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Procedia Engineering 180 (2017) 1103 – 1109

International High- Performance Built Environment Conference – A Sustainable Built

Environment Conference 2016 Series (SBE16), iHBE 2016

Historic city – A case of resilient built environment

Anjali Krishan Sharma*
Manav Rachna International University, 121004, India

Abstract

Planning of historic cities in Asia is typically characterised as mixed land use with a hierarchy of streets and open spaces. While
the morphology of the built environment is archetypal of the regional context, addressing the concern of thermal comfort
essentially through passive systems using locally available resources. Further, most of these cities, centuries old, are vivid
example of resilience to change with time, technology and developmental pressures. Also, the majority of such cities are in Asia.
These old neighbourhoods are a huge built resource, in sync with locally available materials and indigenous technology, and thus
in harmony with the environment; also recognised for their traditional style by the tourism sector. In this paper, the parameters of
morphology of these built environments, contextual for arid zones, are spelt out.
© 2017
© 2017TheTheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Ltd. This
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee iHBE 2016.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee iHBE 2016
Keywords: Historic cities; resilience; built form; arid zone; thermal comfort and passive systems

1. Introduction

Conventionally, resilience is largely acknowledged for natural disasters, whereas time has introduced technology,
infrastructure, consumerism, urbanisation and globalisation. All these have brought about gradual and paradigm
shifts in the built environs, diluting their identities and reducing them to a standard that is high on energy
consumption and environmentally unfriendly. In comparison, historic cities have existed for centuries and
demonstrate a built morphology that is disparate and typical, therefore having established an identity of their own.
With time the expansion of these cities has accelerated, reducing their disparate contextual connotations. Often
referred to as walkable cities, these are frequently characterised as compact developments with mixed land use and

* Corresponding author. Tel.+91-9818245056

E-mail address: dean.fpa@mriu.edu.in; anjalikrishansharma@gmail.com

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee iHBE 2016
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.04.270
1104 Anjali Krishan Sharma / Procedia Engineering 180 (2017) 1103 – 1109

strong regional associations, and thus their sheer continued existence proves their resilience to the various layers of
developments over time.
A great proportion of historic cities are located in developing countries, a huge resource of built environment that
needs to be acknowledged for practical reasons of their disparate culture and available built environment. [1] Most
megacities and large cities are located in the global South. [2] Thus, it becomes imperative to recognise such built
environments as an existing resource for their resilient quality.

2. Built environments of historic cities

With Urbanisation the permeability between borders of natural and urban environments is getting redefined more
frequently than ever before. Built environs across the globe are experiencing a paradigm shift. The sheer volume
densities have gone up substantially and are continuing at an unprecedented rate like never before, with the current
rate of urbanisation across the globe higher in Asian countries. [3]
Historic cities have been in existence for centuries and have thrived well with time, but technological
advancements, i.e., electricity, automobiles, air-conditioners, etc., have enabled all spaces to be thermally
comfortable irrespective of their geographical locations. With this backdrop the wisdom of knowledge that prevailed
for centuries is tending to become redundant, and planning has moved to address exponential urbanisation,
essentially automobile driven urban metropolises overflowing to suburbs. However, the built environments of these
cities that have sustained through developmental pressures are a huge resource worth introspecting about, as they are
relevant even today.
Both the resilient spaces and resilient communities have a symbiotic relationship, and thus the synergy, if any, of
that relationship is significant as their resilient nature further gets translated into the built environments. Therefore
the success of any built environment that has been lived is due to three essential factors i.e. local cultures, form and
planning of the spaces governed by its context. [4]
Further, historic cities revered the ancient Indian scriptures wherein it was the onus of each individual in the
society to protect nature and to acknowledge the natural elements — sun, air, water, and land. Such approaches led
to construction of the built environments in harmony with nature.
Interestingly some of the recent initiatives on resilience and the built environment featured historic cities; a
workshop by ICLEI on Resilient Cities [5], and Goal 11 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals also aims to
‘Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage’ [6]. The UNESCO program
Indian Historic Cities Network too highlights Indian cities as a living cultural resource. Therefore, the cultural
connotation for a typical context thus defined, can be a gauge to assess the resilient nature of such built
environments.

(a) (b)

Fig. 1. (a) Built Morphology (Jaisalmer, India); (b) Built Morphology (Bundi, India)

Until the advent of technology, each of these cities nurtured a culture that was inherent for the local communities
and was largely embodied in the built morphology of the city. The rate of change in the recent past has been rapid,
as compared to the gradual pace of the past, and thus changes in the past were imbibed in the built environments, so
as to act as one. Thus these old neighbourhoods display layers of developmental changes over time and therefore
 Anjali Krishan Sharma / Procedia Engineering 180 (2017) 1103 – 1109 1105

have a potential for adaptive reuse addressing both affordability and social acceptability. [7]

3. Resilience of Built Environments

Built environs essentially constitute both open and covered spaces, thus planning principles and form of the
building envelope are inherent to it. The regional context played a pivotal role as it acted as the framework for the
construction of the built environment and thus the type of built morphology arrived at. The scale of these cities in
arid zones was determined by the extent one could walk from one end to another and thus the layout of the
residential neighbourhoods was arrived at.

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 2. (a) Organic street pattern of historic city (Jodhpur, India), (b) Typical street detail (Jaisalmer, India), (c) Typical shaded street section
(Bundi, India).

3.1. Mixed land use

The combination of work and residence as mixed land use had inherent strengths: no travel to work, thus no
energy consumption and environmentally friendly; with extended work hours making it possible to meet the demand
and supply; shops/work related activities kept the streets lively around the clock. Additionally, these spaces served
as transition spaces from public (streets) to private (residence) domains.
Further, based on the type of craft/workspace, space requirements had to be flexible and were adequately
addressed by the building typology: with shops towards the street and house on the rear, or work on the ground and
the residence on the first floor. Occasionally, when the house was large with a series of courtyards, the one towards
the street was often utilised for the production and selling of handicraft. Such flexibility of spaces proved to be an
asset for the local population that over time dovetailed within the local cultures, and eventually reflected in the
quality of life that is environmentally friendly and thus resilient.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 3. (a) Plan of a typical house with more than one courtyard, (b) Section of the house (Bundi,India).

Also, given the fact that real estate prices are highest in such neighborhoods in comparison to the development
1106 Anjali Krishan Sharma / Procedia Engineering 180 (2017) 1103 – 1109

outside, these cities vouched for both affordability and acceptability, reinforcing the resilient nature of the social
capital of such cities.

3.2 Streets and Open Spaces

As most of these cities were walkable cities, the maximum distance for arid zones varied, ranging about 3-5 km.
Although the street patterns are organic and appear random, such a street section slows down wind movement and
also helps in reducing dust. The street sections where shops were located had a built in platform typical for the shops
so that the customers could sit and buy the crafts. At the street level this inbuilt platform responded to the context,
and the height of the same varies from 450mm to 750mm and goes up to 1500mm where the diurnal temperatures
were high, as the sand/dust would also be more as greater plinths protected the indoor spaces from sand/dust.

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 4: (a) Entrance to a street (Jaisalmer, India), (b) Street with upper floors projected on to the street (Jaisalmer, India), (c) Shaded street, except
at noon (Jaisalmer, India).

Next, in the areas with large diurnal temperatures the street sections would narrow to cut direct sunlight and sand.
The built morphology of the neighbourhoods also increased from ground plus one floors to ground plus three floors.
The open spaces within such cities were streets, intersections of streets and courtyards within the mixed land use
blocks. With urbanisation the cities have expanded outside the said development, with these cities continuing to
enjoy their status quo. With modes of transportation changing, the open spaces are used for parking, and circulation
reflects the resilient nature of the local communities and spaces as well. Interestingly, if one were to draw parallels
of the figure ground for a neighbourhood for about a century, there is hardly any perceptible change.

(a) (b)

Fig. 5. (a) Figure ground of a part neighbourhood, 1925 (Jaipur, India), (b) Figure ground of a part neighbourhood, 2010 (Jaipur, India).
 Anjali Krishan Sharma / Procedia Engineering 180 (2017) 1103 – 1109 1107

4. Form of the built environment

To understand the form of any built environment one needs to know the environmental framework. For the
Indian climate, the arid and semi-arid zone is broadly characterised by temperature: minimum 3-40C to maximum
about 460C with diurnal temperatures varying with geographical location. Rainfall is 20-55cm in the months of June
to September, with humidity about 15-60% along with dry air and winds, essentially from the westerly and south-
westerly direction.
The salient resilient features of typical traditional built forms for the selected zone are summarised as follows:

4.1. Thermal comfort and passive systems

x Compact building envelope houses maximum volume with minimum enclosure surface due to common
walls/sharing of walls, cluster neighbourhoods, therefore surface area exposed for heat gain gets minimised.
x Orientation of blocks so as to cut out the west sun, let in diffused light from north, use of sun shade for south sun
to cut out summer sun and let in winter sun, use of small size openings oriented towards the west with use of
louvers/lattice to let the westerly winds in.
x Use of high ceiling with multiple openings to facilitate wind movement for ventilation and dissipation of heat as
well.

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. (a) View of the courtyard from the terrace (Jaisalmer, India), (b) View of the terraces at various levels (Jaisalmer, India).

x Courtyard planning typical for residence cum work places; with two or more courtyards designed for large
houses. Use of courtyard planning ensures thermal comfort through stack effect for the covered spaces and
courtyard as well. Further, location of cooking areas in the courtyards or in close vicinity, thus further reducing
the heat gain within the habitable spaces. Also, the courtyard has habitable spaces overlooking it, either directly
or through a semi-open space/porch. The use of porch changes to covered habitable spaces when the diurnal
temperature variation increases.
x Access to staircases was from the internal courtyards only, ensuring privacy, security and control. Staircases
were also usually located in the corners for better utilisation of space.
x Wind direction and air flow through buildings: the layout of the street patterns itself ensures wind movement that
gets further tapped by courtyard planning and utilised by the stack effect to make the covered spaces thermally
comfortable due to cooling by ventilation.

4.2. Building material, construction technology

x Use of locally available materials with indigenous technology: locally available quartzite used for random rubble
masonry construction while red sandstone was used for structural purposes, i.e., roofing, with spans defined by
the maximum length of the sandstones available, usually about 900-1200mm, plastered with thick limestone.
Marble stone was used for special structures such as temples, palace complexes essentially procured from the
1108 Anjali Krishan Sharma / Procedia Engineering 180 (2017) 1103 – 1109

same state, basically load-bearing structures with extensive use of stucco. Sandstone was also used for
sunshades, corbelled arches, and domical chattri’s of stone, cladding, and even the door and window frames
were of red sandstone. The local craftsmen were so well versed with the locally available materials that they
could shape them in most of the building elements for the built environment.
x Extensive use of lime in the form of putty, mortar and lime wash etc., also used in foundations, masonry,
plastering, and even for rendering. As slaked lime was used in construction and was processed in limited
quantities, therefore the construction process was gradual. This extended period of construction helped the lime
to set gradually to attain strength comparable to that of concrete.
x Use of local building materials gave a distinct identity to each city. For example, the use of lime, because of its
natural colour, gave a uniform look to the city of Jodhpur, India, while use of yellow Jaisalmer stone gave the
city a uniform look of golden yellow.
x Stonewalls of such locally available material have a good thermal mass and thus the time lag enabled
maintaining thermal comfort of indoor spaces for the respective geographical location.

4.3. Fenestrations

x The fenestrations in the elevations essentially constituted large openings at the ground as they were shops with
smaller openings on the upper floors, and they were residences and also for privacy reasons. Further, the location
of the large openings of the shops was over a plinth ranging from 450mm to 750mm to as high as 1500mm.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Fig. 7. (a) Typical elevation of a residence (Jaisalmer, India), (b), (c) and (d) Depicting system of fenestrations of upper residential floors only as
ground for shops (Jaipur, India).

x The size and location of the openings at the ground floor on to the street were larger as they were used for
shopping interactions, with a typical plinth high enough for people to sit on, thus about 450-500mm, but
redefined where the diurnal temperature variation is more. Here the same plinth was raised up to 1500mm and
also covered from three sides.
x Shape, size and proportion of openings were deliberately arrived at with shops having large openings almost to
the width of the building block, with windows from rectangles reducing to squares to even smaller squares to
circles. The rectangular windows invariably had timber louvers with single or double leaf panel size varying
between 300-500mm, whereas the subsequent openings invariably had net/lattice as fixed only for ventilation
purposes, which also acted as filters for the dust. The deliberate hierarchy of smaller openings located over the
bigger ones in a pattern/rhythm was designed so as to bring harmony among the blocks. Use of smallest size of
openings at the top closer to the ceiling ensured fast dissipation of heat ensuring thermal comfort indoors.

4.4. Sun shading

 Anjali Krishan Sharma / Procedia Engineering 180 (2017) 1103 – 1109 1109

x The built environments of such cities displayed judicious use of sunlight, as it was the only source of light for
centuries, with entire lifestyles adapted to that fact. There was extensive use of diffused light for the workspaces,
as it was consistent.
x The size of fenestrations was so small that most of the sunlight would get reflected, cutting glare and thus
enabled use of externally reflected light for the habitable spaces. This allowed for no direct sunlight except for
the light received at noon overhead on the open courtyard and terraces.
x Extensive use of sunshades and deep overhangs protected the openings.
x Use of building element Chattris (open structures covered on top with a domical roof) strategically located at the
edges of the building blocks or defining terraces at various floors used in various permutations and combinations
also reduced direct heat gain.

5. Conclusions

The continued thriving built environments of the historic cities of the arid zone of India have proven their
resilience towards change and developmental pressures. They responded to the transformations and managed to
sustain their identities of regional connotation: a huge resource of locally available materials and indigenous
technology. The fact that the sheer volume of such built environments is thriving, deserves introspection as best
practices for future developments in their respective areas.
India, with its high population, has a crucial role to play for energy consumption and low carbon concerns. Thus,
these live buildings stocking a huge reserve of passive systems, not only for the arid zone demonstrated in the paper,
but also those existing in other geographical conditions across the country, deserve attention.

References

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[2] Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Urbanisation Prospects, The 2014 Revision Highlights , UN, 2014.
[3] The World watch institute state of the world (2006) Special focus on India & China, Printed by Winrock International India 2006.
[4] Jain. Kulbhushan, Jain.Minakshi, Indian city in the arid west, published by AADI Centre, Ahmedabad. 1994.
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