Himalayan Cities: Settlement Patterns, Public Places and Architecture

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Himalayan Cities: Settlement Patterns, Public Places and Architecture

Information

  • Author: Pratyush Shankar
  • Publication Year: 2020
  • Language: English

About the Book

Himalayan Cities: Settlement Patterns, Public Places and Architecture marks the culmination of extensive documentation and research on the cities and architecture of the Himalayas. It explores the idea of settlements in different areas of the Himalayan region, cutting across national boundaries, from Kashmir via Nepal to the north-eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent, and their relationship with the landscape. By comparing these, the book makes the case for peculiarities of the Himalayan city and succeeds in deducing key principles and general models typical of the settlement patterns, nature of public places and architecture shaped by this unique mountainous environment. The relationship between natural systems and human ingenuity as projected through its built traditions forms the underlying theme of the book. Lavishly illustrated with stunning photographs and detailed hand drawings by the author and his students, Himalayan Cities not only engages the academia but also the general reader and helps provoke a discourse on this intriguing landscape and its architectural nuances.

Contents of the book

THE HIMALAYAS: LANDSCAPE OF THE MIND

  • Landscape as an Image
  • Image of the Himalayas
  • The Cultural Landscape of Myths and Rituals
  • Perception of Nature and Spatial Constructs City and Nature in the Himalayas
  • The Landscape of Valleys Discussion

CITIES OF THE HIMALAYAS: PATTERNS AND SETTINGS

  • Old Cities in the Himalayas
  • Geographical Zones State of Urbanisation Settlements in Valleys Preferred Landscape Conditions
  • Types of Cities
  • Discussion

APPROPRIATING LANDSCAPE: NEW TYPOLOGIES

  • Civic Gestures
  • Spaces of Human Will: The City Centres Temple-Castle Typology

About the Author

 

Pratyush Shankar is a practicing architect and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India. He takes courses on History and Theory of Cities, Design Studio and Visualisation. His interest lies in Himalayan architecture and Indian cities. He has been regularly making hiking trips to the Himalayas for over two decades and has conducted many research and documentation trips in the Indian and Nepal Himalayas over the years

The author is currently engaged in research that tries to understand the impact of information technologies on the form and perception of the Indian city. He also has a small design practice and has done a number of projects in various parts of India and Nepal.

For some time now he has been daydreaming of cycling from Lhasa to Kathmandu.

Dr Julia A.B. Hegewald is Professor of Oriental Art History at the University Of Bonn, Germany, and also heads the Department of Asian and Islamic Art History. She takes special interest in the art and architecture of South Asia and the Himalayas in particular.

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