpoys, and the woven nets wrapping traditional furniture. Over the years, the wholesale outlets in this part of the Inner City have continually grown. The commercial sector has encroached into the adjacent areas, stretching as far as Mochi Gate in the east, at the expense of the residents (AKCSP 2018).

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THE THREATS FROM THE CLOTH MARKET In proximity to the Wazir Khan Mosque, two market complexes exist. These were established during the 1950s and the 1960s in residential areas and bazaars, which were once occupied by Hindus and Sikhs. Before independence, these neighborhoods were subject to partition riots and put to flames. The first of these market complexes, Azam Cloth Market, comprises numerous cloth shops and is a growing, cancerous agglomeration of small retail-outlets. This market also houses newer building typologies called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;plazasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which are high-rise horrors. These buildings are a sum of accumulated small shops, on varying floor levels, and underground storage. The second is the Pakistan Cloth Market, which also consists of small shops, encompassed by a singular and massive architectural statement of curvilinear form. It is covered with a shabby grey plaster render and represents an unfortunate aberration to the character of the Walled City. The Azam Cloth Market, which began as a shed, transformed itself from retail into a wholesale market. This alteration stemmed from the consequent necessity for large amounts of warehousing space (AKCSP 2018). An example of the dangers presented by the rapid commercialization is the haunting hours of the night, within the primary bazaars. The Azam Cloth Market today is a gated district locked up at night. Together with the Pakistan Cloth Market, the gated area spans over four hectares of eerie abandonment during the dark. This huge dead space often creates unpleasant circumstances and a dangerous environment for the residents of the Walled City. The bazaar culture, peacefully overlapping with the residential activity, was once a source of security and the foundation of co-existing diversity. Unfortunately, as commercialization took over and reduced residential affairs to secondary, the lives, culture, safety, and the essence of peaceful co-inhabitance prided by the locals of the Walled City, faded into thin air. The Utopian Palimpsest 181

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MONEY TALKS

The tightly packed and difficult to access traditional environments, together with explicit arrangements with government functionaries and politicians, appear to facilitate selective businesses with relative protection from various forms of taxation and law enforcement. The collusion promotes capitalistic cohesion and collective power. The bribing merchants, with vested incentives, are enticed to conduct businesses in these specialized commercial zones, even if they need to commute 25-30 kilometers to work, daily. Hence, small businesses, once run by the residents, are slowly being taken over by businessmen from the Greater Lahore, who bend the law and coerce the locals to relocate (AKCSP 2018).

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TAPERING OFF THE MONSTROSITIES As significant as the bazaar culture is to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heritage, it is also the foundation of the livelihood for a large percentage of people residing in the Inner City, as well as the Greater Lahore. There was a time when the residents of the Inner City existed peacefully within the commercial activity. Today, unfortunately, rapid commercialization has jeopardized the privacy of the local inhabitants. It is time to gradually shrink these heavily commercialized markets, to enforce laws, and to rethink policies that intend to protect the residents and small-scale businesses. Hence, by doing so, sustain the intangible heritage of the Walled City.

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THE UTOPIAN BAZAAR CULTURE

In the context, the utopian vision of the bazaar culture rests in the lessons learned from history. Bridging the crowded bazaars to the quieter residential neighborhoods occurs through a system of connecting, secondary bazaars. It is within this organic connectivity that the urban character of the Walled City lies. The ground below is a crowded maze of building stock. Instead of filling up the diminishing remaining space with even more construction, layers of elevated bazaars slicing through the sky could share the load. Perhaps, amidst a tightly packed city, this leaves little room for islands of green. The preposterously growing warehousing, creeping on the surface of the city and battling unjustly with the residents, sinks underground. Craft ateliers for the artisans dangle from the sky, creating a private sphere for the craftsmen within the crowded bazaar. Sara, a skilled tailoress, stitches traditional garments for her neighbors. Her craft helps her place warm meals on the table for her family. Meanwhile, Mariam provides tuition to children from her neighborhood, to earn a little extra money, to pursue art school. The pods hanging above the residential spaces explore the publicness of private space, providing semi-public spaces for these small-scale crafting and services, within the comfort of residential neighborhoods. Undoubtedly, the culture of the Walled City lies in the lives of the residents and the commercial activity, both sensitively knit together.

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CROWDED ROADS AND TRAFFIC JAMS “This traffic jam is getting on my nerves,” muttered Fabian under his breath during a road trip from Heidelberg to Munich. I looked out the window, only to behold a string of organized vehicles lined up meticulously, as people waited patiently, swaying to the music in their cars. “That’s the cutest traffic jam I have encountered,” I thought to myself as memories of the roads and streets on a regular day in the Walled City flashed before my eyes.

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DONKEY CARTS, CARS, BULLOCKS, AND TRUCKS... The hee-haws of donkeys braying colliding with the bellows of the bulls, the clinking of bicycles, honking of trucks, cars and rickshaws, the churning engines and brawls of angry drivers amounting to painfully, unmelodious noise pollution. The pedestrians and hawkers, warring with the vehicular traffic, dangerously close to ramming into an unsurprising accident. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what I refer to as a traffic jam!

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The bottlenecked traffic is not just an unpleasant concoction of vehicles, animals, and pedestrians, but a never-ending battle amidst the narrow alleyways, sprawling gracelessly under live electrical wires, hoardings, and awnings!

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IMAGINE AUTO-TOPIA

The ancient Walled City of Lahore dates back to when automobiles did not exist. A city designed for horse carriages and pedestrians is now a hotbed for heavy vehicular traffic. I often wonder what an auto-topia, designed in the Walled City of Lahore, looks like. Smart-parking systems, automatic and underground robotic parking solutions, flyovers that slice the horizon like a hot knife in butter, and motorbikes seated on Ferris wheels. The donkeys and bulls now rendered unemployed while flying vehicles replace the chirping pigeons. Is this the auto-topia of the Walled City?

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THE MOVING CITY

Or is an auto-topia for the Walled City unnecessary to imagine? It is not too late in the future when cities begin to move, mounted tall over slithering octopus-like appendages, creeping across the ground, and floating about the skies.

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FLOATING AND TRANSPORTING I, however, imagine an experience strolling amidst the streets of the Walled City, under a sky lined with fairy lights and sparkling stars emerging victorious from the air pollution. The only audible sounds are of women bargaining over a piece of embroidered fabric in the night market, men tattling the latest scandal, azan (call of prayer) from the mosque, and the musical chirping of birds. I imagine a magical world within, where the visual and audio clutter of vehicular traffic didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dim the ardor of Old Lahore. Car and carts alike are parked around the invisible periphery of the Walled City, while a floating system of public transport carries the people, commodities and goods alike.

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ROBOT DONKEYS AND MECHANICAL BULLS! The harsh ‘crack’ of the whips, followed by the brawls of lashed bulls in pain, pulling heavy cargo carts, crushed under the weight, no longer echo in the bazaars of the Walled City. It is time for them to retire and happily munch on left-over watermelons and hay instead of submitting to manual labor. Perhaps, the deathrate of these poor creatures would heavily reduce if robots replaced them? Of course, until the robots develop feelings and sensations – not too far off in the future either!

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OPEN SPACES; CULTURAL ROOTS The constricted streets, alleys, and squares of the Walled City are the roots upholding the essence of the social life and communal activity. The vehicular traffic no longer swarming these spaces, again allows the gatherings of wise, old men under the shade of trees, energetic children playing hockey on the streets, and women going on peaceful walks and shopping sprees.

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CHARACTER OF THE VOIDS A throng of birds soaring over the Walled City do not view the streets amidst the built structure as organized, straight lines.

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The character of these voids lies in its topsy-turvy form. Within these nooks and corners, the encroachments by residents and shop owners occur. Encroachments around which people gather and connect.

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ATROCIOUS ENCROACHMENTS Encroachments are defined as intrusive advancements beyond usual or acceptable limits (Merriam-Webster n.d.). They are viewed as barbarities, violating the public spaces, and sluggishly spreading their clammy tentacles over the built spaces and voids alike. The large corporations and clever businessmen, illegally collaborating with the government authorities, are encroaching heavily upon public spaces in the Walled City like rapidly spun spider webs. Meanwhile, the small shops extending a few racks of chips, and the residents placing a charpoy along the street, are frowned upon as an infringement of the public right.

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EXTENSIONS; NOT ENCROACHMENTS In most parts of the world, this act of taking over public spaces is an illegal encroachment. In the context, however, it is an extension of homes, shops, and restaurants. It is a part of the heritage of the Walled City. These extensions, sprouting out of buildings, are the steps upon which the diverse actors of the Walled City connect, where the hawkers rest, the shop-owners of small familyrun businesses share their meals, and the community builds. The laws and policies dictating the scale, intent, and sensitivity of these â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;encroachmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; can erase the negative connotation of illegality and greed from the rich legacy of extending your homes, shops, and hearts.

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THE FRUIT SHOP, ROLLING DICE, CARROM BOARD, AND CRICKET Ahmed sprays the variety of mangoes with water to keep them gleaming in hues of yellow and gold, attracting customers and encouraging the sale. His fruit is always fresh and juicy. He knows most of his customers personally and wouldn’t want low-quality products consumed by his friends. Ahmed loves what he does – running a small family-run fruit shop, right under his house. His wife slings down warm food in a bucket at 2 pm. Lunchtime is a little late for Lahoris, and every meal is prolonged with lingering conversations. Ahmed places a charpoy, outside his congested shop, extending his space. His neighbors, friends, and other shopowners join him on the extension with their lunch boxes to share their meals, wholehearted chatter, and tête-à-têtes. As the time to close the shops begins, these extensions outside the shops are flocked by the shop-owners, ready to smoke hookahs and partake in their favorite communal activity of playing board games and cards. Friendly gambling, otherwise heavily frowned upon in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, over flicking carrom boards, games of ludo turned upside down over lost matches, flashing cards and rolling dice commence. Meanwhile, Khalid and Muhammad play cricket, dreaming of one day making the International Cricket Team. An array of social activities adorns the streets, within what some claim are illegal encroachments. I, however, refer to them as extensions.

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NAAYI KI DUKAAN (THE BARBER SHOP) Another ‘encroachment’ that blossoms under a tree, is the much-favored Naayi Ki Dukaan, (the barber shop). A barber plays many diverse roles in the Walled City. He cuts hair, grooms beards and collaborates with the sly match-making ladies of the Inner City to unite people in arranged matrimony. He delivers wedding invitation cards, cooks meals for large gatherings, provides juicy gossip, and for some reason, performs circumcisions! It is also in his shop that people often gather after a rough day at work and take out their stress by criticizing the system and partaking in political banter – chatter that develops into discussing philosophies. One man shares a stanza he cherishes from the poetry of Allama Iqbal, while the other elaborates upon the mysticism of the Sufi Saint, Bulleh Shah. A young woman shares with her encouraging audience, a prose she composed. Some people scatter around discussing why women do not gather often enough in the Naayi Ki Dukaan. Maybe they should be made to feel more comfortable in these male-dominated spaces. Perhaps, the young boy residing along the corner of the street, doing his master’s degree in Urdu Literature, should write a book about it. Should they conduct a peaceful protest to create awareness about this pressing social issue? The barbershop is not just a skilled hair-stylist in the Walled City of Lahore – he is an integral pillar of the community, and what his semi-open kiosk represents in the context reminds me of the Pak Tea House.

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SWEET TEA, SPICY BIRYANI, AND REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS. At a few minutes’ walk away from my undergrad university, gracefully concealed behind creeping ivy, rested my safe haven - the Pak Tea House. Along the periphery of the Walled City and amidst the chaotic Neela Gumbad and the Anarkali Bazaar, the Pak Tea House is a heterotopia – a sanctuary to rest, contemplate, create, discuss, share revolutionary ideas and think freely. Pak Tea House is a tea-café known for its left-leaning South Asian intelligentsia. It is recognized as the birthplace of the influential literary movement and the Progressive Writers’ Association. Traditionally frequented by the country’s notably artistic, cultural, and literary personalities, it was founded by a Sikh family in 1940. Pak Tea House quickly acquired its current name after it was leased to one of the locals in Lahore, following the partition of India in 1947. The place was visited, often, by the likes of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ibn-e-Insha, Ahmed Faraz, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Intezar Hussain. Pak Tea House is commonly described as the house of writers and thinkers, who serve the nation selflessly. The once-revolutionary space has maintained a reputation as a forum for people of diverse backgrounds to voice their opinions in an apolitical atmosphere and is treasured by the progressive individuals of Lahore (Khalid 2017).

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IMAGINE COLLABORATION Often, I see subtle glimpses of the essence of the Pak Tea House in the peaceful encroachments forming unfitting patterns across the rickety streets of the Walled City. The social interactions, bickering bargains, tattling tales, hollering hawkers, singing buskers, blossoming romances, and settling disputes, organically develop into political discussions, philosophical viewpoints, contemplative thoughts and revolutionary ideas. These encroachments are the heart of the communal culture of the Walled City. They are the medium connecting people, allowing the diverse set of characters in our story to co-exist and grow â&#x20AC;&#x201C; while co-sharing meals, ideas, art, experiences, and ideologies. Amidst the labyrinth of dense alleyways, the cauldron of activities, and within the constricted open spaces of the Walled City, I imagine collaboration.

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REFERENCES AKCSP. 2018. MCRP. Lahore: AKCSP, WCLA. Ali, Reza H. 1990. „ Urban Conservation in Pakistan: A Case Study of the Walled City of Lahore.“ In Architectural and Urban Conservation in the Islamic World, von Karen R. Longeteig, eds. Abu H. Imamuddin. Geneva: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Annemarie S. Dosen, Michael J. Ostwald. kein Datum. „Prospect and Refuge Theory: Constructing a Critical Definition for Architecture and Design.“ The International Journal of Design in Society (Common Ground Research Networks) 6 (1): 9-24. Appadurai, A. 2002. „A Conceptual Platform.“ In UNESCO Universal Decleration on Cultural Diversity, von K. Stenou (ed.), 9-16. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. Arnstein, Sherry R. 1969. „A Ladder of Citizen Participation.“ Journal of the American Planning Association 35 (4): 216-224. Assi, E. 2008. „The Relevance Of Urban Conservation Charters in the World Heritage Cities in the Arab States.“ City & Time 4 (1): 5. 57. Boo, Elizabeth. 1990. Ecotourism: The Potentials and Pitfalls. Washington, D.C.: World Wildlife Fund. Coates, Gary J. 2015. Deep Beauty; Toward a Sustainable and Life-Enhancing Architecture of Place. Kansas State University. Curzon of Kedleston, George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess, 1859-1925. 1900. Speeches by Lord Curzon of Kedleston. Bd. 1. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Govt. Print. Ezdi, Rabia. 2007. The Dynamics of Land-Use in the Lahore Inner City: A Case of Mochi Gate . Thesis, Rotterdam: Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies. Glover, William J. 2008. Making Lahore Modern: Constructing and Imagining a Colonial City. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Harvey, David, und Jim Perry. 2015. The Future of Heritage as Climates Change: Loss, Adaptation and Creativity. Lonon and New York: Routledge. Hasan, Arif. 2002. „Urban Change: Scale and Underlying Causes. The Case of Pakistan.“ Haywood, K.M. 1988. „Responsible and responsive tourism planning in the community.“ Tourism Management 9 (2): 105–108. Hosey, Lance. 2012. The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design. Island Press.

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Jacobs, Jane. 1958. „Downtown is for People.“ Fortune. Jamal, T.B. and Getz, D. 1999. „Community roundtables for tourism-related conflicts: The dialectics of consensus and process structures.“ Journal of Sustainable Tourism 7 (3–4): 290– 313. kein Datum. Merriam-Webster. Zugriff am 2020. https://www.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary/encroach. Khalid, Haroon. 2017. Zugriff am 2020. https://scroll.in/article/853907/over-cups-of-teaand-conversation-at-pak-tea-house-lahore-emerged-as-the-countrys-cultural-capital. Koch, Ebba. 2010. „The Mughal Emperor as Solomon, Majnun, and Orpheus, or the Album as a Think Tank for Allegory.“ Muqarnas Volume XXVII: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World 27: 277-311. Lynch, P.A. 2005. „Reflections On The Home Setting In Hospitality.“ Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 12 (1): 37-49. McIntosh, Jane. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. Merriman, Nick. 1991. Beyond the Glass Case: The Past, the Heritage and the Public, Second Edition. Leicester University Press. Mishra, Shuchi. 2016. „Understanding the Change in Character of Courtyards.“ https:// shuchimishra.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/understanding-the-change-in-character-ofcourtyards/. Murphy, P.E. 1985. Tourism: A community approach. New York and London: Methuen. Nevile, Pran. 1993. Lahore: A Sentimental Journey. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. Parvez, Amjad. 2017. „Old-city Lahore: Popular Culture, Arts and Crafts.“ Bāzyāft-31 (Urdu Department, Punjab University) 21-33. Paul Jenkins, Joanne Milner and Tim Sharpe. 2009. „A Brief Historical Review of Community Technical Aid and Community Architecture.“ In Architecture, Participation and Society., von Paul Jenkins und Leslie Forsyth. Routledge. Rab, Samia. 1998. „Rehabilitatin Historic City Centers: A Critique of an Important Modernist Assumption Underlying the 1950’s Master Plan and the 1980’s Lahore Urban Development and Transportation Study in Pakistan.“ 1998 Acsa International Conference. Washington, D.C.

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Reynolds, John S. 2002. Courtyards: Aesthetic, Social, and Thermal Delight . New York, NY: John Wiley. Roquet, Vincent, Luciano Bornholdt, Karen Sirker, und Jelena Lukic. 2017. Urban Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement: Linking Innovation and Local Benefits. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. Ruskin, John. 1849. The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Smith, Elder & Co. Sidhwa, Bapsi. 2012. The Pakistani Bride. New York: Milkweed Editions. Smith, Laurajane. 2006. The Uses of Heritage. London and New York: Routledge. Sohail, Jannat. 2020. Conservation-Led Marginalization: Making Heritage in the Walled City of Lahore. Thesis, Tallinn: Estonian Academy of Arts. Thapar, Bindia. 2004. Introduction to Indian Architecture. Periplus Editions (HK) Limited. UNESCO. 2001. 2. November. Zugriff am 2020. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ ID=13179&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Urry, John. 1990. The tourist gaze: Leisure and travel in contemporary societies. London: Sage Publications. Wilkinson, Sara J., und Tim Dixon. 2016. Green Roof Retrofit: Building Urban Resilience. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Zulfiqar, Zain. 2018. „Tracing the Origin of Jharokha Window used In Indian Subcontinent.“ Journal of Islamic Architecture 5 (2): 70.

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Articles inside

CHARACTER OF THE VOIDS

ROBOT DONKEYS AND MECHANICAL BULLS

DONKEY CARTS, CARS, BULLOCKS, AND TRUCKS

THE UTOPIAN BAZAAR CULTURE

TAPERING OFF THE MONSTROSITIES

MONEY TALKS

COMMERCIALIZED DYSTOPIA

BRIDGING BAZAARS

THE THREATS FROM THE CLOTH MARKET

MAGIC POTIONS, HORSES AND BICYCLE RIMS

A KALEIDOSCOPE FOR SOARING BIRDS

ACTIVITIES PILED AND ENTWINED

SWEET AFFAIRS

THE UTOPIAN ENIGMAS

COURTYARDS AND SUSTAINABILITY

JHAROKAS AND ROMANCE

THE DYSTOPIAN SUBCULTURE

JHAROKA DARSHAN

COURTYARD – A WELLNESS COMPOUND

COURTYARDS AND CIRCULATION

THREE-DIMENSIONALITY OF THE COURTYARD

ROPES AND LADDERS

PIGEONS AND PROJECTIONS

CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARDS

COURTYARDS – THE SOCIAL HUB OF THE DWELLINGS

PROSPECT AND REFUGE

SECRET MEETINGS AFTER CURFEW

ROOF-TOP CULTURE

BHAI-CHARA (BROTHERHOOD

HEARTY OLD MEN, GOSSIPING, SURVEYING

THE FLOATING UTOPIA

RESIDENTS: THE HEART OF THE WALLED CITY

MURKY SKY

GLITTERING KITES

INTEGRATE AND CREATE

ARTISANS – THE LIVING HERITAGE OF LAHORE

LAHORE’S FOOD CULTURE

THE LIVING LIBRARIES: PAPER-PLANES AND POETRY

INSTITUTIONS

HOMESTAYS IN THE WALLED CITY

THE COMMUNITY-PARTICIPATION APPROACH

AND HERITAGE

A ‘GLASS CASE’ FOR ‘TOURIST GAZE

COLONIZED HERITAGE

TRANSCENDENCE

THE BEAUTIFULLY MUNDANE

THE HERITAGE STANDARD: GRAND AND THE MONUMENTAL

MUMMIFIED DYSTOPIA

AUTHORITIES

THE SPICED RICE (PILAU

INDIVIDUALS AFFILIATED WITH TOURISM

INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY

RESIDENTS OF THE WALLED CITY

THE HARMONIOUS TURBULENCE

THE OLD CITY

A CITY WITHIN A CITY

PAKISTAN – A SOVEREIGN STATE

BORDERS AND ATROCITIES

LAHORE – A SURVIVOR

I AM LAHORE, AND LAHORE IS ME

THE DIVIDING LINE

THE MAN WITH A MESSAGE

PRINCE LAVA – THE NAMESAKE OF LAHORE

ON THE BANKS OF RIVER RAVI