WALLED CITY OF LAHORE: A SYNTACTIC INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLE OF SPATIAL PROPERTIES IN THE PRESERVATION OF LAHORE’S HISTORIC CORE.

Abstract

Lahore’s significance lies in its vibrant culture and rich heritage. The city’s history predates Islam; however, it peaked during the formative Mughal era (1524-1752). Although this era’s historical monuments and buildings are scattered throughout Lahore, they are most concentrated in the Walled City area. The area is an ensemble of religious, cultural, and commercial elements of immense historical value. Besides its heritage significance, the Walled City has always held a strong commercial relevance, with numerous bazaars selling diverse commodities, some dating back to the Mughal Era. However, following the Partition in 1947, it started transforming rapidly, with commercial land use expanding. This expansion of commercial land use is the primary threat to the city’s heritage. Several conservation efforts have been made to protect this historical fabric involving proposals to regulate land use. This thesis takes a spatial approach to examine the city. It explores the impact of its spatial properties on land use, focusing on the Taxali Gate and Shah Alam Gate areas. The methodology for this analysis was a combination of historical research and spatial analysis. The historical research provided comprehensive insight into the city’s cultural and socio-economical value. The information from this research provided context for the land use data of the selected areas. The land use maps of 1947 and 2009 visually demonstrated how much it had transformed in this timeframe. Commercial land use had expanded significantly in both areas, taking over areas meant for residential land use. Finally, the spatial analysis of these two areas provided spatial measures of integration, connectivity, and visibility. These measures were superimposed on the land use maps to establish a link between them and residential and commercial land use. This investigation revealed a link between high integration measures and commercial land use, low visibility measures, and residential land use. The low connectivity and predominantly low visibility of both areas suggests that they were not meant for commercial activity of such a scale as it is now. Commercial activity tends to increase in areas with the highest integration, and residential areas traditionally have low visibility.

Date of Award	2023
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Islamic Studies